Bright Side

by Zenina Masters

  He stopped in front of the administrative assistant for the hunter office. “I need a leave of absence and a transport to the Crossroads.”

  The woman in black looked up at him with amusement, and she blinked. “Good day to you, Magnus.”

  “Yes, yes, Molly. Good day. I need to get to the Crossroads. Can you help me set that up?”

  She grinned. “I can. Give me a minute and I will set it up.”

  He nodded and paced restlessly for a few minutes until she finished speaking.

  “As you are the last of your kind, this is on the council. Report to transport and they will send you on. We are nearly in the transport window, so I would hurry.”

  He leaned over, kissed her on the cheek, and ran at his top speed down to the transport area. He blew past Becker in the hallway, and when he reached the transport zone, he was alone.

  He looked around and began pacing. When Becker showed up, he calmly walked over to the desk and took a look at a clipboard.

  He sauntered up to Magnus and looked businesslike. “So, you wish to go to the Crossroads?”

  Magnus wanted to strangle his friend. “Yes.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  Becker cocked his head. “Is this about the unicorn?”

  “I didn’t know that was what she was when I met her, but yes. It is about her. Why aren’t you making with the transport?”

  Becker chuckled. “We have two minutes before the window is here. So, how did you know that she was the one?”

  “I don’t know. I know that I would be an idiot to miss the chance to make sure that I am in the right place at the right time. This is that time.”

  Becker smiled and nodded. “That is the smartest thing you have ever said. Let’s hope that she feels the same when you meet her.”

  “Again. When I meet her again.”

  Becker chuckled. “I hope that I get as enthusiastic over a woman one day.”

  “If you do, send me an invitation to the wedding.” Magnus grinned. “Now, get my ass to the Crossroads.”

  “As you wish. The link is almost here. Have a nice trip.” Becker winked and gestured for Magnus to take his position on one of the authorized portals.

  Magnus stepped into place and breathed slowly as Becker opened the gateway around his feet, and it slowly rose above his head. When his vision cleared, he was at the Crossroads.

  Hopefully, he had made it in before Ystella arrived.

  * * * *

  Ystella smiled and greeted the nervous-looking young mage who had arrived to do the transport.

  “Hello. I am Ystella.”

  “I am Laura. Or Transporter Laura. Are you the...”

  The pause stretched out so Ystella filled it in. “Client? Yes.”

  The transporter looked relieved. “Right. The client.”

  “I am also a wild unicorn, so I don’t know what that means for the transport, but I thought you should know.”

  “I will take precautions. I know that the Crossroads have already been alerted.”

  They were standing outside, and Ystella asked, “Where did you want to do this?”

  “The window of access is on the way, so here in the yard?”

  “Sure.” Ystella smiled. “Do I need to give you anything?”

  “No, the council took care of that with my guild. You are all good.”

  Ystella sighed in relief. She had no idea about how to get to the money her mother had put aside.

  She felt the magic tingling nearby, and Laura smiled. “You have to walk through. I am that kind of transporter.”

  “There are different kinds?”

  “Yeah. Some have rings, some have flashes, but with my portal, you walk through and it wraps around you, like cling film. Then, you are moved through to the Crossroads.”

  “Oh, cool. Right. Well, thank you for your service.” Ystella’s hands were sweating, but she kept them closed. Even her sweat could transmit magic if she wasn’t careful.

  “You can go now. I can only hold this for so long.”

  “Right. Sorry. Thanks.”

  Ystella thought about her parents and stepped through the gate. If it worked for them, it might work for her.

  She stepped out onto a walkway in the centre of a sunbeam. Ystella staggered slightly, and the coating of transport energy gradually faded from her vision and body.

  A man with an aura of power around him was standing at the edge of the walkway. “Ystella? I am Tony. May I say that we are honoured to have you here.”

  She smiled and inclined her head. Her vision registered a handsome man, but her senses saw something far more dangerous. He was woven into the ground around her, and another being’s energy was twisted into the mix. He had a mate, and she was even more powerful than he was.

  “Thank you, but I don’t know about the honour. I am just your average shifter with an accessory.”

  He chuckled. “Well, are you interested in considering a fey mate?”

  She frowned. “I hadn’t considered it, but I suppose I could. I am already out of the family; I may as well go for broke.”

  “It isn’t enthusiastic, but I will take it.” He smiled and went over to an antique desk where he prepared some documents and a small bracelet.

  “If you sign here, it will link the charm to the council account that they set up for you. It also indicates acknowledgement of your role in the events to follow. You are here to seek a mate and you will remain until you find one. We aren’t confining you, but your kind do not pop up every generation like the standard unicorns do. If you can bring more of your kind into the world, we would dearly love you to do it.”

  Ystella nearly stumbled back, but she kept calm. “The shifters want me to have babies?”

  “They do. The reports that Kenzi sent out were specific regarding your magic frequencies. The output that you produce has caused spikes in fertility in your vicinity. The effect lasts for days. With a family of wild unicorns, the levels of magic could be enhanced in deficient areas.”

