A Chitah’s fangs punched out—top and bottom—and a bouncer forced him away from the stage before he flipped his switch and went primal. Luckily, his eyes were still golden. I paid closer attention to how the crowd was responding since I’d never performed this act before and didn’t want to incite a riot.

I fell to my knees and arched my back, letting the chain slip between my legs. The beat intensified and I pulled myself up, swinging hard around the pole. After the music reached a crescendo, it fell quiet. Just long enough that a growl ripped through the air and sent a chill up my spine. It was just sound effects, but maybe the intense reaction from the crowd had me on edge. When I sexily approached them, the lights shut out and the panther snarled.

A dim, lustrous red light enveloped me—a foreboding symbol of blood and death. I slid along the polished floor, turning and struggling against an invisible force.

All I could see were bills flying into my boxes and onto the stage. The men were entranced, and I felt like a woman reborn. I’d finally broken away from my gimmicky acts and struck a chord with the audience in a completely artistic way.

My heart raced when I saw a man in black approaching me from offstage wearing a ski mask that only revealed his eyes and mouth. I furrowed my brows. As the man neared, my heart galloped in my chest when I stared into a set of blue eyes.

Panic set in. The beat intensified, the crowd held their breath, and I fumbled with the chain in a feeble attempt to free my hand. It was only plastic—but hard plastic, and there was a trick to getting the shackle undone.

The men in the audience thought it was part of the act. I wanted to yell for help, but they wouldn’t believe me, or even worse, it could start a riot and erupt in a fight. I swallowed hard and backed up toward the pole.

“Wheeler?” I called out, looking toward the back of the room. Surely this man wouldn’t do anything stupid in front of all these people. I didn’t see Wheeler, and that’s when my panic ripened into a dark emotion.

I grabbed the pole with both hands and kicked him in the chest. The men cheered, some of them slapping their hands on the tables. Whether or not this was a joke, I wasn’t taking any chances.

The masked man stood up and rushed me. The next thing I knew, he gripped my hair so hard that I screamed. A strobe flickered in front of my eyes from a slender instrument…

And my panther emerged.

Chapter 9

I clenched my teeth around something hard and splintery. As I blinked a few times, I realized I was coming out of a shift. I was also chewing on a wooden leg that belonged to a coffee table. I scooted back and picked a wood chip out of my mouth.