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  “Pardon?”

  The cane thudded against the moss. “What did they shift into?”

  “Uh... I don’t know?” She shrugged. “I thought I had some kind of seizure disorder until I was fifteen.”

  The old woman exhaled sharply. “Show me your back.”

  Kenzi looked around, and the ladies who had escorted her were all hanging back and near the walls. Even Yolanda was standing aside.

  “Isn’t there supposed to be a healer here?”

  “I am not going to do anything aside from an assessment of what is going on. This is confusing, and looking at the magic might give me something I can understand.”

  She sighed and unhooked the cloak, sliding it off her shoulders. With a grimace, she turned her back toward the old woman and lifted the rear hem up, hooking it over her head.

  She felt light pressure on her back as the old woman whispered, “Oh, child.”

  “Do you know what it is?”

  While she was waiting for the answer, she heard someone stumble into the room. A feminine voice muttered, “Sorry.”

  Kenzi tried to lift her head, but the cane tip nestled against the back of her skull.

  “Stay where you are. The healer has arrived. Let’s not delay her assessment.”

  Kenzi mumbled something about yoga and kept her back-bent position.

  The healer must have been wearing a collection of bells because she jingled as she moved.

  “Oh, damn. I have never seen this curse enacted before.”

  The old woman’s voice asked, “But you know what it is.”

  “I do. Blood binding has been only a theory until this moment. I knew that some mages were trying to find a way to do it, but that was long before treaties and agreements to not prey on shifters.”

  Kenzi felt light pressure on her back again. “So, can it be fixed?”

  The healer moved suddenly, her accoutrements jingled. “Oh, yes. It can be fixed. Well, it can be unravelled. It isn’t going to be fast. How long did it take to implant this spell?”

  “Um. Not sure. The beatings started when I was eleven or so. The blood didn’t come into it until I was around fourteen or fifteen.”

  The old woman asked, “Blood?”

  The healer filled in, “Blood seals the spell. Usually, it was tried using parents or siblings to offer the blood to bind. I am guessing that this was done in your own blood?”

  “Yeah. My stepmother works at a clinic. She would draw my blood during the full moon, and they would use it on the whip after that.”

  Kenzi shifted a little in place and settled again.

  More pressure on her back and the scent of blood in the air. “Did you just puncture me?”

  The healer cleared her throat. “Didn’t you feel it?”

  “Nope. Well, I felt it as pressure. The smell of blood gave it away.”

  “You can put your shirt back now. I have what I need to figure out a plan of healing.”

  The old woman cleared her throat. “You can remove that?”

  “I can, though it will take months to manage it safely. I need you to help her get in touch with her beast, elder.”

  Kenzi pulled her shirt into position and sat up. “I have a beast?”

  Yolanda called out from the sidelines. “Your wolf, Kenzi.”

  “Oh. Right. Well, she and I haven’t met, so I will take your word for it.”

  The old woman scowled. “What do you mean?”

  Kenzi shrugged. “I run, I wake up naked. I only have a vague memory of drinking at a pool with a new moon above me.”

  “Yolanda mentioned that you are a wolf?” The healer was wearing a variety of crazy-pieced fabrics, and there was—indeed—a pouch edged in bells.

  “Yes. Now, as you have a sample of my blood on your hands, can I get an introduction?” Kenzi smiled at both ladies.

  “I am Healer Morwiss, and this is Shamaness, Elder Killian.”

  “Pleased to meet you.” She gathered the cloak and folded it in her lap.

  Elder Killian gave her a penetrating look. “Have investigators been sent to your guardians?”

  Yolanda cleared her throat. “Yes, Elder. They have not yet been located, but the guild is trying to find them.”

  “Good. Now, Morwiss, you, I and our patient will need to spend some time coming up with a treatment plan. The rest of you can go.”

  To Kenzi’s amusement, the women went.

