Bonus Scene
ATTENTION
If this is your first time reading the Galaxy Circus, I would suggest skipping this scene until you have read it in its entirety because it may contain spoilers for future books.
If you have already experienced this wild ride, then please continue.
Hopefully these new scenes add another layer of enjoyment to the experience
Tirrian
I watch Lila march away, surrounded by Aquilian guards and escorted by her family, with mixed feelings.
My dragons want to be by her side, protecting her like the rest of her mates, but the male side of me is still conflicted.
Growing up, I always knew my dragons would have a big say in whom I would eventually mate, but the stubborn part of me has resented that for as long as I can remember.
I’m not sure why. I see my parents and know they are in a loving and fulfilling relationship, and I desperately want that, but I’m worried it will all go wrong, and I will be left heartbroken and bitter like my cousin Dylan.
He and his dragon have never quite seen eye to eye.
Dylan has happily been a man whore for as long as I can remember, and if what everyone says is true, then that hasn’t changed.
Why was he so fixated on Caspian enough to completely ruin his life?
Was it his dragon’s fault? What if that happens to me?
My dragons are obsessed with Lila, insisting there will be no one else for them, but she is such a chaotic mess and already has many mates.
I worry they will eventually end up resenting her, because she has so many and can’t fully focus on us.
Dragons are very particular about their hoards and do not like sharing.
How is sharing a mate going to be any different?
Sure, they may be blinded by her scent now, but what happens in a few years when everything isn’t so new and shiny?
Hell, she already has three children with two more on the way, and none of them are ours.
I worry that our dragons will get jealous and try to “make way” for Lila to have their eggs.
There’s a huff of disgust inside my head at that thought. Dragons cherish children, they grumble at me. We will love them like they are ours, they both insist, and I roll my eyes, but something inside me settles at the reassurance.
What do I have to lose? I’m miserable at the moment.
I was considering returning to Fluxx and putting a little space between us in the hope that my dragons will think more clearly when they aren’t surrounded by her scent, but when I suggested it to my father, he told me if I returned, he would name one of my other siblings as heir.
While I don’t really care about that, I know my dragons are stronger and would probably challenge theirs, and I don’t want to kill any of my siblings. I love them too much for that.
No, I need to face the fact that I’m as obsessed with the little mimic as my dragons are.
I’m just scared to give her my heart and for her to trample it into tiny little pieces, because I would never recover and take another mate.
I want everything—the drama, excitement, love, and family—she offers, but I need to be brave and ask for it.
Sighing, I continue to watch until they disappear into the palace before I turn my attention to the water.
I was going to fly and keep watch, but if anything really does go wrong, the Aquilians will take to the water, and then none of them but Caspian will be able to help.
Instead, I walk toward the edge of the platform and stare down into the shimmering, azure Aquilian ocean with longing.
Without another thought, I bend down and unlace my boots, putting them and my socks to the side.
Stripping the rest of my clothes, I dive into the water.
The rush of bubbles around my ears is loud, but the water is temperate and pleasant against my warm body.
I tend to run a lot hotter than most shifters when in human form—that’s my other dragon’s fault—and the slight chill from the water is nice against my overheated skin.
Without waiting, I drop my hold on my shift, and my water dragon bursts out of me, trumpeting his glee loudly through the water.
He calls out joyfully for his mate, even though I know she can’t hear him above the surface.
He flips and dives deeper, fully in control now, his strong body snaking back and forth, his limbs tucked tightly against his back, making him a streamlined torpedo.
His sense of joy is contagious. The pleasure he feels knowing he will be protecting his mate from danger is intoxicating, and I feel it down to my very soul.
This is right. I have been attracted to Lila since I set eyes on her.
How could I not be? She’s simply stunning.
My dragons are even more obsessed, to the extent that when she journeyed to Fluxx to mate with Caspian, it was all I could do to force them away from the shuttle.
I wasn’t in control, though, when they took over and headed straight to the ocean, forced the shift, and hit the water, lying in wait for her.
I was a puppet in my own skin, subject to their wants and needs.
I think that’s part of my stubbornness. The fact that my creatures, who were in such harmony with me previous to meeting the little Earth girl, could ignore my desires and force me to do something was shocking.
I was mortified at my dragon’s behavior when he came across the mating dome, quite literally.
I think that’s probably part of the reason I’ve been so prickly to Lila.
Eventually, she’s going to find out it was me—or my dragon, I guess—and I’m going to be so embarrassed that I had no control on what is supposed to be my other parts.
When they left, I thought I would finally get some space to breathe and work through my feelings, and maybe talk about it with my parents, but once again, I found myself a skin suit for my dragons, and we returned to Skar, their insistence on being there, guarding her, the kraken, and their precious eggs absolute.
Thank goodness we did, because I was not the only outlier lying in wait for Lila.
Nikos was under her spell too, and they got caught up in some Aquilian mating bullshit and left the eggs alone.
My water dragon took watch, and thank god he did, because Skar has a nasty aquatic predator that was no match for my dragon.
He puffed up with pride when Lila praised him for his actions, cementing his love for her and my downfall.
He keeps swimming, and I realize he’s circling underneath the land mass that holds the palace.
They have access pools to the water so if they are going to take Lila below, it will be through there, and it is there we will patrol.
Aquilian waters don’t have any monsters quite like the whatafucasauraus.
Theirs are confined to the Molastay Trench for their people’s safety, but who’s to say they won’t drag her there as punishment for their perceived slight?
King Marlin is ruthless and unforgiving, and he will see the whole debacle as an insult.
It also won’t surprise me if he does something devious to her if he knows about her mimic powers.
Lila is a cash cow for creatures with no morals like Marlin, and he wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of her, especially if he finds out how powerful she actually is.
