*Axel*
I help as much as I can with the unloading of the tents, doing my best to avoid Maggie and her heavy glances. Ever since the car ride, I’m more resolved than ever to keep my distance from her. All it did was further prove how much power she and the mate bond have over me. A few kind words from her and I felt like I was the most handsome man ever produced in the world. No woman should have that power over a man, let alone a beast.
Everyone is busy running around and finding the best spot for their personal tent. Billy and Freddie are having a heated conversation with hands animatedly flying about and their faces red. Freddie suddenly looks over at me and frowns, then turns his back on the still irate Billy, who shouts at Freddie as he shifts into his hawk form and flies high into a tree.
I saunter over to Billy as he mumbles and grumbles about petulant young people who are selfish and have no respect for their elders. Which I f
*Axel*“This is a pretty heavy subject.” I frown.I’m not ready to tell her the fates have a twisted sense of humor and have destined her to be my other half. It kills me to admit that her pull to me. The attraction she feels is only because she has no choice in the matter.“I can handle it.” She says.I swallow hard. I have no doubt that she can handle the conversation. My worry is the rejection that I’m certain would come shortly after.“I really don’t want to talk about it right now. My head is hurting again,” I lie. I can tell she knows it’s a lie by the look of hurt on her face. She smiles sweetly and nods.“Ok. Another time, when you are feeling better.”“Sure. Uh. well. I should let you get some rest then.” She stands and moves for the door.“Maggie…” I call out before I can stop mysel
*Maggie* I survey the entire tent from up here, smiling widely at the view. I can see everything from the floor below to the nosebleed section. It’s spectacular. Almost like the air is less suffocating up here. Axel steps up beside me on the small platform, hardly big enough for the two of us. It has been a week since his illness. A week of him trying to make amends for the cold way he had treated me at first. His first attempt at remedying it all was offering me a position in the show. He added a tightrope segment but felt it would be far more intriguing if I did it partially in human form and partially in wolf form. Today is the first day up this high and I couldn’t be more excited. I spin a little too fast to face Axel and he lurches to the side slightly and I cling onto him as he rights his footing. “Oh, shit.” Axel says, turning pale. I chuckle as I look at him, my hold on him tight. “You ok?” I ask. “I don’t
*Axel*“I’m sorry,” Maggie whispers as she covers her face.I’m not sure what to do to comfort her or what I did to make her recoil in fear, so I stand staring at her. I reach out slowly, only to retract my hand in fear of further rejection. My eyes move over her, searching for any injuries, but find nothing obvious. I stumble over the right words and actions as she stands in front of me, falling apart.“It’s okay. I get it. The bond makes you feel things you normally wouldn’t,” I say, trying to comfort her. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. I won’t tell anyone.”She looks up at me in shock. Her eyes look my face over as she struggles to pull herself together. Her color slowly comes back to her, and she reaches out for my hand. I oblige and extend my hand to her. The sparks ignite on contact and I try to keep my reaction to myself. She gasps slightly and
*Axel*I have trained since I was old enough to walk. Fighting always came naturally to me, even though I hate it. I learned as a child that controlling your breathing could help you control your heart rate. So why, after all these damn years and training exercises, is my heart pattering away like a tap dancer trying to keep a hip-hop beat?I can stand before hundreds of humans, putting the reality of the shifter world on full display for them to gawk at and hoping they don’t realize the secret to our magic. But a simple dinner with my mate, the woman who just professed her feelings for me, has me feeling like I am going to vomit. Nothing, no amount of training, routine, or, hell, even Ultima powers could have prepared me for a single first date with my mate. I feel like a fool as I grin, just waiting for her to emerge in my tent.I got dressed forty-five minutes ago, just in case she might show up early. Would she show up fort
*Maggie*The relentless buzzing from my phone is making it difficult to practice for the show. Brutus has been on my case since I told him I thought I knew who the Ultima was. It was stupid and I should have just kept my mouth shut, but I couldn’t help but feel excited at long last finding the very person who had ruined my life. How was I supposed to know that he would become my life?Axel and I have been inseparable since our kiss. We spent every waking minute at least within a six-foot vicinity of each other. While I spend every sleeping moment dreaming of the second, we can reunite again. I hate how easy it is for me to forgive him when he is near me. But now, the more I grow accustomed to the bond and its wonderful addictiveness, the more reality settles in.Axel is the Ultima. He destroys huma
