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A/N - Okay, so let's just get this out there. These works are mine. My poor little brain came up with the plots and characters, and I'd really prefer you to not steal them. If you're reading this on a site that is NOT Wattpad then it is most certainly stolen. No, I really don't want them converted into fanfics or into other languages as well.

Thanks!

Loiosh

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               "I can't eat any more," the dark haired young woman muttered in a thick Russian accent. The plate in front of her was still piled high with food, but she'd already eaten enough for four people. "Give the rest to the others, they need food too." She looked around the cold, dark barracks that she and the others called home and realized it might be her last night there.

Where was there? There was a small mining camp in Siberia between Yakutsk and the coast, where she and her small family lived with others within the guarded fence. Unlike other mining camps, this one was forced labor, with the Russian government hiding details of the existence of it at all. Evidently, telling the world that weretigers existed wasn't something that they wanted to deal with. Instead, they took advantage of their strength and stamina and put them to work in mines where ordinary humans might die while still feeding them so little that they would be too weak to escape. But tonight, they were hoping for a change. With a flurry of snow falling in the early autumn weather, and a light breeze to help brush away tracks, it was the perfect night for a single person to make it out.

"Are you sure, Melashka?" her mother, Inga, asked. The entire camp had been giving her parts of their rations for two months, and the last two days had been stuffing her with all the food she could handle at the expense of their own bellies. More food had been dried into jerky and packed into a small satchel for the trip, just in case the hunting on her journey didn't pan out. She was their best hope, and Melashka was determined not to let her family and friends down.

"I'm sure. I promise, I'll get help." Over the years of their internment, a dozen others had tried to go get help, and while all of them had made it out of the camp, none had ever returned. Even her own father had tried the previous year, and nothing was ever heard from him again.

"But are you sure about your plan?" Inga looked worried, but Melashka nodded quickly.

"Yes. Everyone before has gone to the southeast to warmth and the water. I think if I can go straight east, there will be more to hunt, and I can try to swim to America once I go far enough. I heard one of the guards say that he had seen America once on a clear day, and if that is true, I can make it."

Small arms threw themselves around her as her little sister, Verka hugged her tightly. "I'll miss you, Mel. "Please come back!" The older sister could feel hot tears on her neck, and hugged Verka back tightly.

"I will, I promise."

It got dark early there in the autumn, and before long it was time. Melashka and Inga levered up a piece of the floor under their kitchen table that led to a crawl space under the barracks. All of the piping and heating went through there, and it was common for it to have to be replaced or defrosted in the cold winter months, so the access door was a necessity. It also made a perfect escape route for someone like Melashka who quickly and quietly moved on her hands and knees through the cold and dark. When she made it to the edge of the building, she paused. There wasn't enough room underneath the building for her to shift into her tiger form, so she had to wait for the diversion that should be coming soon.

Sure enough, the sound of singing was heard in the darkness as a pair of the larger men pretended to be drunk while wandering about the yard. Immediately, the spotlights in the guard towers shifted to the pair, and Melashka rolled out from under the building, and let out a little grunt as her body shifted painfully in the cold. Moments later, an immense white Siberian tiger stood next to the building, fully five feet tall at the shoulder. She picked up her satchen in the mammoth jaws, then padded silently towards the shadows, before she picked up speed, hurling herself upwards when she reached the fence. It was fifteen feet tall, with another several feet of razor sharp barbed wire on top, but Melashka was full of energy and cleared it with ease. Seconds later, her immense form had disappeared into the tall pine trees of the surrounding forest, with none of the guards any wiser.

She didn't stop for almost a day. A few small rabbits and squirrels were her meals as she ran, their warm blood and meat a welcome change from the jerky that she expected to eat once she slowed down. It was just as cold as she'd expected, but even knowing it would be cold didn't mean it was comfortable. The fur coat of her tiger form helped, as did all the food that she'd bulked up with, but the biting wind didn't make anything pleasant.

She finally stopped and changed back into her human form, taking clothes out of the big satchel and starting a fire with a small flint and steel. She didn't have a map, but she knew she'd been doing a good job of heading east, even if she'd gone a little south to detour around the Verkhoyansk mountains. It wasn't like she couldn't handle the terrain, but it was faster and easier for her to move if she avoided the slopes and deeper snow in the higher elevations. It also helped her get her bearings, as she knew that the water to the south was the Sea of Okhotsk, so her instinctive directions were serving her well. The only issue would be that to get closer to America, she would have to keep going slightly north and east, and that would be even colder. Luckily, the hunting had gone well, and there were few humans that were in the area, so it was easy to go around them.