Not only is she able to mimic any creature, but it looks like she is able to access any power in any form, which is unheard of.
How could one little Earth girl attract so many powerful men?
There must be more to it. She has numerous influential mates.
Is it just because she is a mimic? I heard them talking about the fact that a mimic powers themselves through sex, but what if she has other powers we don’t know about?
Or maybe her whisperer power is not limited to just lightning cats.
What if she can control all shifters? It would explain why myself, Silac, and Nikos are all obsessed with her.
We are all different types of shifters. Or maybe it is something else entirely…
Despite the Galactic Council trying to stamp out any record of the old gods, a lot of planets still worship them.
Are they still around, and are they playing with the universe?
Historically speaking, powerful mimics appear when the galaxy is on the brink of catastrophe, or that is what one of the books in my father’s library said.
Is Lila the harbinger of doom, and if that’s the case, for whom?
I feel my dragons roll their eyes at all my chaotic thoughts.
Lila mate. Lila good. Their thoughts have a hint of annoyance at me.
They are sick of my stubbornness, which is why they keep taking over.
I sigh internally, resigned to the fact that this is going to happen.
I just have to get out of my own way, but it’s so fucking hard.
I want her with the force of an erupting volcano, but I hate having that choice taken from me.
How do I know I feel that way and it isn’t just the overflowing feelings of my beasts?
I’ve accepted that my dragons and I are one being, and I wouldn’t want to be without them, but sometimes it would be nice to make a decision that only involves me.
There was a female dragon I was briefly interested in.
She was hot, well connected, and totally into me as a person, not Tirrian, heir to the throne, and she would have made a perfect queen, but my dragons couldn’t stand her.
They tried to tell me that what I saw was an act, that her ambitions were cleverly hidden behind a facade, and she was manipulating me.
I tried to argue with them, but they wouldn’t hear it, and eventually, I had to break it off, much to her anger.
My dragons had already killed a couple of potential mates before I could stop them, and I didn’t want that happening to her—I’m not completely heartless—but my dragons were right.
As soon as she accepted that I was not available, she turned her attention to my brothers.
Thankfully, they are smarter than me and listened to their dragons and wouldn’t have anything to do with her, but I was devastated.
I thought she was the one, but she definitely wasn’t.
My dragons were smug and insisted I needed to listen to them, which really wasn’t the smartest thing for them to do. It’s why we are at odds now.
A loud rumble vibrates through the water, and my dragon’s attention turns toward the access pools, on high alert.
Mer people start to hit the water, and we feel the vibrations of panic all around us as they angle their bodies down and swim swiftly toward the main city.
We drift backward into deeper water, out of sight of most of them, though none pay attention in their haste to head below.
Suddenly, telepathic voices reach my ears, and I tense at the sound of Lila’s.
Fuck you, asshole.
My dragons are on edge at the anger in her voice, and we drift a little closer toward it.
No, bitch, I will be fucking you. Dad didn’t say you had to be well looked after. I want my turn at that golden pussy before he starts hiring it out.
A wave of pure fury washes over us, and my dragon starts forward, swimming circles upwards in search of our mate as the sound of an Aquilian beginning to sing reaches us.
Those bastards are trying to take away her will.
He starts to swim faster, my dragons plotting the demise of those who have wronged our mate, and I am here for it.
More words, and I hush my dragons’ internal fury so we can listen.
Ow, asshole. If that’s how you treat a female, it’s no wonder you have to rely on rape.
It seems like Lila is not affected by the singing, which is a relief.
I see Lila’s beautiful mermaid form shimmering in the low light, and she is surrounded by a group of armed mermen.
One of them has black and silver scales, and I watch in horror as he backhands her, unimpeded by the water.
Suddenly, I taste blood in the water, and our eyes drop to the gash in her side as his words reach my ears.
You’re a mouthy bitch. I can’t wait to shove my cock in it and choke you with it.
I cannot stop the roar that leaves our mouth as my dragon spears forward, no longer wanting to be stealthy.
These mermen and their little metal forks are no match for us.
I watch as some of the mers surrounding her give in to the terror and flee.
My dragon chases them down, gleefully snapping them up and swallowing them whole.
I grimace, knowing that isn’t going to be pleasant when I finally shift back to my human form. It always gives me indigestion.
The sound of Lila screaming has my dragon halting mid bite, leaving the mer to sink to the bottom of the ocean as his focus returns to our mate.
Our eyes lock on the much smaller group as a red cloud surrounds them.
That fucker stabbed her again, and it’s deep.
Once again, my dragon bellows, and with a flick of his tail, he speeds toward them, flashing past the offender and knocking him away from our mate.
Our head turns to check on her and make sure she will be okay a little longer while I dispose of this trash.
Her mouth rounds in surprise, and her eyes fill with recognition.
My dragon wants to preen at her attention, but I force us to focus on the enemy first.
I focus on our target, not caring when the other two swim away.
I can always catch up to them later, their scents fixed in my mind for the future.
Right now, all we want to do is feel the crunch of this one’s bones between our teeth.
Opening our maw, we swallow him in one bite, his scream cutting off when we crunch down hard, grinding our teeth together and making it as painful as possible before tossing our head back and swallowing him.
Eww, he was all slimy and gross and had a very strong fish taste.
Not pleasant at all. His blood stains the water all around us, but a little gasp has us swinging around and floating gently toward our mate, our head close to her body to check her over.
I can scent her distress in the water, and it’s agonizing not to pull her into my arms to comfort her.
I hope for your sake they really do taste like canned tuna, she says as she reaches out to stroke one of our thick whiskers.
We start to purr with pleasure and lean in to nuzzle her, but she grimaces in pain, and her eyes roll back in her head.
Please help me, she murmurs before she suddenly starts to sink.