Chapter 5 - Klaus
Aubrey’s eyes widened as we pulled up to my house. Well, our house now. Her jaw dropped, stunned. “Are you loaded?” she asked in a high pitch.
I scowled, always hating the question. “No, my family was just good with money. Made smart decisions and good investments.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Was?”
“My parents died in a fire when I was twenty. They left a big inheritance. So, in a way, I am. But I’m not loaded.”
She looked back at the house. It was a beautiful brick house that was three stories high. There was ivy growing up the side and a two-stall garage. I’d always thought it was too large, but my parents bought it when I was a child.
The house hadn’t always been this glamorous. It needed a lot of work when they bought it. It had been abandoned, and they wanted something large. They bought it anticipating that children would fill it. They wanted a large family.
My mother only had me. They got lucky, as the doctor explained.
They were working on the house, fucking like rabbits, and managed to create me.
But that was where the line stopped. My mother struggled to get pregnant again, but they soon grew okay with the idea of a small family rather than the big one they had first envisioned.
She glanced at me. “This was your family home?”
I nodded as I opened my car door. She hopped out and walked toward the front door. She was taking it all in, looking amazed.
We got to the code panel for the front door. “Code is 1334.”
She nodded as I opened the door. We stepped inside, and her eyes widened. The foyer had light wood and white walls. There were pictures hanging, and it smelled of pine. I didn’t do much decorating after I took over the place. Never felt a need.
The foyer opened into a huge living room with wall-to-ceiling windows overlooking the woods. The living room had a gray carpet and cream-colored walls. The furniture consisted of a large, rounded leather couch facing a fireplace.
I slipped my shoes off. “Upstairs, you’ll find five bedrooms. The first one is mine, but take your pick of whatever else you want. The kitchen is down to the right. There was a gym down this left hallway.”
I stepped into the living room. “My assistant, Julia, whose clothes you’re wearing. Her number is on the kitchen fridge. You can message her about anything you need.”
She followed after me, looking around. But as she got into the living room, I watched her look up. There was no ceiling. It just kept going up until you got to the top floor, where you took in beams and glass windows. The space was flooded with evening light from all angles.
“Wow.” Her jaw hung open.
It was the normal reaction when people came over. “There is a shower in the bedrooms. Food in the fridge.”
She stood still, and I scanned her. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of mess she’d gotten herself in. Why was she being sold at the auction to begin with? A part of me wanted to press for information and know what I was getting.
But I thought about her in the bathroom.
She looked so broken, and I knew I couldn’t.
I couldn’t get attached or care. I had to focus on what was best for the pack.
I couldn’t let anything get in the way of that.
I needed to keep my distance. This wasn’t permanent.
This was just for now. Once we figured out my pack issues, she would be gone, and I would go back to my normal life.
“Do what you please, but I have a few rules. Don’t wake me early because I’m not a morning person. Don’t interrupt me if I’m in my office and don’t sit in Peanut’s chair.”
Her head snapped to me, giving me a confused look. “I’m sorry, did you say peanut?”
I nodded. Peanut came down the hallway after hearing her name. Peanut was my Maine Coon cat. I never asked for her. She just showed up one day and never left. I never intended to keep her. I’d even given her away, but she always came back.
“Oh my god!” Aubrey smiled. “You have a cat.”
“Yes, this is Peanut.”
Aubrey walked over, crouching down and stroking her back. Peanut leaned into it.
“You should have everything you need.” I turned and headed up the stairs, needing some space to run over everything that happened today. I headed into my bedroom and shut the door. I sighed, rubbing a hand over my head.
I paused and glanced down at the ring. It felt heavy on my finger, like another weight I needed to carry. I never thought I’d get married. I always told myself it wasn’t in the cards. I had to focus on the pack, and that would be my life mission. But now she was here, and it wasn’t that simple.
