Autumn's Blood: The Spirit Shifters, Book One (10 page)

She looked between the two men in
bewilderment. “But what about General Dumas? Isn’t he the one who
should be told? This is what he wanted, after all.”

“He’s the last person who should
know.”

Autumn forced herself to her feet. “I
demand to know what’s going on here!”

Haverly went over to the computer and
started to bring up files. “We can’t afford to explain right now.
I’ll try to delete as much information as I can, but I’m pretty
sure Dumas has everything backed up. He’s going to figure out what
happened as soon as he finds Doctor Anderson missing.”

“Missing?” she said in alarm. “Why am
I going missing?”

“Just go with Sergeant Wolfcollar.
He’ll get you to safety.”

When she didn’t budge, Haverly leaned
over and gave Autumn a shove from behind, sending her stumbling
toward Blake. He caught her, hauling her up against his massive
chest. She stood there looking up into his face, her heart beating
too fast and too hard, before she remembered herself. She tried to
pull away, but he held her fast.

“Let go of me!”

“Not yet.” He looked toward Haverly.
“Stay safe and be in touch.”

The older man nodded. “You
too.”

Autumn found herself being dragged
toward the elevator by her arm, too shocked to fight
back.

“The cameras are still live in the
here,” Blake told her. “You need to act normal. If someone suspects
something is wrong, all the alarms will go.”

Her heart thudded as they stood in the
elevator, rising to ground level.

“We can get out through the back,” he
continued. “Walk quickly, but not too quickly, and stay close to
me.”

Blake still had hold of her arm. “Do I
have any choice?” she hissed.

He spoke without looking at her,
staring straight ahead. “No.”

The elevator doors slid
open. Ahead, the security guards sat behind the desk, the metal
detector creating a barrier between them and the main
entrance.
Should I yell for help?
she wondered. Yet for some reason, she kept her
mouth shut.

Blake glanced to either side and then
turned left, pushing through another set of doors into a long
corridor. He still had hold of her arm, but she was pulled tight
against his body, hiding the grip he had on her from other people.
They passed a woman in a suit, her eyes giving Blake’s body a
cursory glance before flicking only briefly to Autumn.

As they walked at a brisk pace, she
felt Blake stiffen beside her. “Dumas is coming,” he said in a low
voice. “He’s right around the corner. We need to get out of
here.”

She glanced around for cameras or
mirrors, something that would allow him to know Dumas’ position.
There was nothing. She frowned. “How do you know that? Are you
psychic or something?”

He smiled grimly at the
notion.

Dumas’ tall, lean form appeared at the
end of another corridor, his silver head bent as he spoke to two
men in suits. They were deep in conversation, not yet noticing
them.

“Shit!” Blake hissed under his breath.
He dodged to their right, pulling her through a side door. They
found themselves in a storeroom, the walls bordered by metal
shelves filled with cleaning products and laundered lab coats. In
the far wall, a silver hatch was embedded into the brick. Blake
dropped Autumn’s arm and strode over. Using the handle, he pulled
the hatch open to reveal a drop beyond. The silver metal square of
the interior was only visible a couple of feet down before it
descended into darkness.

A laundry chute.

Autumn took one look at the black
hole. “You have got to be kidding me?”

“Do you want Dumas to catch
you?”

“I have no idea! Do I?”

“Absolutely not, and neither do
we.”

“We? Other than you and
Haverly, who are
we
, exactly?”

“I don’t have time to explain this to
you now.”

Taking her by surprise, he bent down
and scooped her into his arms. She let out a shriek and battered at
the thick bulk of his bicep. “Put me down, you fucking
Neanderthal!”

“If you want to stay alive, you’ll do
exactly as I say.”

“Are you threatening me?” She felt
faintly ridiculous, trying to be tough when she was cradled in his
arms like a baby, but she didn’t know how else to act.

Any notions of tenderness vanished
when he lowered her over the hole. She lunged for the edge,
grabbing hold, but he gave her a shove and her grip on the edge
vanished. She plunged down the smooth surface.

His voice echoed down after her. “I’m
helping you.”

Autumn fell from the bottom of the
chute and landed on her back in a huge plastic container. Her fall
was softened by a mound of dirty laboratory coats beneath her. A
noise came from above and she realized if she didn’t move, she was
likely to be squashed. Scrambling for purchase, she wriggled out of
the laundry, grabbed hold of the side of the container and hauled
herself out and onto the concrete floor. She barely made it out
before Blake shot from the bottom, landing on his feet in a crouch,
completely in contrast to her own flailing fall.

He leapt out after her and grabbed her
hand. “Let’s go.”

Chapter
Nine

OUT ON THE street, Blake looked left
and then right, taking a moment to consider his next move. He’d go
back to his apartment and gather some things. Hopefully, no one
would notice them missing right away or Haverly would be able to
make some kind of excuses to throw them off the scent. That would
give him enough time to consider his next move.

Blake closed his eyes briefly and
concentrated on his wolf as it ran through the city’s streets ahead
of him. The animal’s tongue lolled from his mouth, his eyes bright,
adrenaline coursing through his veins. It normally existed in a
state of peace, and this new threat had sent fire racing through
the animal.

Go south,
Blake willed his wolf.
Need transport.

In his head, a yellow cab and the sign
for North Dearborn Parkway appeared. The vehicle should be rounding
the corner in approximately two minutes.

With his hand still firmly wrapped
around Autumn’s arm, he strode down the street.

