Feather, Fur and Fey

by Zenina Masters

  He smiled and inclined his head. “As do you, lady. It is good to see you outside the confines of your friends’ close-knit party.”

  Maki chuckled. “We got them all home alive and happy, so it was a successful night. That said, I am glad it is over.”

  Domahk looked at them, “You two have met?”

  Maki smiled at him. “A friend had a birthday, and we went to his club.”

  Yethior nodded in understanding. “Of course. The clubs are overrun with human women trying to see the fey.”

  Maki felt the need to defend her friends. “Or women out for an evening of entertainment and laughter. It could have been humans performing; they would have been just as enthralled. The club just gave us a more private venue. And a safe one. That means a lot.”

  Yethior blinked and stepped back. “Apologies, miss. You are correct.”

  Maki smiled. “I am aware of it. And apology accepted. I work with humans, and while your kind holds a certain cachet, they would not cross the street to meet one of you if they had something else to do.”

  The drow all blinked and took the hit to their egos. Uhrl was wryly amused, but the other two looked sheepish.

  “Well, as entertaining as this has been, I am going to wash up and head out. Have a pleasant evening.”

  She turned and headed up the stairs, handing the cut flowers to Teebie as she passed. She winked and continued upward until she was in her own room and she could hide the fact that Uhrl’s touch was still sending her heartbeat into overdrive.

  A hot shower calmed her and got her ready for the evening festivities. There were hours of darkness left, and she knew where the drow would go the moment that she abandoned them. They would head to the one place where women and dancing were together in the same place, the Crossed Star.

  She went through her clothing selections and settled for a bias-cut silk dress that skimmed where it should and hugged everything else. She could twirl and move with ease, but she still looked feminine.

  Her hair was still damp, so she wove it together in a long braid.

  No makeup, no perfume. They were going to see her at her plainest, and she was going to watch their honest reactions.

  She slipped on a set of pumps and headed off to gauge her elves’ behaviour. Half an hour should have settled them nicely into the nightlife.

  Pausing to hug the staff that she had met on her first two extended stays, she slowly made her way to the Crossed Star. The music was playing and the crowd was thick when Maki arrived.

  She worked her way to the bar and grinned when Spike caught her gaze. “Maki!”

  The last hedgehog came up to where Maki leaned on the bar, and they took each other’s hands. Two solitary shifters in a sea of elves, fur and fangs.

  “I had heard you were coming, but I couldn’t believe it. What are you in for?”

  Maki looked around and spotted the three drow on the dance floor. “One of those three.”

  “You didn’t come in with them?”

  “Nope, I want to see how they treat other folks.”

  “Wow, you are growing sneaky in your old age.” Spike winked.

  “This isn’t my first rodeo. They haven’t spotted me; I want to see what happens when they do.”

  “I will get you your normal mocktail and you can begin your social behaviour testing.” Spike grinned.

  “Excellent. I want to get this underway.”

  “One mocktail coming up.” Spike’s hands went to work, and when she finished her sleight of hand, she held up something that would have done credit to any tropical beach, complete with orange wheels and small umbrellas.

  “Excellent. Thank you, Spike. Now, let the games begin.” She waggled her eyebrows.

  She took the architectural beverage to the barstools nearest the dance floor, and she watched.

  Uhrl noticed her immediately from his position on the far side of the dance floor. The brunette in his arms was smiling up at him, and he gave Maki a quick nod before returning his attention to the young lady who bore all the hallmarks of a feline.

  Domahk was dancing with a vixen, and his focus was entirely on the woman in his arms. Maki smiled as she watched them move as one around the floor. He was out of the running for her, he had fallen for his own shifter, and she seemed content in his arms. When it was right, it was right.

  The moment she made eye contact with Yethior, he abandoned his partner and headed for her. That demoted him to a single dance with Maki, and then, he was off the list.

  She sipped at her drink before putting it in Spike’s custody.

  “Lady Maki, would you join me for a dance?”

  She looked past Yethior to the woman who had flushed with embarrassment before retreating to the safety of the booths.

  With a slight sigh, Maki put her hand in Yethior’s for the last half of the slow song. They moved to the dance floor, and she kept a distance between them as he attempted to lead her.

  When the song ended, Domahk patted him on the shoulder to cut in. Yethior frowned. “No. I will not surrender her.”

  Maki blinked and shifted her grip on his hands. “Yes, you will.” She shoved him back, and he skidded across the dance floor, catching his balance before he tried to charge at her.

  “You will be mine, Maki!”

  Chuck appeared, and he and Uhrl each grabbed an arm, hauling the protesting drow out of the Crossed Star.

  She smiled at Domahk. “Still want that dance?”

  He nodded, and they moved to the music. “I have a serious question to ask you.”

  “Ask away.”

  “I know we were brought here for you, but would you be upset if I pursued Amber?”

  “The vixen you were dancing with? Of course not. The purpose of the Crossroads is to give folks a safe place to meet where they can each display their magic without fear of consequence. You wear your magic on your skin; she wears hers under it. This is the place to meet and find out if you are compatible.”

