NIL BETA'AC

That way.

That was all she had for me? That way? Not even a soiel'u or soiel'dú? Or maybe even a fung'cýd or a fung'prié? At least then I would know which direction we were headed. I guess the only way I was ever going to learn anything about or from this strange Elizabeth was going to be to ask.

"So..."

She cut me off before I even knew where I was going with this. A regular occurrence, this was- me not knowing where I was going.

"Before you even start, I am not the swapping stories type. Ok?" I shut my mouth again, lapsing into the silence she selfishly preferred. I felt disdain toward the girl, but at the same time, a draw that wasn't due to my need to understand where, and when I was.

There was a certain appeal about this girl. Maybe it was the way she seemed to care about nothing, or even her blatantly superior demeanor, and air of twisted sybarite manner. But whatever it was, I just seemed to take what she said or did in my stride, not really caring about why she was different to the calm, routine driven people around me, that seemed peculiar in almost every way; The way they moved, the way they seemed to trust everyone around them, as if they were sure they weren't going to attack them, or hunt them. There were no territorial bounds, everyone walked where they pleased, and if two people collided, they didn't jump backward in alarm, though given the crowds, it was probably a regular occurrence. They dressed in strange clothing, with amazing colours, that I had only seen in peoples eyes or hair. And worst of all... There were no clan marks!

"I'm sure it's very nice over yonder, Nillian, but this-a-way is more conventional." The slightly arrogant, smart ass voice reached my ears, and I realised that during my observation, Liz had turned slightly. I darted around a man who had walked in front of me. He gave a start and I turned my head to glare at him. As I spun it back, the wind was knocked out of me as I collided with a solid man walking toward me.

"Watch it!" He yelled, and I bared my teeth at him, air whistling between my teeth in defiance. He did not jump back as the others had done, but furrowed his brow, instead. This took me by surprise, I was getting used to the strange reaction. We stared at each other, both intrigued, before a taller, but slimmer man stepped up beside the shorter burly one. He looked at me, his brow deeply lined with thought, and I narrowed my eyes at him. His brow flattened out with what looked to be muffled shock as he saw my eyes, that had coloured corneas. This was neither normal nor strange back home. My brother and sister had white corneas, as did my mother, but Magdenn's corneas were the part of him that changed with his mood. My brother had a much subtler form- fine hairs in his ears and tail, barely noticeable, changed with his mood, and my sister was human, and had none. She had the beauty of being able to lie.

The shorter man moved first, he began to walk, and shouldered me as he went by. What nerve! If I wasn't so out of shape, I might've turned and given him what for! But Liz was gone, and I couldn't afford to lose her. The taller man was glaring at his friend, as if he had done wrong by shouldering me. I had stopped hissing, and now looked at the man in front of me with determination, and twisted gratefulness. He was, dare I say it, rather handsome, and back in my own world, I may have asked around about him. But that was a very, very bad idea here.

"I'm sorry, is my friend bothering you, boys?" Perfectly timed, Liz came to my 'aid'.

The taller man answered, clearly the politer if the two.

"Not at all. We simply had a small misdirection." He smiled at me. His voice was husky, and I found myself wanting to hear more. I mentally slapped myself, images of my previous mate's fury acting as the stinging hand. Never again....

"Keep her on a leash, sugar" The burly man had a silkier voice, but it was full of menace that clearly stemmed from further back than this incident. The taller man chided him.

"Dean!" He said through gritted teeth. So his name was Dean. Another odd name.

Liz cocked her head at Dean, feigning interest.

She had put on a sweet voice that clearly was designed for getting her way with the opposite gender. To her credit, she was amazingly manipulative. But there was irritation that only someone attuned to look for could notice under the ploy. And her words contradicted the innocence of the tone.

"You keep calling me sugar, and your friend here will need a leash to pull your head out of your ribcage."

Dean did a double take.

"Son-of-a?" He took a step toward Liz, bewilderment in his eyes. The taller man put a hand on his chest and pushed him back to us, he muttered a quick

"Have a nice day" and then shoved Dean back onto their way. With my wolf-clan breeding, I caught the shards of their conversation as they walked off.

"...Did you see the first girl's eyes? That's not normal, even our kind of normal" The taller man seemed bewildered by my eyes. He wasn't the first one, but our kind of normal? That was odd. I wondered if I would ever know what their kind of normal was. But the event was over, I would never see that handsome man again. He would never be a problem...