Flying Fur Read online

  Misty wanted to know what his animal was. Who was he from that final collection?

  She went through the motions of the general store, the restaurant, the mani-pedi office that she had taken advantage of four times in the last two weeks, and of course the Crossed Star Bar.

  They walked arm in arm to the shifter’s field. “This is where you can change into yourself and go for a run or just lie in the sun.”

  “Do you change here?”

  She chuckled. “No, I am a little more tree bound.”

  She didn’t mention that she was considered a prey item to most of those that ran in this area.

  He smiled. “I would protect you.”

  She blinked. “You just met me.”

  “Our first interaction made a powerful impression on me. I took a chance that you would still be here, which wasn’t reasonable, but then, instinct isn’t reasonable. Here you are, my escort into the Crossroads.”

  Her stomach growled. “As soon as I get you tucked in at the Open Heart, this escort is getting some food. I have been filing you newbies away all day. I need a sandwich.”

  “How much can you need? You would eat like a grape and you would be done.”

  “Jokes about my size will not be tolerated.” She made it clear. She found that clarification was always a good thing. It told the guy right off where he stood, which was equal to her.

  “I see. May I join you for dinner?”

  She paused. “Why would you want to do that?”

  “I have always been curious how long it takes a dainty lady to lose her temper. I am willing to keep at it until I have the answer.”

  Misty was startled into laughing as she brought him to the Open Heart. When she stopped laughing, she said, “I will be leaving for dinner in ten minutes. Settle in and I will meet you in the front room.”

  “It’s a date.” Samuel grinned and followed Teebie to his room.

  Misty bolted up the stairs behind them, changed into a sundress and sandals and tried to ignore the sigh of relief from her toes. She released her hair and brushed it out into a flattering halo around her face. Smiling, she winked at herself in the mirror.

  She had a date.

  Chapter Three

  Skidding down the stairs and trying to pose casually in the lobby wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

  Teebie offered her a glass of lemonade. “Hot date?”

  “A date. Period. It is the most action I have had all week.” Misty sipped the lemonade and tried to look relaxed.

  “It has been a little sparse for you since you have been here. I am glad that you and Samuel seem to be sparking.”

  Misty made a face. “That is a word for it. I actually feel awake, though a little tired.”

  Teebie nodded. “It has been a weird day all around.”

  Samuel came down the stairs and grinned at her. “You changed.”

  She looked down and blushed. “My sneakers were getting on my nerves. I had hoped to give my feet a break.”

  She looked up at him, and those sleepy amber eyes were looking over her with a slow admiration that made her nervous.

  “Right, well, dinner. Restaurant or café?” She bit her lip.

  “Restaurant is fine.”

  Teebie nodded. “I will give Albert a call. You will have a table when you arrive.”

  “Thanks, sweetie.” Misty winked and gestured for Samuel to come with her.

  He stepped up next to her and offered her his arm. She placed her hand on his forearm, and he led the way out the door with complete confidence. He had obviously been paying attention when she had given him the tour.

  “You look lovely.” His low voice rumbled through her.

  She tried to hide her shiver. “Thank you. Blue is a good colour on you.”

  He grinned. “Thank you.”

  In one day, the Crossroads went from ghost town to buzzing with activity. The music was pouring out of the bar. Laughter and small talk carried with it, and the café was bright and rioting with the coloured clothing of those who were in for a casual dinner.

  The restaurant’s lighting was more subtle and designed to give the illusion of privacy for each table. Shadows surrounded them, and soft light and a tall candle in a glass hurricane lighted the menus.

  Misty looked at Samuel with a bit of a blush. “I haven’t actually been here before. Spike shares when Albert delivers to the bar, so he brings extra.”

  Samuel grinned. “I am glad. Over the last few weeks, I have been going over what to ask you.”

  She blinked and looked down at the menu. “Ask away. I will answer what I can.”

  They placed their orders, and he leaned back with a glass of wine in his hand. “How many collectors have you busted?”

  She blinked. “Um, three.”

  He rubbed his head. “I had no idea that there were collectors out there. Why isn’t this common knowledge?”

  Misty looked up at him. “It is up to each guild member or clan leader to inform and educate their people. Some of the species think that they aren’t targets because they are common or they are too small or not colourful. It isn’t about the attraction of the beast; it is about the imprisonment and torture for entertainment. Lots of species don’t accept that.”

  He sighed and nodded. “I guess so. I can tell you it came as a bit of a shock to me. One moment, I was running through the woods, and the next, I was waking up in a crush box. The collar went on and I entered the exhibit until the day you released us.”

  She didn’t know how to speak to one of the kidnap victims.

  He held up his hands. “Don’t stress. I have met with a councillor and talked out my frustrations. I just wanted you to know that I hadn’t simply met a woman in a bar and been seduced into doing something stupid.”

  She chuckled and sipped at her wine. Bread arrived and they shared it while she tried to think of what to say next.

  “How long have you worked for the Council?”

