This is my first fanfic so any and all criticism and/or comments are welcome as are reviews.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it then it's not mine.

Dr. Samuel Cornick slowed his car as he went around a corner. He wasn't sure why but he felt somewhat restless. He was on his way back to the Tri-Cities from visiting his father, the Marrok, in Montana.

Rounding the bend, he noticed a young woman walking along the side of the road in the hot afternoon sun. She turned as she heard the car behind her and waved her arms at him. He pulled to the side of the road and stopped next to her, rolling down the window on the passenger side.

"Can I help you with something miss?" He asked her. She smiled winningly at him.

"Could you give me a ride?" Samuel considered for a moment.

"Where are you going?" The girl hesitated then shrugged.

"I'm not really sure. Maybe Washington State?" She said naming the State on his license plates. Samuel smiled.

"I'm on my way to the Tri-Cities in Washington." He flipped the unlock button on the doors. "I'll give you a ride all the way there if you want." He offered. She smiled.

"Thanks." She said as she opened the door and set her bag inside, climbing in behind it. Samuel drew in a sharp breath and his Wolf woke instantly as he caught her scent. Was it possible? Were there really other Walkers? She certainly smelled like one.

She closed the door and turned to him.

"Do you have any water?" He reached into the backseat and grabbed one of the water bottles he always kept there.

Her eyes widened as she caught his scent. She had never smelled anything like him before. He smelled fresh and clean, of mountains and the forest. Wild. Un-tamable. She shifted closer to the door. She was young and had never really gotten out much but somehow she didn't think that many people smelled this... good.

He handed her the water and she took it gratefully.

"Thank you so much." She said, taking the lid off of the bottle. Bringing it to her lips she drank about half of the water quickly. She put the cap back on with a small sigh. She blinked and held out her hand to Samuel.

"I'm Kai by the way."

Samuel shook her hand with a friendly smile.

"Samuel."

"It's nice to meet you Samuel." Sam took his foot off the brake pedal and drove off down the road again.

She smelled soft and warm. She looked like she was pretty young, maybe 17. Her scent was a blend of things, most of which he couldn't identify. Aloe. There was a hint of aloe. It wasn't usually a smell he liked but it was good on her.

After a few miles of silence he decided to try to break the ice a little.

"So how old are you Kai?" She looked over at him, startled.

"I'm nineteen." She was lying. It had been a good lie; a human wouldn't have caught it. He looked over at her.

"Why are you hitchhiking? Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's dangerous? I could be an ax murderer or a serial killer or something." He caught a faint scent of sadness when he mentioned her mother, but she hid it quickly.

"Well I don't have a car and grand theft auto seemed a little too risky so I decided to take my chances with the ax murderers and serial killers. Besides, when you pulled up you didn't seem like the type for that." Samuel smiled slightly.

"First impressions can be deceiving." She narrowed her eyes.

"Are you trying to tell me something? You can let me off anywhere you know. You don't have to take me all the way to the Tri-Cities just because you offered. You can change your mind if you want to."

"Do you want me to let you off somewhere between here and there?"

"No I'm cool. But if you don't want to take me you don't have to."

"Why wouldn't I want to?"

"Oh I don't know. You can never tell but I might be an ax murderer."

"You seem a little young for that."

She snorted. "What and you don't? What does age have to do with it anyway? If you're crazy you're crazy. There's no law that says you have to be a certain age before you can become an ax murderer."

Samuel laughed. She was definitely a strange little coyote. He looked over at her to find her watching him. She met his eyes without fear or hesitation. She didn't look away and his Wolf growled at her insubordinate.

He looked over at her and met her eyes. She gazed back at him, studying his face. He was good looking, not the type of guy that women drooled over as he passed on the street perhaps, but definitely good looking. His eyes were perhaps the most striking thing about his face. They were pale gray-blue with a ring of dark blue around the iris and they seemed to hold something mysterious in them. Something wild, like his scent. She realized that she was taking deep breaths, savoring the smell of him and stopped.

She glanced away, glad that he hadn't noticed. She looked toward the road and saw, to her horror, that they were on the wrong side of the road and there was a semi-truck coming. The driver of the oncoming truck was reaching for something on the seat next to him and Samuel hadn't noticed it yet. She grabbed the wheel and jerked them back to the right side of the road.

Samuel looked at the road just as she reached over. He cursed himself for not paying attention to the road. He had almost gotten her killed. He would have survived the collision but she probably wouldn't have.

"Thanks. Sorry."

She was breathing heavily. She swallowed hard and started to relax a little again.