I slept like shit the entire night and finally gave up around nine. I headed down the stairs, finding Aubrey standing in the living room with a coffee in her hand, staring outside the window. Peanut sat next to her, seeming to do the same thing.
Aubrey gave no emotion on her face as she stood there. Her eyes seemed blank. Peanut noticed me and meowed as she turned, walking toward me. Aubrey turned. “Oh, morning.”
I gave a nod as I headed into the kitchen. The room smelled of coffee, and I poured myself a mug.
“I was wondering about a couple of things.” Aubrey stopped at the doorway of the kitchen. She chewed on her cheek as she tugged at a shirt that was likely mine.
“Such as?”
“Well, I need clothes, and I have no form of ID. I doubt you want me to continue to wear your clothes.”
I nodded. “I will have Julia take you shopping, and you can get a new ID.”
She chewed on her cheek for a moment, her thumb rubbing over the rim of her mug. “I… I don’t have money.”
“Julia has my card information. She can put it onto mine.”
She slowly nodded. “I’ll pay you back. For everything.”
“It’s fine. We’re married.” I took a couple of sips of my coffee. “Anything else?”
She shook her head.
“Great.” I turned, grabbing my jacket. “I’ll see you later.”
“You’re leaving?” she asked, looking surprised.
“I’m going out for a run. I’ll be back later. As I told you before, you’re not a prisoner, Aubrey. You can go wherever you want.”
I took a couple of sips of my coffee before setting it aside. I left the house and drove to the edge of town. I needed a run to clear my head and reassess everything.
I parked and headed into the woods. I stripped down and allowed myself to shift. My vision sharpened, and my wolf growled with pleasure. I took off.
I turned my mind off for an hour and just let my wolf take me wherever it wanted to go. It was the only way I didn’t go insane some days, and today was one of them.
I liked my space and privacy. Having someone in my house was a change that would take time to get used to. I never shared my house. Even when I invited a woman over, they didn’t stay the night.
My mind kept thinking about Aubrey. That damn red dress and how tight it was on her. Her face when she stepped onto the stage. I wanted to protect her right there. I could see that desperation in her eyes. That look of fear.
You want her. Admit it.
I shook my head. I couldn’t think like that. I had no idea who she was, and I didn’t want to find out.
I arrived at the office an hour later and found Julia sitting at her desk. She was typing on her computer when she paused upon hearing me. “You know, you owe me for the clothes you hijacked out of my desk.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Especially considering she wore the outfit better than I do. I don’t want them back.”
I snorted. “You need to take her out shopping today. Just use the card you have on file. She has no clothes, and I don’t want people staring at her because she’s wearing mine.”
Julia smirked. “Oh? I thought the outfit she had on before was stunning.”
I rolled my eyes. “Will you just take her?”
“I can’t, but I have a full day of meetings.”
“Cancel them.”
I spent the rest of the day trying to finish up the budget that I was supposed to get done the other night. I was stuck in the office until ten when I finally called it quits.
I headed home and found Aubrey in the kitchen. She had several shopping bags on the dining table. She looked at me when I came in.
“Looks like Julia took you shopping.”
She nodded. “She did. It was about two hundred dollars. I just bought the essentials.”
I nodded, walking into the kitchen. I pulled out some leftovers and tossed them into the microwave.
“I’ll pay you back.”
I grunted. “You don’t have to.”
“Julia was telling me about everything. Or at least, she was trying to help me catch up with what all was going on.”
I rubbed at my eyes. They ache from staring at my computer screen as long as I did.
“She said something about a cauldron. That the others were worried about what it could do. I was wondering if I could see it.”
The microwave beeped, and I pulled the door open. I pulled my dinner out and turned. “I don’t know. I have a lot on my plate right now.”
“I know you’re busy, but the sooner we get on this, the sooner we are both free again.”
I plopped my dinner down and grabbed the edge of the counter. “Aubrey, it’s been a long day. Can I just have my dinner and go to bed?”
“Then when, Klaus? Because you’re not a morning person, and you’re not here. So when exactly do you think you’re going to have time for me?”
