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  Uhrl watched as Maki took her friends home and as she escorted each one to their door for a handoff to spouse or roommate.

  When she was done, she drove home with a smile playing around her lips.

  Uhrl was surprised at the size of her home when she parked in her driveway. It was large and comfortable with what appeared to be a wild space behind it.

  She got out of her vehicle, stretched in a way that had him fixated, and then, everything flared brightly.

  “Damn it!”

  Shifter magic had exerted itself, and fey magic had shorted out.

  * * * *

  Maki grinned and headed into her house. The peep show was over. Whatever he was trying to see had ended.

  She had felt the strong touch of power on her from the moment she had grabbed her purse and headed off the dancefloor with her friends in tow. Ginny was particularly giddy after having danced with two of the fey.

  Maki grinned and locked her door. Between the babysitting and the party, it had been a pretty good night all around.

  Dancing with Uhrl Delock was just the topping to a lovely evening.

  Having his magic follow her into bed was unnecessary. She would remember him just fine without the tracing of his power.

  As she finished changing and crawled between the sheets, she checked her alarm and smiled. Tomorrow was her day off. Plenty of time to go for a short flight.

  She clawed at the air and beat her wings. Her ability to be invisible to human eyes was a boon. She was able to live in the city and fly when she needed to. The clouds parted and her heavy wings pulled her through the damp layers and into the sunlight.

  There was something so serene about running along the clouds with only the sun as a witness. Some shifters gravitated toward the moon; she craved the sun.

  She ran for hours, dipping her claws in the billowing mist before plowing through it. When she had to return home, she did it with her exhilaration bubbling through her bloodstream.

  Maki did a corkscrew toward her home, pulling up at the last minute and landing neatly in her back yard. She walked onto her deck, careful not to gouge the wood. She shifted back to human and slipped on a robe. No sense disturbing the neighbours with a nudist in the area.

  She pulled her hair over one shoulder and checked her cell phone while she waited for her coffee to finish brewing.

  Her brother had apparently made griffin pancakes for Sunday breakfast. She had pictures of every member of the family with their personal pancakes.

  “Serious waste of bandwidth. Cute, though.” She grinned and flicked through the images one after another.

  Talking to herself in her own home was a habit. She rarely expected answers anymore.

  Maki reached for her coffee from her single-cup brewer and sipped slowly as she wandered through the house that was designed to her specifications. When she had first transformed into a griffin, she had no idea that it came with a trust fund to help her set up her own territory.

  She owned this house and three more around the state, just in case she needed more room to run, to fly, to live.

  Her ability as a griffin enabled her to find lost things. That included lost finances and minerals. When she had gotten financial stability, she had worked on achieving it for her family. Her parents were currently on a tour of Europe, enjoying their retirement. She and Irving had arrived when the Mackies were in their middling thirties. She had been filled with delight and relief when she had been able to hand them a check that paid off their mortgage, debts and set them on an around-the-world tour. Their dreams came to light and they got back the life that they had given up to raise their children.

  It was the least that Maki could do for the parents who had hung on to sanity for dear life while raising a mythological shifter next to the lion cub. Dealing with the beak, wings and claws was awkward enough without worrying about the regular paws and claws that were in the mix. Maki felt bad about how much extra attention she had received growing up, so her wedding gift to Irv and Melody had been a mortgage-free home. After that, college savings plans for the kids as they arrived. Her luck was meant to be shared.

  She shared her luck every chance she got, but a Sunday off... that was all hers.

  Chapter Three

  Avongale Florist was not the place that Rita expected to find a mythological shapeshifter. In her mind, she had been constructing a palace of wealth and power, not a glass-walled building with baby’s breath sprouting from every corner.

  Rita looked at the name on the small card in her fingers, and she smiled at the woman behind the counter. “I am looking for Irvinga.”

  The woman winced. “She’s in the back of the shop near the freesias. If you want a decent conversation, don’t call her Irvinga.”

  Rita paused. “That is who I was told to ask for.”

  “Call her Maki if you want to have a conversation.”

  “Uh, thank you.” Rita nodded and headed toward the direction that the clerk had pointed.

  The cool, green space enfolded her as she moved through towering arrangements and delicate displays.

  In the rear of the building, surrounded by flowers with a bright and heady scent, was a woman with sandy-brown hair and soft gold eyes. She sat at a desk and was arranging flowers in a vase with delicate precision.

  The woman looked up and smiled. “Hello, what can I do for you?”

  Rita’s breath caught in her chest. Suddenly, the flowers came to life and the air glowed. Here was the sign of power that she had been looking for.

  “Irvinga Mackie?”

  And the light went dark.

  * * * *

  Maki grimaced at the sound of her full name. “Maki, please.”

  The blonde woman with a small business card clutched in her fingers came forward and actually bowed.

  “So, I am guessing you aren’t a customer. What can I do for you?”

  The woman had curiously grey eyes, but she nodded and gave a weak smile. “The sunlight is gone.”

  Maki sighed and rubbed her forehead. “And you could see it, which means that you have magic in you. Transport guild, am I right?”

