The Daredevil (Black Cat Circus #1)

by Duckie Mack

A family came into view and I watched them for a moment. A tall, solid man wearing a flat cap, a shorter, thinner man with brown hair and glasses, and two kids; a boy and a girl. "Daddy, Nico, can we go on the swings?" I overheard the little boy ask.

The man with the flat cap took off his cap, the sun gleaming off his bald head, and looked at the swings in contemplation. "I don't know, bud, I think I might be too big for those. How about you and your dad go and I'll stay with Emily." The shorter man smiled at the taller one, a look passed between them that was full of affection. When the bigger one leaned down to kiss the other man, I couldn't help but snap a picture, capturing the sweet moment. No faces were shown clearly, but the love between them was tangible in the shot.

No matter how appealing testing that theory sounded, I kept myself standing, breathing in that sweet aroma of Eli’s and enjoying his wonder as Coal lit the ends of his fire sticks with a lighter. At least he was aware enough of our presence to not light it with the fire he could create. We watched together as he took two fire sticks and swirled them around his body, his head, his arms, in beautiful, fluid movement that equaled his strength. I could practically feel the awe coming off of Eli. I saw this every day, and it was stunning, truly. It didn’t compare

to what he could do when he wasn’t having to make his talents safe for human eyes, though he sometimes gave a little inhuman boost to enhance the experience. While it was nice to be able to watch and enjoy his performance with Eli at my side, I wanted to be the cause of his awe. “Stay right here.” I pecked a kiss on his cheek. As I stepped away from him, walking toward Coal, I pulled my shirt off and tossed it over my head to Eli. My skin could hold up against fire, but my shirt not so much. And I liked that shirt, it was perfectly worn in. “Okay, Coal. I can’t let you have all the fun. Light me up.” I announced as I got closer. Without hesitation or missing a mark, Coal tossed one of the sticks to me. I faced him as I gave it a swirl

in front of me and waved it behind my head, moving my body to allow the fire to flow around me without touching me. When I turned to face Eli, I got the reaction I was hoping for. That sweet, sweet sharp intake of oxygen. The BCC crew saw my tattoo regularly, in fact, there wasn’t much of any of us that the others hadn’t seen. Except for Coal, who always kept his chest covered. But when you changed in front of each other quic...

I didn’t often show my full chest tattoo to others outside of our circle, but something about Eli made me want him to see it. It was personal, a representation of the beast within. The one that I didn’t understand growing up. But he was a part of me and having him on my chest helped me...

Growling deeply, I carried him up the two steps into the trailer, loving the way his weight felt when I held him and the way his legs squeezed around me. I set him down on the bed when a yowl sounded and a cat darted out from behind Eli. “Peanut?! What are you doing in here?” I asked. He wasn’t inside when I closed it earlier. Maybe he’d snuck in while I was distracted with Eli outside.

The black cat wound around my legs. Eli gasped, his eyes rounded when he saw him “That’s him!” “What?” I asked. “That’s the cat that ran me off the road.” “Are you sure?” “Yes! He had that distinctive white heart on his chest. That’s him, it has to be.” I scooped up the cat who yelled in protest at being held. “What did you do, Peanut?” “Peanut?” “Yeah, he’s sort of like the circus mascot. Nobody knows where he came from, but he’s just always around. It doesn’t matter where we go, he shows up.” The cat wiggled and squirmed in my hold before I placed him back on the ground. He was always getting into trouble. Brighton was convinced there was more to him than there appeared to be. Peanut had been around since the beginning, before me even, and hadn’t aged in the ten years since I’d been with the circus. Peanut went under my bed and began meowing and scratching at something. I rolled my eyes before getting on my hands and knees to look under the bed. This was not what I needed right now. I’d been seconds away from tearing Eli’s clothes off and seeing if his whole body blushed the way his face did. “What are you getting into?” Eli pulled his feet up on the bed, shuddering. “Do you think it’s a mouse or a rat?” “No, we don’t have pests.” “I mean, you’re in an open field, it happens. But also, I hate rats, so I really hope you’re right.”

