Torie

Chapter 3

Torie POV

The shift as always was painless however as soon as I was back on my swan form my other half wanted to take over and run away. Gasps rang out from the boys around me as I extended my wings, or tried to, my left wing sent a stab of pain through me when I tried to move it.

I looked at the boys, Romeo and Peter Pan were standing up again. They were all staring at me, open mouths. I shook myself and just looked back at them. Why were they so surprised? One of them had turned into a wolf so me turning into a swan wasn't that different, right?

Another shot rang out and I winced as my body jerked and my wing sent more pain through me.

This seem to snap everyone back to reality. Without taking this eyes off of me Romeo started giving the others orders.

"Gustav and Peter, go find out who is shooting, if it's not one of ours get rid of them." he said in a commanding voice and they both moved at once going into the forest.

"Adrian head back and find Doc, we're going to need him. I'll stay with her until the others get back." Adrian nodded and with one last look at me he turned and headed back down stream.

Romeo stood there for a minute and then sat down with his legs crossed so I sat down with my feet tucked under me. We stared at each other for a few minutes in silence then he tilted his head sideways and sniffed the air, a look of confusion came over him.

"What are you?" he asked me softly. His deep voice calmed my human half but at the same time made my swan want to run away from him. We knew he wasn't human either. My other half was still on alert but had calmed down once the others had left. One wolf was less of a threat than four.

"You smell like nothing other than a duck-" I grunted and hissed at him. I was offended, I was no duck! I was a swan! There's a difference!

I frowned as I realized then I had just gotten offended but I wasn't entirely sure why, in the back of my head I had the notion that this had happened before but I couldn't remember when or with who.

"Sorry" he said lifting his hand up and bringing my attention back to him "Umm you are a... umm swan?" he asked and I nodded. This made his lips twitch up into a tiny smile.

"So you are a swan shifter?" he asked and I wasn't sure what to say. Yes I could shift from human to swan and back but no one had ever called me a "swan shifter" or had they?

The more I tried to remember the more I realized I didn't know, something was very wrong. My other half immediately started trying to calm me down and just like that, peace washed over me. She could always calm me down no matter how freaked out or stressed I was, that much I was sure of.

I looked back at Romeo and realized he was still waiting for an answer and I nodded to him since I could shift to a swan so calling me a swan shifter made sense.

Romeo looked thoughtful now.

"I don't think I had ever heard of a swan shifter before, I've heard of many other kinds but never a swan."

I huffed. Well I had never heard of any other kind of shifter so there, we were even.

Before I could start questioning myself again my other half calmed my thought and I let it go, no need to stress about what I didn't know, right?

"Can you fly?" he asked curiously and when I nodded his eyes filled with wonder but before he could say anything else a rustle sounded behind us and we both tensed up.

A man walked out of the bushes from our right, he was carrying a long shotgun and was dressed in what looked like camo hunting gear. He looked to be on his late 40's early 50's and seemed to be in good shape. Romeo stood up, his shoulders tense.