Being Both

Prologue

It was nearly twelve o'clock and people started pouring into my mothers restaurant. For this area it was quite a large restaurant and my family had managed to establish a good name over the years. New visitors to our city were always being advised to come to us. Naturally, all the staff were moving at full speed, manouvering between the dark wooden chairs and tables like they were proffesional racers.

I was one of them. Smiling I would talk to our guests and then almost run off with another order or about to get the bill. No human would have noticed the slight differences between my fellow waitresses and me, but to any shapeshifter I did look different. My exceptionally long legs and slim figure stood out when compared to my collegues. In addition to how I moved and the yellow glow my eyes had at a certain angle led most of them to my cat-heritage. Usually that would be the moment they'd suddenly stop watching me since staring wasn't just impolite to humans, but a sign of possible aggression to cats. It was something I struggled with during my first couple of weeks of working at my mother's restaurant, but I'd learned to recognise the differences in behaviour when my mother taught me to see the guests as the animal that they were (in the best way that this sentence could be understood).

For instance, the middle aged man that was currently watching me. I'd seen him walking in as a human, then focused on the type of shifter he was and recognised him as one of the wolves that visited the eastern hotel of my pack's lands. The wolves posture was curious and relaxed and so I got back to doing my job, with a knowing smile on my face. Later he would likely ask me about my heritage and how i'd come to live with a pack of wolves, but I left it to the guests to ask.

I was a bit of a rarity, because I hadn't grown up in the community that most shifters expected. My mother and I were lynx shapeshifters living with my father's pack of wolves called the Limestone pack. It was the only pack in the world that had made itself known for it's diplomatic relationships towards all other shifer communities.

Four hotels had been built in the cardinal directions in order to host four different shifter communities at a time without having them too close to each other. The gates have been open ever since and from what I know no one's regretted the decision to open them. Many shifters have found their mates while visiting and therefore the four hotels were always booked out for months in advance.

My mother had been one of the unmated shifters to come and visit many years ago. When she met my father they both struggled to adjust to their different race. And as it was not commonly seen my father's pack also had to adjust to my mother. But my parents had been the proof to our alpha that it was possible and that he had done the right thing by becoming diplomatic.

Lunch went by quickly and before I knew it, my shift was over and my mother told me to pack up by looking at the clock with a raised eyebrow. She was head chef in our kitchen and despite always being busy, she still managed to coordinate all the waitresses.
I was just about to follow her silent order when the door to our restaurant opened and somthing in the air changed. I felt like it was hard to breathe and turned towards the door to see what had caused the sudden change.

A tall dark haired man stood in the frame, staring at me. As he came closer to me I was lost to the world around me. I felt my heart starting to race and lazily wondered if I was still breathing. It didn't seem very important though.

"Breathe." A deep voice washed over me and my body complied without thinking. The voice seemed worried and yet it sent goosebumps down my back. I lazily noticed that this was a truly handsome man standing before me and maybe that should have meant something to me, but I could not think straight enough to find out what.

"Her shift is over now, but if you'd like I can take care of you." I heard a female voice close to me and without knowing what I was doing I hissed at her loudly. My mind could'nt manage to make sense of the scene unfolding before my eyes, but when her eyes widened in surprise I realised I was close to shifting. What in all the territories was going on with me?
Instantly I stopped hissing and was already halfway out the door when I heard his voice again.