Well, keep in mind that I still don't know much about Egypt, except the basic geography of it, but I still sucked in Adv. Geography in Seventh grade.. If you guys have trouble with my description of a certain... thing, just type in BayCat in google search engine then images and just imagine the thing in the picture more... content and not in a cage :)

And PLEASE remember, I do do research and I know that BayCat isn't native to Africa, comes all the way in Southeast Asia. m'kay? Plus, I know that they don't act like that.

..You'll get it.

AND remember Seventeen yr olds don't want an IMMEDIATE M rated situation..yet. /snorts/

Throughout the journey, I had continuously looked over my shoulder, every so often my grip on the stranger's jacket tightening, remembering. Riley didn't notice as he was rambling about the sights and the unbearable heat, telling me to at least take off my gloves and all of the health risks that I was taking.

I nodded and mumbled responses, continuing my nervous search.

The stranger's jacket weighed a good ton, long and wide, making it hard just to carry it over my shoulder, Riley tried being nice and asked if I wanted him to hold it-

I shook my head, unwilling to lose this connection to my.. My stalker. There, I have a name, Stalker.

I shook my head.

All the more expensive looking scenes were closer to the Nile river, where civilizations flourished, but as hours passed and the blaring sun began to lower, I noticed we got into less populated zones, and in front of us, I could see the starting of a desert.

I shivered and made a grab for Riley's sleeve.

He stopped and looked back at me, eyebrows raised in question.

I cleared my dry throat, "Where are we going?"

Riley blinked and then smiled, "don't worry, we won't be going too far from the city, we need food and all, but just on the outskirts is our rental-" he turned forward again and cocked his head to the side as he scratched the back of his head, then laughed, "-though we might have to scoop out some sand to get inside!"

I cocked my head to the side and leaned around him, squinting my eyes to try to see what he saw, the rays of the depleting sun glaring across the land momentarily blinding me before I spotted a slanted roof and some cactus in cracked pots- most of it buried in an ant hill of sand.

I mentally sighed but thought of the less obvious points, this could be worse, this could be much worse, at least we have something to look fo-

Something moved in the sand next to my boot covered foot, catching my eye and I looked down and jerked in a jumpy manor when I saw a small black insect, "R-Riley".

He stared at our sanded in home before craning his head back to look at me, then down at the path of my gaze and laughed.

I stared at him, mortified. Why was he laughing?

"That, my dear, is called a scorpion, just be careful where you step" he warned with a cheeky smile, "poisonous little suckers, they are".

I looked back down at the insect, side stepping out of its way as it crawled back under the sand. I was not good with insects, I grew up with mammals, mammals that steered away from humans- and anything moving. I stepped up to Riley's side and momentarily shook the hill of sand that had piled up on the top of my boots before walking more forward- almost tripping on an uneven plane.

I quickly righted myself and cleared away the grains of sand to see faded red brick. I glanced up towards the view of the sunken house then back down at the hard material- seeing that it still continued under the sand. I continued my original motions with my boot to uncover more of the material and-

"Hu," Riley snorted from behind me making me jerk up straight to keep from jumping out of my skin, "this must be our walkway".

I eyed him in the corner of my eye before becoming frustrated at my companion. Now we see the true character, the talkative electronic graduate… How was he supposed to survive?

"Hey, why don't you continue while I run to find a shovel?" Riley asked scooting some sand out of the way with his shoe and whipping off some sweat from his brow. I looked around us, then behind us, my lip twitching down to a scowl when I saw the nearest house in the distance like a small monopoly piece.

I was about to open my mouth to compromise when I actually looked at Riley, his whole shirt was padded down with his own sweat and he was playing with a jug that, by the sounds of it, was empty.

He really didn't belong in Africa if he couldn't stand the heat, but it wasn't my place to be rude, so I just nodded my head and continued with my excavation. I heard him leave and distantly heard him yell over his shoulder about something to eat.

I continued what I was doing, alone, not good.

I started relapsing my past two days-

It's only been two days since I left. It seemed much longer than that, I had never left the circle of the pack, and it irritated me to know that I was left out of the important council meeting wasn't because I was the youngest, or for that fact, that I was a girl..

But the fact that everyone knew I wouldn't shift.

Seth and Leah Clearwater made that clear to me, one being the youngest and the other being a female.

They both shifted.

I didn't.

I rubbed my temples as I moved a couple feet forward, leaving a visible pathway after my wake. Maybe this was what I was meant to do, go somewhere else.. And be human.

That didn't settle well in my stomach.

What was I supposed to do after this? Riley would soon figure out that I wasn't here for a school, I could either keep out of his line of sight or just spill, sooner or later, but either pathway is going to lead to him finding out.

I was too scarred to see the look of distrust on his face - anyone's face, so I pushed the problem aside.

And in come the problem of getting the sand off of our house… I looked up at the top of the hill. The wind was picking up a bit, letting the more cooler air spread, and I wasn't as dumb to enjoy it - it was going to get worse, and if this house didn't have the necessities, like thick blankets, then there was no luck for us.

