Chap. 1

Only my characters and plot belong to me. Everything else belongs to SM.

Chap one

*Bella's POV*

It didn't matter if the sun went down, people were still out. Even if it was eleven o'clock at night. People screamed profanities among other things as I darted past them. I was running for my life and it was just a nuisance that so many were in my way!

"Get out of the way!" The animal control officer shouted at the people in front of me. "It might attack you!"

I would never! And I'm not an 'It'. I'm just a teenage girl that turns into all kinds of different animals. Well actually I'm more commonly known as a shapeshifter. Any animal I come across I can shift into. Doesn't matter the size.

The animal control officer was huffing and puffing, trying to keep up with my speed.Good luck on that, I thought as I ducked into an alley that I knew lead out into the next street. Just as I was about to emerge from the alley one of those dog catchers things looped around my neck, choking me as I was pulled back.

Acting on pure instinct I twisted and roared my defiance at being captured.

"Calm down!" Someone shouted at me. "Tranquilize it."

Something pricked my hip, causing me to buck and twist again. Then my vision started to go blurry. Just as I was about to pass out I turned and found a tranquilizer dart with a red tip stuck in my hip.

Damn humans. All I wanted to do was go for a quick run. I hadn't shifted in so long I was getting uncomfortable in my skin! And then some stupid human had to scream and call it in that they saw a huge cat running through their back yard.

I stumbled. The ground looked so inviting all of a sudden. No sooner had I said that then I was on the ground. My eyes closed and darkness surrounded me.

***

Everything was blurry when I opened my eyes. Nothing came into focus right away and my thoughts were slow. Then memories came back.Being chased and caught. I was in a large metal cage and sitting on a cat bed. Water and cat food sat in dishes a few feet away. After the water was gone I stretched and thought about my next move. My mother and father were both shifters so that made me a pure blood shifter. There weren't many of us left.

I sighed. My mother said that if I ever was caught and taken to a shelter I was to shift into a puppy, it would confuse the shelter people and they would place me in with the adorable puppies. Once there I would shift into an old weenier dog so when my mom can looking for me she would know who to look for.

She was going to be so pissed.

I sat around for an hour and then my ears perked up at the sound of footsteps coming to my cage. A mans face came into view. He wore a shocked look then disappeared only to reappear moments later with a clipboard.

"But. . .what the hell happened to the bobcat?" He furiously looked around but finding no help he shrugged and unlocked my cage. I wiggled in his grasp, not liking to be manhandled. He unlocked another cage that held three other pups with plenty of space for a fourth.

"In you go little one." He walked off and I shifted. The pups looked at me but didn't come near. Sensing that I was something different.

A day passed and I was starting to get very hungry. But no way was I going to eat dog food. No matter how much the shelter people begged.

And then I heard the most wonderful sound. My mothers voice. The dogs started to whine and bark, hoping she would take them home instead.

"Yes, I just want a small dog." She answered whoever she was talking to. My mother walked up to my cage and belt down looking me straight in the eye. That only meant one thing; she was mad as hell.

I whimpered and looked down.

"I'll take this one right here." The car ride was silent and she opened the car door and then the front door for me. Once inside the yelling started.

"What were you thinking?! You could've gotten killed. Do you know how worried I was?"

Phil must not have been home. He didn't know about what we were. Phil was my mother second husband. They met and it was 'love' at first sight. My parents divorced when I was ten and they haven't seen each other since.

"Mom-" She cut me off.

"I'm tired of all this shit! I'm sending you to your fathers. Arizona is no place for a shifter Bella! In Washington they have lots of forest you can run in without being discovered and caught. Since it seems that I can't keep you from shifting."

I was speechless. Why was she doing this to me? Sure it would be safer but come on! I belonged in Arizona. I loved sunlight! It was always raining and cloudy in Washington so that means my tan would go away and leave me pasty white.

I opened my mouth to argue but she held up a hand.

"That is my final word. I bought your plane ticket a few days ago. What happened yesterday only confirms that you have to go and live with your father. I'm not budging on this so sick it up." With a toss of her long brown hair she stomped past me and up the stairs.

Not letting her get the last words I screamed up to her."This isn't fair!"

She didn't respond.

***

A week later I was in Spokane, Washington with my father Charlie.

"So. . . I enrolled you into the local high school." My father mumbled.

My father, despite being in his forties, still had a full head of hair and bulging biceps. Our genes made it impossible to gain fat, no matter how much we ate. And we ate a lot. Muscle was the only thing we gained.I didn't mind though.

"Thanks."

We didn't talk much and I didn't have anything much to say to a father I rarely ever see.

Charlie pulled into a driveway that lead to a two story house.

"I bought you a queen size bed and a new computer." Charlie said as he set one of my suit cases on said bed.

"Thanks." I said again. "You didn't have to." He just shrugged, which was fine with me. He left me to my privacy and I was grateful. Clothes went into the closet and the few belongings I had with me went onto the desk and bedside drawer.

Even if it was suppose to make me feel somewhat comfortable to have my belongings around me, it didn't.

"Bella." Charlie called from downstairs. He was sitting on the couch in the living room that had miss matched furniture. I loved it right away.

"Yeah?"

"I wanted you to go to school on the La Push reservation but they don't allow inter-district students so I just enrolled you into the local one here. They're other shifters on the res." he paused, letting this all sink in. I've never met another shifter beside my mom and dad. "You remember Jacob Black? He's Billy Black'a son." I nodded my head, images of mud pies and playing tag with a little tan boy running through my mind.

"We'll he's a werewolf shifter. He can't shift into anything else. There's a whole pack up there. If you want to get to know them then feel free." Again I nodded and I guess that was a cue for Charlie to turn the volume back up on the tv, our little chat done with so I ran back upstairs.

With nothing else to do I surfed the net until a knock on the door told me Charlie wanted something else.

"Yes?" I called.

"I'm going to sleep. You can take my truck tomorrow, I'm catching a ride with someone to work. Keys are on the table. Night."

"Night dad." Charlie was a contractor who built all kinds of things for people. Made good money, too.The sudden thought of going to school tomorrow made me sigh in annoyance. Being the new girl in a small town was not my ideal of fun.

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Yours S.A.