Free Rebirth (Rogues Shifter Series) by Gayle Parness

had been great. I’d made plans to go out to a movie with a really nice boy and a bunch of other new friends. I’d come home from studying at the library only to find my latest social worker in the living room telling me that once again, I’d be moving to a new town and a new family. I lost control and ran. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay much attention to where I was going.
    It was around 8 :00 PM and I was on an unfamiliar road. There were two men outside a house and they’d called to me as I ran by. I ignored them, so they cursed at me and I stupidly flipped them off. I was angry and careless but I was sure that I could outrun them without a problem.  They jumped into their car but I turned into a park and headed down a pedestrian walkway, knowing they couldn’t follow me where there was no road. However, they were very familiar with this particular park and were able to cut me off where the road intersected the path farther along. From that point I remembered only snatches.
     
    Car doors slamming and the sound of feet rushing toward me
    “Where are you running, sweetheart?”
    My arms held behind me so tightly they hurt.
    My head yanked back by my ponytail and a knife held against my throat
    The scent of whiskey and cigarettes.
    A rag pushed roughly in my mouth.
    My heels dragging along the hard ground as we moved farther from the path.
    “So pretty."
     
    I remembered kicking cigarette breath in the groin and then him cursing at me. His la rger friend released me, then stabbed me in the side when I tried to get away. God, the pain... I stumbled back, managing to hold up my hands as I tried to block the rest of his attack .He sliced at my hands and my arms and I fell on the frozen ground. Cigarette breath kicked me in the ribs and I heard something break. Pain was all I knew and my blood was everywhere.
     
    “You’re dying tonight bitch.” As I was passing out, I heard him scream.
     
    Later that night, I woke up in the hospital. The police asked me what happened to the men who’d attacked me, but I’d been unconscious and didn’t know anything. Three weeks later, body parts washed up on the beach twenty miles north of my town.  They were identified as belonging to both of my assailants.
     
    Chapter Eleven
    Getting up the next morn ing I dressed quickly, intending to grab a cup of coffee and then a shower. Outside my room I practically collided with Ethan who then held my shoulders so I couldn’t pass him, but after a few seconds he let go and backed up.
    “I see you’ve met Garrett," he said with a scowl. “You reek of vampire.”
    I sniffed my hands. I liked it  “Not a fan?” I asked, teasingly.
    “He’s ok ay, but I hate the stench. Most of them are trouble.” Ethan grabbed both of my hands, sniffed them and before I could pull away, licked each one, grinning hugely. He called out as he walked past, “Now you smell healthy, like a shifter.” I laughed as I turned back to the bathroom to wash my hands, ridding myself of vampire and cougar.
    A fter breakfast Rob took us out to the yard and had me place my hand on Ethan’s shoulder as he crouched and shifted into his cougar and back again. He had Ethan explain how he did it. “I visualize myself in cougar form, imagining that I’m feeling each specific physical difference. As soon as I sense the power surge, I force myself to breathe deeply and focus on my hands and feet changing form. They always seem to transition first. There's pain but then the change itself flows naturally after that. It's gotten pretty quick with practice.”
    I tried to do the same, struggling at first. Rob and Ethan continued to encourage me and after several frustrating tries I felt an overw helming urge to allow the shift free rein. I found that I was able to shift more quickly and less painfully if I relaxed into the pain, instead of fighting against it.
    My larger feline companions led me into the wo ods to hunt for the first time. Opening my senses to the forest