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Chapter 1

I was another stormy night, a night for restless sleep as Autumn tried to fight her way through the nightmare. Who was this dark figure? What did he want with her? Every night since Beth disappeared she had, had nightmares about a tall, dark, powerful figure who's face she never saw. But they were strong enough dreams to wake her and when she did wake the feeling he was there never disappeared. Was this who took Beth?

Elizabeth Storm had been her best friend ever since they were kids and after the Ohio State Fair, she had never seen her again. She knew she should not have let her go off on her own but she thought the girl would be ok. After the grounds suddenly lost power, she could not find Beth anywhere-just her truck with claw marks in the hood.

They spent mouths looking for her but there were only a few sightings. The last they heard she got on a bus but it never arrived with her on it. Autumn had doubled the locks on the doors since then and gotten a security system. Some part of her feared that whatever monster had grabbed Beth might come after her. It was-after all-a world of mutants and men. Both-she was sure-delighted in snatching up innocent girls to play with. But which one was worse, man or mutant?

Autumn Bell was average build at five feet tall, one hundred and fifteen pounds with straight shoulder length brunette hair and striking blue-green eyes. There was nothing extraordinary about her-as far as she was concerned-but she could be wrong. Beth probably thought the same thing before she was taken.

It was muggy and humid tonight. The fan she had going only served to cycle hot air around and the t-shirt she wore as a night gown was not keeping her very cool. A single back sheet lay barely covering her feet. She was sweating as she tossed and turned-another nightmare.

It was dark outside, the light from the garage seemed unnaturally dim. But she was sure there was someone outside. The shadows seemed to move but they made no sound.

"Autumn..."

He spoke, he whispered her name tonight. Something in his deep husky voice made her heart quicken and her panties moisten. She backed toward the house-this was not right. But when she turned around there was no house, just woods.

"No."

She was talking in her sleep as she tossed and turned.

Turning around she could see nothing but woods and hear something move in the trees above her. Autumn looked up but he was faster than she was and he was just a blur. A spot of white caught her attention, something on the ground a few feet away. She moved to it-white cotton panties.

"These were Beth's. Oh God!"

Something heavy hit the ground behind her, she dropped the cloth, and felt her whole spine stiffen. The presence behind her was heavy, dominating and close enough she could smell him. There was something tantalizingly erotic in his scent, spicy almost and it was a bit of an aphrodisiac.

She felt herself flush hot, then her toes curled into the mud beneath her and her nails bit into her palms. The stranger exhaled a growl into her ear. Autumn shivered. He was so close his breath gave her neck goosebumps. As if he could read her mind, he moved a bit closer. Powerful muscles brushed across her back as she fought herself-it was HER dream after all.

Slowly she turned around and finally saw his face. An animalistic stare held her still in those cobalt blues, short coarse black hair lined his strong jaw and covered his head and when he smiled, she saw his sharp white canines. This man had to be a mutant. Cautiously she took two steps back and surveyed the mutant.

He was about six feet three inches tall of muscle, power, stealth, speed, sharp canines and long wicked claws. This one was dangerous, powerful-death incarnate. A sexually aggressive energy rose off him in waves and threatened to break what little control she still had on this dream.

This dream was wrong, she could smell the sex and blood coming from him. What was worse was she could smell rain clinging to him as well, although it wasn't part of her dream.

"Oh god! You're the thing that took Beth!"

She could not understand how she knew, she just knew.

"Oh," He cocked his head stepping closer. "Well," He paused nodded and continued. "...Well Elizabeth is gone."

"Wake up! Wake UP! Autumn!" She was fighting herself.

The dream had her now, the beast moved closer still, she had lost control.

"I'm not afraid of you! You can't hurt me!"

He almost seemed to frown, furrowing his brow.

"How do you know? I haven't tried you yet."

When he grabbed her by her throat and started to cut her clothing off, she choked out a scream.

"No!" Autumn jolted awake.

When she woke, she was sitting up in bed with her head in her palm and sweat dripping off her. Autumn was coughing, rubbing her throat, she could still feel his hand on her throat that dream was too real. She was panting, her throat was raspy and her shirt was stuck to her, soaked in sweat. That feeling of someone being near her would not go away and she needed to change now anyhow so she go out of bed.

"Fuck." She said yanking open her door. "God damn dreams."

For a second she paused to look at the picture of her and Beth hanging on the wall.

"Bethie'...what did he do to you? Where are you?"

Autumn walked out into the hallway of her three bedroom trailer-that sat on cinder blocks and supports. When her parents moved out she bought it and the half dilapidated garage from them. She liked the country, it gave her peace and besides the trailer was mostly paid off.

Opening the back door she looked through the rain spotted storm door and out at her two acres of land. After that dream she wished her garage light was brighter and that she had less trees for people to hide behind.

The trees outside whipped their branches in the wind as the rain tinked and patted against the storm door. She could feel the thunder role across the sky and lightning lit the yard.There was someone there, she saw them or him when the lightning lit the yard. Was her mind still screwing with her?

She waited, the lightning flashed again and nothing this time. Autumn could not shake the feeling-someone was out there-she knew it. This was the reason she had put the locks on the door and now she slammed the back door shut, clicking the bolt locks and backing away as if she was sure he would burst through the door at any moment.

Aside from the thunder there was now an unmistakable undertone of silence. An unmistakable energy, the one that triggered the sixth sense with caution. Whoever he was she was not going to play around with him. She was not one of those people who were dumb enough to walk outside when she sensed danger.

It was not in her nature to pick a fight to or to fight back. She knew because of her height that she did not stand a chance against a full grown man. Some small part of her was afraid that if she did go outside that she would hear his voice and suddenly be in the woods with the man from her nightmares. She shuddered.

Autumn headed to the front door and threw the rest of the locks on. Then she began the daunting task of checking all the windows-although there was not a way to climb through them because they were three panel crank windows.

Another boom of thunder made her jump before rumbling down to a low roar. She looked out the window, the storm was picking up outside. Hopefully, it would be enough to drive them off if there was someone out there.

She shut all the blinds in the house before deciding she desperately needed a shower and needed to get one before the storm kicked off the power. Even if the power did go out and kick off the alarm, the house was locked up tight. Someone would have to kick the door open.

Outside he stood watching her as she desperately tried to bar him out. A grin crossed his features. The beast knew a good claw would cut through the door hinges or he could just cut a hole in the door and flick the locks off. He could disable the alarm system and have her on all fours before she knew it. At that thought, he adjusted the growing erection in his pants.

After she showered, tossed on a tank top and bikinis-she slipped back into bed. With the false sense of security that she would be safe from almost anyone, she drifted off to sleep.

Now, he made his move, cutting the power to the house before cutting the locks and slipping inside. The smell of her heat only served to increase his arousal as he moved silently toward her room. The dark helped to hide him but he didn't need it-she didn't even hear him enter the house.

Her arousal was drifting off of her in waves, she must have been dreaming something good. The big cat purred deep in his throat as her scent filled the room. The beast cocked his head to the side as he observed her sleeping form, moving slowly closer.

For a few moments he hovered over her, water dripping from his claws, breathing steady and a toothy grin spreading slowly across his face. As he looked her over, she reminded him of Beth. He wondered if she would scream like Beth too. Extending a claw he slid it just under the side of her thin panties...let's find out.

[More to come]