  Misty smiled. “My family has always worked for the Council. Members of our family serve on a rotation, usually before we have kids.”

  “What do you do when you aren’t saving dozens of shifters?” Samuel smiled.

  “Paperwork for my family’s company.”

  “What do they do?”

  She chuckled. “We run a small candy company, and we have just entered into online sales. It stung a little to miss the first few months, but duty is duty. You do what you have to.”

  “But, you went right from your assignment to the Crossroads.”

  “The timing was right. I was in between obligations and it was the perfect time to make a change, to seek out a mate before anything new caught my attention.” Misty shrugged. “I am easily distracted.”

  He laughed. “And very honest.”

  Their food arrived and she grinned down at the elegantly arranged plate. “Mm. Yum.”

  “I second that. This looks delicious.” Samuel grinned and dug in.

  They didn’t speak for five minutes, but when one of them broke the silence, it was a happy sigh.

  Samuel leaned back and smiled. “That was good.”

  She grinned. “Albert will be happy to hear it. You just have to tell Spike and it will trickle through.”

  He sighed happily again.

  Misty finished her pasta and vegetables, sipping at her wine and then her water.

  Samuel grinned. “Would you go dancing with me?”

  She blinked. “Now?”

  “After dessert. If dinner was this good, I don’t want to pass up dessert.” He chuckled.

  Albert appeared behind him in his chef whites. “I am glad to hear it. I made an amazing apple tart and vanilla ice cream.”

  Misty smiled hopefully, “And coffee?”

  Albert bowed gracefully. “And coffee. For two?”

  Samuel turned to see him and smiled, “Yes, please.”

  Albert grinned and returned to the kitchen.<
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  Samuel looked at her. “He is very handsome.”

  “And graceful but not my type. His wife is one of the bartenders at the Crossed Star. The one with boobs.”

  He choked slightly on his wine at her bald statement.

  Dessert came out, delivered by the same cheerful server that had delivered their meal.

  “Thanks, Robbie.”

  He nodded and disappeared.

  Samuel gave her a sly look. “You seem to know everyone here.”

  “I have been here for weeks. I find that socializing keeps a person from being bored. I can’t do much to help out, but I am a heckuva conversationalist.”

  She lifted her fork, positioned it and attacked the tart. Misty stifled a moan. Damn the tart is good.

  Samuel was in his own world of food-related bliss. The heavy-lidded look on his face was practically sinful. Misty had trouble not staring.

  The clinks of forks on plates were the only sounds at their table. The coffee cleansed her palate and washed away all traces of the ice cream.

  She sat back and looked at Samuel with a smile around her lips. “So, what do you do for a living?”

  He blinked, “Well, I suppose fair is fair. I design websites for commercial enterprises.”

  Misty chuckled. “Too bad we didn’t meet a year ago before my family’s company started their efforts to start selling online.”

  “A year ago, I was in a relationship. It ended amicably six months ago, but a week after the breakup, I was caught and in the collection.”

  Misty frowned. “Wait, a week after you broke up, someone grabbed you in the woods? How amicable was the breakup?”

  “She said she wanted to see other people and I said fine.”

  Misty winced. “Ouch. Who was she seeing?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t delve into it. If she didn’t want to commit to me, I wasn’t going to chase her. It wasn’t worth the effort.”

  “Was she a shifter?”

  “No. She was human.”

  Misty blinked. “Is that why she wasn’t worth the effort?”

  “No, if she didn’t want to be in a relationship with me, to be faithful, then I wasn’t going to fight to keep someone who wanted to go.”

  She sat back and thought about it. “It was probably for the best. Did she know what you were?”

  He grimaced. “If she didn’t know, she certainly suspected. She caught me naked in the yard a few times. I always worked to distract her, but there was something in her eyes.”

  The thought of him distracting his ex did quite a number on her self-esteem and she hadn’t even met the woman. Her beast wasn’t happy with the thought that her mate had other sex partners. She wanted to walk away, wanted to run, but that wasn’t why she was here. She was here to find someone, and it wasn’t like she was completely snow white herself.

  Misty knew that elves frequently used humans for their scouting. She would bet her hind feet that his ex-girlfriend had turned him in. It took a familiar scent to lay a trap that caught a shifter.

  “You think she is the one that set the trap.”

  Misty blinked and smiled weakly. “Sorry. It is an occupational hazard. Spend a few months working for the guild and you see everything in predator and prey behaviours.”

  He nodded and they finished their coffee.

  When they were sitting in silence, Samuel said, “Shall we go to the Crossed Star?”

  She nodded. She needed a distraction quickly before she began to fixate on how to trap his ex and make her pay for siding with an elf.

  Chapter Four

  The bar was hopping and there was just enough space on the dance floor for Misty and Samuel to awkwardly come together and move slowly to the music.

  Misty closed her eyes and her inner beast hummed happily. It had been a long search, but she had found her mate. Misty’s jealous human side just had to get over the idea of Samuel with a human girlfriend who may have risked his life for her revenge.