“It’s just, Axel has a facial scar too, so shouldn’t I stay and monitor him here? What if the guy you are going to go see isn’t the ultima and we ruin the trust I have here? It would be better for me to…” I say as Brutus cuts me off.“I need the backup,” Brutus says sternly.“No. You are wrong. I know he isn’t the Ultima.” I say back, holding my ground.“You seem mighty sure of that,”“I am!”“So then, tell me who do you think it is?”My blood runs cold. I have backed myself into a corner and I know it. I sigh heavily.&ld
*Axel*It feels a little wrong to hug a crying woman and feel elated. It’s not her tears that are making me happy, though. No, that would be her very raw and honest confession. In the weeks that I have known Maggie, I have felt a shift inside. A complete thawing of the ice around my heart. I never thought I would want to love again after Madelyn and Abe were mated together. I know it wasn’t Madelyn’s fault, but I hated her and blamed her, too.I understand it now. Her use of the bond to save me. And now that I have my own mate, one who I trust and love, I want nothing more than to call my old best friend and tell her all about it and hear how happy her life has been. I can’t believe how much I fought this blessing, convincing myself it was some stupid werewolf curse that would bring me nothing but pain.For once, a woman could look at me for more than a few seconds with something other than horror or the
I stare down at the faint woman in my arms as my brain spins out of control. Elation zooms through me like an over-caffeinated person, only to be hammered down by regret. This isn’t how I wanted the mating process to go. Yeah, I love her, but this is still a new love. Love with the potential for the things she claimed she wanted moments earlier. Love, plus this bond has made us both go crazy and I’m not sure we are better for it.She officially marked me, And I reciprocated the act. She can no longer leave on a whim and I can no longer hide from her what I am. What will happen when she finds out I’m the Ultima? Sure, maybe she will stay and try to understand. But there is a much more likely outcome- her leaving me like everyone else when they found out my identity. On the plus side, I will have a valid reason for my red eyes and won’t have to lie to her about that.Maggie groans and slaps her hand over her neck
Thank you all so much for reading my little Freakshow!! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!Don't be sad about Adriana and Liam's unresolved story since they will have their OWN novel coming soon to GoodNovel! Look for it in the next month titled "The Alpha's Redeemer"This will be a much more emotionally charged book than you are used to reading from me but I promise it will be action-packed and full of sass! All of the characters from the "Guardian" standalone series will be in this one!If you haven't read The Alpha's Guardian yet you are missing out! it is the FIRST in the Guardian Standalone series and it has been my best-selling book by a long shot! so if you haven't checked it out - GO! I promise Ali and Wade's story is amazing!Keep up your reading!MiriG
Epilogue *Axel* ** Six Months later** I can hear Maggie laughing from my office, loud and boisterous. Exactly how she has been since we got our pack. She has been deep in the planning stages with Cora as they work on our newest Freakshow. Even though we have pack lands and I am helping Wade with his newest mission concerning omegas, we need a source of income. And we made damn good money with the original Freakshow. Billy and Bea have taken to traveling around looking for exiled, lonely, or abandoned shifters who need a home. We have quickly become the pack of misfits, but that is exactly what makes our pack so much more special than everyone else’s. We don’t want to travel anymore. It’s not something that makes sense when we all want to be near each ot
*Maggie* Ginger blushes as Emal drops a kiss on her cheek before running off after little Al, who is playing soccer in the field across the road. She and Emal may have mated weeks ago, but she still blushes when he shows affection around other people. Which I find amusing, considering she has never been a shy person before. That was always Emal. It’s almost like they have taken on each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The elephant bond differs from the wolf bond. It’s a chosen bond, which almost makes it seem bigger. No pun intended. I am pretty sure that Emal loved Ginger from the moment he saw her, but being Emal, he lumbers around trying to decide the best options. Not that he was looking for someone better, no. I think he was looking for someone better FOR Ginger. I guess it takes almost losing someone to realize that you would rather give them everything you have than watch them struggle on their own. So that’s what he did.
