Dominic's eyes scanned the room in panic while his men danced like fools on the bar.
He'd never wanted to run from anything in his life, until then.
Scarlet Fever had him off his balance: too many lights, too many bodies, too many scents.
And this wasn't wolf territory.
Here, he couldn't solve problems the way he was used to.
That was the first time in his life he felt that sensation.
Dominic was trying to come up with how he was going to get his men out of there without a major incident.
Normally, he would have been on top of the matter before anything occurred, but Scarlett Fever was consuming him and his men, and they needed to escape quickly.
Seeing as they were out of their element, he was off his game.
How did humans control the men they were responsible for?
Then he spotted more security pushing through the crowd toward the bar.
If they laid hands on his men, someone was going to get hurt.
Dominic put two fingers to his mouth and whistled—one brutal, commanding blast that cut straight through the music.
The whistle wasn't for the crowd, it was for his two guards.
They froze mid-show, found him instantly, and went still.
They stood on the bar, finally registering the mess they'd made.
However, it seemed to catch more attention than that, as the two young men quickly stood at attention and found his eyes.
His men were no longer dancing on the bar, but standing there, looking at the scene they had caused.
The bouncers were eyeing the General, completely surprised by the sudden sound emanating from the man.
They were even more surprised to see his muscular physique, tall presence, and dark hair that gave him a slightly edgy appearance.
He was rather attractive in a dark, moody, mysterious kind of way.
The General pointed to the men approaching them, and then his finger immediately pointed to the ground.
NOW.
They dropped to the floor without hesitation and moved straight for the exit.
Phoenix and Raphael didn't dare smile or laugh along the way.
Staff watched them go, wary, and followed just long enough to make sure the trouble stayed out.
That was the first time that they didn't have to intervene and pause the club's delicious atmosphere because of drunk partygoers.
Both of the young men knew they had made a mistake.
They were just unaware of how much of a mistake and how big they had messed up.
When he met with them outside the door, they could tell something was not matching his demeanor from inside.
Outside, Phoenix started, "General, I'm sorry..."
"Save it," Dominic cut in. "Even I felt it in there... something's wrong with that place. It's like it leaks ecstasy. You go in with your guard down, you lose your head. Don't let it happen again."
Phoenix was slightly insulted.
Phoenix bristled, then nodded.
"We weren't ready. Now we are. It won't happen again."
Dominic replied, his stare staying hard.
"This is still the mission. We learn from humans so we can think like Ayla, and we don't do that by starting fights in public. If you can't keep control, you're done for the night."
Phoenix looked to Raphael, waiting for his nod before responding.
"We can do it, sir. I believe we are learning very quickly how they behave," Phoenix responded, wagging his eyebrows.
Everything he said seemed to have a dirty connotation when he spoke lately.
The duo only assumed because it was a human club that they could run in with all of their defenses down.
"All of us have always been told that humans are dangerous, and now you know that they are. Understood," Dominic spoke firmly.
He meant it, too.
One more mistake and they would be confined to their room.
"Understood, sir," they said together.
To anyone looking on, it just appeared that a drill sergeant was reprimanding his subordinates for their behavior at the bar.
"Now that we have that squared away, I picked up her scent," he told the double trouble duo.
"When," Raphael asked.
"Before we got to this place. I noticed it when whichever one of you told me to get out of my head," he exclaimed.
"That would have been me," Phoenix said proudly for being recognized.
"I only said it because whatever was on your mind was making your wolf angry. Your amber eyes were showing," he explained.
"Thank you for that. I wasn't aware I was getting so upset. It wasn't your words that calmed me down, though" and as the words left Dominic's lips, the pride left Phoenix's chest.
Dominic knew he would make it up to him shortly.
He just needed to finish what he was saying.
"It was the small whiff of what I think is her scent that caught me" and then he stopped talking.
His mind started running everything through it.
Whichever person was holding her scent had to have passed them.
That same person had to also still be in the club.
Would he be able to recognize the person who passed them if they were still inside?
Phoenix could tell that his thoughts were compounding into one central thought, and he was ready to hear it.
"So, what's the plan, General Mace" he asked with anticipation.
A smile came across the leader's face.
His team knew him very well at this point.
"After the display inside, I doubt it's a good idea for any of us to go back in," he said in a scolding voice.
After a short pause, he continued.
"Plus, I think you drew a little too much attention to yourselves, as you both seem to have a few admirers now".
Dominic stopped long enough to allow the two men to gaze past his shoulder.
Once he was sure that the two knew what he was referring to, he would continue.
Two busty females were attempting to sneak up behind them.
One redhead and one with dark hair.
Seeing as his men were staring, he continued.
"Maybe you should walk over and sit with them while we wait for the staff and guests to leave and see what we pick up, if you catch my drift".
He didn't have to say anything more.
Phoenix and Raphael were single and horny men, with two seemingly willing women looking at them with a potential hunger.
They knew from the show they watched earlier that evening, their walk to the club, and from being inside, some of the women could be rather frisky if they wanted to be.
Neither of the men could contain the smile that ran across their faces as they got close to the curvaceous woman who seemed to want their attention.
For them, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and they would not be passing anything up if they could help it.
"Best mission ever" they said to each other mentally, for what seemed like the first time, while giving each other mental high fives.
Dominic couldn't help but feel like a proud father as he watched the helpless men from a nearby table, shaking his head as they made a fool of themselves yet again.
He chuckled as the men, just youngsters in his eyes at eighteen and nineteen, sat with the woman, knowing that they hadn't had a chance to mingle with women before.
Not really.
They had essentially spent all of their time since coming of age at sixteen with him on a mission to bring Ayla back home.
Honestly, he wasn't sure who he had more sympathy for in that moment, because there were so many people to feel bad for: them, Ayla, the other missing kids, and himself.
