A Life Less Pink

by Zenina Masters

  “So, a good tattoo artist is hard for a shifter to find.”

  “You could say that.” He sipped at his beer again. “Have you had a good night?”

  “The dancing has been fun. I just got back onto the barstool.” She grinned.

  “Would you dance with me?”

  She gave him a long look. “After I have a few more sips of wine. Fast or slow?”

  “Slow then fast.”

  “Oh, you like to shake things up.” She could almost feel her eyes twinkling.

  “I do. I apologise for my absence, but once the muse took hold, I was helpless until the design was done.”

  She cocked her head. “Apology accepted.”

  She sipped at her wine, and the dancers continued their tireless spinning in an effort to find the one who moved with them on an instinctual level. Cori had found a few that were close, but she didn’t want to settle for close. She wanted to feel her inner beast dancing wildly at the thought of being next to her mate. Nothing else was worth going to the Crossroads for.

  She took two more sips of the wine, and then, she pushed the glass aside as a slow song came on. “Ready when you are.”

  Artur got to his feet and held out his hand, leading her to the dance floor with a grace that spoke of ballroom experience.

  It was a good thing for her that flamingos liked to dance. It was in their blood.

  She swayed against him slowly as the music took them around the floor in lazy circles. She swallowed as she realized that it wasn’t just a matter of close enough, she was really in the arms of a man she wouldn’t mind dancing with forever.

  When the slow song ended, he sighed, and when the beat tapped out, she laughed. Flamenco.

  She spun away and paused a few feet away from him, throwing her head back and stamping her feet in a rapid staccato. She twisted from side to side, and he threw his head back in response, put his hands on his hips and echoed her.

  Delight bubbled up, and she laughed endlessly as they put on a flamenco display for the amused shifters around them. The only thing that would have made it better was if she could have had a flared dress with a hem she could flick. It was a dance of power, of determination and of seduction by the music and the man.

  Sweat gleamed on his neck as they turned, stamped, twisted and flung their arms up and around until they were facing each other, side by side and moving in a minute pinwheel.

  When the music built to a crescendo, she stomped her heels hard and felt one give way. They froze with their hands linked above them, each with an arm around the other.

  Applause and hoots of appreciation rang out in the bar, and they stood, looking into each other’s eyes as they caught their breath.

  Artur kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her off the dance floor. When he set her down, she was careful to remain on her toes.

  Cori smiled shyly at him. “You are a very good dancer.”

  “You as well. I can only imagine how that would have looked if you were traditionally attired.” He ran his hand down her back and up again in a slow caress.

  “Would it surprise you to learn that I have that costume?”

  He laughed. “It would surprise me if you didn’t. Not that I am complaining, but is there a reason you are using me as a load-bearing member?”

  She blinked at his phrasing given the erection she could feel below his belt. “I broke my shoes.”

  He laughed and swept her up and into his arms. “Come along, Cinderella. We will see if we can’t find an elf or two to cobble those mean shoes.”

  As they cleared the bar to cheers and laughter, she muttered, “I could have just taken them off.”

  “This is much more fun. Well, fun for me. I am afraid that you might have to get used to my occasional knight in shining armour moments.” He bent his head and rubbed his cheek against hers.

  She crossed her arms over her chest and sulked. “I will?”

  “Don’t tell me that you didn’t feel that on the dance floor.”

  “I felt a lot of things. Sweat, the pulse of the music, your abs, the rough patch in the floorboards.” She shrugged dismissively.

  He chuckled. “A hard sell. I like it.”

  She looked up at him and twisted her lips. “Sorry, I am usually more direct than this, but this is unknown territory for me. I have never courted a mate before.”

  “Nor have I. This is a new experience for both of us. Did you want to get a new pair of shoes?”

  She nodded. “Please.”

  He changed their direction to take them into the general store, and he smiled at Andy. “The lady has snapped her shoes.”

  Andy grinned and took a look. “She has indeed. Wow. You have really broken these in since yesterday.”

  Cori grinned. “I work fast.”

  As Andy went to the back to find another pair of shoes, she heard Artur whisper, “Oh goody.”

  It was hard to elbow a man while he held you as your only means of support, but Cori managed it.

  Chapter Five

  With her new shoes in place and her return to her own feet restored, Cori looked at Andy. “I hear you have a new tattoo design.”

  The beaver wasted no time in getting a portfolio and opening it to a picture that took Cori’s breath away.

  Andy smiled, “I love steampunk, and Artur is one of the best designers, so I have been corresponding with him about a back piece. Arkenon recommended him for this kind of storytelling design.”

  The woman in the tight corset had one hand pressed to a clock face and the other on a very elaborate gun. She was wearing a heavily bustled blue gown, but it was hiked up to show one booted foot on another clock face. The woman was wearing a top hat with goggles and a veil over her eyes. The waves of hair were up in a loose chignon and had golden streaks in it. The entire piece was alive with colour.

  “Wow. This is amazing. Can Arkenon reproduce it?”

