Free A Life Less Pink by Zenina Masters

Chapter One
     
     
    Coriel Flisk pulled up to the meeting hall where her parents were waiting for her.
    “Cori, did you bring them?”
    Cori gave them a thumbs-up and closed her window before turning off the van. She stepped out of her delivery vehicle and walked around to the side door. “Thirty costumes for the ball this evening in case someone shows up in something boring.”
    Her mother wrapped her in a warm, scented hug. “Thank you, darling. What are you going to wear?”
    Cori stood back as her cousins loaded the fantastical dresses and suits onto the racks they had brought from the hall.
    She snagged a brilliant blue gown with gold trim. “Is this good enough?”
    “With a mask?”
    “It is in that box over there, with the others.”
    “Get it so it doesn’t get lost.” Her mother frowned. “Can’t you pick something brighter?”
    “It is electric blue, Mom. It is plenty bright.”
    Her mother wrinkled her nose. “You know what I mean. There are so many shades of pink you could wear.”
    “And you have them all. I wear pink when I shift, Mother. Not when I am in human form.” Cori sighed. “I attend your annual ball because it is a family event, not because I am interested in finding one of our kind to set up housekeeping with.”
    Her father came up and lifted one of the boxes of accessories out of the van. “Your mother means well.”
    Cori grinned at him. “Brave words from a man about to put on hot-pink tights for the ninth year in a row.”
    “The things we do for love.” Her father winked as he passed her and proceeded into the hall.
    She caught the mask that he flipped toward her as he turned to move through the doorway. Laughing, she put on the electric blue flamingo mask that she had crafted for this day. “Good enough, Mom?”
    “It would be better if it was pink, but at least you are the right species this time. I will take it.”
    Cori got a one-armed hug, and she returned it as they walked into the hall to check on the rest of the Flisk preparations for the annual Halloween ball.
    It was going to be a vivid and raucous evening for flamingos to mingle and mix with their own species, swamp-bird shifters. Cori made a face. Maybe she would meet a nice duck.
     
    Two hours later, she was standing near the punch bowl and watching the mating dances on the dance floor. It was tricky to drink with her mask on, but she managed to get a straw under the beak of the mask.
    Her cousin Randolph sidled up to her. “Great costume, Cori. Steampunk?”
    “Steampunk Flamingo. It was a slight nod to my mother.”
    She tapped the bronze corset above the flounced upper portion of the skirt. “Surprisingly comfortable as long as I don’t try and breathe or move suddenly. How did you know it was me?”
    Randolph laughed. “You have a certain posture when you are thinking.”
    She looked down and slowly lowered her leg, evening her stance. “Damn.”
    “Don’t worry about it. You know you always do it when you are thinking; the question is what were you thinking about?”
    “Life, the universe, why none of these guys do anything for me.” She sipped at her punch.
    “First, most of them are your cousins; second, they are mainly flamingos and you have never been one to stand in the swamp waiting for prince charming. You need to go and be somewhere that no one knows what you are and you can represent the real you from the start, without all the social layers.”
    He reached out and pressed a wad of tickets into her hand. “Take these. They may be of use to you.”
    “These are for the event prizes.”
    “I know. I bought all the tickets for a very specific prize for you.”
    Cori looked at the clock. “There are still two hours before the draw. You can change your mind and take these back.”
    “I won’t, but thanks for the offer. I have already found the woman of my dreams and I think it is time for you to do the same.”
    “Find the woman of my dreams? It isn’t really my thing.” She