By the time they ate lunch together, Arsenic seemed to have settled, but Farrah still wasn’t sure what had happened between them in the bedroom that morning.

One moment everything had felt amazing. She’d felt safe in her body, safe to feel every wonderful thing inside and know that no part of her had died in that prison lab.

One moment she’d been lying there, reveling in the rejuvenating afterglow of orgasm and amazement at how Arsenic could know her body so well…

The next she’d watched him run from her room as though he couldn’t wait to get out of there, like she was a fire and he was gasoline and he didn’t want to be lit up.

But now he was acting normal again. Well, normal for him. As if he’d carefully shoved the wild, passionate bits of himself back inside and zipped it all up so only his cool, distant exterior showed.

Did he really mean it couldn’t happen again? She didn’t want to test him or hurt him, but she couldn’t imagine not having more of what they’d just experienced.

And not only because it had felt amazing, unlike anything in the world, but also because she had felt he enjoyed it, too.

And it seemed it wouldn’t be a bad way to pass time together.

“Is there a reason we can’t do it again?” she asked, poking at the salad he’d made her. “I mean, I thought you enjoyed it, and—”

“We aren’t going to talk about this,” he said. “It was a one-time thing and probably a stupid idea and—”

“It helped me,” she said. “And you’re going to call it stupid?”

“No,” he said, looking frustrated as he ran his hand through his hair. “It’s not that. It’s just…”

“And you enjoyed it, too,” she said, pouting as she took a bite of lettuce.

“Of course I did. You’re beautiful, and—”

“You think I’m beautiful?”

“Of course I do, I—”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The problem is we are playing with fire,” he said. “You don’t want to remember this world. We shouldn’t get more involved than we have to.”

“But we’re already involved,” she said. “Besides, if I’m going to forget anyway, why does it matter if we have a little more fun?”

“Because I don’t get to forget,” he said sharply.

She looked up at him curiously. “Is it betraying your mate or something? Are you not allowed to do this with anyone else?”

“No, but—”

“But what?”

“Will you just let me finish?” he asked, exasperated.

She quieted, putting her hands in her lap. “Sorry.”

“No,” he said, letting out a hiss of frustration. “It’s my fault. The whole thing is my fault. I let us get inappropriately involved when my job is to stand back and protect you.”

“I see,” she said. “Then I guess you don’t have a problem with me seeking it with other humans?”

His eyes narrowed in a millisecond. “Seeking what?”

“Pleasure. The feeling of being alive. The feeling of being all right again.”

“I don’t have a problem with that, no,” he said, but his jaw was taut and a twitch of the muscle near his right eye said otherwise.

“Hm,” she said, resting her cheek in her palm thoughtfully.

Perhaps she was being unfair. Perhaps her feelings for him in the past couple of days were just an infatuation because he was the first person to be there for her and he had rescued her.

Or maybe it was more than that, but he was right. It wasn’t very fair of her to involve him in something emotionally intense for both of them when only she would be able to forget.

What if she didn’t want to forget at the end of all this?

She bit her lip, remembering his words about the oracle saying she was not to be a dragon’s mate. Also, she wasn’t his mate. He’d made as much clear when she’d been propositioning him for sex.

Yet he’d still been patient with her, gone along with her, given her everything she asked.

It was the least she could do to respect his wishes and not push things any further. It was time to stop depending wholly on him and get out in the world and remind herself where she belonged.

That’s what he was here for, after all. To keep her safe while she readjusted so when he left and she forgot, her world would be unchanged.

“Okay,” she said. “I won’t push it anymore, between us I mean. I’m not going to be reckless out there, but I’m not going to say no to good people and good opportunities. If we can’t be together, then—”

“Right,” he said tightly. “You have every right to live as you want.”

“Okay,” she said, pulling out her phone and turning it in her hands, thinking about what they should go do that night. The last thing she wanted to do was stay in, trying to ignore the sexual tension between her and her gorgeous but emotionally unavailable dragon.

Besides, it wasn’t fair for him to bear all of her burden.

As if in answer to her problem, her phone beeped, and she looked down to see that it was a text from Brooke, a nurse she’d worked with. A good co-worker and friend.

B: Hey! I heard you were back in town!

Farrah felt Arsenic watching her as she read the text. She expected to feel more as she thought about seeing her old friends again, but she didn’t feel much of anything.

Not a good sign. Maybe she wasn’t as fine as she thought she was.

But she wouldn’t know unless she tried to find out.

F: Yup. Applied for my old job again, too. How are you doing?

She hit send and set her phone on the counter, awaiting a response.

“Who is that?” Arsenic asked suspiciously.

“A friend,” she said.

“Male or female?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Does it matter?”

He bit his lip angrily, clearly trying to stifle an inappropriate retort. “Males do tend to pose more danger, yes.”

