I touched his face. “Thank you for worrying about me, but I don’t think making an omelet will be too strenuous.”
He helped me cook breakfast, even though I didn’t need it. I’d never liked my parents’ hovering, but from Zack, it was nice.
† † †
Zack parked and walked around the car to my side, but instead of walking me to class, he hesitated. “Autumn.”
“Yes?” My fingers automatically reached for my scarf to make sure it lay securely around my neck to conceal my scar.
“It’s been stressful, worrying about Charles and Renzo. Between them and dealing with the fake breakup and guys trying to hook up with you, I’ve been going crazy. But that’s over now and the urge to pulverize Cameron has passed.” He took a deep breath. “My head is clear again. I’m ready to talk about it.”
“Right here? Now?”
“Yeah. We’re a little early.” He glanced around the school lot before focusing on me again. “The reason I got so upset was because we were supposed to be broken up. See, in the eyes of everyone else, you were no longer my girlfriend. So that left you open to creeps like Greg and also decent guys like Cameron. A guy who’d be better for you than a werewolf.”
“Cameron is not better for me. How can you say that?” I cupped his face and waited for him to meet my gaze. “I don’t feel the same way about him. It’s you I want.”
“But that’s not what I was thinking at the time. The only thing going through my head was that you were on the market and a big free-for-all for every guy looking for action. I’d watch these guys leer like you had a big bull’s-eye painted on you. And the whole time, I wanted to tell them you belonged to me. Me. Instead, I had to watch them slobber over you. And when you told me Cameron kissed you, I almost lost my mind. Because there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.”
“I’m sorry.” I brushed my lips against his, secretly taking pleasure in knowing that he’d been just as miserable as me during our pretend break-up.
“After you told me that he’d kissed you, I kept wondering if you liked it. I obsessed on it.”
Uh-oh. Zack wasn’t actually asking me to respond, but I could tell he expected me to. I didn’t want to tell him that it wasn’t awful. But I needed to tell the truth. I didn’t want any more lies mucking up my life. I licked my lips, nervous at the myriad of possible reactions Zack might have. “Well, kissing Cameron…could never compare to kissing you.”
Zack’s scowl softened.
“How was it making out with Gina?” I asked.
He grimaced. “Weird. The whole time, all I could think about was you. I didn’t throw her out, because I didn’t want to let you down and I’d gone too far to give up. It never occurred to me you’d be upset since you knew it was fake. Autumn, you need to believe me that I didn’t want to be with her — for the same reason I stopped seeing her before you and I ever double-dated with Trevor and Maya.”
“And what reason was that?”
“I didn’t feel right about being with one girl when I was thinking of another,” Zack said.
I assumed that I was the girl now, but who was it before he really knew me? “Thinking of who?”
He gave me a lopsided smile, a dimple appearing on his left cheek. “Since that first day you bumped into me, you’re the only girl spending time in my head.”
I felt my eyebrows scrunch together. “But you couldn’t stand me.”
“True. So imagine how frustrating that was for me when you were the only thing on my mind.”
I blinked. What a confession.
He frowned. “Should I not have shared that?”
In answer, I flung my arms around his neck, pushing him against the car. He bounced off the fender laughing.
“I wish I’d known all that,” I said. “It would have saved me so much angst. And I’m sorry about letting Cameron kiss me. I wasn’t thinking. I should’ve expected it. Yet when it happened I was so completely stunned, I couldn’t react properly during or after.”
“Which is why from now on, you’ll never speak to another guy ever again.” A corner of his mouth twitched. He grabbed me by my hips and lifted me to the hood of the car.
“Just like you’ll never speak to any other girl ever again.” I raised one brow.
“None that count anyway.” He grinned, tucked my calves behind his thighs and brought his palms down so they lay against the hood on either side of me. “I have to make sure you can’t get away.”
“Hmm. This from the guy who can’t even say out loud how he feels about me.”
“Actions speak louder than words.” He dropped a kiss on my shoulder. “Besides, saying that would be like lying.”
