Autumn’s cell phone rang on the nightstand, jolting her out of her peaceful sleep. Her limbs were stiff and her muscles were sore as if she’d done hard labor or major work at the tavern. She smiled, knowing full well why she couldn’t even bear to sit up in bed to check her caller ID. Garrett’s arm was draped around her waist possessively and he didn’t budge at the sound of her ringtone. Grumbling, she nudged her body closer to Garrett and waited for the phone to stop ringing. It did, and she fell back asleep.

The phone rang yet again and she forced her eyes open.

The person was persistent.

Garrett groaned beside her. “What is it? Who is it?”

“Don’t know,” she said, pressing her hand to her forehead and then sliding up into a sitting position.

When she saw Hope’s name displayed on her caller ID, she answered immediately.

“Hope?” she said into the phone.

“Where are you!” Hope’s demand came out in a rush.

“I’m ah…” Autumn looked down at a naked, sleeping Garrett and grit her teeth in embarrassment. “I’m still in Aspen Valley.”

“Did you hear what happened at the tavern?”

“What happened? Did someone get into a fight?”

“Oh, my God…it’s gone,” Hope mumbled into the phone.

“You’re not making sense. What’s going on?”

“The tavern burned to the ground, Autumn,” she croaked. “It’s all on the news.”

“What!” Autumn swung her legs over the bed and rose to her feet, taking some of the sheets with her to cover her naked body.

“It’s on the news! I couldn’t believe it at first, but it’s a live feed. I can see the sign and the little dumpster where the building once stood.”

Autumn gasped. “Oh, my God.”

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Garrett asked, lifting himself on one arm.

She’d pulled all the sheets away and had them wrapped around her like a cocoon, so he was stark naked on the bed.

“My sister’s on the phone,” she told him. “Can you tune into the local news?”

“Um, who’s that?” Hope asked her.

Ignoring the question, Autumn asked, “Are you sure that the tavern’s on fire?”

“No, it’s not on fire anymore. They put the fire out, but the building is ruined. There’s smoke everywhere.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“I wish I was.”

“Look, since you’re laying low because of Simon, I can take a plane out when the airports open first thing in the morning.”

As Hope was talking, Garrett flipped the channel to the local news. Sure enough, there was a live stream of firefighters on the scene of the Cross City Country Tavern. Just like Hope had said, all Autumn could see was smoke among the crumpled remains of the restaurant.

“Holy shit,” Garrett said, popping out of bed and inching closer toward the television.

“I’m looking at the flight schedules now. I—”

“No, don’t do that, Hope. Don’t go back to Cross City,” Autumn warned. “I’m going to call the County fire department to see if they have any information about this before we come to conclusions or do something we’ll both regret.”

“But Autumn…you’re not listening. If the tavern is burned down, they’ll want to speak to us. Everyone in that town knows that we still own stake in the tavern. Simon is so shady as shit. He doesn’t give a fuck about that tavern. He probably won’t even show. Wouldn’t it look suspicious if we all just skipped town right around the same time that the tavern burns to the ground?”

“You’re making too much of this.” Autumn sighed. “Whatever you do, don’t go back to Cross City. If you need to come somewhere, come here, to Aspen Valley. Simon’s still out there and he’s dangerous. I didn’t tell you this yesterday evening when we talked, but he killed the driver that was supposed to give me a lift here. Garrett had to run him off. And he bit me.”

“He bit you? Why? What the fuck is wrong with him?”

“To mark me.”

“What the fuck!”

Autumn swallowed, glancing down at her forearm where the wolf had bitten her. The area had healed completely, almost as if an animal hadn’t sunk his canines into her flesh. Almost as if it had never happened. But she wasn’t worried about that now. What’s done was done.

“That damn dirty buzzard needs to be hunted down and put down for that,” Hope exclaimed.

“That’s why I need you to stay put. If the tavern has burned, there’s nothing more we can do about it.”

“Dad would be so blazing mad if he’d lived to see this,” Hope muttered.

Autumn sensed the change in her tone of voice. From angry to painful.

“But if he were still alive, this never would’ve happened,” Autumn said. “Is this a sign for us? Should we have ditched the tavern before all of this? Are we better off just leaving Cross City for good?”

“I don’t know,” Hope whispered. “I wish I had answers.”

Garrett walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll fix this, Autumn.”

“Once again, who is that guy?”

“Garrett. The man who’s been helping me all this time.”

It became quiet on the other line for about a minute.

“I don’t mean to be nosy or anything, but ah…it’s like four a.m. in the morning, and you’re at his house?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you were going to see a lawyer about looking into all these contracts that dad signed with Simon and then staying at a motel,” she inquired.

“I thought I was…” was all Autumn told her sister.

But the fact of the matter was, the only place she had been interested in staying was close to Garrett.

Meanwhile, Garrett remained behind her, brushing the pad of his thumb across the back of her neck right near her hairline. He did it more than once, applying pressure as if he was inspecting and testing the area.

“Did you have sex with him?” Hope gasped. “Wait a minute. You had sex with a shifter. Oh, my God. I’d give anything right now to be you.”

Autumn blushed. “We’re not having this conversation right now. I’m getting off the phone now so I can call the fire department. I’ll call you back as soon as I know anything.”

“I’ll take that as a yes to smoking hot sex while on the run,” Hope teased.

After they said their goodbyes and disconnected the call, Autumn turned around to face Garrett, lowered her face to his chest, and accepted his reassuring embrace. He held her like that for a long time, as she let the dire situation sink in. She wasn’t physically crying, but she wanted to out of frustration for what was happening. What was she going to do? The only thing she couldn’t bear to leave behind was that tavern, and now it was gone. Ashes on the ground. What more was left in Cross City for her?

Autumn wrapped her arms around Garrett and took several deep breaths to calm her rising anger. Seconds turned to minutes before she realized that he was going to be there for her, for however long she needed.

But he hadn’t said a word since she’d gotten off the phone with Hope. That was odd.

She lifted her head, found his gaze, and held it.

He seemed unfocused and even looked a little nervous.

“Garrett?”

“Yeah…”

“I really needed that hug. Thanks.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay?”

He nodded and focused on her. “Nothing. I just thought I saw something, that’s all.”

“Saw what?” She bit her bottom lip.

“It was nothing. I…ah…I must be hallucinating,” he said.

“Okay. I’m going to see what I can find out about the fire,” she said, glancing at the television. “It looks like the news anchor isn’t going to have any more information than they’re reporting now.”

Garrett slipped into a pair of jogging shorts and pulled on a t-shirt. “I know someone out there who might be able to run over and go check out the scene for us. I left my phone in the kitchen.”

Autumn picked up her cell phone again, toggled through her contacts list, and found the number to the Cross City police department. While she was on the phone confirming that the tavern had indeed burned to the ground, something tingled on her nape, right where Garrett had been inspecting it. She rubbed at the spot as the clerk repeated adamantly that they didn’t have any further information about the fire and wouldn’t until the investigation was complete. According to the clerk, the investigation could take hours. It could take weeks. Even months.

Her forehead and temples pounded with unrelenting frustration.

Upset that she couldn’t be in two places at once, Autumn hung up the phone and then walked to the bathroom where she’d stored the aspirin that Garrett’s doctor had given her. While washing the pill down with water, she turned around and examined her neck in the tri-view mirrors above the medicine cabinet. As plain as day, a small mark was visible at the nape of her neck. It looked almost like a four leaf clover. The impression reminded her of the same four-leaf clover birthmark just above Garrett’s collarbone.

But that was impossible.

She, too, must have been hallucinating.