Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Epilogue
Author’s Note
About the Author
A mermaid with no interest in a mate is pursued by a dolphin shifter who won’t be flipped off.
Lorai needs humans to live. Her particular magic feeds off joy and goodwill. Human laughter fills her with power. It works with shifters, too.
Working at the Crossroads was her means of getting out of the public eye, and she has enjoyed the quiet life making people happy with designer marine-themed gowns.
Adam is a dolphin shifter who caters to humans who want to learn the mysteries of the ocean with the possibility of treasure. His treasure-diving charter is part of his tiny empire of water-based businesses and his true passion, until he meets Lorai.
From the moment he sees the majestic mermaid dancing in the waves, he knows that their paths have connected for a reason. She is exactly what he has dreamed of. A woman who owns the waves she swims in. He only needs to seduce her into agreement. It is a dangerous plan, but he knows it will be worth it.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Copyright © 2016 Zenina Masters
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0411-6
Cover art by Carmen Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by eXtasy Books Inc or
Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc
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Shifting Crossroads Book 40
By
Zenina Masters
Chapter One
Ever since the cartoon came out, Lorai had been afraid to tell folks her deepest desire. She wanted to walk on the land and live with the humans. It turned out that the theory was a lot more appealing than the fact.
Taking a position at the Crossroads had solved the problem of gawkers, and now, she was free to swim when she wanted and dance whenever she chose.
Lorai spent her days designing light and summery dresses for her shop in the Crossroads and outside of it. This day, she was busy with a confection of pleats that clung close to the body with the distance of a lightly skimming hand. It was fun to see a woman’s eyes light up when she was in a dress that held the colours she loved in a fashion that flattered.
A slight chime rang and Juno came in. The frisky fox shifter had a swing in her step that morning.
“Morning, Lorai. How is business?”
“Pretty good, both here and away. How are bookings?”
“Brisk. The fey have gotten the hang of the internet, and Teal and Tony are only too happy to send them our way when they arrive.”
Lorai grinned. “The internet has been a revelation for us. Some are quicker than others, but as a few have lived for thousands of years, ten years of adaptation shows rapid progress.”
Juno nodded in acknowledgement. “True. I forget to think about things like that.”
“You will have to now. Your lifespan will extend far past what you originally anticipated. Technology will come rushing up and surround you before you know it. Things will make your head spin, and you will learn and be struck with the beauty of the invention.”
Juno smiled softly and then shook herself. “Can you pick out something suitable for a date night? Derix is taking me to the new restaurant, and I want to try and make an impression.”
Lorai got down from her elevated stool by her drafting table and looked Juno over. “I think for the oncoming fall, you need something in sunset colours. I have just the thing.”
Now that the shop was just the way she liked it, it was easy to find the wispy silk that would be perfect with Juno’s complexion.
The happy chortling that Juno engaged in as the dress was folded and slid into the folds of a matching wrap made Lorai’s day.
It was that smile, that laughter that drove her to design clothing for women. Each light caress of sound increased her magic as well as brightened her soul.
Lorai waved her customer and friend off and returned to her drawing board.
She had nearly withered to a hag before she had started making clothing. She had crawled to the shore to die, and women laying out kelp to burn had taken her in, hidden her from their husbands and clothed her. In the abandoned rope shed, she had woven clothing for herself and the others out of the hemp. In her hands—strengthened by the depths—the rough rope turned into tough but beautiful fabric that made the women smile and laugh. With each laugh, Lorai grew younger until she was fit once again.
She had crept back to the sea under cover of darkness, leaving enough clothing for generations in her place. The clothing she had made contained threads of her hair. She would know if the women needed her. She would come without hesitation and call the waves to do her bidding.
Lorai smiled at the memories and kept working, humming to herself until she got the urge to swim. She got up, stretched and walked to the door of her shop, turning the sign to CLOSED.
The salt water called to her, and she headed down the street toward the exposed shoreline. It was time to do what mermaids usually did best.
Lorai cruised through the deepest water, circling the shipwreck that appeared to have come with the clear blue sea.
With a smile on her face, she played with the wheel and swam around the mast. She circled it and pole danced with it, giggling silently as she frolicked where no one could see her.
A flash of pale colour shot through her peripheral vision. She turned her head and stared, but the object or creature was gone.
She concentrated on the flow of water over her scales and the slip of the temperature over her skin. Columns of water were warm and others were cold. When the strands mixed together, it was her favourite part of being under the waves.
Lorai continued to play around the ship until she caught the slip of grey nearby. She focused on the flicker, and the grey shot past her.
