PROLOGUE – GREGORY
An eagle? Flying around this late at night?
I am perched on a tree branch in my owl form. It’s my last chance to shift before I start a few day journey with my father. I have been out here for hours, mostly flying. After a while, I landed for a rest. I revel in my time as an owl, there is so much to see in the forest at night. Things I would never have experienced if I could not have shifted. I love watching the forest come alive with nocturnal animals.
I needed a reprieve from the growing stress of my daily life. My father is getting older and as his heir, more and more is falling on my shoulders. He is doing his best to teach me and my siblings all we need to know before he dies, which shouldn’t be for a long while. There is just so much to learn, he is cramming a lifetime's worth of knowledge into a few years.
Something that is never far for my mind is the fact that I will never be able to govern in my father’s place if people found out what I was. This is why I rarely shift and take the utmost caution when I do. I never risk doing it when traveling, as I can never be sure who is around. Keeping my secret is the only way I can keep my life the way it is. If people found out, at best I would be disowned and ran out of town. At worst, I would be killed.
A person would wonder why I even risk it, why shift at all? It’s an obvious answer, my ability to shift is my favorite part of myself. I feel perfectly in control when I am flying through the skies. I am always happy and complete when I am out here, thus I can never stop. Never shifting again would be worse than death.
I am pulled out of my thoughts when I noticed the eagle stumble as it lands in the center of the clearing. Eagles are rarely out at night and they are typically more graceful than this. Its behavior seems strange, which could mean only one thing – it’s a shifter.
I am frozen in place, I have never encountered another shifter. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only one in the area.
What could they be doing here? Most importantly, who are they?
My thoughts are interrupted when suddenly the eagle is a young woman – a very petite and shapely young woman. Her nakedness is expected, as no shifters can change back with their clothes on but that knowledge does nothing to lessen the shock of seeing all of her.
She just changed, out there in the wide open. Anyone could have been watching. That is far braver, or far dumber than anything I would be willing to do. It makes me wonder why she shifted without taking proper precautions? Could she be in trouble? What sort of trouble could she bring here?
I stay where I am, watching her with questioning eyes as she stumbles to a tree near me and collapses at its base.
I am curious what brought her here. I am terrified of what it could result in. The fear of shifters run deep, even with me being one. You just never know what you are going to get.
Keeping my eyes on her, I make sure she hasn’t moved for a quarter an hour, then I figure it’s safe to get closer. Being an owl has its perks, excellent night vision and the ability to blend into the forest. I land on the tree above her and get my first good look at the eagle-shifter and I am ashamed to say I thought all the wrong thoughts.
I should be thinking of ways to run her out of town. Of ways to use my knowledge of her identity against her. I should be thinking of anything other than how gorgeous she is. Her body is easily the most magnificent one I have ever seen.
Her body is curvy in all the right places, at least the parts of it I can see. She is curled on her side, so I can see the rise of her hips, where it joins with her thin stomach, only to be interrupted by the ample curve of her breast. I can see the silhouette of her shapely backside. Her arm is tantalizing draped over her front, joining with her other arm to make herself a pillow. The arm covers most of her breast, but it does nothing to hide the ampleness of the size, as I can still see plenty. The parts of her breast I cannot see are the most intriguing. I can’t see her nipple, only a hint of the soft pink color. It is doing wonders to my imagination.
It’s a good thing I am in my animal form, if I was a man right now, I don’t think I would have the self-control not to curl up right next to her. To explore her body and have her open up for me. To see all the parts that are currently hidden.
And with a sudden realization, I feel disgusted with myself. She is asleep, likely running from something and in danger. She is vulnerable and I am spying on her naked body. I am allowing myself to imagine doing wild, sexual things with her and I hate myself for it. I try to blame the animal part of me for being so primal, but I know it’s a weak excuse.
I know I must leave. I can’t trust myself to be alone with her anymore. I want to wake her up and see where that would take us. I cannot trust myself to keep looking at her naked form and not do anything reckless. I am letting her nakedness distract me from the danger she poses to me and to my town. The best thing I can do is leave and hope is that she wakes up to fly away and continue wherever she was going.
As beautiful as she is, I cannot have the complication of a shifter in my town.
Flying away, I take a final mental memory of her asleep beneath the tree, looking like a goddess of the forest. I can’t decide if I hope it’s the last time I see her or the first time.