"It's okay. That's why I don't really drive very often. Too much you can't control." Samuel had to struggle not to say that he could have prevented that, that he should have been paying attention. She looked at him as though she could hear what he was thinking and repeated quietly,

"Its okay."

They continued on in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts. Finally Kai couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Do you live in the Tri-Cities?" She asked Samuel, hoping that she wasn't disturbing him. He smiled slightly. He had been expecting her to say something soon. He had been keeping track of the steady discomfort that her scent reveled to him.

"Yes, I live with a friend of mine. I'm a doctor in the Kennewick Hospital." She nodded.

"What do you do?"

"I'm in the ER." She nodded again.

"See? I knew you weren't an ax murderer. Must be a tough job though. All the people that go through the ER every day. You can't always help everyone either." She looked somberly out the window, lost in her memories. Then she brightened.

"But you save people's lives sometimes too."

Samuel nodded, wondering what her life had been like to give her such a quirky personality. She was so young and yet seemed to understand so much. Or maybe it was just the coyote in her.

"Where are you from?"

"I've lived in Arizona most of my life." Lie.

"Arizona's nice."

Kai's nose wrinkled. "It's too hot. That's why I left." That last bit was a lie too. Samuel took a deep breath, trying not to imagine the worst possible thing that could have happened to this child.

"Where did you grow up?" Kai asked curiously.

"Montana." Wow. This guy's good. I could barely smell that lie... okay lets try another...

"How old are you?" Samuel glanced at her.

"You do know that it's no polite to ask adults that right?"

"You asked me. And you're not that much older then me." She responded, one eyebrow quirked.

"I'm twenty-five." Again she could barely smell it but it was a lie. Her eyes narrowed. He only looked like he was twenty-five. She looked at him suspiciously.

His Wolf disapproved of the fact that she would look at him with such mistrust in her eyes. He wanted to find the people who had hurt her. She was HIS. Damn it. Already? Samuel closed his eyes for a moment. He wasn't sure what to make of the fact that his wolf had already claimed her as his. He liked her but she was so young. He didn't believe that she was nineteen. He sighed.

Kai bit her lip. He didn't look very happy. Had she offended him somehow? Maybe she would leave the man in peace tonight. She could find someone else to take her to Washington. Samuel had already been very nice. She didn't want to inconvenience him.

He cursed himself as he felt her withdraw from him. He glanced at the clock in the dash. It was already 6:30. Luckily they were coming up to a town. When they got to the town Samuel pulled into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. He parked the car close to the door and got out, stretching after a long day in the car.

"I'll buy you dinner." He told Kai with a smile.

"I can pay for my own dinner thank you though." His smile faded a little under her cold response. He shrugged.

"Have it your way." She smirked and glanced meaningfully towards the restaurant. He ducked his head a little when he saw that the slogan for the chain was 'Have it your way.'

"That was completely unintentional." She continued to smirk as she sauntered towards the door.

"Whatever you say."

He somehow managed not to let his arm slid around her waist as he passed her. He opened the door and held it for her. She hesitated briefly and he wondered if she was debating whether or not she trusted him at her back. She walked through the door, thanking him politely.

She ordered her food and chose a table. She sat down and began to eat her two burgers and her small fry. Samuel sat down opposite her with his food. She looked up and found him watching her. She continued eating, keeping her eyes on his.

His Wolf growled. She was HIS and she would submit to him. Their eyes stayed lock for several minutes before she looked away. It was a hollow victory though. He suspected that she had gotten bored. He looked down at her tray. She had almost eaten all of her food. She hadn't ordered that much, only two burgers and a small fry and a cup of water. He had gotten about twice that much. No wonder she was so thin.

He studied the way she was eating too. She looked like she was hungry but trying to pretend that she wasn't. He resolved to get her to eat more.

After they were both done he asked,

"Did you get enough to eat?" She looked him in the eye again.

"Yes. I'm fine thank you." He frowned. With that wording it shouldn't have been a lie. He rose and went up to the counter and ordered four ice cream sundae things. He brought two to her and sat down again with his two. She gave him a questioning look.

"They're small." He explained.

"I said I was fine."

"And I think you were lying. Eat." She glared at him.

"Now." she stuck out her tongue at him in a show of immaturity but picked up her spoon.

Samuel smiled, glad that she didn't act older then she was all the time.

After they had finished Samuel moved to gather up her trash and take it to the can along with his. She batted his hands away.

"I'm not sure what you think is going on but I'm just hitching a ride. Sorry." He sighed as she met his eyes again. She had absolutely no clue who and what he was. He allowed her to take care of her own trash.