She whirled, bracing her tail on the aft of the ship. The dolphin streaked past her and rolled in the currents.
She paused. That was new.
He swam up to her and rolled in front of her, moving his tail in a playful manner.
She bowed from the waist and moved her arms so that her hair flared around her. She was framed in a cloak of her platinum tresses, and he jerked his nose several times in approval.
Lorai swam a distance but he outstripped her. She wasn’t a fast swimmer. To the merfolk, it made her untouchable as a mate. It had added to the appeal of the Crossroads. She didn’t have to get rejected by her own kind every day. She had far better things to do.
The dolphin nudged at her a little too close to her breasts, but she
forgave him his aim. He wanted her to swim with him, so she continued to try and oblige.
It was way more of a workout than she had anticipated, and all too soon, she had to leave him to swim on without her.
Lorai turned and swam back toward the shore where she had stowed her clothing. The dolphin followed her for a while, but then, it peeled off and disappeared into the waves.
She hauled herself out and onto the dock where she had installed the cubbyholes for clothing. Her back deck extended over the water. She walked inside her home and made brunch.
When she settled on her deck and ate her meal, she let her gaze skim the water, looking for the signs of the dolphin leaping out of the water.
He had looked so small next to her in the water. Her body had been the length of his if not greater, but that is what happened when a merman and a giant had a child. It was going to be a little bigger than the average merwoman.
Lorai flipped her hair over her shoulder and watched the rippling water catching the light. On land, her size didn’t matter. She was just the same size as all other bipedal females. Her family was used to her, but the other members of her village had turned away when she began to seek a mate. They wouldn’t stay on land with her even though that was where they would breed the next generation. Her childhood friends had turned away and found mates with more standard-sized merwomen. She had been alone.
Sitting at the Isthmus in the Crossroads, she finally felt at home. The dolphin had been a flickering reminder of the friends she had left in the sea. Cetaceans were always comfortable with her. She was the size of a large dolphin or small whale. It seemed that under the water—as on land—she was always better off without her own kind.
* * * *
Adam Srim flicked his tail and entered the wet entry of the hotel, skidding to a halt on his feet. He rinsed off his skin and stood under the column of warm air.
He dressed and walked up the stairs to find Derix in the main lobby. He strode up to him and smiled. “I have a question for you.”
Derix looked up from his examination of one of the carvings in the lobby.
“Shoot.”
“Where can I find the mermaid? I haven’t seen her before, and I didn’t get a sense of her here.”
Derix frowned. “Mermaid? There aren’t any mermaid guests.”
Adam cleared his throat. “That was definitely what I saw.”
“It could be one of the mated women. They have merwoman characteristics.”
Adam cleared his throat. “Are they giants under the water? She was bigger than any mermaid I have ever seen.”
Derix looked relieved when Juno came in, but his expression grew shuttered as she got closer.
Adam looked over at Derix’s mate, and he blinked in surprise. The scruffy, perky woman had been replaced by a goddess wrapped in a sunset.
“Juno, you look wonderful.” He smiled at her.
She grinned and twirled. “Thank you, but I was hoping for more from Derix.”
Derix stepped toward her and went to one knee in front of her, “My lady. Words cannot give testament to your beauty.”
She extended her hand to him, and Adam left them as their small connection simmered with heat. That was the same chemistry he was hoping for with his own match, but finding her was becoming hopeless. The sight of the mermaid had filled him with enthusiasm. She was gorgeous, elegant and didn’t have the silver band of a mated being of the Crossroads. She was free and she was here.
Adam paused on the stairway. She didn’t have any bands on her wrist. No guest bracelet. He grinned and climbed upward. She worked here. He had just narrowed down his search. The next day, he would find her.
Chapter Two
Over dinner with her doting mate, Juno asked, “What was Adam looking for?”
Derix smiled loosely. “A large mermaid that was in the water this afternoon. I told him it was probably one of the mated couples.”
Juno cocked her head. “You thought it was a mated woman, out on her own, with no mate in sight? Really? I don’t think so.”
Leda and Altion came into the restaurant, and Juno got to her feet. She left Derix and walked over to ask a very quick question of the only merman she knew.
“Altion, do you know of any large mermaids in the Crossroads?”
He blinked, and she could tell that he knew precisely what she was describing.
“How large?”
“He didn’t say, but he was extremely interested. I get the feeling that that fellow is going to continue to look. He has been here for four days with nothing close to what he is looking for, and today, he perked up.” Juno smiled.
