The ringing phone wakes me up. I'm confused for a second, it's still dark outside. I glance at the alarm and it glows 3:03am.

My mind finally kicks into gear. If anyone's calling me this early, there must be a problem. I lunge for my phone, "Hello?" I croak sleepily.

Nothing but silence. "Anna? Is that you?" Still nothing. I glance at my phone to see who's calling. Restricted number. I don't know this person.

I'm just about to hang up when I hear a noise on the phone. I swear, it sounds like canine growling. And then, "I warned you." The low, menacing voice says, "I warned you, but you just couldn't listen. Now, I'm going to have to punish you."

In horror, I listen as the line goes dead and then throw my phone onto the bed. How did he get my cell number? There are only a few people who have it. And why am I worried about that right now? He said he's going to punish me. What does that even mean? My thoughts whirl around in confusion. What do I do? I have to tell someone. The police, I should call the police.

I grab my phone again, ready to dial, but hesitate. What are the police going to be able to do? Nothing. They can do nothing, until my stalker does more than watch me from a distance and dial my number in the middle of the night. By then it may be too late.

Aedans face comes to mind. I wish he was here. Before I can think to much about what I'm doing, I scroll to his name and hit the green icon. He answers right away. "Liz?" His voice sounds like he was sleeping. "Is everything ok?"

"No," My voice comes out small.

He's suddenly alert. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry for waking you up. I didn't know who to call..." I trail off feeling slightly stupid. He's going to thing I'm crazy.

"Stay inside and make sure your door is locked. I'll be right there," He in a no nonsense tone.

The line clicks off and I'm sitting there holding my phone like it's a lifeline. Springing into motion, I lunge off of my bed and hurry downstairs. I check the lock on the door, pull back the edge of the curtain and look outside. Nothing seems out of place. It's only then that it occurs to me that I never told Aedan what was wrong, but he seemed to somehow grasp the situation.

I really didn't care how he knew, I was just glad he was coming.

Its only been a few minutes, but it feels like hours. Every shadow that moves outside makes my heart stutter in my chest. Headlights speed along the road and swing into my driveway. Aedan's jeep slides to a stop in front of my house in a cloud of dust. He jumps out and turns a circle in my driveway, looking into the darkness.

Then he jogs to my front door. I fling it open as he's coming up the steps. He rushes inside and closes the door, locking it behind himself. "Are you ok?" He grabs my shoulders and looks me over. I think I see a hint of that swirling yellow in his eyes. He's practically frantic.

"Yes. Just scared," I step in closer to him and wrap my arms around his neck. The contact soothes me and I start to feel better, safer.

"What happened?"

I tuck my face into his chest and tell him the whole story. Starting with the first time I noticed Cade watching me in town. And ending with the threatening phone call from minutes ago. "He's obviously crazy," I finish.

As I fall silent, I notice that I can feel a rumble going through his chest. He's not making a sound, but his posture is stiff. He's wrapped his arms around my back and is holding on tightly.

"It's going to be ok," He finally says. I find myself believing him. "We will figure this out."

I back out of his arms and grab his hand. He follows me into the living room and we sit on the couch together where he tucks me under his arm and rests his chin on the top of my head. I curl into him and feel the tension start to leave my rigid muscles for the first time since my phone rang. We sit like that for I don't know how long, not talking. Aedan seems lost in deep thought. Without realising that it's going to happen, I fall asleep.

When I wake up again. I'm alone on the couch, a blanket thrown over me, and I don't see Aedan. Just then, the door opens and closes. Heavy footsteps sound on the kitchen floor. Who is it? Fear floods back in. I'm just jumping up off of the couch, ready to run if I have too, when Aedan hurries into the living room. He looks around quickly and walks up to me. Hugging me to himself, he says "Its ok. It's just me. It was getting late and I went outside to feed your animals. I thought you could use the sleep. I'm sorry I scared you."

"You took care of my animals?" I ask. I'm not used to anyone thinking about them, but me. "Thank you." A warm feeling goes through my chest that he would do that. I stand up on tiptoes and place a quick peck on his lips.