  Artur was blushing. “He can. He does it frequently. He is excellent at designing beasts and representational work, but he lacks the inclination for works that tell a story.”

  Andy was still staring worshipfully at the image. “Artur is also letting me use this as cover art for my book.”

  “I don’t doubt for a minute that she has a story. She looks like five minutes ago she was up to something.”

  Andy beamed. “Exactly! There are clues all over the image if you know where to look.”

  Cori looked for the clues. A shard of broken mirror, the tail of a cat under the table skirt, a pipe with a coal spilling out of it, there were dozens of possibilities in that image. “Amazing.”

  Andy regretfully closed the portfolio. “Now I have to wait. It will be the hardest part.”

  Artur looked embarrassed by the effusive praise.

  Cori linked arms with him and said, “Come on, Picasso. Back to the tower for you.”

  Andy wished them good night, and then, they were back in the bracing air. She shivered, and he disengaged his arm from hers to put it around her shoulders.

  “Come on, muse. Time to get you somewhere cozy.”

  She chuckled and shivered again. There was something in the air tonight that was enough to chatter her teeth.

  They couldn’t get to the Open Heart fast enough for her liking.

  The fire was roaring, and Teebie greeted them at the door with cups of steaming hot chocolate with a hefty dose of alcohol.

  “Come in. There is a nip in the air tonight. It is very odd. Normally, it is quite temperate here. There is a fire in the drawing room.”

  They followed her to the room, and Artur sat on the couch, pulling Cori with him. He set his cup down on the table and then did the same with hers while Teebie put a blanket around Cori.

  The fire managed to work on her, but Cori was puzzled. “I am normally not this temperature sensitive.”

  Teebie gave her a helpless shrug. “It isn’t that cold, but does your beas
t use body contact for heat sharing as part of the courtship ritual?”

  Cori blinked. “We run in a tightly packed group. Does that count?”

  Artur chuckled.

  Teebie said, “Easy to find out. Are you warmer on Artur’s side or on the side of the fire?”

  She was drawing more warmth from Artur and she knew it. “I think I have my answer.”

  Teebie grinned. “On that note, I shall leave you two here. The fire will put itself out when you retire for the evening. Good night.”

  “Good night, Teebie!” Cori called out.

  Her blue host disappeared.

  “Well, you don’t see that every day.” Cori turned and worked herself into as much contact with Artur as she could without crawling into his lap.

  “You obviously haven’t been here very long.” He chuckled.

  He shifted and pulled her into his lap. Her body delighted in the heat she could steal from him.

  “How long have you been here?”

  “Nine days. It is very entertaining, but I have been longing to return to the normal world with my mate. I am very glad you finally showed up.”

  She laughed. “We almost missed each other. I was thinking about waiting for the next transport window, but Stella made me an offer to ship me right there and then, and I took the chance.”

  He paused, “Mage Transporter Stella Winters?”

  “Right. Do you know her?”

  He laughed. “I designed her living tattoo. She has guts; I will give her that. Few women would have an experimental magic placed on their bodies, let alone their faces.”

  “Did she know you were coming here?”

  “I might have mentioned it. She sent me here after all.” He chuckled.

  Cori leaned away from his chest. “How is that possible? You would have had to be…”

  “Trying to work out their territory? They only take the ones they want. Stella is a commuter. She comes and goes.”

  “Wow. Must be nice. I drive a delivery van. It gets me where I am going, but not much else.”

  He chuckled and pulled her back against his chest. “Nice. Ever since I was a teen, I have had a soft spot for vans.”

  She snorted. There was not a soft spot on his body. Every inch she was pressed to was rock hard and his pulse throbbed against her hip.

  Cori finally asked a question that had been bugging her. “I have never met a bird as big as you. How is it possible?”

  “Don’t ask me. My family are all storks, and as I mentioned before, it takes effort to maintain this physique. We get our height from our genes, but the body was built, and as you know, you are stuck with the animal you are born with.” He rubbed his chin on her head.

  “I know; you are just not what I think of when I think of storks.” She relaxed against him and yawned.

  “Well, I don’t see a flamingo when I look at you. I just see Cori.” He kissed her temple.

  The world grew soft and dark, and instead of arousal, she felt sleep wash over her. It was a weird sort of night.

  Cori woke with a jolt in a strange room. Artur was breathing softly at her back and his arm was around her waist. She looked under the sheet and exhaled softly when she saw her underwear still in place; she smiled that his was as well.

  Still tired, she breathed in and out with a deliberate slowness until she fell asleep again.

  When morning light woke her, Cori rubbed her eyes and then eased out of the bed. Her dress was neatly folded on the bench at the end of the four-poster bed and she slipped it on.

  “Good morning, Cori.” Artur’s voice was low and husky. He rolled to his back and tucked his hands behind his head.

  She reached behind her and did up the zipper. “Good morning, Artur. I am sorry for falling asleep on you last night.”

  “Literally.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Right. Sorry.”