For now, he would take on the doting father role for the two helpless men and watch over them.
There was no way they had their guard up at that point.
Dominic wasn't sure if he made the right call to come to the human town, but at least he felt like he was getting somewhere with the mission for once.
He couldn't help but wonder if letting his men interact with these girls was the right call or not, but how could he stop them?
Phoenix and Raphael had worked so hard and done everything he asked of them.
They earned it after carrying the duties of their arrogant, greedy Alpha.
It didn't take long for the petting to start, and Dominic knew what was next.
Phoenix was looking back at his General for approval and was given the nod.
He tapped his partner's hand, and they were off to their suite without hesitation or a chance to let their leader change his mind.
It took a matter of seconds for them to disappear into the crowd, which had slowly started to thin at that point.
The old General took the opportunity to sit alone in his thoughts.
That was something that he never got to do.
For the last eighteen years, he had been looking for or after children.
He hadn't been just looking for Ayla, but all of the werewolf children that had been taken.
It was his personal mission to find them all.
That was how he ended up climbing the ranks in the search parties, essentially landing him the position of lead personnel for finding his Alpha's supposed daughter.
It had nothing to do with being General like everyone thought, not originally.
Obviously, he didn't know that at the time he was searching for the princess of his pack, but his Alpha gave him an order, and he would follow it.
Actually, many times he had missions given to him with little detail because it ensured that the enemies couldn't torture information from him.
For him, it seemed normal.
Even though he was tasked with finding her, he still had his first objective of finding them all, which never left the back of his mind.
He was always looking for some kind of clue, anything that would point him in the direction that any of the kids were still out there somewhere.
Just a hint.
Dominic couldn't figure out how all of the kids just seemed to disappear off the face of the earth, until his Alpha told him that Ayla didn't know she was a werewolf.
More pieces of the puzzle started falling into place in his mind, slowly.
If she didn't know, then maybe none of them knew.
It wasn't just that.
He couldn't smell her, either, like she was masked.
If that were true, was it like that for all of them?
With none of the kids knowing what they were, they wouldn't be looking outside of human cities for their family.
As he sat in thought for a long time until he noticed the crowd had died down around him significantly, to nearly gone.
He was beginning to lose hope that whoever held the scent he was searching for was coming, or that he was so deep in thought he missed the person.
Just then, he heard a man speaking, and he turned toward the club doors.
"Alright, guys, I'll see you later. I'm glad the big guy got those guys out of here without an incident, because I know we all love the chaos but not the paperwork," he laughed as he waved and started heading toward the man on the bench.
The young man seemed familiar to Dominic, but not because he had necessarily seen him before.
Was he inside when his team was making an ass of themselves?
"Hey," Dominic said, clearing his throat, "I wanted to thank you for letting me handle my men before things escalated".
Not sure entirely why he was talking to the young man, but instinct told him to.
Julius paused for a second, not expecting him to be there.
"No problem. Honestly, I'm glad they had fun. We just can't have people on the bar. Thank you for handling them before we had to".
He smiled and went to walk away, but something told him not to.
Listening to his instincts, he paused and turned back.
"What brings you all here anyway?" he asked.
Alexander's words about looking for anything odd stuck in his head.
It wasn't usual to see the military kind in their area, so he was curious.
Dominic looked surprised, but currently, he was lost for words.
"I... uh," he didn't expect this question.
"We've just been on a mission for so long, I thought it would be good to let some of my guys let off a little steam and have some fun. I wasn't aware they weren't ready to be around civilians yet," he said, thinking quickly.
Julius was curious about his answer, but he let it go.
"Well, you are all welcome anytime, just keep a clear head, and stay off my bar," he said as he exited in the opposite direction from his apartment.
Unsure why his instincts were telling him something was off, he knew going straight home was a bad idea.
Julius got a weird feeling about the man, but Dominic got the same feeling about Julius.
He used this opportunity to use his vast knowledge of the area to spy a bit on the man who appeared to be waiting for something or someone.
It seemed odd that he was just sitting there, alone, in the dark.
The only person he seemed to speak to was Julius, and it gave him goose bumps.
Julius felt like he had narrowly escaped a covert kidnap ploy, but now it was in his favor.
Without his opponent's knowledge, he watched as the man attempted to follow him.
Quickly, he ducked into a dark, shallow alley and watched to see if the man walked by.
His fears were confirmed.
The instincts that brewed inside of him to stop his previous path forward were accurate.
Why was this man following him?
Then it dawned on him.
The only thing that changed was his new roommate, and she was in trouble.
Julius knew that people were trying to get her, as his eyes grew larger.
Men.
How did they know already that he was affiliated with her?
What had been done that tipped them off?
That couldn't have been it, but that was the only thing he could think of.
He followed the older man until he could see defeat written on his face.
Making sure he entered his hotel suite was his new main objective before going home.
Then, and only then, he ventured carefully to where Ayla was being hidden.
His instinct to protect her went into overdrive.
Now, unsure as to whether the man was following him for any other reason, he needed to talk to his roommate because he didn't know what to do.
Dominic, on the other hand, was twice as confused.
He was sure that the man before him was the young man who had to have carried the scent earlier in the evening, but he didn't have it anymore.
In addition to that, he had a familiarity with him that Dominic couldn't quite place.
Plus, how the hell did he give him the slip like that?
There were only a limited number of skilled wolves that were capable of doing that, and this young man seemed to do it effortlessly.
He couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on anymore?
Dominic went straight for the bar in his suite because he felt like he was losing his mind, and he was at a loss at that point.
Maybe a drink and a good night's sleep would help him think better.
Tomorrow, he and his team would venture out in the daylight to try and see if he missed anything.
It was time to get to the bottom of this.
Dominic was done with the human city, the games, and people escaping him.