“What?” I tried to squirm away.
“If I put my feelings for you into words.” His lips curved up as he held my hips, which kept my butt firmly planted on the hood. “It’s just… it’d be an understatement.”
I stopped struggling. “Because you more than like me?”
“Maybe.” Zack’s mouth curved up on one side.
Oh, why wouldn’t he just say it? But did it really matter? I knew how he felt. And he knew I knew. Verbalizing it was just a formality.
Finally, we were free to be together, at least for now, and I wanted to enjoy it — out in the open, for all the world to see.
“Shut up and kiss me,” I said.
“I can do that.” Gripping my hips, he scooted me closer and wedged himself between my thighs. His lips touched mine and heat pooled in my belly. Then he whispered against my lips, “This is where I want to be. Right here. With you.”
He closed the distance again and kissed me long and slow, as though I belonged to him.
And I did.
THE END
DEAD WOLF WALKING
Shapes of Autumn, book three
VERONICA BLADE
SUMMARY
When a tragic death triggers Autumn and Zack’s worst fear—pursuit by dangerous werewolves—they escape to a safe house. But within the walls of the refuge, an even greater menace looms. Now under the reluctant protection of a vampire king, Autumn and Zack are targeted by a palace full of vamps out for revenge against vampire-killing werewolves.
After the vampire king discovers a rebel plot to overthrow him, Zack and Autumn are forced to remain in the palace as bait to draw out the enemy. But can the king shield them from so many who want them dead? They have only days to root out the traitors before Autumn’s parents arrive to claim her—not to mention it’s illegal to mix species—which gives them little hope of a future together. But with werewolves hunting them and vampire rebels out for their blood, Zack and Autumn need each other more than ever. Each secretly dreams of finding a way to be together—if they can stay alive.
Chapter One
Autumn
With our legs tangled together in the sheets, Zack pressed so close to me, a gnat couldn’t slip between us. His hips lay flush against mine, his nearly two hundred pounds of solid muscle weighing me down against the mattress like a heavenly anchor.
His hand swept slowly along my side, inching my tank top up, his hot mouth trailing kisses over my shoulder and setting my skin ablaze. My head angled to the side and my lungs quivered on a soft, lusty sigh as his lips burned a path over my shoulder and up my neck.
As much as I would’ve loved to drag Zack to my empty house two blocks away and be alone with him, we both knew where that could lead. Werewolves didn’t associate in any way with shape-shifters. As if being able to morph into a multitude of forms instead of just one made us inferior. Not only was it against werewolf law for Zack to treat me as an equal in any way, but mixing species—having sex—was believed to make both sides weaker.
I suspected that to be a myth though. But what if I was wrong? Neither of us could afford to lose our powers if we were going to be on the run soon and fighting for our lives. No matter how much we both wanted to abandon all logic and reason, we refused to allow our hormones to take over.
But we could reap every
last ounce of pleasure from the things we could still do.
Reduced to ragged breaths, I arched up, my mouth capturing his. He groaned into my mouth and I drank him in, not sure how much more I could take without ripping his clothes off. I stifled the urge to moan. Sure, everyone in his house—his mom, his aunt Cara and uncle Mac, his cousin Trevor, and probably Trevor’s younger brothers—knew I snuck into Zack’s room most nights. We weren’t usually doing much more than sleeping, but since they all assumed more, the whole situation was embarrassing enough. So I opted to pretend everyone was oblivious to my presence.
Zack’s arms straightened and he lifted off me, his arms flexing as they took the bulk of his weight. He cocked his head.
“Everything okay?” I asked, running my fingers through his dark tousled hair.
He rolled off me, his feet landing on the floor. “What’s that noise?”
With my shape-shifter perceptions, I could hear as well as Zack or any other werewolf. I tensed, alert for the slightest sound. There it was again, coughing from somewhere in the house. Or choking. Zack rocketed off the bed, snatched a T-shirt off the chair, and threw it on as he sprinted out of the room so fast I forgot to pretend not to be there.