“It’s a female friend,” Farrah said in a tired voice. “She just wants to catch up. We used to hang out after work a lot.” Her phone beeped, and she looked down again.

B: I’m doing great! A few of us are going to the club tonight, and we thought it would be so fun if you joined us!

Farrah felt a jolt of energy as she remembered many nights out with the other nurses, dancing the night away under flashing lights, fruity drinks in hand.

Those times seemed so simple, so far away…

But they didn’t have to be.

F: Sure, I’d love to come. Can I bring a friend? He’s staying with me from out of town.

B: Ooh, is this a romantic situation? You came back with a boy?

F: No. Nothing like that. Just a friend. I think you’ll like him.

But Farrah wasn’t so sure about that. Sure, the nurses would definitely like how Nic looked, but as to his behavior? She wasn’t sure.

B: Sure! The more the merrier, as long as he doesn’t try to interfere in girl time!

Since girl time meant dancing in a group and enjoying margaritas together at the bar, Farrah was pretty sure Arsenic would fully approve “girl time.”

F: Okay. When?

B: Club Seven at 9:00. Want us to pick you up?

Farrah considered it for a moment and then decided that was a good idea. Then she could get her drink on and not have to worry about Arsenic driving.

F: Are you sure?

B: Sure. I work early tomorrow anyway, so I’ll be the designated driver. It’ll just be good to see you again!

F: You, too. See you then.

B: See you. :)

Farrah set down the phone, smiling at the thought of seeing her friends again. She’d never been particularly close with any of them, but they were good people, and she’d enjoyed hanging out with them and blowing off work steam.

“What is it?” Arsenic asked, cocking his head and glaring darkly. “You were texting a lot. Is something happening?”

“No,” she said. “Arsenic, not everything is some kind of urgent danger. My friends just want to go clubbing tonight.”

“Clubbing what?” he asked, looking interested.

“Not clubbing things,” she said, letting out an exasperated snort of laughter. “Going to a club. For dancing.”

“Oh,” he said, looking oddly disappointed. “I see.”

“Are you good to come with?”

“Anywhere you’re going, I’m going,” he said. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

“With you, how could it not be?” she asked, flattering his ego.

He puffed up a little at that. “I suppose you’re right. Still, we’ll have to be careful.”

“And you aren’t going to say no?”

“Of course not,” he said, leaning back in his chair, arms folded once again. “After all, it’s not for me to say what you want to do now that you’re back in your world.” He glanced to the side, flushing slightly. “Besides, you seem excited about it, so…”

She warmed at that, trying not to think about how adorable he could be sometimes.

Sure, her shifter guard could be thoughtful, sexy, and a beast in the bedroom.

But he wasn’t to be hers. They were from different worlds, and above all, she needed to remember that.

“Okay, well, I’m going to nap and then get ready.” She gave him a beaming smile. “Thanks, Arsenic. For being so great.”

He shrugged and went back to his salad, eating it and probably plotting the death of anyone who bothered them while clubbing.

She smiled and decided to be grateful she had such a good friend watching out for her, rather than hateful that they couldn’t be more.

* * *

As they drove to the club, piling in Farrah’s friend’s car, Arsenic was pretty sure he was experiencing divine punishment for daring to lay his hands on Farrah.

She was painfully beautiful tonight, wearing a slinky black top that dipped low in the back, plus tight black jeans and shoes that looked like deadly weapons, along with giving her more height and a very sexy curve to her legs.

Her curls had been tamed and styled, accented with some sort of jeweled band, and her eyes were lined with kohl, winged at the edges. Her full lips were a daring red that would tempt any male in the vicinity.

He could swear she was trying to punish him by being so beautiful.

But he knew she wasn’t. She seemed genuinely happy to be with her friends, and he’d already told her more couldn’t happen between them.

And even if he had to hold back for the sake of his own feelings, he had no right to tell her to hold back from living just because he was there and falling for her like a stupid dragon who didn’t know his place in the world.

Tonight would probably be a good wake-up call. A perfect, punishing reminder that she belonged in the human world. Would mate with a human, as the oracle had said.

And he would be wise to keep his distance, no matter how much his dragon thought otherwise.

He couldn’t believe the unfairness of it, that his dragon would be so insistent on the one woman he wasn’t allowed to have. The universe had never really been fair to him, and he had always made his own luck within it.

So tonight he would focus on the one thing that had always brought him worth and solace. Being useful, being effective.

Being a protector.

He was wearing a leather jacket over a gray shirt, along with jeans. He had a harness built into the jacket and had strapped extra daggers to it, just in case.

If shit did break loose, he wondered how many humans killed would be an acceptable number to the oracle.

Probably zero. Shit.

He tuned back in as he realized Farrah’s friends were giggling and talking about him again, though he didn’t really care what they were saying.

“So you and Farrah really aren’t together?” the one driving, a brunette whose name was Brooke, asked. She winked at him.

