Change (The Shape Shifter Series) by Jennifer Loiske Read Free Book Online Page B

graceful-looking older woman who was embracing her tightly. That was her grandmother, she thought with pride. She didn't think of all those years her grandmother had decided to stay out of her life. She didn't remember the moments she had needed her. No, she only lived in this moment and let her eyes rest on the woman's brown hair, which gleamed in the sun. She looked so fragile, and yet Marie could see that there was strength in her. Her voice was as soft as the wind and yet it was full of steel. Her eyes were like warm, delicious chocolate, with an edge, so sharp and bright. Marie knew her grandmother could sense her watching, but she didn't turn to look at her and didn't seem bothered about her gaze.
    A slow smile spread across Marie's face and she leaned on Tiamhaidh. “Look at them,” she whispered. “Don't they look wonderful together?”
    Tiamhaidh nodded absentmindedly and looked quickly at Marie. She looked more like herself than she had for a long time. He looked at her again and knelt next to her wheelchair. “Are you all right, mo gaol?”
    She nodded. “I think so.”
    “You’re not feeling strange or something? Like a seizure coming?”
    She shook her head slowly and smiled. How could she explain the way she was feeling? Sure, she’d felt the suffocating hate around her and heard the mumbled protests, but somehow the presence of so many shape shifters had managed to lift the mist-veil in her head and she felt better than she had in months. Actually, she was pretty sure that if she tried she could reach his mind again. Maybe not fully, but at least partly, and after weeks of isolation even a little would be enough. However, Tiamhaidh was looking at her with such concern that she didn’t want to shock him or herself, in case their mind connection wouldn’t work after all.
    Tiamhaidh looked at Sofia strangely, and their eyes met. Slowly, she broke away from her mother's arms and looked at Marie. At first she didn't notice anything different, but when she took a closer look she noticed that the lost look in her eyes had disappeared. They looked clear and observant. Healthy, Sofia thought. Had the healing already started? Was it this place or these people who made it happen? She smiled brightly. Marie's forest-green eyes gleamed slightly yellow, and Sofia blessed Adam in her mind. He was the first to notice the strange color in Marie's eyes. It was his thought that she might change a bit every time a seizure hit her. But Marie was fine now. Even though her eyes were not completely human. She wasn't convulsing and there were no signs of a seizure. Maybe she is like me after all, Sofia thought. Maybe she is a shape shifter and belongs here. Her children were the first ever to be born out of an alliance between a human and a shape shifter, so no one knew what they were or what they could become. Clarissa had become a shape shifter, so why couldn't Marie? Even now as Marie was surrounded by hostile shape shifters, she looked like she belonged. A fragile young girl in a wheelchair whose hands were trembling in excitement and whose slightly wolfish eyes glanced around expectantly.
    Sofia took a step towards her, but Tiamhaidh shook his head slightly. Sofia was confused. But when Tiamhaidh nodded in Marie's direction, she stopped. Marie was looking around with wondering eyes like she had never seen the world before. Tiamhaidh was right. This was her moment. Sofia would have plenty of time later to introduce her world to Marie.
                 
    Marie hadn't expected that a meeting of two completely different worlds would be easy, but as it was her only chance to survive, she was ready to face anything if it could help her. She couldn't get why she felt such a strong bond with this place. She had missed this. These people and this place. Even if she hadn't known them before, she had missed this. Erag and Isabel had started things the wrong way, but Marie didn't mind. They were probably just protecting