The Night Shift

MADDIE

The bouncers lorded over the line outside of Club Emerald like birds of prey.

Harry and I strode toward them, past all the party hopefuls. The girls in tiny shorts and massive combat boots. The guys wearing silver rings and collars.

A sea of tattoos, piercings, and black leather.

Entrancing dance music pounded through the concrete walls, getting louder and louder as we approached the entrance.

I knew I stood out from the crowd. I felt all of their eyes on me as I strutted to the front.

I wore a tiny dress made of chainmail that rattled when I walked, hugging every curve of my body and glittering in the light.

It was the perfect outfit for the mate of two dragon lords.

Paired with my platform motorcycle boots, it was obvious I meant business.

Harry and I paused before the hulking bouncers.

I glanced at my best friend from under black eyelids. My dramatic eyeliner was sharp enough to cut.

Harry was dressed to impress as well. He wore multiple gold chains and tight, snakeskin pants.

Selling overhead allowed both of us to live large.

The bouncer nodded to us, his expression unchanging behind dark sunglasses.

And just like that, we were in.

Even the entrance corridor was packed with people. Couples were kissing in dark corners, whispering on benches, or strutting toward the dance floors.

Flashing lights pulsed on the walls, leading us deeper into the club.

The familiar scenery accelerated my heart rate. I couldn’t help but think of my mates, the owners of this sinful sanctuary.

And what had happened the last time I was here.

Some might say I was stupid to return. But I had missions to complete.

I’d piss off Hael, who thought he could tell me what to do.

I’d find Loch again. This time, to stop him.

And of course, I’d sell overhead.

Before, I was scared to return to this depraved place. But now, as the beat mounted, my resolve hardened.

“Ready to party?” Harry asked, playfully punching my arm.

I smiled as I walked the hall in time with the pounding bass.

Sometimes, selling overhead felt like fuckin’ ~work.~ But tonight, I was in the mood.

Tonight, my work was my play.

A woman materialized at my side, dressed in a skimpy outfit made of red latex. When I glanced in her direction, she winked.

I grinned.

The first deal of the night.

I pulled a canister from my bag and passed it to her—then felt the deliciously dry stack of bills in my hand.

As she prowled away, blowing a kiss over her shoulder, I turned to my partner in crime.

“Fuck ya, Harry. I’m ready to party.”

***

An hour later, Harry and I were at the fifth-floor bar, enjoying a truly ~divine~ bottle of whiskey at the top of the club.

“More ice!” I called over the techno, and the bartender appeared with two huge ice spheres for our tumblers.

“Is this what it’s like to be rich?” Harry asked as he clinked his glass against mine.

In the last hour alone, Harry and I had sold almost a thousand bucks’ worth of overhead. Since we were becoming regulars here at Emerald, our customers came to us.

Selling overhead in the club was like selling water in the desert.

It was too easy.

“Yes,” I answered, feeling the sweet burn of the liquor down my throat. “And it feels so ~fucking~ good.”

I slammed my glass down on the bar, tipping my head back to the night.

Hael wanted me to give up this feeling?

~Nuh-uh.~

“Remember when we were poor?” Harry asked.

He was obviously wasted. But his question was so hilarious that I burst out laughing. Maybe I was a little wasted, too…

Half of our bottle was already gone.

“Hardly,” I replied, though of course I was lying. I remembered all too well the nights I went to bed with an empty stomach.

“You know,” I went on, sinking into a reflective mood, “I always thought stealing was, like, morally better than selling drugs. But now I wonder why I didn’t just do this the whole time!”

Just then, a skinny man thrust himself up to the bar between us. His face was sallow, his lips were cracked, and his bleary eyes flickered between Harry and me.

I made the deal and tucked the bills into my purse.

“Yeah, it is morally...questionable.” Harry winced as our customer stumbled away. “Which is why our friends have turned against us.”

I didn’t exactly appreciate the shift in conversation.

I angled away from him, looking out at the club.

The dance floor was writhing like a living thing. Lights swiveled and pivoted, sending spotlights down into the mass of dancers.

The DJ stood on her platform, spinning records and grooving as her throbbing bassline grew slightly more up-tempo. The people whooped and hollered.

