had been too late. Her destiny had been sealed, intertwined with mine.
I could not say how long we stood there, embracing like that, but it was a while, long enough to fill my entire body with want, desire only for her. There were other women here, some of them were even nice to look at, but no other broken heart had called out to mine quite like Thana’s. I had no interest in anyone else; only her.
Eventually, I murmured against her lips, “Give yourself to me here.”
Here. It should be here, on this stage. This place would have it no other way, nor would I. For our first time, at least, we would be one at the center of it all.
“I’ve never—” Thana started to stutter, acting embarrassed about the fact that she had not yet felt anyone else’s skin on hers, become one with someone else in the way I so desired her.
“Shh,” I shushed her, “there is no shame in that, Thana.” In fact, I would gladly show her everything there was to know. In a way, it was as if we would both discover the capabilities of our bodies and what they could do together. I… like I mentioned before, I could not recall the last time I’d been inside a woman.
She stared at me, our faces close, our breaths the opposite of hot. “I barely know you. I… I don’t even know if I like you, but I feel like I want to.”
“We have all the time in the world now,” I told her, meaning it. We did. I doubted there would ever come a day when this circus lowered its tents for good, when this roaming freakshow ceased to exist. I’d never met a power that could keep so many in limbo, but I knew it had to be something powerful, something great.
And that something great was just beneath this stage, where we would consummate our connection. It was perfect. I couldn’t have imagined it any differently.
I’d known she’d come to me. I’d known and I’d waited, and now it was perfect. Thana was past the point of no return now, and I had been waiting with bated breath, with an outstretched hand, ready to show her everything this immortal life had to offer.
The delicious sin, the beautiful darkness, the depravity and blood. You couldn’t ask for anything more.
Thana said nothing, but the way she gazed up at me, I knew I had her. Every piece of her was mine, and I was going to take her, open her eyes to the wonders of the darkness, help her unleash her true self. That’s what this place did, after all. It helped you become who you were really meant to be.
I helped her out of her clothes, taking my time even though I wanted nothing more than to tear at them and have at her like an animal, like one of the shifters would. I’d seen Trey staring at her when she wasn’t looking, when she was oblivious, and I knew he would like to tear into her just as much.
Maybe I would let him, but right now she was mine.
I shed her clothes, dropping them off to the side, inhaling sharply when I gazed upon her bare figure. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her naked, but it was the first time I’d looked upon her while knowing I was about to claim her, to take her in the most intimate and carnal way possible. I reached for the small band keeping her hair back, pulling it out slowly, watching as those dark tresses tumbled over her shoulders.
She was beautiful. I did not care what the world outside of this circus said about her, whether people had made fun of her kinky hair and her face or not. She was perfect to me, and that’s all that mattered.
Thana appeared uneasy, but I hoped to alleviate some of that unease by shedding my own clothes. I had never been one to put on a show—not one that did not involve an audience of living, breathing people sitting on the risers or standing huddled in the tents—but for her, I did. Piece by piece, I took off my suit, slipping out of my shoes and stopping only when every part of me was bare.
I breathed in deeply, my cock already hard, as it had been for quite a while. I could not stop the feeling of smug satisfaction crawling over me as her eyes dropped to