“I don’t want to argue! I don’t have time to argue with you! I have an entire pack to run! Okay? So, let me focus on that right now. “
She ground her teeth together, and I watched her hands curl up into fists. She got up and stormed off down the hall. I heard her door slam, and I sighed, rubbing at my eyes again.
The next couple of days were the same. The house was silent, and neither of us spoke. Or if we did, it turned into an argument. I was deep in the budget-making cuts, and Aubrey was growing more and more bored each day. She kept asking about seeing the cauldron, and I kept pushing it off.
I was running on fumes. I wasn’t getting good sleep because I would come home late, and Aubrey was a morning person. I could hear her moving around at the ass crack of dawn.
So, here I was in my office, working on my third cup of coffee, hoping everything was finished. “Yes, Tim. The budget is all finished up. I just sent it over to you.”
The door to my office was thrown open. Aubrey stepped in, looking irritated. “Klaus.”
Julia stood behind her, looking worried. “Klaus, I’m sorry. I told her you were busy. She kept insisting on coming in here.”
I sighed, looking back at my phone. “I’m sorry, Tim. I’m going to have to call you back.” I hung up the phone and pulled my eyes back toward Aubrey. “I was in the middle of something.”
She kicked the door shut and crossed her arms. “I don’t care. You have been busy every day since I arrived here. I have been left alone day and night.”
“I have a job, and I told you that you were free to do what you wanted, Aubrey. You don’t have to stay in the house.”
“And I’ve been asking you to take me to see the cauldron for days, and you’ve given me nothing but excuses.”
“I’ve been busy,” I snapped. “Not everything revolves around you.”
“You said that we needed to fix your pack for us to go our separate ways. So, how about you take me there, and we get moving on solving whatever issue is going on with your pack.”
I frowned. “Why do you have such a need to see this cauldron? What makes you think that it’s going to help you?”
“I have a lot of free time on my hands. And while you’ve been avoiding, I’ve been digging.”
I didn’t like how that sounded. “Digging what exactly?”
“What’s been going on. I wanted information since you were going to give it to me.”
“And how did you get this information?”
“I have ways,” she stated, crossing her arms.
I leaned back. Maybe she hadn’t been sitting at home as bored as I thought. “For someone who has no leg to stand on, you sure seem to know how to get around.”
She narrowed her eyes, and the feisty side I’d seen simmered in them. “All I want is my freedom, Klaus. And you promised I would get it as soon as your pack was healed. So, how about you help me help you so we can go our own ways?”
My wolf growled, not wanting that. But I shook it off.
“What are you running from?” I asked, knowing the expression on her face. She’d been doing her own research, but so had I. I knew I couldn’t just ask her about things, but I also couldn’t just ignore them. I needed to know part of her past.
I’d looked her up but found little. She seemed like a normal girl up until a year ago. Information seemed to just stop after that.
“What makes you think I’m running?”
“Dots connected. You look over your shoulder, and you’re tense a lot. You have habits that give you away.”
She swallowed, and I watched her back straight. Another tell. “I have a shitty ex. He’s the one who brought me to the auction. I didn’t even know about it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “So you’re not a whore?”
Her eyes narrowed. “No, I’m not a whore. I’m not a sex worker or a sugar baby. I was in a shitty relationship that I’m trying to get away from. Now, will you take me to the cauldron?”
I wanted to ask more. I didn’t like how simple she was making it seem. I knew it wasn’t simple and that there was more to the story. But I wasn’t going to pry. I doubted she would tell me anyway.
“Fine.” I turned my laptop off. “But next time you storm into my office when I’m busy, you’re going to regret it.”
She gave me a look and a half smirk to go with it. “Why, are you going to put me over your knee and spank me?”
“For someone who says she isn’t a sex worker, you sure have a dirty mind.” She glared at me, and I walked past her. “Better hurry up because I don’t have time to waste.”