Autumn's Blood: The Spirit Shifters, Book One (21 page)

Autumn did her best to push the
thought away. “I feel bad, you sleeping on the couch when I have
your bed.”

“It’s not my bed anymore.”

She gave a small smile and sat on the
edge. “How old were you when your mom died?”

He sat down next to her. “I was
twelve, but Tala was only seven. Her death hit her harder, I
think.”

“My mom died when I was a child too,
though I was only five. I barely remember her, really.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He turned to
her, his dark eyes studying her face. “Not the best thing to have
in common, huh?”

“I guess not. Though sometimes it’s
good to be around people who understand a part of your life, a part
others have no idea how to empathize with.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s
true.”

Blake stood, the mattress lifting with
the removal of his weight, and Autumn’s heart dipped. What did she
need to do to make him understand what she wanted? He’d kissed her
once before. She didn’t think she was imaging that invisible pull
between them that made her think he wanted to repeat the moment.
Blake crossed the room and pulled down the blind for her, darkening
the room from the strengthening sunlight outside.

“I’d better get some sleep,” she said,
making sure his attention was drawn back to her.

Knowing his eyes were on her, she
stood, shrugging off her suit jacket and dropping the item to the
floor. She deliberately unbuttoned her suit pants and wiggled them
from her hips, leaving her long lags naked. She sensed him catch
his breath, his gaze fixed on her movements. Did she dare remove
her shirt? No, she wanted him to want to stay with her, but she
didn’t want him to think she was some sort of easy lay.

Autumn climbed beneath the sheets, but
didn’t lie down. Instead, she sat up, her knees pulled into her
chest.

Blake glanced away, clearly aware of
the tension between them, but unsure of the right move to make.
Damn, this guy was frustrating. Couldn’t he take a hint?

She reached a hand out to him. “Come
here.”

His eyes widened.

“I’m still cold.”

A smile played on his lips. “Oh,
right. I’d better stay for a moment then, until you warm
up.”

“That would be good. Thank
you.”

He kicked off his shoes. As he climbed
fully-clothed into the small single bed with her, she turned her
back to him. She took hold of his big hand, placed it over her hip,
and wriggled down the bed.

She tugged him down, pulling his body
to fit against hers. He wrapped his arms around her waist, the
curve of her back and bottom fitting snugly against him.

“Are you still cold?” he asked her,
his voice hoarse.

She smiled in the dim light. “Not
anymore.”

But he made no attempt to leave, and
she didn’t want him to.

His heat burned through the material
of her shirt. He was a solid block of muscle, rock hard against her
softness. His hand lay on the mattress, curled into her, his bicep
fitting into the dip of her waist. The heat of his breath gusted
against the top of her head. At five-feet-eight, she didn’t
normally feel tiny and fragile, but here, lying in his arms, she
did.

She reached down and took his hand.
Brazenly, she pulled it toward her and placed his palm on the swell
of her breast. Instantly, her nipple tightened and crinkled beneath
the lace of her bra.

Blake stiffened. “What are you doing,
Autumn?” he asked, a warning tone to his voice.

“What I’ve been thinking of doing
pretty much since the moment I met you.”

She squeezed the back of his hand,
forcing him to clutch her harder. She knew he wanted this too. When
she pushed back on him, grinding her bottom into his crotch, she
could feel his need pressing against her lower back.

But that didn’t stop the nerves racing
through her. A long time had passed since she’d been with a man—the
last time had been a one-night stand she’d immediately regretted,
and that had been over a year ago now. But she wouldn’t regret
this. This wasn’t just some guy she’d met. Blake was
special—strong, tough, and unbelievably sexy. She wanted to get her
hands all over his naked body, had wanted to touch him in that way
ever since he’d stripped in front of her in the apartment in the
city.

Autumn twisted in his arms to face
him. “Tell me you don’t want me,” she said.

He stared into her eyes, his gaze dark
and smoldering. His breath touched her lips, their mouths only
inches apart. She didn’t know if it had been the events of the past
twenty-four hours or if she simply had lost control of her own
desires, but she couldn’t hold herself back anymore.

“I can’t,” he said.

She leaned in and kissed him,
tentative at first, but then a low growl came from deep inside his
chest and he flipped her over, his body held over hers. She reached
up and tugged his shirt over his head, marveling in the size of his
muscles, the tone of his skin. He lowered his mouth to hers again.
This time, the tenderness was gone. He kissed her hard, their
tongues tangling in exploration of each other’s mouths. Autumn
reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, hooking her feet
over the backs of his calves in order to close the gap between
them.

Her hands ran over the muscles of his
back, their hard planes and curves, feeling them working as she
reveled in the touch of his skin and the pleasure of his mouth. He
left her lips, kissing down her jaw, her throat. Propping himself
up, he feverishly worked the buttons of her shirt before ripping
the final two away, sending them flying. Then he tore the material
from her body, leaving her in only her bra and panties.

Blake kissed her neck, her shoulders,
slipping the straps of her bra from her shoulders, and then the
lacy cups from her breasts.

His lips enclosed her nipple and she
cried out loud. The searing heat of his mouth was like nothing
she’d ever felt before on such sensitive skin, the heat bordering
the threshold of pleasure and pain. Blake worked his way down her
body, peppering her body in tiny, bite-like kisses, nipping her
skin with his lips. He paused at the waistband of her panties and
she squirmed beneath him, wanting his lips and tongue on her,
wanting to absorb his heat—

The ringing of a phone in the room
made them both pause and turn toward the sound,
startled.

