Saving Autumn (17 page)

“But where was Blake?” Chogan demanded.

“I told you before, he was looking for you.”

“He couldn’t still have been at the reservation.”

Autumn pressed her lips together, trying to stop the tears burning her eyes. Once again, she was filled with shame. Blake hadn’t wanted to be with her.
No, that’s wrong.
He’d told her she needed to be protected, she just hadn’t listened. Her pride had been hurt—her
heart
had been hurt—and she hadn’t been able to stand the thought of being around him.

She took a breath. “When Blake went back to the reservation, he found something out about the death of the girl he’d been involved with,
Shian.”

Chogan’s
features froze, his whole body went rigid. “What?”

“I think you know, Chogan.” Autumn sighed. She was suddenly so tired at having to deal with all of this. A deep and impossible longing to go back to a time before Blake and Chogan had entered her life washed over her.

“He found out about the baby,” Chogan confirmed.

Autumn nodded. “He said he couldn’t carry on with a relationship with me when he was thinking about someone else.”

“But Shian’s death was years ago!”

She nodded. “That’s what I said. It seems finding out the truth has brought everything back to him, like it’s only just happened.”

Chogan’s shoulders dropped. “I guess that gives him another reason to hate me.”

He doesn’t hate you,
she wanted to say, but couldn’t, knowing she’d only be trying to save his feelings. Instead she said, “Why didn’t you tell him the truth all those years ago?”

He shook his head, looking down at the ground as he spoke. “It wasn’t that easy.
Shian’s family didn’t want everyone to know, saying they couldn’t stand the idea of people gossiping about her when she was gone and couldn’t stand up for herself. And then my uncle—Blake’s father—told me I needed to keep the news to myself for the time being. He didn’t know how Blake was going to react, and Blake was such a mess anyway, it seemed like a good idea. I was clueless about what was actually going through Blake’s head about me and Shian. The next thing I knew, he was confronting me about knowing my secret, so I figured he’d worked it out about the pregnancy. Then he threw the whole
me and Shian seeing each other behind his back
theory at me, and the very next day, he’d left and gone and joined the army.”

“Poor Blake,” she said. It was all so tragic, lives taken so young and others altered irreparably. “Poor
Shian.” She lifted her head to look at him. “Poor you.”

“Yeah, poor me,” he said, his tone bitter, sharpened with sarcasm. “The one everyone feels sorry for.”

She reached out to dab blood from just above his eyebrow, but his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. Their faces were only inches apart, staring into each other’s eyes, breathing the same air. His eyes appeared even darker in the poor light, like liquid pools of darkness she felt as though she could fall into.

He’s going to kiss me …

And she was going to let him.

It wasn’t a long, slow approach. Instead, his other hand reached around the back of her head, knotting in the hair at the nape, forcing her face closer to his. He paused for the briefest of moments, studying her eyes to gauge her reaction, to see if she was going to push him away. When she didn’t, his mouth pressed against hers, hard, fierce, urgent, a low moan coming from deep in his throat. And to her surprise, she found herself kissing him back, her hand placed on his naked chest, his skin still tacky with blood. She returned the ferocity of his passion, all of the pain and fear and hurt of the past twenty-four hours pouring out into this physical act.

Chapter Twenty-three

CHOGAN BROKE THE kiss, his heart hammering.

Did she realize the affect she was having on him? Her hand was pressed against his chest, right above his heart. Could she not feel how hard it was beating?

His wolf called to him, diverting his attention.
No, not now!
He wanted to lean back in, to resume kissing the girl of his dreams, but his wolf called again. He closed his eyes and concentrated, using his spirit guide to see outside of their prison cell, though at that moment, he didn’t want to be anywhere else. Just being this close to Autumn, with her skin touching his, was enough.

But his wolf insisted, calling to him like an alarm going off inside his head.

He blinked and looked through his spirit guide’s eyes. The view, blurry at first until he fully focused, was of trees, though there was movement all around them. They were outside, somewhere in the forest surrounding the lodge. What was the movement? Then he saw them, men all around, dressed in black with balaclavas and helmets protecting their heads and faces. They slipped around the tree trunks, creeping stealthily between them, running almost silently from one to the next. Ever moving forward. In their hands, held at their sides, were guns.

Chogan pulled himself back into the room with Autumn. “Oh, shit.”

