Chapter 3

*Alex

Alex let out a rather tired sounding sigh as he leaned against the glass of the skybox. It was Friday night and as expected the club was at max capacity. All but one of the VIP rooms had been booked. By the looks of the current bar tabs, it was going to be another record-breaking night. By all standards, the club was a huge success. It was everything a man could want, but deep-down Alex was still restless.

He would be turning twenty-five this year. He was a CEO of a major investment firm, and he had several holdings such as the club. His family was close, and he loved each of them. He was a formidable Alpha and everyone in the Pack looked up to him. Alex was extremely rich and handsome. He had everything a man could want except for that one thing. Alex had not found his Luna.

“Don’t go dark on me, Brother. Have a little hope. The crowd tonight is huge. It is possible she could still wander in.” Leo encouraged from behind him.

Alex shook his head. “I’m about out of hope. You know as well as I do that Dad has made it a point to introduce us to every unmated she-wolf in the country. He’s been dragging us from Pack to Pack since our sixteenth birthday in hopes we will find our true mates. I’m pretty convinced that if she is out there somewhere, she doesn’t want to be found.”

Leo snorted. “Your girl might be hiding from you, but I choose to believe there’s a wolf out there frantically searching for me. I’m going to find her, and when I do, I’m never gonna let her go.” Leo leaned back in his oversized office chair and folded his large hands behind his head. His white dress shirt strained against his biceps. He crossed his black boots and placed his feet on the desk. He smiled to himself as he spoke. “My mate will be extraordinarily beautiful, with a big smile meant only for me. She will be compassionate, and kind. She will love to spend hours lying on my chest talking while I run my fingers through her hair.

But most importantly, she will be passionate and make the prettiest babies.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “You are a wolf Leo, not a freaking fairy. You can’t just conjure up the perfect woman.” He crossed his arms over his chest and gave Leo a frustrated huff. “Besides, a girl like that sounds a bit too vanilla if you ask me. I think you would get bored with her quickly.”

“You don’t know anything! My mate will be perfect for me.” Leo snapped. “If you weren’t impossible to please, you might have already been gifted a mate.”

Leo stared up at the ceiling, refusing to look Alex in the eye. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, he finally relented, just like he always seemed to do.

“Alright Alex, if someone could wave a magic wand and build the perfect mate, what would you ask for?” Leo said, hoping to end what he knew would be another pointless argument between them.

Alex turned back to the glass wall suspended above Du Wolf Club. He let his eyes sweep across the dance floor. “She would be brilliant. A natural leader. Someone who could look past my garbage and see me as the man I can be. She would challenge me and make me want to be better. And she would certainly have no problem putting you in your place. She would be fire to my ice.” Alex said with all seriousness. Then with a playful smirk, he added, ‘And while I’m really shooting for the moon with this wish, I’d make sure she had an amazing ass.”

Leo threw his head back and let out a roar of laughter. His office chair reared back and almost toppled over. “I can’t believe I didn’t think to add that to my wish list. I wonder if I can get a redo?”

This time Alex snorted, “Nope.” He playfully shook his head. “You blew it and now you have to spend your life cuddled up to stick figure of a woman.”

Leo huffed and silently prayed his brother was wrong. “At this point, I don’t think I would even mind that. Just as long as I finally find her.” His voice sounded sad.

Alex knew that finding a true mate was monumentally important to shifters. He thought about the fact that both the brothers had casually dated a few women over the years, but they had never given their hearts away. A true mate was the other half of their soul and the only relationship between wolves that was unconditional. Only a mate bond could guarantee the production of healthy children. It was sacred and something they both longed for. Alex felt in his heart that being an Alpha came with the responsibility of providing heirs for the pack.

He didn’t like to admit that some wolves took chosen mates. Some even managed to have families. But more often than not that couple would remain childless. As family was such an important part of pack life, chosen mates were rare. Most were the result of tragedy in which a true mate had been lost. Or served at the very worst as a solution for an almost unheard-of mate rejection. Alex shuddered at the thought.

“No, I’m not desperate enough to compromise and choose a mate yet,” Alex announced to the room.

Leo shook his head in agreement. “Never!” A sickened look fell over his face, and he shivered at the thought. He crossed the room with determination and stood next to his brother as they scanned the crowd.

They watched as the VIP curtain part and four ladies, that neither had ever seen before, step into the club. Both froze as they were enveloped with the most hypnotic smell. Their eyes widened and they glanced at each other quickly.

“Mate!” They both yelped!