Welcome to Gaia! ::

Katriel sighed as she trudged back to her camper. North Montana was a hard place to make a buck. She had just finished a babysitting job and only had $40 in her wallet to show for it. Still, it would get her another 100 miles or so. 200, if she skipped a few meals. Hopefully it was far enough to find another job.

She'd parked her truck and camper at a wide open rest stop. There wasn't even another car in the parking lot. She slid into the camper of the truck and closed her eyes. She was tired. From the babysitting. From the driving. From the being alone for so long. She half wished for something...exciting to happen.

Katriel took a deep breath--and caught a strange scent. She looked over in the passenger's seat and saw a dirty cat-boy sleeping on the bench seat. Actually, he was shivering and twitching in his sleep.

The wolf in her wanted to attack him for intruding on her territory. The woman in her pitied the poor thing. Either way, he couldn't stay there.

"Hey!" she barked. "Wake up! This isn't a motel, buddy."

Katriel arched an eyebrow. "That's my jacket," she said archly. She could tell he was ready to bolt. She could also tell he was almost as afraid of her as he was everything else in life--she could literally smell the fear pouring "Look, you seem like a nice kid an all but this isn't a youth hostel. Now, if you want, I can drop you off somewhere. I might even be able to scrape together a meal--though I don't have much."

"Wait a second...You're a runaway slave?" Katriel demanded. She absently flicked at his tail like it was an annoying fly. A runaway slave meant that people would be coming for him. Which meant she had to get away fast. If they caught her scent...well, there were a lot of people on the market for a werewolf pet. Suddenly the $40 in her wallet looked a whole lot smaller. She needed some real money and she needed it soon. It was time to head for the hills. Mountains to be exact. Alaska was suddenly looking very warm."Hell."

"Wait," Katriel snapped. "You're exhausted. You won't last five miles on your own. Get back in the truck and I'll drop you off somewhere nice."

She didn't like the idea of him running off by himself. She had a protective streek a mile wide--it must run in the wolf genes--and he needed a lot of protection right now.

"Would it help if I offered you a bowl of soup?" she made the final offer.

"I could help you find one," she shouted after him. She felt somewhat desperate to keep him in the truck. She knew he was lying about seeing her later. If he wasn't found and killed, he'd be locked in some basement and she didn't want to consider the fate worse than death that awaited him. "Seriously, you won't have any luck in this po-dunk little town if you're looking for a mistress--much less protection from anyone following you. I can help you with both."

"Just...get your butt back in the truck," she ordered, snatching the collar out of his hand. She wrapped the leather strap around his neck and almost throttled him with it, but restrained herself and buckled it securely. "Come on--we have to get out of here. If anyone followed you, they'll be on my tail too, now."

Katriel was shocked at first. Then the wolf in her rose up. She snarled and grabbed his throat pinning him to the back of the truck seat.

"Rule number 1," she growled. "Don't get fresh. We're not even the same genus, let alone the same species! Lets get one thing straight, buddy: I am only saving your tail because it protects mine. So do what I say, follow my rules, and you might get out of this alive. Got it?"

Without waiting for an answer, she let go of his throat and furiously jammed her key in the ignition. The engine roared to life and she slammed the gas peddle to the floor. Faster than was strictly safe, they tore out of the parking lot and on to the interstate.