  “No, Ms. Maki. I am a speaker of the fey court. I have been sent to offer you an all-expenses-paid ten days at the Crossroads.”

  The woman brushed her hair behind her ear and the slight point was evident.

  “Halfling. Ah, what is your name?”

  “Rita Beaufort-Winter. I do not like being called a Halfling.”

  Maki smiled tightly. “I don’t like being called Irvinga, and I believe that the clerk told you that.”

  Rita inclined her head. “Fair enough. Honoured One, I am here to invite you to take up a place at the Crossroads that has been reserved for you.”

  Maki sighed and leaned forward. “I have been to the Crossroads twice, and each time, I left without a match. What makes you think this time will be any different?”

  Rita looked behind her. “Can they hear us?”

  Maki shook her head. “The building is mine, and I control what they do and do not hear from this room.”

  Rita took a few steps forward. Maki had to admit that she had guts. Confronting a strong shifter on their own turf was not something to take on lightly.

  “On your previous visits, you were trying to choose from other shifters. The fey have now begun sending candidates to the Crossroads. The one griffin in history that we have a romantic history on didn’t choose another shifter as her mate.”

  Maki leaned back in her chair. “I am good friends with Teebie. She shared some tidbits of her grandmother’s life as relayed via Dira.”

  Maki pretended that she didn’t have memories of her own, memories from dozens of lives all focusing in on her. She had been a wife, been a mother, a lover, a fighter and most of all, a defender. Whenever a griffin—or gryphon if you enjoyed spelling things with a y—came into the world, change was happening. They were harbingers of fusion.

  The manticore, basilisk, chimera, griffin, they were al
l rising now. Magic was making itself known, and it was fighting for survival.

  Part of the struggling magic belonged to the fey; it wanted to flourish, and the fey had exclusively bred themselves into a collapsing spiral. They had ceased to accept that the magic had a mind of its own and their species was winding to a close.

  Maki smiled slightly, well, the fey were winding to a close if they didn’t take the chance that magic had arranged for them. The women might be primarily infertile, but the men had a chance if they could find shifters willing to take them on. The human-fey blends rarely ended in power. The magic dispersed instead of anchoring to the child.

  “You have a chance at a mate, at a family, and the only place you can do it now is the Crossroads. There are no other means by which you can find what you are looking for. Your life doesn’t bring you into the path of shifters. How often do you think they buy flowers?”

  Maki raised her eyebrows at the aggressive move. “Often enough. You neglect to take into account that I am not operating on a human deadline.”

  “You have family. Wouldn’t you like them to see you happy? Obviously, you would as you have already been to the Crossroads... twice.”

  “Nicely done. Fine. I will make arrangements for the shop and make my way to the Crossroads.”

  “I will be honoured to transport you.”

  Maki waved her hand breezily through the air. “Not necessary. My particular skills can convey me there.”

  Rita suddenly looked nervous again. “Do you know when you will arrive?”

  Maki chuckled. “Is there some reason I am under a time limit?”

  Rita shifted from foot to foot. “There is a fey elder who considers himself a good candidate for you. Apparently, you have met.”

  Maki rocked in her chair. “If it is who I think it is, I think a second meeting in more accepting circumstances is in order.”

  “So, you will do it?”

  “I will try. I have all the time in the world to try.”

  Rita blinked and paused, “I thought that griffins died of old age.”

  Maki chuckled and rubbed her forehead. “We die in the service of others. Griffin after griffin dies to save the lives of those she loves. It is a grim prospect for my future, but I think I can handle it. There hasn’t been a magical fire or a trebuchet around in generations.”

  “So you will go there?”

  “I will go there.”

  Rita bobbed a quick curtsy and let herself out.

  Maki counted to ten and then called her brother. If they were calling her in, then she was going to have her family fully aware of the events taking place. Irv was her twin; there were no secrets between them. He embraced his beast just as she embraced hers. Aside from gender, it was the one major place that their lives diverged.

  It took her four days to arrange a substitute florist for the shop. Limhara was an excellent florist, if a tad on the artistic side.

  Limhara’s true attraction to the general public was that she was an elf of djinn descent. A silky powder-blue skin held an intellect and a soul who’s kindness spanned centuries. Her figure wasn’t bad either.

  Limhara would keep the shop up and running. There was nothing for Maki to worry about.

  Maki stood next to her desk as Limhara rearranged it to her specifications. “So, you are all good with this?”

  “I am great with this. Our designs aren’t that different. I just lean more toward the minimalist way of doing things.”

  Maki grinned. “Fine, but please, please, don’t tick off my regulars. Channel your inner frivolity.”

  “I don’t think I was born with any.”

  “Do it as an additional favour.” Maki grinned and tucked a box with two arrangements under her arm.

  “You are off then?”

  “I am. A transport is just one sunbeam away. See you soon.” Maki grabbed the handle of her carry-on and headed for the back door.

  The small personal garden was just what she needed, and it was bathed in exotic blooms and light. Very few of her clients needed the magic in the flowers, but the ones that did needed them a lot. Healing through the power of scent was one of her specialities. It was hard to detect and even worked on humans. All of her clients in need had received bouquets and arrangements to last them through her short vacation at the Crossroads. If she found someone, it would be less than ten days, and if she didn’t, she would be back to business in no time.