Leda smiled and her lips formed a word. Lorai.
Juno didn’t show her surprise, she continued to look at Altion, and he shrugged. “I will ask around. There aren’t many of us here yet.”
“Please do. In the meantime, I can feel Derix staring a hole in my shoulder blades. Have a great evening.” Juno returned to her mate and settled in just as dessert arrived.
Derix smiled and took her hand. “What was that about?”
“I just had to ask the only merman I knew about the mysterious mermaid. He said he didn’t know, but he would look into it.”
Juno smiled at him and squeezed his fingers. “I think I managed to get a pretty good clue.”
“Do tell?”
“No. I will work on confirming it tomorrow. Let’s enjoy tonight.” She winked at him and pulled her hand back to attack the tower of wafers and mousse that had been settled in front of her.
She was going to have a chat with Lorai in the morning.
* * * *
Lorai tidied up her shop and was putting the broom away when Juno came striding in.
“Thanks for the dress. It worked a treat.” Juno smiled.
“You are most welcome. I am glad it worked out for you.”
Juno cleared her throat. “Is it a sensitive subject for me to ask you about your shifted form?”
Lorai was surprised. It hadn’t come up. “Um, no. What do you want to know?”
“What is your total length? Head to tail, I mean. I have only seen Leda and Altion from a distance.”
Lorai leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. “A normal member of the merfolk is about nine feet counting the last of the fin. I am slightly larger.”
“How much larger?”
Lorai blushed. “Twice as big. My parentage is mixed. My father was a merman, my mother was a giant.”
To Lorai’s surprise, Juno hugged her.
“Thanks for telling me.”
Juno released her and stood back. “Care to go for coffee? Lima has the stand up and running.”
“I just opened up. Bring it to me and we have a deal.” Lorai cocked her head. “Why did you really want to know about my size?”
Juno coughed delicately. “I heard that a dolphin was looking for a magnificent mermaid. Naturally, I thought of you.”
Lorai was still feeling the heat in her cheeks when Juno returned. They set up the consult table and sat down for coffee and pastries.
Lorai was subjected to queries, and she finally answered the questions that Juno had obviously been sitting on. “I came to the Crossroads to make people happy and to live a quieter life. My shop in the human world was getting overrun with folks who wanted to meet a mermaid. I was a tourist attraction, and it got on my nerves.”
Juno nodded. “Makes sense. No one likes to be stared at.”
“It was the assholes trying to drop a net over my head to capture me that got me irritated. No mermaid is ever helpless, but it was vastly annoying. I would have had sex with most of them without the theatrics.”
Juno chuckled. “Any shifters in the bunch?”
“No. The static would have given them away.”
Juno looked like she was holding something back.
“Look, Juno, breakfast has been lovely, but why did you come here today?”
“Are you averse to meeting a potential mate?” She blu
rted it out.
Lorai stared. “What?”
“We have a guest, and he is glowing when he talks about seeking for his mermaid. I think you met him yesterday; he is a dolphin shifter.”
Lorai smiled. “I did. We played together for quite a while, and then, he left.”
“So, the question stands. I won’t tell him who you are if you don’t want me to, but he is seeking you out. I just wanted to warn you.”
Lorai paused and thought for a moment. “What is his name?”
“Adam. Adam Srim. He has a small water salvage company near some tiny islands somewhere.” Juno grinned. “He swims well in either form.”
Lorai chuckled. “Good to know. Well, I will consider it once I see the man. I liked the beast well enough.”
“Fair enough. What do you think of the pastry?”
“Pretty good. A little doughy.”
Juno nodded. “Right. I agree and will let her know. She was muttering about getting the temperature right and humidity levels. Melwiss wasn’t any help. She was eating everything that came out of the oven before it was even cool.”
Lorai laughed out loud. Melwiss was definitely a different soul. Her magic burned amazing amounts of energy, and high-calorie snacks were required or her enchantments burned into her brain. She became less than coherent until her sugar levels were back to normal.
“Was there another balance ceremony?”
“Yes. She had them fused together in about a minute. Energy-wise, I mean. She hasn’t actually stuck anyone together in weeks.”
Lorai was horrified. “You are not serious.”
“No, but you were pretty sure she could do it.” Juno grinned.
She winced at her own gullibility. “Yeah, I was pretty sure of it. What is her story?”
“She hasn’t told it to me yet. The Mage Guild assigned her here because she can’t operate in the human world anymore. That is all Teal got when she was sent here. We are to feed her and clothe her, and she will do what is required.”
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