She opened the door to the stall furthest away from the main door. Kataya sat on the seat, pulling her knees up to her chest. Tears streamed down her face. Hiru wasn’t always like that. There was a time when he was the kindest of them all. They used to play together all the time. Their parents were together a lot when she was a toddler. She couldn’t fathom what had changed and why he acted more like a jerk than before. The bathroom door opened. A group of girls came inside cackling. “Did you see her face?” “Did you see that unsightly ass?” “I can’t believe she even came to school. I wouldn’t have if I knew I was shifterless.” They quieted down. One spoke in a whisper. “Didn’t she run into this bathroom?” One of the girls started pushing the doors in to check each stall. She got to the last one and smirked. “Aw, Kat, feeling ashamed that she showed the entire school her lower half.” The other girls snickered. “Who knew you were such a slut! I’m glad I’m not as easy as you are.” S
Kataya knew what was going on before the teachers did. Immediately, she kneeled in front of him to soothe him. “Ari?” She spoke softly while touching his hair. “Ari King, you’ll cause the change to happen before your body is ready. Remember, Ms. Tanis says we have to remain calm? We can’t continue to let our emotions get the better of us?” He unfurled his hands from around the arm of the chair and breathed out. His shoulders relaxed. Ari King kept his eyes closed until the rush of anger subsided. He looked immediately at Kataya. A tiny tug nagged at the depths of his heart. “I’m alright Kat.” Ari King wasn’t sure what it was that his ten-year-old heart was trying to convey. Hiru glared at the way she kneeled in front of Ari King. An emotion he wasn’t familiar with bubbled up, causing him to lash out. “Why do you care so much? You won’t ever shapeshift, so why don’t you take your ugly self off the mountain! No one will want you here.” Ms. Tanis called his name sharply. “HIRU! We do
He was right; they weren’t taught that. Their community was so close-knit and intertwined that they’ve never gone outside of the mountain. “We don’t leave the mountain for a reason, but I can understand your question. Just remember that just like you, Kataya is going through changes. Everyone knows you showed your abilities from the moment you were hatched. Some just take a little longer to figure out what that is.” He beamed. Hiru had heard from his father how his snake-like abilities were so powerful that his body couldn’t contain it at birth. His narrowed slit and forked tongue were prominent. She patted his head. “You’re a good kid Hiru. Whatever is going on in your developing brain, I want you to know that you won’t have many friends if you bully them.” His smile faded. “Yes, ma’am.” “Make sure you apologize to Kataya and Ari King.” He nodded his head.
She followed behind him. Her feet stepped on the inside of the robe several times. Kataya managed to not trip and fall. They reached a small room. It was barely bigger than a closet. Sanchez stepped to the side and opened the door for her. “Go inside.” She walked in and turned to face him. “What will I be doing in here?” He slammed the door in her face. The clicking and thudding sound she heard let her know he had locked it from the outside and bolted it closed. Panic settled in her bones. She dropped her clothes on the floor and pounded on the door. “Hey! Let me out! Elder Sanchez let me out! Please! It’s dark in here.” A loud bam came from the other side of the door. His voice was muffled through the heavy wood. “You need to pray to the moon goddess. I will be a shifter. I ask for my shifting form.” Kataya yelled back. “I already prayed for a shifting form! Just let
It was when she returned home; that she noticed her father was there. He looked at her then down again. Something had occurred while she was at the temple. Kataya ran up to her father arms outstretched. “Daddy! I didn’t see you at the temple.” Melius returned her hug. His arms wrapped around her tighter than ever. It wasn’t quite a bear hug, but close to it. “I had some things I needed to work on. So, I wasn’t at the temple.” “If you had been there, they wouldn’t have starved her.” Lina interjected. He sighed. His hand scrubbed his face. “We can’t change anything about it now.” He pulled Kataya away from him. The sorrow was replaced with a stern expression. “You’ll have to go to the temple after school.” “I know. They already told me that.” He cut in before she could continue. “Yes, but it won’t be like it was today. You won’t have to stay
When the door to her room closed shut, Lina came out of their bedroom. Melius had gone to take a shower in the master bathroom. She wanted to put away the food she had prepared and eat something as well. As she walked into the kitchen, the first thing she saw was the soapsuds and the wet counters. Lina stood there incredulously. Instantly, he knew who it was that made the mess. “I’ll have to tell her to keep the counters cleaned.” Lina walked to her daughter’s bedroom. Upon opening the door, she noticed Kataya had already fallen asleep. A part of her wanted to know what happened at the temple, but another part didn’t want to deal with it. Kataya hadn’t complained about what happened. She was sure if there was something nefarious going on, she would tell her. With that thought, Lina went to wipe down the counters and filled her plate high with food. The next morning, Kataya had woken up before her mom came to get her. The scre
The older woman left her, after instructing her how to work the machine. Kataya decided not to go back to class. Not until her clothes were dry. It gave her time to think about the way Celia and Hiru acted with her. Alone with her thoughts, she realized Hiru wasn’t being as cruel as he normally was. She spoke softly to herself. “He acted like he was being considerate. But snakes can’t change their demeanor.”She mulled over the way he acted a little longer before she got a headache. “Whatever goes through his mind, it isn’t my problem. It’s not like we’d be destined to be together.” A soft smile came to her face when she thought about who she wanted to be fated to: Ari King. He and Rei Kang were kind, but they were beginning to show their beast pairings. No one would want the shifterless to be involved with their clan.Kataya put her head in her hands, wishing for the day to e
TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD ABUSE AND DEGRADATIONUpon her arrival at the temple, the priestess from before greeted her. Kataya raced to her with a slight smile on her face. “Greetings Priestess Jeremiah Lynn!”The woman turned around with a tiny smile of her own. “Greetings little one.”She launched into her question. “Why does the moon goddess only give you one mate, and if your mate leaves, you can never find another?”Jeremiah Lynn gaped at her question. “Huh?She asked again. “We were told you only get 1 fated mate and your mate can leave the community and reject you, but you never get another mate. Why did the moon goddess do that?”Words rapidly ran through her mind, but none came out. She, herself, will be one of the cursed ones, as the other priests and elders call them. Cursed to have a fated mate, but never to be with them. “Little shifters shouldn’t learn about this.”Kataya’s head lowered and her eyes turned down. “I’m sorry. I wanted to know if that was true.”Jeremiah Lynn p
Ari King’s POVRei Kang and I had been dropped off by aunt Lavender for school that morning. “You boys have a good day. I don’t want any calls from this principal about you being terrible.”Rei glanced over his shoulder. “We aren’t terrible. We just don’t let bullies do whatever they want.”“Yeah, it was you and Uncle Monty who taught us what it means to be fierce cats.”She sighed. “And I’m regretting that.”I smiled while patting her shoulder. “Well, we have pride in our shifting form. And if the goddess chooses either of us to lead the kinsmanship, it’ll undergo a significant change. For the better.”Aunt Lavender touched my hand. There were unspoken words she wished to express but gave my head a ruffle. “Get to class.”The two of us exited the car. Rei was the first to notice Kataya’s car in the parking lot. “I bet I can beat you to her.”“Whatever! Tigers are faster than lions.”“Nuh, uh! Lions are much faster.”Even though we shared everything, we were both challenging each othe
Melius’ POVIt made little sense how anyone could be cruel to a child. Hell, I didn’t understand how Lina could just stop loving her. She, above everyone, knows how it feels to be treated with disdain. There wasn’t much I could say to Kataya about other people. Only what I could do as her father. “Listen kitten, you are special.Other people will try to make you feel less than you are. Besides, you have me and Linus. We love you just as you are.”There was silence for the rest of the car ride. Kat said nothing until we pulled into the school parking lot. She faced me with glistening eyes. “Thanks, Dad. I know I’m special, but sometimes I wished I wasn’t.”Pulling her in for a hug, I rested my cheek on the top of her head. “It will get better. Well, it may get worse. You’re in junior high now. That’s a battlefield in itself.”She chuckled. “Yeah, I know. I miss having Ms. Tanis as a teacher. I wished she would be at this school.” Kataya pulled away from the hug. “Thanks again, Dad.”Pa
Kataya’s POVLinus had been awake in his bed, kicking his legs and arms. His cries were louder the closer I got to him. I can only imagine he didn’t recognize me when he saw me, so he cried harder. A part of me wanted to panic, hell I flailed from the situation. Just when I freaked out, he calmed down. It was bizarre.The cries quieted, and he stared at me. Reaching for him, I waited for him to cry again. When he didn’t, I picked him up. “Hi Linus! I’m your big sis.” I bounced him the way I caught Lina doing it from time to time.He shoved his fist in his mouth. The action caused me to smile. I held him awkwardly as we went back to the kitchen. Dad had set my food down in my seat. When he glanced up, his brows furrowed. Dad laughed. “Girl, how are you holding your brother?”It was my turn to furrow my brows. “What do you mean?” To be honest, I held one foot across my body. Linus was leaning into my arm. Yeah, somehow I held him the wrong way.“That’s not how you hold him, Kat. Here, l
Kataya’s POVAfter Dad left, I slept. It was the best sleep I had in a long time. I still wished I had the meal; he had my mouth watering over, but anything is better than nothing. Right? When we talked about the ritual, he gave me hope mom would let me near Linus. He is my baby brother. I wanted to bond with him, too.Morning came before I knew it. I wasn’t awakened by my alarm, but by something — well, someone else. “Little one. You should arise now.” I stirred. Mumbling in my sleep.The voice came again. “Little sun, you should learn to rise when I rise.”My eyes shot open. The Sun God had spoken to me again. I checked my window. The sky appeared dark still, with a hint of orange on the horizon. I grumbled. “You’re not even up. I’m a growing child. I should get more sleep.”The voice died down. I tried to drift back to sleep before my alarm went off, but another sound disturbed me. Walking to my door, I listened. M
It's with a heavy mind that Chasing Shifters will be going to a 2x a wk updating. Life has gotten much busier for me and as of now, and I can only do updates 2 days a wk. so look out for new episodes on Weds and Sats. This change will go into effect this wk. I truly hope you are enjoying the story. I know it's a slower pace but the build-up is important to the story. not everything will be included from the past but there will be flashbacks as Kat gets older. Please leave me comments or gems to keep me going. I am enjoying writing this novel and hope that you'll continue to join me on this wild ride. It's the first time I'll be including dark themes and traumatic experiences in any of my works. There will always be a trigger warning on chs that wont be easy to digest. thanks again for the support. enjoy the novel.
