He grinned. “I was testing the waters.”
“This cat doesn’t like waters. We are jumping right over them.”
“Then, dearling, get dressed and we will go. They are just waiting for our signal.”
With a sigh, she got up and pulled on a set of underwear, jeans and a t-shirt. Wherever she was going, she wanted to have a solid base layer.
When her sneakers were tied and her hair was back in a ponytail, she put her hands on her hips. “Let’s go.”
He was dressed in a similar fashion, and she had to admit that the tight black tee looked just as good on him as it had on Tony. It was better, actually, because she could touch.
He lifted a slim cell phone that Norman had given him and he spoke quietly. Once he hung up, he wrapped his arms around her and whispered, “Hold tight.”
She had never participated in an unseen site-to-site transport before, but when she arrived, she was exhilarated and irritated. Just the two emotions she needed for the situation.
A tall and elegant fey was sitting, surrounded by those of his own kind, but he was the only one under arrest. His lazy smile got on Sable’s nerves.
He shrugged. “No collars, no bindings. This is just my menagerie of animals. I am sure there is no law against that.”
What appeared to be the officer in charge came over to Sable and Warren.
“You are the two who can see through the shift?”
Warren nodded. “We can, for now.”
The elf inclined his head. “Then, please help us out and determine which of these beasts are yours and which are natural animals.”
“Lead the way.”
Two serious-faced elves of different shades of blue and pink led the way into the menagerie.
This was different than what Sable had heard described. There was no collar on any of the animals, but she could feel the binding.
The birds were in the first section, and as she looked, not only could she see the human face over the animal, but also a fine web of power coated the cockatoo’s feathers. This was bad. They had found a collar that didn’t leave marks.
She lifted her arm to the bird and it stepped close. With concentration, she touched the magic and didn’t jolt when it stuck to her skin. A slow and focused caress pulled the magic away, and the bird screeched as it felt the freedom, leaping to land on the floor and resuming her human form.
The fey officers jolted and one produced a blanket from thin air. “Here, madam.”
She looked at him with wary eyes but took the covering.
Warren moved over to the larger animals. “I hope you have more of those blankets, because this entire space is full of shifters.”
“How is it that they are bound?”
Sable picked up a rabbit and cuddled it, stroking until it was free of the webbing. “Human magic. Mages have bound these shifters with a web of power pushing and holding them in their beasts.”
The bunny was placed on the ground, and an elegant young man looked up at her. “Thanks for that.”
She smiled. “You are very welcome.”
Sable and Warren got to work, and they kept the magic that they removed from the shifters. If Tobias could analyze it and give them a name, it would make things dramatically easier.
Thirty-five animals were released into their human forms and the parade of freed creatures from the menagerie shocked the elf who had held them.
Sable was humming with power, and she asked the arresting elf, “Was there a human here when you arrived?”
The perpetrator flinched and shook his head.
The captain of the elf squad nodded. “She is being held in the other room. Shall I bring her out?”
“Please, and call the guild to help those captured get assistance and return home.”
He nodded, and a moment later, all was settled.
The woman was definitely a human mage; she crackled with the same energy as the webbing they had taken from the shifters.
She stood between them as they got a lift back to the council headquarters. She didn’t fight, she didn’t protest, but there was an arrogance about her until the moment that Tobias, the Mage Guild Master, was standing in front of her. Then, she was all sobs and grovelling.
Tobias lifted his hand and the woman froze on the spot. He smiled at Sable and Warren. “It seems that this has begun the first step in a successful treaty.”
Warren nodded. “It seems that it has, but what do we do with all the power that we stored?”
He blinked. “You still have it?”
“We do. It won’t come off.”
Tobias frowned, and then, with a flick of his wrists, he produced two empty glass orbs. “These should contain the human magic.”
Sable touched one and the extra magic flowed off her skin and into the small globe. “Oh, that is better.”
Warren did the same, and she could see the tension in his shoulders release. “Definitely better.”
“If you close your hand on it, it will collapse and remain in your palm. You can continue to use it until it fills up, and then, I will trade you a reward and a new orb.” Tobias wrapped the woman in spectral chains and disappeared.
Sable squeezed the orb and it shrank, becoming a tiny silver speck on her palm. “Well, that worked.”
Warren did the same and he sighed. “I am getting the feeling that we are going to become the clearing house for experimental magic.”
She shrugged. “If it helps those in need, I am willing to do a lot. If it doesn’t harm me, I am willing to do more.”
“Wise words. I knew there was more to you than a woman who fainted in my arms.”
She let him put his arm around her as they headed to the transporter room. “I didn’t faint. I was lightheaded. Seeing spots. You just happened to be gallant enough to offer me your arm.”
“And now I shall be seeing spots for the rest of my life. Colour me happy.” He grinned and it was the feral grin of his beast.
She laughed and held tight as they headed home. She still had to mark all of her territory and find a job, but the most important part of her territory was standing right next to her. She didn’t even have to claw him up to mark him; he had offered himself from fangs to fur and everything in between.
She had sacrificed her community and gotten a whole different world.
Author’s Note
Sable and Warren will be reappearing in 2015, and the Crossroads will now allow elves. Yup. I broke the Crossroads.
Snow Time for Love will be the first elf-shifter mating at the Crossroads. I hope. Something could go wrong with my planned plot, and it usually does.
Thanks for reading,
Zenina Masters.
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.
Listening to readers has gotten her this far, and with her 300th short story looming before the end of 2014, she will continue to listen in the future.
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