Chapter One

Elric touched the chunky chain hanging heavy around his neck as he caught sight of his reflection in the dingy window of a shop he passed. Anger contorted his expression, he withdrew his fingers and resumed his path through the streets of the bad neighborhood he had been dumped in.

He had been awoken months ago and continued to adjust to the modern world. He knew this wasn't the type of place he would ever choose to return once his mission had been completed. Not after he had full access to his powers and the endless comfort his position allowed him to live in, when he felt like being in human form.

Yet, here he was; leveled, humbled, shackled by the heavy metal chain collar until the Oracle, who watched over his kind, was certain he could be "trusted." Only allowed to partially shift, abandoned with no money and nothing but the clothes on his back.

A despicable state of events.

Not that he blamed the Oracle. In his day, hundreds of years ago, his kind had been more akin to powerful, despotic demigods who terrorized humans when it pleased them. In human form, they were often given titles with power to match, enabling them to hide in the countryside inside a massive estate, if they so chose.

Here, in three modern times, his kind had been remodeled to become something "more civilized." Now, they often worked in pairs, enforcing the laws of the shifter community while protecting both other shifters and humans in their designated territory.

Protecting them.

The thought was ludicrous. Not once in Elric's life had he met someone he wanted to protect. He doubted anyone in the selfish, petty mortal world would change that for him.

Thunder cracked angrily, lightning lighting up the sky overhead and he looked up with annoyance to view the dark clouds. A few more steps and he began to feel the soft patter of rain on his shoulders. He shook his head in disgust knowing he would be soaked if he didn't find shelter through this brewing storm. He looked around him to gain his bearings and spotted a little shop across the street that appeared strangely friendly in such a bad area.

A woman stood in front of the window, smiling as she chatted with another woman in front of her in a low chair. The woman standing had long hair, a mixture of dark brown and red that cascaded over her shoulders despite being tied into a tight tail at the crown of her head. Her skin was pale and looked soft with rosy cheeks. Her heart shaped mouth looked sweet, especially when she smiled and laughed with the woman in the chair who, while beautiful, held no flame to the woman standing.

She touched the woman's hair as she spoke. She was providing some kind of service. Elric would go over and see what. His investigation would get him out of the rain at the same time.

He pulled open the heavy glass door and all eyes turned on him. Various men and women with striking colors of hair looked up at him in shock. They all stood at a chair with someone seated in it, everyone in one of the chairs had been arrayed with a black cloak and stared in his direction either directly or through the mirror in front of them.

He spotted seats to the side of the door and sat in one, glaring at the people inside trying to deter the stares he received. He was a shifter, a powerful one. The world could rise or fall on the whims of him and his friends. They should be showing him respect, not a mixture of disgust and shock.

The woman he had seen from outside turned to him with soft, chocolate brown eyes. Kindness glittered in the dark depths - that was unexpected. "Did you want to make an appointment?"

Elric pursed his lips and leaned back in the small chair that groaned in protest to his movement when it struggled to hold his weight already. "For what?"

"A haircut, of course," she said, a smile tugging her full lips into a slight curve that made her even more beautiful.

Elric sat up straighter feeling a bolt of warmth course through him - most unexpected. He touched his shoulder length mop of hair, tangled and damp from the rainy trip he had taken. "No, I do not need one."

She smiled and shrugged, "Okay then."

Others sent nervous glances around the room and Elric ignored them. He lifted a magazine from the table beside his seat and pretended to read it out in front of him while he studied the people around the shop. He wasn't wholly ignorant of the modern world. He had been living on a shifter-only island under the protection of the Oracle, but they had all of the technology. Simply none of the humans.

He realized, in his assessment of the people around him, that when the shop closed it would be evening and time to find lodgings. He had spent the day walking around the foreign city and would need somewhere to stay the night. If he could leave his human form, he could go out into the woods and sleep there. Outside of his human form he was impervious to cold, but he was certain this fragile human form would freeze.

Drat.

His eyes drifted back to the woman who drew him inside originally, narrowing his eyes. The woman in the chair in front of her stood as she removed the black cloak using a small brush to clean away the few stray hairs that landed on the woman's clothing. She lead the woman to the counter where payment for services rendered was made. On the way there, however, the woman from the chair turned to Elric with a scowl.

"You could stop staring, hobo," she snapped before turning her back on Elric.

Elric gaped. Hobo? As in, a homeless beggar?

For a moment he was speechless at the audacity. He was the furthest thing from that. Or was he? While he had incredible wealth, none of it was accessible to him currently. Incredible power but it too had been locked away, unusable to him. He was kind of a hobo, wasn't he?

"What's he smiling about, anyway?" the woman from the chair asked as she handed across the paper payment.

"Shush, Patricia," the woman he could never quite take his eyes off said. She tapped a few buttons on the cash register and it dinged as the drawer below opened up and she counted out the other woman's change. "You know I welcome anyone in here."

