Page 26 of Knotting Autumn

“No, Autumn. Did he really bite you, like break the skin and make you bleed?”

Horrified, I reeled back. “Of course not!”

Sawyer’s exhale rushed out of him. “Thank fuck.”

“So can we make a plan to get out of here? I think together we can just force our way out. Right?” I asked, reaching up to rest my hands on his chest.

“You slept with him?” Sawyer asked, his gaze still flickering over my body. His fingers tightened on my arms, anticipating my answer.

“Yeah. He said he was a werewolf, and then his dick did this thing.”

“Knotting,” Sawyer filled in.

Cocking an eyebrow, I said, “How do you know that?”

His teeth bit into his bottom lip. “There’s a few things I haven’t told you.”

“Like what?” I asked quietly.

“I’m worried you’ll hate me.”

My stomach swooped. I wasn’t sure I could handle more revelations. The whole “werewolves exist” one was a lot already.

But this was Sawyer. We went to prom together. He held me when I cried after losing my pet betta fish, and again when I was let go of my first job. We fell asleep curled up together way more often than most people would consider platonic. He was my safe space.

“There’s nothing you could say that would make me hate you. I know you.” Firmly, I pressed my hand to his heart. “Promise.”

Sawyer took my hand and pressed it to his jaw, closing his eyes at the contact. When they reopened, he was determined.

“I’m a werewolf, too.”

The world fell out from under my feet, and I grabbed his jacket to steady myself. “Come again?”

“I’m one too.”

My sweet best friend, my roommate, who I spent every day of my adult life with, was also a supernatural monster. The guy I ate cereal with most mornings turned into a canine once a month.

Cool. Cool cool cool.

He held me steady as my brain processed. Things slowly slotted into place. The full moons away. The way he liked to smell my hair. The way he seemed to know things he shouldn’t.

Sawyer was a fucking werewolf.

It wasn’t until Sawyer started wiping his thumbs across my cheeks that I realized I’d started crying. The whole thing was unreal and frankly ridiculous.

Giving a little hiccup, I moved to the bed and sat so I could rest my head in my hands.

“Are you fucking with me?”

Sawyer crouched in front of me, peering up into my face with absolute sincerity. “No, baby. I would never lie to you.”

“I mean, you kept this whole thing from me. And if you’re telling the truth now, and this is all real, then it means I should have known. And then I wouldn’t be in this situation at all.”

Sawyer flinched.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I mean, I noticed you were gone on the full moon. I guess I should have known!”