Page 111 of Vampire's Choice

“It’s not tall enough, Mal,” one of his staff members said, pointing to the step ladder lying on the ground. “If we make a scaffold, we can get up there and repair it.”

Merc noted this enclosure had netting over the top, twenty-plus feet above the ground. He expected the tear near the center was what the conversation was about.

The animals within, sleek golden cats with long ears and pointed faces, watched the gathering outside their enclosure with intense slanted eyes.

“I think we have this,” Mal told his staff member. “Return the ladder to storage.” As the man gave him a curious nod but headed off to perform the task, Merc noticed Mal was studying the space his wings inhabited, though the cloaking made them invisible. “Do you know how to mend a net?”

With the edge in his tone, he might as well have asked, “Can you walk and chew food at the same time?”

“You could direct me,” Merc said evenly. “Why doesn’t your injured tiger have a covering over his area?”

“Tigers aren’t climbers or jumpers the way caracals are. Too heavy. They’re the only cat species that likes to swim, though.” Mal’s eyes flickered. “Ruth learned many lessons here. Even the most powerful creature has an unexpected weakness. And the smallest can be more resourceful than expected.”

“Her ability to keep her wits about her in the most terrifying of circumstances proves she learned those lessons well. But I think they worked with what was already there.”

“Hmph.” Mal picked up the coil of rope and snips next to the ladder and handed them to Merc. “Weave this through the torn opening,” he pointed to it, “draw the hole closed, and knot it securely.”

“You aren’t concerned about your staff seeing my wings?”

“We’ve had Fae here.”

Fine. if Mal wasn’t worried about it, neither was Merc.

Merc let the cloaking vanish, aware of the staff’s indrawn breaths, their sudden attention. Intrigued but not astonished. The unexpected was the expected thing around here. Well, except for one young male who had the air of a newer hire. He went stock still and watched Merc like he’d never seen such a sight before.

Merc took the rope and went aloft. With his dagger, he didn’t need the snips. As he hovered above the torn spot, he was amused to see the caracals tracking him. “You will catch far more than you can handle with this bird,” he informed them.

They didn’t look convinced, but since he was outside the netting, they settled and watched as he followed Mal’s direction to repair the opening. Mal handled other matters as Merc worked, but Merc was on his radar, because when he finished, Mal had returned. Merc waited until the male vampire gave him an approving nod. “That’ll work.”

When Merc landed, the newer staff member had drawn closer. He reached out toward Merc’s wings, but Merc’s warning hiss, the flash of sharp teeth, had him snapping to attention as if he’d been woken from a sound sleep.

“I wouldn’t advise it,” Merc said.

“My apologies, sir,” the man said hastily. “I forgot myself.”

“Don’t let it happen again, Shane,” Mal told him. “Many of our visitors are as dangerous as the cats.”

“I know. I mean, I…thought I knew.” Shane looked hard at Merc. “You just…it’s a feeling…”

“I suggest suppressing it,” Merc said.

The male offered another apologetic nod, almost a bow, and retreated, though his gaze kept stealing back to Merc.

Mal had watched the exchange with an impassive look. “I expect you have to deal with that at the Circus, too.”

Merc chose to interpret the comment more narrowly. “I cloak the wings when I’m doing security work. But I allow the children to touch them during the Promenade, the aftershow.”

“You like children.”

Incubus energy had no effect on them until they passed puberty. So their reactions to him were honest. He liked that. “Yes. That male doesn’t seem the same as your other staff members.”

Mal led him toward the next enclosure. “He’s a seasonal hire. Half Irish, half Cherokee. His mother is a second mark in Lord Marshall’s household, our Florida overlord. He’s studying to be a minister.”

With Marcellus, even if they thought they’d never met an angel, some core part of a person’s soul recognized him as such. As Ruth had when she first met the senior angel. They didn’t have that issue with Merc. Or rather, they hadn’t ever done so before.

The idea that they could, that the male might be picking that up from him… The thought was uncomfortable. Merc wasn’t sure how to react to it. He put it aside, because he had more important things to pursue than whether or not Shane had actually detected the angel instead of the incubus blood.

Merc met Mal’s gaze. "What would you ask of a man who wants to be with your daughter?"