  “Well, don’t sit there. Come this way. I have ordered some food and coffee. Let’s hope they haven’t bolluxed it up.” Elder Killian led the way to the indoor glade in the centre of the space.

  “Was this here a few minutes ago?” Kenzi had to ask.

  Morwiss laughed. “As my sister would say, wait, and it changes. Of course, you would have to decipher what she said from the junk food mashed in her jaws.”

  “So, that’s freaky.”

  Morwiss chuckled. “We have only touched the surface of freaky. We are about to dip our toe into insanity.”

  Behind a stand of trees, a table was set for three, and Kenzi was eager to find out what kind of a treatment plan they wanted her to follow.

  Frankly, she was most interested in the coffee.

  Chapter Three

  Kenzi made it to her office before her first appointment of the day. As she did every day, she thought back to her arrival at the Shifter’s Guild ten years before and what she had found out about her situation. That data had put her in the position that she held today. The rank of pack shaman was one that wasn’t filled often in the modern day, but here she was, giving advice to wolf shifters from around the globe in the position of Killian’s apprentice.

  She sipped her coffee out of her thermal cup and sighed happily, checking the date book. It was a simple authorization consult for the Crossroads. The gentleman’s pack didn’t want him heading off to seek his own mate, so he was coming to Kenzi for an override. It was one of the weirder things that she had been doing in the last three years, but if they wanted to go and her senses were honest with her, the authorization was given and off they would go.

  Kenzi leaned back in her chair and looked around the arboreal floor. Everything had been grown in place using the rarest of spells cast by shifter shamans. It was as close to a universal holy site that the shifters could come up with. No one picked a fight on her floor.

  She heard the footfalls and straightened up. The theatrics that Killian used with her cane and wizened features were not something that came easily. Kenzi settled for bone and pewter beads in her hair and wide, carved bracelets depicting the history of the wolf shifters.

  The process of stripping the scars and spell work off her back had left her hair snow white. It helped her street cred that her hair matched her beast.

  The man who walked into her office couldn’t have been more than twenty-five. Kenzi smiled and inclined her head, not rising to her feet. She gestured to the chair across from her, and he sat, his head lower than hers by an inch, no matter how straight he sat. It was a subtle way of making sure that he knew who the alpha in this situation was.

  “Shaman Kenzi?”

  “Armand Regis?”

  He relaxed in his seat. “Yes.”

  “You want to go to the Crossroads, and your pack doesn’t agree.”

  “Right. My parents are the alphas, but they don’t want me to go. They feel I am too young.”

  “What do you feel?” She flexed her hands and looked at him, staring past his physical form and seeing the aura within.

  He might only be twenty-five, but his beast was mature and ready for a mate. The human emotions were stable and looking toward a future with a family. There was no rebellion or defiance in his attitude. He wanted a mate to fit a missing piece of his life, nothing more.

  “I feel that I am ready. I have a home, business, savings, a vehicle, and excellent health insurance. I have covered the practicalities.”

  Kenzi smiled and folded her hands together. “What if your mate is a fey? Would y
ou move to her territory?”

  He paused. “If I could not get her to join me in mine, yes. If she needed to be in her own territory, I would join her.”

  “So, you are willing to take a fey?”

  “Or a hamster, or a deer, or a rabbit. If my beast and hers are in agreement, I want my mate.”

  “Right. Well. No reason to delay. I will file the exception with your pack and authorize your trip. You can go today if you like.” She stroked her fingers along her wristband and pulled out a tiny vial containing two white hairs. “My fur will stand in the place of your parents’ to pay the transporter. Transport is on the second floor.”

  “That’s it?” His fingers shook when he took the vial.

  “Well, yes. I could cast a spell to see your future, but that is fate’s business, not yours.” She smiled brightly.

  “Should I just go now?”

  “If you have your bag with you, I would. Get thy butt to the Crossroads. I will deal with your parents if they kick up a fuss.”