She was staring at his face, her blue eyes wide. From her expression, he knew she understood he’d witnessed something outside of the cellar. “What’s wrong? What did you see?”

“Someone is coming.”

“Who? Help?” Her natural instinct was to focus on the positive, and he wished he could say something to continue her hope.

“I don’t think so. They look like military.”

“How far away are they?”

“Close.”
             

He knew they couldn’t be far. The connection he had with his wolf lessened the farther away the spirit went from him, and the images he was being sent now remained sharp and were growing sharper.

He exchanged a glance with Autumn and sensed her stiffen, breath held. They both glanced toward the low ceiling, waiting for what would happen next. Everything was out of their control. His wolf guide could do nothing in spirit form.

Within seconds came the bang of a door slamming open, and muffled shouts of alarm. And then they heard the pop, pop, pop of gunfire, followed by screams of pain. Autumn’s hand had moved from his chest to tighten on his forearm.

“What do they want?” she hissed at him.

He had a feeling he knew, and she was sitting by his side. He didn’t want to frighten her. “They’re probably just trying to break up a gathering of shifters. The
meeting must have been reported.” He kept his voice low. He covered her hand with his own and squeezed her long fingers, hoping to reassure her. “If we stay quiet, there’s no reason for them to even know we’re here.”

She pressed her forehead against his shoulder. “Oh God,” she whimpered in fear.

Chogan focused in on his wolf, prowling around the room above. Men in black, holding weapons, surrounded the group of shifters. A couple lay on the floor, injured—shot—and with a sinking sensation, he realized one was Enyeto. Tala was at their center, but something was wrong with her. Had she been shot too? No, it was something else, her body moving in strange ways, her face distorting before returning back to normal. She was still battling the shift she’d forced.

“Where is Doctor Autumn Anderson?” one of the men demanded.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” said Rhys, positioning himself protectively in front of Tala. Whatever Chogan thought of the tiger-shifter, he was at least grateful for him doing that.

The man talking lifted his pistol and fired. Rhys flew back, a circle of blood appearing across the top of his shoulder. “Jesus fucking Christ. You shot me, you son of a bitch.”

“Consider yourself lucky that it’s only a flesh wound. I’ll shoot someone else if you don’t tell me where Autumn Anderson is. We know you brought her here.”

He lifted his gun, this time pointed at Leah Phelps’ head. Someone screamed. “No! Wait! She’s in the storm cellar. Beneath the rug.”

Chogan drew back into the present, beside Autumn. “Get behind me,” he said, maneuvering himself so she was now between his back and the wall. “They’re coming.” 

Footsteps thumped above them until they came to a rest
right above their heads. More thumping followed, and then the metal hatch creaked as someone pulled on the ring which served as the handle. It was hard to lift, rusted after countless years of not being used, but then the hatch swung open, offering the extra light from the moon shining through the open door and the additional candles.

Heavy booted feet stomped d
own the steps, bringing one of the men, the leader, into view. The helmet over his head obscured his face. He held his weapon in both hands, pointing the barrel at them. “Autumn Anderson?” the man said. “You’re coming with me.”

Chogan pushed her f
arther behind him. “Says who?”

“
The United States Department of Defense. She is a threat to our nation and will be taken into custody until we feel she no longer poses a threat.”

“
You just shot innocent people. I’d say you’re more of the threat.”

He motioned with the weapon. “And don't think I won’
t shoot one more. Now get out of my way. Doctor Anderson, come over here.”

She moved
out from behind Chogan, but he stepped to the side to protect her once more. “Autumn, don't do this.”

“They’
ve got guns, Chogan. What choice do I have? I don't want any more people getting hurt because of me.”

“You should listen to her,” the man said. “
She seems to have more sense than you.”

Rage spilled from within Chogan. “
Who the hell are you to talk about sense? You’re the one who has gotten himself into a confined space with a shifter.” Chogan willed his wolf to him, but before he got the chance to start the shift, the man raised his weapon. Instead of shooting him—the space was too confined, perhaps, and he didn't want to blow his eardrums out—he lunged forward and cracked Chogan in the temple.

Pain flared in his brain, a lightning bolt, right before the lights cut out.

