Mila's Flight (The Darkest Day #0.5) by Danielle Forrest

Mila Dragomirov had dreamed of being a spaceship pilot her entire life. And when she and her best friend, May Trace, enlisted in the military to fulfill that dream she lived and breathed for the moment when they’d pass their qualifying exams and finally be assigned to their own ship. Mila nailed her test and three days later on her 21st birthday, she was notified of her success. After a birthday dinner at her parents with May, the two young women head to town to celebrate on their own. That night after too much to drink, Mila stepped out of the bar for a breath of air and she is surrounded by a group of drunk men intent on assaulting her. As she desperately tries to fight them off something happens, her body shifts from that of a human woman to that of a tiger. She easily scares away her attackers.

Mila is horrified. She’d never had an inkling of an indication that she was a shifter, and that was not a good thing. Shifters are not welcome in this country. Hated, reviled, if discovered shifters are taken and locked up in concentration camps where who knows what happens to them.

Eventually returning to her former self, she slips back to her room on the base that she shares with May, packs her few possessions, and writes a goodbye note to her best friend, telling her she’s leaving and not to look for her. Mila has no real plan what to do next, just that she’s got to get out of there and find a place to hide…forever.

This is a prequel to Mila’s Shift, the first book in The Darkest Day series by Danielle Forrest. Very well written, it relates the emotional trauma of the characters affected by Mila’s surprise change and subsequent “flight” from society, her friends and family, and her lifelong dream of being a space pilot. The description of Mila’s life off the grid, living as a homeless person in a big city is sad and terrifying at the same time. The story is unique and the characters real. I highly recommend it – either read before as a prequel or after Mila’s Shift for the back story.