With the rising of the sun, Nate and I stumbled downstairs and made a straight line to the coffee machine. Nate beat me by inches to it and set it going. I rubbed my eyes and took in the view of what the place looked like in the early morning light. The dining room and living room both had East facing windows and I watched as the sun began to make it's way through the trees, peppering the rooms with dots of light. It was a gorgeous view and as soon as Nate handed me a mug of coffee, I headed out onto the deck and looked out over what was going to be Monty's and Harper's playground. It was breathtaking and I inhaled deeply and a smile of joy spread over my face.

"I can't believe you found such a gorgeous place, Clarke," Nate said as he came to stand beside me and leaned against the rail. "Though, I'm not sure that I'm going to be as happy once Harper gets her horses here. The smell might be detrimental."

I chuckled, "That's why the stables are going to be further down the property. I have no desire for the smell of horse shit permeating the house or our food. It's also why Monty's compost is well off to the side."

"So, you've probably thought out every inevitable downside and came up with a counter for it," he said jokingly.

"Some," I said, laughing. "The hardest to figure out is how to clearly mark between our property and the other pack's territory. I'm thinking a fence along the length."

"You want to put up twenty acres of fence?"

I shrugged, "It's a thought. We could always use scent markers, but those will have to constantly be refreshed. I mean, there's no mistaking a freaking fence for anything else but what it's meant for."

"True," he said, thoughtfully, "Maybe you can have these guys do the work for you. Shouldn't be too hard."

"That's not a bad idea," I said, smiling at him. "I'll bring it up to the foreman once he gets here."

Nate swallowed the last of his coffee and said, "You feel like a short run. Get a feel for the terrain before they arrive?"

"Why don't you go ahead and do that," I said. "My shoulder's still bothering me and I don't want to make it worse before we get the truck unloaded."

"Alright," he said. "I'll be back in a little while."

He hugged me and then stripped off his pajama bottoms before jumping over the railing and shifting mid-fall. I watched him a little wistfully until he disappeared into the surrounding trees. I grabbed his clothes and brought them back inside where I laid them on the couch. I poured myself another coffee and wandered into what would be my studio. I marveled at the amount of light that fell in the room and was glad that I'd chosen this spot. I'd be able to paint for hours before I'd lose the light.

When he got back, we started offloading the truck and putting everything away. I'm pretty sure that we drew the occasional stare because we were easily carrying several boxes at a time and most of them were rather heavy. We just shrugged it off and continued. By mid afternoon, the boxes were off the truck and in various areas of the house, depending on where they would go. My painting supplies were in my studio, leaning up against the wall, and just waiting for me to bring them to life.

Nate had unhooked my truck from the trailer and followed me to the drop-off. From there we went grocery shopping and I knew that we were definitely drawing stares with the amount of food we got. Though, I did get that same feeling as I had last night at the pizza place. Someone was watching us, but whenever I turned around, I could never see anyone.

I edged my cart closer to Nate's and said in a low voice, "Hey, do you get the feeling that we're being watched?"

He glanced at me and replied, "Yeah and it's not the typical new person stare either. It feels like we're being stalked."

I nodded, "Yeah, I felt that last night at the pizza place. Someone's definitely watching us."

"Well, the security cameras are rolling at the house, plus we got motion detectors around the property. If anyone shows up, we'll catch them."

"I guess, we'll just keep our eyes and ears open," I said.

He nodded and we finished shopping. When we got home, we put everything away and pretty much went straight to bed. That was the night I had my first nightmare.

I woke up screaming in the middle of the night. My body was drenched in sweat, my heart pounding, and I was gasping for air. Nate came running into the room and hugged me tightly to his chest. As soon as his arms wrapped around me, I lost it and started sobbing uncontrollably. It took hours before I could calm down and tell him about it.

"Clarke," he said softly, rubbing my back. "What was it?"

Taking in a slow deep breath and letting it out slowly, I said, "I was dreaming about the attack, I think. It was just random images, violent and brutal. So much pain. There was so much blood. Wells' or my own, I don't know. The only thing I remember that sticks with me is the pond and the mill. They're illuminated by something."

"You ever dream about this before," he asked.

I shook my head, "No, never. This is the first time since then that I've had a nightmare It hadn't even occurred to me that I should be having these kind of dreams. You know, dreams derived from trauma."

"It could be that you've been too worried about having to leave Arcadia to even give yourself a chance to think about that night."

I sighed and pillowed my head against his shoulder, "You're probably right. If this gets any worse, I'm going to have to start seeing someone."

"You should probably do that anyway, Clarke. Get ahead of it."

"Ugh, why do you have to be so damn sensible."

He chuckled, "Just lucky, I guess. Do you want me to stay here the rest of the night?"

"Please," I said.

"Alright," he replied. "Let me just turn off the lights."

I nodded and settled myself back down. When the lights were off, he came back to bed and drew me to him. I felt myself relax even more with his weight comfortably behind me and sleep came easily.