I heard the sound again, like someone gasping for air, and leaped off Zack’s bed to navigate the near-black hallway on my way to his mom’s room. In the dim lighting from the bedside lamp, Zack leaned over Favianne, her long, dark brown hair partially obscuring her too-pale olive skin.
“Mom, wake up!” Zack held her by the shoulders. “Mom! Mom! Wake up,” he demanded, his voice breaking.
Struggling for oxygen hadn’t woken her and she wasn’t responding to Zack’s jostling. That had to be bad. My heart pounded as I skirted to the other side of the bed to lay my ear against Favianne’s chest. Her pulse seemed agonizingly slow and her lungs sounded like sandpaper scraping.
“We need to get her to a hospital,” I said, ready to dart back into Zack’s room for my cell.
He grabbed her phone on the nightstand and dialed 9-1-1. Moments later, he’d given the operator all the info and hit the end button. “I’ve never seen her this way,” he said. “A couple of months ago when we took her to the hospital for pneumonia, she was at least conscious.”
I didn’t want to think about what her lack of response might mean. I chewed my lip, my throat swelling. If we lost Favianne because Zack and I hadn’t acted fast enough, I’d never forgive myself. “Wouldn’t it be quicker to load her up and drive her there ourselves?”
“Your car is at your house and I’m afraid my Jeep will be too bumpy.” Zack gathered her frail body into his arms, and I skirted around him. He was already tall, practically towering over my five-eight. He dwarfed his mother even more. She had lost so much weight since we graduated high school only a few weeks ago. I couldn’t imagine her having it in her to go another day. Tears wet my lashes as I held the front door open for Zack.
His aunt Cara burst into the living room, cinching her bathrobe closed. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where we were taking her sister. “It’s bad, isn’t it?” she asked, using the back of her hand to brush away dark wisps of hair from her forehead.
“I don’t know.” But I did know, and my pulse hammered at my temple.
In the distance, red and white lights flashed against the night sky as an ambulance turned the corner and came into view. I jogged to the curb and stood beside Zack an instant before the ambulance pulled to a stop. Two paramedics gingerly transferred Favianne to a gurney. With his arms free of his mother, Zack slumped, a deep line etched between his brows.
The EMTs secured Favianne inside the ambulance, then closed the doors. The garage opened behind us as Cara bustled down the porch stairs and jingled her keys. Zack’s shoes dangled from two fingers of her other hand. “We can follow them in my car. Jump in.”
I touched his hand, my teeth digging into my bottom lip to keep it from trembling. “I need to stop at my house. I’ll get the Mustang and see you there as soon as I can.”
Zack dropped a peck on my cheek, then rushed up the driveway and into Cara’s car. I waved to him before doubling back inside to his room. Halfway down the hallway, I froze. This was it. I knew it in my gut. For weeks I’d been dreading this moment when Favianne would leave us. Zack had been expecting it for years. No one had thought she would live this long, but she’d surpassed everyone’s expectations.
At least I’d had several months to fall in love with her sweet smiles, subtle humor, and fierce love for Zack. That was about to end. Deep down, Zack knew it too. And he wouldn’t want to waste one minute of his last moments with her. No way would he leave the hospital anytime soon.
Hustling into his closet, I jumped high enough for my hands to touch the top shelf and reach his duffel bag. My gaze caught on the black box his mom had given him a couple of months ago and insisted he take. It contained documents, bank records, a passport, and everything he needed to access the money his father had left him.
If Favianne did indeed die, Zack would have to get as far away from Los Angeles as possible or else Renzo Soriano would very likely try to escort him to the werewolf king where he’d serve the crown or be assigned to a pack—which Zack had already declared to me he would never do.
Unless Renzo felt no loyalty to the werewolf king. In that case, we had nothing to worry about. But I couldn’t be sure either way. Renzo had mysteriously shown up at the coffee shop weeks ago and he’d never said much about anything other than he was “on vacation.” Yet he always seemed to be around, and I couldn’t figure out what he wanted.
