Chapter 176


    I drive several hours until I reach thergest town in this area, one the Council members often favor for


    shopping and dining and various other human pleasures. I head to a private club where only certain


    people with select invitations and bank ounts that number in the hundreds of millions can gain


    entrance.


    I’ve had a membership for years, but I rarelye here.


    It’s a ce for vice and sin and the kind of under-the-table business dealings that don’t happen in


    clean, corporate boardrooms


    And it just so happens to be one of Tobin’s favorite haunts.


    I pay one of the girls who dances on the entertainment level for information about Tobin’sings and


    goings, as well as that of other Council members whoe here.


    Tonight, however, she’s working behind the bar.


    She smiles when she sees me, partly because she knows me being here means a bonus for her. But


    also because she’s offered herself to me more than once, and hopes one day I’ll take her up on the


    offer.


    But human women don’t interest me.


    They can’tpare to my mate,


    “The usual?” she asks me, leaning forward so her breasts are in danger of falling from the low-cut top


    she’s wearing.


    I nod, and she says something to one of the other girls, beforeing around the bar.


    She takes me by thepel of my jacket and tugs me into one of the private rooms.


    I know exactly what it looks like to anyone paying attention.


    I’m getting one of the extra services they offer here.


    But I don’t care what other people think, and my bad-boy reputation has served me well over the years.


    Inside the room, Selene drops the act, but she’s still all smiles as I hand over a f at wad of hundred


    dor bills that she promptly tucks down between her breasts. N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    “Tobin hasn’t been heretely,” she tells me.


    I arch a brow at her.


    “That’s it?”


    She shrugs. “What do you want me to say? I can’t tell you anything if he hasn’t been here.”


    “Okay, do you know why he hasn’t been aroundtely? Is he busy with something?”


    Could it have something to do with the missing Al tech from Roberts Corp? I’d heard that Tobin had


    some business dealings with Leah’s father and brother, but never put much stock into it until now.


    “Oh, that’s easy. He got into a crazy fight with the new guy that’s been hanging around,” Selene replies


    breezily, catching my attention.


    “What new guy?”


    She shrugs again, the action beginning to annoy me.


    Everything annoys me these days, while I’m in self-imposed exile from my mate.


    “I don’t know. Some guy with an ent, Tattoos. And a weird name like Rider or something”


    “Ryker?” I ask incredulously.


    All this time I’ve been searching for Ryker.


    Surely he wasn’t under my nose, a mere few hours drive away this whole time?


    “Might be,” Selene muses, not noticing the way my temper is rising at her kiness. “He’s here now,


    down in the gambling den. Why don’t you go ask him yourself?”


    I have to spin away from her as my temper spikes and my wolfes dangerously close to exploding


    out.


    That’s all I need. To shift in front of humans and go tearing through a club so I can rip Ryker limb from


    limb.


    The Council wouldn’t need any excuse to hunt me down like a rogue wolf if that happened.


    “Are you okay?” Selene asks, sounding worried.


    “Fine,” I bite out, swallowing when my voicees out all growly, barely sounding human. “I just need


    a minute.”


    “Okay,” Selene says, and I hear her footsteps retreating, thank god, “Let me know if you need anything


    else.”


    Once she’s gone, I take some breaths, trying to force my wolf back down, but he’s fighting me


    something fierce.


    We both want the same thing.


    To go down there and sh ws through Ryker’s flesh until our enemy’s blood soaks the ground at


    our feet.