* * * *
“Will you send the report?”
Teebie nodded. “I will send it as soon as I get it written out. Are you sure?”
“No, that is why I need seers and hunters to work on this to find out if it is the source of all the disappearing shifters. If they are dating gullible or fey-touched humans, it would explain why they are simply vanishing.”
Teebie sighed and kept scribbling on the notepad. “It would. Damn, I am missing so much by playing around here.”
“You are an excellent host and this is the best place for you.”
In the last few weeks, Misty had learned about Teebie’s trouble fitting in and her overabundance of magical energy. The Crossroads really was the best place for her. She could use her magic and not run around in glamour all the time. Hiding behind magic was not the best option.
“Thank you. I agree and I am grateful that my aunt made that call. I have had more fun here in the last year than in the decades preceding it.”
Teebie continued with her writing until she finished copying down Misty’s suppositions. There was no fact in the document, just a lot of guessing. The facts were being left to others.
Once Teebie finished, she held the paper up and blew across it. The scribbles reformed into clearly readable type, and a moment later, the document disappeared.
“There. It is filed. Now, you have to wait to see what will come of your theory.”
Misty sighed. That had been the source of her tension. She was no longer in a position to act on her guesses and it had been frustrating her. She exhaled again. “Who knew that a few months would turn me into an adrenaline junkie?”
“It happens. Some take up the mantle and wear it as fabric; others turn it into armour and charge into battle. You are the second type; you can’t stop being a warrior.”
Misty leaned back. “I work for a candy shop.”
“That may be, but you were born to do what you have been doing.” Teebie smiled. “Now that you have figured out what was crawling up your backside, you can go to bed. You have been up as long as I have and I am wiped out.”
Misty laughed. “Fine. I will see you in the morning. Thanks for sending that report. It is a load off.”
“Not a problem. Now, go to bed, and in the morning, come down for a nice breakfast with your mate.”
Misty blushed and muttered, “He isn’t my mate.”
“Not yet, but that is your fault. You two hum on the same frequency, and I only ever see that sympathetic vibration in mated pairs. You two need to start knocking boots so you can start your knew life.”
“What a lovely image. Boots?”
Teebie shrugged. “What do I know about shifters in bed? I am just a djinn.”
Misty hugged her and headed for the stairs. “Good night, lady djinn.”
With her friend chuckling, Misty went up to her room and stripped off before crawling between the sheets. She felt better after her chat with Teebie, and tomorrow was another day with Samuel.
Her week was definitely looking up.
Chapter Five
Breakfast at the Open Heart was the time when everyone gathered around their host and gorged on muffins, bacon, coffee and tea, eggs or pancakes, depending on preferences.
Samuel was seated at the table with his hair rumpled but the rest of him looking delightfully perky. “I saved you a seat.”
She smiled and took a seat next to him, the other eight newcomers at the table grinned and breakfast began.
Misty winked at her host as Teebie worked her way down the table, refilling coffee. The table had expanded from the tiny bistro table that they had shared the previous morning. It was the magic of the breakfast room; it had gotten bigger as well.
Small talk about the Crossroads and why everyone had come took up the better part of an hour. When the folks who had made tentative connections the night before got up, they were eager to pursue those that they had met the night before. Some had actual dates and others were simply leaping into the hope that they could spur their connection into turning into something valuable.
Teebie handed out a few picnic baskets and waved her clients off for the day.
Misty and Samuel sat side by side, already knowing that they had met their match. Misty smiled. “What do you want to do today?”
His eyes grew sleepy again. He cleared his throat. “I don’t think I should answer that, but yesterday, you were curious about my beast?”
She smiled. “Yes; yes, I am.”
“Shall we go to that meadow that you showed me yesterday?”
Teebie whistled low and slow in a yoohoo singsong. She had a picnic basket in her hand and was swinging it gently.
Misty snorted. “I am guessing that we shall.”
Samuel got to his feet and took the basket with one hand, holding the other out to Misty.
The moment she slid her fingers against his, her beast flapped excitedly. Its mate was here and it was delighted to have actual physical contact.
Sighing, she rubbed her hip against his leg as they walked out into the mid-morning light.
“You seem better this morning.” Samuel smiled.
“I worked something out with Teebie last night. I promise to give you my full attention from now on.”
He grinned. “Good. The idea of your eyes focused on me is rather interesting.”
She chuckled and steered him through the streets.
“It is a little strange to finally be in this situation. You tend to focus on the goal so much that when it arrives, you are caught off guard.”
He squeezed her hand. “I know exactly what you mean.”
She gave him a quick glance, and his features were arranged into a calm and accepting expression. It wasn’t exactly arousing, but she did feel something inside her settle happily.
Three other couples, who were frolicking in their beast forms, occupied the shifter’s meadow.
“Come on, I know a few places that no one goes.” Misty smiled and pulled him into the woods and down a nearly imperceptible path. They walked on for ten minutes until they appeared in a glade that contained an adult-sized playground, a cascading brook and a wide, clear pool.
