“W-what the hell are you doing?” I heard them behind me.
“Whatever the fuck I want,” I tossed over my shoulder as I stepped past the rest of the confused cast. No one tried to physically stop me, but there were plenty of baffled, whispered curses for me to get back to the dressing room. I ignored them as I walked across the stage. While the well-dressed human patrons were milling about, a steady stream of shifted forms started entering the room from the main entrance.
A man openly scowled as a Lamia woman slid past him, coiling up on a seat with her date. A Centaur ducked into the theater, holding hands with a rather darling Cerviatur wearing a big floppy hat cut around her pretty antlers. Those in shifted forms didn’t give a shit about the staring and took whatever seats they wanted as they kept filing in.
When I swept my eyes over toward where the stage piano was located, I saw the most dreamy Satyr smiling back at me. Danny was shifted, with his slacks rolled up to his knees and horns curled around his slick hair. He bit his lip as he looked me up and down, and my heart bounced around my chest. That man’s eyes did wonderful things to me, and I was going to do such sinful things to him.
When my heels announced my presence across the wooden stage, the room fell silent.
Danny took his seat behind the piano and gave me a wink as he placed his fingers over the keys.
Half the crowd stared in awe, some sneered, and others looked aghast and maybe a little afraid.
I was exactly where I needed to be. This was what I’d come to New Haven for. I’d come to take over the world for one goddamn song. Just one song, on the stage I’d promised myself and my mother I would one day stand on. I was no actor. I was a shitty Mimic. I’d failed, fallen, and left my family behind.
With the lights of the stage making my dress sparkle while the man of my dreams watched me with fireflies in his eyes, I bloomed.
I was Scarlet Rose.
Love my shifter men
I’m keeping my score
Just make them well hung
With two legs or four!
My sweet Satyr is fine
For an afternoon fling
He rams me quite nicely
Hits that spot, and I sing
Love my shifter men
I’m keeping my score
Just make them well hung
With two legs or four!
Those who knew the song erupted into cheers as Danny’s fingers flew across the keys. The theater came alive, and I did as well. I could hear the sweet, honey sound of Danny’s voice mixing with the crowd as I sang. With the openness of the stage, I had room to dance and give the audience a little show. I moved in a way that would flash my stockings without outright moving the dress, and I slid my gloved hands over my corset more than once.
As the song melted into another, I stepped offstage, shifting out of my form into other more masculine forms. I didn’t know what drove me to do this, but it felt terrifyingly liberating to shift in front of so many people, shocking them with my open display of clashing sexes. I kept my voice as I sang, but my beautiful dress expanded and adjusted as I slipped into much bigger forms than myself.
I wanted to show myself as unapologetically masculine in my dress, someone who moved like a panther stalking his prey. Gunner was a natural choice, and I knew he’d look killer in red. I was right because the crowd gasped and swayed as I strolled along the aisles, sang in my normal voice, and reached out to glide gloved fingers over people’s arms and shoulders.
In the back of my mind, I wondered what my former lover-turned-loving father would think of me in his skin, wearing a dress, straddling a man’s lap to ruffle his hair and belt out dirty song lyrics. I wondered what his mate Cooper would think. I wondered how hard Mack would laugh and how bright Cody’s cheeks would burn.
While my desired effect was to arouse and tantalize the crowd, it made my heart ache. Well, that was not entirely true. I was also tingling with excitement with the erotic display of seeing Gunner in a dress, but it made me miss home and my family. I missed Stallion Ridge.
I decided to give each of my beloved men a chance to shine, rolling into each of their forms for different parts of the song while I made my rounds through the audience. Mack wiggled his ass for the crowd, Cody was coy and sweet, Cooper pulled his glove off with his teeth and ran fingers through someone’s hair, Gideon leaned down to act like he was going to dare kiss someone but moved just before contact, and Jack caused a woman to faint in her seat.
That was a highlight.
For the grand finale, I moved back up onto the stage and finished the song as Cal. The dress had to strain a bit, but it was damn worth it for the roar of cheers. Despite the horror that most of the humans in the audience openly showed while I was walking around in different skins, some had finally given into singing and cheering along. All the shifters were on their feet, tails, or whatever method of locomotion they had as they clapped.
My heart was full. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much, and my throat was a little raw from singing so loud.
I took a sweeping bow and blew a kiss to the audience as I fell back to my normal form. Danny’s hooves on the stage caught my attention right before the stunning man captured me in his embrace and kissed me. I laughed against his lips as he dipped me backward, holding me against him as he kissed me in the most dramatic, show-stopping way.
When he set me back on my feet, I felt like I was floating away with love. His eyes sparkled, and his smile made me weightless and light.
Then all hell broke loose.
Bellowed shouts jerked my attention to the doors of the auditorium as lawmen began to demand people leave the area. Our moment in the sun was absolutely over the second I saw the gleam of metal repressor cuffs hanging off their belts. I took Danny’s hand and rushed offstage, ducking into the safety of the shadows.
“There’s a back exit,” I said in a rush as we ran through the back of the theater, skirting around old set pieces and furniture. A wall of very pissed-off actors blocked our exit, fuming in their respective forms but still dressed as their characters.
“You ruined the play!” Finny yelled. “How could you do this to us?”
“You’re such a sad man.” Sam shook their head in disgust, Lyn doing the same with their arms tightly crossed. “And a terrible Mimic.”
Ashley snorted. “I knew we shouldn’t have let this cripple in here. Look at the shitstorm he created! No one is going to want to come to this theater after that.” They gestured their hand at me like I was some disgrace they were forced to endure.
“Hey,” Danny snapped, his normally succulent voice sharp as a knife’s edge. “I’m not typically a man who throws punches, but if you keep that up, you’re going to get a hoof to whatever fun parts you have. No one talks to Scarlet like that, you hear me?”
“Oh, cute,” Ashley said in a flat tone. “The goat is talking.”
That was the straw that woke the bitch up.
I shifted into Cal’s form, my feet moving before I could register my actions. Ashley screamed as I grabbed them by their cheap costume and lifted them off the floor. The other cowards scrambled out of the way as I kicked the back door of the theater open with my high heel and threw out the garbage. Ashley bounced off the ground, splashing in the mud gathered from the soggy afternoon and collided with yesterday’s discarded trash.