  She blinked. “Wow. That is a heavy burden.”

  “Yes. I am sorry, but you have been hiding for a purpose.”

  Ystella wrinkled her nose. “You are probably right, but on the plus side, I am now a master at using a sander.”

  He blinked, looked at her forehead, and winced. “I see. Well, if you sign here, I will give you your charm that will enable you to purchase anything you need at the shops here. Just scan the charm over the payment plate and anything you want or need is yours.”

  She nodded and signed. “Anything I need is a good start.”

  He attached the small charm to her wrist and smiled. “Well, now, we are on our way to do a tour of the Crossroads. We are moderately busy, but you have your choice of residences. There is the Open Heart or the Axion.”

  “What is the difference?”

  “One is run by a fey and a shifter, and the other is run by a fey.”

  Ystella asked, “Can I see them?”

  “Sure.”

  “Good. If I can see the energy patterns, I will be able to make up my mind.”

  He nodded. “Good. Shall we?”

  He offered her his arm, and she took it. They walked out on a tour of the place where her parents had met for the first time.

  It was just as her dad had described. There were more businesses, but the general store was still in place, as was the café.

  It was like stepping into a storybook.

  Tony asked, “You are smiling. Any particular reason?”

  “My parents described this place to me. They stayed at the hostels and had their mating night at the Open Heart before heading home. They talk about this place fondly.”

  He blinked. “Who are your parents?”

  “Elantha and Wendel. Horse and a bobcat.” She smiled.

  “Wow. I remember them. Your mother has a streak of red hair and your father is a very persistent man who
found his prey and went after it. Your mother kicked him in the face, and we had quite the time of it to get him the medical attention that he needed.”

  “That sounds like them, but they never mentioned that part.”

  He chuckled. “What happens at the Crossroads stays in our memories.”

  “It will never catch on as a slogan.” She smiled.

  “I know.” He shrugged. “Did you want to stay at the Open Heart?”

  “Sure. As long as they have changed the mattresses. That is not an aura I want to see.” She sighed.

  His eyes widened. “Wow. Okay. That makes a weird sort of sense.”

  Their tour continued, and a number of men looked her over as she passed, and she returned the favour. It was what she was there for, after all.

  The Open Heart was a lovely Victorian home next to the exotic fairy tale castle of the Axion. Ystella looked them both over and her heart sank.

  “I can’t. They are both too charged with energy. I need someplace normal.” She looked at the building that had started her family and that she had been conceived in, and the disappointment she was feeling was intense.

  He frowned. “Perhaps the Isthmus. We have a direct transport there, and you can see if there is another place that you would prefer.”

  “Is it enchanted?”

  “Everything here is.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “I think I need some time to think about this. Is there someplace I can shift and run around?”

  He nodded. “Of course. Right. This hasn’t happened before, so I will take you to the shifter field. There are cabanas to remove your clothing and shift in. You can take as long as you like, simply come back to the Meditation Centre when you are ready.”

  She smiled. “Please, lead the way.”

  He nodded and escorted her to the open field that expanded to a forest that looked dark and exuded an air of privacy.

  Ystella thanked him and headed to the cabanas, peeling off her shirt on the way before she ducked into an open tent that closed behind her.

  She folded her clothing and placed her shoes on top. She wiggled her toes in the grass and raised her arms for a moment before she lowered them and shifted into her beast form.

  It was time to go for a run and figure out where she belonged.

  Chapter Seven

  Magnus waited in the Crossed Star Bar for five hours before he realized that he could sense her in his vicinity, but she wasn’t in the bar. He needed to investigate and that was what he did best. He moved at top speed to the Meditation Centre, and when he saw Teal and Tony, he came to a halt.

  “Where is she?”

  Tony frowned. “Who?”

  “Ystella. I can tell she is here, but she isn’t in any of the normal haunts.”

  Tony blinked and Teal smirked. Teal murmured, “It seems that all bets are off, dear. Tell him.”

  Tony scowled. “She is in the shifters’ field. She couldn’t deal with the energy of the Axion or the Open Heart, and if they weren’t suitable, the Isthmus would be out of the question.”

  Magnus nodded. “Thank you.”

  He turned and sped through the Crossroads, looking for the wild unicorn. He was a hunter, and he was very good at his job.

  * * * *

  Ystella ran around with wild abandon. She could run as fast as she wanted, and there was no worry of running into a human or even one of her own family.

  She belted along at a dizzying speed until the trees next to her were a blur. The magic of nature was wrapped around her, and she could see the zigzag pattern of wildflowers that she was leaving in her wake as she turned and ran up and down the field. A pattern was taking shape in her mind, and when she finished it, she stood in the centre of the blooming space.

  The flowers were wild and moving in a wind that wasn’t from the Crossroads. She stood and looked out over the space that finally felt comfortable. She stood in the centre of the pattern and heaved a sigh of relief.

