Chapter Ten

T he tent flaps billowed in an artificial wind, carrying the scent of cotton candy gone sour and metal gone to rust. Kitty stood in the shadows of the entrance tunnel, her hand resting on the leather of her whip handle. The emptiness inside her chest matched the hollow echo of the calliope music drifting through the big top.

She watched the crowd settle into their seats, their excitement already feeding the carnival's dark appetite. Children clutched their parents' arms, torn between delight and terror. Couples pressed close together, anticipating the thrill of controlled danger. They had no idea what was really about to unfold.

The previous acts had built the tension perfectly. The Flame Eater had breathed streams of blue fire that formed screaming faces in the air. The Contortionist had twisted herself into impossible shapes that made audience members squirm in sympathetic discomfort. Now the crowd was primed, their fears tender and close to the surface, ready to be harvested.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the ring master’s voice slithered through the tent like smoke, "you've seen many wonders tonight. But nothing – nothing – can prepare you for what follows." He turned slowly, addressing the entire audience. "Our next performer walked away from fame and fortune after a tragic accident. Some say she was cursed. Others say she was cruel. Tonight, Kitty Wylde returns to prove them all wrong."

The words should have stung, but they didn’t. She forced herself to focus on the technical aspects of what was to come. Four lions. Twelve minutes. Twenty-seven precise movements. No room for error.

"But this is no ordinary lion-taming act," the ring master continued. "Tonight, she faces the infamous Lion Freak, whose unparalleled strength has already claimed three lives this season."

Lies, Kitty thought dispassionately. But the audience ate it up.

Madame Noir had told her that the curse would take away only her feeling of love. But Kitty was having a hard time feeling anything at all. She felt numb. It should have made her excited or nervous, facing four lions. Instead, she felt nothing but hollow disinterest. That wasn’t part of their bargain.

But she was having a hard time finding the will to care about that either.

"And finally, making his triumphant return from beyond the grave itself, the very lion that ended her career—Brutus!"

The crowd reacted with glee, disbelief and terror. Their unease rippled through the air like heat waves, feeding the carnival's hungry magic.

The ambient temperature in the tent dropped ten degrees. Kitty stepped into the spotlight, her new black and silver costume catching the light. The lions entered one by one. First came Nala and Sarabi, their golden coats gleaming, moving with practiced ease to their platforms. They were followed by Leo, his sheer size making the audience shrink back. Even in lion form, she could read the concern in his amber eyes. He took his position, but his gaze never left her. She could see him looking to make that connection they had felt from the very beginning.

There's nothing left to find .

Last came Brutus. The resurrected lion's movements were wrong – jerky and aggressive, his eyes glowing an unnatural shade of green. The magic that had brought him back had twisted him somehow, made him more monster than lion. He prowled to his platform, muscles coiled tight with barely contained violence.

Kitty raised her whip and the act began. The first sequence was simple. Each lion demonstrated their power individually. Nala and Sarabi performed their jumps and rolls flawlessly, drawing appreciative gasps. Leo's demonstration of strength, crushing a steel barrel between his massive jaws, earned genuine screams of fear.

Then came Brutus's solo. He was supposed to leap through a burning hoop, but instead of landing on his designated platform, he charged straight at the audience barrier. Children screamed. Parents pulled them back. Kitty's whip cracked through the air, the sound like a gunshot in the tense atmosphere.

Brutus turned, but there was no recognition in his toxic green eyes. This wasn't the lion she had loved, the partner she had sacrificed her heart to reclaim. This was something else entirely. But she didn’t have it in her to give it more than a passing thought.

The next sequence began. It was a complex choreography of all four lions weaving between platforms in a deadly dance. Kitty stood in the center, her whip directing traffic with mechanical precision. But with each passing moment, Brutus's movements grew more erratic. He snapped at Nala when she passed too close. He snarled at Leo when their paths crossed.

The audience leaned forward, sensing something was wrong but unable to look away. Their unease fed the carnival's power, making the very air crackle with dark electricity.

Then Brutus broke formation again.

The resurrected lion lunged at Nala, teeth bared. The careful choreography shattered. Kitty's whip cracked through the air, but Brutus was beyond control. His magical resurrection had left him wrong, broken. As chaos erupted in the ring, she caught a glimpse of Madame Noir watching from her private box, her dark eyes glittering with satisfaction.

She knew , Kitty realized. She knew Brutus would never be the same. This was her plan all along— to create the perfect storm of danger.

The audience's fear spiked, flooding the tent with power. Sarabi and Nala backed away, but Leo moved to intercept Brutus, putting himself between the maddened lion and Kitty. Their roars shook the tent poles.

