Page 27 of Shifter’s Thunder

Tanner had seen enough of the world’s cruelty to believe it. Legacies and immortality via offspring became obsessions. Tinsel’s perpetual cheer vanished into a rare, sharp frown. Denise merely sighed and single-handedly unfurled a bespelled warming blanket and bundled it around the girl. “I’ll call in a specialist.”

Her healing magic briefly brushed over him. “You’re remarkably healthy for having been in naked sword fights.” She eyed the gore spattered across his chest. “And winning them, too, considering the blood isn’t your own. Your poor dragon partner, however, is about tapped out. No wounds worth mentioning. Take her someplace warm.”

Tinsel dug into her bag, then handed a pile of clothes and elven boots to Avelunne.

Avelunne moved aside, her fingers seeming drawn of their own accord to the intricate leafy design on the boots. They were never sold, only given. A flicker of jealousy made him wonder who was behind the gift. He rolled his eyes at his ridiculous thoughts.

“What date and time is it?” asked Avelunne.

“The twenty-second of December, and about four o’clock,” answered Denise.

They’d lost a whole real-world day while in the demesne. It had only been a few hours to him. The rescued captives were going to need briefings on history to catch up.

Tinsel handed him a pair of jeans. “Sorry, they’re all I could find that would fit.” She winked. “I dare you to walk around town as you are. Take the wind out of those two blowhard dragons who think they can handle the cold.”

“Not happening.” Tanner handed his alfar blade to the fairy and stepped into the jeans. He tried not to watch Avelunne, but his gaze traitorously slid toward her as she pulled a heavy green sweater over her head. She was bruised, pale, and magnificent. The swell of her breasts and narrow hips sent his blood racing toward his groin.

Tinsel handed back the sword, her eyes twinkling with an unnerving amount of perception. “Your dragon?”

Denise stooped to collect her medic kit, then stepped through the still-open portal and vanished.

Tinsel waggled her eyebrows suggestively at him and tilted her head toward Avelunne. The fairy was an incorrigible matchmaker.

His sense of duty was at war with his heart, and he didn’t know how to resolve it. His inner thunderbird wanted to claim her. His human side had to do the right thing for her and the sanctuary town he loved. “It’s complicated.”

Tinsel laughed and shook her head, then turned to Avelunne, who was stepping into the deep forest-green elven boots.

“The Transition Center is overwhelmed and only going to get worse with the influx of refugees. They need your room. Do you want to stay at my boring bed-and-breakfast, or would you like to go with Tanner? He has a nice high mountain cabin with a spectacular view and a spa tub that would make a Roman senator envious.”

Tanner blinked. She’d never been to his home, so how did she know?

Avelunne’s hand went to her throat, one finger touching the charmed feather necklace that somehow seemed to have survived the mission. She glanced at him, then looked back at Tinsel. “I’d like to go with Tanner, please.”

Her words sent his emotions whirling. Relief that he wouldn’t be separated from her, then a sharp spike of desire he knew he would have to control. She needed rest, not the pent-up passion of a thunderbird who has found his mate. Worry followed on its heels. When had he last cleaned or done laundry?

Tinsel nodded. “Easy-peasy, to quote Magister Zephyr. I’ll portal you both now and send your belongings later. Including your phone, which I forgot.”

“That is very kind of you,” Avelunne said, her voice laced with fatigue, “but won’t you need your portal magic for the invasion force?”

“Not likely,” said Tinsel. “They have more than enough volunteers to create and hold portals in a wounded fairy demesne. I like to think of it as therapy. Surasa has made a world’s worth of enemies for centuries. Every fairy and sorcerer in town wants a turn.”

“Then if Tanner is amenable, I accept your generous offer.”

Tanner nodded. “I am.”

The portal Denise had exited through shrank and vanished. Another opened almost immediately, revealing the carved and figured wood of his front door. “This goes to your porch,” Tinsel said to him. “The portal block for your cabin itself is good, but you’ll want to cover the rest of your property.” She sighed. “We’re all going to need better portal blocks for a while. We’ve bitten the tail of a vengeful monster.”

Tanner nodded, profoundly glad that powerful Tinsel was a friend to Kotoyeesinay.

He held out his hand to Avelunne. She took it, but before stepping toward the portal, she looked back at the fairy. “Please ask Denise to tell the children we rescued — Maysan, Javier, and the others — that Sazanel lives. They will worry. In the pens, each other was all we had.”

“I will.” Tinsel made a shooing motion with her hand. “Off you go, now.”

Tanner was in awe of the woman at his side. Even when she was nearly dead on her feet, she was looking out for children she’d just met. He led her through the portal, stepping out of the blizzard and into the shelter of his porch. A quick touch of magic opened the door, and he ushered her into the warm and quiet sanctuary of his home.

As he closed the door and saw her eyes drawn to the colorful hand-painted and hand-hewn totem support beam, he hoped the sky gods were with him. She was the lightning to his thunder. He wouldn’t have the strength to walk away from her tonight.

Chapter 14