Declan held his head out of his car window. Tears streamed from the corners of his eyes as the wind gushed against his face. He knew it was unsafe and unethical, yet he’d been on the road for a good twelve hours. It was ten-thirty in the morning he’d finally left Judy, and it had now gone ten thirty. Twelve hours, plus the eight and a half hours since the time had started counting down, so, he'd used nearly twenty-one hours. Declan calculated he had fifty-one hours to go, and he had no idea where he was.

Declan’s eyes had been disregarding road signs as he drove, it was a long time before he’d need directions. Pedal to the metal was all that mattered. He pulled his head back in the car and wiped the tears from his eyes. Jackson Mississippi up ahead. He'd find somewhere to pull over and grab a couple of hours. A motel was out of the question, he’d be too relaxed, and if he weren't back on the road soon enough, everything would’ve been for nothing.

Declan made his way through the suburbs of Jackson. He hit the city limits while noticing a few characters lurking around who were obviously wolves. He wasn’t sure how they operated down here, or how tight the packs were. Yet if he slept in the wrong place, he might find himself on the wrong side of a Jackson welcoming committee.

Declan pulled into a parking lot space by the University. It wasn't far from the freeway and would have enough roaming security to make sure he was safe enough, just while he grabbed a couple of hours sleep. He killed the engine to the car and stepped onto the almost-empty parking lot. He walked around stretching his legs and looking around to make sure there was no one in the area watching. Declan saw a couple of dogs roaming around, and if any wolves were in the area, they would’ve run off pretty-damned quickly. He rested his hands on his car and scoured the rest of the area. Street lights cast their amber glow against building walls, and elongated shadows fell against the stone. Declan saw the twisted and contorted images, and pictured things that were worse than the rabbits he’d made with his fingers and his flashlight, when he was a small kid.

Declan folded the driver’s seat forward and clambered onto the rear seat using his backpack as a pillow. That was the safest place for the poultice. Anything else could be replaced, but the poultice couldn’t. Declan climbed onto the rear seat and locked the doors to his car. He pulled a jacket over him to offer himself a little warmth. He held his cheap and unreliable phone in front of his face and set the alarm. Two hours.

“Don’t let me down,” he yelled at the phone as he tucked it close to his ear.

Declan closed his eyes and turned to get comfortable. He turned again when his leg cramped. Damn, it's more comfortable having sex in here than trying to sleep. Declan bent his knees and laid out, flat on his back. His eyes finally closed, and he slipped into a deep snooze.

“Vrrrd—Vrrrd—Vrrrd.” Declan wiggled his finger in his ear. “Vrrrd—Vrrrd—Vrrrd.” He pushed his finger into his ear again.

“What the hell’s that?” he mumbled as he felt his crappy phone vibrating under his head.

Declan sat and saw that the windows had misted. He sat and leaned forward and popped open the driver’s door and stepped into the early morning air. Declan checked the time on the car clock. It was two-thirty. He leaned his back on the car and tilted his head as he tried to calculate —then it hit him. It'd now been close to twenty-four hours. Forty-eight hours remaining, or I’m doomed to be a human —forever.

Declan drove slowly, and until all the windows had cleared of condensation. The chill of the morning air filled the car through the open windows. He drove back through the city limits and headed back toward the freeway and the nearest gas station. Declan pulled to the pump and filled his car full of gas. He pulled the keys from the ignition and made his way into the store. He walked up the aisles and grabbed something to eat and some hot coffee. He stood at the cash register and waited while a truck driver was being served.

The truck driver walked out of the store. Declan placed his items on the counter. “Pump four,” he said, as the girl looked from the window as the truck pulled from the forecourt.

“Pump four?” she asked.

Declan nodded reaching into his pocket for the money Judy had given him. “Why there a pair of legs hanging out of your passenger window?” she asked.

Declan thought it was a funny thing to say and glanced from the window. “What the —fu…” he yelled as he shot from the store. “Hey!” he screamed as a kid was tugging at the backpack, obviously trying to squeeze it through the open window.

Declan reached into his car and grabbed ahold of the kid. “What the fuck are you doing?” he snarled, shaking the kid by the collar of his jacket.

“I’m sorry mister, I saw the window and the bag, you should be more careful,” the kid yelped back to Declan. “I’m hungry, I only wanted somethin’ to eat, and I could smell your food.” Declan froze at those last few words and loosened his grip on the kid.

“You could smell the food?” he asked as the kid nodded. Declan looked over his shoulder and could see everyone in the store looking through the window. “Have you been bitten?”

The kid glared at Declan, and his eyes went a pinkish hue. “Yeah, how did you know?” he asked Declan as he let go of his jacket.

Declan stepped back. “I’m the alpha of a pack,” Declan said. The kid leaned forward and sniffed.

“Sorry mister, I don’t smell it on you, your pulling my chain. You’re human,” the kid said, now getting ready to run.

Declan rested his hands either side of the kid on the car. “I might be human now, yet within two days I'll be back in the position of Alpha. It’s a long story and not one you need to hear. Remember, my name Declan,” he said.

“You’re not gonna call the cops then?” the kid asked, relaxing a little now Declan had told him his name.

Declan shook his head and reached into his pocket and pulled out a fifty. He handed it to the kid and told him to get something to eat. “If you’re stuck, make your way to Cripple Creek in Colorado, and look for Clifton Towers. Ask for me and we’ll see you right,” Declan said, now removing his hands from the roof of his car.

“Why are you doing this?” the kid asked, seemingly stunned.

“Because I know what it’s like to be in your position, and I wouldn’t wish it on any werewolf,” Declan replied. “You better get going before any cops do arrive.”

The kid waved the fifty in front of Declan and thanked him. He started to run from the forecourt and shouted over his shoulder. “Keep your car windows closed in future.”

