Skyborn (Dragons & Druids #1)(17)

The moment we entered the dark room I was saturated with sights and sounds that were foreign to me. The music was beyond weird. Some kind of tribal drum and bass, but with a high-pitched live singer. It wasn’t bad, just different. The smell… was a mix of dog, metal and alcohol. The place was a pretty good size, with a large U-shaped bar off to the left, and a stage and dance floor to the right. I could see a second floor VIP area as well, with people leaning on the railing and looking down at the dancers. Up on the stage was a pencil-thin singer with purple-dyed hair and a half a dozen backup dancers. Now that we were inside, Keegan dropped my arm and Logan replaced him, clutching tightly to my upper arm and dragging me across the dance floor.

“I know how to walk,” I growled. What was with this handoff? Logan, Keegan, Logan again. It was like Keegan was just the alpha for show but Logan really called the shots. Their dynamic was weird and hard to read.

“And I know how to keep you alive,” he countered, maneuvering through a crowd of burly men wearing business suits and holding scotch glasses.

As we passed, one of them looked right at me and his nostrils flared. Then just as quickly his face scrunched in repulsion.

“Who are they?” I indicated the business-suited men after we had passed. Logan was speed-walking us to the VIP lounge.

He glanced at the men and then leaned into me. “Those are Collectors. Very powerful sorcerers that would cut us into a thousand pieces and sell us for parts if they knew what we were.”

My gut clenched and I felt fear saturate my body. My dragon stirred in anxiety and I knew it would be suicide if I transformed now, so I took three deep breaths.

I am safe. I am safe. I am safe. Logan will keep me safe, I chanted to my dragon.

The fear dissipated a little and her stirring lessoned. Shit, that was a close call.

Logan seemed to understand. “After tonight, I need to train you, for all of our sakes,” he grumbled.

I just nodded. I didn’t know where I saw myself tomorrow, next week, next year. I was living this shitstorm one day at a time.

Keegan and the rest of the pack arrived at my back as we reached the VIP lounge staircase.

“Logan!” A twenty-something brunette stick figure with boobs shrieked as she jumped up and down.

Logan looked embarrassed. “Hey, Monica. Is Eva upstairs? It’s urgent.”

Monica scrunched her nose up at me and looked beyond us at an injured Nadine and Gear.

“Sure thing.” She unhooked the velvet cord that barred our access and let us upstairs. As we walked up the first few steps, I heard Sophie’s voice behind me as she muttered to Monica: “Slut.”

Monica fired back: “Dog.”

My eyebrows hit my hairline. It seemed Sophie wasn’t the friendly type.

“Not tonight, ladies,” Keegan warned with a growl in his throat.

Damn, Sophie didn’t hold back her feelings, did she? She had zero filter between thoughts to verbal utterances, and she seemed to have a lot of enemies. Including me.

As we made our way up the stairs, Logan muttered to me: “Sophie is a tough nut to crack, but once she lets you in, she’s a fiercely loyal friend.”

“Right. I’ll keep that in mind when we become besties,” I growled. I didn’t even want to think about her letting Logan “in.”

As we reached the top of the stairs, I saw that we had been transported to a plush and swanky velvet lounge. The walls, the couches, the table tops, everything was black and purple velvet. People milled around, some doing the gross making out thing and others just talking, but one couple caught my eye.

The man wore a suit and top hat, and in his right hand was yellow fire! It floated about a quarter of an inch off of his palm, and the woman he was with was using her hand to change the colors. The flame flickered from yellow to blue to green as she waved her fingers.

Logan saw me looking and yanked me away. “Lower class magic users. Just a party trick. Come on.”

Just a party trick? That was the coolest thing I had ever seen. As we passed the low-lit tables I saw that above the tables were cutouts in the walls. Dancers wearing tiny purple velvet shorts and matching purple velvet bras thrust their hips out to the music. Most of the dancers were female but a few were male. Tip jars lay at their feet and were overflowing with twenty-dollar bills. Damn, I was in the wrong business.

I heard Keegan growl low behind me. Craning my head back, I saw him glaring at one of the male dancers. A bar patron was shoving a twenty dollar bill in the elastic of his waistband. Once he had finished tucking the bill in, the bar patron turned back to look at Keegan as if he sensed or smelled him. He had sleek black hair, shaved at the sides and big on top—one of those hot hipster guys. He took one look at Keegan, his mouth pursing to a thin line, and gave a little wave before turning back towards the dancer.

Nadine was white as a sheet in Keegan’s arms, but spoke through gritted teeth. “If you still love him, then you should just tell him.”

Keegan scoffed and looked elsewhere. “He’s the one who left.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise. Damn, big badass alpha was gay? My gaydar must be broken because I could usually call that. That’ll teach me not to stereotype. As we beelined it towards a set of double doors, I saw the guy Keegan had been sulking about look longingly at Keegan’s back. Love could be painful, and in this moment, I was super glad to be single.