Seeing Spots by Zenina Masters

over her hand and brought it to his lips. A sharp spark jumped from her skin to his mouth.
    He jerked back. “I see.”
    “What?”
    Warren bent down and whispered in her ear. “You tasered his face. Fey and human magic.”
    Sable blushed. “I apologize.”
    “Don’t apologize. You are simply something different, but I am guessing you always were. Now, come this way and I will introduce you to the transporter.”
    They walked past the now-dispersing crowd. Norman led them with a fatherly air. “My granddaughter used to live at the Crossroads. She is now living with her husband’s family so that her child will be fully legal and registered.”
    Sable blinked. She had not considered that the children of those who lived at the Crossroads would not be legal in the human world. They would have to be born and recorded just like normal babies, even if there wasn’t anything normal about them.
    The transporter was a young woman named Helga, and she took into account the fey and human magic blended in their bodies.
    A jolt, a flare of light and they were standing in a green space surrounded by trees with a path leading toward a cluster of houses.
    “You live in a community?”
    “Even in the wild, tigers don’t form large groups. When we are adults, we get our own homes and live our own lives in the territory that our parents staked out. If we have children, we will stake out our own territory and create our own hunting grounds.”
    “If? You aren’t counting on kids?”
    “If they come, they come; if they don’t, they don’t. I have my mate, my companion for life, and though tigers do not cling to each other in the wild, I am going to be at your side as often as I can.”
    Sable rubbed against him. “That sounds like a good philosophy. I am impressed with your ability to think so clearly.”
    “Blame it on your illness. All I could think of was the future that I would miss out on if you didn’t survive. I had quite a while to think about it, and this is what I came up with.”
    She blinked away the tear that sprang to her eye. “I am sorry that I was so much trouble.”
    He squeezed her with one arm. “I am not. It made me slow down and think about things. That rarely happens. I see something and I take action. If I had made a move on you before you were ready, you would have rebuffed me and we both would have missed out on what we are becoming.”
    Sable sighed and leaned against him as they made their way out of the woods and into the light.
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
    Sable had lucked out with her new in-laws. The Nobles were fun, cheerful and welcomed her with open arms.
    Warren was exaggerating his brother Wendel’s appearance. The underwear modeling that he had engaged in had made him a tidy sum and his wife, Julia, carried a collection of images on her phone that she did not hesitate to share.
    Warren’s house was open, the doors were wide enough for him to pass easily no matter which shape he took. Sable planned a few additions to the décor but nothing traumatic. This was a new start for both of them.
    After her greeting dinner, they took a long walk in the moonlight and Sable skipped ahead. “How far does the Noble family property extend?”
    He chuckled. “A hundred acres. The edge is clearly marked.”
    She twirled happily with her arms up toward the moon. “Good, because my time is up. I can shift again.”
    She shucked out of her clothing in under a minute and let the rush of fur come over her. She turned and looked back at Warren, but he was leaning against a tree and smiling.
    Sable walked up to him and sniffed his hands, chest and groin, taking in all the scents and memorizing each and every one. When he stroked her behind her ears, she purred and it intensified as he knelt to scratch under her chin.
    Her beast enjoyed the attention, but running was more important. She broke from his grip and darted into the woods, learning her new territory. Two days locked in her human form had been