“Hey! Where the hell are you taking
me?”

She dragged her heels, trying to pull
back on him. Though his strength overruled hers entirely, their
awkward movements made them stand out and hindered their progress.
If they were going to catch that cab, he needed to be on the corner
one minute from now.

“Would you walk?” he
growled.

“No!” She glared at him. “Not until
you tell me what is going on and where you are taking
me.”

“I told you we don’t have time right
now. If you don’t walk, I’m going to pick you up and carry you over
my shoulder. Would you rather I did that?”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Want to try me?”

Damn, why did she have to
be so infuriating? And why was it this woman who held the potential
to change the world?

She studied his face, clearly trying
to decide whether he was kidding or not. “Okay, fine,” she said,
realizing he wasn’t joking. She started to walk, hurrying to keep
up with his long strides.

The wolf flashed the image of the cab
again, right down the road from them and heading their
way.

“Don’t move,” he told her. With
several long, powerful strides, he stepped into the middle of the
street. A horn blared, another car swerved around him. He caught
sight of the vehicle he wanted heading toward him and positioned
himself in the middle of the road, right in its path.

“What the hell are you doing?” Autumn
screamed at him from the sidewalk. “You’re going to get yourself
killed.”

He ignored her.

The driver caught sight of him
standing in the middle of the road and the man’s eyes widened. The
screech of brakes tore through his ears and someone on the
sidewalk—possibly Autumn—screamed. Blake’s massive hands slammed
down onto the warm bonnet of the car just as it came to a
standstill. Through the windshield, he focused his gaze on the man
behind the wheel. The cab driver stared back at him in
shock.

Blake straightened and strode around
to the back. He grabbed hold of the handle and yanked open the
door. A businessman sat on the backseat, his briefcase clutched in
his lap, his face pale.

“Get out,” Blake told him.

“What? No. Are you crazy?”

The driver twisted around in his seat,
his face a mask of alarm and confusion. “This guy has a
fare!”

Blake flicked open the side of his
leather jacket, flashing the Beretta 9mm strapped to his hip. “It’s
my ride now.”

The businessman’s eyes widened and he
nodded hastily before climbing from the car and hurrying
away.

Blake straightened and motioned to
where Autumn still stood, her mouth hanging open. “Come on, get
in!” he yelled at her. “What the hell are you waiting
for?”

She checked for traffic, shook her
head as if wondering what the heck she was doing, and ran across
the street to where he stood beside the open cab door.

Her blue eyes locked on his. “I think
you have some serious issues,” she told him.

A smile tweaked his lips. “Tell me
something I haven’t heard before.”

She climbed in, and he got in after
her. Leaning forward, he told the driver what street he wanted to
be taken to.

“You’re not going to shoot me, are
you, mister?”

“Not as long as you don’t cause me any
problems.”

They rode in silence. He glanced over
at Autumn. She stared straight ahead, her lips pressed together,
her hands clasped tight in her lap. Had this woman really succeeded
where so many others had failed? If Haverly was right, from this
day forward, everything could change.

They turned down his road and pulled
to a stop at the sidewalk. Before getting out of the cab, Blake
leaned forward and snatched the driver’s ID card from where it
swung from the rear view mirror. “I work for the Secret Service. If
I hear one complaint about what happened here today, do not think
for a moment that I won’t track you down and kill you. Do you
understand?”

The man’s eyes were pools of shock and
he nodded frantically.

“Good,” said Blake, pocketing the
card. “As long as we understand each other.”

He sensed Autumn watching him and
turned to her. Held out his hand. “I’m doing all of this to keep
you safe.”

She gave him a thin smile. “Sure you
are.”

Nevertheless, she took his hand and
allowed him to help her from the vehicle. With his arm around her
waist, he propelled her toward his building. From the outside, the
place looked like an industrial storage unit. He opened a
corrugated iron door in the side and pressed on the back of
Autumn’s head, forcing her to duck as they climbed inside. She shot
him a glare of annoyance, but then caught sight of his apartment.
Metal pipes ran across the ceiling overhead. The walls were red
brick, with only a few large pictures hung—the New York Skyline in
black and white, another of a full moon over the ocean, a mountain
and forest landscape she didn’t recognize. A couple of leather
couches and a glass and chrome coffee table made up the living
area. The bedroom had been built on a platform, a set of metal
steps leading up to it. Light shafts had been fixed in the roof, so
there were no windows, but the clever cylinders of water and
chemicals allowed sunlight to filter into the space. Dust motes
swirled in the streams of daylight.

From the outside, no one would know
someone actually lived here.

“This is your home?” she asked, one
eyebrow cocked in disbelief.

“Cozy, huh?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Err, no, not
really. I can’t pretend it’s not impressive, though.”

He crossed the floor to where a
kitchenette had been built against the back wall, a black granite
kitchen island separating the space from the rest of the room. “I
don’t know about you,” he called over his shoulder, “but I could do
with a drink.”

“Well, I could do with you telling me
what the hell is going on here.”

Blake reached into a cabinet and
pulled down a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. He poured a shot,
downed it in one, and then refilled the glass and topped up the
other one. Despite the cool demeanor he portrayed, the events of
the last hour had left him shaken. He picked up both glasses and
carried them over to Autumn.

Though he’d never admit it, he wished
they were here in different circumstances. The sight of her
standing in his apartment spoke to something deep inside him. A
long time had passed since he’d had a woman here.

She folded her arms across her chest.
“I don’t want a drink.”