Chapter Twenty-four

THE BOY SAT on a park bench, a street light illuminating the top of his head which was bent over a tablet
computer, his too-long, dark hair falling into his eyes. He didn’t even look up as the big, black sedan pulled up at the curb alongside him, the headlight sweeping the sidewalk at his feet. Mia climbed out of the car and ran toward him, Peter and Blake not far behind her.

“Toby! I thought we told you to stay at home.”

He finally acknowledged their presence, tearing his eyes from his computer to lift his head. He didn’t even bother to argue his case, getting straight to the point. “A few hours ago, a whole heap of data started coming in. It was encrypted, but I managed to decipher it. I’m pretty sure I know what the figures are, but you take a look.” He thrust the tablet beneath Peter’s nose. Both Mia and Blake peered over his shoulder.

Peter frowned. “They appear to be a whole series of coordinates.”

“I agree,” said Blake. “I’ve seen similar on the front line when we were tracking an enemy’s location.”

“And this has to do with Autumn?” asked Mia. “Does that mean the government took her?”

Peter shook his head. “They might just be tracking the people who did.”

Her eyes lit up. “So we can find her? If you can work out the coordinates, won’t they take us right to her?”

Blake’s lips thinned. “Yes, but they might also take us straight to whoever is heading up Operation Pursuit now, and whoever took Autumn.”

“I’m not going to abandon her because you’re frightened!”

He glared at her. “I’m not frightened, I just understand how these people work. If they want Autumn, they’ll take her and they won’t go in unarmed. What I don’t understand is why they hadn’t already taken her by now. I’m guessing from the fact they’ve been tracking her that they know what she can do.”

Toby delved into the backpack which sat at his feet and pulled out a small keyboard. He slotted his tablet into the top of the keyboard and settled the device on his lap. Concentrating on the small screen, his fingers ran over the keys at lightning pace, pulling up page after page.

“I can copy and paste the coordinates into an app, which should produce a map of the route Autumn has taken.”

“Or
been
taken,” growled Blake.

Mia shot him a look. “We only need to know the last location. The place where she is now.”

“But knowing what route they took might help us figure out who took her,” said Peter.

She didn’t like him taking Blake’s side, though he’d been his friend a long time before they’d gotten together. She still couldn’t help feeling antagonistic toward Blake, holding him at least partially to blame for Autumn’s disappearance. Why hadn’t he and Autumn been together in the first place? If he’d been at her side, he would have been able to fight off whatever trouble had come her way.

Toby’s fingers continued to click on the keys, highlighting numbers and pasting them into different tables. Within a couple of minutes, he unlocked the tablet from the keyboard and held the screen up for them all to see. The app showed a map of Chicago, a red line running through it. The line headed northwest, vanishing off the screen, so he had to swipe the map to make it smaller.

“There,” he said, stabbing his index finger at the screen, to a spot on the outskirts, where the interstate didn’t reach, and the forests, parks and reserves encroached. “That’s where you’ll find your missing scientist.”

“It’s going to take a good couple of hours to get there,” said Peter.

Mia frowned and leaned closer. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

They all piled into Peter’s car, Mia with Toby in the back so Blake didn’t have to sit with his knees up around his ears. Toby sat, still fixated on his tablet, monitoring the government intranet traffic for any changes.

As they drove through the city, the riots and protests against shifters started back up.

“Were they waiting for night to fall before starting to fight again?” Mia asked in disbelief.

“Possibly,” said Blake. “Though I may have riled things back up again by my on-air challenge to Chogan.”

Peter gave a tut of disgust. “These people will use any excuse.”

The
y passed a small group of men standing over someone huddled on the ground. The men yelled and aimed kicks at the person’s torso as he used his arms to protect his face. A little farther down the street, a young couple stood in front of an independent electronics store. A metal chair sat at the couple’s feet—a strange item to be wheeling around, but then Mia saw the reason why. The man bent and lifted the chair, swinging it and letting go so it flew into the big shop window. The glass exploded in a shower and the couple ran toward the gap, stepping through and into the store. Alarms sounded everywhere, like howler monkeys in a jungle.

Mia stared as they passed. “Shouldn’t we do something?”
she said in alarm.

“Like what?”
said Blake, twisting in his seat to face her. “We’d only get ourselves killed, and we can’t handle the whole city.”

“
Where are the police? Surely they should be handling all of this.”

“They can’t cope,” said Peter.
“We saw the clash between the protestors and the police yesterday and they were overwhelmed. I guess they’re hoping things will just lose momentum.”

