Ok so I don't know if the site will send alerts to you awesome people who've added me to your alert lists and such but I've made some changes to all of the chapters. And this one is longer. I'll try to write more but I've been suffering from a little bit of writers block on this story. Sorry that it's taken me so long to write more. I really appreciate all of you wonderful people who've read and/or reviewed my story. ;)

If you recognize it, it probably still isn't mine… *gasp*


They stopped for lunch in the outskirts of Pasco. Samuel bought Kai lunch at the small, family owned dinner, despite her protests. She sighed.

"So. After lunch you'll drop me off somewhere so I can get used to the city right?" Samuel considered for a few moments.

"I'm not sure that the local alpha will appreciate you running around unescorted through his territory."

"You aren't an alpha?" Kai asked with surprise. Samuel chuckled. So perhaps she had felt something of his dominance after all.

"I'm a loner. The alpha and I have an agreement worked out. He lets me live with Mercy and I don't challenge him." Kai nodded.

"I know what borders look like I can stay out of their way." Samuel looked sharply at her.

"I thought you'd never smelled a werewolf before. How do you know what borders look like?" She didn't answer and his wolf growled.

"Can I get your address and phone number in case I need anything or I get lost?"

"Sure." Samuel got out a pen and wrote Mercy's address and his cell number on a paper napkin. He held it out to Kai and she smiled and reached for it. He moved it out of her reach.

"How do you know what borders smell and look like?" She looked at him in shock for a moment then she grinned.

"There are other kinds of Were's besides just werewolves you know. They're more rare then the wolves perhaps but they're out there." Her smile faded as she remembered exactly how well she knew that. Samuel tensed, smelling the change in her emotions.

"What?" Kai sighed.

"It's nothing." Seeing his look she added, "Really. Its over now anyway." I hope. They shouldn't have been able to track me over such a long distance so I should be fine. And if this alpha lets Samuel and Mercy stay in his territory maybe he'll help me too.

Samuel studied her as she pondered something. He sighed quietly to himself, wishing he knew what was troubling her. He nudged her plate a little closer to her, already halfway done with his meal.

"Do you want me to not tell Mercy about you?" Kai looked up at Samuel.

"I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't mind." Samuel nodded.

"It shouldn't be too hard. She never uses my car so she shouldn't smell you."

"Thank you." Kai said quietly, looking down, wondering why he was being so nice. She started eating, humming low under her breath at the heavenly taste of the food.

* * *

After lunch Samuel led Kai back out to his car. She was beginning to tire of being so dependant on someone else. The got into the car and he turned to her.

"Is there anything that you need? Clothing, food, money, transportation?"

"No I'm okay. Thank's though." She told him with a smile, mentally running through what she had.

Samuel sighed inwardly. This was promising to be a difficult few days coming up. He didn't doubt that he would worry about her until she was living with him, had been accepted by Adam and Mercy, and had settled in to life as his mate. Providing that she was willing to be his mate. Yes, definitely a difficult few days.

Samuel started the car and pulled out onto the road, heading towards Kennewick. It wasn't until they were crossing the Columbia River that something occurred to Samuel.

"Do you have a phone?" Kai looked over at Samuel blankly, still deep in her thoughts. She blinked a few times then said,

"Yeah I have a prepaid cell phone. I don't get any calls so I should still have plenty of minutes left." Samuel nodded.

"Alright. Can I get your number?" Kai smiled slightly.

"Yeah I'll get it for you when you drop me off somewhere. I never learned the number so…" Samuel considered for a moment then asked,

"Is there anywhere specific that you want me to drop you?" Kai shook her head.

"No. Not really. I've only been to the Tri-cities once so I'm not really familiar with anything. Anywhere's fine."

Samuel drove on awhile longer then he pulled off into a park.

"This is pretty near the alpha's border so be careful." He got out and opened the trunk for her. Kai dug her phone out and turned it on, flipping through the menu's to find the number. She pulled a slip of paper and a pen out of her bag and wrote the number on it, handing it to Samuel. He took it with a quick smile.

"Call me if you need anything okay?"

Kai nodded. "Okay. Thank you so much for everything Sam."

"It's my pleasure. I'll see you in a few days."

"Yep." She gave him a quick hug as he turned to get back in the car. He looked down at the girl in shock. He hugged he back before she could pull away. She gave him a quick squeeze and removed her arms. He released her as well, heaving a mental sigh. He got back into his car and started it again.

Kai was somewhat amazed that she had hugged the poor man. First she annoyed him and now she was giving him random hugs. She smirked. Some ax murderer she had turned out to be, huh. She moved out of his way so that he could leave, giving him a small wave as she did so.

