Auren was a city that never slept, and if it did, it slept with one eye open and a knife under its pillow.
The streets pulsed with life, even in the dead hours of the night. Neon lights buzzed and flickered, painting everything in violent shades of pink and blue. Somewhere nearby, a bassline rattled the walls of a cheap club, and the thick, hot air smelled like exhaust, spilled liquor, and sweat. It was the kind of night where anything could happen — and usually did.
Kael Ashen slipped through the crowd like a shadow, his hands tucked into the pockets of his battered leather jacket. He kept his head low, his senses sharp. The heavy thrum of Alpha energy was everywhere — thick in the air, pressing down against him like a hand at the back of his neck — but Kael ignored it. He had spent his whole life learning how to breathe through it, how to walk straight when every instinct screamed at him to kneel.
He wasn't like the others. He never had been.
Auren's hierarchy was simple: Alphas ruled, Betas worked, Omegas obeyed. It was a system older than anyone could remember, enforced by tradition and blood and, when necessary, brute force. Omegas were valuable, treasured for their ability to bond, to heal, to create. But value didn't mean freedom. It meant chains — sometimes made of gold, but chains all the same.
Kael wanted no part of it.
He moved past a pair of Alphas lounging outside a strip club, their eyes gleaming as they caught his scent. He felt the familiar spike of pressure, the subtle tug at the back of his mind — a primal call to submit. His lips curled in a humorless smile. Let them look. Let them want. He wasn't theirs.
He wasn't anyone's.
He ducked into a narrow alley, the noise of the street muffling behind him. His boots splashed through a puddle of something he didn't want to think about. The alley was dark, lined with dumpsters and broken dreams, but Kael knew it well. It was one of the few places in Auren where you could do business without questions — or at least, without the kind that mattered.
At the far end of the alley, a man leaned against the wall, smoking a thin, cheap cigarette. His jacket was patched and torn, and a long scar ran from the corner of his eye down to his jaw. Milo, one of Kael's few reliable contacts.
"You're late," Milo rasped, flicking ash onto the ground.
"Yeah, well, had to dodge a few admirers," Kael said dryly. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small data chip, tossing it underhand. Milo caught it easily.
"This the real stuff?"
"You think I'd risk my ass for fake goods?"
Milo snorted. "You're crazy enough."
Kael shrugged. "You're the one buying from an unbonded Omega. What does that say about you?"
Milo chuckled, low and rough, then tucked the chip away. "You're playing a dangerous game, Ashen. If the wrong Alpha catches wind of this..." He let the sentence hang, unfinished but heavy.
Kael smiled, all teeth. "They'll have to catch me first."
He turned to go, but Milo called after him. "You hear about Riven Vane?"
Kael stiffened, just a little. "What about him?"
"Word is, he's looking for new blood. His last second-in-command got... retired." Milo smirked. "Messily."
Kael's mind whirred. RivenVane — the name alone carried weight. The most ruthless Alpha in the city, the king of Auren's underbelly. If Kael wanted to tear down the system that had ruined his life, Vane's empire was the place to start.
Still, Kael forced a casual shrug. "Not my problem."
"Could be," Milo said, studying him. "If you're stupid enough to get involved."
"I'm not," Kael said. But even as he walked away, the idea rooted itself in his mind, stubborn and growing.
He didn't have the luxury of caution anymore.
Two months ago, Kael had been living a different life — scraping by, sure, but free. He had a little apartment, a little job running deliveries no one wanted to ask too many questions about. It wasn't much, but it was his.
Until an Alpha found him.
Until that Alpha decided Kael's freedom was an insult that needed correcting.
Kael still remembered the way it had felt — the sudden, brutal violation of being hunted, of being treated like property. He remembered the stink of dominance, the fists, the laughter. And he remembered the fire that followed — the need not just to escape, but to burn everything to the ground.
Now, freedom wasn't enough. He wanted justice. He wanted revenge. He wanted to tear down the world that thought it could own him.
And Riven Vane was the perfect weapon.
Of course, getting close to a man like Vane would be suicide for anyone — let alone an unbonded Omega with no pack, no protection, and nothing left to lose.
Kael smiled to himself as he melted back into the crowd, the city swallowing him whole.
Good thing he had never been afraid of dying.