Twist in Time Read online

  Teal wants a new start away from family; Tony wants Teal and is willing to leave his people to have her. Enter the Crossroads.

  Teal was content in her place as the swan prime. She helped her people recover from wounds and officiated shifter weddings. Life was serene until her mother lets her know that her husband has been chosen, and the wedding is going to be that very day.

  Not likely.

  Tony has been watching the white-haired swan for years. Every meeting with the heads of the clans and the primes has had her sitting directly across from him, usually in a charming dress. When he runs across her at his family gas station, she is not her normally ladylike self, and he finds that the scrappy swan is even more intriguing than the elegant one.

  When a dragon appears and makes them an offer, their futures cease to be theirs to control as they pledge themselves to the Crossroads... and each other.

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  Twist in Time

  Copyright © 2020 Zenina Masters

  ISBN: 978-1-4874-3043-6

  Cover art by Angela 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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  Twist in Time

  Enchanted Crossroads Book 5

  By

  Zenina Masters

  Dedication

  To everyone who has been after me for Teal and Tony’s story. Here you go... now hush!

  Chapter One

  Teal finished her swim, shifted, and pulled her sundress on as she padded down the dock.

  Her mother stopped her before she reached the house. “Teal, I want to speak to you.”

  “Walk and talk, Mother. I have a meeting to get to.”

  Annabella Winx frowned. “I need your full attention.”

  “I have an avian council meeting to get to, and the transporter is on the way. Can’t it wait until this evening?”

  Her mother frowned. “You really need to know this before the party.”

  A honk from out front got Teal’s attention. “Right. I am sure. I have to go. Talk to me later.” She put on her shoes and ran around the front to meet the transporter. Mages were notoriously bad-tempered. Teal figured that they didn’t get laid enough, but that was her own opinion and not that of the swan prime.

  As the swan prime, she could feel all of her people, all the time. It was a position of honour and totally random. Her family was using her inheritance of the position to elevate themselves in society. The little girl she used to be before she was elevated just wanted to run through the woods and swim in the pond.

  Leonard was standing next to his car, his arms crossed. “Are you ready?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  He flicked his cigarette to one side, and he focused on the portal. She waited until the light flared, and she stepped through it. It was time to be the most official swan in the world for this generation.

  The avians were gathering, and Teal nodded at a few of the others that she recognized on sight. She saw the goose, the ducks, and the array of songbirds. There were a handful of primes in the gathering of hundreds. They took their seats in the congress, and Teal took her seat up front.

  The gavel banged, and they all looked toward the stork who was in charge this year. The eagle was sitting behind her and to the left.

  The gavel banged again. “Thank you all for coming. We have an interesting speaker here today. She is asking for our agreement, so please, give her your attention.”

  The doors opened, and a woman with long, straight blue-black hair and emerald green eyes came in, her body shockingly petite for the amount of power she projected.

  She walked calmly to the front of the room, and everyone was silent.

  She smiled. “Good afternoon, avians. I am Dira, and I am proposing an interesting situation to solve a lot of problems. Every shifter species occasionally has the heartbreak of a member of their flock or grouping finding a mate outside of their species.”

  The gathered representatives murmured among themselves.

  “What I have created is a dimensional bubble where these couples can either meet or confirm their pair bond in an environment where family and friends are not a factor. It will simply be them and their mate, and other couples in the same situation.”

  Teal stood up. “Do you mean that folk will be able to find matches there? Or that odd couples will go there to work out their issues before committing?”

  Dira smiled. “Ideally, the first. It will be a safe place. No family, no friends, and no judgment as to what they fall in love with.”

  “How would they get there?”

  Dira looked at her. “A contract with the transporters. Lodgings would be the same. A modest fee for upkeep. Food will be free, alcohol will not be.”

  The raven prime stood up on the other side of the assembly. “So, you have already created the dimensional bubble?”

  “I have.”

  “Who has built the buildings?”

  Dira smiled. “A family of beavers with adaptation issues has moved in. They are doing the builds.”

  “So, folks will have to pay the transporters to get there?”

  “The transporters will do the job for feathers and fur. They need it for spellwork, and the more powerful the shifter, the better for them.”

  The gathering gasped.

  Teal put her hands on her hips. “They are going to use bits of our shifted form?”

  Dira nodded. “It has the most value for them. But a family can bear the financial burden of launching a family member to the Crossroads and accepting whatever the true match is.”

  The raven narrowed his eyes. “How do you assure the acceptance?”