Kitty raised her whip, but froze. Leo had shifted position, and for a moment, their eyes met. Those eyes—they were the same ones that had looked at her with such tenderness in his human form, that had pleaded with her not to make the bargain with Madame Noir. Even now, facing down a magically-corrupted Brutus, he was trying to protect her.

Something cracked inside her chest. A hairline fracture in Madame Noir's spell, caused not by any grand gesture of true love, but by this simple act of loyalty. Of choice. Leo chose to protect her, just as she had chosen to sacrifice her heart for Brutus.

Love.

It lived on in her. She could almost see it.

It was far away, but she felt the first tremors of it.

The act continued on when Brutus reluctantly retreated back to his mark. The final sequence was meant to be the most spectacular—all four lions forming a pyramid with Kitty at the top. But as Nala and Sarabi took their positions, Brutus lost it entirely. He shook Nala off his back. As she landed awkwardly, he launched himself at Kitty again with supernatural speed, claws extended, jaw wide enough to take her head off.

Time seemed to slow. Kitty saw her death in those glowing green eyes. She should have felt fear, should have felt something. Instead, there was only the empty acknowledgment that this was how it would end. Maybe she deserved this. Happiness had always been fleeting for her.

But Leo moved faster than thought. He intercepted Brutus in mid-air, the two massive lions colliding with bone-crushing force. They hit the ground rolling, a blur of teeth and claws and primal fury. The audience's screams reached a fever pitch as the barrier between performance and genuine danger shattered.

Nala and Sarabi retreated to the edges of the ring as Leo and Brutus fought. This was no choreographed battle. This was life and death. Brutus's magical strength gave him an advantage, and his resurrected body seemed immune to pain. He tore into Leo again and again, drawing blood, trying to get past him to reach Kitty.

But Leo wouldn't yield. Every time Brutus tried to break away, Leo was there, putting himself between her and the maddened lion. She realized he was protecting his mate, the woman he loved. The woman who could no longer love him back because of the stupid, selfish deal she had made out of fear and insecurity.

"Leo, stop!" The words tore from Kitty's throat as Brutus's claws opened another wound in Leo's flank. "He'll kill you."

Leo's eyes met hers for just a moment, and in them she saw everything – his pain, his determination, and most of all, his love. He would die to protect her.

Something stirred in the void where her heart had been. A memory of warmth. Of connection. Of choosing to love even when it hurt, even when it meant sacrifice.

Brutus lunged again, going for Leo's throat. Without thinking, Kitty threw herself forward, putting herself between the two lions. "No!"

The world exploded in pain and light. Brutus's claws raked her arm as Leo shouldered her back, but it wasn't the physical pain that brought her to her knees. It was the sudden rush of emotion flooding back into her hollow chest— fear, love, grief, joy, all of it at once, overwhelming in its intensity.

The carnival's dark energy recoiled from the pure force of genuine emotion. The magical bindings that had held her heart in stasis shattered like glass. She could feel again. She could love again.

Brutus and Leo were thrown apart from the magical blast. They landed on their feet, but they were staggering. Toxic green sludge dripped from wounds on Brutus’ side. Leo was bleeding red on the sawdust.

"Leo.” Kitt ran to him and buried her face in his mane. Feeling the warmth of his fur, the steady beat of his heart beneath her hands, she knew she’d almost lost everything.

“I love you.”

He curled around her protectively, a low rumble in his chest both warning and comfort.

Brutus circled them, but something had changed. The unnatural green light in his eyes flickered and dimmed. Without Kitty's sacrifice to fuel the dark magic that had resurrected him, his borrowed life was fading. As they watched, his form grew transparent, like smoke in the wind.

The last thing Kitty saw in his eyes before he disappeared completely was a glimmer of his old self – a final moment of recognition, of goodbye. Then he was gone, leaving behind only the lingering scent of ozone and grief.

The audience sat in stunned silence for a long moment before erupting in thunderous applause. They thought it was all part of the show— the greatest performance they'd ever witnessed. They had no idea they'd just watched real magic die, and real love triumph.

Kitty was lost in Leo's eyes, rediscovering every emotion she had sacrificed. His love hadn't just saved her life, it had saved her soul. She pressed her forehead to his, feeling the connection between them burn brighter than ever.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice thick with restored feeling. "I'm so sorry. I chose wrong. I thought I needed Brutus to be whole again, but it was you. It was always you."

Leo's response was to pull her closer, his massive body shielding her from the audience's view as she shook with the force of her returning emotions.