Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Daniel
From what I understand, most shifters have an instant transition. I don’t mean physically. Every shift transitions instantly when it comes to physical. Of course, shifters are revealing themselves on an intermittent basis that we don’t know about. Shifters don’t know, I mean. Like Dragons. We’ve only known about them during my lifetime. A few years ago, antelope revealed themselves. I mean African antelopes, not the pronghorns of North America.
Anyway, most shifters evidently have an instant mental transition. For tigers, it doesn’t necessarily work that way. Perhaps because we’re already measured in our approach, we ease into the sensory changes. Tigers perceive the world primarily?through sight, of course, and our vision is even better than the natural tigers. The naturals have excellent night vision, acute hearing, and a good sense of smell.
This allows them to navigate their environment effectively in low-light conditions. Natural tigers are great nocturnal hunters. They detect movement and can actually hunt prey through sight and sound. Often their world appears as a mix of shapes and motions instead of detailed colors. This is all due to their adapted eye structure for hunting in the dark. It has to do with their forward-facing eyes providing depth perception for precise stalking and pouncing.?
Tiger shifters make them seem blind and uncoordinated by comparison. The naturals are killing machines pretty close to unmatched in nature. Natural tigers possess a combination of strength, stealth, speed, and predatory instincts. I think tigers are the most lethal of all apex predators. Of course, I’m biased. It’s true, though. I’d venture to say that other than some groups of people on the Indian subcontinent, most human beings have no idea just how big tigers are.
In the wild, male tigers are often six hundred and fifty pounds. The largest possible lions top out at five hundred pounds. My tiger is more than fourteen hundred pounds. Nobody really knows why shifter animals are so much bigger than their natural counterparts but we are. In any case, when you shift, you have to look at the world from the perspective of an entirely different anatomy. The point of all this is that the process of transitioning from human perception to tiger perception takes some time.
I can shift and go right to killing if necessary but if I’m just going to walk around or explore, there’s a slow and interesting transition process involved. I don’t lose my humanity when I shift, at least not from a mental standpoint. Most shifters give up some of the intellectual clarity and become driven far more by instinct.
Wolves really let the wolf take over and it’s not safe for them to live near livestock for that reason. Perfectly rational in human form, they may run by a group of sheep and be utterly unable to keep themselves from killing. Bears don’t have the aggression problem but when they shift, they’re always tempted to just remain a bear forever. Lions claim they have no instinct effect when they shift. That wouldn’t surprise me because they’re boring administrators all the time anyway. As for dragons, they think of the human as their animal form so who knows?
In my experience, I have additional sensory inputs but I still process those inputs with the same mind that processes any of my other sensory inputs. Just because I can see in the dark doesn’t mean I process that sight with the mind of a cat. It’s hard to be objective, though. Every shifter tends to believe himself superior to other shifter types.
It just so happens in the case of tigers that we’re right.
Right now, I’m standing in the woods at the back of my property, enjoying the coolness of the evening. Oh, I’m sorry, I guess I should say that I’m standing on all fours because I’ve already shifted. A lot of shifters don’t like to shift so close to home, but I have my boys most of the time and I don’t like going too out of range.
It’s fairly quiet where I live anyway. Our neighbors are few and far between out here. So, it’s all good.
I circle the property. I cut a line through the brush and undergrowth. This area had a lot of appeal for me when I first saw it six years ago. It was overgrown and the seller was having trouble unloading it because of that. For most people, it isn’t appealing to look at a property that would take so much work to clear and clean.
For me, it was exactly what I needed.My home and my backyard are immaculately and perfectly arranged. Immediately next to it, is wilderness. I own the wilderness part. At least, a shell corporation I own owns the wilderness part.
I hit the fence line and start heading along it clockwise. I settle into the feel of my tiger body, and slowly my senses sharpen. Tigers don’t normally patrol their territory. Usually, they just head out every so often and remark it with urine or glandular secretions. I don’t follow the same pattern every night that I shift, but tonight I figure it’ll be good to roam a bit wider.
And no, I’m not planning on marking anything with urine.
As I pad along, my thoughts touch on Samantha. I think she’s wonderful, but am I really being fair with her. Thinking of having a relationship with a single dad is a big ask, but a single tiger shifter dad? That feels like a nearly impossible task.I say task and not ask because she doesn’t even know I’m a tiger.
My first wife was human, too, so I know they can adjust and be happy, but I was just a single guy then. No kids, no extra commitments. And Bridget wasn’t entirely unacquainted with the world of shifters. She’d dated one briefly before meeting me.I think of Samantha. She seems so young sometimes, so naive. That may sound a little condescending, but it’s how it feels sometimes.
And she’s my nanny. I’m her landlord and her boss.
I hear a noise ahead about twenty yards. I stop and try to decipher it. A sliver of fear runs through me. Is there some person out here? It’s a pretty isolated way out here, but it wouldn’t be impossible. I sniff at the air and try to penetrate the darkness.
The sound comes again, and I relax. It’s just a feral dog. It’s giving me a wide berth, which is a very smart move. If it were to come at me and challenge me, I’d have no choice but to defend myself. Well, I suppose I could ignore it but ignore one and a pack arrives. Any scouting it intends here won’t result in more dogs. I do hunt while in tiger form, but tonight that’s not the goal.
I swing away from the direction the dog traveled and head back towards the house in a tightening arc. Everything is so alive for me right now. Tonight, the moon is almost non-existent, which is perfect for a tiger.
I wish I could share this with Samantha. I used to tell Bridget about my times as a tiger and she would listen with rapt attention like I told a great tale of adventure. We’re solitary animals in nature, sure, but for shifter tigers, there’s still the human side of things, and that human side needs companionship.
And love.
The thought stops me cold in my tracks.