  He grinned. “I would like to see that.”

  “You really wouldn’t. One doesn’t give the shaman title to just everyone. I have had a decade of training, and much of it was shifted combat. To work with our kind, I had to know what I could do. The elder’s grandchildren took quite a beating until I got control.”

  “Pardon my skepticism, Shaman Kenzi, but you don’t look deadly.”

  As slowly as she could manage, Kenzi manifest fur, her muzzle and the fangs that went with them. She raised her fingers and ticked her claws together. She enunciated slowly, “Care to go a round?”

  His eyes widened, and he raised his hands. “No, Ma’am. I know the head of Anubis when I see it. I now have a greater understanding and respect for those who helped train you.”

  She flashed her fangs. “Thought you might. Toodles.”

  She waggled her fingers as he left and slowly resumed her human-seeming. The rest of her day was free, so lunch with Morwiss was on the agenda.

  She grabbed her coffee and headed down to the records room. She had to finish filling out all the paperwork for Armando before he returned with a bride.

  Zeeta got her the writs for the wolf clan and a blank for the override. With a quill dipped in ink, Kenzi used the calligraphy skills she had fought against to write in all the data pertinent to the situation, including her conclusions as to his mental status.

  When she was done, she pricked her finger and sealed her signature in her blood. It was a good thing that she didn’t have to give these authorizations every day.

  “Is that it, Shaman Kenzi?”

  “That was the one, Zeeta. Do you know something I don’t?” Kenzi smiled with a raised brow.

  “There is going to be a Crossroads request in the next day or so. I have it ready when you need it.” Zeeta grinned. “Do you want to go out on the town tonight?”

  Kenzi chuckled. “Don’t you already know the answer?”

  “Yes, but it was a nice thought. See you when you need me.” Zeeta winked and wiggled her fingers.

  For a moment, Kenzi could see the spider shifter under the woman’s skin. The second sight that came with her beast made her an excellent archivist. The extra arms she could summon didn’t hurt either.

  “Another time. How is your mate?” Kenzi smiled.

  “Nervous. The scan showed three babies. He is busy putting an addition on the house and possibly an escape hatch for himself.” She patted her belly fondly.

  “Well, he is brave for taking you on. Women as organized as you are a little scary.” She sucked her finger to remove the blood from her mark.

  “Give me that.” Zeeta grabbed her hand and, using a move so fast it was a blur, extruded webbing between her finger and thumb to bandage Kenzi’s finger.

  “Thank you. That never ceases to amaze me.”

  “And it amazes me that you never ask me for it. Others have demanded it.”

  “It is a gift from your beast. Now that I know how treasured that is, I respect the hell out of it.” She nodded soberly.

  “How are you and the inner miss doing now?”

  “I have to let her out on the new moon, but with regular and random shifting, she has begun to share more of herself with me. Every day, we have to introduce ourselves all over again.”

  “But, you do it, and she does it?”

  “Yup.”

  “Then you have a relationship that goes beyond sharing a body. My freaking spider tried to get me to eat Ian twice before she gave into human logic.”

  “That he had a nice house and a piece of property she could roam?”

  “That was it. She was enthralled with the idea of being out for a night so she could hunt larger prey.”

  Kenzi wrinkled her nose and grimaced. “Whatever makes them happy.”

  “Precisely. Enjoy lunch with the mage. She just entered the building.”

  Zeeta nodded toward the light and gleaming strands that ran along the ceiling and winked. “I let her out when there is no one in the building. She enjoys making this her personal internet.”

  “Internet?”

  “Her information superhighway. She has come up with a webbing strand that not only detects motion, but it also carries pheromone and energy traces. I am impressed with her, and she is terribly proud of herself. She wants three more babies after these to carry on her genes.”

  “If your husband survives the first three, you should definitely try for a second. Have a good day, Zeeta.” Kenzi bowed slightly and left the records office.

