Her Sexy Beast

by Karin Shah

Her feet stuck to the ground. Though she hadn’t caught the entire statement, she knew exactly who they gossiped about. Her chin firmed. She was about to stomp forward to confront the speaker, a growl built in her throat. Luckily, Lu interrupted.

  “Roan probably saved her life. I didn’t see you at the fight.”

  Sofia bit back the growl that still fought to escape, her own vehemence taking her aback. What the hell was all the growling about? Sure, she’d growled in frustration in the past, but this felt different. There was a primitive fury behind the beast-like sound.

  Her fingers twitched to claw something.

  It almost felt as if some other part of her might seize control.

  She breathed deep to muscle past the impulse, reaching for calm. She couldn’t charge over there and join Lu. As much as she wanted to jump in, she was the boss. They might pay lip service to her words, but Lu had a better chance of actually changing their minds. Besides, she couldn’t even trust herself to stay calm.

  She should leave, but though her logical side had won the battle with the side that shoved her toward the fray, it lost this one.

  She’d stopped near a pair of van-type RV’s, and she slid between them. The large driver’s side window gave her a partial view of the goings on. Lu was in sight, but she couldn’t see their enemy.

  Sofia shook her head at the thought. Enemy? What had made her assign that word to the speaker? She didn’t even consider the jerks who’d said she wasn’t good enough to date enemies. Assholes, yes, enemies, no.

  “I was—” the man began.

  “Asleep in your tent?” Lu cut him off. “Please, I know where you’re camped. There’s no way you slept through that shitshow.”

  “Come on, Lu. It’s not like he’s one of us. He’s never even tried.”

  “And why should he?” Lu tapped her foot, her arms folded, her jaw set. “You in a hurry to be friends with people who call you names behind your back, are you?”

  “Aw, we never say anything where he can hear.” A new voice had entered the quarrel and several others made similar remarks. Sounded like most of the group was there for dinner.

  “Newsflash, he can hear an owl fart in the forest, but that’s still no excuse. You’re not in elementary school.

  “As for trying to fit it, he might not be friendly, but, JD? Did you think those rusted out bolts on your Nissan magically loosened overnight? And Ivan, it was an awful big coincidence you found sixty dollars in the parking lot when you’d been bitching in the mess tent the night before about needing fifty-seven more to meet your child support.”

  The tenor of the crowd changed. Apparently, Roan had done a lot for a lot of people without ever saying a word.

  There was silence for a moment, then the original voice grumbled. “Well, I guess maybe we owe Roan an apology.”

  Lu stuck her chin in the air. “I guess you do.”

  Sofia blew out the breath she’d been holding and rested her hip against the dusty RV. She’d go for dinner once the group settled down. Meanwhile, she had an idea how the cast and crew could start to make things up to Roan.

  ~ ~ ~

  Gideon snagged his young daughter by her pink unicorn shirt before she could enter the war zone that was now his and his wife’s bedroom. Piles of clothing carpeted the king-sized bed. A giant suitcase balanced on the edge. Thalia had her head and shoulders stuck in the closet.

  She withdrew with her arms full of underwear and stopped when she saw him. “Oh, good, you’re home.”

  He folded his arms. A smile tugged at his lips. “I take it you think you’ve found one of the lost Mara brothers?”

  She dumped the lacy bras and panties in the suitcase and vaulted toward him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as best she could, since he was almost as tall as a chimera himself. “Yes!”

  She gave him a quick squeeze and returned to her packing. “Well, maybe.”

  “Did something change?”

  She scooped up a stack of shirts and slid them into the bag. “I was stuck for a while, but then I got to thinking, everybody’s got to eat, right? Whichever brother was on the message board, had to be getting money from somewhere.”

  “He could be homeless or a thief like Jake was,” he said, naming the youngest chimera brother.

  She acknowledged his point with the wave of her hand. “True, but Jake wasn’t stuck between forms. He could pass for non-magical, non-shifter easy. The chimera on the message board, not so much.”

