The Succubus and her two Mates

8 | The Club

Entering the strip club like a rockstar, Ronnie strutted and threw her hair back. It was only 11am but Michelle and Sophie were over by the bar leaning back to wait for new customers to enter the place.

"Good morning bitches!"

The two women squealed with delight, rushing to embrace her.

"Ron! You look f*****g amazing."

"So good to see you!"

Bobby, the owner of the club, was behind the bar. "My girl. I wasn't expecting you to come in until four." The older woman smiled warmly at Ronnie.

Ronnie had had a big morning. After her hasty retreat, she had got as far away from the hotel as possible by foot as she had no cash. She had evaded paying a fare on the train where she met a couple of late-night revelers on their way home, who thankfully, had some cash and wanted to buy some of the weed products she had Jon get her the day before. She killed a couple of hours at a café until the realty office opened, taking a coffee to help butter up the property manager to give her the key to the apartment early. She'd been a tough nut to crack, but Ronnie had worn her down.

She'd then bought some cheap bedsheets, a towel from a dollar store and a few bits and pieces, thankful that her apartment came semi-furnished. She'd gotten in a shower and even a half an hour kip before heading to the club. She couldn't sleep or sit around anymore. Her thoughts just kept circling. Circling around the two men she met the night before.

"I couldn't stay away." She looked around, there were a few customers despite just opening. No one was up on the stage yet but music was playing and Betty, the oldest dancer at the club at forty-five, was chatting to the regulars after getting them their drinks and flirting with them shamelessly.

She saw Ronnie and Ronnie blew her a kiss. The dancer grinned and waved.

"Boy, you are a sight for sore eyes," Bobby said.

"Aw shucks," Ronnie gushed.

Bobby had always liked Ronnie. She'd known her grandmother, Minerva, before she passed away. Bobby was one of the only people that knew what Ronnie truly was. She'd started working at the club when she was only sixteen, shortly after Minerva died. Bobby had let her work behind the scenes helping the girls get ready, doing paperwork, cleaning toilets - occasionally serving at the bar illegally. Ronnie had been so fiercely independent. She refused charity, working to pay her own way in life.

Just before she turned eighteen, she'd raised the idea of dancing at the club to Bobby. Bobby hadn't really liked the idea. People loved Ronnie. There was no doubt that she could make good money from this, but her allure was dangerous. Even before her powers fully kicked in after her eighteenth birthday, she caught people's attention- and not always the good kind.

At the time, Bobby had just figured if she was going to do it, she'd rather she did it there where Bobby could keep her safe. How wrong she'd been. No one could have kept Ronnie safe in the end.

Ronnie had had a terrible lot in life. Bobby knew just how much in the most horrible and sad way possible. Her hope was that all the bad things that Ronnie had been through were over. Bobby had done all she could to try to make that happen for the young woman. It had been risky, and she was lucky that the tip she'd called had stayed anonymous. But she worried every day that it would trace back to her. But it was the price, so Ronnie was left alone, and she was glad to pay it.

Bobby had been out of the supernatural realms for decades. Her husband, the Alpha of her pack, had fought to stay as an independent pack when, what was now called, the Unification happened. The now Alpha King had been too strong and swift with his rise to power over the wolf shifters of Therien. Bobby remembered all the battles, such a terrible loss of life. All for the ego of a man.

When her beloved had been killed, she was given the option to submit or go rogue. There was no way she would serve another Alpha after her husband. Never bow down to the Alpha King. Even the thought left a bitter taste in her mouth. So pig headed in thinking he had the supreme right to rule over them all whether they wanted it or not.

Her husband hadn't been her fated mate. She'd been his chosen and he had loved her and she him, with all their being. Still today, grief pinched her heart when she thought of him. She had been so angry when she left. Those first few years were hard. It was very dangerous for a lone she-wolf.

She had not only chosen to be ostracized in her home world, but also coming through into the human realm like so many rogues before her. She had not found solace in any packs formed here, instead continuing as a rogue even in this new world.

