Page 39 of Two For the Show (Trapped On The Tightrope Duet #2)
My hands are vibrating as Jude warms the crowd up, getting them excited for an evening of danger and intrigue.
I know he’s about to introduce me, and I have to face the fact that I’m going to need to put on a show. But as I fiddle with my lavalier mic, making sure it’s turned off, my stomach starts to drop.
What if I fuck this up?
What if this doesn’t work, and it’s all my fault?
Before I can spiral, Dario and Quinton step out of the dress tent together.
Dario is shirtless now but hasn’t put on his hot pants yet, and Quinton is barefoot and dressed in all black, with neon yellow bracelets on his wrists.
Their scents combined, Quinton’s chocolate pastry mixing with the changed profile of Dario’s candied apple is like the best pie in the world.
“You’re going to be great,” Quinton says, squeezing my side. He’s looking healthier than ever now, his Rot lightening up and hopefully heading toward remission. “Don’t stress out. No matter what happens, we’re a pack, okay? This is going to be perfect. ”
Dario gives me a wet, sloppy kiss. “What he said.”
Before I can respond, Jude’s voice booms from inside the tent. A reluctant sigh is followed by the words, “Is there a doctor in the house?”
Dario whoops and pumps his fist. “Told you he’d say it!”
Quinton chuckles and pushes me into the ring. “Go. We’ll see you soon.”
I stumble into the tent to loud applause. The lights are so bright I can barely see the audience, and I’m grateful for it. Jude holds his hand out to me, and I take it, allowing him to guide me to the star in the center of the ring.
“Introducing Dr. Alex Shields, the newest member of Cirque de Mordu, and my bonded Omega!” he calls out.
I can tell the moment my name registers, because it’s like the sound has been sucked out of the tent. I’m about to run the other way before a tentative applause starts up.
I flick my mic on. “Wow, that was … not the welcome I was expecting,” I say with a breathy laugh. “It’s almost like you all have heard a lot about me over the past few months and don’t know what to think about me showing up here.”
A few laughs scatter through the crowd, and Jude gives me a small nod, urging me to continue as planned.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past six months.
Running away and joining the circus is a lot more fun than I thought it would be.
I used to threaten my parents with it a lot when I was a kid, and things got hard.
Sorry about that, Mom and Dad! I can’t imagine being anywhere else now.
Who knew the circus was the best place a runaway Omega could go? ”
The audience is warming up to the idea of me now, and it emboldens me. I pull up the corset top I’m wearing and circle the ring, as Jude taught me.
“Tonight, we have an incredible show for you. Jude Oliver, our illustrious showrunner, has decided to step aside and let me show him up a little. Did you know there is a difference between a showrunner and a ringmaster? Or at least, Jude swears there is. Tonight, you have both. I will be your ringmaster on this journey into the dark.”
“It’s no secret that here at Cirque de Mordu, you have to be ready for the unexpected,” Jude says, repeating the words I heard the first time I watched the show.
“Tonight, we’re not only going for the unexpected, as I’m sure you’re realizing.
Tonight, we’ll astonish you. We’ll astound you. We’ll make you scream.”
He steps back, allowing me to stand by myself in the spotlight. My heart is beating out of my chest.
It’s time for me to put my money where my mouth is.
“Please welcome to the ring the Twisted Twins!” I shout to raucous applause.
Edmund turns on the Twins’ entrance music, and they come bounding into the ring, doing flips and handsprings until they land on either side of me. The song’s beat is vibrating in my chest as I stare at the two Alphas.
Dario, in his tight gold shorts, has a cheeky grin on his face. He takes my hand, spins me around, and places a kiss firmly on my lips. The audience makes a sort of howling, whistling sound as he drops his head to my neck, perfectly placing his mouth right by my mic.
“You’ve never looked more beautiful, Alex.” When he kisses me again, my knees buckle, and I struggle to maintain my composure as my face heats.
Dexter doesn’t allow me to stew in the moment, taking me from his brother and dipping me low before placing a passionate kiss on my lips.
When he pulls away, he presses his forehead against mine.
I know this is far out of his comfort zone, but the audience can’t tell.
I feel like the only two people in the world at this moment .
“Are you ready, Omega?”
He pulls me back as a pole drops from above us into the center of the ring.
We’ve practiced this. I don’t have to do much but look pretty and be in the places they’ve told me to, but nerves still gnaw at my gut.
