Eyes darting around in panic, 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.
Seeing as they were out of their element, he was off his game.
They weren't in werewolf territory this time.
He couldn't show his superiority over the men making fools of themselves, or could he?
Between the lights, music, smells, and people everywhere, he began to panic.
Just then, he saw more bodyguards walking towards his men; he knew he had to do something.
The only question he had was, what could he do?
Placing his thumb on one corner of his mouth and his index finger from the same hand on the other corner of his mouth, he let out a loud whistle.
A sharp sound blasted out of his lips, hitting the unsuspecting people standing next to him, who thought it was ear-piercing, and were 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.
To his surprise, the whistle he let out was intended only effect on his young guards; however, it seemed to catch more attention than that, as the two young men quickly stood at attention and found his eyes.
The General pointed to the men approaching them, and then his finger immediately pointed to the ground.
Without hesitation, they jumped to the ground and started making their way to the exit.
To the staff members' surprise, they didn't have to do anything.
They looked back at the man who had got the rowdy men's attention suspiciously.
That was the first time that they didn't have to intervene and pause the club's delicious atmosphere because of drunk partygoers.
Unsure of what to do, they followed the trio to ensure it wasn't a trick of some kind until they were safely out the doors.
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.
"General" Phoenix started, "I apologize for getting out of hand", but he was stopped.
"You are fine. Even I was having a hard time keeping my composure in there. I'm not sure what it was, but something isn't normal with this place. It oozes ecstasy. You have to have a sharp mind inside. I'm not sure if you two are old enough to be inside".
"Sir, with all due respect, we were just unaware at first. Now that we know we can resist. It just seemed like a club. We will do better and control ourselves. Our defenses are up now" he nodded at his General in confidence.
"This is still part of our mission, even if it doesn't seem like it. We are here to learn how humans think and behave so we can think like Ayla. I can't afford for you to harm this if you can't do it" he said, voicing his concern.
"We can do it, sir. I believe we are learning very quickly how they behave" Phoenix responded.
They were used to having to shield themselves from similar situations when dealing with witches and other mind-altering entities from training, so this should be nothing for them.
Phoenix and Raphael were just convinced that it was fully because they weren't prepared for it.
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. You both need to proceed with caution from this moment forward. Understood" Dominic spoke firmly.
In unison, they both repeat, "understood, sir".
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, "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, "It was the small whiff of 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 inside" 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 have a few admirers now" stopping 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, the two chesty females that were attempting to sneak up behind them, 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 man 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 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.
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, himself included.
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 as they were overcome with the idea of the two lusty women who wanted more than their company.
Dominic wasn't sure if he made the right call to come to the human town for the time being, 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 trained hard, worked harder, and never gave up.
There wasn't a single command they didn't obey.
Not once did either of them reap a benefit, not one, from their position or duty to the arrogant, greedy Alpha.
For once, he would allow them to have some kind of reward for the service that they had provided to him, even if their Alpha hadn't.
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, and Dominic smiled because he knew exactly what they were about to do, and he was happy for them.
Dominic took this 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 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 the Alpha's daughter.
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, but frustrating that it was kept from him.
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.
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.
Is that why he couldn't find anything?
With none of the kids knowing what they were, they wouldn't be looking outside of the human city for their family.
Instead, they would think that a human family had abandoned them.
As he sat in thought, he noticed the crowd had died down around him significantly.
He was beginning to lose hope that whoever held the scent he was searching for was coming.
Even worse, he thought that maybe he was so deep in his thoughts that he had missed the person already.
"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".
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.
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.
"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 of 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 observation ploy, but now it was in his favor.
Without his opponent's knowledge, he watched as the man attempted to follow him.
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.
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 on his face.
Making sure he entered his hotel suite.
Then, and only then, he ventured carefully to his home.
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 he 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.
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.