TW: Mention of domestic violence and abusive relationship.

I took a shuddering breath.  “This went on for just over two, about two and a half years, I guess.  I was cut off from my family and friends, it was hard to even know what month it was unless he bothered to tell me.  I was a prisoner in his house, unable to escape until one day he was busy on repairing something and I guess he’d forgotten to worry that I might try to escape.  I hadn’t attempted to in ages – I’d never been successful and he always made sure to punish me afterwards – or maybe he was just careless.  Anyway, he left the door unlocked.  When I saw that, I realized it might be my only chance to escape.  I got out the door and just ran.  But when I ran – I ran to the police.  Because I thought that was where you were supposed to go to get help from someone like him.  I forgot he was one of them,” I whispered.

I hated the memories of that police station.  It just made everything so, so much darker.  But I needed to finish this story.  “I came in and said I needed to file a police report because someone had been holding me captive, beating and assaulting me, and I was afraid he’d hurt me if he found me again.  One of the officers for the supernatural unit took me in this room and started to take my report, but after I’d told him who I was reporting, he just – he started laughing at me.  He said he couldn’t believe I was stupid enough to try to claim to be a victim when I was a predator and he was a prey.  The officer told me to stay put while he ‘got the truth.’  He locked the room behind him and I was just stuck there.  I realized they’d called him and tried to get out, but there wasn’t any way out of that room.  Eventually the officer who’d talked to me came back in and slammed a police report down on the table in front of me.  He said it was ‘the truth’ that he’d gotten from – from my ex – and that it proved that I was the one abusing him, which he said only made sense because I was predator and he was prey.”

I ducked my head, trying not to let the frustration and terror from that moment fill my voice.  I’d felt so helpless, so scared when I realized what was happening.  He was turning this all around on me and I had no proof that it was the other way around.

“I heard them when he exited the room, talking to him praising him for being brave enough to admit he was the victim of domestic violence.”  Victims of domestic violence should be encouraged and supported for coming forward, but…not him.  Because he wasn’t the victim.  That had just added insult to injury.  “They all just – they figured he couldn’t be the abuser because he was a prey shifter and I was a predator shifter.  It didn’t matter that he’s a fairly large, buff guy and I’m fairly small, in both our human and shifted forms – all that mattered was the prey/predator thing.”  What was particularly ironic was that if it had been human officers, they might have believed me because the prey/predator thing wouldn’t have come up.  It was only the supernaturals who wouldn’t listen.  “There was even this officer I remembered hearing about who was supposed to be really fair and supposed to be really kind to people.  I managed to get his attention and when he came in the room I started to try to beg him to listen to me, but he just interrupted me,” he’d been icy cold, too, not at all the kind person I’d thought he was, “and said how dare I try to pretend I was the victim.  To all of them, it just boiled down to me being a predator shifter and he was a prey shifter.  Anything else didn’t matter.  It didn’t even matter that my shifted form is tiny and his is huge and, well, more dangerous to most things than mine is.”  Deer could kill people.  It might not happen often, but they could.  Fennec foxes probably couldn’t unless the human was lying down and allowed them to chew on their neck at just the right spot.  “It was just – I was a predator, and he was prey, so I was guilty, and he was innocent.”

I shuddered slightly, remembering the first officer laugh at me as he’d told me what would likely happen to me in prison.  “I knew they were going to arrest me, and I had no proof that I was innocent – he’d even come in with bruises, but they weren’t from me, I’d never even tried to hit him or fight back.  If I had, he’s really strong and trained for physical combat and stuff and I – I mean he wouldn’t have let me even get close to him for that, he’d probably have broken my wrist or something for even trying.  I don’t know where he got the bruises, but to them that was proof, well, along with me being a predator.  I was afraid,” I admitted slowly, “that part of his plan was to pretend to give me a second chance and not press charges if I came back, so he could keep me under his control, just legally this time.  If I ever tried to get away again, all he’d have to do is call his cop buddies and they’d all come hunt me down for him.  I just couldn’t go back and I knew if I got to prison there’d be no chance to escape, so when I saw an opportunity at the precinct, I took it.  I ran.  They didn’t notice me because I’d shifted and he didn’t even know what my shifted form was, just that I was a predator.”  One of the upsides to being tiny is I could slip through small spaces better.