  He smiled very shyly for a man who looked like he could break rock with his fists. “I like her a lot.”

  “Good. This isn’t my first time here, and it probably won’t be my last. Find love and hold onto it where you can. If Amber feels like the one, she probably is. No one here is pretending to be after anything other than a match.”

  “Yethior wants power.”

  Maki made a face. “That was suddenly obvious. Don’t worry; I would rather rip his throat out than invite him into my bed.”

  He gave her a long look. “I am guessing that you have done it before.”

  She shrugged. “Not this lifetime, but in others, I was not so choosy.”

  He blinked slowly. “I see. Well, thank you for your encouragement. If she is amenable, I will commence a courtship.”

  Maki laughed. “Ask her out for dinner, and if she says yes, she is interested in you. We very rarely share our kills with those we are not interested in.”

  “Kills?”

  “In the old days, it would have been a rabbit, but now, eating a burger is just as close. If she eats her meal and trusts you to be there, it might not be love, but she is still very interested.”

  “Does that work with all shifters?”

  “Only the carnivores.”

  He nodded and obviously took her suggestion and filed it away. They finished their dance, and he pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. “Thank you for your advice. I wish you joy and love in your own life.”

  She smiled as he straightened up. “Thanks for that. Now, go and get her. Vixens are very desirable, time is a factor.”

  “I shall not waste a moment. Good luck to you, Maki.”

  She was left alone on the dance floor for a whole nine seconds before Uhrl returned and bowed.

  “Lady Maki, may I have this dance?”

  She smiled and stepped into his embrace with a smile and an, “Of course.”

  Uhrl put one hand at the small of her back, and they began to sway to the music.

  �
�Yethior has been returned to the human world. He has been deemed unsuitable for a shifter mate.”

  Teal and Tony must have really been on the ball with that one. They normally held a small investigation that took an hour, but if things escalated outside the bar, it might explain the ejection.

  “That is too bad for him; he would have made a fanatically temperamental father one day.” She snorted.

  They curled through the dance with the ease of two bodies that were in sync.

  “Do you plan on having children, Maki?” He was looking at her with a strange sort of analysis in his gaze.

  “Yup. At least four. None of my kind have small families.”

  His lips curled in a slow smile. “You want at least four children?”

  “It isn’t a matter of want. My family has twins, lots of twins. Some fraternal, some identical, but the babies always come in collections.”

  The music changed to something a little faster, and they twisted and tangoed across the floor.

  “How about you? What plans for a family do you have or not?”

  “The fey don’t plan for a family, they hope. My hope was for one mate and one child.” He smiled. “I have been looking for a very long time.”

  The dancing was a strange reaction to being together. Her body moved with his without a thought. She felt sweat misting her body and her dress clinging to her skin.

  They continued through three more songs, discussing ideal locations for a house and how much square footage a griffin required to have her family around her.

  “It isn’t just my family. The descendants of all the griffins who came before me seek me out. I get a lot of visitors. I have four nieces and nephews, a twin brother and his wife, my parents will be popping back into the country in six months, and then, there are your people. We will want a place where privacy can be affected when we want it to.”

  He smiled. “You are planning our home?”

  “Of course. I knew the moment that we first met that we would be great together and our children would be great. A new line of blended magic from the shifter that first began to make mating with the fey a habit.”

  His eyes widened, and she pulled him to a halt, leaning up for a kiss.

  After the fleeting and electric contact, she smiled. “I would like to finish my drink and get something to eat. Care to join me?”

  “Whatever my lady wishes.” He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her damp skin.

  She smiled slyly at him and cast a look over to Spike. She nodded and picked up a phone, making reservations for two.

  Chapter Five

  A conversational gambit over consommé began with, “So, how long did you watch me while I drove my friends home? If I didn’t know where that power was coming from, it would have been creepy.”

  He looked sheepish, but then, he shrugged. “I watched you until the connection was cut off.”

  “Ah, yeah. My position has some perks. Protecting my territory is one of them.”

  He smiled slightly. “I believe you said you were descended from griffins?”

  Maki paused. “Not quite. I said all the other griffins and their descendants. Didn’t you know?”

  “The fey are very vague on all the different types of shifters. Our educations do not cover it.”

  “And yet your folks taunted a dragon. You must have been desperate.”

  He shrugged as their bowls were removed. “Our people were informed after the fact. The dark kingdom was an addition when it appeared that none of the light could match your power.”

  She shrugged. “There are few shifters who could manage it either. I am used to it. So, how do you like running the night club?”

  He looked at the delicately shredded salad that was set in front of him. “I enjoy it. It gives those of us who served the court a place to go and a chance to feel the adulation of the masses once again. It is very important to my kind that we manage some sort of public attention.”

  She forked up her salad. “And it is important to my people that we do not. Public attention has never brought us anything but trouble.”

  “So, I have been given to understand.”