“
So they're letting us go to the dogs?” She realized what she'd said and her face colored. “I mean, they've given up?”

“I expect marti
al law will come into effect soon,” said Blake. “They might even bring in a curfew, not that this lot will pay any attention to it.”

“I think there’s more to it,”
said Peter, concentrating on the road. “If the government knows what’s going on, and I’m sure they do, they could be using this as a distraction.”

Silence fell as they mulled over the possibilities.

They continued to drive through the city, leaving the tall skyscrapers of downtown behind, moving through the suburbs until the houses grew smaller and sparser, giving way to fields dotted by the occasional farm or big mansion. Eventually, those, too, vanished. Mia willed away the time, peering at Toby’s computer, trying to read his face for any signs of change. The boy started off giving her sympathetic glances and small shakes of his head, but soon her attention must have become irritating for he began to roll his eyes, huffing out sighs of annoyance and holding his tablet closer to his chest.

“We’re almost there,” he said, sitting forward in anticipation.

Peter pulled up on the side of a narrow dirt track. “Looks like this is as far as we can go by car,” he said. Ahead, the road vanished into a thicket of tree trunks. He twisted around and looked between Mia and Toby in the back seat. “You should both wait here.”

“No way!”
declared Toby.

Mia felt the same way. “I find people for a living. I’
m not going to hide out in the car while you two save the day.”

“This isn't a game,”
said Blake. “These people are dangerous, whoever they are.”

“You should have thought of that before you abandoned Autumn to go off and do your own thing,” she snapped.

“And I'm a shifter, just like you,” said Toby, his eyes narrowed. He flipped a lock of dark hair out of his face. “And what if they move with Autumn again? You won't even know.”

Tension simmered between them all.

Blake sighed. “Let them come.”

“Okay, fine,” said Pet
er, his shoulders relaxing.

Mia bit down on her response to tell the men that it wasn’t their place to
let
her come, she was coming regardless. Starting a fight with them wasn’t going to help Autumn.

They climbed from the car and ran through the forest
, staying close together. No one spoke, the sounds of the forest and their footsteps surrounding them. Overlaying the top of the crunch of dried leaves and heavy footfall, Mia’s heart pounded hard in her ears. She wondered at what point they would come across the people who’d taken Autumn. There was no denying she was scared, but she tried to draw courage from the men on either side of her, while wanting to appear strong for Toby. He might be a shifter, but he was still just a kid, and he’d been through more in the last week than most teenagers would their whole lives.

Mia wondered if the shifters were using their spirit guides to see ahead
, to try and figure out what was going on. When Peter lifted a hand to stop them, and they all fell still—even though she had neither seen nor heard anything other than the normal sounds of the forest, their feet pounding against the ground, and their breathing—she knew he had.

What spirit guide does Toby have?
she wondered, not for the first time. So far, he’d not mentioned his guide, and for some reason, it seemed rude to ask.

“
What is it?” she asked, “What’s happened?”

Both Peter and Blake had identical expressions on their faces,
their eyebrows drawn down, lips pressed. Her stomach churned and she took a deep, shuddery breath.

Peter shook his head. “It’s not good.”

Mia turned to Blake and her heart ran cold. Her emotions reflected in the big man’s face, a crumbling of the soul, a heart snapping like brittle bone.
She’s dead,
she thought.
Oh, God. Autumn's dead.
They were too late.

But Peter must have read her though
ts and he quickly backtracked. “Oh, no. Autumn's not there.”

“Thank goodness,”
she breathed, though she wasn’t sure how happy she should be. After all, just because she wasn’t there didn't mean she was safe.

Blake must have
seen something else, his eyes suddenly widened. “Tala!” he yelled and broke into a run.

Mia stared at Peter. “
Tala? Who the hell is Tala?”

Peter shook his head, his expression grim. “His sister.”

“What?” She could barely believe what she was hearing, her mind clouded in confusion. “What the hell is his sister doing here?”

“I don’t know, and that’s not all. People are hurt—possibly more than hurt.” He snatched up her hand and began to drag her along. Toby had already taken off, chasing after Blake. Their footsteps took them closer to where the trees parted, revealing an old lodge which the forest had grown around, as if trying to reclaim it for its own. Mia didn’t need to have supernatural hearing to decipher the cries of help emitting from the wide open door.