Chapter 9

I dropped the drawing off at my car and shot it another glance before returning to the circus grounds. Conall had a realistic style of art that countless artists used, but something about the way his strokes flowed across the paper felt familiar, like I'd seen it somewhere before. Where, exactly? I didn't have the braincapacity to figure it out right now.

My only thought was to get back to Conall, or at least be closer to him. I had to squash down the desire to return to his station and watch him draw. The first time I could justify that I was waiting for the line to go down before going up to him, but there was no reason to do that this time. It would just be creepy.

Instead, I wandered around the carnival. It wasn't as crowded as earlier—everyone had probably all gone to see the circus show that had been advertised all afternoon—but there were still some stragglers enjoying the games, rides, and food without having to wait in long lines.

I watched a family of bunny shifters purchase food from a lion shifter. The irony of that wasn't lost on me.

After looking around the place for a bit longer, I realized there was a different sense ofnormalcy here at this circus. Species of all kinds, whether natural friend or foe, intermingled together in this space, in peace.

It was a bit strange to see, if I was being completely honest. Most species didn't interact much outside of their own, much less coexist together, and yet that was exactly what the Black Cat Circus had managed to do. It didn't matter who you were or what your background was, they treated each other as equals. Family.

This was so different from what I was used to. Everyone in our sperm whale kingdom was family, but we had ahierarchy that favored those of the royal lineage—my family. And, as the baby and only male child, I grew up wanting for nothing, nor having anything expected of me. It was a life many people wished for, but I felt…coddled. Like nothing I did mattered because it was never expected of me in the first place, so began my desire to leave our little kingdom.

Although, it probably didn't help that I took the freedom a bit too far by playing around and sleeping my way through cities. If they thought I was useless before, I'd only proven their point with my actions.

Ten minutes before our meeting time, I walked toward the largest tent here. It was a thing of beauty; bold red and white stripes made up the majority of it. It stood tall and proud, like a fortress that could never be felled. I'd never had an interest in circuses—clowns weren't my thing—but even I could appreciate the beauty of the structure in front of me.

Based on the loud cheers coming from inside, the show was still going on. I didn't know if I needed a ticket to see the show, but I was tempted to poke my head through the flap door to sneak a peek. I walked closer to the entrance, but right when I was about to open a flap, a black cat sprinted out from the tent, almost causing me to trip.

The cat was all black aside from the white heart-shaped pattern on their chest. They paused and stared at me with crescent-green eyes that seemed to stare right into my soul. I shivered involuntarily, and when I blinked, the cat was gone.

The hell?

We whales were large, but that didn't mean we were slow. But that was twice now that I wasn't able to even perceive what the other did. Once with the crap-thief, and now with the cat.

I twisted around, thinking the cat had to still be nearby, but found nothing.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Conall's voice had me freezing in my mid-turn state. He'd probably seen me spinning in place for no reason.

Double fuck.

How was I going to explain my actions without sounding like a complete fool?

"I was just…There was a black cat, then it suddenly disappeared! So I was, um, looking for it?" I said, my voice rising at the last word like even I was questioning myself.

Conall watched me for a second before chuckling. "You must mean Peanut. He's our…mascot, but yeah, he does that a lot, so I wouldn't worry about it."

"You mean disappear into thin air?"

He shrugged. "Disappears, reappears. That's Peanut."

His words made me think there was more to that cat than what I saw, though considering this place was brimming with supernaturals, I shouldn't be surprised.

A handsome blond man walked from the other side of the tent in the same direction Conall came from, and in his arms was the cat in question. Peanut was licking his paw, like he hadn't just given me the slip. He shot me a glance before settling in the man's arms, looking bored.

I looked the two over and realized they both had the same vibrant, emerald-green eyes. The blond definitely smelled human, so maybe it was a case of the pet looking like its owner?

"Hey, Conall, who's your friend?" the stranger asked. He gave me a weary look but tried not to show it.

The adorable blush appeared on Conall's face again as he answered, "Hey, River. This is Tidun. We're getting dinner together."

And fuck if that made me want to puff up my chest. It was only dinner, but the fact that Conall was willing to spend time with me was making me unbelievably happy.

"Are you and your bro—Peanut going to watch the show?" Conall asked, and the man nodded, revealing a smile now.

"I had some business to take care of, but he"—River nodded to the cat in his arms—"came to get me before the finale."

A knowing grin appeared on Conall's face. "He wants to show off his man again, huh?"

River tilted his head down but couldn't hide the smirk onhis face. Peanut looked up, his eyes narrowing as he studied the man for a second before launching a kitty-punch to his chin.

"Ow," River grumbled, but it didn't really seem like he was in pain. "Anyway, we should get inside before Seven gets on stage." He snuck another peek at me. "Have a good time at dinner and stay safe out there."

I didn't know if I should be happy that Conall had people who cared about him, or angry that he could even think that I could hurt Conall.

Placing a protective arm around Conall, I said firmly, "I won't let anything happen to him. He's safe with me."

Maybe the action was a tad bit barbaric, but it was completely worth it to have Conall look at me with those starry eyes like he had full trust in me.

And goddess knew I never wanted to betray that trust.