Chapter 1

Axel

The lights in the oversized tent dim, and the murmuring of the crowd falls silent. You can feel the buzz of anticipation. The excitement is nearly contagious. My eyes scan the crowd, pleased with tonight’s turnout. We’ve been here for two weeks promoting this very night, giving snippets of what the show is about. Little insights into the magic beyond the human eye. Illusions are what many call them. Playing on the mysticisms of the folklore surrounding shapeshifters and the world they can’t imagine because science can’t dictate it. 

Science says we don’t exist. If we did, their human minds wouldn’t be able to wrap around the thought process. So instead we use ‘magic’. A much more logical explanation of why normal people can turn into an elephant, a wolf, or even a tiger at the snap of someone’s fingers. Why is it more logical? Well, because science agrees that strange, unexplained things can’t happen. There is an answer for everything, except magic. So it must be magic. Only, there really is no sound logic. No magic to be had in our little traveling gig. 

No, we are just a bunch of misfits. Outcasts deemed unworthy, unlovable, the freaks of the very world these humans deny. I have found that in being cast out and being told we don’t exist, there is a balance to be struck in the middle. Being cast out is essentially the same as not existing. So we exist in the shadows. Out of the minds of those who don’t want us, but in the realm of fantasy for those who seek it. 

Really, it’s a great way to make a shit ton of money so I can travel the world with this small group of shifters that I call my pack. I know it’s cliche to call them family, but that’s what they are. They saved me when all I sought was death. They clutched me up from the darkness and nursed me back to health. I wasn’t happy at first, mind you, but looking back now. I’m not sure I would change a thing that led me here. 

“Axel” Billy whispers 

I glance at the large man next to me.

“Think we can head north after this show?” he asks sheepishly.

“You just want to disappear into the mountains again for hibernation,” I chuckle.

“Listen! That was ONE time,” he says defending himself. 

“Keep it down. We start in a couple of minutes.” I say to him, trying not to laugh. “But yeah, I’m sure we can head north. Depending on how well we do tonight, we can probably all take a quick break from touring. I know you don’t enjoy moving around as much as I do.”

Emal’s smooth, deep voice echoes through our red and white circus tent, and I peek out around the curtain. It’s game time. 

“You’re up, kiddo,” Billy smiles broadly and slaps my shoulder.

I smirk at him, pulling at my vest and saunter out to the center of the ring. I drop my chin and wait for my cue.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, little darlings and daring boys. I present to you the ringleader and Alpha male of this mystical little show, Axel.”

The light floods around me, and I hitch my chin up, a smirk gracing my mauled face. I reach up, grabbing the brim of my top hat and bow with exaggeration and relish the sound of the gasps when I stand straight. The murmurs take over the crowd, the whisperings of my face and its disfigurations. Mothers shush their children, their husbands' gape, and I grin widely.

“No need to be alarmed, I assure you, I am indeed used to this type of reaction.”

Of all our pack members, I am the largest freak. With a mangled left side of my face where my brother betrayed me and a rare disorder where my eyes are two different colors, I have grown accustomed to the stares in both human and shifter circles alike. Comments vary from “How did you survive,” to “why didn’t it heal?” all of which are met with the same noncommittal shrug.

“Tonight, we will show you more than a man with a deformed face and mismatching eyes. Oh, no, Tonight we will bend your mind to the brink of breaking and bring you back again. What you are about to see this evening is the likes of something you have never seen before in your life, that, I can assure you. We will turn skeptics into believers and believers will be proven truth seekers. Every one of us in the show has been blessed and cursed. A wicked witch cursed us all years ago.” I tell them. 

All the children cower closer to their parents as smoke surrounds me like a fog. The lights shift to a deep purple and I know my scar looks more menacing. Ginger steps out in her gypsy costume next to me, looking tiny, her red hair glowing under the light.

“It was seven years ago that we stumbled upon an old woman in the woods. Her eyes were as green as emeralds and her hair as white as the wild mushrooms growing in the very yard at your home after a good rain. She was kind at first, willing to offer us a free reading about what our spirit animals were. It was sheer curiosity that made us all sit down that day. The day that sealed our fate.” I say.

I pause, looking around at bored fathers who think this is some ghost story intended to scare their kids. It’s not at all what happened. This is how we hook the kids. The moment we suck them in, they force their parents to stay. Until the moment I shift into my wolf form, from that moment on, every single person sits captivated.

Ginger steps forward, taking over the rest of the speech.

“They went crazy, lurking in the night as the beast the evil witch read them to be. A bear, a family of tigers, even an elephant. They were enraged and had no control over our abilities. That is until I stumbled upon them. Their fury was as red as my hair, but I saw fear in their eyes and gentleness. I realized I could tame them. And it’s with my aid that they can transform. My magic keeps them under control.” Ginger says excitedly. 

The lights blackout and Ginger steps up to me, placing her hand on my forehead. I close my eyes and open them slowly. Spinning so they all may see the red glow in my eyes. She then snaps her fingers. The lights flash on and I transform into an enormous wolf. She pats my head and looks at the crowd.

“Tonight, I am pleased to help Axel in showing you all what’s so amazing about This Alpha and His Freakshow.” She grins, holding out a cloth for me, as I transform back into my human form, wrapping it around my naked waist.

I take a moment to survey the crowd. Not a single mouth isn’t hanging open in shock. Oh yeah, we are making a ton of money tonight.