[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/noFUoT3.png[/img][/center] [center][color=goldenrod][b]Location:[/b][/color] • The Undeground [color=goldenrod][b]Time:[/b][/color] • Night[/center][hr] Vex’s mouth curled, not quite a smile but more like a dare. The water stayed where it was, her fingers resting on the rim but not lifting it. She let the bass thrum through her, let the neon soak her skin. [color=yellow]“Cute?”[/color] she echoed, voice low, thick with the kind of laughter that didn’t reach her eyes. [color=yellow]“Dom, if I wanted cute, I’d wear a bow in my hair and wait for you to tell me when to cross the street.”[/color] She took the water then, but only because she wanted to, dragging a slow sip before setting it down again. The smear of blood on her knuckles caught her eye, and she rubbed it idly against her skirt like it was nothing. Her gaze slid up to him, lazy but sharp, catching the way he was still scanning the room. [color=yellow]“If you’re going to play bodyguard,”[/color] she said, leaning in close enough for her words to brush his ear, [color=yellow]“at least admit you like it.”[/color] For a heartbeat, she didn’t look away, letting the noise and the heat and the smell of him wrap tight around the moment. Then she tipped her head, almost sweet. [color=yellow]“And as for what I’m proving…”[/color] Her smirk deepened, wicked at the edges. [color=yellow]“Guess you’ll have to keep watching.”[/color] Her hand moved to her lips, popping a colorful little pill into her mouth before swallowing. [color=yellow]“ Thanks for the water, really helps wash things down.”[/color] She reached once again for the glass, chasing the pill with a sip. He watched the pill go down, watched her throat work, watched the light change in her eyes. He did not snatch her or yell at her…he just caught her chin with two fingers and turned her face into the neon, thumb settling on the pulse at her neck so he could count it slow. He pulled the cigarette from her lips and brought it to his own mouth as he took a drag. As he exhaled, he grabbed the water and brought the cold rim of the glass to her mouth. [color=goldenrod]“Look at me…”[/color] he said, quiet but heavy, [color=goldenrod]“Eyes here.”[/color] Clouded by the drugs, her gaze drifted to his eyes as she stumbled slightly against the bar. He tipped the glass, watched one swallow, then another, then he set it back in her hand and did not let go until he felt her grip it right. He crowded her space a little, not touching anything but the back of her knuckles…his voice close enough to vibrate through her. [color=goldenrod]“You want to make dumb choices, that’s your business…”[/color] He murmured, [color=goldenrod]“but you put one more pill in your mouth and I am carrying you out of here, and I will not set you down until you are home…”[/color] he said, not angry, just certain…[color=goldenrod]“I am not asking, Vex.”[/color] He leaned in again, mouth near her ear, breath warm with smoke and whiskey. [color=goldenrod]“Logan’s dead…”[/color] The words came out cold. [color=goldenrod]“This isn’t the time for your games and your self-destruction.”[/color] Pulling back, Vex looked at him with her large, bright eyes. He was an alpha through and through. The room continued to spin around them, but her eyes stayed heavily focused on Dom’s, as if his gaze grounded her. Eyes still locked, she stole back her cigarette from his lips, her gaze unbreaking as she tilted her head ever so slightly as she dragged in her breath. The cherry of her cigarette was illuminating its bright red hue before dying slowly. She couldn’t hold his gaze long; the drugs in her system couldn’t make the pain she felt from those two simple words. Her head dropped as she stared down at her cigarette, watching the smoke twist and coil out of the amber. [i]Logan…[/i] Her head hung near his chest as if shielding this private moment for her from the rest of the world. In that moment, her chest tightened so fast it stole her breath, grief rising like a tide she couldn’t push back. The only way to keep it from drowning her was to turn it into rage. Her fist hit his chest, knowing it would do little to him. [color=yellow]“You don’t get to throw that at me like it’s just another piece of bad news, Dom.”[/color] Her voice cut sharply, a blade to hide the shaking underneath. Her golden eyes flicked up to look at him. [color=yellow]“You think this is about games? This—”[/color] she jabbed the cigarette between them, ash scattering like sparks, [color=yellow]“—is how I keep breathing when the world won’t stop taking from me. It’s survival.”[/color] She staggered slightly, the drugs pulling at her balance, but before he could steady her she stepped in again, chest brushing his. Her chin tipped up, defiant, though her eyes shone too bright. [color=yellow]“I’m not leaving,”[/color] she ground out, each word shaking. [color=yellow]“Not until I can’t remember my fucking name… not until I’m empty enough that I don’t see his face every time I blink.”