Declan laughed as he made his way back to the cash register. “You let him go,” the girl said.

“Yeah, he’s a hungry kid looking for some food. No harm was done.”

Declan walked from the store. The brave face he'd kept on him vanished quick-smart as he sat back in his car. How fucking stupid can you be? Dumb ass, lock your car next time.

He pulled from the forecourt and headed back onto the highway. He sipped his coffee as he watched the sun rising over the horizon. The hot coffee slipped down his throat, and the caffeine gave him the boost he needed to focus on the road ahead —and the next twelve hours. Declan leaned forward and turned the volume up on the radio. It was one of his favorites, yet he hoped it wasn't a sign of what laid ahead.

Highway to hell by AC/DC, what a classic…

* * *

Noelle’s head rested against the window of the Greyhound as it pulled from the terminal in Denver. She felt shattered and hardly had any decent sleep since this time, the previous day. The effects of coffee had long since worn off, and energy drinks never worked on her. The thought of going home was the thing that kept her going. Noelle glanced at the mountains. The bus headed out onto the open road, and she thought back to when she was training as a hunter with her parents high up in the mountains. They'd been good times —and hard times.

Noelle couldn't have pictured herself in this situation in a million years. She'd not only fallen for a werewolf alpha, she'd been a hybrid, then back to human, and dumped in the wilderness to die. And now, she was rushing to find the alpha of her dreams.

Her eyes fell on the sprawling forests that spread as far as the eye could see up onto the mountains, and beyond. She stared and stared, and slowly her eyes closed. Her attention was piqued by the horn of the bus. She woke at the moment it swerved, and a couple of the passengers screamed. Noelle stood and gripped the seat in front of her.

The driver raised his hand and yelled, “Everything’s okay, it was nothing but a deer running across the road.”

Noelle peered from the side window and kept it to herself that the deer was being chased by a wolf. She wasn’t sure if the driver saw it and was saying nothing, or if he didn’t know what he'd seen. As long as his eyes stayed on the road, that was all she cared about.

Noelle began recognizing the surrounding areas, they’d reached Colorado Springs. She was almost home. Well almost wasn’t exactly correct, the route to Cripple Creek was long and winding. Middle of nowhere was an understatement. Their claim to fame was, and always would be, the gold mines. And if it weren't for them, there wouldn’t be a town at all.

The bus ground to a halt in the terminal, and Noelle chose to have a walk around before grabbing a cab. She’d had enough of sitting down to last her a fortnight. Noelle finally exited the terminal and grabbed a coffee and a sandwich from a food truck that was positioned just outside the gates. She bit into the sandwich as she sat on a large, concrete flowerpot, and whilst watching the passersby. Noelle looked through the crowd of early morning shoppers and thought she recognized someone. She stood and made her way onto the street.

“Megan,” she called, as she pushed her way through the travelers walking to the terminal. “Megan, stop! Wait! It’s me, Noelle.” Noelle cleared the crowd and tapped Megan on the shoulder. She turned and stared at Noelle. “Megan, thank God I’ve seen someone I know.”

Megan stared with a blank expression at Noelle. “And you are?” she asked, confused.

“Come on Megan, don’t mess around, I know I’ve been missing for months, and you can’t have forgotten me that quickly,” Noelle said, now trying to force a smile.

At that moment, and for a long while after, Noelle had no idea Edmund made sure none of her family knew of her existence. She wasn’t even a ghost to them. In fact, to Megan and all of her family, it was as if Noelle had never, even existed.

“I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else,” Megan said in a flat tone. “Now, if you don’t mind, can you leave me alone, please?”

Noelle stood in shock, her coffee and sandwich hanging at her side as she watched Megan turn and walk off. What the hell? Noelle came to her senses and was torn between going to her parents’ place, and finding out what was wrong with Megan —and heading straight for Clifton Towers to see what was happening around there. Noelle dropped the remains of her sandwich in a dumpster and hailed a cab.

“Where are you going, miss?” the cab driver asked, craning his head over his shoulder. Noelle sat in silence, her backpack firmly gripped on her lap for comfort. “Miss, I say, where are you heading?” Noelle stared glassy-eyed through the cab window. The cab driver clicked his fingers. “HEY MISSY, where ya headed?” he yelled.

“Oh, sorry! Clifton Towers, Cripple Creek,” she muttered without moving her gaze from the window.

The cab ride wasn’t going to be a short hop, and the road to Cripple Creek circled around the mountains, so Noelle dropped the bag at her side and rested her head back. Her gaze never left the window as she saw all the lush green trees whizzing by them. The closer they got to the Towers, the stronger her thoughts of Declan became. She remembered the days they'd been out driving in his old (yet reliable) car. The radio on, windows down, and the wind in their hair. They'd been like any young couple; hand-in-hand and singing along to the tunes on the radio.

That was on the good days, the bad days were far from any standard couple’s relationship. Noelle hadn’t been very fair to Declan. In truth, she’d slept with Edmund thinking he’d be her savior, yet deep down, she knew there was only one man for her. Noelle knew the cab was close, and she’d seen the signs for the mine, so the town was only a few minutes away. Noelle sat and stared as the familiar streets of Cripple Creek rolled into view. She’d been away for months, yet she had that feeling you get when you were at home, the one that doesn’t take too long to sink in. Home will always be home, and there’s no other feeling like it.

“Hey mister, forget Clifton Towers, can you take me to the coffee shop,” Noelle said as she directed the driver. “It’s been a long trip, and I need something to perk me up a little.” The cabbie drove past the Towers as Noelle glanced out from the window. She could see it looked the same, yet different, and she just couldn't put her finger on why.

“I’m coming home, I’ve had enough of being alone.”