Immortal Becoming by Wendy S. Hales

tighten in fear. Too many emotions were battling for supremacy on her beautiful face.
    “You want to sit down?” Shane took a seat on the sofa, patting the spot next to him.
    She took one of the chairs opposite him instead. How badly had he fucked this up? She wouldn’t even sit next to him. He could see her rising terror.
    “She vanished, Shane. Poof. Gone. How did she do that?” Her voice had risen in pitch.
    Shane determined the only way through this was going to be brutal honesty. “She didn’t vanish, Jess. She ported. The same way you have been doing for years in your dreams.” He paused to let his words sink in.
    “Okay, then explain to me how she could be fifty-two years old.” She was steeling herself. Shane was grateful.
    “Elven mature slower than you did. They mature slower than humans too. There are two different races in the Volaticus species. Elven, like me, and Hulven, which is what you are, Beauty.”
    “Jesus. How much weird shit is out there?” she half-joked, a deflection mechanism Shane was quickly becoming familiar with. He could see her heart pounding in the vein in her neck. Her shield was unstable. She was shaken. She hadn’t attempted to run … yet.
    Giving her an encouraging smile, he continued. “You are a hybrid between Elven and human. Have you ever heard of a liger—half tiger, half lion?” She nodded hesitantly. “One of your parents was full Elven, and the other would have to be either a Hulven, like you,” adding emphasis so she could get used to the term, “or one of the rare human females who has the genetics to be able to breed with an Elven male. We call them Heredity.”
    “Holy shit, I really am a freak of nature.” Tears sprung into her eyes.
    “You are prefect, damn it. You ever say anything like that again and I will put you over my knee and spank your sweet little ass till you like it. You understand me?” Shane’s dentes had erupted. How could she even think such a thing? She was the greatest gift ever created.
    Jess swallowed audibly, lifting her chin and squaring her shoulders. He sat in awe, watching her fortify herself. Freak of nature she’d called herself. Never. She was a force of nature.
    “That Hulven thing is not possible. I knew both of my parents. My mother was like me. She and I could telepathically communicate for as long as I can remember. My father, no way.” She was shaking her head, trying to dismiss the idea.
    Shane glanced at her hands, which were wringing in her lap, the only outward sign of her agitation. He’d known this argument would come up. “I have been thinking on that. I don’t think the man you know is your biological father.” Using the vulnerability of her shield, he tried to hedge the probability into her mind.
    “Stop that!” she snapped, responding to his mental prod and not liking it. Her shield solidified, shutting him out. “God, just give me a minute.” She stood and marched to the stone entry. “Open it,” she demanded.
    He emphasized the pulse of kinetic energy, letting her feel the sensation of the surge. The stone slid forward and to the side slightly.
    “Just send a mental command, it opens.” Shane said.
    She looked back at the door and it moved slightly at her wordless command. She gave a soft intake of breath. “Holy shit,” she muttered under her breath. She started to walk out and then turned back. “I’m sorry. This isn’t about you. I can call you later if you want me to, but I gotta go.” Her eyes were tormented.
    Shane longed to pull her into his arms. To rage against the emotional distance that formed between them. She wasn’t a prisoner. He had to let her leave. Still he hesitated, silently pleading with her to stay. She turned to walk out.
    She shouldn’t have learned of her racial heritage that way. I am such an asshole, he thought, dying inside. Every cell screamed to possess, to protect, and to make her accept him. The stone softly closed behind her, under her command this