Shift by Emily Zimmerman. (ebook reader for laptop txt) 📕

was watching us through the trees. I cocked my head to the side, watching the Lemur; it just stared right at me. I forgot what we were doing, watching the monkey intently to see what it would do, and it seemed to be doing the same. “Jenna?” Drake asked softly, breaking me from my trance. I didn’t look away from the Lemur though, not wanting it to disappear “what?” I asked softly back. In the corner of my eye, I saw Drake follow my gaze, that’s when the Lemur left, it leaped back into the forest, and –before I knew what I was doing- I shifted and chased after it. I ran through the trees, catching up with the Lemur, I watched as it expertly maneuvered through the trees. It watched me as I watched it; it seemed to have intelligence in its eyes, a calculating intelligence. I heard running footsteps behind me; it was paws, four sets of them. I slowed down and let the Lemur go; it was soon out of site. ‘Jenna! What were you doing?’ Drake’s voice chimed in my head. I turned around to find two bears, a Panther, and a large lion that I immediately recognized. Drake shook out his mane, panting a little. ‘I-‘ what do I tell them? I was chasing a Lemur? No, I’ll say that I saw something that sparked my interest ‘I saw something that sparked my interest, it was nothing’ I lied, sitting down on the ground. Drake rolled his big bright green eyes and walked over, sitting beside me. ‘you can’t lie to me Jenna, what really happened?’ he asked, looking at me expectantly. I huffed as everyone was looking at me in confusion accept for Drake. ‘it was a…Lemur, it was staring at me, and it seemed….intelligent, like it was calculating what I would do just as I did with it’ I told him truthfully. Drake wasn’t laughing, he was looking at me seriously ‘what did this Lemur look like?’ he asked me. I didn’t have to think to answer, I knew exactly what it looked like ‘it had a stripe down its back, and two perfectly round spots around its eyes, with-‘
“Did it have a white spot on its nose, and two more in its back?’ he interrupted me. I thought for a second ‘yes, it did’ I said, nodding my head. He got up and started pacing “what is going on?” Maria -I don’t know how she did it- asked, still in her bear form. “He knows he knows that she shifted” he told her. I looked at him in confusion “who?” Laurence asked. He looked at them and then at me, his expression grave “Garrison” he said. They all gasped except for me. “Garrison?” I asked. He nodded at me. “Garrison is our enemy, he went rogue for reasons we are unsure a year after he shifted and –after allot of damage caused- he disappeared, and we suspect he is building an army” he said. I nodded “then…why is he watching me?” I asked. Drake slinked over to me and sat back down beside me. “he either was watching you to see if you would be a good candidate to be a part of his army, or he was seeing how big a threat you were” William chimed in. Fear rose up in me again “and if he thinks I am a threat?” I asked tightly. Drake put his paw on top of mine, trying to comfort me “we don’t know but-“
“But what?” I asked Maria. She looked at Laurence
“A few people have disappeared. We don’t know where they have gone, and were afraid they’ve either joined him, or have fallen to his hand” she murmured sadly. I was tense all over ‘it’s alright, I won’t let him get near you’ Drake said in my head. I looked at him; he had a determined look in his eye. “We should get to the praise yard, to test your endurance and strength” Maria said. I nodded and we followed her around to a clearing that looked like an obstacle course, with walls that were laced with rope, hurtles that I assumed you jumped, and I didn’t even know what the others were. Maria looked at me as I gaped at the clearing; she shifted and walked over to the wall closest to us. “This is the praise yard, over here is testing your strength and speed, if you can climb both these walls, then your strength is normal, and if your fast at it, then your endurance is up to speed” she said, pointing to the wall and chuckling at her own joke.
“These are your regular hurtles, it’s like an athletics track, you jump them to test your…jumping ability” she said, trying to find a name for it.
“This wall is the reflexes test, how fast you move when something is shot at you, the arrows have Styrofoam tips, so if they do hit you, they will not hurt, but you will have to start again, this will determine how good your reflexes will be” she said, pointing at a wall with holes riddled in it.
“And this determines how fast you are, you have to run at your maximum speed, this speedometer will measure how fast you ran” she told me, pointing to a track that was probably half a mile long. On the end was a screen with a big zero flashing onto it. “Well, are you ready?” she asked me. I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, just remember, get through it as fast as you can” she told me.