I tried shoving the piling dirt away from, what I assumed and prayed was, the door, but the sand was still scorching hot and seeped into my gloves. No pain came with the heat, but the numbing sensation was what got me on the edge. I didn't want my hands amputated because all my nerves in them died.

I rubbed my numb hand on my pants to try to get the feeling back as I looked around a bit more. Riley was now no where in sight and looks like there were no neighbors in a short walking distance.

I adjusted that coat on my shoulder, making sure it didn't slip off and shoved at the pile with my opposite shoulder, affectively making the sand wall cave- and bringing me with it.

Sand leaked into my mouth and I grunted, trying to spit all the small grains out. It reminded me of when the pack was all human, when we walked along the reservation and down the shore of the first beach, pushing at each other, laughing, seeing who could get the most amount of dirt into Paul's mouth without him bashing your face in…

I spit out another chunk of sand and pushed myself up, dusting myself off and then shaking out that coat a few times before throwing it around my shoulder again- and stared at the small accomplishment, and the partially covered pathway that I had just cleared off.

I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. No need to get upset, no need to get mad, it's just the laws of physics that I should have taken into account.

Breathe.

I turned to the other wall of sand that stood alone now that I got the other side out of the way. Just have to go bit by bit with this I suppose, and I would have to re-uncover the pathway once I free the house of its domain.

My shoulders slumped a bit as I figured that this was going to be my accomplishment, alone, since it wouldn't be likely for Riley to be coming back anytime soon.

I thrummed my fingers against my thigh, trying to see if I should start with the back of the house so I could then just push the sand piles that are in the front to the back without getting a back up. Or should I just attempt to even the level of sand so we don't have a giant hill right behind the house?

A small mew broke me out of my thoughts and I looked around in fright - what other insects could there be in this place?- and hesitated when I saw a dark, penny, haired cat staring it's huge emerald eyes up at me while patiently sitting at the half of the pathway that was still visible.

My heart rate picked up some when I didn't immediately identify it as a domesticated cat. It had a wild look to it, not in its eyes, but the length of its body, it was not small, but it wasn't big. It's rounded ears twitched as its head leaned forward, never breaking eye contact, and prowled forward. What I immediately saw was that, surely this cat wasn't native to Africa, it looked out of place with the desert around it.

I was about to step back when I gave that a second thought. Would he see it as a challenge if I backed away? I wasn't about to approach the thing, it wouldn't turn out well if this was a violent cat.

I just settled with starring at the cat as it neared me, not able to break eye contact, fearing that might set him off.

My hand trembled as it automatically clutched that jacket, my throat expanding as I swallowed a bubble of oxygen, waiting.

Paws padded and soon enough the cat was right in front of me, staring up, tail twitching , and nostrils going wide as its chest filled with its own oxygen and exhaled. It blinked, it's pupil slanted as it expanded. It opened it's mouth, its whiskers bouncing a bit, and then its white teeth gleamed off of the last bit of sun-

I scrambled backwards and tripped over an uneven brick, landing on my bottom with my legs spread apart and the cat in plane view as its nose twitched right when the wind blew, tossing my hair to one side, blocking my view of the cat and bringing along a voice.

"Bella!"

I quickly tugged my hair away and stared in front of me in shock.

The cat was gone, all the was in front of me was the view of the pathway and the small figure of what I assumed was Riley. I swung my head around, trying desperately to spy the cat, but all I saw was sand.

And more sand.

I hurriedly got on my own two legs, dusted myself off in a frenzy, clinging to that jacket all the while with one hand. Riley was still a good three minutes away so I turned to the last wall of sand on the front side of the house and rammed it with my shoulder, pushing until we both fell once again.

I was glad I had managed to close my mouth in time and sat up, shaking sand out of my hair, my eyes scanning for the cat again before pushing my leg out and scraping the small sand pile out of the pathway with my boot.

Then a shadow fell on me.

"Wow," Riley comment grinning down at me with a grin and a basket full of bottle and bags, "you found the door, Bella!"

I looked to my side, then up as I found that I, indeed, found the wooden door.

"Good" I murmured getting up again and shaking the sand off of me waited as Riley eagerly went for the door knob- only to jerk it back, "What's wrong?"

"It's hot as crap!" Riley grumbled, clenching and unclenching his burnt hand with a scowl mounted on his feature. I bit my lip and reached for the handle myself, and when I heard him suck in a breath to stop me, I looked up at him with a small smile, showing him my gloved hands.

His face went a deep shade of crimson.

I opened it lightly, my ears flinching at the sharp squeak that sounded with it. Both our heads peaked in at the old house… and we were dumbfounded.

They place looked as good as new, furnish with old fashioned furniture and some antiques, nothing too stylish or tasteful, but it was better than I first thought, seeing it from the outside, and by the relieved sound that Riley gave he thought so too.

