When the flames were extinguished, I started struggling to my feet.
“Stay down, Mister Kane!” A frantic voice yelled. “We need to stabilize your neck!”
“Neck’s fine,” I grunted, standing anyways, swaying slightly as my equilibrium tried to reassert itself.
I yanked off the still smoking helmet and tossed it to the ground, wincing as the movement shot pain through my shoulder. My face felt raw, my lungs burning with each breath. As my vision cleared, the crowd around me resolved into distinct figures. Stagehands. Safety crew. Asher, looking both thrilled and concerned in that uniquely pyromaniacal way of his. No, that asshole didn’t look worried. He was just excited he got to setanother damn fire. I took one angry step towards him, but then I saw Lucy.
She pushed through the circle of people, her face pale, her eyes wide with fear and relief. Her hair—the parts that were still silver and not discolored from dried blood—caught the light from the still-burning globe. For a moment, we just stared at each other. Me, standing there like some demon dragged from hell. Her, looking at me like I was something precious she'd almost lost.
Lucy walked towards me, body trembling. When she got to me, she stared up at my face fiercely. “You can’t ever go in that thing again,” she said, her voice shaking as badly as her body.
I smiled at her, tasting ash and blood on my lips. “This is the life, babe. DemonX doesn’t say die.”
“That was terrifying,” she said after a moment, voice steadier. I could tell by the glint in her gaze that she wasn’t letting me win; she was just hitting pause on the subject. I loved the fighter in her. She could beat me up any day.
“Just another day at the Cirque, babe." I winked, reaching out and pulling her to me. “You seem to have embraced the spirit of it,” I added, reaching up to lift a section of stained hair.
“Nitro’s show was… an experience,” she said, pressing her palms against my chest, staring up at me with an unreadable expression. Then those expressive eyes rolled skyward in exasperation, and the corners of her mouth twitched as she fought a smile. “I might have bitten off more than I can chew with you five.”
“You can take your time biting and chewing,” I said, voice graveled with need now.
I leaned down and kissed her, not caring that I was sweaty as hell and reeked of smoke.
"You're all insane," she murmured after I pulled away, affection woven into each word. "Every last one of you."
I chuckled, wincing as the movement jarred my injured shoulder. “And you fit right in, Venom.”
“I do,” she said solemnly, her eyes flooding with warmth.
EPILOGUE. LUCY.
{Six months later}
I mounted the stairs first, the night air kissing my skin and the moon casting cool light over the DemonX compound. My men walked slowly behind me, Xander the nearest with Fallon bringing up the rear.
Punching the code into the new panel above the knob, I unlocked the door and pushed it inward. I smiled as the heavy entrance swung, a widening gap revealing the warm interior waiting for us. I loved the slight whine the door made as it moved. More than that, I loved that I had the power to enter this house first, on my own. Doing so always reminded me that I belonged here, and that this was my place now, just as much as it was theirs.
When I stepped into the house, the wall clock near the kitchen loudly chimed that it was three in the morning. Exhaustion dragged at my limbs, but underneath the fatigue, uncomfortable heat pulsed through my abdomen. I didn’t mind the gentle cramping; in fact, it made me ridiculously happy. My second heat was starting. I paused in the entryway,watching my five Alphas move around me, their bodies still thrumming with the residual energy of the final Cirque du Sang performance. Their proximity made the throbbing in my stomach simultaneously intensify and ease, as if they were the cause and the effect, the sickness and the cure.
Six months of shows across the country, and we'd ended where we began, at the Henderson amphitheater. I was glad to be back in Vegas, with its neon heartbeat and relentless rhythm that now felt more like home than any other place I’d ever lived. Of course, it wasn’t hard to beat out endless hospital rooms, isolation, and watching the world through glass.
The tour journey had felt both endless and fleeting, like a dream I was afraid to wake from. Only now, there wasn’t a choice. The talent contract had come to an end, though the guys were already in negotiations to do regular appearances in Henderson and to join Cirque’s International tour two years from now. That was more than a little exciting—the prospect of Paris and Scotland and Spain—but I was glad it wasn’t anytime soon. I needed a rest, a chance to just be with my men, no outside pressures involved.
"It’s so nice to be home," I whispered. The word home still felt strange on my tongue sometimes.
Home had once been a sterile room with a window that promised freedom but delivered only longing. Now home was this sprawling compound with its lived-in corners and the scent of five men who had claimed me as thoroughly as I had claimed them. Behind me, Fallon was closing the front door. I wasn’t sure why, but I turned to watch. Through the waning crack, I saw the gate had slid back into position, the tall fence extending outward from it. This place had walls, but they were made to keep the world out when we wanted; they weren’t made to keep me inside. I could leave an experience the world whenever I wished it.
Needing support, I moved to lean against the wall, pressing my palm against my lower belly. The cramping wasn't painful yet. The first heat had caught us all by surprise. We’d eaten late after a show, and I’d just thought it was stomach upset. But then the other symptoms started. The brain fog, the mounting desire, the shift in my scent, the need to nest. It was a miracle none of us had expected. This second onset felt like confirmation my body was truly healing, evolving, embracing its Omega nature after years of suppression. I was doing so well that I didn’t even need the injections anymore, just the daily pill.
Xander glanced at me from where he was sorting through bags, his sharp eyes missing nothing. "Cramps?"
I nodded, watching as all five men paused in their activities, their nostrils flaring subtly as they caught the first hints of my changing scent. It was still too early for them to be truly affected, but the awareness passed over our pack that the next few days would be spent buried in creature comforts and, after that, mind melting, physical euphoria.
"I'm fine," I said, waving them back to their tasks. "The pain isn’t bad yet. I’m just tired."
It was hard not to be. More than six months ago, these men had decided they couldn't live without me. Since then, our lives had been nomadic. City after city, performing in different venues. In every location, my Alphas had made sure I had every tool at my disposal to get healthier, stronger. They wanted me to thrive, not just survive.
Fallon bought every highly rated tonic available, some foreign with names I couldn't pronounce. Kane concocted mineral baths in hotel rooms that left my skin soft and glowing. Asher organized therapeutic spa days, making sure each had an infrared sauna because they were supposed to be rejuvenating. Nitro forced so many vitamins down my throat that I often jokedabout turning into a giant multivitamin. And Xander made me exercise… which I hated.