Melius’ POVThe first time I left Kat’s room, Lina had been waiting for me. Our son had been sleeping wrapped in the swaddle around her body. I gave her a chaste kiss. Then kissed my son on the forehead. Lina smiled at me. “What are you doing?”I knew she hated it when I called her our daughter. The hope that it was just a part of postpartum kept me going. It was dumb to think that. “I was just with Kat.”The moment I mentioned her name, Lina scoffed. Her face contorted with anger. I knew she would bellow something which would wake Linus. I cut her off before she could say anything. “We should talk in our room. Why not put Linus down in his crib?”She narrowed her eyes. “Fine. But if he wakes up, the conversation is over.”Lina went into the nursery and I into our bedroom. Plopping down on the bed, I scrubbed my face. This wasn’t the woman I married. After Kataya was born, she wasn’t like this. I wanted to rationalize why she’d been acting this way. I needed to rationalize it. We’d be
Kataya POVIt took Dad a while to come back. I was just falling asleep when he came with the food he promised me. Only it wasn’t what I was expecting. I assumed it would be the grilled cheese and tomato soup. Instead, it was a bowl of cereal.My heart plummeted. Maybe I was getting used to being the odd one out, or perhaps I still held out hope that I would be important to him, but seeing a bowl of cereal made me sad. I tried not to sigh, but it came out anyway. Dad heard it and gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry kiddo, we’re out of a lot of things. So, this will have to do for now.”That couldn’t have been true. I was sure there was food in the fridge and cupboards. Guess that was a lie. “Oh, I get it, daddy. If that’s all we have, that’s fine. I know the stores are all closed now.”That didn’t explain why it took so long. Cereal takes a maximum of 3 minutes to make. And it includes g
Kataya’s POVHiru had been acting strange since the hospital. I don’t know what exactly happened, but I know it was terrible. Taerin had driven me home. The driver was put on suspension. It wasn’t his fault. I wanted to tell the snake king, but it wasn’t my place. Plus, few adults listen to me.He made sure I got home safely. Even waited until I got inside. When I reached the door, I turned and waved. He waved back, then pulled away from the curb. Turning my key in the lock, I went inside. My mom was in the kitchen. Her off-key singing told me where she was. I hadn’t heard her sing in months. Or maybe longer.The lullaby she was singing had my brother giggling. I leaned against the wall, listening to her. She hadn’t talked to me since before my brother was born. It hurt. It truly hurt. She used to talk to me a lot. We used to talk about a lot of things. Reminiscing about the past would only hurt. I tried to shake away the thoughts.Headin
Elder Solomon POVGleefully, I headed to my office to make a call. I needed to speak with the feline elder. No doubt that feline would notice my change in favor of the sun’s child. But who am I to follow others like a wee lamb? Closing the door to my office, I made the call.A gruff voice answered. “Hello?”“Monty? Why do you sound like that?”He cleared his throat. “Like what? I was just taking a catnap.”The pun wasn’t lost on me. “Har, har. You really should learn to keep the cat puns to a minimum.”“That would be a cat-tastrophe. I don’t know how I could ever go on.” His snickers resonated through the phone.“I don’t know if I should dislike you more or respect your tenacious side. But either way, I come bearing news.”On his side, I heard shifting and papers shuffling. “What is it?”“It’s about the little one, Kataya.”“Oh? Has something happened?”I cleared my throat. “N