We couldn’t take the chance that he was setting us up. Zack’s only choice was to run and his best chance of escaping Renzo—and every other werewolf scout—would be to leave from the hospital without returning home.
From the moment Zack and I had gotten together, we’d known our relationship was doomed. Traveling together and breaking werewolf law by associating in any way other than master and slave would attract attention and paint a big, fat target on our backs. We’d already agreed that when Zack left, I’d stay. We vowed to enjoy each other for however long we had and not talk about the end.
But Renzo knew I was a shape-shifter and he barely tolerated me as it was. He’d been hostile toward me from the beginning and I never knew why, other than the obvious—he was a werewolf naturally predisposed to not liking my kind. What if, once Zack left, Renzo couldn’t find a reason to let me live? No way could I stay behind, alone. I’d have to gather my things and be ready to meet up with my shape-shifter parents.
For the past few weeks, Zack had been sneaking clothes to me in preparation for his imminent escape and I’d been hiding them in my room. But if Zack was leaving for good, he’d need more. I loaded the black box into the duffel bag and then located some of his favorite jeans and T-shirts, boxers, socks, his laptop, a razor, his toothbrush, and black boots.
After zipping up the bag, I swung it over my shoulder and padded into the dim hallway.
“Hey.” Zack’s uncle, Mac, threaded his fingers through his thinning red hair. “What’s with the big bag?”
I forced my hands still, battling the adrenaline racing through my veins. Mac didn’t need to know I was slightly panicked over my and Zack’s inevitable need to flee. “Zack won’t want to leave Favianne’s side. He’ll need a change of clothes, his phone, laptop. Stuff like that.”
He nodded, his expression grave. “I’ll be taking off for the hospital as soon as the boys are ready. If there’s any news before I get there, would you ask Cara to call me?”
“Sure. But I need to stop at home first. You’ll probably beat me there.” I offered a small smile before heading out the door.
Despite the weight of Zack’s duffel bag, I made good time down the two blocks to my house. Thankfully, I’d backed the Mustang into the driveway earlier and pulled it alongside the neighbor’s fence. Much easier to get something through the window and into the trunk without being spotted. I squeezed by the side of
the house to the rear of my car, which was obscured by bushes, and tossed his bag in the trunk of my car, then hurried inside to shower.
Knowing I’d be at a hospital for a while, then possibly traveling to who knew where, I gathered my now-shoulder-length hair into a low ponytail. Good thing I’d cut off my long tresses a few weeks ago. I’d had a feeling I’d need a simple hairstyle the next few months. Or years.
As I sped through my house a few short minutes later spotting things I needed, an ache mounted in my chest. An ache I didn’t think would go away anytime soon.
Even if I got to the hospital in time, my gut told me we were losing her. She probably wasn’t going to wake up and it was too late to say good-bye. And I wasn’t at the hospital to comfort Zack. But the chance was too great that he and I couldn’t return to our houses. We’d very likely be leaving our home, our friends, for parts unknown. I had to be ready, because I had no idea how many werewolves were out there and how many of them the king would have hunting Zack.
Chapter Two
Zack
I jogged after the paramedics pushing the gurney through the emergency entrance of the hospital. They wheeled my mom toward another set of double doors and as they swung open in welcome, a woman in scrubs strode toward me, a stethoscope hanging from her neck. I attempted to follow my mother, but the woman stood in my path and blocked my way. I started forward to go around her, and she thrust out an arm, stopping me. “Personnel only beyond this point,” she said.
Antiseptic and chemicals stung my nose as I peered over her shoulder, watching the gurney disappear around the corner. “I’m family.”
“I’m sorry. Personnel only.” She shook her head.
“She’s going to be okay, right?” I coached myself not to shove the woman aside and tear through the corridor. But if my mom had a chance of being saved, I needed to allow the doctors to do their job. I backed off, putting more distance between my mother and myself.
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