“Focus on the road,” he said sharply, making her pout. Still, safety should come before everything. As for her question, he was still rankling at Farrah telling everyone he was just a friend, making him fair game for all kinds of unwanted human attention.

He was here to do his job, nothing more. Besides, he wasn’t really interested in any human besides Farrah.

Tina, a blond friend with way too much paint on her face, stroked his arm, and he jumped back, shocked by her forwardness. “You’re hot. Super hot,” she slurred.

“Clearly, Tina got her drink on a bit early,” the black-haired woman on the other side of him said with a grin. He thought her name was Nat. “Leave him alone, Tina.”

He was about to give Nat a grateful smile when he felt her put a hand around his arm and tug him against her.

“Because he’s mine,” Nat said, resting her head against him and looking up with googly eyes.

Arsenic looked at Farrah, who was settled safely in the front seat, the traitor. She gave him a look of amusement and then turned to talk with Brooke once again.

Well, he was a big, solid dragon. If he couldn’t handle a little flirting with humans, he didn’t deserve his job.

Truthfully, at another time, this much attention from females would have pleased him. He’d come to Earth with the other dragons to find a suitable mate, and he’d been excited about all of the human options.

But something had changed when he met Farrah, and now no other woman seemed to catch his eye at all.

He was quiet the rest of the trip and heard a raucous cheer from the women when they pulled up in front of a not-too-big building that had neon lights around the roof and a neon sign in front.

“This is it?” he asked Farrah once they’d gotten out of the car and he was walking beside her. “This is where humans dance?”

She turned to him with a shushing finger, though she needn’t have bothered, as her friends were already walking ahead, laughing.

Luckily, they had forgotten him for the moment, too excited by the drinks and dancing at hand.

“You can’t just say things are human,” she said with a smile. “It makes it clear you aren’t one.”

“Ah,” he said. “But why here? It looks dark.” He sniffed the air. “And it smells funny.”

“It’s just something we do,” she said. “What do you do for fun on Drakkaris?”

“Fun?” he asked.

Her lips pursed, looking so delicious with that red on them. “You know. Dancing. Celebrating.”

“All I did was assassinate people. Work was my life. I had to keep the kingdom safe.”

“Then now is your chance to have some fun,” she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him along. He liked the feel of her touch, even as he knew he was a doofus for it.

When they got inside, loud, pulsing music filled his ears, and he saw lights from overhead moving across the dark dance floor, which was pretty much packed with humans.

“So do dragons dance?”

He wrinkled his nose. “I don’t think so.”

“Then you should wait at the bar, because I’m going out with my friends,” Farrah said, pulling him to a long bar and pushing him toward an empty stool, which he took.

It did seem like a good place to keep an eye on the action.

She grabbed his hands and gave them an excited squeeze. “You’ll be okay here?”

He nodded tersely.

“Thanks so much,” she said. Then she went over to her friends, who were already writhing and jumping on the dance floor in a way that was uniquely human, as far as he could tell.

They looked utterly frivolous, but for some reason, the sight of Farrah jumping and putting her hands in the air with her friends made him smile.

Until he saw a man approach the group, holding up drinks toward the women. Arsenic sighed in relief when Brooke waved the man away, and the girls went back to dancing.

They seemed to be very interested in this particular song.

When it ended, Brooke came over to him, face happy and shining with sweat. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” he said.

“You should come dance.”

His eyes lit on Farrah. “I’m fine.”

Brooke followed his eyes. “Ah. Things not so simple between you?”

“To put it lightly.”

She gave him a sympathetic smile and waved down the bartender to make an order. When he brought the drinks in little glasses, she carefully picked them up in both hands, leaving one for him. “Take it. It’ll make you feel better. Something tells me you need to lighten up.”

She was gone before he had a chance to scowl at her, leaving him staring at the small drink as she took the rest to her friends.

Curious about the strength of human liquor, he picked it up and threw it back in one swallow. Then he coughed. It was stronger than he’d expected, but nothing compared to Drakkaris wine.

He waved down the bartender and slid him some human money as he watched more men approach Farrah and her friends.

There were enough people here that he was pretty sure bad behavior was unlikely, and besides, he could probably drink a dozen of these human drinks and barely feel fuzzy. Plus, an assassin with his skill level could probably still end half the people here while drunk and with his eyes closed.

The bartender set the next drink down, and Arsenic swallowed it in a hurry. It burned again, and he waved for another.

By the third, he felt something. Just a small bit of fuzzy buzzing.

But not enough to kill the stab of pain when he saw Farrah agree to one of the men who wanted to dance with her. With panic, he looked at the other couples dancing, the erotic sway of their hips, the closeness of their bodies.

If he was going to dance, he’d want to do it like that, with Farrah.

And if another man did that with her, he’d need about a dozen more drinks to be able to stand it.

Farrah smiled at the man, and Arsenic signaled the bartender.