Negative one point for humanity, Patricia, Elric thought. Plus one for the woman with the kind eyes. He glanced around the shop. Probably not going to be anymore positive points around here.

The Oracle said she would remove the collar when she felt she could trust him with humanity. He had no idea what that meant, but it most likely meant hating them a little less and being less aghast at the thought of protecting them.

When the woman left, the woman with the kind eyes removed her black apron, revealing her curvy body wrapped in a short pink dress with solid black leggings underneath. She sat down, a single chair between them, and gave him a kind smile that matched her eyes. It made him tingle.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He did not tingle.

"My name's Ann," she said leaning forward.

"Okay," he replied curtly. For some reason, this human set him off balance. He was still debating what that meant.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked curiously. "I can call a shelter or maybe someone you know…"

He pursed his lips. "How about you just let me stay here and continue my observation? Or is that too much trouble for you?" he offered with a sarcastic tone and she raised an amused eyebrow.

"No, it's no trouble at all," she told him sweetly. "You're welcome to stay in out of the rain as long as you like." She looked over her shoulder at the clock, "Well, until we close. I was just making sure you didn't need help."

"I do not," he stated flatly. He was a little offended that she thought he was some type of invalid seeking her assistance. What about him gave her that impression?

He jerked back when she reached for a lock of his hair that had fallen down over his face. "At least let me give you a wash and a shave," she said. "On the house."

He frowned. He didn't want or need this human's pity. In his other form he could swallow her in one bite, but she had no idea about that. He recalled seeing her hands in the woman's hair when he was still outside in the rain. He wanted that. He wanted her touching him, looking at him.

"Alright, human." Elric immediately bit his lip and ignored the way he referred to her as a light, tinkling laugh left her rosy lips and she lead him over to her chair.

He sat down, his weight sank into the soft cushion and he released a content sigh. She put the chair all the way down to work on him. He was extraordinarily tall compared to human men. Good-looking and muscled, if he said so himself. Yet as he faced the mirror, he admitted his travels had left him a little the worse for wear. He had an overgrowth of black beard that was manly, but also wild and out of control. His hair had tangled in the wind and rain. He wore a long, black trench coat over his clothing to provide shelter from the elements and having no idea how long it would take to find lodgings. But he didn't see anything wrong, or pitiful, in the mirror. If anything, he looked masculine, strong.

She leaned him back and helped rest his neck into the cut out of the sink. "I bet you'll be a whole new person after this," she said with a wink.

His eyes skimmed over her curvy figure. So close and warm, then he reached her eyes. So beautiful, like staring into fountains of molten chocolate. Her hands worked through his hair, soaping and kneading meticulously. He relaxed into her touch, inhaling her scent that was a rich as her chocolate eyes. The soft, lilting sound of her voice. The softness in her kind eyes as her lips curved into a smile. The press of her body as she leaned over him. Even being very impervious to heat, which he was, he felt like he had been set ablaze.

He stared at her, feeling shock unlike anything he had felt before as she finished washing and wrung his hair dry in the sink. She reached over him for a razor and foam to begin the process of shaving. As she carefully glided the razor over his face, dipping in and out of a bowl, rinsing and wiping the razor so she didn't cut him, he found there was a great deal of eye contact when receiving a shave.

What is she doing to me?

His body felt warm. His throat dried out like a desert and too tight to breathe. Every touch was white-hot agony. She continued humming happily as she grabbed a towel and dried his face, bringing his chair back to a sitting position. He took the towel from her, keeping it over his face to hide his reaction until he calmed down. He was an immortal shifter. He did not fall for human barbers, no matter how they kind they were.

He set the towel down and the salon instantly hushed. Elric turned in his chair to see Ann standing a few feet away, a fresh towel in her hand hanging limp at her side, her eyes wide and lips parted. All the humans looked at him differently now. Several of the women who had been scorning him before were giving him looks of pure lust. Unspoken invitations. He only cared for the reaction of one person - Ann, who was standing there frozen in place. She was stunned, shocked, awed, perhaps not even the good kind.

"Good heavens, what is it?" he snapped, yanking the cape from his throat and tossing it carelessly to the floor as he stood. He brushed his wet, black hair behind his ears and stared them down, his arms crossed over his chest.

Another woman stepped forward, she was pale with blonde hair, reminding him of the wenches from his day. "Can I take your coat?"

He shrugged and handed it to her. "I demand to know why you're all staring," he stated flatly to the room of gaping humans.

The woman who had taken his coat was eyeing his body up and down with hungry eyes. He smirked. That was the response from women he was used to. He turned back to Ann, and it dawned on him the fact he cared so much about what she thought could mean only one thing in his situation. Something he never considered before in his life. Even as she marched up to him, irritation flooding her beautiful, formerly kind face, the possibility overwhelmed him. The Oracle had sent him out here to find out if he could get along with humanity.

Wouldn't she be thrilled when he told her the news? He had found a human female, capable of being his mate?