Change (original 1975; edition 1975)

Selena Christian has spent her whole life concealing her talents from ordinary humans. When she was a young child, her parents helped her, but after their untimely death, Selena was left to fend for herself on the streets. Through luck or happenstance, Selena grew up to a be a beautiful young woman, but then she was caught and imprisoned. Left alone in a small cell with nothing to do and no one to talk to, Selena was anxious and eager when Mark Curien first started visiting her. Before long, Mark's visits were the highlight of Selena's day and she told him everything. After all, what did it matter if she confessed to be exactly what they said she was, she was as good as dead anyway. Then Mark stopped coming and Selena discovered that he was a lawyer for the prosecution and would be her enemy in her trial. Selena determined to hate Mark for as long as she was alive, even after she discovered that he was a spy and saved her life by transporting her off of Earth to a faraway planet called Change.
Change was the last hope for most humans with psychic powers, but Selena did not let herself relax her guard among her fellow paranormals and resisted making friends. She allowed them to study her and test her reactions in exchange for a home of her own and a chance to work with her beloved horses. But when a strange alien with powerful abilities lands on the planet, no one knows what to do. Only Selena, with her talent with animals, dares to approach the creature and return with it to its home planet. There she discovers the creatures she has been