But we decided to start with this act for a reason. It’ll ease me into my involvement in the show. I’ve never been much of a performer, aside from my desire to be a magician’s assistant. This is new territory for me.
I take a step back to the edge of the ring as Dexter walks with the pole and climbs up it as it moves slowly in a circle. He feeds his foot through a loop at the top, arching his back and stretching down to extend his hand to Dario.
Dario clutches his hand and uses the leverage of it to walk up the pole.
I watch, as entranced as the audience, as their bodies move and twine together beautifully. For a moment, I can forget I’m on display for everyone and enjoy the sight of two of my Alphas doing what they love to do.
Dexter unhooks his foot from the hidden loop and holds himself horizontal on the pole. Dario mirrors his movements, both of them using their legs to “walk” through the air.
I slip away, my heart pounding in my chest. As the twins continue their seductive dance, no one notices I’m missing.
It’s impossible to look away from them, after all.
Jude waits in the wings to guide me to one of the support beams. I grab the first rung of the fixed ladder and look back at my Prime Alpha for support.
He kisses me and pats me on the ass as I begin to climb.
At the top of the platform, one of the roadies, Seamus, grabs my wrist and hauls me up. He points at my mic .
“It’s off,” I say, willing myself not to look down. “Am I on time?”
He nods. “They’re about to discover you’re missing.” Unhooking the aerial hoop from its spot, he guides it to me. “You ready, Doc?” he asks quietly. “You’ll be fine. Hold on tight, and the guys will do the rest.”
I’ve done this at least ten times already, but I can’t help but be nervous, because this time, it’s for real. This time, all eyes are going to be on me.
I grip the hoop as they taught me, wrapping my arm around the top to anchor myself, and then I drop my leg over it. I’m stretched out, exposing the long line of my body in a pose I hope is beautiful and seductive. I’m posed perfectly when the electronic control kicks in and the hoop starts to move.
I have to stifle a surprised yelp.
I’m being moved horizontally to the center of the ring, above the pole, and I chance a glance down. Dario and Dexter have their legs hooked around the pole and are reaching out into the shadows, where I’m supposed to be. When I don’t come out, the music stops abruptly.
“Alex?” Dario’s voice sounds fearful. “Alex, where are you?”
They gracefully dismount from the pole, making a show of running around the ring looking for me. The lights flash dramatically, and the music kicks on again, this time with a song that would be better at home on a sex playlist than at a circus.
I tighten my grip, counting in my head, and then the hoop falls.
The audience gasps and shouts as I come careening into their view, suspended in the air after a dramatic entrance. The hoop spins slowly, and I arch my back, dropping one hand down and stepping one foot higher than the other.
Below me, the twins climb up the pole gracefully. Dexter plants both hands firmly and extends his body horizontally again, spreading his legs apart and holding his body still as the pole moves in small circles.
Dario, in a move so smooth I nearly miss it, dismounts from the pole and stands directly on Dexter’s ribs.
This gets him close enough to grab the hoop.
His hands jostle it, and I feel my stomach bottom out, but I know he’s not going to let me get hurt.
He places one foot on the outside of the hoop and anchors himself with one hand before reaching down for his brother.
Once Dexter has been hauled up and is posed opposite Dario on the outside of the ring, I carefully grab both sides of the ring and slide my body so I am sitting on the ring like a swing.
The boys each hook a leg on either side of me and grab the hoop with one hand before letting their bodies hang as limp as possible.
We must strike an incredible image, because the audience is screaming wildly, and I see several camera flashes. I know, in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t an awe-inspiring use of their skills. But I’m glad I get to be a part of it.
As the hoop is lowered to the floor of the tent, both of the guys let go and drop into rolls for the final few feet. As soon as I am close enough to the ground for my feet to touch, they’re back by my side, Dexter kissing me soundly before turning me to face his brother.
Dario steals my breath with his kiss while slipping his hand to the back of my shorts to turn on my mic.
“Presenting, Dr. Alex Shields!” he crows, stepping wide and holding his arm out to me. “My Omega.”
Dexter and I make eye contact. I may not have bonded him yet, but that does not make him any less my Alpha or me any less his Omega.
He doesn’t have to claim me. Everyone knows identical twins share a scent match.
But if I thought he was going to skip that part of the performance, I was sorely mistaken.
“My scent match,” he says seductively, wrapping a hand around my waist and hauling me off the ring. “My Omega.”