  Dira turned her hand so her palm was up. A scroll was sitting on her palm, and she unraveled it. “That is why I have come here today. I have gained the agreement of the canines, the rodents, the felines, and the monsters. There are more, but you get the idea. They have all agreed in the majority. So, I am going to leave this here, and anyone who wants to give the odd men and women out a chance at love, please sign. I will send instructions for everything else.”

  The central table was filled with the scroll, and Teal stepped forward to sign it. As she went to grab the pen, the raven got it before she did. He smiled slightly and handed it over.

  She nodded in thanks and signed next to her name. He took the pen after she was done and did the same. Huh, his name was Antony. Antony the raven.

  After they signed, there was a lineup of those who were convinced that it was a good idea.

  Teal stood next to the chairman, and she said, “We all know of a person who has wanted someone that we didn’t think was suitable. They were condemned to a life alone. Th
e unmatched have been occurring at random for years. Forcing them into a life of solitude is cruel and avoidable. This is a feasible solution. It also ensures a life and family for the children of the union.”

  A few of the shifters were hesitating, and the raven asked them, “What does it cost you? Dignity is not worth the life of one of our own.”

  The page slowly filled, and there were only a handful of holdbacks.

  The stork smiled. “Excellent. A passing majority.”

  Teal took her seat, and Dira stepped in close to the document with its fresh ink.

  The woman who radiated energy and ancient power smiled wide at the scroll. “Excellent. Those that did not sign will have an opportunity to revisit it in ten years. Their people will be accepted at the Crossroads as soon as they sign the treaty.”

  The stork nodded. “Understood. I don’t know how our people will respond to the possibility.”

  “Well, I need a few more things, but as soon as it is open for business, I will provide transporters and clan leaders with cards that will key to the dimensional gateway.” She smiled.

  Dira turned to leave and stopped to look at Teal. “Thank you for your assistance.”

  Teal inclined her head. “Everyone deserves a chance at love. Thank you for this opportunity.”

  The woman smiled, and her eyes flashed. Teal saw what she was in that instance, and it took all of her strength to remain casual. Dragons didn’t usually wander into avian council meetings.

  If a dragon was coming to the guild councils, something big was about to happen, and Teal was positive that she wanted her people to be a part of it.

  Chapter Two

  Teal shook herself slightly as the guild transport returned her home. A vase full of flowers had been set extremely close to her transit point.

  Vans were pulling into the drive, and armloads of party-style items were being carried by the arm or in boxes.

  Teal went in search of her mother.

  Annabella was in the kitchen, directing the food onto the island. Teal’s mother froze for an instant when she came in. “Oh, dear, I wasn’t expecting you this soon.”

  “What is going on, Mother?”

  “Ah, we are having a party! The clan will be here and many members from the guild. It is going to be quite the event.”

  Teal frowned. “What event?”

  Her cousin leaned in the doorway and scowled. “It is your wedding.”

  Teal looked between the two of them and laughed. “This is a joke, right? I am not even engaged.”

  Her cousin shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Your mom made arrangements for your marriage to one of the white swan clans. I think his name is Alfonse.”

  Teal felt the colour drain from her face, and then, it rushed in.

  Her mother blurted, “Albert, can you take her to her room. I will be there shortly.”

  Teal looked to her cousin, and he beckoned to her. “Come on, Prime. We will get you something to drink, and then, your mother can try and explain this to you.”

  Teal frowned and followed Albert. “Nice jacket.”

  He looked back at her and grinned. “Thanks. I am still getting used to the bike, but I thought that safety first was a good way to go.”

  He led the way through the house that was filling with flowers and chairs. They headed up to her room at the end of the house as far away from the chaos downstairs as possible.

  Teal carefully closed the door behind her and locked it. “Right. So, this is going to happen today, huh?”

  Albert chuckled, removing his leather jacket and grinning. “Apparently. So, when are you going to tell your mother that she can’t make an alliance for a prime?”

  “As soon as she gets up here. She is going to have to send all these people home and dismiss that creeper that she is trying to hook me up with.”

  Albert snickered. “Alfonse has a lovely smile, is beautiful to look at—”

  “And he has no thoughts in his head. He is a lovely shell.” Teal started pacing.

  The dress was hanging from the ceiling. It was white, frothy, and not her style.

  “I am not wearing that dress, and I am not marrying that twit. I just have to think of what to do.”

  Albert lounged against her desk, and he asked, “Do you have any liquor in here?”

  She nodded. “Desk drawer, lowest on the right.”

  He pulled the bottle out and smiled. “Nice. Hey, it hasn’t been opened.”

  “Yeah, I don’t drink much.”