She had met Ronnie's grandmother shortly after. They hadn't been bosom buddies, but they had been friends. A tough hand dealt to Minerva also. Minerva had been an outcast from her people as well. She'd left her people to be with a human man, only for him to die from cancer only a few years later, leaving her with a young daughter. No amount of magic can cure that f*****g disease. Bobby's heart broke at what the women in that family endured. Ronnie's mother had grown up without a father and Ronnie grew up without either.

Ronnie was a spitting image of her mother, well, except when she looked like her father. Bobby had only met the young woman, Rachelle, a couple of times. She had been soft. Not in a simpering way. Just gentle. Not made for this world, didn't live in it long. Just long enough to be chewed on and spat out, Ronnie the result.

Bobbie watched Ronnie chatting with the girls. She was telling them some tawdry story about her adventures of the last couple of days. That made Bobby note that she had been out of the hospital for a while without contacting her. That damn girl.

"And I'm telling you, the stubble of his beard against my-"

Bobby caught a bit of her story, whipping her with the end of the tea towel she was holding, laughing at the young woman's unabashed candor, unable to find the energy to be truly mad at the girl.

She looked healthy. Bobby couldn't see any physical repercussions of what had happened over the last year. She was maybe a little bit skinnier than she used to be, but there was still that glint in her eye. She was still a force of nature.

~*~

Ronnie hung around helping out before her shift officially started.

She was lingering about the bar. Helping to serve. Jumping in and taking over any task Bobby tried to start.

"Dammit girl! Get out from under my feet."

Ronnie pulled back chastised, her blue eyes large and soft with faux vulnerability. She knew how to play it up.

"What is it?"

"Well…"

"Spit it out."

"So, soulmates are a big deal, yeah?"

Bobby grunted, "Sure."

"But like, are they really real?" She asked. She loaded up a tray with beers just as Betty came over to collect it.

Bobby shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah. I've known a few people that have found theirs." They had had a conversation like this before. Ronnie, as a young teen, had thought the idea was romantic, but as she had gotten older, Ronnie had heard some things from other people, so had been pretty dismissive of it into her adult years.

"But not everyone has one, yeah?"

Bobby sighed, "The Goddess works in mysterious ways." Hoping that was the end, but Ronnie stood there expectantly.

"What are you getting at Ronnie? He wasn't your mate! Demons can't have mates. I told you that."

Ronnie flinched. She knew Bobby wasn't angry at her. Just the situation.

"Okay…" she looked off into the distance for a moment, her eyes glazing over.

"Ronnie." Bobby softened her tone. "What's wrong? Do you need any help?"

Ronnie shook her head, a brilliant smile transforming her face. "No Bobby, you help me enough as it is."

"Hmmm. Is that why you didn't come to me when you were discharged early?"

Ronnie bit her lip. Bobby knew well enough that meant that she had been up to mischief.

Bobby grunted, "Enough said. Or should I say not said?”

Ronnie just laughed. "I'm going to go out the back and get ready."

She skipped away through the club. She really did still seem like that sixteen-year-old, carefree and whip-smart kid Bobby had known. Maybe she shouldn't have let her come back to work here. It gave her a sad feeling. She hoped the younger woman was going to be okay.

~*~

Michelle and Sophie helped her do her makeup while she told them more dirty details about Brock and Brand. She didn't say their names, but she did imply they were shifters. Both Michelle and Sophie were witches, low powered. She couldn't help it, even with Bobby's confirmation that she couldn't have a soulmate, it had still been a cracking good time, and she couldn't keep them off her mind. She mentioned the obvious attraction the men had for one another. Her voice turned wistful. Sophie asked when she was going to see them next.

Ronnie just laughed and Michelle elbowed Sophie. "As if. You just know that Ronnie has already shattered their hearts into a million pieces."

Ronnie's smile froze on her face for just a second. They knew her all too well.

~*~