“Hey, I actually wanted to talk to you about this, Maddie,” Harry said soberly.

“About what?”

“Well, all the tension in our friend group. I’m really glad you and I are tight, but I miss Darshan and stuff. I miss doing stuff all together.

“I wonder if we should just quit like everyone wants us to,” he sighed. “I haven’t heard from Darren about more product, so maybe he’s over it.”

As I took a drink, my hand shook violently.

I continued staring out at the party, though I wasn’t seeing much.

Part of me wanted to tell Harry what I knew...but I thought better of it.

Harry was the only friend with whom I wasn’t on thin ice. If I told him one of my dragon mates had tortured Darren—maybe to death—I was pretty sure I’d be frozen out of my friend group for good.

I finished my glass, feeling my insides burn and then go numb.

Is that really what brought me to the club, to drown my sorrows in techno and booze?

I wanted to forget what I had seen, but I was haunted.

“Yo, Maddie.”

Harry touched my arm.

I met his eye. He was clearly worried about me.

But I didn’t even know where to start. It was better not to talk.

“Harry, can we dance now?” I asked.

I stood up and shook my hips, making my metal dress glitter under the strobes.

“Fine,” he said. “I want to talk about this again, though. Sometime when we’re not drunk as fuck. And not at work.”

He laughed at his own joke as I led him toward the throng of dancers. Tipping back his head, he drank whiskey right from our bottle.

We wiggled our way through the crowd, past hundreds of nearly-nude bodies writhing to the music.

We made our way to the front until the DJ rose above us like a goddess.

The beat was building. Lights were flashing madly. Pink, then white, then pink.

The music was just what I needed. I didn’t have to think. I just had to ~dance.~

Harry offered me the bottle and I took a swig. It tasted like fire. It made my vision softer and brighter at the edges.

With my arms above my head, I let the feeling move me.

I closed my eyes as the melody poured over me like water.

I moved like no one was watching me. Like I was alone. Like it was a party just for Harry and me, and we were rocking the fuck out.

When my eyes opened again, the lights were strobing quicker, submerging dancers in darkness for moments at a time.

It made the movements of the crowd look unnatural and accelerated. It seemed like the whole club was twitching.

I saw so many gaunt faces around me, absorbed in dancing or whatever high was consuming their minds.

Everywhere I looked were round, saucer eyes, open mouths…

Overhead.

It was everywhere.

The party was dosed.

And it was because of me.

I thought of my own encounter with the drug, when that fucker Dominic dosed me with a heavy spray to the face. I didn’t remember much of anything about that night.

It was enough to keep me wary of everyone’s favorite high. As I looked around, I knew it was the drug that let people lose themselves.

I had to admit, it looked fun. But I knew it was a slippery slope from the dance floor to the gutter.

Images of Dane and Aneurin flashed before my eyes, dosing in the alleys of the Skeleton Quarter.

The party couldn’t last forever. But the craving could.

Suddenly, I felt eyes on me from somewhere on the dance floor.

When I saw him, my heart stopped.

~Loch.~

He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed on his chest. Watching me.

He wore a crisp white button down and a smirk.

My stomach turned, but it wasn’t with disgust.

I was determined.

As I gazed at him through the fog, I made up my mind.

I would end Lochness tonight.

And, even more shocking, I felt drawn to him. Like a moth to a flame.

A ~dragon’s~ flame.

I knew what he was capable of. My mind was repulsed, but my body didn’t care.

I wasn’t in the mood to dance anymore.

I was in the mood to wipe that smirk off his face...with my mouth.

Then the rest of me.

It was a familiar sensation, this longing. My brand throbbed on my back, sending electrical currents down—between my legs.

Was this ~my~ overhead?

My fix?

Were my mates my fucking ~addiction?~

As the dosed crowd jittered around me, I knew it was true. And I was filled with their same drive. The drive to get high.

I had supplied everyone else, so why shouldn’t I have my own fun?

As I drifted away from Harry on the dance floor, I thought of my conversation with Hael.

He thought we needed to work together to get through to Lochness.

But I had a plan to reach him. Right now. Alone.

And it was so crazy, it just might work…