“I went to one of my friends then,” I sighed deeply, “trying to ask for help.  They scoffed at me, saying I had given up on our friendship years ago, why should they talk to me now?  Then they said they didn’t believe a prey shifter would beat up a predator anyway – so once again, they wouldn’t believe me.  From there I ran to my parents’ house.  By the time I got there, he’d already called them, so they knew his lies, and they were furious at me for supposedly hurting a prey shifter – they said it made predator shifters look bad and I was just making things worse for everyone, so I might as well turn myself in or they would hold me there until the police got there.”

I mean, that one had really hurt.  They were my parents, they should have been on my side, but they wouldn’t listen to me, either.  Maybe because he’d isolated me from them along with my friends, so they didn’t even know me anymore, but at that moment, I’d felt so alone, so scared.  I had no one who believed me, and I’d been afraid no one ever would.

To the rest of the world, I would always be the aggressor because I was a predator.  That was why, I’d decided, I couldn’t be around prey shifters anymore.  Because it wouldn’t matter what the truth was, they would always be the victims.

“So I kept running.  I ran for a long time, just trying to get as far away as possible.  I ended up in that mountain town.  Susanna let me work at the orphanage even though I couldn’t prove I had a degree or even show her any ID.  I was there about four months before Nathan came, and then…and then he found me there.  Or at least I saw him at the orphanage, showing an arrest warrant to Susanna, and he knew I’d been there.  I hid in Nathan’s bag because I didn’t know how else to get away from the town without him tracking me down.  So that’s – that’s how I ended up here.”

I stopped, awkwardly, and silence filled the air while I waited anxiously for some kind of indication of what they felt about this.  Would they believe me?  Would they believe I really was the victim even though I was a predator shifter?

“That’s why you were afraid of me when I said I was a rabbit shifter and didn’t want anything to do with me anymore,” Nathan said in his soft voice.  “You were afraid you might end up in the same situation.”

I nodded once.  “I don’t – I don’t want to be around prey shifters anymore,” I whispered.  “I’m sorry, I just can’t risk it.”

Riven suddenly hopped up and came marching over to my chair, stopping to kneel in front of it and look me straight in the eyes without touching me.

“First of all, it’s awful what he did to you, and I’m so sorry, Miles.  It wasn’t fair, you didn’t deserve that, and he should be punished for what he did.”  He looked like he wanted to give me a hug, but hesitated and instead just patted my hand gently.  “But second,” he seemed a little hesitant, but determined at the same time, “are you really sure you’re afraid of prey shifters generally versus being afraid of prey shifters who might hurt you or who might use your predator status against you?  Because those are the ones that may play the victim card and play it well, and it seems like those are who you're actually afraid of.  Nathan isn’t one of those, though.  He won’t hurt you and he doesn’t care about you technically being a predator and him a prey – he would never use that against you.  If you don’t believe him on that, believe me.  I saved his life once, and he owes me, so – so he’s not allowed to hurt you, that’s how he can pay me back.”

Nathan looked amused.  “That’s what you’re going to ask for as a favor for saving my life?  It’s kind of a moot point – I wasn’t going to hurt him anyway.”

Riven rolled his eyes and then reached out to gently rest a hand on my shoulder.  “Miles, you went through something horrific and those police officers just sound like a bunch of morons.  At best.  Beatrice would have harsher words for them,” he murmured under his breath.  “But don’t let all of their prejudices keep you from being able to ever trust a prey shifter again.  They’re not all bad.  You had the misfortune to run into a really bad one, but most of them are just people – some good, some bad, same as predator shifters, or fairies, or naga, or humans, or any of us.  Don’t give up on all of them just because of one person, okay?”

I felt tears threatening to fall.  “You mean – you really believe me?  That – that he hurt me even though he’s a prey shifter?”  I needed time to think about the rest of what he said, but right now the important thing to me was that they believed me.

“Of course we do,” Riven said matter-of-factly.  “And – thank you for telling us.  I know that wasn’t easy.”  Then he went ahead and gave me a hug when I started crying, Ren coming over as well to gently squeeze my shoulder and tell me everything would be okay and I was safe now.

For years, I had lived with a monster dressed in the face of someone nice, someone innocent.  I’d finally escaped my prison only to discover that the world wouldn’t believe me because of what I was and I had to keep running.  Now, for the first time in months, I felt like I’d actually finally started to escape my nightmare.