********Hi so I know this story doesn't have to do with werewolves or twilight or anything, but please read it and tell me what you think! Thanks ********

Prologue:

Shape-shifters are real. Let's just start with that. If you hadn't known, now you do. They came forward and announced themselves to the world a year ago.

Many people were horrified, while others denied their existence. At first I was skeptical, but that was only until the night I turned seventeen. My birthday to be exact.

I wasn't big on birthday parties or celebrations and my family knew that and for once in their lives they respected that. So we had a family dinner and then stayed home and watched a movie together.

It was one of my all time favorite movies, A Walk to Remember. Even my dad and older brother, Seth, watched it, although only because it was my birthday.

My friends wanted to bring me out to dinner, but I said we would do something later. They would probably drag me out of my house if I didn't agree to go.

I love my two best friends to death. I had known Beth and Emily since I was five when we all ended up going to the same camp. We bonded instantly and have been close ever since.

It was half way through the movie, at my favorite part where Landon tells her he loves her, when Katy our one year old golden retriever started barking like crazy at something outside in the back yard. My dad told her to shush, but she ignored him.

"Maybe she has to go to the bathroom?" My mom suggested.

Seth got up and let her out. Then came back to claim his seat on the couch next to me. We were close, Seth and I. Always had been.

Yes, we had the occasional fights, mostly because he is an overprotective brother who doesn't know how to keep his nose out of my love life.

Besides that Seth is probably the sweetest guy you will ever meet, although his appearance says otherwise. He has short dark black hair and is at least six three. All my friends say he is the hottest thing since Brad Pitt, but I just see my brother.

He pretends to be a rebel and bad boy, but he's different when he's with me. The sweetest guy ever.

A few minutes later we hear Katy's muffled barks from outside. This time dad gets up to go see why Katy's freaking out. She doesn't normally bark. Actually hardly at all. So something wasn't right.

We heard dad calling for Katy and then all of sudden Katy's barks were silenced by the strangest sound. One only heard at zoos and in the wild. It sounded like a death sentence.

Six months later I still hear that roar. Mom reacted first. Jumping up from her chair and running to the screen door that looked out, over the back yard.

We quickly followed. Seth running in front of me to get to the door first. All I could see was Seth's back and mom's head. What was happening?

Then I heard another growl. One that definitely did not come from Katy. It was pitch black out so I doubt Seth and mom could see much. I tried to jump to see over mom's head, but all I saw was darkness.

Then there was a shout coming from my father. Seth stepped out into the yard and inched toward where he had last heard dad.

"Riley… Ry. Go get me a flash light. The one on top of the refrigerator." Seth told me. I quickly ran into the kitchen. I had to jump to reach the top of the fridge, but was able to grab it and run back to Seth.

Mom grabbed my hand before I could take a step outside. I threw the flashlight to him and he quickly turned it on.

"Dad? Dad where are? Are you okay?... Dad!" No reply answered Seth. "Dad!" I screamed into the night.

Seth wildly turned the flashlight trying to see everywhere at once. The light finally landed on a heap in the grass. Seth refocused it and it was then that we saw the tiger standing over our father's body.

The tiger was huge. Bigger than all the ones in the zoo. He was staring right at Seth. Seeming to stare through him. He licked his lips that were covered in our father's blood.

"Seth." My mom whispered. The tiger would surely get him too, but before Seth could do anything the tiger turned around and leapt away into the night. Gone forever.

Everything was a blur after that. I remembered seeing the blue and red lights of flashing police cars and ambulances. I remembered the cries of my mother for her dead husband.

And I remember looking into Seth's eyes. Eyes of a son who just lost his dad, his hero. The second I saw those eyes I turned around and ran to my room.

I locked myself in there for days. I didn't let anyone in. I barely ate and if I did it just came back up again. My father had been everything to me. I was his little princess, even though I was seventeen.

He would say you'll always be my little girl, no matter what. And now he was gone. I didn't think I would ever get through it. I didn't know what to do anymore. But the one thing I did know was that that tiger was no ordinary tiger.

It was a shape-shifter.