Free Vixen’s Run by Zenina Masters Page A

males with which to breed the next generation. Appearance is everything, Davus.”
    Davus wanted to scream his frustration. He was ready to get married and have a family, but no peahen would have him.
    “What are my options, Dad?”
    “You know what I am going to say, but I am saying it anyway. The Crossroads. You are going to have to find a woman of another species to mate with. They won’t be as fussy as a peahen would be. You will still have a solid chance at a mate. You are attractive, wealthy and well spoken, most women will find those solid starts to a relationship.”
    Davus blinked. “Fine. When do I go?” He reached under his shirt, generated a feather and pulled. He couldn’t feel it anymore. Scar tissue marred his human form and his peacock form was indeed not the brilliant thing it had been. He would find a woman who could stand the wreck that he had become and hope that he could make her happy.
    “I will make the arrangements, Davus. I am sorry that it has come to this.”
    Davus nodded and looked toward the house where his mother and two sisters were watching from the window. They had known about this and been afraid to tell him. It seemed par for the course.
    “Call me when the arrangements have been made. I will be out here contemplating how my life has spun out of my control.”
    His father patted him on the shoulder again and left him, carrying the feather that Davus had removed.
     
    Davus groaned and walked along the edge of the woods while rubbing the back of his neck. The scars on his neck had faded as well, but he could still feel that jagged collar.
    One night, a year ago, he had been enjoying a party at a wild peahen’s home when he had ingested a drink and he woke up in a human-sized cage.
    He had been encouraged to shift at gunpoint and the moment he was in his bird form, the collar had gone on. Shortly after, his tail feathers had been removed to complete spells for mages and other shifters. After the year of captivity, he had had nothing on his back but scars, and when he was released from the restraint collar, those scars followed him into his human form.
    Human mages and healers had patched him up and enabled him to generate his tail feathers once again. His mind had not healed from the confinement as well as was hoped. He could still make choices for the family’s fashion firm, but he was no longer considered one of them. They had searched for him for over a year and had thought he was dead. Their shock when he returned in his messed-up state was hard to deal with. He suspected that it would have been easier for them if he had not returned.
    Now, he was facing life with a woman who wasn’t his own species. Her culture and community would be different from his own, and he couldn’t tell yet if that would be a boon or a curse. Time would have to tell.
    The Crossroads would help him through the final stages of his adjustment or he would go nuts when no woman would have him. Either way, something was going to happen and he only had to step through the dimensional portal to get him there.
    How hard could stepping through a gateway to meet a woman of another species and convince her to take him home possibly be?
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    Tiff stepped out of the light portal and smiled at the woman who greeted her. “Hello.”
    “Tiffany Grayson?”
    “Close enough. You are Teal?”
    “I am. Please step aside. We are expecting another arrival and we don’t want an incident.”
    Tiff stepped to the area that Teal indicated and a bright light flared before it dimmed, leaving a tall man with black hair and fascinating eyes. He was elegant but subdued, as if trying not to be noticed. Tiff knew that look. She had seen dogs with that look after they had been abused.
    A dark-haired man stepped out of the shadows. “Davus. Welcome to the Crossroads. Let me give you a tour.”
    Tiff watched the man known as Davus swept out of the landing gateway and into the afternoon sun.
    Teal sighed.