Kai walked around through the park for a while, trying to decide what she needed to do first. She smacked her forehead lightly.

"Duh! I need to look like a pet before I go running around in people's backyards." She muttered to herself under her breath. She walked purposefully towards three other teenagers that were in the park, two of them were walking their dogs and they were joking around with each other.

"Hi. I'm looking for a pet store near here. Do you know if there are any?" The other teenagers conferred briefly amongst themselves. One of the two boys turned back to Kai with a smile.

"Yeah we were actually just on our way there ourselves. If you want we can show you where it is."

"Thanks. I'd like that." The other boy and the girl snickered.

"So uh… I'm Jake." The boy said sticking out his hand. Kai smiled, the lie coming to her tongue easily.

"I'm Kim. Nice to meet you Jake."

"Nice to meet you too Kim. Are you new here? I haven't seen you around before."

"Yeah I'm visiting some relatives. Looks like a nice area though. Might come back and go to school here."

"Yeah it is a nice area. I've lived here all my life and I still like it here. A lot of kids get tired of the same old place and want to move on but there's always something new here. You heard about the Werewolves going public right? Well, the main, top dog guy, whatever he's called, he lives around here. It's really cool. I go to school with his daughter and I've met a few of the wolves. They seem… Pretty normal actually." Kai nodded and smiled which was apparently all the fuel this talkative teenage boy needed to keep going. She found herself missing Samuel's easy company.

* * *

Samuel was relieved to see that Mercy was still at work when he got home. He locked up his car after retrieving his bag out of the trunk and went inside. He put all the clothes that smelled even faintly like her into the washer machine and turned it on, trusting it to remove her scent. He went into the bathroom and took a shower, washing all traces of the young Walker away.

* * *

After they got to the pet store Kai made her apologies to Jake and his friends and excused herself, going to the tag machine in the front of the store. Jake trotted after her.

"Hey. Can I get your pone number Kim?" Kai smiled at him.

"Sure." She proceeded to give him some poor, random person's phone number. She thought that perhaps she had heard it in a commercial…

Once Jake had gone back to hang out with his friends she turned back to the machine. She put her money in and made herself some tags. She put Samuel's address and phone number on them along with her name. Just in case…I won't get picked up but I really do hate going to the pound. Better safe then sorry. She told herself. It has absolutely nothing to do with Samuel. Nothing at all.

She walked back to the dog section of the store and looked through the collars. Jake came around the corner of the isle and smiled when he saw her.

"I thought that maybe you'd left." He said as he stopped next to her. "You have a dog?" He asked with a hint of surprise.

"No, my aunt has one though. She asked me to stop by a pet store and pick up a new collar and tags for her. Her dog chewed up her old ones." Kai lied easily with a smile. Jake nodded sagely.

"Yeah dogs do that sometimes. What breed is she?"

"She's a mutt. We think that she's got some lab, maybe a little spaniel, and possibly a bit of coyote but we're really not sure."

"Shelter dog?"

"Yeah." Kai smiled. "My aunt wouldn't have it any other way. How about you? You have a dog?" Jake smiled with a sigh and ran his hand through his hair.

"Yeah… I have two. One's a Belgian Shepard. He's quite a handful… And to make things worse my other dog is a Border collie mix." Kai smirked.

"That sounds like trouble. How'd you come up with that combo?"

"I really don't know what I was thinking. I got Shadow, the Belgian, outside the shelter. His owner was elderly and had health issues and was moving to an assisted living home so he couldn't keep him. I talked him into selling Shadow to me instead of abandoning him. And I adopted Bree." Kai smiled at the talkative boy.

"That is such a sweet story about Shadow." Jake tilted his head so that he could see the tags.

"Kai? That's a cute name. Does it mean anything?"

"Yeah I think it means dog chasing deer or something." Kai picked out a nice leather flat buckle collar. Black of course. She picked up her bag and slipped the strap over one shoulder.

"I can carry that if you want." Jake offered.

"I've got it thanks though." Kai declined his offer gently. Suddenly she frowned and pulled her phone out of her pocket, checking the time.

"Oh. Wow, I've got to get going. It was really nice to meet you Jake." Kai said, smiling warmly at the boy. Jake smiled back.

"It was nice to meet you too Kim. Will I see you around?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe…" She said with another smile as she walked toward the front of the store to buy her collar.

She sighed with relief when she got out of the store without having to talk to Jake again. She wasn't used to talking that much in one day let alone in a few hours.

