I must have been a fool to think I could be okay with this. I was deluding myself to think we had something special. I could just be the girl du jour, forgotten after just one dance. The conversation with Gianna and Nova at the Danger Zone replayed in my mind. They thought it was smart not to get too involved with him judging by his past behavior. So why wasn’t I being smarter about this?
It wouldn’t be unrealistic to think that I wasn’t next in a line of woman who had thought they had something going with Lucas only to have their hearts crushed.
I put my hands on my temples. Focus. I didn’t need emotions like this distracting me at such a critical time. What I needed to do was warn Lucas about what we’d learned.
And then—I needed to end whatever it was going on between us.
It was a better way for us to have a chance against the demons.
It was the only way to protect my heart.
Lucas
What a fantastic surprise. When I danced my way to the back and spotted a petite beauty wearing a dark wig, I grinned.
My performance seemed lackluster tonight. It didn’t provide the same thrill it once did to have the adoration of dozens of women. Only one mattered to me.
Now that I’d found my mate, I didn’t know how much longer I wanted to continue working here. What was the point of spending so much time at a job you didn’t like? I never thought I’d say that about dancing, but I also never thought I’d find a mate.
Once I saw Zoe at the back of the club, the passion returned, firing my performance. I put more oomph into my thrusts as I danced over to her. Why not have a little fun with foreplay for later?
I reached her table and bent down, brushing my lips against her cheek. “Hey beautiful. Did you miss me?”
Zoe turned away with a tight-lipped expression. Ah right, maybe I was coming on too strong for public. I’d save the affection for when we were alone later.
“Lucas, I’m here for a reason.” Her expression remained hard and somewhat unreadable.
“What is it?”
“The demon we caught is one that held Gianna captive. The other one and the sirens have been here. You need to be careful.”
I stood and searched around while keeping up the pretense of dancing for Zoe. If anyone was watching us, they shouldn’t suspect a thing.
“As do you,” I replied, worry snaking up my spine. Zoe constantly threw herself into danger, and I wanted to protect her. “I’ll finish up here and meet you at the entrance.”
After rushing to get dressed backstage, I met up with Zoe, and we sat in her car. She summarized all that had happened that day.
“We need to warn Frank since we now know for sure that demons were in his club.”
A bitter taste filled my mouth. “Okay, you’re right. Although I don’t know if that’s going to help.” All I wanted to do was take her somewhere to keep her safe. “Do you want to come back to my place?”
She bit her lower lip and glanced straight ahead through the windshield. “No.”
“Uh oh,” I teased. “What did I do?” Although I kept my tone light, unease slithered beneath my skin.
“We can’t do this anymore.” She brought her gaze to meet mine.
“What?”
“This?” She motioned in the space between our bodies. “Us.”
I blinked and rubbed between my brows. “Zoe, what’s wrong? I thought things were going great between us.”
Her lips parted. “It’s not working for me. Besides, it’s not like you wanted anything more than a few nights of fun.”
“That’s not true.” Although maybe that had been my intention in the beginning, that was before I had gotten to know her. Since then, I’d fallen for her hard, and now that I knew she was my mate…
A thickness formed in my throat. Why was she doing this? “What’s bothering you? Is it something I did?”