"I think you should stay with me until we get this sorted out."

Wait, what? "I can't do that. Someone has to be here to watch over the animals. What if he does something to them?"

"Ok, then I'll stay with you," He says matter of factly.

I'm about to protest, I can't have a guy I just met moving in with me. But then I reconsider. It doesn't feel like we just met. It's odd, but it feels like I've known Aedan forever. I shrug. "Ok."

"Ok. Just let me call the guys and have one of them bring me over some of my things."

I need to do something with my hands to work off the nerves that have started jumping under my skin again. I just agreed to let him move in with me... I walk into the kitchen and start making breakfast. It is much later than I usually get up, and I'm starving. I decide on bacon, eggs, and toast. "How do you like your eggs?" I call out to him.

"Scrambled." He calls back from the other room.

I'm stirring the eggs around in the pan when I hear him come into the kitchen. He walks up to me and leans lightly into my back. I lean back into him and enjoy the contact. "These are almost done."

We stand like that for a second before he starts opening my cabinet doors. Finding what he's looking for, he pulls down two plates. I fill the plates and he carries them to the kitchen table. He pulls out the chair next to me and sits. I'm about to take my first bite when he carefully holds a forkfull of eggs up to me, an unfathomable look on his face.

I hesitate for a second and look into his eyes. He looks so earnest, sitting there, offering me a bite of his food. It may be a weird gesture, but I find that I can't say no. Blushing slightly, I open my mouth for the eggs. A satisfied rumble leaves him as he gently feeds me the bite of eggs. Next, he offers me a piece of bacon. We continue like that for a couple of minutes.

Glancing down, I see that he's fed me half of his plate. Well, that's not fair. Reaching for my own plate, I have no idea where my bravery comes from, I offer him my toast.

He blinks at me and a satisfied smile graces his lips. He leans forward and takes a bite out of the toast. I blush again as I watch him, watching me, while he chews. And that's the way breakfast goes, until both plates are empty. When we are done, I have this strong sense that we've just done something extremely intimate.

I'm leaning against the counter, watching him wash the dishes. He insisted. I feel slightly hypnotized by watching his hands work. Strong hands go into leanly muscled arms, one covered in the black tattoos that I find that I really like. His slightly too long hair brushes broad shoulders. Jeans hug a yummy behind. With a tingle of awareness, I realise that I'm getting turned on.

He inhales suddenly and pauses. He glances at me quickly and that swirling color in his eyes is back. What is that? Before he goes back to the dishes.

When he's done. He carefully folds the washcloth, puts it down, and turns to me. Taking two long steps, he reaches me. His hands go to my hair and his lips crush hungrily to mine. His tongue seeks entrance into my mouth and I open for him. Our mouths move frantically together. His hands move down to my waist and he lifts me up his body. I instinctively wrap my legs around his hips. I lean back against the counter and his mouth moves along my jawline and down my neck. I can feel his arousal pressing into me and I pant out a whimper. Growling, he flexes his hips at the same time that his teeth lightly clamp onto the place where my shoulder meets my neck.

The feelings swirling through me wrench a low moan out of my throat. He growls again and his teeth let go of my neck. He places a trail of kisses up my neck and returns to my lips. He gives me one more deep kiss and pulls back slightly. We are both out of breath and I'm trembling slightly. I cling to his shoulders and try to regain my senses.

Then I start laughing a little crazily. "Wow."

"Yeah," He sounds satisfied.

I finally unwrap my legs and put my feet back on the floor. He sticks his nose in my hair and inhales loudly, before letting me go.

I run a shaky hand through my hair, a little embarrassed. Time for a shower and a change of clothes.

I'm still wearing my pajamas from last night.

"I'm going to shower and change." I tell him, not quite meeting his eyes.

"Ok. One of the guys should be here soon to bring my stuff. "

I sneak one last lingering look at him, before heading up the stairs.

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Chapter dedicated to Miss_Tarzy. I loved reading all of your comments!♡

I'm looking for fan art to post with this story! If anyone would like to make something, send it my way and I'll dedicate a chapter to you. ♡