[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]

The bass shook the walls, the floor, even the glass in Vex’s hand. The bar was a mess of noise and bodies, but her focus had tunneled to one point.

She’d always kept her distance from Dom, with that magnetic, dangerous pull that came with being what he was. Alphas meant trouble, and she knew better. But tonight? Shots burning her stomach, cocaine and ecstasy tearing through her veins, her body didn’t care. Her mind wasn’t even in the room anymore, blissfully quiet, leaving instinct to run the show.

Neon streaked across her vision when she moved, lights spinning too fast. She caught herself on the bar, laughing too sharply, too suddenly. Everything felt loose, unsteady, and her skin was buzzing, nerves screaming. And underneath it all, stronger than the liquor and drugs, was his scent.

It coiled in her lungs like smoke, heavy and addictive, until she was dizzy from breathing him in. She turned toward him, pupils wide, swaying too close. The crowd pressed and pulled, but she swayed closer, her hip brushing his. It was a mistake. The contact sent a jolt through her, hot and undeniable.

[color=yellow]“Dom…”[/color] His name slipped out of her, low and drawn, her mouth dry. She steadied herself against him, fingers clumsy as they trailed across his arm until they found his wrist. The steady beat of his pulse throbbed under her touch, grounding and infuriatingly calm against the frantic hammer of her own.

Her lips pulled into a sly curve. [color=yellow]“Looks like we’ve got an audience.”[/color]

Her gaze cut to the golden eyes watching from the shadows [i]his pack[/i]. Her eyes snapped back to him. She pressed against him in time with the bass, eyes lit with something reckless.

[color=yellow]“Tell me,”[/color] she breathed, close enough her words brushed his skin,[color=yellow]“how are you going to explain this?”[/color]She bared her teeth in a grin, wild and chaotic, a woman daring the whole room to watch her burn while she laughed. 

Dom’s hand came up slow, catching hers where it pressed against his wrist. His thumb brushed once over her knuckles, and the resonance of his voice cut through the bass of the music.

[color=goldenrod]“Let ‘em watch,”[/color] He said. [color=goldenrod]“They still know their place. And you…”[/color] His eyes narrowed a bit as he looked deeper into her gaze. [color=goldenrod]“…you don’t seem afraid of the eyes on you either, Vex.”[/color]


Her smile widened [color=yellow] “Afraid? No, sugar. Fear is for [i]prey.[/i][/color].The fire in her chest was something she hadn’t felt in a long time. She wanted to keep chasing the white rabbit. Let herself tumble further into the spiral where logic dissolved and only heat and hunger remained. 



The music pulsed through her veins like a second heartbeat, urging her deeper, faster, farther. She pressed against him with purpose, her eyes continuing to lock onto the Alpha as if challenging him. 

[color=yellow]” Difference between them and me is I don’t know my place”[/color] she teased. [color=yellow]” Maybe you’re the one afraid? How would you handle something too wild to tame…”[/color]  

Dominic stood like a stone wall as she pressed against him. His figure did not depart even an inch, as he welcomed the closeness. More than one of his senses could [i]feel[/i] her purpose, and the faintest smirk appeared at the edge of his mouth. 

[color=goldenrod]“Mhm, me…scared of a woman like you, Vex?”[/color] His voice was low enough to reverberate through her as the sound met her ear, low and intimate. An arm wrapped itself around her with the natural movements of their bodies to the music, but as he let his question linger, he pulled her against him even tighter. [color=goldenrod]“Always.”[/color] He said in jest, that once upon a time boyish smirk…now that of a leader’s, grew on his face as he could feel the way her body reacted to him.  

[color=yellow]“So, you’re not just a pretty face after all…”[/color] she murmured, her voice dripping with playful warmth. Her lips curved into a half-smile as she tilted her head, eyes flicking up to meet his. [color=yellow]“Guess I’ll have to be careful…someone might mistake you for charming.”[/color] Her tone was soft but laced with mischief, the edge of laughter brushing her words.

As she gave in to his pull, the distance between them melted away. The music rose, the air between them thick with heat and sound. Her fingers found the crook of his neck, tracing it absentmindedly before resting against his chest, feeling the steady rhythm beneath her palm. The way his touch made her forget everything else, her eyes shut for the briefest of moments, soaking in the silence of all the grief and pain. unaware that something else had begun to move among them.

A faint hiss.

Soft. Constant. Unnoticed.

From the vents above, a colorless gas drifted down like a blanket of fog. Slow, deliberate, threading its way through the heat and sound. To most, it was nothing more than air. No scent. No taste. Nothing. 

But to the Lycans…

Vex’s eyes shot open, her bright yellow irises nearly glowing amongst the dark venue. They shot to Doms 

[color=yellow]”What is that…”[/color] 

Dom’s head turned just slightly, the shift enough for the club’s pulsing light to cut a gold line across his eyes. The air changed, and he felt it even before he smelled it. Something foreign slid into the rhythm. His grip on Vex’s hand tightened as she voiced her concern.

[color=goldenrod]“That…”[/color] he said, [color=goldenrod]“that ain’t part of the show.”[/color]

A quiet growl rumbled beneath the music as he lifted his chin toward the vents, instincts kicking hard. The pack was already moving in the corners of his vision, the smell beginning to register to them all.

[color=goldenrod]“Something’s wrong.”[/color]

Then, softer…only to her, he demanded. 

[color=goldenrod]“Stay close.”[/color]