*Axel* “How has everything been so far?” Wade asks as we enter my makeshift office. The room is basic, with bookshelves lining the walls behind the desk, a large window facing the pines to my right, and beige carpet that match the tan walls. It’s not anything special, but it’s enough for me. I’ve never in my life had a real office before. I had a small desk overrun with papers at all times in my large circus tent, but it hardly could be used for more than writing down expenses or searching places to go. I've never had formal meetings before meeting Wade, I never had a reason to. My Freakshow pack was intimate and we are a family. If we wanted something we spoke our mind and asked there was never a need until now. “Great,” I answer honestly. “We had a whole haul of construction equipment, workers and materials sho
*Maggie*It’s crazy to think that only three weeks ago we fought the largest fight in our entire lives. Axel had never gone up against such foes, nor had any of us. Alpha Wade had even made mention that this was easily the craziest scenario he had ever come across, and the man was plotted against and almost killed in his own home by a committee member. So we don’t take his words on the matter lightly.Just as Alpha Wade had promised, they provided us with our own pack lands. Thankfully, it already had some houses and lots of land to spare for the building of more and potentially a small city area if we wanted. Axel and I have learned so many lessons since finding each other. Ironically, the most important one for me was trusting. Axel likes to put up a front and pretend he is jaded, and he has every reason to be, but I know better. He is the quickest of us to trust. Though that could be because his ultima powers help him with discernm
*Axel* It has been way too long since I have had a good night’s sleep, and waking up next to Maggie is the icing on the cake. I could feel her tossing and turning for the first part of the night, but once she settled in, I was able to fall into a deep sleep. What Billy said about the man setting fire to the tents has to have bothered her. I don’t see how it couldn’t. That night had been a rollercoaster of emotions for the two of us. Her falling, combined with her injury, had been enough to set me over the edge until her tears came. The tears that completely unraveled me. I would have done anything to stop those tears and the ache I saw behind them. I loved her before that moment, but I fell for her right then. It was the most real she had ever been with me, and in turn, I told her my secret. The same night, we sealed our mate bond. I reach out and stroke her soft cheek with the back of my knuckle, memorizing every line of her stun
*Maggie*Axel sits motionless in front of me and Billy trying to wrap his head around our crazy stories. I started with the moment I left Axel’s side. Billy and Axel sat in awe while I told them how hard it was to leave him, explaining finding Jacob, Declan, Rosie, Abigail, Bea, and Jasper in the woods. And how willing they were to help and follow me. Axel was especially not happy about me trying to take on Abraham’s pack or that I had been in his old home.I explained how Madelyn had helped us and how I pissed Jacob off by storming the dungeon the moment I realized the Freakshow was down there. But in the stoic face, I could see the pride and I took it as a good sign. He had no questions for me as he just sat and listened. Billy tossed in a few things here and there as we regaled him on our heroic journey to save him. I explained how I went willingly with Liam, and that I was beaten up because we had no choice, so I sparred with Liam
Maggie stiffens, and I hold her tight to my chest, refusing to move from my place. I hold no fear for my brother. I have no desire to fight with him and no desire to kill him, though if he gives me a reason, I will do what I need to. A heavy sigh escapes my lips and I glance down at Maggie, who slowly moves from my grip and stands at my side. However, I decide to remain seated.“Abe. What brings you here? Coming to kill me again?” I raise a brow and bring my elbow to my knees, leaning forward slightly.Abe chuckles and steps out into the lamplight that illuminates the broken driveway.“Brother, if I wanted to kill you…”“I would already be dead?” I raise a brow and dawn a ghost of a grin. Still the same as Abe. Way too confident for his own good. “What more do you have to prove? You have the title you have always wanted. I stayed away. You came to me, you and your men shot my ma
Cora comes rounding the corner with Hans right beside her, Jacob trailing close behind. Her eyes are red and puffy, her hair a tousled mess, and her nose pink and raw from blowing her nose. Hans is looking no better. His once lively smile and tan skin are nowhere to be seen. He moves like a zombie with no light in his eyes, offering Cora a hand when she shudders, trying to shed the weight of another onslaught of tears. The excitement of showing them overwhelms me as I smile wide and stick my hands in my pockets, trying to keep my eyes glued to the ground. They step in front of me, stopping and looking at me with their blank stare. My stomach lurches. They both look so broken and vacant. “Cora just fell asleep, Axel.” Hans frowns “I know, and I’m sorry to have woken you up when you really need some sleep. I’m not sure this is the right way to do this. Hell, I’m not sure anyone would actually know what the right way is, but…”