Prologue
My species is special, or different, than the human race. And no, I am not a werewolf. Shapeshifters… well, we shift our shapes. We can shift into any kind of animal, one animal per person. This trait of what we shift into is hereditary.
If we were werewolves, our families would be considered “the pack”, but we aren’t werewolves, thank God for that. Those… animals are haughty and pretentious all of the time. I mean, just because everyone always writes about them doesn’t mean people don’t notice us. Shifters are way different than wolves. Okay, maybe we are a little alike, but only because some shifters turn into wolves. This similarity stands alone. Our personalities are different... well, semi-different, because most shifters are friendly to all species, but not to werewolves. Anyways, back to my type of animal.
As children, we are human. We grow at the same rate that humans do. Growth of shifters changes when we shift into our certain animal. This is when our puberty also comes, so we know the year that we shift. Mainly the change and puberty happens for girls through 13 and 15 years of age. For the guys, they are between the ages 12 and 14. Shapeshifters' puberties always happen at the beginning of the year, that way you always know when the shift comes. The shift happens the same year the puberty hits on our birthdays.
In the world of shapeshifters, mates can be with different animals. But the children always come out with the mothers or fathers animal, never both. The male, when he turns sixteen, will find his mate. The female never gets that privilege. Of course, whoever made up this crappy system was a sexist pig, a.k.a., a man.
When it’s the sixteenth birthday of a guy, all his mate can do to know that the guy is her mate is look in his eyes or have their skin touch. The male counterpart will be able to smell the sweetest scent of her, have dreams to know where she is, and will be able to feel the pull to their mate. It may seem like I don’t like mates, but I do. I really like the idea of mating, and having someone to rely on forever. It’s just unfair that they know who their mate is before the girls do. But if female shifters don’t find their mate before they are eighteen, they will have the same signs that the males have.
In reality, for me, it was different. I am a girl, but I found out who my mate was before I was eighteen. In fact, it was even before I was sixteen. I was only eight when I found out who my mate was. It was his birthday, his sixteenth. We are eight years apart. It was a very shocking discovery that we both had. Of course, he didn’t realize that I knew. I was only eight, so it’s only natural that I don’t know. But I didn’t tell anyone and neither did he, yet.
When my puberty started, I never shifted. Everyone thought I was human, which is kind of impossible, but that is what people thought. They still accepted me though. I did end up shifting, but when I did, at the age of sixteen, major events happened.
I’m Payton Fautknight, I am the first multi-shifter, and this is the story of the impossible.