There were enough supernatural creatures and predators within the BCC, that most prey animals sensed to stay away, and the ones that didn’t, well, they didn’t last long. “Trust me, that’s never a problem for us. But I don’t see what he’s trying to get at, except…” I kept moving my trunk aside, trying to see what else might be under my bed. But it was the trunk that Peanut seemed interested in. “Except what?” I pulled the wooden trunk out from under my bed. I stared at it, not sure what to do. No one had seen my hoard of treasures before. Eli lowered down to the floor beside me, his near...

white heart framed perfectly between his front legs. “I think he wants us to open it. What’s in it?” Eli asked. “It’s nothing really. Just little things I’ve collected over time.” A lie. That box contained every important thing from my life. “Can I see?” Eli asked gently. I took a deep breath and blew it out. When I looked at Eli, something settled in me. If ever there was someone to share my secrets with, it would be him. I nodded slowly. “I’ll show you.” I opened the box, letting Eli peer in to see a strange assortment of things. Pieces of paper, a few books, trin...

I took it from him and felt a half-smile form while I held it. “I got it from the side of the road where you crashed. It’s one of the weeds where I found your phone.” Eli’s expression was tender. “Why did you keep it?” I reached over and held his hand. “It was a marker of where we met, well, met again. And finding your phone gave me hope that I would see you again.” Eli leaned across and placed a soft kiss on my lips. Minutes ago, I was ready to devour him, now I was content to get this sweet, softness of him too. Peanut got our attention ...

empty so he could use it for himself. Eli reached in again and pulled out a very worn, very loved book. It had a green cover with iridescent greenish-blue dragon wings, a silver heart, and a crown with blue jewels. “Of Heart and Wings.” I took the book and clutched it to my heart. The cover was wrinkled, the spine broken, pages were dog-eared. It looked as if it had lived many lives. It had, with me. I lost count of the times I’d read it since Sev first handed it to me. When he gave me the series, he told me he thought it would help me learn about myself. “Wh...

for me, something that helped me feel like I belonged.” At first, I struggled with it, knowing I would never be able to shift like Egan did. Would never be able to feel my wings stretch out and soar through the night sky. My dragon was trapped within me. But the more I read it, the more I felt the acceptance of it. Acceptance of myself too as I saw things in the dragon that I saw in myself. Later in the series, a term struck me as if I’d been struck by an arrow. It resonated so hard I wept. Dragon-borne. That was what I was. I came from dragons, I had a dragon inside of me, but I would never shift. Still, seeing myself in some...

pulled out the next item, his eyes rounded and he stood to his feet. “Where did you get this?” His sharp tone surprised me. I stood up with him. When he turned the photo around to show me, my heart stopped. It was a photo of me in high school. It was taken shortly before I left home. “Drake! Where the fuck did you get this?” I stared at Eli, confused by his strong reaction. “I’ve had it forever.” “Where?” “It’s from school.” Eli sa...

“Drake, I took this picture. This is my photograph. I developed it with my own hands, chemicals and all.” It was my turn for my eyes to round. “Holy shit! Are you serious?” “Yes. I entered it into the art show, but it disappeared off the wall. I always thought it was sabotage, one of the other art students took it to kick me out of winning.” “Shit,” I said as I flopped down on the bed beside him. I looked at the shot. It was me doing a handstand on the railing of the football stadium, a shadowed profile with the sunset behind me. An act that was thrilling and had gotten me lots of attention from the other students, attention I loved, craved rea...

antics and were tired of me always getting in trouble. I grabbed the picture from Eli and held it gingerly. “This stunt got me in all sorts of trouble. I was on my way out of the school, for good. I wasn’t ever going to be returning. When I walked down the hallway that had all the art submissions up, I stopped dead. This photo made me feel special. For the first time in my life, I felt like someone saw me as something beautiful, and not simply as a hyper kid no one knew what to do with.” I felt my eyes moisten with the memory. Eli turned toward me. “How is that you? How were you there...

home shortly after, found Sev, and you know the rest.” “But I don’t remember anyone named Drake. And I remember him, his name wasn’t Drake.” He pointed at the picture. I shook my head. “No, his name was Richard.” I pulled a face. I’d always hated that name. “Richard Branning,” Eli said. “You were him, though, weren’t you?” “I was. I changed the name as soon as I could. It never felt like me. The last name wasn’t mine either.” Eli’s hand landed on my forearm, his thumb sweeping over my skin in soft caresses. “No, it never seem...

