Start Living Now

That was the first time I had ever Shifted. I got better as time went on. I quickly discovered that I could outrun just about anything, which made me good at patrolling the perimeter of our people’s land.

I spent most of my time with Niko. He taught me everything I know; how to hunt, how to defend yourself, the reason why I was able to Shift, everything. We never left each other’s side.

He explained that for generations, our people had been able to Shift because the Great Spirits blessed our Ancestors long ago. They gave us the power to protect our people, and our land from the cold ones and the pale faces. I was never directly told what exactly the cold ones were, but just their description reminded me of vampires. I laughed about it when I told Niko, but he didn’t. But then again, if there were such things as Shapeshifters, vampires more than likely existed as well. Niko explained that it was our duty to follow in our Ancestor’s footsteps, and protect our people and our land from anything that threatened it.

Overtime, the pack grew. It started out with just me and Niko, but by the time I had been Shifting for about four months, the pack had nine other members.

Elijah was the next one to Shift. A quick-minded, sandy brown-haired kid, Elijah was the only living example, in my opinion, of someone who had both brain and brawn. His coat was the same color as his hair when in his wolf Form, and he was almost as big as Niko.

After Elijah came Xavier, the second-oldest of the bunch. He was only two weeks younger than Niko. Xavier was different. He was always happy, even though he was basically alone; both his parents had died when he was still in single digits, and his grandparents didn’t exactly have all their marbles, if you know what I mean. He was pretty fast, and once I took him under my wing, he became an excellent scout. While in his wolf Form, Xavier was small, but he was still lethal. Whenever he would fight, the only thing you could see was the blur of his golden coat as he pulverized his enemy.

Sara was next. Then the twins, Jackson and Kenai. All three of them were siblings. They bickered constantly, so they usually were placed away from each other when patrolling around the territory. The only difference between them in their wolf Forms was that Sara was smaller, and Jackson’s coat was slightly browner than the rest of them.

Then there was Memdi, who was honestly the bitterest person I’ve ever met. Oh well, her name fit her personality I guess. She was always so pessimistic, but realistic about things at the same time. She was good at counseling, and had a pure white coat when she was a wolf.

Soon after, Yuma came along. He was a charmer, that one. A pure ladies man. But he was also sincere, and respectful of others. He was also VERY strong. He had a tawny-brown coat as a wolf. And, besides me, Yuma was the only one who was able to Shift into two Forms. He was able to turn into a stag with unnaturally large antlers, which proved to be very helpful, because he could pin just about anything down for long periods of time without hurting himself. He was my closest friend. Yuma was always there for me, for as long as I can remember. I rarely went anywhere without him, and vice versa, much to Niko’s dismay.

The last two members of the pack were the youngest. Pauchu’a and Tapti were brother and sister. They were the great-great-grandchildren of Elder Songan. But oddly enough, they didn’t have any trace of Alpha blood in them. Anyway, they were always eager to please, and were great at scouting and chasing. Both of them had light-grey coats while in their wolf Forms.

I don’t know why I thought about my old pack so much. I guess it was so that I could remember their strengths and weaknesses, so that I could predict what Niko’s next move would be. Of course, the pack grew to have four more members, but I never met them because their stay was so short; I can't even remember their names. They all came with her- my “sister.”I promised myself that I would kill her, even if it was the last thing I did while in this world. She was the reason why I have nothing. Why Niko isn’t mine anymore. I hated her with every fiber of my being.

But I refused to think about that now, about the day my life fell apart. Right now, the only important thing was escaping, and getting to Juneau. The tribe there would be able to help me find a safe place to stay until I could recover and plan my revenge. The bumps, cuts, bite marks, and bruises I had gotten from the night I escaped were starting to heal; there were a lot, so that’s why it took longer to heal. But I was worried about my tailbone; it felt broken, and seeing as how I haven’t been able to properly look at it, I couldn’t tell for sure. And that is a very important bone for Shapeshifters! It’s our center of balance for all our Forms. It didn’t hurt too badly, but still, you never know.

Four hours later, I was just outside of Forks. I figured it’d be safer traveling around there than going directly into Quileute territory. There were plenty of woods around here, so for the most part, I didn’t even encounter any humans. The woodland animals pretty much left me alone.

I had just passed the property of an older couple, and was pretty sure I was near the outskirts of the town, when I smelled it. That distinct smell of Shapeshifters. But they smelled different, more woodsy, I guess. It was a good smell, and I would’ve stuck around to find out where it was coming from, if I hadn’t been on the run, and so close to the channel between Washington and Canada.

I started to run. Fast. I could smell one getting closer and closer. And then I heard him. Oh it was a guy, for that I was sure. He reeked of testosterone. I ran faster. I past another house. And another. And another, until-

BANG!

The clear sound of a gunshot ran through the air. It made me pause, hesitate. If there were people shooting around here, and I was being chased by another Shapeshifter, who was getting closer and closer, I really couldn’t get caught. By then, there was another male Shapeshifter behind me. Great, now I have two guys to get off my tail. So, I went around the shooters, trying to find a stream to get rid of my scent. I went around as far as I could without going too close to the town.

Or so I thought.

BANG!

“Jesse! Watch out! It’s a bear! Or a wolf! Get down!” The sound of an elderly man defending his grandson, maybe?

BANG!

A bullet whizzed past my head.

Oh, yeah, definitely defending his grandson. Good enough for me. That’s my cue to go.