Chapter 6: Blake's Odd Behavior

Autumn’s breath catches as she thinks back on Dustin threatening her life. She shakes her head to banish the memory. “I’ll be okay, Brett. I’m not even in Chicago anymore. Dustin will never find me out here, so don’t freak out. How did he manage to get out before Monday?”

Brett sighs, he sounds exhausted. “Apparently, he sold one of the judges a house. His Realtor job gives him more connections than I thought. Anyway, he called in a favor and got out.”

Autumn takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Don’t worry about it, little brother. He doesn’t know where I am and he has no way of finding out. I’ll deal with it when I have to come home.”

Her brother mumbles something about the system needing to be fixed before he hangs up with her. Autumn Throws her car into reverse and heads back to the trailer. She has some frozen foods in the trunk and doesn’t want them to thaw out too much.

Halfway back to the sanctuary, she remembered she was supposed to check her voicemail. It was too late at that point, she pulled out her phone to find it was a no-service area. She would have to check them the next time she was in town.

Autumn had pulled into the dirt parking spot in front of her trailer and brought in all six bags at once. Now she stands in the kitchen digging through the bags to locate her ice cream. She starts to worry that the cashier forgot it when her hand brushes something cold at the bottom of the last bag.

“Thank goodness!” she says to an empty room. Autumn tosses the chocolate peanut butter crunch ice cream into the freezer before unpacking the rest of the food. “Well, it’s not packed, but at least I have enough to survive the next week,” Autumn mumbles while putting the last package away.

A soft knock at the door draws her attention away from finding something to eat. Her heart jumps and her stomach drops as she opens the door. Blake is standing on her stoop with a hand full of flowers.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” he says, peering past her into the trailer.

Autumn doesn’t know how she can be so excited to see someone while dreading their presence at the same time. “Nope, I was putting groceries away,” she says, taking the flowers being offered to her.

“I thought I heard you talking to someone,” Blake replies. “I was hoping we could talk for a minute since you left my office in such a hurry earlier.”

Autumn doesn’t know if she wants to let him in, but it would be rude not to. He kind of owns the trailer and the land it sits on, she reminds herself silently. She opens the door wide and steps aside, allowing him inside before closing it.

“I tend to talk to myself a lot,” Autumn explains while heading into the kitchen to find something to put the flowers in. “I used to joke it was the only way I could have an intelligent conversation,” she laughs nervously, filling a large glass with water.

Blake walks into the kitchen behind her and leans against the wall. “I hope you find the accommodations pleasant enough,” he says, looking around the room.

“They’ll do,” Autumn says slowly, studying him. He looks so comfortable in her presence that it makes her feel bad for acting so uneasy around him. “Do you want something to drink?” she asks while opening up the fridge.

“No, I’m fine,” Blake replies.

Autumn reaches in and grabs a bottle of water before turning back around. She jumps a little, as Blake has moved directly behind her without making a sound.

He looks down at her wrist and studies the bruises that have formed from Dustin’s earlier assault. “Did you hurt yourself?” he asks, locking eyes with her.

“I didn’t…I mean, my boyfriend…well, ex-boyfriend I guess,” she flops around trying to find the right words. Autumn doesn’t know what to tell people about the injury, so she had reserved herself to cover it up.

“Did your ex-boyfriend do this to you? Is that why you came here?” Blake whispers while maintaining eye contact.

Autumn doesn’t answer. She thinks she may be imagining things, but it looks like Blake’s pupils just dilated. He reaches out and gently touches her wrist. Autumn pulls away. His touch doesn’t hurt, in fact, it felt amazing. It’s something else. A longing deep down inside her that wants more of that touch.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he says, raising his brows.

There’s a concern in his eyes that Autumn would never expect to see from a stranger. It makes her want to trust him but that would mean dropping her guard.

“We can talk in here,” she says, leading Blake into the living room. He sits on a chair and she plops onto the couch. “Sorry I hurried out earlier. I had a lot on my mind and you said Nick didn’t answer your call, so I didn’t want to waste any of your time.”

Sure, she thinks, that’s not the exact reason. Part of her wants to tell him the real reason she left, but she won’t allow it. How do you tell someone you just met that you couldn’t stop picturing them naked? That you want to know what they feel like, what they taste like?

Blake clears his throat and Autumn realizes she had been staring at him. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he continues. “I’ve decided not to call Nick on Monday. The safety of the sanctuary is at stake, and I would never let anything happen to the pack.”

If Autumn hadn’t heard the conversation between him and his mother earlier in the day she may have just hugged him. But she had, and the fact he is still holding onto the lie doesn’t sit right with her.

“I appreciate you coming over here to let me know,” Autumn replies before taking a sip of water. She drops her head and looks up at him with only her eyes. The physical pull to rip off his clothing is back, but this time she has more control over it.

Blake stands up and heads toward the door. “I should go and let you get back to getting settled in,” he replies, tripping over his feet as well as his words.

Autumn feels powerful all of a sudden. Like she’s the one seducing him. She doesn’t know when things shifted, but she can feel him fighting against the same sexual urges she’s feeling.

“I was about to get some dinner and take a bath anyway,” she says while getting up off the couch.

She wonders why she just told him that. He doesn’t need to know she plans on taking a bath.

Blake's eyebrows raise at the added information. “Oh, well I’ll leave you to it,” he stammers again, licking his lips right after.

Autumn opens the door and, out of habit, puts her hand on his back to guide him onto the stoop. She instantly regrets it. He locks eyes with her and his pupils dilate again as he takes in a sharp breath. She feels it too. An overwhelming desire to take him into the bedroom and show him exactly how she feels about him.

She draws her hand back as Blake moves closer to her. “I’ll see you on Monday,” he whispers in a deeper tone than normal. The sound makes Autumn’s knees buckle a little.

“Yes, you will,” she says, locking eyes with him again.

Blake smiles before hurrying down her steps and into the darkness of the sanctuary grounds. After closing the door, Autumn makes sure to secure all three of the locks. She closes her eyes and leans against the cold wood surface. “Blake,” she sighs out loud.

As if the mere mention of his name congers the beasts of the night, Autumn suddenly shivers as a round of howling starts. Her blood runs cold as one of the howls sounds dangerously close to the trailer.