[/color] The sound of a glass clinking beside her, the tall amber ale she had purchased earlier finally arrived, much to the bartender's ignorance. She looked over at the drink, reaching for it while the other put her cigarette back between her lips as it hung lazily between them. Holding the drink up to Dom, she didn’t need to say a word. Both their eyes said plenty as they looked at each other. He let her hit his chest, listened to each and every word with respect, but he didn’t move an inch. His eyes stayed on hers, steady, constant. [color=goldenrod]“I didn’t want to tell you like this.”[/color] His voice came low, gravel running rough. [color=goldenrod]“I tried to do it right, but you ignored me. So here it is, plain…we’ve lost too many of ours already. I’m not gonna stand here and watch you throw yourself in a grave right next to them.”[/color] He leaned in, chin dipped, jaw set like stone. [color=goldenrod]“I get it, Vex. That hole in your chest…the kind that never fills no matter what you pour in it. I know what it is to want the noise, the fire, anything to drown it out. But I can’t let you be your own worst enemy. Not here. Not now.”[/color] He shifted, eyes softening, his thumb brushing over her bloodied knuckles again, rough but careful. [color=goldenrod]“You might not wear my kutte, but I need you…The pack needs you. I need your head sharp. You drowning in this shit isn’t gonna help any of us…least of all you, Vex. You understand me?”[/color] Pinching her two fingers against the stem of her cigarette, she inhaled, looked at him, before slightly turned her head and exhaled the smoke slowly. His gaze was still on her, but the softness didn’t last long. [color=goldenrod]“We are being hunted. This is not the time to pop pills and give the fuck up. We don’t have that luxury.”[/color] Finally, his gaze fell from her eyes to her mouth, a subtle thing…one that [i]almost[/i] carried a kind of shame. But those eyes rose once more, and they held more conviction than ever. [color=goldenrod]“I’m not asking, Vex.”[/color] Dom had always been the one wolf she had respected outside of Bear. Everything he did for his pack and everything he had done for her created an understanding. Considering his words, the distance between them grew practically non-existent. She looked up into his eyes with her golden stare. [color=yellow]” You are not my Alpha.”[/color] she said coldly. Vex pulled her cigarette back to her lips, pulling back another breath of smoke. Her eyes darkened slightly with a deep amber, but it didn’t last long and seemed to soften. [color=yellow]” One night…Give me one night, Dom. I need this. You do whatever it is you do, watch me, dance with me, or drag my ass home. Just give me the night and I will help in memory of Logan … and”[/color] Her voice dropped to a near whisper, one that only he would hear before taking a large sip of the beer still in her hand. [color=yellow]”...and Bear.”[/color] She managed to say. Vex was wrong. Just because she wasn’t a member of the Iron Wolves didn’t mean that Dominic wasn’t her Alpha. Just because she didn’t understand that little secret didn’t make it any less true. The other packs, the loners, all of them… He [b]is[/b] the only real Alpha in Halcyon city. There are always going to be pretenders to the throne, but there is only ever going to be one king. Her words didn’t bother Dom. In fact, he understood her claim. He wished it were true, even. But he knew otherwise. Pack or not, it was his job to look out for those with Lycan blood running through their veins, even those that would be his enemy. It was his job to take care of her. It would always be that way as long as he was breathing. Her plea for [i]one night[/i] was a different story. The way the names Logan and Bear sounded coming from her in that moment rattled him in ways he didn’t understand. Dom’s gaze broke and he looked past her to the crowd beyond them lost in the music without cares in the world. He breathed in deep, then released it in kind. [color=goldenrod]“One night?”[/color] It was a statement as much as it was a question. He didn’t expect a literal answer, instead…he turned to the bartender and ordered a shot. Dom’s eyes found hers again, still frustrated, but softer than before. [color=goldenrod]“If we’re gonna dance, I’m gonna need a drink.”[/color] [color=yellow]“One night,”[/color] she murmured, tilting the rim of her beer glass to her lips, forcing a mischievous grin that trembled at the edges. She lifted her glass toward him as the bartender set down his shot. [color=yellow]“To Logan,”[/color] she toasted, voice teasing, flirtatious even—but her eyes betrayed her. Glossy and wet, they flickered with the hurt she tried so desperately to hide. The smile she wore was almost convincing, but it couldn’t quite cover the ache beneath.[color=yellow]“He raised hell here, and now he rides free where no one can chain him. May he and Bear tear up the heavens the way they tore through this city. One day, we’ll join them… and God help whatever stands in our way.”[/color] Her voice cracked slightly.