“I was a junior when you were a senior, but you were sort of infamous, everyone knew you.” “Everyone knew of me, but nobody knew me,” I corrected. I didn’t let anyone close enough to know me. I was too uncomfortable in my skin. I didn’t understand the strange stirring, unsettled feeling I often felt, and the only way I knew how to release some of the tension was through an adrenaline rush. “Kids knew me for the wild stunts I would pull. I got lots of high fives in the hallways, but no one knew who I was.” “That may be so, but I saw you and saw this bold, fearless guy who didn’t let rules stand in his way. Who did...

do something so brave. I was too scared or nervous to do…anything. Even when I thought someone had stolen my photo to kick me out of the competition, I didn’t bother telling anyone. I just sucked it up and tried to let it go. But it always bothered me and I wished I would have said something. Of course, now I know it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.” “I’m sorry for taking it and making you go through that.” Eli held my face in both his hands. “I’m not. It means so much more to me to know that it was special to you and you’ve held onto it...

home screen, I should have known you were the one that took that picture of me. There’s something about your work, I can’t put a finger on it. You have a beautiful eye, a way of seeing the world around you and capturing its beauty.” Eli fell back on the bed, holding the photo against his stomach. “God, I can’t believe it’s you. All this time. You just disappeared from school and no one heard from you again. The school never felt the same after that. I was always hoping it was another one of your tricks, that you would just pop up one day, doing cartwheels on the roof or something. Your name was for...

I laid down beside him, staring up at the ceiling of the trailer. “It was too hard to return. This place has a lot of bad memories for me. I’ve avoided it for ten years. When we first got into town, I was a mess, though I tried to hide it. Then, you showed up.” “Me?” I turned on my side to face him and propped my head on my hand. “Yes, you, Marshmallow.” “What about me?” His beautiful hazel eyes watched me, examining me. “Your presence is soothing in ways I can’t describe. Even driving you home and passing streets I used to roam when I lived here, you m...

make me feel seen and you make me feel at peace. That’s not something I feel often. Bes...

Eli cracked a smile. “You know, if little Eli could see me now, he would be so jealous.” “Maybe we should give him some more things to be jealous of.” I placed my hand on his soft, f...

“Yes, let’s do that.” Eli’s cheeks turned that lovely shade of pink. I grabbed the photo from him and placed it gently back in the trunk. As soon as the trunk was closed, Peanut’s interest in it seemed to vanish. He yowled again, begging to be let out. I opened the door and he bounded away. Had he somehow known wh...

past life? I stared down at the beautiful ginger in my bed, trying to wrap my head around the fact that he was the one responsible f...

“You are, Eli. I swear, you are.” He pulled me in and kissed me. His warm lips felt so perfect against mine and now I understood why his body heat was so much higher. He had an internal fire. A giggle rose in me. One I couldn’t stop until I was laughing against his lips. Drake pulled back and looked at me with a mixture of humor and confusion. “What’s so funny?” “You’re a dragon.” I snorted.

Drake’s lip tugged up in a half-smile. “I mean, kinda, yeah.” “I got fucked by a dragon!” I laughed hysterically. Drake’s smile turned cheshire. “No, Marshmallow. You made love to a dragon. But I intend to fuck you whenever and however you want me to.”

Damn, if that didn’t set my skin ablaze. Maybe he infused me with his fire. And what he said, God, that sounded so hot. I found myself nodding, wanting w...