  “Okay, so he can’t pass for petty, soooo . . .”

  “So, what can a person who looks like a B-movie creature do for a living?”

  “People might assume they’ve got body mods.”

  “I started there, but there’s no one big enough size-wise in those circles. Then, I thought about where outcasts have gone for centuries and it came to me, maybe he ran away with the circus?”

  “There’s still plenty of circuses, you just going to fly around to them all?”

  “Funny. There’s a little something called the Internet these days, old man.” She laughed and rolled her eyes. Then she admitted, “Actually, I struck out at the circus.”

  Gideon swallowed a grin at how his wife was enjoying stretching out her apparent triumph. “Cut to the chase. Where should I tell our kids their mom has gone for work?”

  She picked up the tablet he hadn’t noticed glowing near the pillow on the bedside table and held it in front of her chest. A website with a colorful title filled the screen.

  The background featured a long view of a carnival midway with a Ferris wheel, scrambler, Tilt-A-Whirl, and other rides, along with brightly-lit games filled with loot and numerous concessions, a funhouse, haunted house, and laughing people strolling with cotton candy in their hands and stuffed bears under their arms. At the very back was a tent with a huge poster with print that was too fuzzy to read, but the picture was clear enough. It showed a man’s face with bright neon-green eyes and oval pupils, a sharp chin jutting to meet bulging cheekbones and an elongated fore face, bronze iridescent scales gleamed where the light hit. Black hair fell to his shoulders. His bared white teeth were sharp and pointed.

  “It could be a chimera mid-shift.”

  “I know.” She wrinkled her nose. “Could be. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t told Ky yet.”

  “And the other?”

  She sighed. “There’s still people who think capturing a chimera is a workable idea. This could be some kind of trap.”

  Gideon scowled. “I don’t want you risking yourself.”

  Thalia stabbed a finger at a list of dates and places beside the colorful graphic and landed on Tallahassee, Florida, then she smiled and her eyes glowed red for a moment. “Don’t worry, if this isn’t on the level, whoever this is will find out alligators aren’t the only things in Tallahassee with fangs.”

  Chapter 16

  The sky was almost navy as Sofia finished her dinner and headed to her campsite. She hadn’t eaten much. Her mind was too full of what she’d learned about Roan and her plans to make things up to him.

  She’d no sooner entered her trailer than her phone rang. She groaned as she slid her device from her pocket and saw the caller’s name. Guy. What did he want?

  Tia!

  Sofia answered hurriedly, triggering the speakerphone. “Guy? Is everything okay? My tia?”

  “Sofia, my sweet, everything’s fine. Perhaps I should call more often, so you won’t panic when I do.”

  She was speechless for a minute as she scrambled for a response that wouldn’t offend him or lead him on. Finally, she just laughed. “You’re such a joker. What can I do for you?”

  “A new act showed up today. I’m sending her over to you. She should be there around eight.”

  “A new act?”

 
“Wait till you see it! You’re going to love it!”

  Sofia could hear someone speak in the background. Guy cleared his throat. “Shit! We’ve got a problem on the Tilt-A-Whirl. I don’t have time to fill you in. Just keep an eye out for her will you?” He hung up.

  Sofia stared at the phone for a minute, shaking her head. It was always something with Guy. She set a timer, then dropped the device on the banquette.

  Sheba flicked her tongue at the glass of her tank.

  It was coming on 6:30. She had an hour or so to kill, she might as well let the snake get some exercise while she tidied the animal’s tank.

  ~ ~ ~

  When her timer went off, she grabbed the site map with assigned and vacant spaces and ventured to the parking lot. She didn’t have to wait long before a compact van RV crept down the narrow country road adjoining the gravel lot.

