But he didn’t make it far.

I saw him at the door, yanking on the handle. It wouldn’t budge. Luc stalked toward him. In his true form, Sean burst away from the door as Luc stopped in the center of the dance floor. A faint whitish glow appeared over Luc’s form. The air crackled and thinned, as if the oxygen were being sucked out of the entire room. I tried to take a breath, but it burned. I stumbled back, bumping into the shelf. Liquor bottles rattled.

“I am done with this,” Luc said, closing his hand into a fist.

The light around Sean’s body pulsed to an intense, nearly blinding white light. He jerked, falling to his knees. His back bowed as he threw his arms out. The light around him began to flicker rapidly and then it went out. Stopped. Oxygen rushed back into the room as Sean toppled forward, unmoving. A dark pool appeared under him, seeping across the floor.

My wide gaze lifted from the fallen Luxen to where Luc stood. The hazy glow receded back into him. So that was the difference between a Luxen and an Origin. The latter was able to kill by closing its hand.

Dear God.

“Well.” Luc sighed, looking at the floor—at the bodies. “That escalated quickly.”

Grayson shoved a hand over his head, pushing his hair back from his face. “That it did.” He looked over at me. “I think the girl is traumatized.”

Still holding the bottle of liquor, I glanced at the bodies. They looked so . . . weird. Like props from a science-fiction movie.

Luc slowly turned to me. His chest rose with a heavy sigh. “I’m pretty sure I told you to stay in the room.”

“No.” I forced my gaze away from the dead Luxen. “You said I couldn’t come down with you.”

He walked over to me, ignoring the bodies as if they weren’t even there. “You do realize that meant the same thing.” He stopped in front of me and reached out, prying my fingers off the bottle. He placed it back on the bar behind me as his eyes met mine. “Are you okay?”

My hands fell to my sides. “Yeah.”

His gaze flickered over my face and he seemed to draw in another deep breath. His voice was low when he spoke. “I had to, you know? I had to do that. Those Luxen were not good Luxen.”

I swallowed. “I sort of figured that out.”

“I’ve had a few run-ins with Wayland. He knew better than to bring them here.”

“They were invading Luxen, right?” When he nodded, I exhaled roughly. “That’s why you wouldn’t help them?”

His gaze searched mine. “I didn’t help them because they have no respect for human life. That’s why.”

My heart pounded in my chest.

“Wayland knew that any Luxen who would be a threat to a human would not receive my aid.”

“If they knew that, then why did they come to you?”

“Because they were desperate.” Luc looked away then, and I saw that Grayson was no longer on the club floor. “The task forces are ferreting out unregistered Luxen every day, and I have a feeling they’d done things that had brought unnecessary attention to themselves. They were bad.”

Having heard the way they’d spoken told me that, but would things have escalated like they had if I hadn’t been here? Guilt formed an uneasy knot in my stomach. “I should’ve stayed in your room.”

“Yeah.” His gaze slid back to mine. “You should’ve.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, fully understanding that if I’d stayed in the room, things might not have—

“Things would’ve ended the same way,” Luc cut into my thoughts. “Whether you stayed in the room or not, but you could’ve been hurt.”

“Don’t read my mind.”

He stared at me, somewhat unapologetically.

I sighed heavily. “They were scary, Luc.”

“They are. Most Luxen care for humans. Some don’t. Those Luxen were dangerous.” He leaned in, placing one hand on the bar, beside my hip. His lashes lowered. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m sorry you could’ve been hurt.”

I really could’ve been.

“She called you Peaches?” A faint smile tugged at his lips as he lifted his gaze. “I kind of like that.”

My nose wrinkled. “I don’t.”

“It works for you.”

“It’s just . . . lotion.”

“No.” He let his head fall back. “It’s more than that.”

I had no idea what to say to that. My gaze started to trek back over to the bodies. “Are all Origins capable of what you did?”

“No.” Two fingertips curled under my chin, guiding my stare away from the fallen Luxen. Luc lifted my head. He didn’t speak as our gazes connected. Silence stretched out between us. I should have been frightened of him, especially after seeing that. I should have been running out that door and screaming at the top of my lungs.

But I wasn’t.

I wanted to be, because that seemed smarter, feeling that way.

But I wasn’t.

“Most weren’t as . . . skilled as I am,” he said, and I couldn’t suppress the shiver skating over me. “But there were a few who were a hell of lot scarier than me. Ones who . . .”

“Who what?” I whispered.

“Origins that lacked all humanity.” His thick lashes lowered, shielding his eyes. “Ones I thought I could change—teach them to be empathetic, to be more human. I learned that even though we want to believe that there is never a lost cause, there are examples of such. There are times when there is nothing we can do to change an outcome.”

“I don’t want to believe that there are people out there who are lost causes,” I admitted. “It feels too defeatist.”

His fingers dipped, barely grazing the center of my throat. A different kind of shiver skated over me. “It’s being realistic, Peaches.”

“Don’t call me that,” I said, pulse thundering as the pupils of his eyes faded into a fuzzy black.

“What in the world did I miss?”

We both turned, finding Kent standing by the stage. Luc stepped back, and I felt like I could breathe again.

“I have to cut our time together short,” Luc said, dragging a hand over his messy bronze hair. “I’ll make sure you get home safe.”

“Wait. Why wouldn’t I get home safe?”

“Luxen come in threes, and from what I know of Sean and Charity, they have a brother. He may be dead already or he may come walking through the doors any minute, looking for his siblings.”

Holy crap, that was right. Luxen were triplets. I’d just never seen a complete set of them.

“Grayson is making sure no one is lingering outside right now, but I’d rather be safe than sorry and have you out of here just in case.”

Kent looked over at us. “Seriously? Why are there dead Luxen on the floor? And better yet, who is cleaning that up? Cuz it ain’t me.”

Luc ignored him. “You’re okay. Just didn’t want to take chances.”

I suddenly remembered what Sean had said about misunderstandings. “Wait. Do you think they have something to do with what happened to Colleen and Amanda?”

A weird look flickered across Luc’s face, one I couldn’t read because it was gone before I had a chance to really figure it out. “They could be,” he said, but for some reason, I didn’t think he believed that. He took my hand, pulling me out from behind the bar. “If there is another one, Grayson will find him.”

“Really? Because Grayson literally just sat there that whole time,” I pointed out. “The only thing he seems capable of finding is a lollipop.”

Kent snorted. “Sounds like Grayson.”

“It’ll be okay,” Luc said, his gaze flickering over me as he led me to Kent. “I’d just rather you be home at the moment and not here.”

Kent’s brows lifted. “Oh wow, tonight sounds like it’s going to be fun. Can’t wait. Still not cleaning up that mess.”

“But—” I paused as Kent patted my shoulder. I shook my head, turning from him. “Wait. We haven’t—”