That lovely color rose in his cheeks once more as he shrugged. “I didn’t hate it…with you.” “Aw, Marshmallow. You sure know how to make a man feel special.” I grinned. Imagining his body pressed against mine, with the power of the machine between our legs, had me ready to drive him all over creation. It also had me wanting the power of him between my legs. Fuck! I could feel the heat building beneath the surface, could feel the blaze behind my eyes. I stepped into him, nuzzling his hair with my nose, and breathed in deeply, inhaling that wonderful aroma. Eli drew in a gasp but didn’t push me away. His hands went to my sides, grabbing onto my bare waist. He was irresistible. Everything about him called to me. That he still smelled of both of us was intensely erotic. He tilted his neck, giving me access, and I kissed my way down his neck, sucking on his throat. The moan that came from him had me increasing the pressure and holding him in my arms. I sucked that sweet spot at the base of his neck until he melted into me. His desire obvious as his hardness pressed against my own. When I nipped his neck, he squeezed my sides and gasped, “Drake!” I released from his neck, admiring the color coming to the surface, content with the mark left behind. Eli was flushed with need, a look that was incredibly arousing. Still, I didn’t want to do anything he didn’t want. His body reacted in a way that spurred me on, but did he regret it? “Too much?”

He let out an awkward chuckle. “No, it’s not that, Drake. God, I don’t know how you make me want all these things I don’t normally. But we really need to go, and if you keep doing that, I’m…going to miss my appointment.” I grinned. “You could reschedule.” He looked as if he considered it for a moment, before shaking his head. “Come on, let’s go. You’ll follow me, right?” “Anywhere.”

I found myself nodding before I could force a raspy, “Yeah.” How did he look so sexy on that bike? He hadn’t bothered to grab a shirt, just sat there looking all hot and tan, without a care in the world. The dark scruff of his beard, the gauges in his ears, the bike that he straddled. Damn! I put the helmet on and slid a leg over the bike, settling myself on the edge of the seat. Drake placed both hands on my thighs and squeezed. “You know what you need to do, Eli.” Taking his not-so-subtle cue, I scooted forward until my groin was pressed firmly against his ass. Only this time without the awkwardness

of snuggling a stranger. This time it was with a body I was familiar with, one that I wanted, needed even. When I squeezed my arms around his chest, leaning against his back, Drake let out a growl that he covered by a rev of the engine. Drake patted my hands which were folded on top of each other. “Ready?” “Ready.”

With that, he took off. Adrenaline got my heart rate going, but not with fear this time. I trusted Drake, I knew he would protect me. Embracing him, embracing the experience, I let myself fall into him, our bodies moved as one with no resistance. He was my dance pa...

The ride ended all too soon when he pulled in front...

office, stopping at the sidewalk that led to the front door. A wall of windows faced the parking lot. If they weren’t tinted I would be able to see my desk, my cubicle, my coworkers, Carol. But I couldn’t think about them. “You can let go now, Marshmallow. We’re here.” “Just another minute.” Drake's arms folded over mine, pressing t...

He felt so good, I wasn’t ready for it to end. And yet, from behind him, I wondered if his dragon tattoo moved under my touch even now. I pressed a kiss to Drake’s shoulder and sighed, releasing my grip. I slid off the bike, but before I could...

pulling me down to meet in a fiery kiss. A rumble grew from the back of his throat, one that I swallowed ...

When we separated enough to catch our breaths, I rested my head on his. “I’m going to see you again, right?” Drake sat up and squeezed my arms. “Hell yes, you are. You call me whenever, and I’ll be there. Besides, you know where to find me. Come see me anytime.” “Call you? Oh, I don’t think I ever actually got your number.” I fished my phone out of my pocket, my cheeks burning as I ...

“Too bad we don’t have time to take some more...

smirked as he programmed his number in. “I’ll bring my big camera next time.” Drake’s brows arched in surprise. I too was surprised that the thought I meant to keep to myself came out so easily. “I like the sound of that. Call me soon, Marshmallow. I don’t think I can wait too long.” “God, Drake. You are…something else.” “You know it.” He winked and slapped my ass, making me jump. “Now head on in, so I can watch you walk away” I handed him his helmet and strolled awa...

face. One that remained even as I entered the building. One that fell when I was met by gaped mouths and everyone staring at me. It was then I realized those tinted windows that I’d looked out of almost every day that I’d worked there, gave a clear view of where Drake was now speeding off out of the par...

