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She was panting heavily, feeling as if her muscles were screaming
and yet with all the pain, her mind was blank. Pacing the cage and
feeling the tiny room compress her lungs, she looked around, golden
eyes wild as she sought a way out.
Dimly, she could hear the men speak behind the enclosed walls.
“She’s fast, and fabulous. If we could test her out on the other
creatures, we’ll be able to gauge her abilities. She’s still young, you
can tell even in animal form because she’s not even a young adult yet.
But she’s strong, and quick.” Someone observed.
“It’s too early. The other animals would kill her if they had the
chance.”
“But imagine, if she survived…”
“I’m not willing to risk the pup yet, not when we have the parents.
Have you figured out why from two pure bred shape shifters, she’s a
different species?”
“It must be something to do with the blood ties, something primal.”
“Primal.” The disgust filtered through the haze, and she sat there, her
tail rubbing against the edge of the walls, testing for weakness. “How
long will the parents survive?”
“Only as long as this one knows how to control her shifting ability.”
Her tail stilled, and a human mind came out, fighting. What?
“Once she’s capable of controlling her self, and once we determine the
extent of her abilities, they’re just collateral.”
Once she… what?
Something shifted inside her, slowly. A crunching of bones and a
locking of muscle and it was enough that alarms rang inside her cage.
“Shit! What’s happening?”
“I don’t know sir!”
“Well, go and find out!”
Quickly, too quickly she was shifting back into human form, but her
body was exhausted and she couldn’t quite control her actions. It was
as if someone else was shifting for her, and as she felt bones and
tissue lock into place, muscles compress and organs shrink into
different sizes, and the noise about her.
She was so, tired.
And when she woke up, the cage was larger, and her limbs smoother.
And she knew she was human.
With sinking dread, she knew she wouldn’t shift back, either.
At least, for a very long time.
They took to calling her golden eyes, because she was the only with
with those odd, feline eyes. The shifter trapped in a form unwilling to
move back. They never kept their promise. After realizing that she was
of no use to them, they pushed her harder as a human being, exploiting
her keener senses. They killed her parents off as well, she knew it the
moment they stepped into her cell, and smelt blood.
Everything within her died that day.
She didn’t want to go through it again.
