Free Black and White by Zenina Masters

Chapter One
     
     
    Tyanna Willow Wu stretched and wandered inside to see who had called. Her afternoon in her greenhouse had just gone down the tubes.
     
    Tyanna, we have a line on the scout responsible for the lion incident. His name is Jeremy Wax. We are sending you his picture and the last point of contact. Hunter Whipping is already looking for him, but you have far better luck with this sort of thing. Wax looks for exotics and you are right up his alley. Call us back if you are on the case.
     
    Ty made a face at the answering machine. There went her day off. She picked up the phone and made the call. Getting all the bastards who had sunk their teeth into the vulnerable and beautiful shifters was her priority. She had lost a friend in those underground chambers, and she was going to find everyone who had profited in any way and make them pay.
    She opened the computer and checked out the image of her target. He was prone to visiting the same watering hole every evening and that left her three hours to contact her transporter and have a nice snack.
    Making arrangements with her transporter took moments, and when she finished, she headed into her bamboo forest and shifted into her bear form. She sat on her ass, grabbed a young bamboo stalk and started munching. Bamboo was to her what corned beef and cabbage was to the Irish on St. Paddy’s day. It was the taste of home and childhood and it calmed her right down.
    She considered her options when tracking down Mr. Wax. Either she could go after him directly, or she could see if he was still stalking exotics and make herself a target.
    She munched on the bamboo for an hour, plotting and scheming. When her time was up, she rolled to her feet and lumbered to the door, shedding her fur on the way into the house.
    Spending a day at home in her own skin was a luxury, and it had just been snatched by the Shifter Council and a jackass. She stretched before getting dressed and packed for a run through the wilderness. It was doubtful that she would need the leather and canvas, but she was prepared nonetheless.
    She checked for funds and identification, put them against her skin and verified the homing charm was active in her hands. When she was certain that she was ready, she got on her bike and headed to the transporter’s office. Business was business and being sent halfway across the country was better achieved with her in a neutral location than if she was being sent from her own home.
    Her house was her sanctuary and no one that wasn’t family ever entered.
    She enjoyed the feel of the sun and the breeze on her cheeks as she whisked her way through the streets.
    Ty pulled up at Heloise’s office and she brought her bike inside. “Hiya.”
    “Right on time, fifteen minutes early as usual.” Heloise grinned and finished selecting the objects she would need for the transport.
    Each transporter used different means to channel their talent. Heloise Lock used soil from different areas around the world to make a path to the appropriate destination.
    Ty had never been placed wrong yet.
    There was a large measure of trust between a shifter and their transporter, but knowing Heloise from elementary school had created that trust without any outside influences. They had never been friends, but they had never been enemies either. When circumstances had thrown them together, they had recognized each other for what they were for the first time. The friendship had begun at that point. The loss of Emery Wilkes had cemented it.
    Emery had been a friend to Ty in school and more than a friend to Heloise afterward. He hadn’t cared that she was a human mage and he was a shifter. He had been in love and they had been planning a future together until he disappeared.
    Ty had gone looking the moment that Heloise called her, but there was nothing to find. He was gone.
    Seven months ago, the lions were captured and their prisoners freed, but Emery wasn’t there. There was no sign of him and mage