playing the role of the scorned husband—will fight. I’m the adulteress who turns them against each other.
That’s the only part of the entertainment that’s not staged. Bets will be placed, blood will be spilled, and the two males will go at it hard while the audience eggs them on. Of course, it’ll be while the crowd is stomach-deep in alcohol with a lungful of hallucinogenic smoke, but that’s all part of the charm of Troupe Delirium. It drugs them just enough to be hooked on our every move. Just the way Master Kaazu likes it.
When the music starts, I walk out on stage, my pale skin turning lavender beneath the lights. My costume is a black leotard with a long silk skirt that moves like the wind is catching it every time I turn or jump or twirl.
I use a mix of ballet, ballroom dance, and gymnastics as I dance in circles around Perry, his sneering silver mask hiding the bear shifter beneath. With carefully timed moves, he pounces, ripping my skirt away and knocking me to the ground. The lights pulse red. The audience leans forward in their seats.
And then Heathcliff is there, picking me up, his hands skimming down my sides. The red lightens with promise back to purple, and we dance, Perry gone in the shadows, while Heathcliff and I all but make love on the stage.
And it’s in these moments, these precious ticking seconds of memorized steps and prepared ambiance with Cliff, that my perfect performance slips and the real me shows through. It’s the only time we ever do it—the only time we allow ourselves. It’s too dangerous to show feelings anywhere else, so we use the stage as our excuse. We use our parts as the reason. But he and I know the truth.
This moment? When my lips brush against his neck as he dips me back? When his hands come up my sides and skim the edges of my breasts? When our chests move with the breaths of the music and our bodies spin against the lights and shadows and smoke? This is for us.
This is all the touch and intimacy and truth we allow ourselves to have. Because even though Heathcliff and I have loved each other for years, it will always have to be a secret.
Because Kaazu owns us. Because we wear these collars around our necks. Because we can be used against each other.
So we take these small snippets performed in front of strangers, and we pretend that they’re our own. That no one else is here except for him and me. And maybe that’s the biggest act of them all, but I don’t care. Because when I jump, Cliff catches me. Every time.
11
Jericho
She’s not here.
But I really wasn’t expecting her to be.
Call it fucked up, but I’m actually excited about the fact that Jetta stood me up. Her obstinance is a turn-on, and that’s surprising in itself, because I’ve always gone for more submissive females. Like Hannah.
But there’s just something about Jetta that thoroughly captivates me.
Some of my pack don’t care for her moody, broody, standoffish nature, but I like her fire and her disagreeable attitude. My boar is a big fan too. To be honest, he gets bored from all the submissive females that I go for. But Jetta interests him. And since none of the shifter females I’ve ever been with have ever caught his attention, that makes me even more curious.
“Cruella stand you up?” Stinger asks from where he stands over Toby, spotting as our fellow enforcer lifts weights.
“Yep,” I say, walking past to the exit of the gym.
“Why do you look happy about that?” he calls at my back.
I just smirk at him over my shoulder before pushing the door open and walking out of the busy gym, leaving his question unanswered as I head for Warehouse Three.
The enforcers are all busy right now with the recent threats from Rockhead, so Igor has been cracking down on all of us, upping our patrols and doubling up on shifts. Unfortunately, that means working a hell of a lot more. Igor is currently wrapped up in training Addie’s three mates to be enforcers themselves. But fortunately, that also means that because everyone is so busy, Jetta’s training has fallen to me.
Igor smirked when he gave me the assignment, like he thought I would bitch and moan about it. Instead, it felt like I won. Ever since I stood over her sleeping form in the library, while she