Chapter One

The Ballerina

Sitting at my station behind the stage, I tune out everything around me. The other women, the music, the smell of smoke, perfume, and even alcohol. My life is falling to shit quickly, and I need a moment to just work through what my next steps may be and ignore the fact that I don’t actually have any. I’m prepped and ready for my set but now all I need to do is calm down. Which is easier said than done.

I can hear my father’s voice inside my mind: “You will do what is best for the pack. What you are told.”

It is what has always been expected of me. Bow to the Alpha, fall in line, do what is best for the pack. I can’t remember a single time in my entire life where my father, or anyone else for that matter, asked me what I wanted. I shouldn’t expect that to change now.

Looking around I take in the women around me. I’m not like all the other girls that work at Dark Side of the Moon. I love my job. The eyes on me, the feeling of being watched. Being a burlesque dancer excites me. I may not have been doing this for more than a few months, but I can’t imagine having to give it up anytime soon. The other women do this because it’s a job, a means to an end, a way to pay the bills. I think I may be the only person here who really loves my job.

Dancing is what I love. More than anything else. I used to be a ballerina, on track to being one of the greats. But then I shattered my ankle and my dreams in a single car crash. Now I take what I can get.

The moment I was well enough to walk, I bolted from my pack and the life I was being forced to live. Groomed to be the perfect little omega wife to a man I had never met. Betrothed since before I was even born, all so that our fathers could strengthen their own standing and make a power grab. My father never cared about my dream of becoming a prima ballerina, and the accident only gave him the excuse he needed to seal my fate. I can’t even say the man ever cared about me, he only sees me as another pawn in his game. He didn’t even care that his daughter, his only child, had been in a near fatal accident, only that I had survived with minimal scarring.

I wish the rest of my life was as simple as my job. No such luck, though. I stare at the message on my phone again for the millionth time while I wait for my set to start: Everything has been arranged. You will be married this Saturday. Be there. Or Else…

Those are the only words my supposedly loving father sent to me. The words that started this downward spiral I am currently riding. I knew this was coming but I was hoping it wouldn’t happen for a while, hopefully even years. Since I can remember I have been groomed to marry the future Alpha from the Dagger pack, Atlas Green. I never intended to let it get this far but it seems I may have let some things slip these past months. I have gotten too comfortable in the life I have been living.

I was planning on finding a way out of the engagement, praying that perhaps the other person in this fucked-up arrangement would call it quits. Basically, I was waiting for a miracle that never happened. And I never took any steps to get myself out of this mess. Now, I have only two options before me: Do as my father commands, mate with Atlas, strengthen the packs, and be unhappy and unseen for the rest of my life. Or, run, as far and as fast as my legs can carry me.

Neither of those options hold any appeal to me.

“Are you okay, doll?” my manager, Quinn, asks, stirring me out of my thoughts.

I’ve been staring at the darkened screen of my phone for long minutes, and it has clearly drawn her attention.

“Fine,” I reply, smiling. The orange light in the corner of the backstage area starts to flicker, signaling it’s time for me to get on stage. “I should get going.”

I quickly make my way to the stage as the first strands of music start to filter through the overhead speaker system. The deep base is pounding through my veins and finally helping me settle the nervous energy thrumming through me. This is all I want, the freedom to dance.

“For your enjoyment,” Peter, our DJ, announces. “Here is the lovely Ballerina!”

Applause ricochets off the high ceilings as I step onto the stage. My spiked heels carry me as I sway my hips seductively. The frilly baby pink faux tutu I am wearing skates across the skin of my upper thighs.

Hoots and hollers come from the men in front of the stage as I dance around the pole, divesting myself of my clothes as I go. But I barely hear them anymore, I’m already lost to the music. I sway and twirl, bow my back, and arch seductively, letting the rhythm sweep me away. Before I know it, the music is done, and the stage fades to black, with me standing in a thong and a set of pink-and-white plastic daisies covering my chest. I don’t remember any of my routine, my mind was in the wrong headspace, but by the sound of applause, I’m sure it went well.

This is what I do, after all. I am a burlesque dancer. And I’m fucking good at it.

I quickly make my way off the stage and into the back again. Grabbing my powder pink robe from the hook, I wrap it around myself and fall into the chair in front of my vanity. I don’t want to give up my job or this new life I have been building. I don’t want to run.

“Are you okay?”

I look up to find the girl we call Cheerleader, standing beside me wearing a worried expression. No one here uses their real names, but we have still managed to build up somewhat of a friendship in the past months.

“Not really,” I supply honestly, and she frowns. “Just family drama. I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“You know I’m here if you feel like talking later,” she says, squeezing my shoulder before sashaying her way over to her own space.

It’s one of the reasons we’re such good friends. She knows when not to pry. The two of us are happy to spend time together here at work. But we never get too personal, both of us hiding things we don’t want to discuss.

I need to think of a way to get myself out of this fucking mess, but I also need to focus on my job. I don’t want to get fired, even though I don’t know if I will be able to keep dancing for long.

The owner, Abel, watches me with hawk eyes from the back of the room and I know he can tell something is going on, he just doesn’t know what yet. I need to stay away from the big Alpha if I want to keep my secret. He’ll compel me to tell him the truth and I don’t need any more people in my business.

I watch him turn and walk away, leaving me in peace for a moment more. Taking my phone in hand, I reread the message once more just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. But there it is. All those words I never wanted to see.

Fuck my life.