  She finished doing up the closure and looked around for her shoes. They were tucked neatly next to his. She picked them up with two fingers and headed for the door.

  To her surprise, when she opened the door, her own room was staring at her. “What?”

  “Teebie adjoined our rooms with my promise that I wouldn’t take advantage of your stunned state. I agreed that you were too tired to be any fun, and she rolled her eyes and linked our rooms.”

  He flipped the sheets back and sat up. “I am going to grab a shower before breakfast. Care to join me?”

  She bit her lip. “For breakfast or for the shower?”

  He grinned. “Yes.”

  Cori blushed, and she scampered into her room for a shower of her own. The dress smelled of sweat, as did her undergarments but that was to be expected when someone really enjoyed dancing.

  She pulled out a navy blue summer dress, fresh underwear and some comfortable-looking sandals. With her clothing in her arms, she headed for her own shower, brushing her hair down in a straight curtain after she scrubbed all traces of sweat off.

  The dress was a 50s style, but she decided to forego the victory curl in her hair. The sandals weren’t period, so the extra effort would have been wasted.

  When she emerged from the bathroom, Artur was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt again, waiting for her with her sketchbook in his hands.

  He flipped from one to the next. “These look really good.”

  She blushed. “They are just preliminary designs.”

  “What were you thinking for this one?” He turned the book and showed her a superhero costume that fit faithfully.

  “Soft leather with stretch gussets for movement.”

  “Have you thought of focusing on the fetish community?”

  “That is how I paid for my shop. I own the building free and clear.” She smiled. “I still do some custom leather design from time to time, but it is a bit different than working with fabric.”

  Artur kept flipping through her book. “So I am given to understand. If you can make half of these designs, you have a lot of skill.”

  She smiled and took her book from him. “I do, though few of my subjects can do justice to my work. It sounds snotty but there it is.”

  “Hey, I was reading that.”

  “Show me your designs and I will let you see my sketchbook again.”

  He gave her a sly look and returned to his room. He came back with a stack of sketchbooks and a portfolio. “Here you go, now gimmee that book back. You were just having your way with my body, and I want to know how it ended.”

  She covered her eyes as he dove into the images with delight. Realizing that she had books of images to look at, she ignored her discomfort and opened up the first sketchbook, smiling with amusement at the first design with a pinup lying on musket.

  Cori looked at pinups, fantasy scenes, fairy tales gone wild, series of images designed for the moving tattoos and what were obviously segmented doodles. His muse must drink because there was very little cohesion in his images.

  Her stomach rumbled and she smiled. “I think it is time for breakfast.”

  She opened the final book and stopped in her tracks. Images of her in a variety of clothing and poses, including the pose used in Andy’s tattoo. “You put the veil on her hat…”

  “It disguised you. That was definitely you. All the lines of the body were yours and all the flirty amusement was you as well.” He grinned and set her book down. “Shall we have breakfast?”

  “Since it is what the building is named for, I would say definitely.”

  He offered her his arm, and she set the book down regretfully and walked over to link her arm with his.

  They arrived in the dining area and they were the only guests.

  Cori looked at him. “How did that happen?”

  “Two more couples are here, but they are having their meals in their rooms.” Teebie grinned and came in with a carafe of coffee.

  Cori held up her cup with both hands. “Please. I had a weird night last night.”
<
br />   Teebie filled her cup and then poured for Artur. “It was strange for a lot of people. I have contacted my aunt, and she is looking into it. Any abnormality in the Crossroads has to be reported.”

  Artur asked a question that Cori hadn’t thought of yet. “Do we have to leave because we have found our mates?”

  Teebie grinned. “Not until you start knocking boots. For now, it is just courtship, and courtship is good.”

  Cori asked, “What would you recommend for courtship?”

  “A nice picnic in the woods near one of the lakes or streams. I can arrange a basket from the restaurant.” Teebie smiled.

  Artur chuckled. “You genuinely enjoy your job, don’t you?”

  “Oh yes. This is the most fun I have had in decades.” Teebie laughed.

  Chapter Six

  The lakeside was lovely, and with each of them toting their sketchbooks, it was a fun time as well.

  “So, where do you want to live once we go back to normal?”

  She sighed and looked up from trailing her fingers in the clear water from the edge of the bank. “I don’t know about you, but I have a brick and mortar shop that folks are used to seeking out. I need my supplies to create costumes and I am attached to my home.”

  “That is settled then. I can work anywhere and I travel frequently. There won’t be an issue for me. My family is located in the northeast, and they are waiting eagerly for me to tell them of my luck.”

  “You consider this luck?” she lifted her fingers out of the water and flicked them at him. Water drops spun through the air and fell short of his sketchbook.

  He nodded. “I do. Not only do I love every line of your body that I have seen so far, I love your sense of humour.”

  She blinked in surprise. “Love?”

  “Yes.” He met her gaze and smiled. “It is the only name I can put to it as I have not felt this sensation before.”