Autumn's Blood: The Spirit Shifters, Book One (4 page)

The sudden scent of blood filled the
air, a tidal wave of copper and heat. The animal’s frightened bleat
of terror, the savage tear of flesh.

Blake skidded to a halt, ears pricked,
eyes wide. Something had happened to the animal, but what? He
slowed his pace and proceeded with more caution.

Underlying the overwhelming stench of
blood, he caught the scent of something else—someone else—a scent
he’d not come across for several years.

A low growl rumbled from his throat.
He lowered his powerful neck and sniffed the ground. Yes, how had
he missed it before? He must have been too caught up in the
chase.

The scent of wolf—not a natural
pack—but a member of his own kind.

He broke into a clearing and stopped
short.

The deer lay bloodied on the ground.
Its hooves pawed the ground helplessly until the last of its life
blood ebbed away, and then the animal fell still.

Just behind, leaning against the thick
expanse of a pine tree trunk, stood a naked man. Fresh blood coated
his chest and chin. He shared Blake’s caramel complexion, dark
eyes, and fringe of thick lashes. Long black hair fell down over
his naked chest, back, and shoulders. His casual stance—arms folded
across his chest, one ankle over the other—was the opposite of
Blake’s drummed-in military posture.

The man smiled at the wolf. “Hello,
Cuz.”

Chogan
Pallaton.

Blake growled again, lowering his big
head, the hackles on his back rising, making his already huge form
appear even bigger.

But his cousin showed no fear.
Instead, he cocked an eyebrow, one side of his mouth curling in a
smirk. “You can’t intimidate me, Blake. I’ve known you since you
were only a couple of years old. And you might be bigger than me,
but you know I’m faster.”

This was true. Though Chogan was still
a big guy, a little over six feet tall with a well-muscled but lean
body, he’d beat Blake in a race any day of the week. No wonder he’d
managed to hunt down the deer before Blake had even gotten near.
He’d simply outrun them both.

Blake growled again. He’d not seen his
cousin for several years, and he sure as hell didn’t want to be
standing here with him now. But he couldn’t question his cousin’s
sudden appearance in wolf form.

Go,
he willed his spirit guide.
Leave me
now.

The energy sucked from his body and he
tensed, waiting for the pain he knew would follow. The change from
wolf to man was almost as painful as the other way around. The fur
retracted from his body, leaving smooth brown skin. His ears folded
against his head and seemed to melt away. His bones snapped and
rearranged themselves.

Naked, he stood before his cousin,
experiencing no shame at his nudity. Growing up with a wolf-guide,
he’d grown used to being without clothing.

“Chogan,” he growled. “What the hell
are you doing down this far?”

“I’m here to find you, of
course.”

“Why would you want to find
me?”

“I need your help.”

Blake snarled. “I’ve got no interest
in helping you.”

“I’m not like you, Blake. I didn’t
turn my back on my people at the slightest hint of
trouble.”

“That’s because you are the
trouble.”

Chogan waved a hand dismissively. “Not
all the time. Anyway, I needed to find you. I’m hoping you might be
able to shed some light on a subject that’s got people
concerned.”

Blake frowned. “Like what?”

“There’s rumors of spirit shifters
disappearing.”

“Why would I know anything about
that?” he said with a scowl.

“I don’t expect you to, but some of
the elders have been urging me to get in touch with you, to see if
you might use your connections to find out if anything has been
reported.”

“I don’t work for the police
department.”

“No. Even better, you work for the
government. Those guys know everything.”

“Not quite everything,” Blake
muttered. But he needed to find out what was getting people all
stirred up. “So what’s going on?”

“One of the shifters who went missing
is from the reservation. She went to bed as normal, but when her
family woke, she was missing. No one has seen any sign of her and
it’s not like her. She’s dedicated to her family and her community
...”

Blake cringed at his words, his
metaphorical hackles rising. He’d left the reservation for a
reason; just the memory of the place brought him pain. Perhaps he’d
only been young, but he’d thought he had the whole of his life
mapped out before him. Then one single event had changed
everything, and his cousin had played his part in that happening.
He would never forgive him.

“I’ll see what I can look into, but I
don’t want you anywhere near me.”

Blake turned on his heel and strode
back through the forest, heading back to where he’d left his
clothing. He had small bundles of clothes hidden around the forest
in case his runs took him too far, but in this case his closest
clothing was back where he’d started.

He became aware of his cousin walking
along behind him.

Blake drew to a halt and Chogan
stopped with him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

His cousin cocked his head, his long
hair falling down to cover one brown shoulder. “What do you think?
I’m coming with you.”

Blake strode off, shaking his head.
“No way.”

Light footsteps followed. “I’m
planning on staying around, Cuz. There’s something going on, and I
plan on hanging out till you agree to help me.”

Chapter
Four

AUTUMN FITTED THE key into the lock on
her front door and turned it. The apartment door cracked open to a
blast of music and the scent of food cooking. A smile tugged her
mouth. She was glad to be home.

“Hey, girl!” Her roommate Mia’s dark
head popped around from the kitchen door. “How did it
go?”

Immediately, her thoughts turned to
the beautiful giant of a man who’d touched her mouth. She could
still feel the heat of his finger against her lip. “How did what
go?”

Mia’s fine eyebrows arched. “Err,
let’s see. Could I be talking about this elusive interview you’ve
been unable to speak about all week?”

“Oh, yeah, of course.” She gave her
head a shake. “It went well. I got the job.”

Mia jumped up and down, clapping her
hands. “Yay! I knew you would. Now why am I the one celebrating
while you’re acting all mysterious?”

