Chapter one

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Living four years of your life with the exact same routine every day will send some mad. There are times I fear that is where I'm headed. Maybe I'm already there and just don't know it.

I get up, run with the herd, eat grass, run with the herd again, eat more grass, and then sleep. Every single day. It gets lonely, sometimes unbearable. Having not spoken to a human for so long is hard. Even though I am able to communicate with the mustangs in my herd, it's just not the same. I love them, I do. It's just not right for a shifter to be alone for so long. We need, no... require being with others like ourselves.

The last time I had shifted to my human form was...whoa, months ago. It just kept reminding me of a former life which I could never return to. The one I mourn every day. I miss my family unbearably since the roundup. At least they had left this world quick and painless. More than I can say for others.

Shifting has its benefits, but of course must be balanced with the negative side of things, thus when hunters enter into the equation. I don't understand why they can't leave us be. It's not as though we're harming anyone. Some stupid superstition that we're planning an attack to overthrow the human race. They say we're not natural and should never have been born. Some people believe so strongly of this, that they kill us on the spot, not bothering to check for spectators. Going to jail is apparently worth our lives.

Humans do occasionally stumble upon us. Very rarely though, about once or twice a year. Mainly just tourists and anglers who venture this deep through the dense forest to our clearing. Each time I see them, I debate if I should shift and change into my torn, hidden clothing from the forest that I hid there long ago. All just to have the opportunity to converse with a human, to be in their atmosphere. To feel connected to the half of me that has been disconnected for so long.

Then the common sense comes through, thanks to Skylar. She would always echo the realism of the situation in my head, things like, "We can't shift, Sonyadore, they could be hunters." Or, "Shifting does not sit well with the humans, Sonyadore. You will scare them and cause them to flee." As true as her words may be, it still hurts to come to terms with my life now. It used to be so much better. I wish we were never in the clearing that day; none of this would have happened.

I have become more mustang than human over the years. So much, that fleeing is always the easier option; it's brought out my natural instinct. I've become a fight or flight animal.

I raise my head from grazing on a patch of grass, to overlook the other horses that surround me. They're all grazing or resting under the low-hanging sun that is radiating a beautiful warmth. Deciding to take this as an opportunity, I head off to the thin stream that flows through the thick forest. My herd and I always come back to this beautiful field and forest when the grass is replenished. I just wish I could enjoy it more without all these negative thoughts racing through my mind.

I swivel my body through the many trees of the forest that I have come to call my home. Soon after, I reach the stream. I stare into the clear water, wondering how this became my life; trying to make sense of it all. I already know how though, deep down in a dark place.

My reflection is a welcomed distraction. A fully black Arabian mare stares back at me with a white star on her forehead, along with a long black mane and forelock. I'm the only fully black horse in the herd. It's not a bad thing; it's just another detail that makes me different from everyone else here.

At times, I get sick of being so unique. Of being the only horse in the herd with my ability. I'm sick of not being able to fit in completely. As the years go by, I hope and pray that I will find another like me, that I can still build a shifter family. What I pray for every single day, is to find my mate. Once, if, that happens, everything will be okay; I know it will.

Yeah, my herd is my family, but it's not the same. We may look the same whilst I'm in this form, but we're still different species. Kaleesi is the closest one I have to hold onto. She is the head of the herd, along with Dyras, our head stallion. Kaleesi has become my adoptive mother of sorts, after everything that had happened to my family. I've known her all my life, she is...was a friend of the family. Can't really call it a family if there is only one member, can you?

The other horses know that I'm a shifter, and I thank them for they understanding. They're not threatened or feel any different towards me than the rest of the herd. Mainly because they know who I am, that I am most definitely not like the other humans. The ones that come out here to kill the mustang. I've never fully understood why they did that, even being half-human, I just can't comprehend it. We stay our distance from them, why can't they stay their distance from us? I thought my only threat in life were shifter hunters when it turns out I have to be afraid of mustang hunters in these parts too.

I snort in frustration, causing ripples to emerge on the water's surface. I watch as each one grows, being quickly replaced by the one behind it. There are not enough mustangs to replenish the numbers lost from hunters and poachers. One day... we'll all be gone. Right beside the shifter species. Not just horses, but also other forms of shifters, like the wolf-shifters, cougar-shifters, dog-shifters, and every other species. That's a huge population. It will be genocide.

"We better head back," whispers Skylar, in my head.

"Okay," I say with a shaky sigh, returning the telepathy.

I don't want to leave such a quiet, peaceful place. I turn away from the rippling water, and reluctantly head off, towards the herd and the large mountain shadowing behind them.

Screams and shrieks of whinnies echo harshly through the forest, uprooting birds from the trees. My heart beats against my ribs and I take off, begging and praying that I make it back it time. Please, not again. I push my body to race through the maze of trees, ignoring the branches reaching out and nipping at my skin. This can't happen again. I should have stayed with the herd. I should have stayed.

The sight of the clearing finally breaks through and I tear through the lining of trees, halting as the sight unfolds beyond me, taken over by fear. I see mares and their foals running in all directions. Running from the men on horses.

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