  She made a mental note to make two more baby blankets as she walked down to the public meeting areas. Morwiss was speaking with one of the transporters, but she broke off her conversation the moment that Kenzi appeared.

  Morwiss opened her arms, and Kenzi walked into them. Over the years that it had taken to peel the blood binding from her back, Morwiss had held her after each treatment as she sobbed from the waking nerves. She had to live each beating over again.

  When the hug was over, they linked arms and headed out. All conversations would be held when they were busy eating.

  Their favourite restaurant was only a few blocks away, so they walked. The air was crisp, and fall was in the air. Kenzi could feel her beast sniffing away at the scent of browning leaves in the wind.

  Morwiss had healed her body and removed the binding spell placed by her stepparents, but it had been Killian that had given her the training to meet and greet her beast within her own body. It had been arduous training, but finally, a truce had been crafted. The wolf could have the night of the new moon to roam, and Kenzi could call the tune any other time in the month. The new moon had been opposite to the binding spell, and the weakest point in the arrangement. She was used to it now. It was her time to hunt.

  When they placed the order, they faced each other. Kenzi opened her chopsticks and cracked them apart with precision.

  “So, Morwiss, what takes you away from the husband and kids and brings you back to the guild hall?”

  “You remember my sister?”

  “Sure. She is doing all the bindings at the Isthmus now, isn’t she?”

  “Right.” Morwiss leaned back as the tea was served.

  “And?”

  “I think she has started to unravel. I mean, even more so than she was before.”

  “Ah. Not good.”

  “No.”

  Their order began to arrive, and when the small plates were set in front of them, Kenzi started to fill her bowl with noodles and fried and steamed dumplings. The chili sauce went on over the top, and it was time to eat.

  She was into her third bite when Morwiss mumbled, “I am asking you to go to the Crossroads and check on her.”

  Mumbling around her food, she said, “What?”

  “I need you to go to the Crossroads and check on Melwiss. Your situation as a shaman will let you go and return without any issues.”

  “Why don’t you go?”

  “Mages can’t go.”

  “
Oh. Right.” She munched on the noodles and bean sprouts. “So, you want me to visit her?”

  “Yes. I have a charm to help keep her anchored. I am worried that with all the balancing she is performing, she will begin to lose herself.” Morwiss picked her steamed pork bun apart with expert precision while she spoke.

  “Sure. I have a few days between appointments. I can get a transporter to send me there and the guardians to send me home.”

  “You will?” Morwiss looked shocked.

  “Of course, I will. I have always wondered what was on the other side of that portal, and now, I can actually have a legitimate reason for going.” She paused and had some green tea before going back into the dozen little plates with enthusiasm.

  “I can’t... this will be so great. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Morwiss got to her feet, ran around the table and hugged her.

  Kenzi endured the hug but kept chewing. “Yes, I am terribly magnanimous. It isn’t like a chance to go to a magical sub-dimension comes up every day.”

  The mage’s face was in a foolish grin that got even brighter when the last phase of their meal arrived.

  They both raised their arms in the air and shouted, “Mango pudding!”

  The giggles lasted longer than the dessert did.

  Chapter Four

  Clearing her travel with Elder Killian took a matter of minutes. Killian had told her to get her ass wherever she needed to be.

  Asking permission for the weird stuff was as far as her ties to Killian went. Her shaman training had been brief, and learning on the job was traumatizing but informative. Kenzi had attended births, deaths, illness, and witnessed hate first hand.

  The largest task she had engaged in as apprentice shaman had been to sit through the hearing and give evidence against the Bakers.

  While her stepmother was just a normal and particularly unpleasant human, her stepfather was a mage.

  She had been in the perfect situation for his experiments. Marrying her stepmother had been his way of securing Kenzi’s presence in his home. Once she was there, he only needed to pretend to be a caring and committed parent. Humans couldn’t see the scars. It was a good thing it was a mage tribunal that heard the case.