For a moment, Autumn struggled to
place the ringtone, but then she recognized her cell. She frowned
in confusion. How had her cell phone gotten here?

She sat up, regretfully pulling her
body out from under Blake’s caresses.

Sitting back on his haunches, Blake
frowned. “How is there a phone in here? I’m pretty sure my father
doesn’t even own a phone.”

She crawled out from under him,
planting her feet on the cold floor. Her emotions were torn in two
different ways. Part of her wanted to clamp her hands over her ears
and tell Blake to continue where he’d left off, but the other part
of her had to know who was calling. She’d been sure she’d left her
phone in the lab back at the facility, with her purse and work bag.
She must have slipped it into her jacket pocket at some point. With
all the excitement going on, she’d not even noticed it as she had
the latest model smartphone and its weight was minimal.

“It’s my phone. I totally forgot about
it!”

“What?” His face darkened with anger,
but Autumn didn’t have time to process his reaction. She needed to
know who was calling her. After what she’d seen on the television,
she could only guess her father or Mia was trying to get hold of
her.

Autumn pulled the phone
from her pocket and checked the small display screen.
Number Withheld.

Not allowing herself to time to think,
she hit ‘answer.’

“
Autumn?” Mia’s voice came
down the line, strained and high-pitched, as though she was trying
not to cry.

“Mia? It’s okay, I’m safe. No one’s
kidnapped me.”

“No, you don’t understand. A man came
to the apartment, Autumn. He threatened me ...”

“What!”

“He brought me to this place. I don’t
know where I am but—“

Her words were cut off and she heard
Mia cry out, followed by a shuffling and scraping noise.

“Mia!” Autumn yelled into the phone.
“Mia, are you there?”

A male voice replaced her roommate’s
terrified one. “Doctor Anderson, I assume?”

“What the hell have you done with Mia?
Put her back on the phone right now!”

The man laughed, and Autumn balled up
the fist not holding the phone. If he was standing in front of her
right now, she’d happily punch him in the face.

“I’m not going to do that, Doctor. I
think between you and the ball of muscle I assume is still with
you, you can probably figure out where she is. Now, why don’t you
get your pretty little face back here so we can sit down and talk
about this like adults.”

Blake leapt to his feet, glaring at
her. “Put down the goddamned phone!”

She stared back and shook her head,
trying to motion toward the cell. Couldn’t he see how important
this call was?

Blake reached out, snatched the cell
from her hand, and threw it to the ground. He lifted his foot, and,
with the back of his naked heel, stomped on the cell, shattering it
into several pieces. A sharp piece of plastic cut his foot, blood
smearing the carpet.

“What the hell do you think are you
doing?” She suddenly found angry tears threatening. “Those bastards
have Mia and you’ve smashed up the only thing I’ve got to be able
to get in touch with her again.”

“Goddamn it, Autumn! Think for a
moment. If they were able to trace my phone back to my apartment,
there is no reason why they couldn’t have yours traced as
well.”

She shook her head. “No! When would
they have been able to do that? I’ve only been at the center for a
few days.”

“Any time. All they’d need to do is
hack into your phone account. They’d only need it for a few
minutes.”

She remembered the x-ray scanner
breaking down as she’d entered the building. Had they taken her
phone from her then? Done whatever it was they needed to do to make
the cell traceable. They could easily have slipped the phone back
into her jacket pocket at some point during the day.

“I don’t care. We need to leave right
away. I need to get back to help Mia.”

He grabbed her forcefully by the arm,
holding her body only inches from his. He was still bare-chested,
Autumn just in her underwear, which she’d tugged back over to cover
her breasts as soon as the phone had rung.

“You’re not going anywhere. This is
exactly what they want you to do.”

She wrenched her arm back and glared
at him. “Why would they need to kidnap Mia if they can track me by
my phone?”

He frowned. “I’m not sure. Perhaps
your roommate has something to do with this as well.”

“Mia? She runs a missing person’s
charity. She’s about as un-military as you can get. In fact, the
government has even pulled her funding for next year.”

Blake arched his eyebrows. “And you
don’t think that’s a coincidence? Don’t you think the people Dumas
and his lot have been holding captive—even down to the scientist
before you—would be considered missing people? Maybe she started
asking questions of the wrong ones?”

Autumn shook her head. “No. She’s in
this because of me and I need to go help her.” She spun away from
him, gathering her clothes, tugging her shirt on over her shoulders
and pulling on her pants.

Blake placed his large body in front
of the bedroom door. “I won’t let you go.”

She stared at him,
incredulous. “You won’t
let
me? Since when do I need your permission to do
anything?”

“Haverly put me in charge of your
security. It’s my job.”

She gestured toward the rumpled bed.
“And that? Was that your job too?”

His face betrayed no emotion, a hard
mask falling down over his features. “It doesn’t matter what you
say to me. I’m not going to let you go racing off to save your
friend, only to get yourself captured. You’re too important to the
security of my kind.”

“Is that all I am? Only important to
keeping your lot a secret?” Her gaze flicked to the
window.

“Don’t even think about it,” he said.
“If you go for the window, I’ll be forced to find some rope and tie
you down to the bed. And don’t think for a minute that I’m
bluffing.”

Hot tears burned the backs of her
eyes, and to her own fury and frustration, a single tear spilled
from the rim of her eye and trickled down her cheek. Angrily, she
turned from him, not wanting him to see, and wiped it
away.

“So what do you suggest we do?” she
said, her voice choked. “If you think they’ve traced my phone, we
won’t have much time.”

“No, we don’t. I need to contact some
other shifters, ask for their help. But we will go and help your
friend, just like we’ll help the others, I promise.”