I notice Lila’s spine stiffen slightly. It’s similar to something she mentioned earlier about having no choice in who her mates are except me. “Yes, that is a great idea. Thank you for recommending the alternative.” Lila breathes a small sigh of relief. I guess the decision was eating her up.
“First things first. Tomorrow, you need to see the rest of the show. I can’t believe you’ve been with us for over two weeks and haven’t seen the whole thing yet,” William mutters.
“In my defense, a week of that was spent in space, and it’s your fault for running me ragged that first week,” Lila argues and sticks out her tongue.
“Okay, how about we get some dinner and sit down for a nice meal?” Eric suggests, standing up and brushing off his pants. “I don’t know about everyone else, but I want to hear more about Lila’s life when she was growing up. We’ve been so busy with all of the circus stuff, we haven’t really had a chance to learn about that.”
“I’m not sure what you want to know. It wasn’t very exciting,” she tells him, and he waves a hand.
“I want to know about your first boyfriend and hobbies and activities and all that stuff we would have known had you been in our lives.”
She giggles, and I raise an eyebrow.
“What’s so funny?” I ask her.
“I was just thinking about who or what my first boyfriend would have been if I had actually grown up in the circus. I bet it would have been very different than the one I had.”
“It would have been me,” Xavier growls. “If my parents had not interfered, there would have been no way I would have let you see any other boys.”
She giggles harder. “Funnily enough, your Earth glamour kind of looks like my first boyfriend did. All punk rock and angst. So I guess you’re not far off the mark.”
He growls again as the rest of us chuckle and settle in for an evening of family time.
Lila
The morning was spent hiring crew to handle the concession and souvenir stands. It didn’t take long, and the ones we hired had previously done the same job at other times for the circus, so thankfully, interviews weren’t needed. I ran around supervising the unloading and displaying of the merchandise, as well as the setup of the food vendors and equipment in the catering kitchen. The grandpas kind of just threw me on headfirst with very little instruction, and even if it’s tooting my own horn just a little, I think I did an amazing job. I was originally worried I’d have to stop people from trying to sneak backstage, but they were all professional and knew the drill. I deflected a few questions from one or two newbies, but the majority were just happy to get on with the job. The newbies realized that their questions weren’t going to be answered, so they gave up after a while too.
Our merchandise ranges from stylish shirts and hoodies to plush lightning cats and ridiculous tentacle plushies that doubled as scarves. I can’t deny that one of the latter may have found its way around my neck, but I plan on hiding it from Cas later so he won’t tease me. It’s nothing like the real thing, but it helps ease the ache I feel from not seeing him all that much over the last few days.
The sun starts to sink, headlights begin to pull into the parking lot, and the arena starts to fill up slowly. I take that as my cue to get out of the way. The excited buzz of the patrons was enough to get my own adrenaline pumping, and when I took my seat between Eric and John, I couldn’t wait for it to start.
“I’m so excited to see the rest of the show,” I tell Eric as I hand them both a beer that I grabbed on my way down. Our seats are in the front row, and I have an up close and personal view of the performances. Although I wish I could be watching strictly for pleasure, my future role as owner of the circus requires this to also be a business meeting.
“The beginning looks a little different now too,” he replies, taking it from me. “Caspian has worked hard to revise it, and both of the new shifters have integrated well. I’ll make sure that you get a chance to meet them later.”
“Yes, although it is still juggling, fire breathing, and knife throwing, they added another element to it. It’s a fake fight between the two new shifters. Anyway, you’ll see. I think the audience will like it.” John sounds just as eager as I am about their new performance.
Like before, my new senses kick in, but this time it’s easy enough for me to block out the scents and sounds of the excited crowd. Instead of being overwhelmed by it all, I find it fun to people watch as they take their seats and wait for the show to start.
The lights dim and the show begins with William appearing in a flash of smoke and lights in the middle of the arena. Eric sighs.
“He just doesn’t have the same pizzazz I do. I keep telling him he needs to be showier.” Eric gestures wildly with his hands like he’s putting on his own performance in the crowd. He’s not wrong though. Unlike Eric’s sparkly outfit, William’s is more sedate, missing the sequins and glitter, but he still looks the part of ringmaster.
He does the opening spiel, getting the crowd hyped up even more than they already are, and Caspian’s troupe comes running out to start their show. This time instead of Dylan and Caspian wandering through the crowd, it’s Cas and two other men. One of them breaks off from the group as Cas and the other do their juggling acts.
He starts to pace around the ring, looking at all of the audience members. I’m so busy watching what he’s doing I miss Cas’s transformation, but I hear the gasp of the crowd when it happens and quickly turn back to see my gorgeous mate juggling a whole crap load of knives. I clench my hands into my pants as I watch, holding my breath until he’s finished and unharmed.
In fact, I’m so distracted with worry, I don’t notice that the other performer has stopped right in front of me. Cas puts down his knives, the dragon blows out his fire batons, and they both stand and watch.
“What are you doing, Silac?” Cas calls, and Silac paces back and forth in front of the audience.
“I am hungry,” he calls back.
“But you can’t eat our audience. I won’t allow it,” the man standing next to Caspian tells him. He’s Dylan’s dragon replacement, but so far, he’s holding his human form.
The audience rumbles at his words, a bit of unease and curiosity rippling through the tent.
“Eat us?”