"Well," Riley let out, stretching his arms up high, "let's get settled and get ready for a busy day tomorrow!"

I nodded and made my through it. It wasn't too small, cabinets with small lamps on them, a small boxed television set , a dull brown couch in front of it, and a white rug right in the middle. To the side I could see a hallway so I made my way over to it, popping my head into a closet sized bathroom, a bathroom sized bedroom, a tight kitchen sized master bedroom, and the laundry room.

I blinked in confusion and went to the master bedroom first. It only offered a twin bed with a knitted sheet and a thin sheet on it, a stiff pillow sitting on it, no windows to see. I walked in more and my lips twitched down as my eyebrows pulled together.

No closet.

I kneeled down on the floor.

No under bed either.

I got up and headed to the closet sized bedroom and it had the exact same bed and pattern.

No Closet.

No Windows.

No thick blankets.

No warmth.

"Shit"

Tonight wasn't going to be pleasant.

I tossed and turned on the spring mattress, goose bumps covering my skin like a fine sheet- like the two thin sheets that were doing nothing to conserve my body heat and keep me warm.

I felt like I was going to shiver myself to death if the cold didn't do it by now. The pillow didn't help any, it was hard as a rock, my head felt flat on my left side, everything felt.. Frozen.

I curled into a ball but quickly uncurled as my spine rejected the quick change in posture. I flipped on my back and moaned, staring at the smooth ceiling that was covered with blackness.

I dimly wondered how Riley was holding up in the supposed 'master' bedroom, he, of course, was oblivious enough to the closing in temperatures and actually took a shower before going to bed, while I had jumped into bed and gathered all the heat I could before the coldness really seeped into the bones. I had chosen the closet room since it reminded me of my old room.

Old.

I shook my head and sat up, hearing some joints crack, releasing the oxygen between them. I rubbed my coat covered arms in an attempt to conduct heat as I stood, wobbling over towards the door where my small pack and that coat laid. I bent and grasped the collar of it, swinging the heavy shoulders of it over my small ones. It engulfed me completely and I quickly tied the slash that was in the middle of it, briefly looking down and-

It looked like an oversized dress.

I rubbed my eyes and opened the door, a hard shiver running up my spine at the stir of cold air went around my form. I ducked my chin down into the wool collar, inhaling the ambrosia scent, shivering from the total opposite of the cold that chilled my body.

I stepped through and made my way through the skinny hallway, hugging my arms around myself from under the coat since I wasn't even going to attempt putting my arms through the sleeves. The living room looked even more isolated in the dead of night.

I stepped over Riley's tiny suitcase, careful not to catch my boot on them - yes I slept with boots on, I don't want to lose my hand or my feet- and plopped down on the catch, shivering when the cold particles seeped through the bottom of my jeans… but that coat helped a lot, and the couch was much-

I jerked away right after I made my way to lay all the way across the couch, almost screaming if the wool from the collar hadn't caught in my mouth and nearly chocked me.

It was that cat!

It's piercing green eyes, that seemed to glow in the dark, stared at me, its form curled up on the edge of the couch, tail flickering every few seconds. We both staid in our positions, staring, though the cat looked much more relaxed than me, the prey.

Once again those nostrils opened up wide, and it's eyes closed as its chest rose, and when it exhaled a rumbling purr vibrated through the air.

I sucked in a breath.

Slowly it's- no his, eyes opened, life sparkling in them, and moved his body up, tight muscles showing under the furred skin, ears pushed forward. I tensed up and watched as he stopped in front of me, still purring, and pushed his nose against that jacket, flickering his eyes up as he did so.

I bit my lip and slowly leaned away from the cat's touch, trying to take advantage of its calm- maybe even good- mood. I immediately froze when the purring stopped and those dazzling green eyes shot to mine, staring.

I don't know what came over me when I uttered an apology out loud- apologizing for what, I don't know- but the purring immediately started over again and his small head was once again pressed into that jacket.

"My Mate" A harsh whisper sounded off the walls, almost like an echo of a ghost, "Mine"

I jumped, my head swiveling side to side, the sudden motions making me topple off the couch, legs up in the air, supported by the couch, and the rest of me staring up at the ceiling.. Again.

The cat walked to the edge of the couch and stared down at me, his head tilting to the side before that tiny mew I heard earlier from him came out and he stepped off the couch, right onto me, then laying right down.

I stared at the cat passed my nose while all he did was continue to purr and curl up in a ball, a cat sized massager . I licked my dry lips before letting out a long breath I had been holding. I looked down at the cat, the beautiful coat of his a dark contrast with the sandy color of that coat and my dark denim jeans.

The cat was really long.

I blinked my eyes a bit as they started drooping, and my mouth twitched as..

I yawned, returning my eyes to the ceiling, letting them un focus and blur.

…. Man, this cat is really warm.

And he smells like ambrosia.

Read and Review. Any advice is welcome!