How it all seems to start

There is a girl named May she is just like you and me. She is five foot eleven inches and is built like a runner, has strawberry blonde hair. Fair golden tan skin no matter what season because of her Native American blood but everyone in her family is tan like that. If she did tan in the summer than most people thought she was Mexican or black because of how dark her skin would look. She also has dimples and freckles, an unusual mix to be sure. Deep blue eyes that would change shade or color from time to time depending on her mood or the time of year and if she was in Fox form.

She loved her life crazy as it was, she wouldn't give any of it up for anything at all, not even the day she found out she was going to, nope no spoilers sorry! Every day was a new adventure for her.

Okay, so she's not exactly like you and me but she tried to be.  It's not her fault she was born a shifter, and no she can't turn into whatever she wants. She could only turn into fox and back to a human.

May Forest grew up the oldest of seven, in order it's May, Collon age eleven, Rose age ten, Cody and Sophie eight their twins, Travis age six, and last but not least Samantha age five. They have their ups and downs, it's hard to keep the peace in a normal family it's even harder in a shifter family or a leash (a leash is the name of a pack of foxes). They all live in a large ranch style home out in the country with their mother. The closest neighbor is three miles away.

Collon is about five foot six inches, with short sandy blonde hair with black mix in so it looks more brown than blonde or black. His face looks like he got slapped with freckles. His skin is as tanned as his sisters. His body is built more like a weightlifter with big strong arms for an eleven year old. It's really funny because of his chicken little legs. His eyes are a purple-blue. His fox is still small because he is not yet full grown. Collon's fur colors are more like an Umbreon from Pokemon, but instead of yellow his fur is golden orange around his tail, face and paws.

Rose is five foot nothing which is pretty good for a ten year old. Rose is built a lot like her mother in the way her body appears to be but it's all muscle. When she gets older she will have that model perfect body. Her eyes are the same shade of blue as the sky on a clear day at noon. She has golden sunset colored hair that most of the girls in her grade try to say is fake because they are jealous of it. You just can't get the colors right with dye. Her kit (the term for a fox puppy) form had almost the same colors on her fur too, but there is more red than gold. She has dimples when she is really mad or smiling.

I would say really mad or happy but that's not true she can just smile and bring those dimples out. And get anyone to just about anything. She has this trick where she fakes a smile to bring out her dimples then sweetens her voice to honey on warm bread. People fall all over each other to make her smile when she does that. People other than me because she learned that trick from me but as she likes to say she perfected it.

Cody and Sophie are short for their age, they have pure black hair like our dad did. Cody has dark red eyes but they are so dark he can say they are brown and most people believe him. Sophie has deep sea blue eyes with flecks of green in them. They are both built like bodybuilders, not an ounce of fat on them all of it muscle. None of us are fat but still, they are a step above us. They haven't shifted yet which is strange because even Samantha my five year old sister has shifted at least once. I worry that Cody and Sophie will never shift, but my mom says they are just late bloomers. I hope she is right.

If they don't shift by the age of ten then they can't be part of the leash. If they can't be part of the leash then according to our ancestor's laws they have to be banished from the family. If they get banished then we basically have to kick them out of the house by the age of thirteen and let them try and survive on their own. I love my siblings all of them, even though they can be hell to be around or to have to watch. Family is family and no one wants to have to shun or pretend a former member of the family doesn't exist.

Travis is three foot two inches and he has a basketball player's build. He has bleach blonde hair that equals into white fur. He has an adorable mix of freckles and dimples so when he smiles everyone around him is compelled to smile too. He is really the family mood changer. If he is happy or laughing we all tend to do the same. Travis fox-self is only twelve inches tall, but he is still just a pup so he will grow.  

Samantha is short for a five year old, still the size of some three year olds. She is too young to really know for sure what her body build will be but she is growing out of her baby fat. Since she has begun changing more fat has dropped away leaving muscle in its wake. Samantha is the only one of us with brown hair. Her hair is so dark that it looks black. Our mom says she gets it from our dad but brown is a recessive trait in our family so she got lucky. Her fur is just as dark except for around her muzzle and her tail she is auburn in those spots. On her tail it looks like she painted stripes then forgot they were still wet and wagged her tail so they all have imperfections in the almost straight lines.

Then there was their mother Jenny Forest. To them she was amazing but scary as all heck when she was ticked off. She gets really quiet and soft spoken when she is really really angry. She is a happy mix of them all. Her hair has all the colors of her kids' hair mixed together beautifully but the most dominant color is golden blonde. Jenny is five foot ten inches, she has a slender build so she is small and petite looking but that is a lie she is all muscle.

Their house is white with ocean blue window outlines, two stories, six bedrooms, all with their own bathroom, dense forest on every side with a small driveway in the front. They have a garden up front fenced off from the critters who would eat or destroy it. There was a dog door in every door in the house except the bathroom doors. It didn't look like much and wasn't but it was home to them. This is May's story.