The journey continued, and while the hunting wasn't always good, she got lucky when she stole some fish from a barrel near the port town of Magadan, which gave her the energy she needed to keep going. She did the same thing in the towns of Gizhiga and Manily and then headed due east. The hunting got better as the weather became a little warmer, though not by much, and a deer fell prey to her claws one night, which might have been the biggest feast she'd ever had. An entire deer, just for her! Her inner tiger, Retria, purred happily at the taste of the juicy meat.

After a little over three weeks of travel, she reached the town of Lavrentiya, and she knew she was close. The weather wasn't great, with strong winds making the ocean choppy, but she understood that she wouldn't get much closer to America than this. She changed into her human form and huddled up next to buildings during the day, trying to stay warm and conserving energy. Her plan was to try to steal a small boat after dark, and then row as far as she could. There were several boats like that along the shore and on the larger ships to be used as lifeboats, so she didn't think it would be an issue. She didn't want to hurt anyone, but her people needed her, so she would do as she must.

She smiled happily as a light drizzle started to fall. She didn't need the moisture to get her any colder than she already was, but the bad weather drove the few remaining people indoors and gave her a little added time to get going. Jogging over to a pair of boats that were upside down on the dock, she heaved one over her head with a grunt and lowered it into the water. Tossing two oars into it, she climbed down into the little boat and started to row.

It was much harder than it looked, as she'd never done it before, and she was feebly splashing for a while, bouncing around in the waves, before she was able to get a pattern going. Even then, it was slow going in the rough water, much slower than she'd hoped for, but it was progress indeed. She kept the lights of Lavrentiya right behind her, knowing that if she just kept heading away from it, that she would hit America sooner or later. After that, her hope was to find allies, maybe werewolves or werebears, and then bring them back to help rescue her friends and family.

The time seemed to drag. Hour after hour she rowed, until she had to pull her sleeves down over her hands as blisters had formed and burst on her palms and fingers. The rain stopped, and a moon came out overhead, making the crests of the waves glow as she kept going until her muscles were screaming in agony. Looking over her shoulder, there was dark land in the distance, but she had no idea how far away it was.

Her hands were crying out in pain, and tears had started to pour down her face while her muscles knotted up when the strangest thing happened. A seal literally jumped out of the water, flopping into her boat as she stared at it in amazement. She was about to lick her lips, thinking that the gods had been generous in giving her a meal when an even stranger thing happened. The seal wriggled a little, and then the skin sloughed off and left a handsome naked man in the boat with her. She quickly averted her eyes, not being a fan of the male form and embarrassed at the same time.

"You're a long way from home," the man said in a strangely accented English tongue. "It Is odd to see one of your kind out here among the selkie.

Having practiced for years to learn the English language to help with her escape, Melashka nodded. She'd heard tales of the selkie, as there were always stories of other supernatural races told in the darkness. Years before, when they had been free, her mother had wandered the globe looking for her mate and had many adventures that she told her about. "I'm trying to find my way to America to find allies to help free my people in Russia. I seek werewolves, or others of a similar nature."

"If your people need help, we will help. There are all too few of us left as well, though we dare not go on land. We can certainly help you escape on the water though." He slapped the side of the boat, and another seal appeared, this one with a leather pouch in its jaws. The man took the pouch with a smile and passed it over to Melashka. "My name is Aukaneck, the leader of this pod of selkies. The whistle in that pouch will call any selkies in the area, and my name will get you aid. We can help you get to the coast, though not too much further, as the werewolves in the area hunt us if we swim too much further east. I know not if they will aid your cause, because they have been our enemies for years, but perhaps they can be a place to start."

Melashka felt tears prick at her eyes as she nodded. "That would be wonderful, thank you. I won't forget you Aukaneck." He gave her a nod, then wriggled back into his skin, which was an odd process, because he was suddenly half the size he had just been. Moments later, other selkies were biting the oars and dragging her towards the shore, while still more were tossing flopping fish into the boat. She knew that she would eat well that night before she continued her journey!