Being a shifter that doesn’t shift has left Hayley living a nice, normal human life. Her parents dumped her into the human system where she used her senses to keep herself safe, and it wasn’t until she was a teen that the full scope of her genetics was explained to her.
Hijacked to the Crossroads, Hayley is bewildered by the shifter traditions and even more so at the elf who won’t leave her side. She tries to explain that she has two beasts that do not come out and play, but when their contact gives her enough energy, one of her animals makes her a liar.
Tovin is a hunter by trade and enthralled with the lush curves of the woman who captured his focus the moment she arrived. Her first beast is a surprise, but it is the second that shocks him. Hayley has two beasts in her body, but is there room for an elf?
More From Shifting Crossroads
Hayley smiled and turned to face the briskly stepping being approaching them. Counsellor Dennis had a tense look on his face.
“Hayley, there is someone here to speak with you. You had best get to the offices. We can’t have them roaming around.”
Hayley reached out, squeezed Molly’s hand and headed through the wide and bright halls to the offices.
If there was someone waiting that Dennis didn’t want to mention, it couldn’t be good.
Two tall and pale figures waited for her. They were dressed with understated elegance, long trousers, polished shoes and immaculate snow-white shirts covered by the dove-grey trench coats that hung open a discreet amount.
Their pale-green eyes, long white-flax hair and the pointed ears extending out of the silky locks told her that they were the first fey she had ever seen in the flesh.
The office manager smiled in relief. “Here she is. I have cleared the inner boardroom for you. Please make this quick.”
Hayley nodded. “I will try.”
“Hayley Hyland?” The one on the left spoke quietly in chiming tones.
“Yes. Please, come with me.” She gestured and walked with the two fey trailing after her.
Inside the boardroom, she closed the door behind them and gestured for them to have a seat at the long table.
She waited and one of them finally spoke.
“You are Hayley Hyland?”
She nodded. “I am. Who might you be?”
“I am Seer Mijak.” The one on the left pressed his hand to his heart and bowed.
“I am Seer Lencor.” The one on the right repeated the gesture.
“I didn’t think they let the seers out.” Hayley was going over what she knew about the organization of the fey.
The men cocked their heads as one. Though their features were different, their colouring marked them as linked in ways beyond genetics.
Mijak smiled. “They normally do not, but you are a special case. We needed to see you because our images of you are in conflict.”
Lencor nodded. “I see a bird.”
“I see a bat.”
Hayley nodded. “I can see your confusion. I am both and neither. I am an unshifting shifter.”
The pale green eyes blinked in unison.
Mijak said, “We don’t understand.”
She sighed. “Since the Shifter Council sent you here, I will fill you in. My parents were one of the rare matings where there was no bond between them. They fell into lust, had sex and I appeared as a result. I shouldn’t have been possible, but here I am. I host both beasts, but they don’t speak to each other and do not speak to me. I can use their skills for echolocation and reading micro-expressions, but I cannot shift. I have lived with the humans all my life, and since the Council got in touch with me, I come here during my holidays to help shifters in their recovery after they have been rescued from bad situations.”
Lencor leaned forward. “Where do you stand on the fey?”
“I have never stood on a fey.”
