Vaudeville Runaway, page 3
Kitty shook her head and placed her feet on the ground, testing her weight. “It’s all in my motel room.”
“Something for the pain,” Laura murmured, handing her a small bottle of pills. “Follow the instructions and don’t do anything stupid. You should be feeling a lot better tomorrow.”
“Got it.” Kitty looked at the bottle and then her feet. “I guess I should put my skirt back on.”
Adam laughed. “Do that and then I’ll take you to the mess tent while Calvin figures out the logistics.”
Kitty smirked and snapped her skirt on. “Lead the way.” She gave Calvin a wink to hide her anxiety.
It would be best not to think about what new shitshow she’d just landed herself in. This could be a legit situation, one where these people really did want to help her. But based on experience, Kitty figured it would all come to bite her in the ass at some point or another.
It’s not like she could just run away with the circus and all her problems would be solved.
Chapter Four
Adam
Kitty had accepted a pair of sweats and a pair of Laura’s sheepskin boots. She still limped but she already looked better. Adam watched her out of his peripheral as they walked through the tent city and tried not to smile. It was something about the way she carried herself.
Confidence.
The situation they’d found her in didn’t seem to have fazed her at all and Adam admired that about her. From what it sounded like she hadn’t had it easy. And yet here she was, looking around like a child at…well, the circus.
“So you guys still use a train? Doesn’t that make it more difficult?” Kitty asked, leaning on him as they walked.
He really liked having her this close. “Yes and no. We already own the train. Buying big rigs would be a massive expense.”
“Hm, I guess that’s true. When’s your next show?” Kitty looked up at him and she was just…glowing.
Adam had only seen this reaction in a few people. Something about the circus called to them and instantly they felt at home among the weird and unexplainable. It was a good sign.
“Tomorrow night.” He stopped in front of the largest tent they had. “Well, here it is. It’s not much, but it’s home, you know?”
Kitty took in the large space with row after row of tables. Some people still sat and ate, chatting under the glow of the lanterns. More tables were up against the walls of the tent laden with food and drink. Their cooks outdid themselves every night in Adam’s opinion.
His mate seemed to think so too because her mouth dropped open. “You guys eat like this for every meal? This is amazing!”
She limped over to the buffet table with various options and selected a little bit of everything until her plate was towering with food. Adam gave her some space and slipped his hands into his pockets, smiling as he watched her.
This might be easier than Calvin thought it would be. Even if she was human.
Kitty seemed to love everything about their way of life so far. He wondered if she would want to stay, or if she would choose to leave when they did.
Already there was a pang in his chest when he thought about her leaving and he’d only just met her. Adam had known mates were serious, but he hadn’t realized it would be this bad.
It seemed too early for him to be so connected, but Adam felt taken with her. Kitty was full of life and curiosity and this fire that kept her going even in the face of death. He gravitated to it and the thought of it being gone left him cold inside.
The others at the tables glanced at her and then him, asking without words. Adam just shrugged. Sometimes being Second had its advantages. He didn’t have to answer them yet.
First he, Calvin, and Damien would have to tell her.
There was no way Kitty could stay with the Cirque de Nuit and not be told who they truly were. If they didn’t inform her she would see some things tomorrow that would have anyone running. Springing that shit on her was not a good idea.
Adam felt Damien before he saw him. “Laura fixed her up?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Yup.”
They watched as Kitty carried the plate to the table and then went back for a second one.
“What do you think her story is?” Damien asked.
“Let’s find out,” Calvin said, striding past them to Kitty.
Adam wondered if Calvin would ever accept that Kitty was their mate. It wasn’t like he was still with Laura. What was it about this human woman that set him so on edge anyway?
“We keeping her?” Damien asked, watching Calvin take Kitty’s second plate so all she had to carry was her glass of wine.
“I hope so.” Adam grinned at Damien. “She’s a lot of fun.”
“And a lot of trouble,” Damien reminded him.
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t want to get bored.” Adam walked over to one of the buffet tables and grabbed a few things for the three of them to snack on while she ate. Most people didn’t like to be the only ones eating. Then he grabbed one of the bottles of wine and three glasses. They were also going to need alcohol for the conversations that needed to be had.
“This is amazing,” Kitty was telling Calvin. “The food looks so good. And it’s not cold in here. How does that work?”
“Heaters.”
Adam almost laughed again. Calvin wasn’t an asshole, he was just…intense and straightforward. He took the circus and running it seriously after inheriting it from his father. Being a fourth generation circus owner was a lot of responsibility and expectation.
Christ, he knew it from personal experience being Calvin’s Second. His Alpha had him and Damien running most of it after their practices to help with the load.
So much went into making sure they had the food and supplies they needed. That what they’d ordered came to the right city and wasn’t late. Then keeping everything in repair, making sure all the workers were top-notch and paid competitive rates to keep everyone safe…
And then the fact that they were all some kind of creature.