Chapter seven. (Drake’s P.O.V.)
I watched as she walked up to the first wall, it didn’t take much effort for me to do this, I was praying it didn’t for her either. “Go!” Maria called to her. Jenna raced up the wall, digging her claws into the rope and pulling herself up, she was up the wall in ten seconds. She jumped down from the wall and started up the second, in twenty seconds she was over the two walls, she beat my record of thirty one. She jumped over the hurtles effortlessly and in a few seconds she was on to the path to the reflex test. The first arrow shot, and she rolled under it, the second arrow shot and she jumped, twirling in the air, just missing it. She ran through it and the arrows got more frequent, but she prevailed without one arrow hitting her. She started running as fast as she could down the half mile track, so fast she was a blur to my eyes, when she got to the end, she skidded to a stop and turned around, her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she grinned. She wasn’t even winded. The speedometer said that she was going two hundred two miles per hour, my record speed is one ninety. She skipped back over to us, still doing that cute grin. Maria, Laurence and William were gaping “no one has ever been able to do all that on the first try…Successfully!” Maria exclaimed. Jenna sat back on her hind legs, shock overtaking her grin “really?” she asked. ‘not even me’ I told her in her head. She looked at me in utter shock. “Wow” she muttered. She shifted to her human form and looked at me. I shifted and walked over to her. “Her timing and speed is a new record too” I muttered, it usually takes everyone at least two minutes, it took her all of one, if that. “Yes, a minute and ten seconds, we haven’t had timing and speed like that since…” Realization hit her face and she quickly looked away. “Well, we should go introduce Jenna to the others” she said quickly, turning around and walking back around the sanctuary. Me and Jenna looked at each other in confusion and followed her. Jenna seemed a little shy, she moved a couple feet away from me, looking down at the ground and clasping her hands in front of her. I wondered if I did something wrong…

Chapter eight. (Jenna’s P.O.V.)
I was thinking while I ran the praise yard. About Drake and I. We barely even know each other! I don’t know who he is, I don’t know what he likes, what he doesn’t, what he has gone through, how he got here, I don’t know anything apart from that my father helped him through his transformation, his inner animal is a lion, and that were….mates. I thought about his lips on mine and shivered. I pushed those thoughts away when I felt him staring at me, I didn’t dare look at his face, that strange feeling I got when I stared into his beautiful eyes was unnerving, and I think its love. I sighed quietly and looked beside me to the tan colored wall; it had a red stripe that was slightly faded at the base. “Jenna…is there something wrong?” Drake asked, I could hear the worry in his voice. I looked up at the sound of his voice, meeting his bright green eyes ‘bad idea, bad idea!’ I chanted to myself in my head as I got lost in his eyes. I blurted it out before I could stop myself “I don’t know you! I know your name, I know you’re a lion, and I know we’re… but I don’t know who you are! You’re likes, you’re dislikes, and you’re kind of in the middles! I have no idea what you are like” I told him, running a hand through my hair. Drake stared at me in surprise “and you don’t know me! You don’t know who I am, my likes, my dislikes, and my kind of in the middles!” I said, tilting my hand from side to side. I was pacing the ground, and Drake stood in front of me, stopping me in my tracks just a few inches away from his chest. I looked up at him, his hansom face was troubled. “So…you want to get to know each other?” he asked me. I turned away from him, looking out at the forest, I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. “I don’t know” I murmured quietly. He gently grabbed my arm and turned me, staring deep into my eyes. “okay, how about a date? You and me on the lunch-deck tonight when everyone has gone to bed, we’ll get to know each other” he said, lifting his hand up to touch my cheek. His fingers grazed my cheek; a shock went through my body. I sucked in a breath and nodded “okay, I can do that” I said, smiling slightly. He smiled “thank you” he murmured. He looked behind me “we should get back to them before they notice we aren’t following them anymore” he said, grabbing my hand and running silently around to the door of the building. We ran in the doors and stopped ten feet away from them. I let go of his hand and looked around at the building. The ceilings on the building were very tall, and the hallways very narrow, we stepped into a vast room, where the ceilings were tall, and the room was wide. I noticed a grand piano, a few vintage looking guitars, a set of drums, and various horns and flutes. “This is the music room, the kids come in whenever and play their instruments of choice” Maria explained with a smile at me. The Piano is what caught most of my attention, I didn’t realize I was walking toward it until I felt its smooth surface under my palm. “Do you play?” Maria asked with a smile. I shrugged, holding my fingers up in a pinch “just a little” I said, smiling at the memories of me and my dad. She gestured for me to sit “go ahead, play