Birthday Shift Read Online Free

wanting to wake up and find it
had all been a very, very strange dream. “Tell me about Lil instead. I still don’t…
I don’t understand. Why are you here, with me?”
    “Let me explain.”
He moved to sit on the couch and patted the spot beside him, the tea towel
still inadequately covering his modesty. “Won’t you sit beside me?”
    Molly’s battered
mind tried to reconcile the image of her pet cat with the glorious male
specimen sitting on her couch. Her brain failed, and simply struggled to think
in a straight line. “I can’t. Sorry. Not yet.”
    “All right.” He
tried to move the tea towel to cover more of his groin, but eventually gave up.
“Alianore runs a sort of otherworldly portal… if you will. A way for beings
from the Faewild, such as shape shifters, spirits and succubae to enter your
world, if and when they want to. It’s easier for shape shifters, because they
can change themselves into the likenesses of creatures you humans don’t fear,
such as cats. Like the cat you found on your doorstep. Me.”
    Molly tried to
swallow it all, but the story was a big mouthful. “But… why   would you come here?”
    “It is… what is
your human word? Complicated. The Fae are a large number of people, a whole
world’s worth. We are a wide and varied people, but the majority of us do not,
as I do, shape shift. Our varied abilities caused…. Division between our
peoples and so the government felt it best to separate us. They gave us our own
realm in the Faewild, but as you can imagine, this is restricting. We are not
permitted to cross the border into the other Fae lands such as Caroann.”
    Molly struggled
to keep up as he continued, wishing she had a recorder so she could play it
back and piece together his words.
    “Of course, there
are only so many Fae in the Faewild, and inbreeding can taint and twist our
abilities. So, the government permitted us to cross over into the human world
to find mates.”
    Here Holly held
up a hand. “Wait. Wait, wait.” She needed a strong drink. “Why the human
world?”
    Cade smiled that
quick deadly charming smile again. “Of all the known worlds, it is the most
accepting of different races. Humans are also the race we Fae find most attractive
in otherworldly mates. This is perfectly showcased in your beautiful face and
body.”
    Pleasure flushed
in Molly that he thought that, but she forced herself to stay on track. “All
right, say I’m buying this. So how do you get into the human world and what
does my friend have to do with it all?”
    “As I mentioned
before, Alianore runs an otherworldly portal, a way to get into our world.” He
paused to rake a hand through his thick dark hair, a very human gesture. “As a
realmbinder, she’s very powerful, and also-”
    “Stop stop stop.”
Molly didn’t know if she could take in any more. “Let’s leave the mumbo jumbo
for now, shall we? Let’s skip to something I might have a chance of
understanding.” Her gaze drifted to his beautifully formed chest, down over the
taut, golden skin…
    She closed her
eyes. Don’t look. “Just tell me what
Lil said about me.”
    “She told me she
cared for you a great deal,” Cade explained, at length. “She wanted you to be
happy, and said you did not have a lot of… what’s the word you humans use… luck
with human men.”
    “Oh. Well.” Lost
for words now, Molly had to admit that Lil hadn’t been lying, at least not
then. “So is she… how does it work? I mean, the real world… this world..” she
pressed her hands to her head again, feeling that her brain might leak through
her ears if he continued to spout such fantastical tales.
    How could it be real?
    Cade knew what
she wanted to ask, even if she didn’t. “You might know about her pet rescue
centre?”
    “Yeah.” A little
more relaxed now things looked as if they might be explained clearer, Molly
inched closer to the couch. “In her house. What’s it called…Realmbound.” An odd
name, Molly