But Calvin’s great-great-grandfather had gotten a special pass back when the circus first came into being. The Council of Paranormals had granted their pride roaming rights. They didn’t have to answer to any territory Alpha. Only their own within the pride. The tradeoff was they were required to give sanctuary, to help those who asked, and to stay peaceful.
Sometimes they had to weigh the need to keep peace against protecting those who needed it.
“Why is the tent blue and purple instead of red and yellow?” Kitty asked. “Oh and what kinds of acts do you have? Are there elephants?”
“It’s blue and purple because our family came in from France, and we are the circus of night. No elephants,” Adam told her. “They’re too big to keep in the train cars for such long periods of time. By the way, this is Damien…our Third.”
What that meant, he’d let her work out on her own.
Kitty smiled and shook Damien’s hand, shoving food in her mouth with the other. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said around the salad. “Thank you, for helping me earlier. Where did you disappear to anyway?”
“Pigs needed to be fed,” Damien said, practically glaring at her as he took in the flimsy jacket and borrowed sweats. “So why were you running from them? Other than the obvious.”
Kitty shoved more food in her mouth and shrugged. Then she took her glass of wine and chugged it.
Adam hid his smile and poured wine for Calvin, Damien, and himself. They were definitely going to need it.
“They were sent to take the money I’d earned,” she said. “I shouldn’t have been working at that club with my resume in the first place. But I needed a job and couldn’t wait for something better. Shit happens.”
She’d explained this to Calvin in the hospital tent, but they could all sense there was something more to it than that.
“Why were you working at a place that wanted you to have sex with the clients?” Calvin asked.
“And what were you doing there?” Damien leaned forward, probably to see if she would lie. He could scent and hear it better than he or Calvin could.
Kitty chugged more wine and threw a look at Adam. He just smiled at her. She owed them answers after they’d killed for her.
“It’s a long story,” she hedged.
“We’ve got time,” Damien told her.
Kitty sighed and set down the wine glass, toying with the stem. Adam filled it back up and gave her a wink to encourage her. Whatever she told them would have no bearing on whether or not she was offered sanctuary. But they needed to know the whole situation so they could be better prepared.
“I’ve been on my own for a little over a year now. Before that I lived with my parents. Would you believe me if I told you I had a degree in Business?” Kitty chuckled. “I hated it. But I’m not some spoiled little rich kid. I earned my scholarship to university.”
“What does this have to do with the strip club?” Damien asked.
“I told you it was a long story,” she snapped, shoving more food in her mouth. “Shut up and listen to it, or live without the answers.”
Adam laughed, spitting wine onto the table. “Tell your story, sweetheart. Damien will shut his pie hole.”
Kitty chewed angrily, still glaring at Damien. “Fine, but no more interruptions. I’d prefer not to even be telling it in the first place.”
“Agreed,” Calvin said, giving Damien a look. “No more interruptions.”
Music filtered through the night air from one of the various tents and Adam mopped up the wine on the table as he considered Kitty. Would she be one of the rare few who liked living while constantly on the move?
“Anyways, I was a cheerleader in high school and my boyfriend was my stunting partner. We got a cheerleading scholarship for the same university. My parents always supported my dancing and my cheering. But they were worried about how that would translate into a job. So they pushed me to get a degree in business which I did, with a focus on accounting. Boring right?”
Kitty winked at Damien who’s eyes were already starting to glaze over. “I graduated with honors and then decided fuck that. I didn’t want to stop cheering or dancing. I took classes in various different types of dance, but my parents told me to get a job. What was a girl to do? So I started stripping.”
“Why?” Calvin asked.
She shrugged and took a few more bites. They all waited in silence for her to continue. Kitty wasn’t someone you pushed. Adam could already tell that about her. Push her into something and even if she’d already planned to do it, she would do the exact opposite out of spite.
“This isn’t some sob story,” she told them, pointing her fork at each of them in turn. “Other than what you saw, I’ve just had shit luck in my search for independence. I like stripping. I like using the skills I’ve spent all my life learning to make fuckloads of money. I like dancing every night and having men and women worship me like a goddess. Would I do it for the rest of my life? Probably not, but I have plans.”
“So what happened?” Damien asked. The glazed boredom in his eyes was gone as he looked more closely at this woman who was pure, living fire. She was like a burning sun – life-giving and relentless.
Adam was already in love.
She was so feisty.
“Well, my parents didn’t want me stripping. Very old school like that, so they gave me a choice. I could quit, or leave.” Kitty rolled her eyes and pushed back the empty plates. Adam wondered when the last time she’d eaten a real meal was. “They didn’t want me poisoning my little brother’s mind with my blasphemous ways, so told me I can’t be in contact with him until I reconsidered my life choices.” She stopped for a moment and tapped her fingers on the table.
Clearly that bothered her more than anything else though it wasn’t surprising.
“I don’t know why I thought they would be open-minded about it,” Kitty said, heaving a huge sigh. “Anyway, I moved into an apartment with my boyfriend at the time. I worked at that club for almost an entire year until I was sure I could make it in Vegas. Then we packed up and left for the City of Sin.”