  He found the glasses that had been next to the Japanese whiskey from a crane delegation. He handed her one. “You should start.”

  She wet her lips and smiled. “I like it. It tastes like spices and flowers.”

  “Yeah. Nice. It goes down easy.”

  She held the glass but didn’t drink while her cousin got hammered and kept offering advice. She ignored him. He wasn’t going to have to face the joys of a family wedding. That wasn’t in his inclination. He was still looking for his special person, but his special person was unlikely going to be to wearing a dress.

  She paused, looked at the wedding party arriving in a stretch limo. He was gleaming and golden and emptyheaded and sweet. He wasn’t what she wanted or needed. Her prime beast had no interest in him.

  She dropped the lacey curtain and tapped her fingers against the window casing. She glanced back at Albert. “How far into that are you?”

  He held up the bottle, and there were two-thirds left. She sighed. “Are you drunk enough to help me?”

  Albert smiled. “What do you need?”

  She looked at the black leather jacket. “First, I need your clothing, and then, I need you in that dress.”

  Albert looked at the Guinevere-style dress. He snorted. “It isn’t even my colour.”

  “Ah, but it could be, but this kind of thing isn’t something I can execute without help.”

  Albert looked at her expression, set down the whiskey, and stood to remove his jacket, and then, he began stripping down to his socks.

  “Socks, too, please. You can keep the underwear.”

  He sat back in the chair and lounged. “So, what are you going to do to me?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I am going to use a bit of all the power that I carry around all the time. I consider these extreme circumstances. I am going to become you, you are going to become me, and when one of us is discovered, the spell will be broken.”

  “Right. So, hopefully, I will be outed before the wedding night, although...” Albert smiled and wagged his eyebrows.

  Teal pulled her cousin’s clothing on, and when she was dressed, she pulled the gown from the ceiling. “Hold this.”

  She pressed her hands to Albert’s cheeks, and she focused. She felt her body getting denser and slightly taller. His got softer and shorter. When she opened her eyes, she was looking into her own face.

  She grinned, and he was staring at her. “Right. First, we will start with lingerie, and then, we will put on the gown.” Her voice was Albert’s.

  She was lacing him into the dress when her mother knocked.

  “Teal?”

  Teal, as Albert, went to the door and said, “She is liquored up and in the dress. I will fix her hair, Aunt Annabella.”

  The bride was sitting at the dressing table, and she simply looked at her mother.

  Albert worked on her hair and arranged a braid in a coronet before pinning it in place.

  “Teal, I am sorry for springing this on you, but he offered, and you are the right age. It is meant to be.”

  The bride looked at her mother. “I am the swan prime. I am responsible for all of our people and involved in a lot of the avian politics. If this twit interferes with my duties or insists on starting a family immediately, I will call the guild down on this household. I will lay your decisions bare. Are we clear?”

  Her mother sniveled. “I just want grandkids.”

  “And
this is how you go about getting them? You should have just asked me to have a child. That would have been a lot less humiliating.” The bride snorted. “And I might have done it.”

  Annabella gasped and left the room. Albert locked it again. He exhaled slowly. “That was tense. And you were right. That was something I probably would have gone for over being tied to this twit.”

  “Well, this is the perfect time for you to get out of here. Auntie is stumbling for footing. You can just tell her you are heading out to get a smoke and use my bike to get out of here.”

  Teal smiled. “It is a good thing that I already know how to ride.”

  “Well, you taught me to ride, so I would hope so.”

  She wrinkled his nose at him.

  “Oh, that’s cute, I need to start doing that.” She watched as she winked.

  “Yeah, don’t do that. You look like you are trying to summon a sailor.”

  “Oh, if only it was that easy. Right, go!”

  The perfectly made-up bride kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair.

  Teal opened the door and closed it behind her after an admonition to her cousin to resist opening the door at least twice. If her mom was stressed, she would pay less attention to the behaviour of the bride.

  Teal focused on walking with Albert’s loose gait out of the house and to the bike that she had urged him to consider. She found the key in her pocket and straddled the bike before starting it. As a final disguise, she put on the helmet that she was nearly positive that Albert didn’t wear. It would mess with his hair.

  She revved it up and put it in motion, listening for any sign that they had caught on to her flight. She made it past the incoming cars and turned toward the main road. Once she was there, she powered on to the highway and headed for the service station at the state lines.

  Teal had no idea where she was going, but she wasn’t going back to that wedding. She smiled. Maybe if Albert went through with it, he would have his happy ending after all. Alfonse was known to be flexible in his preferences. He wasn’t bad-hearted; he was just a twit.