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Chapter Five

We had gone through a corridor and then out another until we came to an opening. It was much larger than Lolip's airport by far. People were bustling around and I had become nervous, grabbing Liz's hand, afraid of losing her in the crowd.

"Deep breath hun." she had stopped to reassure me. " Let's go this way, I can see the sign for the rentals." She patted my hand and had dragged me along, finally reaching the counter.

" I have a reservation for Lizara Andrews." She seemed so professional, all I could do was stare and hope that one day I would have her confidence.

"Ah, yes Miss Andrews, it looks like you reserved an SUV and all paperwork is in order. I just need your ID to verify. These forms will need to be signed, for insurance purposes, and everything should be ready to go." The short, plump older gentleman with greasy, black hair and beady eyes stared at Lizara and me. Selkie, perhaps, I thought as I tried going through memories trying to remember different creatures I had studied in my countless amounts of books. Selkies shed their skin and change from person to seal and vice versa. He did kind of remind me of a seal but I wasn’t about to throw the man in water to test my theory. Though the way Liz was handling the situation, she may at any moment. The way he looked at us, I felt naked and disgusting. Liz produced her ID after finishing up the last signatures.

"Thank you Miss Andrews, here is your ID and proper paperwork that must be kept in the glove box. I will have Robert bring your SUV to those doors." He pointed a sausage of a finger towards a set of revolving doors. Liz nodded, grabbed my hand. and tugged me as fast as possible away from the counter. Once we were out the doors Liz erupted.

"That dude has some serious issues." She blurted." The way he eyed us was disgusting and his aura was vile. Nasty nasty Selkie, usually they take better care of themselves. Yuck." Liz had noticed but had kept her composure As she went on, a boy about my age had pulled up a candy apple red SUV. He was tall, masculine, and quite cute. His eyes were a captivating crimson and I was frozen in place.

“Here’s your keys, miss.” his deep tone smooth as melted butter with a slight accent, Incubus maybe, finally caught Liz’s attention from her rant. He winked at me, with a quirky smile and had handed Liz the keys. I did not want to fall in his grasp but looking never hurt anyone right.

“Thank you young man. Here’s a tip.” With that Liz handed the young man, Robert, a twenty and began loading the SUV with the two suitcases we had brought along. Robert nodded and walked back to the little podium. “Anya, come on and quit ogling the boy. He's a Incubus, you definatly do not want to catch his eye.” Liz had mind linked me making me jump a bit.

“S..S...Sorry” I stammered as my cheeks started to burn. I placed my bag into the passenger side quickly and turned my phone back on. A few emails dinged in but went silent after a few minutes. Liz had joined me in the SUV, starting the vehicle, and pulling out of the lane towards the parking lot. She stopped at the farthest parking spot and pulled in.

“Now to find the house and a hotel close to it. I just got to find my....aha.. here it is.“

When Liz turned on her phone I didn’t think it was ever going to stop dinging with every missed message, email, or notification. She smiled at me slightly blushing.

”Sorry about that, I guess everyone at the office hasn't gotten the memo of my leave. Now let’s see.” She had typed in the house's address and had begun to search for a place to stay the night. “There are 4 in its vicinity and it seems I have secured us a room.” She glanced at me smiling.

”No cardboard box tonight.“ she winked.

We both giggled and she began following the GPS to the hotel. Looking out the window, as the wind whipped through my hair, I was taking everything in. The trees seemed greener, the air fresher, the buildings more intriguing. Everything just seemed so much better, so much more perfect. A wondrous, musky smell entered my nose making my stomach feel full of butterflies and my heart began to race. It was faint, but enough to catch my attention, something urged me to find it. It smelled of clove and cinnamon and it seemed I couldn’t get enough of it. I wanted more, so much more. My hands grabbing the door as I took in deeper breathes to catch more of it. My mind blank trying to search the treeline for the culprit of this smell.

“MATE!” Freya piped out, bouncing around my head, she kept repeating it until the scent died.

“Anya! Are you ok?” Liz had stopped the car on the side of the road and was staring at me. I whipped my head to look at her.

“Yeah I just caught the scent of clove and cinnamon and I felt funny for a minute.” I said thinking about the urge to go and find it.

“I guess Freya wasn’t far off about finding your mate here.” She had a massive grin on her face and was bobbing her eyebrows up and down.

“WHAAAAT?” I panicked for a minute. I know your mate’s scent is highly desirable and brings you together. It becomes almost insatiable when you first meet and for females we go into a heat that intensifies each day that our sex drives aren’t saited. I looked at Liz slightly fearful about smelling that scent faintly.

“Calm down.” She was shocked by my reaction. “You won’t go into heat just smelling them, you will feel sparks when they come close. Once he or she kisses you or embraces you is what sends your body into the heat. Not immediately but usually within a week or two.”

‘Sparks? What do you mean sparks? AM I going to get electrocuted? Or fire thrown at me? Please explain. I am kind of freaking out here.” I was confused and starting to have a panic attack. I had never gone through anything like this. I never dated in school because I was so focused on my schooling. I never had time after school with my training. My parents took no excuses as to why I shouldn’t train unless I was ill. So in the end I found it pointless to even think about dating. This was all foreign to me and it was terrifying.

“Oh my goddess no! Anya, I meant like tingly sensations, butterflies, a heavy attraction, an urge to be with them. AN urge to touch them or be around them.” She looked at me in terror.” Did you live in a cave? I mean did you ever date?”

“No I never dated.” My voice is a slightly higher pitch.” I never had time between school and training.” I could feel my face ablaze from embarrassment.

“Oh! This should be interesting.“ She bit the corner of her lip with a puzzled expression. “Well, if you don’t meet him while I am down here, you can always call or video chat.” she gave me a half confident grin. “I am sorry Anya, I am not really mom material and I have never done any of this before.” She frowned and sighed deeply. She looked defeated by this.

“Liz, stop being so hard on yourself. I have more knowledge and confidence now. Without you I wouldn’t have known anything about finding your mate, heat, or that I won’t have to do it on my own.” I placed my hand on her shoulder to sooth her wounded ego. “I know you have my back and all this was kind of thrown on your lap. I think you are doing an excellent job, as a godmother, mother, and friend.” I smiled sweetly at her. She patted my hand and gave me a half hearted smile.

“Anya, any man that is a part of your life will truly be blessed with such a wonderful, brilliant woman. Your heart is truly one of a kind.” her genuine tone made me beam.

“I sure hope he's just as wonderful.” I smiled.

“If he’s not I’ll whoop his ass, I don't even care what his reasonings are.” Liz raised her eyebrows with a goofy grin. Liz put the car in drive and we continued on our way. I went back to looking out the window and taking everything in. I began wondering what he would look like, his voice, his humor, his personality, and even his temper. I was left with more questions than answers. Now I really wanted to find him or her.

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