Calvin’s eyes shot up. “You’re that good?”
She gave him another one of those sassy winks. “I won’t dance for free just to prove it to you, Mr. Bossy.”
Adam considered getting every single bit of cash he could out of the bank right then.
“Did you plan to go there for the shows or the clubs?” Damien asked. “I assume if you were stunting you could probably have gotten into some kind of acrobatic show.”
Kitty shrugged. “That’s not where the money is. I wanted to work at one of the best strip clubs in Vegas if I could. But we never made it there.”
All three of them leaned in closer. It wasn’t that she was a gifted storyteller. No, what drew them in and obviously others was her ‘I give no fucks’ attitude that somehow translated into living life to the fullest how she wanted to live it. There was no wondering where you stood with Kitty. She would fucking tell you.
“What happened?” Damien finally asked, clearly annoyed at how interested in the story he was.
“We imploded essentially,” Kitty said, twirling the wine glass in her hand again. “Driving down from Washington State my ex suddenly decided he’d made the worst mistake ever and should never have left his cushy life. Even I wasn’t enough incentive to take this risk. Now the car was his and I refused to drive back home and admit defeat. So I bought a piece of junk with the last of my savings.”
She was silent for a moment as she no doubt relived that experience. Adam could tell the memory was still fresh and raw by the sudden scent of distress and grief on the air. He wished he could reach out and comfort her without making her uncomfortable.
“That piece of junk should have gotten me to Vegas. But it didn’t. So I worked my way here. Every month I managed to go a little farther. When I finally hit Portland the car broke down completely.” Kitty sighed. “I needed a place to stay and money to fix the car and just…time to get my shit together so I could make it to Vegas in one go. So I took the first job I found here and promised myself I would find something better as quickly as I could.”
She downed the rest of her wine and set the empty glass on the table. “Clearly I didn’t make it that far.”
Adam glanced over at Calvin and Damien. Both of them had blank expressions on their faces. Sometimes Adam wondered why Calvin hadn’t made Damien his Second – the two were so alike.
Now his mind was racing with all the possibilities. It was like the Fates had dropped this girl on their doorstep for a reason. She was wild, sure. But a cheerleader who could stunt and was a stripper? She had the perfect set of skills for their line of work.
And Adam wanted her to join them. Badly.
“We’re in Portland for a few more weeks,” Calvin told her. “You can stay with us until then, but on one condition.”
Surprisingly, Kitty didn’t look ecstatic. She looked suspicious. “Of course there’s a condition. What is it?”
Damien cracked his knuckles and then laced his hands behind his head before leaning back against the chair. “You have a choice. Stay with us until you get back on your feet and learn a secret that can never be unlearned. Or we hand you what money we can and send you on your way.”
Kitty eyed both Damien and then Calvin closely. Then she turned that wary look on Adam.
“Fuck it,” she said. “Tell me this secret.”
Chapter Five
Kitty
A traveling circus with gorgeous people had a deep dark secret. Why wasn’t she surprised?
Honestly though that wasn’t what she’d thought the condition was going to be when Calvin had mentioned one. Kitty had thought he’d ask for…not sex, but maybe a free dance, or some kind of manual labor.
But a secret?
Her curiosity was going to get her killed. Kitty knew that.
She had nine lives after all. Well, eight now probably. Might as well embrace it.
These guys…she’d known they were going to be some kind of trouble. After all – they had no qualms about feeding the pigs, as Damien had so eloquently put it.
“So?” she pressed. “What’s the damn secret? Don’t go back on your word now.”
“It might be easier to show you,” Adam said gently.
“It better not be something weird and unforgiveable,” she warned, heart pounding harder than she wanted to admit.
Kitty had known her luck was going to run out again, she just hadn’t expected it to be so soon.
“No,” Damien said with a scoff. “We’re just paranormal creatures who can shift into animals with super strength and hearing and all that shit.”
She burst out laughing. “I didn’t think you’d be the funny one. Christ, that was good.” Kitty had to wipe tears from her eyes she was laughing so hard.
It probably wouldn’t have been so amusing if anyone but Damien had delivered that line.
But then she saw that none of them were laughing.
Instantly the smile dropped from her face. “Fuck off, so you’re all crazy or something?”
Calvin nodded at Adam who stood and started stripping. It wasn’t super sexy, just efficient.
Kitty couldn’t help but admire all his muscles and how toned he was anyway. Shit, gymnasts had the nicest fucking bodies. But she looked away to see what the other guys were thinking. Those two were blank. They could be statues if they had a tiny bit less personality.
“We’re not crazy,” Calvin promised. “Just remember, you did agree to hearing the secret.”
Then the sound of bones crunching made her whip her gaze to Adam.
…who wasn’t Adam.
He was a big fucking lion.
Kitty stared at the massive cat who sat on his haunches like a damn dog and just stared at her. Then she laughed hard enough she had to hold onto the table to keep from falling out of her chair.