Though the other woman was three years
younger than Autumn’s own twenty-seven years, their mothers had
been best friends and the two girls had grown up like sisters.
After Autumn’s mom died, Mia’s mother had treated her like her own
child and she’d spent numerous nights at their family home when her
father had needed to work late.

Autumn didn’t need a roommate for the
rent. She was even a little embarrassed that she’d not taken the
more adult step of living alone, but the truth was she found living
alone to be unbearably lonely.

Plus, Mia was like the wife Autumn
would never have. Mia loved to cook, where Autumn was capable of
burning water. The younger woman was more than happy playing the
role of homemaker, but Autumn couldn’t think of anything worse. She
hoped her friend would find a guy soon. At five-two, with her big
dark eyes, tiny nose, and cropped hair, she was more than a catch
for any man. Autumn knew Mia wanted a family of her own one day,
and part of Autumn dreaded such a thing happening, as it would mean
she’d end up alone. However, she’d still be overjoyed if Mia met
the right man.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be. The
experience was a little strange, that’s all.”

She followed Mia into the kitchen. Her
roommate opened the fridge and, without even needing to be asked,
pulled out a chilled bottle of white wine. Autumn settled herself
at the kitchen counter as Mia poured out a couple of good-sized
glasses and sat opposite.

“Strange how?”

“There was a man who ...”

Mia leaned toward her, her eyes
bright. “Who, what?”

She shook her head and looked down
into her wineglass. “Who left an impression on me.”

“Oh. My. God. He’s not going to be
your boss, is he?”

Autumn laughed and some of the tension
ebbed from her body. She took a sip of the wine, enjoying the crisp
taste. “No, nothing like that. Though we will be on the same team.
He was just really ... intense.”

“And sexy?” Mia waggled her eyebrows
up and down. “Please say he was sexy.”

“He was big and ...
intense.”

“Seriously, Autumn, you need to find
yourself some more descriptive words.” She leaned even farther
forward. “So how big was he?”

Autumn frowned slightly, remembering.
“Well over six feet, and buff as well. His biceps were as big as my
head.”

“Holy cow.” Mia grinned. “That’s
big.”

Autumn wanted to tell Mia how it had
felt to have his finger press against her mouth, as though his skin
had literally burned hers, and she could still sense its presence.
She wanted to tell her how she couldn’t erase the memory of those
almost-black eyes piercing hers. Yet, somehow she couldn’t bring
herself to discuss those details over a girly chat, feeling as
though it would diminish their importance somehow.

Important? I barely said
more than a few words to him. How could they have been
important?

“Oh, it was nothing,” she said
dismissively. “Just a cute guy. So what’s for dinner? Can I
help?”

Mia hopped off the stool, went to the
oven, and pulled out a dish of baked pasta. “Nope, you’re good. How
does Italian sound?”

“Perfect. You know I’d marry you,
right?”

Mia dropped the baking dish of
steaming pasta onto a mat on the counter. “As much as I love you,
honey, I’m afraid you just don’t do it for me.”

Autumn let out an over-exaggerated
sigh. “Shame. Me neither.”

Her friend spooned creamy pasta onto
both of their plates and sat back down. She lifted her wine glass
and clinked it against Autumn’s. “To hot guys, right? And not
needing to marry our girlfriends.”

Autumn laughed. “I’ll drink to
that!”

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Autumn entered
the government building to find the same security staff waiting
behind the dark glass door. She looked around, hopeful to see Blake
Wolfcollar, but there was no sign of anyone else.

One of the guards, a man
in his late thirties, stood as she walked in. “Ma’am,” he said with
a nod, handing her a security badge. This time, she noted, there
was no
visitor
under her name. It seemed she was now a full-fledged member
of staff. “General Dumas said to send you straight down to the
labs.”

“Down?” She’d assumed she had entered
on the bottom floor.

“Yes, minus one.” He nodded toward the
bank of elevators.

Autumn repeated the paces of the
previous day and dropped her belongings into the tray. She walked
through the metal detector and waited for her purse and shoes to
come trundling through on the roller.

The belt came to a stop, capturing her
stuff inside the metal block of the scanner. Autumn frowned and
tried to peer in, though the black rubber flaps which hung down
over the exit blocked her view.

“Is something wrong?” she asked,
straightening to look at one of the guards. She was suddenly filled
with an irrational fear that some contraband had been planted in
either her suit jacket, which she’d run through the scanner, or her
purse.

The guard frowned and stared at the
controls, his eyes flicking back up to the screen. He shook his
head. “Damn thing’s been acting up all morning.” He made his way to
the start of the belt, reached inside, and fiddled with something.
A few seconds later, the belt creaked and juddered and got moving
again.

Autumn’s belongings appeared through
the rubber flaps.

“Sorry about that,” the guard
said.

Relieved she wasn’t going to be in
trouble for something she hadn’t done, she grabbed her things and
slipped her jacket and shoes back on. “No, problem,” she told him
and headed to the elevator. Inside the mirror-walled box, she
noticed what she hadn’t before—the minus number on the keypad.
Below it was another button that seemed to only allow access with a
pad, she assumed, for an authorized fingerprint. She shouldn’t be
surprised. This was a government facility; she almost expected them
to have secret floors.

She hit minus one, the little light
behind the silver key illuminating in red. The doors closed and she
felt the downward motion of the equipment before coming to a
stop.

The doors slid open and she stifled a
small cry of surprise. Dumas stood directly on the other side, a
mere foot separating them. Just behind his left shoulder stood
another man she hadn’t seen before. He looked to be in his late
twenties or early thirties, though something about his gray eyes—an
intelligence—made him appear older. His brown hair was brushed back
from strong features, flecks of white at the temples.