  She finished her mouthful and asked, “Will attention from one shifter be enough to power you?”

  He cleared his plate. “If that one shifter is you, I believe that it would be more than sufficient to keep me up and running.”

  Maki blinked. “So, you don’t know about the balance ceremony?”

  “The what?”

  She whistled low. “Well, if we agree that we are a couple and want to formalize our union, we go through a ceremony that drains us and then refills us both. I get half of your magic, you get half of mine.”

  “That explains Yethior.”

  “It does indeed. I am always on the lookout for those who want to tap into my particular brand of magic. I think it might be a shock to your system. I am sunlight and flowers.”

  “Shadows and seduction.”

  She quirked her lips. “That explains the contact charge.”

  “Well, to be fair, seduction is common with the fey. If we couldn’t seduce, carrying on our family lines would not be as successful.”

  Maki had to ask, “Do you have family?”

  “I have a nephew. He was the fire dancer you saw at the club.”

  She vividly remembered the white tattoos on charcoal skin. “Oh. He was very talented.”

  Uhrl chuckled. “That is usually not the descriptor that most women use.”

  “What are the tattoos?”

  “Family marks and rank. The wider the bands, the longer they have been in service to our king.”

  “Ah. So, you have some of those markings?”

  He grinned. “I do. Modern sensibility demands I keep them covered while I am engaged in business activities.”

  His crisp button-down shirt had long sleeves, but now that she knew he had designs under his clothing, she wanted to see them.

  She sipped at her wine and set it down when she realized that getting tipsy might not be recommended when she was staring at a man she wanted to see naked.

  She sighed and checked on her beast. The griffin had been lashing its tail within her mind since she first saw him. She wasn’t up to pouncing yet so that was a plus. With her beast, it often went from purring to pouncing without warning. She tried to keep an eye on it, but it could and did act without her authorization.

  Her prom had been particularly exciting.

  He worked on his dinner and glanced at her. “Do you have any family marks that I should know about?”

  She shrugged. “Only a claw mark on my knee from when my brother and I were fighting.”

  “No tattoos as reminders of a memorable vacation?”

  Maki finished her meal. “Nope. Ink doesn’t stay on me. My friends tried self-tattooing in high school, and my skin refused to keep it. I have heard that there are a few shifter tattoo artists, but it isn’t really something that a shifter can do when they are feeling whimsical.”

  “Fair enough. I hadn’t thought about that. When I shift, my markings go with me.”

  “What do you change into?”

  He grinned. “A very large dog.”

  She smirked. “Well, I have birds and cats covered, so a dog is kind of appropriate.”

  “Would you like to see my beast?”

  She paused in shock then burst out laughing. “I have spent too much time with humans. That sent my mind down a completely different course.”

  He winked. “I spend most of my time with humans as well. I was well aware of where I was sending your thoughts. I am delighted that you followed along.”

  She snorted. “We are at the Crossroads. Mating is always on the mind around here.”

  Neither of them had ordered dessert, so when Al came out, she simply got to her feet and gave him a hug. “Thanks for a great meal, Al.”

  “Spike ordered me to make it good.” He grinned.

  “And you are a very wise husb
and. Well done.” She patted him on the cheek, and Uhrl got to his feet behind her. She could actually feel it.

  “This is Uhrl Delock. Uhrl, this is Al. Spike’s husband and the chef for this establishment.”

  Uhrl extended his hand, and the two men clasped forearms. It was strange to watch, but they were gauging each other. Men.

  “Well, I am going to get naked and run through the woods. You can join me if you like, Uhrl.” She nodded and left the restaurant without looking back.

  The night was still heavy around her. There were at least three more hours until dawn. She was going to spend that time in between forms and enjoying the silence of the night.

  When she heard the steady footfalls behind her, she confirmed that it was Uhrl. He fell into step beside her with a curious look on his expression. “So, you mentioned running naked in the woods?”

  She grinned. “Yes. Shifters enjoy being without clothing no matter which form they are in. Our true selves are under our skin, getting closer to them is an instinct.”

  Maki led him to the shifter’s meadow and the changing cabanas. She stopped in front of one and unzipped her dress, stepping out of her shoes and letting the silk fall to her feet. Her underwear dropped immediately after, and she kicked everything into one of the cabanas.

  To say that Uhrl was shocked was an understatement. She untied her braid and unravelled her hair. “If you want to stare, that is fine, but if you would like to accompany me on a run through the woods, you are welcome to that, too. I can’t manage the woods in my full shift, but this body does just fine.”

  She smiled and walked toward the woods, picking up speed until she was at an easy lope that had her jumping shrubs and skipping over stone and branch. Her night vision was just as good as her day vision; it was her power that was slightly decreased by the lack of sunlight.

  The cool air brushed against her skin, and her ears picked up the rustle of leaves nearby. She slowed her pace and looked around. The shadows showed her nothing.

  She turned slowly, and two bright-red coals flared in front of her an instant before she was pulled against a cool body while Uhrl brought his mouth to hers in a kiss.