Page 66 of Galaxy Circus Act One

“Come on then, game face on.” Eric steps forward and presses a bell on the door in front of him. It barely rings before it slides open.

“Come on then, Lila, don’t be afraid.” Xavier’s musical tone mocks me, even though I can’t see into the dimly lit room. “Step into my lair.”

I square my shoulders and brace myself as I step into the warlock’s living quarters. The door slides closed behind me, leaving Eric on the other side. I whirl around, trying to open the door, and I feel Xavier’s mist against my back. “Lila, your fear is delicious, but I’d much rather receive a different emotion from you. Come now, I promise you’ll be safe. Eric knows not to come into my home, but he also knows you’ll be fine. I would never insult them by feeding off their granddaughter without permission. I like enthusiastic consent. Tell me, Lila, will you give me enthusiastic consent?”

CHAPTER FOUR

Caspian

Iwatch Lila walk out the door with Eric before turning back to John and William. There’s a small ball of nerves in the pit of my stomach for Lila, and even my beast is a bit restless, but I know that Xavier will take care of her. His attraction mark is still on her shoulder, and it wouldn’t be there if he had nefarious plans for her. Hopefully he can give her some answers as to why she has no powers so we can put her mind at ease.

“What are we going to do about your act, Cas?” William asks, leaning back on his chair and throwing his feet up on his desk. John frowns at him, like he wants to slap his feet away, but he waits for my answer.

“I think we need to hire a new dragon or even a different shape-shifting creature. When I shift, it really blows the crowd’s mind. We probably should have had Dylan shifting too and flying around the dome. They’d just think it was a hologram or something.” The thought of Dylan sends a quick rush of fury through my veins, but I compose myself. There is zero need forthe grandads to see how much his betrayal as a friend and the way he hurt Lila affects me.

“Do you have an idea about who or what?” William raises an eyebrow, jerking me out of my thoughts. I roll his question around in my mind a bit, surprised that he asked for my input.

“What about a Naga shifter?” I think about my childhood friend and former lover, Silac. I’m not sure what he’s been doing since I left Fluxx, but I bet he’d be interested. He has always been adventurous, and he would think working for the circus was a blast.

John and William exchange a look. I swear the boss men have telepathy. I can practically feel the thoughts flying between them.

“Do you have someone in mind?” John inquires casually, and I nod.

“Yes, I have a friend who would possibly be a good fit.”

“Okay, well how about you contact that friend and ask if he would like a trial run? He can do the shows in Vegas, Asia, and Australia. We can reassess after that. We have a transport coming from Fluxx with a new dragon.” My eyebrows jump in surprise at this announcement. “The head of the dragon clan was not happy with Dylan, who is his nephew, and has offered up his son as a replacement to smooth over relations. If your friend can get to the transport, they can make the trip together.”

Before I can answer, the doorbell rings. When it opens, Link’s on the other side. He comes in and takes a seat next to me.

“Good morning, Link. I hope you’ve got better news to make up for the Dylan incident,” John asks but I can already tell from the strained look on Link’s face that he doesn’t.

“Not really, no.”

William sighs, knowing that Link’s presence is not going to make his day any better. He holds up a hand. “I need coffee before I get any more bad news.”

He gets up and goes over to the replicator on the wall and programs himself a coffee before asking us if we want one. He could have done it telekinetically, but I get the feeling he needs to be doing something. All three of us say yes, and so it takes him a few minutes to do that. Once he sits down again, we all have a steaming hot mug in front of us. When I take a sip, I almost choke at the flavor. William chuckles then winks. “It’s an Irish coffee kind of morning.” He takes a sip of his own and sighs happily. “Okay, Link, hit us with it.”

“Two problems. The first being my nurse,” he starts, and William rolls his eyes.

“What has that weaselly little asshole done now?” William knows about Josa’s issues from when Lila gave Link the night off. Was that only a couple of nights ago? Shit, it feels like Dylan attacked her weeks ago.

Link tells them about Josa’s threats. “I’m almost a hundred percent sure my mother can’t get at my source code, but my dad is looking into it. I think he also has plans to appeal to the board to have her replaced. As for my immediate issue, I would like to petition for Josa’s removal from the circus. I don’t even really need a nurse, and all he does is upset my patients anyway.” William and John know this goes beyond Josa’s outward disgust with Lila since he’s rubbed others the wrong way before she arrived.

“That’s fine. We have a transport coming in from Fluxx tonight, so he can use that to get back to Cybertronia.” John leans in and types out a message on his screen. “I’ll just send him his termination of contract. That will give him time to pack.”

Link heaves a sigh of relief, and I can see that it was really weighing on the poor guy. “Thank you. My mother’s getting more and more demanding. She keeps sending mates that are suitable in her eyes to be my nurse, but they are really useless. Can you just tell her we have no need of one? In reality, they arereally only her spies.” The tension I saw leave Link’s body only seconds ago has returned in the tiniest form in the pinching of his eyebrows.

John and William exchange a glance. “We can…” John trails off and flushes red, and William grunts. “But we have a business relationship with your mother that we are reluctant to shoot down in flames. She is not an easy woman to get along with, especially when she really doesn’t want you here. She sees our allowing you to be in the circus as a betrayal. We appease her by allowing her to send whomever she wants for your nurse. We figured there was no harm in that. We can now see how wrong we were, and for that we are truly sorry.”

Link cocks his head to the side. “What business arrangement?”

“Since our wife disappeared, and the bond was not broken, we have been using a Pleasure Bot subscription to take care of our needs. We wouldn’t dream of cheating on our wife, so they are a good alternative. Your mother is who we’ve been dealing with.”

“Of course you do. Over twenty years is a long time to go without, and a high-tech sex doll is definitely a better idea than cheating. If Mom cuts you off, I can arrange for you to have new ones when you want to change them out,” Link assures them, and I see the brothers relax minutely.

Pleasure Bot Industries has a program where you can swap out your bots for new ones when you get sick of them or want to try something different. The robots are then subsonically cleaned and ready for the next person. It’s like a sex library.

“Then of course we can tell her we don’t need a replacement. We don’t need her using our ship or our show to spy on you or us.” William waves his hands around in aggravation.