She walked back to the park quickly and found a place a little ways away that she could hide her stuff. She slipped into the thick bushes and put the collar on. She stepped quickly out of her clothes as soon as she was sure that there was no one around and stuffed them into her bag. She slid the bag a little deeper into the bushes and froze as she heard someone walk by a ways away. It was always uncomfortable to be naked in such strange places. She Sifted quickly and trotted out of the bushes. Scenting the air, she picked a direction and began to explore the area around the park. She could nose around farther tomorrow, for now she just needed to make sure that she would be safe sleeping here.

* * *

The past few days had passed uneventfully. She had spent her time in coyote form and had explored a lot of ground. She had even ventured into the Alpha's territory a little. She finished her rabbit and stretched. She was going to head outside the city limits and find somewhere that she could hide if she ever ran into trouble.

By noon she was in empty fields outside of town. Where could one hide in a field? She couldn't think of anywhere. Suddenly she heard a shot ring out. At the same time she felt a sharp stab of pain in her hind leg. She didn't stop to think or look around for the shooter, she ran. She followed the road for what seemed like hours, back toward town. It had probably been a hunter she reasoned. He had probably just mistaken her for a coyote. Which was understandable since she was one, despite her strange coloring. She heard another shot behind her and dashed across the road, not noticing the car.

She hit the front bumper and the car jerked to a stop. The man driving got out and came around the front f the car, kneeling down next to her. She lifted her head and looked at him. The man sighed with relief and ran his hands over her, checking for broken bones. He found her collar and looked at it for a moment.

"Kai? That's a good girl. I'll take you home okay. You'll be alright." He crooned to her as he went and opened the back door of his car. He spread a blanket on the seat and came back to her. She whapped her tail gently as he picked her up and put her on the backseat of the car.

"I don't know who would shoot such a pretty little girl like yourself. You look a little too much like a coyote to run around here though, miss Kai." He got a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down Samuel's address and phone number from the tags. He climbed into the drivers seat and dialed Sam's number as he pressed the accelerator.

"Hello?" Samuel answered on the third ring.

"Hello. I found your dog. She ran in front of my car but she isn't too badly hurt. She has a bullet wound in her leg though. You shouldn't let her run wild."

"Thank you. I try to keep her penned up but she's an escape artist. Do you have my address?"

"Yeah it's on her tags. Shall I take her to your house?"

"Yes. I'll take her to my vet as soon as you get here. Thank you."

"It's no problem. At least I have a good excuse for being late to my meeting. Can you give me a little help finding your place?" Samuel gave the man directions to Mercy's.

* * *

Samuel swore softly and colorfully after he hung up the phone. He went into his bedroom and pulled the blankets off his bed and put fresh sheets on it. He laid down some towels and got the tools that he kept in the house in case one of the Wolves got hurt and needed his help. He paced restlessly. She had to be okay. In the past few days he had done a little bit of house shopping and he had found one that he thought might just be perfect but, damn it, if she… a car that he didn't recognize pulled up outside the house. Samuel had to force himself to wait for just a few moments before throwing the door open. He walked over to the car and the man got out.

"I'll pay for some of the vet bills if you'd like, but I really need to get to work. Here's my card." Samuel nodded and took the card, shoving it into his pocket. The man opened the back door.

"Thank you for bringing her home." Samuel said as he stepped past the man and gently lifted Kai into his arms.

"No problem. You can use this blanket to cover your seat if you want." Samuel nodded.

"Thanks. The car isn't locked could you…?" The other man nodded and grabbed the blanket and took it over to Samuel's car, spreading it out on the backseat.

"Alright, well, I have to go."

"Thanks again." The man nodded again and walked back to his car. Samuel put Kai on the blanket, killing time until the man was out of earshot. Once the other car was around a corner and out of sight Samuel picked Kai up again and took her inside. He put her on his bed and ran his hands over her still form. He found the bullet wound in her leg and removed the bullet as carefully as he could. Kai whimpered.

"Shh… I'm sorry. I know it hurts. You'll be all right. I need you to Shift for me sweetie. Can you do that?" He waited for a moment, then she Shifted. He checked her over for other injuries but didn't find anything other than some nasty bruises. He bandaged her thigh and pulled the sheet up over her.

"Are you okay Kai? Do you want some Advil or something?"

"I'm okay, thanks though."

"Are you hungry? I can make you some food." Samuel offered.

"Maybe in a bit thanks. Will Mercy mind…"

"No. She'll be fine with it. She might be a little mad that I didn't tell her about you earlier but I can handle Mercy."

Kai smirked. "Those sound like famous last words."

Samuel smiled. "I'll go find you some clothes." He left the room and gently closed the door behind himself. He glanced at his watch. Mercy would be home any minute. As if on cue he heard Mercy's car coming. He sighed and walked outside to meet her.


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