Alaska

Chapter 2

The next day was like any other day. I woke up and took a shower before getting dressed for school. Less than a month left before I no longer have to get ready for school. Only then I'll have to get ready for work. Bleh. But hopefully, I pick a job that I actually like going to and I won't dread getting up in the morning for it. The only problem is I'm not sure what would make me happy. I'm not sure what I want to do for the rest of my life. That's the problem with being a senior, every adult expects you to suddenly know what you want to do with your life. Like damn, I don't know yet. I haven't even lived life yet, how am I supposed to know something so heavy and demanding?

I went to school as normal, meaning I drove Shiro to school with me, and I went to all my classes as normal. I took one of my finals early and as long as I passed that means I don't have to go to my last period class anymore and I can go straight home, which will be nice to do. Hopefully, Shiro passed as well so we can leave together and I don't have to wait until school gets out to take him home.

I dropped Shiro off at the Pack House before driving around it and finding the dirt road that leads to my house. No one is home yet so I decide to go for a run after dropping off my backpack in my bedroom. I shift into my cheetah form right there on the front steps.

The shift is effortless and as easy to slip into as my human skin. It's natural for me to be in both forms so the shift isn't painful. My first ever shift was painful, just like it is for any shifter, but it got better with time as my body learned better ways to shift. Now, shifting is as easy as breathing.

Normally, a wild cheetah is around three to four feet tall, but since I'm a werecheetah my form is much larger at around five and a half feet tall. I'm still smaller than a werewolf but I'm still bigger than the largest wild cheetah. My form is large but it's still meant for speed. I can still outrun every wolf in my Pack. The only one I have a hard time beating is my dad, but he's a cheater since he's part cheetah and wolf. A wolf is fast but a cheetah is faster, and when the two combine it makes for one extremely fast creature. Some days I can beat my dad in a race, but normally he wins.

I stretch out my body in preparation for a run. Just like it is in my human form it's always good to stretch before running. I can run much faster if I stretch beforehand. That doesn't mean I can't run without stretching, because I totally can, it's just smoother when I stretch. Besides, it feels nice to stretch out after a shift.

I let out a content yowl before trotting off into the cover of the trees in front of my house. Instead of heading straight, which would lead me to the Pack House, I turn right and head deeper into the forest. I don't have to worry about humans seeing me because this entire forest is owned by my Pack. Locals stay away from here and they warn tourists not to hunt on or enter our lands. My Alpha is notorious for scaring the crap out of any humans who try to enter our lands. And he does it in his human form too.

Alpha Simon is not a man to be messed with and the locals know it. He is a big man reaching well over six feet with broad shoulders. He has native blood in him from the Sault Tribe which shows. He normally runs around shirtless and has tribal tattoos marring his sunkissed skin. His dark hair is long and straight with two signature braids framing his face. He likes to wear an eagle's feather in one braid. Because he has visibly native blood in him people tend to be wary of him. It's not that people are racist per se, they just don't want to offend him or his tribe.

Many people of the Sault Tribe live in our Pack. They have legends and stories of shifters going way back so it's always been in their blood. Not that their entire tribe is shifters, only some. And it seems that the ones that are shifters are a separate branch from the main tribe. The main tribe still has their legends and stories about shifters and people becoming wolves, but to them, they are just that, stories. But to the Newberry Pack, they're not just stories, they are things of the past.