When I was fifteen I asked my mom if I could start dating. This was her response, " No."

"Why not?" I asked puzzled.

"You won't understand, you're too young." She rebuttal.

"Won't understand what? Come on Mom, I am fifteen, just tell me."

"Fine, you can't date because you are already engaged."

"Wait... what? To who? Are.. are you... mad! Who even does that anymore!" We have just been learning about this kind of thing in history class last week, I found the whole concept barbaric.  

"This is why I wanted to wait to tell you. You are going to meet him in a year's time." She responded.

"Why... in a year's time? Why am I en… engaged, at least tell me his name, please? I need to know his name!" I stammered.

"I know it's strange to hear, but you two are well matched. I am sure you will be happy together, and I need that year to teach you all the mating rituals his and our families perform. Don't worry you won't have to hide your fox from him, just like he won't have to hide his wolf from you."

"WOLF!!!!! BUT WE HAVE NEVER GOTTEN ALONG WITH THE WOLVES!!!" I Blurted out, remembering why the rest of the family couldn't come over for holidays. Both of our species being predators and territorial we don't get along if a pack and a leash are too close together then there will be war.

"I was going to wait to tell you so I could ease you into the idea of it all.  I see now that I was right to withhold this from you." My mother retorted raising her voice, but not loud enough my siblings could hear her from a different part of the house.

"Ok, I need some time to get my head together. This is a lot to take in. I am going to go for a walk, I'll be back later." I replied as I headed for the door, trying to leave before we really started to fight, it's never good when that happens.

"When you get back we will continue this." My mom called after me.

As soon as I got out of the house I went straight into the woods and shifted. Auburn fur covering every inch of my body except on my tail, ears and legs in those spots it is golden. My fingernails turned into claws. My bones shifted and bent into the shape of the fox. My face transformed from human to animal. Within two minutes I was standing on four legs instead of two.

I let the fox's instincts take me deeper and deeper into the woods and to the pond. It wasn't a big pond, just big enough to have fish living in it and a small waterfall with a cave behind it. I played with the squirrels and swam until the sun set, the last rays of light hit the lake just right and made it sparkle as if the world was smiling at me and saying goodnight as the moon said hello. I sat there watching until the moon was high enough to hit the water, making it look like the moon was swimming in the lake.

I could have stayed there all night. When a rabbit ran out in front of me the chase began. I hadn't noticed how hungry I was until the rabbit was jumping so high it was flying through the forest. I was in hot pursuit and was so close I could almost taste it. Once I caught the rabbit it started to wail.  I yipped letting any nearby predators know this rabbit was mine. Then I ate when I was done I buried the remains as my way of making peace with the bunny as it made its way to the afterlife or to its next reincarnation. I never had really picked which one to believe in so I chose both.

I sulked back home still in fox form. Once on the back porch, I debated changing back to human or just going through the dog door. In the end I was sleeping in my bed as a fox with the blanket tossed over me. It's hard to pull up a blanket when you don't have thumbs, or hands for that matter. Thankfully I share my room with my littlest sister Samantha.

Samantha is just old enough to be in preschool, so she hasn't mastered changing yet. The triggers are different for all of us, mine is strong emotion, my dad's was the smell of meat or rage. (Before the accident happened five years ago. But that's a story for another time.) But all of us will change in our sleep from time to time.

You have to be careful if you go to a friends house to stay the night. Sally is still asking how a fox got into her house. Her dad on the other hand, is mad he never found his new pelt. I have the scars to prove it was not a fatal blow, and that her dad is a poor shot... lucky me. I couldn't walk right for a month after that. I just made up an excuse, of falling out of a tree to explain away my limp.

Most people believed me but Sally still gave me weird looks. I think she thought I let the fox in and ran away as a prank or something. With time and a few clever half-truths and white lies she believed me and let the whole mess drop. Even though she still wants to know how a fox got in and out of her house. She luckily didn't see me change in my sleep. That sleepover had been shortly after my dad had died.

A lot of my memories with my dad are fuzzy but I do remember the feeling of running with my dad. Running through the forest hunting deer, something we only did when dad was with us.

Being a shifter isn't all fun and games, you have to be careful not to let the fox have too much control or you're in trouble. If you don't go out every once in a while you'll be in a real foul mood until you go out again. Oh wait, that's not the foxes, that's the wolves. One of which will be my future husband. That will be just great.

I was just falling asleep when my little sister started to whimper, so I hopped out of my bed and walked over to hers, then I simply climbed on the foot of it and slept there. Every dream I had that night was something that I saw or heard happened because of the wolves. That or I was being chased by the alpha and his whole pack.