  Across the meadow, she saw a figure moving in the grass. Well, it wasn’t a figure, it looked like a rock, but it was moving toward her.

  Her equine features couldn’t truly smile, but she recognized that bashed-up lump of shell. Magnus. He was at the Crossroads, and that meant he was searching for a mate.

  The giant tortoise was lumbering toward her at a slow pace, and she believed that she had waited long enough.

  She stepped toward the first bank of flowers and got stuck. The magic she had woven wasn’t just making her comfortable, it was keeping her in.

  Fuck.

  Ystella was stuck watching Magnus’s beast slowly approach. She paced and pawed at the trap of her own making. Every step she took continued the blooming, but when she tried to step over the flowers, they blocked her.

  She shifted into her human form and sat down in the grass. At least now she wasn’t shrinking what little space she had left. She lay out in the field and watched the sun slowly creep across the sky. Getting an all-over tan wasn’t what she would normally be into, but since her rescuer was a tortoise, she was going to have some time on her hands.

  * * * *

  The Crossroads was having an effect on his beast. Magnus’s tortoise couldn’t go faster than a natural pace and that pace was not fast.

  He could see the rich brown unicorn pawing at the air and stabbing at it with her horn. When she kicked out at an invisible wall, he got the hint. Something had trapped her.

  He put all of his effort into increasing his pace, and the slow pace turned into a moderate pace. He should be there in an hour or two.

  Fuck.

  He hoped she had patience. The Crossroads were playing a game with them, and games like this had to be carried out. The interdimensional space was never frivolous. It was doing this for a reason.

  * * * *

  When her skin got hot, she rolled over and grilled her other half. When her other side got hot, she stood up and tried to see how close Magnus was.

  She groaned and stared at the distance between them. This was going to take a lot more patience than she normally had. She could sand off her horn in less time.

  Ystella shifted to her unicorn form and lay down on the ground. Her equine form was content to wait.

  * * * *

  When Ystella stood up naked with her skin glowing from the sun, Magnus fought to regain his human form. The Crossroads held him fast.

  He reached the boundary of flowers and bumped into it. There was resistance, but he was old enough with enough natural magic to push through. He tasted one of the flowers, and it disappeared in his beak. He continued to eat the magic as he walked into the centre of the flowers.

  When he looked up, she was in her unicorn form and that was almost as arousing as her human form. Almost. He dug in and moved his nine hundred pounds as fast as he could while taking down the flowers in his path.

  The magic he was eating was new. It was bright, and it was from the human world. The fact that she had managed to drag that energy to the Crossroads and anchor it was showing that she was stronger than he had imagined, and he had imagined her in a variety of ways.

  * * * *

  She opened one eye when she heard the slow munching followed by rustling. She turned her head toward the sound and then turned back, remembering that her forward vision was crappy as a unicorn. If it wasn’t for the magical sonar, she would be blind for six feet in front of her. It was hard to be a member of a prey species.

  Ystella awkwardly got to her feet, and her skin quivered. She flicked her tail and shook her head in excitement. Magnus was only two feet from the edge of the barrier.

  She moved to the side when he reached her and munched his way past the gate. Ystella leaned down and touched her horn to his shell.

  There was a flash, and a ring of light spread out into the Crossroads like a rock dropped into a pond.

  She pulled her horn back and looked around as the ripple of power kept spreading. Oops.

 
; Magnus went from his giant tortoise form to his naked man form. She admired the view and stood still as he came up to her and stroked her neck.

  “This is not what I expected, and that horn of yours is deadly.”

  She leaned into his touch for a moment before stepping away and turning human. “Thanks for the rescue. I apparently pranced myself into a corner.”

  He looked at her with amusement. “Did you?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I did. I just have never been able to take my unicorn form out for a proper run. Now, I am beginning to think that it is not such a great idea.”

  “It is a wonderful idea. There are places in the human world that desperately need your brand of magic. You are a gift that the wild magic has given to us.”

  She cocked her head. “Are you serious? This is not a proper gift. This is a responsibility.”

  Magnus reached out and took her by the hand and pulled her toward him. “It is not a responsibility that you need to shoulder alone.”

  When their bodies pressed against each other, she was reminded very forcefully that they were naked. Her eyes widened in shock at the contact. He was far warmer than a giant tortoise had any right to be. Parts of him felt like they were made of armour, that was certain.

  Ystella glanced down, blushed, and looked up at him. “Um, are you saying that you want to become my mate?”

  “I am saying that I could see you when you weren’t there, and you have been in my mind since I first glimpsed you in the doorway of the party.”

  She quirked her lips. “I have never been stalked by anyone before.”

  “You weren’t stalked, you were hunted. That is what I do.” He leaned in, and his lips were just over hers. “You are the first person I have ever volunteered to hunt for free.”

  She went up on her toes and kissed him. “Thanks for finding me.”

  He looked around them. “We are perfectly alone here.”

  “I know, but I am not going to have sex out in the open. Not today.” She smiled at him, patting his chest.