Prolog
Prolog
A cat with black spots on her cat ears various spots over her slender, small frame. Paws balanced over the ridge of the stone wall. Head rose to smell the scent of burnt wood, dog piss, cars, and frozen food—the usual.
There clung a bitterness to her fur; Kiko differed from the rest of her family. The full moon showed that perfectly clear. The shadows of her shapeshifter family running around in the park with the human toys proved that. Kiko made no motion of joining them in their laughter and wild escapades.
No.
She wasn’t one of them. Not where it mattered, anyway. With her paw, she tugged loose a leaf. It tore into it, shredding the plant quickly within her grip. Kiko wanted to be happy for them, she truly did. But that meant ignoring her own jealousy that crawled up her chest once a month. Kiko hated the moon. And everything it represented.
That her family was the correct breed.
In Kiko’s world, there was one simple rule. The changers or shifters━━ , Whatever one preferred to call them, had higher ranks in the society of animals. It went back centuries ago when the lioness goddess Bastet gifted the first Egyptian cats it. Kiko’s mother had told the story enough times she fell asleep before she finished the first sentence.
Who wanted a story lesson anyway? Kiko wasn’t one of them.
Maybe Bastet would grant her wish ... Of a new life where she was the same as everyone else. To be cherished and loved like her two brothers were. To be worshipped as Bastet granted unconditional love from humanity.
It sounded good to be loved as one of the gods.
Kiko meowed to the moon. Praying her desires would become true.
