My nostrils flared. “Well, you did it all the same.” I pointed at her. “You had no right to butt into my business. I thought we were friends.”
“We are.” Nova stepped backwards. “But Zoe’s my friend, too. I didn’t know you were serious about her. I didn’t want her to have any wrong expectations and get hurt.”
“So instead, you ensured that happened to me,” I accused with a dead stare.
“I’m sorry, Lucas. That wasn’t my intention,”
“Do me a favor,” I spat. “Stay the hell out of my life.” I turned and walked away from her. The house. My roommates. I couldn’t stand the idea of spending time with them as they got all gooey doing their mushy couple cuddles. Blech. Why did they get to be happy with their mates but not me?
To hell with them. All of them.
My personal country song had more fuel to add to the fire. Now I’d alienated my friends and considered moving out. What an epic day.
I had to get away from them. From myself. Where the hell should I go?
We could fly, my dragon suggested.We could go find our mate.
No. You got us into this mess that way to begin with.
I wouldn’t fly, wouldn’t reward my dragon for being the cause of my misery. If we never met Zoe, I wouldn’t dwell in all this despair. I could have continued my life the way it was. Happy.
Sure, maybe the way I’d been living seemed superficial in comparison, but at least I wouldn’t have to live with this ever-present torment of loss.
Zoe
Two days had passed since I’d ended it with Lucas. I buried myself in work to try to forget.
It wasn’t working.
When it was time for a meeting, I slogged into the conference room. Regret weighed my steps. It was a constant companion these last two days. Yet I had to swallow it down to snap out of it.
“I haven’t been able to get anything else from Jakob,” Cassandra told us. “Apparently, what Gianna got from him is all we have to go on right now.”
Pandora tapped her slender fingers on the mahogany table. “And we don’t know if there’s any truth to his claims. We learned from Gianna and Sebastian that those demons can sense fear and prey on it. Jakob could have been using Gianna’s against her.”
That was another possibility among the countless ones with this case. The demons could be playing us as a diversion—or a distraction. Jakob could have lied to Gianna to steer us away from actual plans.
“Wouldn’t the magical fortifications stop his abilities or at least hamper them?” I asked.
“That’s the hope,” Pandora replied.
“In which case, he could be screwing with Gianna,” Nova added.
“Yet we don’t know for sure, so we must take his threats seriously.” Pandora spread out a topographical map on the conference table where a group of us met. “Where have we covered?”
“We’ve been continuing our search along these ley lines,” Cassandra traced their path on the map.
I pushed my hair out of my face as I bent to study the map. When I pinpointed the location of Lucas’s club, I clenched my jaw. It wasn’t the time to let my forlorn emotions get the best of me. “I returned to the club this morning and searched outward in an ever-widening circle. That is until I reached the shore.”
The ocean prevented me from continuing to scan for pockets of magical energy.
“We need someone who can continue the search offshore.” Pandora fixed her gaze on me.
I glanced away. Lucas with his ability to fly as a dragon would be useful to soar overhead, but he likely wanted nothing to do with me after last night. “What about the gargoyles?” I suggested.
“They haven’t been able to get a read on that type of magic,” Pandora replied.
Lucas couldn’t either, so I didn’t have a legitimate reason for wanting him here.