I awkwardly walked through everyone toward my desk, my cheeks on fire. Carol’s eyes were wide as she grabbed my hands and pulled...

“Oh my God, Pooky! That was one hell of an entrance!” I rubbed the back of my neck. “So, you saw that, huh?” “Are you kidding? Everyon...

rides in on a loud street bike in the middle of the day. Not only that but a half-naked guy with tats. Holy shit! That was so hot! And you! Look at you!” “Me?” I looked down to realize I was still wearing the metallic teal shirt from the night before. A shirt far different than anything I’d worn to work before. I’d been so caught up in Drake, and everything that happened, that I didn’t even think about the outfit I was wearing. “Yes, you! My God, Pooks, you look gorgeous in that shirt.” She leaned in close, pulling the sides of my collar away, and gasped. “And you have a hickey!” I clapped my hand over...

Carol leaned back, folding her arms over her chest, amusement glinting in her eyes. “Oh hun, it’s too late now. There’s no point trying to cover that up, everyone’s already seen it. You made such a spectacle, if anyone somehow missed it, I don’t doubt they’ve already heard all the details.” “Do you think they are going to look at me differently?” I winced at the thought. In the years I’d spent making myself invisible, I came in with a neon sign on my neck, in my shiny shirt, after snogging a hot, bare-chested man on a motorcycle in front of everyone. The very least invisible string of events I could imagine. “Pook...

Daaaammnn! This is a good look on you.” Before I realized everyone had seen me, I felt good. I felt amazing and confident and sexy because of the attention that Drake gave me. Maybe being seen wasn’t so bad after all. “Oh and by the way, I’m still waiting for the pics you promised me. And if those circus folks are anything like the daredevil that dropped you off...” I felt a grin tug at my lips. “There’s no one like him, Carol.” Carol smiled wide and clapped her hands. “You are smitten and...

I pulled out my phone, scrolling to find his number. Not in the D’s for Drake or DD for Daredevil like the message he left on my car. I kept scrolling until I barked out a laugh. I hit the text button on the contact that said Sexy Beast. Sexy Beast? Really? Sexy Beast Where’s the lie?

I chuckled, imagining his eyes glowing with amusement. (eye roll emoji) You busy? Sexy Beast Miss me already, Marshmallow? Yeah, actually. I think I need to get out of here. Sexy Beast Done. I’ll be there ASAP. I didn’t doubt he would break records to get back here, a thought that made me feel all warm and fluttery. Just be careful. Sexy Beast Where’s the fun in that? (winky face) Anticipation of his arrival had my knee bouncing under my desk, as I

kept glancing through the window that faced the parking lot. Drake pulled up in half the time it had taken for him to bring me earlier. What speeds had he reached to get here? I might have lectured him about it, except I was too giddy that he’d come. My heart bounced around even more than my knee did. I stood and walked over to Carol’s desk, leaning on the half wall. “Hey, Carol. I’m going to get out of here.” I indicated my head toward the parking lot. She leaned around me to look out the window, her eyes rounded before returning her gaze to me. She gave me a thumbs up. “Good for you, Pook. You deserve it.” “I’ll talk to you later.” “You better. I’m expecting details this time, and pictures.”

Pictures. Right. I needed my camera. I tried to school my expression as I walked to Frank’s office. Another rap on the door frame. He looked surprised to see me standing there again so soon. I wasn’t one to go to his office if I didn’t have to. “I’m taking a sick day. I’ll send you the article when it’s finished.” His mouth fell open and I left before he could reply. As soon as I was outside, I ran to meet Drake where he stood by his bike wearing a tank top that he’d put on since I saw him last. He caught me and lifted me by my ass as I wrapped my legs around his waist. I leaned over him and kissed him hard. Savoring the taste ...