Samuel looked around. “What is this place?”
“It is a recreational space for those who work and live here. I found it after my first week.” She smiled and ran to the swings.
She hopped up and started to swing.
Samuel laughed and leaned against one of the other structures. “This is not how I imagined our first time together.”
She sighed and slowed her swinging. “Well, you have me at a disadvantage. I was the only person changing to and from my beast at the collector’s home, so you could have been one of fifty creatures.”
“Would it help you to know that you rode me to the exit?”
She blinked. “Oh. Cougar. Hello. Thanks for the lift.”
He laughed. “You are most welcome. Why did you ride me?”
“If I was on the ground with that many predators in their beast form, I might not have made it to the door. Even with me on you, several of the shifters around you were eyeing me as a small snack.” She shrugged. “It happens a lot.”
He shook his head. “I can’t imagine being that vulnerable.”
“It has its uses. I can get into places where no one will see me as a possible infiltrator. Now, my second cousin, Jenner, is on duty, and I hope that he does half as well as I did.”
She swung to a halt and cocked her head. “I suppose that if I show you mine, you will show me yours.”
Misty hopped off the swing, and with a quick series of motions, she peeled off her shirt, shucked out of her bra, kicked off her shoes and slithered free of her jeans and panties.
Samuel was staring in surprise as she embraced her beast and set about climbing her mate.
He didn’t move as she clambered up his calf and thigh, his belly muscles flinched when she climbed up hi
s shirt and he chuckled when she settled on his shoulder.
Her nose touched his cheek and he laughed again. She took in his human scent and licked at the small freckle she could see from her vantage point.
When he lifted her from his shoulder and cuddled her in his hands, she looked up at his frank examination.
Misty remained relaxed in his grip and curled her tail up with her nose twitching. When he was going to put her down, she barked.
He jumped.
Snickering to herself, Misty crawled to the edge of his hands and jumped to the ground, transforming on the way and landing on one knee.
Naked, she turned to him and he was still staring.
“You bark.”
She laughed. “Yes, I do. It’s a sugar glider thing.”
Misty walked up to him and slid her hands under his shirt. “Your turn.”
His heart pounded under her hands as she moved the tight fabric of his shirt as high as she could reach.
He pulled his shirt off and moved his hands to his jeans, unsnapping the closure before lowering the zipper.
Misty stepped back and watched as all his lean, tanned skin came to light. She bit her lip to keep from sighing happily when his upward-curving erection beckoned her.
A moment later, all that golden skin was gone and fur was in its place.
The cougar lifted his head and sniffed her.
She remained in place as he walked up to her and rubbed his head against her hand. She giggled and stroked his head, kneeling to meet him eye to eye. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against the gold fur that she had clung to before. Petting him was irresistible, and she dug her fingers into his hide, stroking and memorizing the touch of the smooth strands of fur.
His tail tickled her waist and she sighed and leaned back.
“You are a very pretty cat, Samuel.”
He made a deep chuffing noise in his throat, and his tongue scraped along her shoulder.
She shivered and stroked his ears. His dark amber eyes were heavy lidded and he licked at her skin again.
When Misty moved to stand up, he growled and lifted a paw to place it on her thigh. He licked her again, working down her breasts, and she waited while he took in her flavours. Some species identified by smell, some by taste. She guessed that he was one of the latter, or she had spilled honey on herself at breakfast.
Her skin felt sensitive after a few more strokes, and he was nearing her navel. This wasn’t the way she wanted to start things off, so she shrank to her beast, climbed his arm to his shoulder and barked in his ear.
Expressing her displeasure was freeing, and she used her tiny hands to pull on his ear while she yapped at him.
When he shifted to human, she barked in his ear one more time before he grabbed her and held her up in front of him. In a moment, he had a hand full of irritated female.
She scowled at him.
He smiled sheepishly. “I apologize. I got carried away.”
Misty sighed and made the step toward him that connected their skin. “Carried away is fine, but not on the first day.”
He smiled slowly. “You seem to know what you are doing.”
“I know what want and I want you.”
Samuel’s gaze went serious, and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her with rising savagery as he answered her words the only way he could.
Misty slid her arms around him and reached up his back to pull herself up with her grip on his shoulders. He caught her with hands under her ass, and he supported her when she locked her ankles behind his back.
He held her with one hand and pressed his cock against her. She was wet but not ready, and he slid the head against her. Misty felt herself go from damp to slick in a few strokes, and when he settled against her, the tip of his erection slipped into her.
Misty squirmed against him, working herself on him and trying to take him deeper. The teasing sensation of the tip of him inside her opening increased her frantic twisting.
She whimpered against his mouth and bit at his lower lip while she tried to impale herself.
Samuel finally lifted her until she could just barely feel him inside her. With a deliberate push, he pressed deep before lifting her once again. This time, he went deeper and she moaned into his mouth.
