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

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

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

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

Kataya's POV I looked up at her. “Do any of them ever come back?”We reached the sidewalk in front of my house. The weight of her hand on my shoulder had stopped me. “Only one hasn’t come back and his mate is still waiting for him. She’s gone through a lot of pain, unfortunately.”I tilted my head. “Like what?”“Well, she wasn’t pure. She was pregnant. The priests believe she lost her baby because of her sins.”“But isn’t that something that can’t be anyone’s fault?”She nodded her head. “That’s right, but her baby died just minutes after it was born.” The streetlamps illuminated the area around us.“She must have been very sad. Mommy was sad when she lost my sister while in her belly.”Jeremiah Lynn nodded. “That’s right. Her baby was part hers and part her mat