He held the door for her again as they exited the fast food place. Samuel beeped the unlock button on his key fob, heading towards his car. Her footsteps faltered then veered off, away from him. He turned. She was walking down the sidewalk in the opposite direction from his car.

"Kai?" Samuel asked quietly, knowing full well that she could hear him just fine. The only response she gave was to duck her head and walk a little faster. He sighed and locked his car back up.

Kai walked even faster as she heard Samuel's footsteps coming after her. Why couldn't he just let her be? She could find another ride. He already knew too much about her. It was a shame though that she had to leave. He had interesting eyes. And his scent still puzzled her. She sighed. Maybe she would walk to Washington after all. The prospect of having to make small talk with another person was too troublesome. Damn it he was catching up.

"Kai." He said again. Gently. Sweetly. Like he cared. She couldn't remember when the last time was someone had said her name that way. She felt a tear run down her cheek. She stopped, allowing Samuel to catch up to her. She bit her lip as he stepped in front of her, feeling her eyes well up. She looked down at the ground, letting her hair fall over her face.

Samuel put his arms around the crying girl, stroking her hair and doing his best to comfort her.

"Shh. It'll be okay."

After she had pulled herself together she took a small step back. Samuel let her go, releasing her from his arms. Kai turned away, wiping the tears off her face. After taking several deep breaths of Samuel scented air she managed to stop quivering. She turned back to Samuel.

"Thank you." She whispered, still not looking at the man in front of her.

"Come on." He said gently. Taking her hand in his, he led her towards his car. She followed him without protest.

He opened the passenger side door for her and waited for her to get in, closing it gently behind her. Kai wasn't quite sure still what had caused her breakdown but she was grateful that Samuel had been as kind as he had been. Maybe she would stay with him until they got to Washington after all.

He got into the car and started the engine, pulling out of the parking lot. He stopped at a hotel and looked over at her.

"Want to wait in the car?" Kai nodded and he smiled reassuringly.

"I'll be right back."

She waited there for a few minutes before it dawned on her that he was getting a room for the night. She couldn't afford a room and she wasn't going to share a bed with a strange man. It didn't matter how nice he had been he could still turn out to be a serial killer. She smiled. She liked Samuel. She closed her eyes and concentrated on his scent. There was something different about him. Something she had never encountered before. The car door opened, startling her out of her thoughts. She opened her eyes to see four tough, mean looking men standing around the car.

"Get out." They ordered her. She obeyed, pulling a lighter out of one of her pockets as she did.

"What are you going to do with that girlie?" One of the men asked her. Another of the men pulled a key out of his pocket and started to drag it down the side of the car.

"I'm just getting a smoke man. Chill. Want one?" She asked, slurring her words a little.

"Yeah I'll take one." She reached into a pocket and withdrew a handful of flour and sawdust. She threw it into the air around the closest man's face and quickly lit her lighter. She took a step back as the powder erupted in flame. It only lasted for a second but it caught the mans hair on fire. One of the other men grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides.

She heard a furious growl behind her and a sickening crunch. The man holding her fell to the ground, clutching at his broken bones. She quickly looked around, taking stock of the situation. All four men were on the ground and Samuel was at her elbow, asking if she was alright. She blinked. It had all happened so fast.

"Yeah. I'm okay. Thanks." A few of the hotel staff came out and surveyed the scene.

"Sorry about this. They've been causing trouble for months now. I'm glad they finally messed with the wrong people. The police are on their way. It shouldn't take long." One of the hotel people told them. Samuel thanked her.

Kai turned to Samuel. "Sam? That wasn't... You... How..."

Samuel sighed and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I'll explain later. I've booked a room with two beds. Are you okay sharing a room?" Kai hesitated then nodded. The cops pulled into the parking lot.

* * *

Kai sighed with frustration. He made her feel so young again. Like a lost puppy, all she could do was follow him around. Somehow he had managed to get her bag away from her and was now carrying her bag and his bag down the hallway to their room. He opened the door and motioned for her to go first. She crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her tongue.

Now it was Samuel's turn to sigh with exasperation. He went into the room first, setting his bag on the bed closest to the door. He put hers on the other bed and sat down, motioning for her to sit on the opposite bed.

"So."

"So so." Samuel glared at Kai.

"Sorry."

"You've probably already guessed that I'm not normal." Kai nodded.

"But you're not normal either are you." It was a rhetorical question so she didn't bother answering.

"I'm a Werewolf."

Please