Her body lifted and dropped in the rhythm that he set, and it was a slow and deliberate beat.
Misty clutched at him and held tight, moving with him as much as she could with her body weight resting in his palms.
The friction between them rubbed her breasts against his chest, and his cock rubbed the front wall of her channel. With three weeks of longing behind her, she clutched at him and shook in his grip, breaking the kiss to bury her head against his neck.
He bounced her rapidly and moaned low, quivering against and inside her.
Misty didn’t know how she was going to get down. Samuel didn’t seem to be in any shape to help her.
He bent his head and whispered in her ear. “Why did we do that standing up?”
He sounded exhausted and it made her smile.
“Because we were both naked and the blanket is still in the picnic basket. I hate grass burns.”
He ran his hands up and down her back slowly before lifting her off his cock. She flinched at the lack of heat inside her but settled her feet on the ground, locking her knees to keep from landing butt first on the grass.
While she watched, Samuel went over to the basket and flicked out the blanket, kneeling on it and extending his hand to her.
Though she could stand, she wasn’t sure she could walk. She moved slowly and carefully, ignoring the cum slipping down her inner thigh.
Kneeling was a definite relief.
Samuel reached out and cuddled her against his chest. He kissed her forehead and cheeks before lapping at her lips. “Hello, mate.”
She blushed and looked up into his amber eyes. “Hello.”
Misty had her mate and she didn’t know anything about him.
Chapter Six
Misty knew one thing, Samuel put out a ton of body heat. When he started to purr, she jumped in his arms.
“I didn’t know you did that.”
He grinned, “One of the mysteries of my species. We don’t roar, we yowl and purr.”
Misty curled against him and enjoyed the feel of his hands slowly caressing her bare skin. “Interesting.”
“I think so. Now, how is it that you haven’t gotten a mate before now?”
She chuckled at the reference to her forward behaviour. “I had to wait until I finished my turn with the Council. It has been hanging over my head since I was fourteen. I knew that I would be called upon at some time, but I had no idea when. It has always been up to the Council which member of my family would be selected, but it would happen before I turned thirty.”
He caressed her hip. “Why your family?”
“Escaped convicts. Seriously. My great, great grandfather married an aboriginal woman in Australia, and they had to flee, with their children, to North America.”
“An actual convict?”
She chuckled. “He was. He was a housebreaker and pickpocket.”
“You sound proud.”
“I am. He survived the deportation and managed to not only find love but to escape his fate and start a new life. He came here and sought asylum from the Council, and they offered it for the price of our family’s participation in the Council operations.”
“And so you were indentured to the Council.”
She nodded and stroked a finger down his chest. “Precisely. It isn’t so bad. They don’t take us if we are married or breeding. To make sure that other members of my family had a chance to start their lives, I stayed single and available for my turn.”
“Thank you. I really mean that. Thank you. If you hadn’t been a member of the Council when you were, I might still be locked up.”
She shook her head. “No, they h
ad a plan; it just wouldn’t have gone as smoothly.”
“How did you hide up in the rafters?”
“I played dead. My species has the ability to slow our biology and appear to be…dead.” She shrugged. “To the elf, I looked like a dead rat.”
“Charming.”
“And invisible. It isn’t a bad thing to be when they are doing a scan to find me.” She met his gaze and waggled her eyebrows.
“Fair enough.” He nuzzled her cheek and she could feel him smile.
“Would you care to join me for a dip? I am a little sticky.”
He laughed. “My fault, so yes.”
He got to his feet and walked toward the pool with her, wading carefully into the cool water until he was chest deep and she floated out of his grip for a quick scrub.
Diving under the water gave her a fascinating point of view. She could see him under the surface, and it was a delightful view. She swam around him, caressing his pert butt and the trunks of his thighs. When she finally surfaced behind him, he was aroused again.
Samuel dove under the water and Misty quickly did as well, so she could see where he was coming from. Nothing. She couldn’t see him from any angle until he lifted her in his arms and rose out of the water.
“Gotcha!” He grinned.
She squealed and tried to slip out of his grip, but he simply walked out of the pond with her is his arms.
Samuel carried her over to the blanket and set her down, combing her hair with his fingers.
The sun warmed her skin and dried her hair as he ran his fingers through it over and over.
When she turned her head, she felt the caress of something hard and realized that he was combing her hair with his claws. She shivered and rested her head on her drawn-up knees.
After her hair was dry and silky smooth, he drew her into his arms and spooned with her under the sun.
With her primary personal setting being nocturnal, she had no objection to a mid-day nap.
Sunburn was not something that happened to her that often, but she flicked from human to beast and back again to heal her skin. Her brother had inherited their ancestor’s darker complexion. He could lay out under the sun all he liked and nothing would happen. It was a fact that he had rubbed in dozens of times over their lifetime. Twins were supposed to be close, but they had always had a rough relationship.
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