  Despite what he had said, no woman wanted to be told that simply parting ways was fine when they decided they wanted to test out a new sex partner. Females were intensely territorial and humans were no different. His girlfriend had wanted to keep him and the other male on the side.

  “What is bothering you, Misty?”

  “If she returned to you today, would you go back to her?” Misty looked up at him with a serious expression.

  “No. We were done the moment she told me that she wanted to flit about. I wasn’t looking for a part-time mate. I want someone who can be there for me and whom I can stand by. I want you.” His words were simple and his amber gaze was sombre.

  She swallowed. “Why?”

  The music swirled around them and the word hung in the air between them.

  He smiled. “Because, from the moment we touched, I have not been able to think of anyone other than you. You are tiny, but you are fierce. I can respect that and your ability to keep us calm and get us all out was something that I greatly admire.”

  “What are you?”

  He grinned. “I will have to show you, and for that, you will need to buy me lunch tomorrow.”

  Her inner beast shrieked at her in frustration. It wanted its mate and it wanted it tonight.

  The music wound down and she pulled her hands away from Samuel. “If that is when we shall meet again, I will see you tomorrow for lunch.”

  He seemed surprised. “You are blowing me off just like that?”

  Misty shrugged. “If my beast can’t have what she wants, proximity is just going to make her more irritable. She and I are going to get some brisk evening air. I wish you a pleasant night and I will see you tomorrow morning.”

  With a quick move, she turned and dodged his hands as she made a run for the door. What had started as a romantic evening had gone devastatingly wrong. She needed the woods, the silence and the wind underneath her. She needed it more than she had ever needed anything in her life.

  She checked once to make sure that she wasn’t followed before she went deep into the woods and stripped. Her human form pulled her up into the branches of her favourite tree, and she shifted into her beast and continued scampering up the tree with her paws and claws.

  High up in the branches, she stopped and closed her eyes, listening to the wind before she could feel it. When the first contact ruffled her fur, her small face smiled as much as she was able.

  She gathered herself and jumped from her tree, launching herself into the air and slowly spiralling down toward the ground. The small burst of freedom helped her calm down. When she touched the leaves and earth, she turned and scampered up another tree to do it all over again.

  Misty could feel someone watching her, but the Crossroads was a safe place. She had nothing to fear, and she was going to enjoy the night until she had worked through her emotional issues. It was going to take a while.

  * * * *

  Samuel watched her from the shadows. He was relieved that his beast didn’t see her as prey. It was watching its mate, and she was gracefully circling the clearing before she returned to the trees.

  The moment he had been honest with her about his previous relationship, she had shut down. Their evening had gone cold, and it had taken all his concentration to bring it back to a warm flicker. When he mentioned not showing her his beast until the next day, she had shut down again. He was handling this all wrong.

  He settled on the thick branch he was resting on, and he simply watched her climb, fly and climb again.

  The medics had spoken of her in glowing terms, the councillor had admitted that his attachment went beyond hero fixation and the guild had eventually told him where she had gone. As far as her own people were concerned, he had their blessing, but communication between the normal world and the Crossroads had become spotty. She would not have gotten the notice that if she agreed, she had her clan’s blessing.

  Since fate had gone to all the effort of dropping his mate o
n his head, he wasn’t going to let anything within his control block their union. Starting with honesty was where he wanted to be when he was with Misty, and he had to admit that her suspicion that Laura was behind his abduction was probably not wrong.

  He had caught Laura’s scent a moment before everything went black, but it was faint. He had put it out of his mind until today, and now, he understood that Misty was fixating on it.

  Sam huffed lightly and blanked his mind to watch Misty climb and float downward. He had never seen a sugar glider in person before. He thought they were just cute pets. When he looked at his mate, he understood the attraction; she was adorable. Her strength of will was a defiance to her tiny body.

  He watched her until she had had enough, and when she turned human and got dressed, his interest swerved from indulgent admiration to complete fascination. Her body was tight, lithe and had a surprising strength that was visible to his feline eyes.

  The tumble of dark brown hair reached the middle of her back, her moves were graceful and elegant, and her limbs were tinged with soft gold.

  Sam felt his muscles tense, and he wanted nothing more than to run up to her and rub his head along her limbs, licking his way from neck to knees and everywhere in between.

  Misty carried her shoes and walked out of the forest with a slow sway to her hips.

  Shuddering for control, Samuel returned to his clothing and shifted back to human. His erection didn’t easily go into his jeans, but when he eased the zipper closed, he was pretty sure it would hold until he returned to the Open Heart.

  His shirt was probably inside out, but he simply dressed for human standards and headed back to the bed and breakfast at a reasonable distance from Misty.

  Her interest in him was unmistakable, but she was having to work through some things. He could give her time now that he was here to defend her from any others who tried to move on her.

  He entered and listened to the two female voices in the front room for a moment before continuing upstairs. If she wanted to talk about him with their host, he would get out of her way.