  The driver’s caution was a stark contrast to the last vehicles she’d seen entering the lot. Very little dust trailed the vehicle. The driver made a circle so that Sofia stood near the driver’s window and the glass whirred into the door. A pretty brunette with her hair in a high ponytail stuck her head out. “Hi, Thalia the Magnificent at your service.”

  Magnificent? Sofia mulled over the title. Something in her face must have shown her doubt.

  The other woman laughed. “The name is still a work in progress.”

  Sofia strode forward and showed Thalia a couple available spaces with electricity hookups on the map. Thalia chose one and Sofia guided her there, using her phone as a flashlight and shooing idlers out of their way.

  By the time Thalia had pulled into her selected slot, a small crowd had gathered.

  Lu was among them. “What’s going on?”

  Sofia gestured to the brunette, who had popped her door and jumped down. She was petite, but had a lithe way of moving that was oddly fluid, as if she could burst into action at a moment’s notice. “Guy sent us a new performer.”

  The group started to talk at once. Mostly, variations of “Who’s she?” and “What does she do?”

  Sofia raised her hands for silence. “He didn’t tell me anything either.” She turned to the woman. “Well, what do you do?”

  Thalia smiled and Sofia noticed a reddish mark curving like a crescent moon on her cheek. The color was unusual for a tattoo. A raspberry birthmark?

  The woman gestured toward her van. “It’s easier if I show you.”

  She made a graceful flick of her fingers, and the passenger door clicked open on its own.

  Sofia hid a grin at the scattered gasps of surprise. The vehicle must have some kind of remote. A fox-terrier-sized dog jumped down from the van, landing with deer-like grace on the weedy gravel.

  Although it looked mostly dark-brown with white paws, collar, and the tip of its curly tail, the lights strung on poles throughout the campground revealed the brown was actually copper red.

  He had dark, almond-shaped eyes and a wrinkled forehead that made him look as if he were thinking hard. Small, pointed ears cupped forward as if to hear every sound. He had a compact elegance that was quite striking.

  “This is Spirit. He’s part of my act. Would you like a taste?”

  She glanced at Sofia, but appeared to be addressing the crowd.

  Sofia nodded. “Sure.”

  Thalia waved her hand at the car door again and it closed.

  She quickly ran through a bunch of typical circus dog tricks. The dog danced and prayed and jumped through hoops, and played dead. The whole thing was charming, but pretty standard and Sofia was about to suggest they work on something more dramatic when Thalia said to the dog which was laying on its side playing dead. “Disappear!”

  And it did. The performers exclaimed and pushed closer. Sofia stared at the dark ground where the dog had been, but it had vanished.

  Thalia passed a hoop over the ground to show that there was nothing there. Then she draped a scarf over the hoop, passed it over the ground, and said, “Re-appear!” She snapped her fingers. The animal burst from under the scarf as if coming through the hoop. It did a twirl and dropped into a doggy bow and Thalia bowed in tandem.

  Amazed gasps and applause filled the space surrounding the van.

  Sofia joined in. “I’m impressed.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Thank you!” Thalia smiled. But her elation didn’t stem from the good reception of her cobbled together “act.” She hadn’t even had to use her own magic. Her familiar, Spirit, had his own. He was a sorcerer in his own right, doing a self-imposed penance for a wrong he’d done her family almost a millennia ago.

  No, she was happy because she smelled chimera.

  The scent clung in varying degrees around the campground, as obvious to her vampire-aided senses as burned sugar in a studio apartment. The odor hung especially heavy around her new boss, Sofia Flores, and a redheaded woman who had joined the group late.

  Was one of them his mate?

  Thalia stepped closer to Sofia. Even in the uncertain light of the small globe bulbs strung across the grounds, she could see a film of perspiration on the Junoesque woman’s honey-brown skin. It wasn’t that warm an evening, and the other woman didn’t seem like the type to get flustered talking to strangers.

  Thalia extended her hand and Sofia shook it, allowing Thalia to clasp Sofia’s hands in both of Thalia’s. “It’s nice to be here.”

