Gavriel turned to Ryuu. "Did she eat anything?" Ryuu shook his head. Gavriel sighed. "Can you serve an early tea? When she doesn't eat she gets...," he fished for the word. "Grumpy."

Ryuu nodded, eyes twinkling. "Of course. Shall I prepare your sustenance as well?"

"Yes, that would be most helpful," Gavriel said and followed Meryn to Aiden's office. Maybe if he were lucky she wouldn't start pestering him for more paranormal legends until after lunch.

CHAPTER ONE

Turn left in two miles.

"Left? There is no left. Where?" She looked around there was nothing but trees in any direction.

Turn left in one mile.

"There is no left here you daffy contraption!"

You have arrived at your destination.

"Ugh!" Elizabeth Monroe rolled to a stop and put her car in park. Climbing out of her car she stretched and rubbed her lower back. She had been driving for eight hours and all she wanted was a warm bed. She looked around. She was in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

You have arrived at your destination.

Elizabeth reached in and ripped the GPS off of the dash and threw it into the woods. She looked left down the long dirt road she had come down. Frowning, she turned right. The dirt road seemed to go on forever. She knew that she had guesstimated where Lycaonia's city gate would be since the city wasn't on any known map, but she didn't think she would be this off.

She was about to get back in her car when she heard a low hiss. She froze and looked around her feet for any snake that had yet to go into hibernation. She traced the sound to her back right tire, which was becoming flatter by the second.

"Sugar!" She eyed the mud under her car and sighed. Cussing every step of the way she stomped back to the trunk to get the jack and spare tire. She opened the trunk and was about to wrestle the spare out when she looked down. She was wearing her new London Fog wool trench. She was not about to get grease on it. She removed her coat and folded it carefully laying it to one side. She removed the tire and the jack and started the process of changing her flat. She was almost finished when she heard a familiar sound.

"You have got to be kidding me!" She dropped the tire iron in defeat. Her back left tire was going flat faster than the right had. This just served as her daily reminder that she had the worst luck in the world.

Wet and cold she grumbled as she threw the flat tire and the tire iron in the trunk and slammed it shut. She reached to her side for her keys when it dawned on her where they were. Turning slowly she looked at her locked trunk that held not only her coat but also her car keys and phone.

"Just freaking great!" She tried to open her trunk she but wasn't strong enough and didn't have the leverage to pry it up.

"What else could go wrong?" she demanded shaking her fist at the sky. A crack of thunder was her answer as rain began to fall, creating rivulets of water running down her body. Whimpering she prayed that someone would come by soon.

*****

Two hours later Elizabeth was thoroughly drenched and shivering. She had already dismissed the idea of shifting since her animal would be just as cold and wet as her human form. If help did come, she didn't want to experience that awkward moment where she shifted back and was naked. She was about to give in to the urge to cry when she heard a car approaching. It slowed down and stopped. She got to her feet and heard a car door open and close.

"Hello there," a male voice greeted.

"Hello," she said.

"How are you?"

Seriously?

"I'm fine and you?" she asked keeping her voice even.

"I can't complain. What are you doing out here? Don't you have a coat?" he asked.

"Yes. Yes, I do, but it's in the trunk along with my car keys and phone. I have been stuck out here for the past couple hours."

"Sorry, honey! I didn't realize you had been out here so long; I wouldn't have just chitchatted if I had known. Hold on." Elizabeth smiled at the distress in his voice. He was cute.

A minute later, he easily popped the trunk open with the pry bar he had grabbed from his car. She watched him as he walked back toward her with her coat. He was tall and had warm blond hair and bright green eyes. His smile was rueful but kind.

He held her coat. She dug into the pocket and pulled out her keys and phone.

"Thanks. I was about to lose it there," she admitted.

"I can imagine. My name's Colton. Where are you heading?"

"I'm Elizabeth, Elizabeth Monroe. I'm heading to Lycaonia." She stretched and cracked her back.

"We've been on the lookout for you. Let me finish this up and you can follow me in. I can swap out your other tire with my spare, which should last you until we can get it fixed. If you don't mind a slight delay, we can go to the Alpha estate, and I can drop off my car and ride into the city with you, to show you around." His smile turned devilish.

She thought about it for a second before nodding.

"That might actually be a good idea. In my current state I don't know where I would end up." Grimacing, she saw that her new coat was covered in mud from her tire, making her sacrifice seem pointless. Not wanting to get her seats dirty she made sure she had her keys and phone in hand before she threw the coat back into the trunk.

"Great, it won't take me a second. Go warm up in my car." Colton pointed to the car behind them.

"Thanks." She handed him the keys and walked to his car. She climbed in and jacked up the heat. Why did crazy things always happen to her? The only thing she could count on was her bad luck.