  With her mind hopeful, she stepped into the largest patch of light she could find and rode the sunbeam into the Crossroads. Teal and Tony were waiting.

  Maki took one of the arrangements and handed it to Teal the moment that she arrived. “Hiya. I made this for you. Nice and calming.”

  Teal chuckled and grinned. “It is always a pleasure to have you here, Maki. Your paperwork is ready and you know your way around.”

  Maki snickered and signed her agreement to open herself to the possibility of relationships while she was at the Crossroads, for ten days.

  There was an addendum to initial involving her willingness to consider the fey. She initialized it and smiled brightly as they put the charm on her wrist.

  “Okay, I have called Teebie, so my usual room is ready. I will see you later.”

  Teal sighed. “It takes the fun out of it when you don’t need a tour.”

  Maki shrugged. “Tough. I will see you guys when you sneak off for a break.”

  Tony came in for a hug, and she obliged before hugging his mate as well.

  With the pleasantries completed, she headed into the bright light of a Crossroads afternoon.

  A few familiar folk waved at Maki as she made her way to the Open Heart.

  Teebie was waiting on the wide porch with a grin on her face and open arms. Maki climbed the stairs, put her bag and the arrangement aside and hugged the woman who was the descendant of a previous life.

  “Teebie, love. We have to quit meeting like this.”

  Teebie laughed and backed away, rubbing tears from her eyes. “I will take time with you anyway I can get it, Maki.”

  “Fine, but can I unpack first?”

  Teebie waved her hand at the suitcase, and it disappeared. “Already done.”

  Maki sighed. “So impatient for one of your age. Here. I made this for you.”

  She retrieved the flower arrangement and held it up. “Flowers for love, flowers for patience and freesias because I like them.”

  Teebie took the arrangement with both hands, and she smiled. “Thank you. It is lovely.”

  “Well, let’s not stand here and enjoy this lovely sunlight. I am sure you have snacks arranged.”

  “You know me very well.”

  Maki put her hand on the djinn’s shoulder. “It comes with the territory.”

  They entered the building, and the doors closed behind them.

  “You have expanded.”

  “We had to. The fey don’t work well with hostels.” Teebie grinned.

  “It must be the bunk beds.”

  Teebie snickered. “That must be it.”

  Teebie walked into the dining room, and she set the flower arrangement on the sideboard. “So, are you here for one of the fey?”

  Maki chuckled. “I thought I would try playing for the other team, so to speak.”

  “Well, I have three heavy hitters coming in tonight. I am guessing one of them is the reason you are here. I have to say, the fey seers are pretty on the ball. They pin down the likely shifter, and they provide three or more suitors. The leftovers find someone else, but when the ideal mates collide, it flickers the lights.”

  The way Teebie said it, Maki knew that she was referring to the sparks that flew on contact. The more powerful the connection, the more violent the reaction.

  Teebie gave her a sly look. “I can’t wait to see what happens when you and the dark elves collide.”

  “Dark elves?” It was hard to pretend innocence.

  “Yes. They are arriving after sundown. We have a few hours to speculate
on their attributes.”

  “I have a pretty good idea of who is coming, but let’s play what if for a while... over cake.”

  They settled around the table while tea and trays of cake and dainties floated in.

  With provisions secured, girl talk commenced.

  Chapter Four

  Maki watched the moon rise with a detached interest. Her true focus was on the flowers bordering the garden of the Open Heart.

  She gathered a few flowers and tended to the rest. Teebie might be good at the berries, but she sucked at the ornamental flowers that needed a little more attention.

  Maki exhaled a portion of her magic on the flowerbed, and the green stalks perked up and began to stretch toward the swelling moon.

  It was always strange that the moon and sun of the Crossroads mimicked the human world. She supposed that it was better than eternal daylight or night. It would keep folks on a regular rhythm.

  She sighed and got to her feet with cut flowers tucked in the crook of her arm. Maki headed into the back door of the Open Heart and heard someone arriving in the front.

  Teebie’s voice rang out. “Welcome to the Open Heart. If you, gentlemen, want to drop your bags upstairs, your charms will glow bright when you have reached your individual rooms.”

  One of the men spoke, and his voice was a soft, low rumble that was felt more than heard. “When will we meet her?”

  Maki strolled into the entryway, and she paused. Three drow were standing in front of her, all with piercing-red or reddish eyes and varying shades of charcoal skin.

  Teebie gave a polite smile. “You have met her. Maki, these are your suitors, Domahk, Yethior and Uhrl.”

  Maki smiled blandly at all of them before reaching out her hand to initiate contact.

  When she shook Domahk’s hand, there was a short, sharp shock, similar to that of a joy buzzer. It was attention getting, but it was over in seconds. Yethior produced a tingle that ran along her skin but didn’t go deeper.

  “And you seem very familiar.” She took Uhrl’s hand and swallowed as the sharp crackle of contact ran up and down her limbs, working into her body with rapid progression.