  She sighed, satisfaction rushing through her. Sofia’s hands were warm. Yes, the carnival owner had a low-grade fever, but Thalia didn’t smell illness. Combined with the scent of chimera, this was a latent chimera in the beginning stages of the transformation from latent to full.

  On the heels of that thought, Thalia allowed herself to be dragged into the crowd to meet a dizzying array of performers. Though she pasted a smile on her face and greeted each person presented, Spirit must have sensed her sudden unease.

  What’s wrong? he asked telepathically.

  Sofia is probably the chimera’s mate.

  So, that’s good.

  They’re only in the beginning stages of mating. If Ky or the others try to come here now, the brother will probably attack them. It could drive him feral before the mating can be completed and he stabilizes.

  A woman had crouched to pet him, but he pushed closer to Thalia. True, it wouldn’t be the first time one of them has attacked another.

  That was an understatement. Mara brothers first meets rarely went smoothly.

  Some of the crowd dispersed. After setting a time to meet her in the morning, Sofia excused herself, claiming she wasn’t feeling too well, which had to be the truth considering her low fever.

  The redhead who also smelled of chimera and had been introduced as Lucia Mireyeva sidled closer and ran an appreciative eye over Thalia. “It’s still early. Care to have a drink?”

  Eager to get the scoop on the mysterious chimera whose scent hovered in the campground, but wasn’t present, Thalia quickly agreed and soon found herself parked at a weathered picnic table under the kind of white canopy used for backyard parties with a chilled bottle of water in front of her.

  Spirit had followed and jumped up beside her. She looped an arm around him, stoking his short, chestnut fur.

  Although he’d had several different bodies over the course of her life, he’d been with her as long as she could remember and her foremothers before her. He was both a father-figure and a friend. Though, he’d been human long-ago, many years in dog form had resulted in a contradictory blend of human and animal. The former sorcerer-knight had been known to forget himself and chase a ball or a rabbit.

  Lu, as she’d asked to be called, took a swig from her frosty beer. “Tell me about yourself. Married, single, involved?”

  Spirit snickered. Uh-oh, should I leave you two alone?

  Hilari
ous, Thalia shot back. She turned to the other woman. “Married.”

  Lu clicked her tongue, “Damnit, all the good ones are taken or straight.”

  Thalia grinned at the flattery. She might not be sexually interested in other women, but it still felt nice to be complimented.

  She raised her plastic bottle, “Here’s to the remaining available good ones, may you find one in the next town.”

  Lu chuckled and bopped her glass bottle against Thalia’s plastic one. “Here, here. From your mouth to God’s ears.”

  They fell silent for a moment as they drank. Thalia could hear Lu’s pulse in the quiet of the evening. A glass of blood from her stores would be a good idea before bed.

  Thalia fingered the rough plastic edge of her white bottle cap. “So what’s your job around here?”

  Lu tossed her long curly hair over one shoulder, the fiery ringlets highlighting the crisp black of the intricate tattoos on her arms. “I’m the fire eater.”

  Thalia leaned back. The fire eater? Could this be F1ammab13? Given the scent of chimera around the other woman, it seemed a safe bet.

  She surveyed the area. Most people had wandered away and those who hadn’t were wrapped in their own conversations. Her elbows slid onto the table. She pressed in, closing the distance between her and Lu across the grayed wood and making sure her voice didn’t carry on the humid night air. “F1ammab13? I’m That5W1tch2U.”

  Chapter 17

  The pounding on Roan’s door could be only one person. He didn’t even bother to listen or scent before he opened the door. Sure enough, Lu spilled in. But she wasn’t alone.

  A petite brunette woman entered behind her. A dog somewhere between medium and small trailed her, and the strange woman closed the door behind her.

  “A basenji!” Roan said.

  The unfamiliar woman’s dark eyebrows shot up. “You’re right. Not many people recognize the breed.”