His shoulders relaxed.
She kicked off her shoes and tugged her jacket from her shoulders, and slipped onto the bed beside him. Her arms snaked around his waist and she fitted herself into the curve of his body, her face pressed against the space between his shoulder blades. The heat of his body burned against her lips, the scent of him so familiar, the smoothness of his skin making her want to bury herself in him and forget everything else that was happening.
Blake tensed and then his body relaxed. His hand reached down to cover hers, their fingers entwining.
Autumn squeezed her eyes shut and suppressed a sob that threatened to burst from her mouth. She didn’t know if she wanted to cry from happiness or grief.
Chapter Nineteen
SHE WOKE THE next morning knowing she had to ready everyone who would continue with them to Chicago. Anyone vulnerable, she planned on leaving here. That included anyone still fully human, the three people with paranormal abilities they’d released from the facility, Tala and Romero, Lakota, and of course, Blake. She didn’t think Wenona would mind them taking up a few of her rooms for a little longer. She just hoped they’d make it back to them in one piece.
She kissed Blake. “I have to go and get everyone organized.”
He frowned. “You’re leaving?”
“I have to. We need to end this thing once and for all.”
His dark eyes studied her face. “How are you going to beat the military, Autumn? How are you going to stop the government from simply bringing in more men, and helicopters and weapons?”
“By getting the inhabitants of Chicago behind us. A small department of the government might want shifters for weapons, but if the people of America see that we’re not their enemy, the government will have no choice but to end their attack on shifters.”
“And how are you going to get the people behind you?”
“I think a lot of them already are, they just haven’t had a way to express it yet.”
“And you’re going to give them a way?”
“I’m going to give them a reason to stand up for themselves, for their loved ones, for us.”
“The power of the people versus the brute strength of the United States military. I’ve got to tell you, Autumn, I’m worried.”
She gave a grim smile. “Yeah, so am I.”
His strong arms wrapped around her and she pressed her cheek against his bare chest. She experienced an ache of longing, wishing she could twist in his arms and let him consume her, claim her body, meld them together. She so badly wanted their reunion to be physical as well as emotional, but she knew she couldn’t push him on that. It was too soon.
Movement was stirring both in the rest of the house, and in the surrounding grounds. Voices called to one another, engines of bikes and cars were started, though Autumn assumed it was for the heat rather than anyone actually being on the move yet. The nights were growing colder as each one passed. Another few weeks, and they would be expecting the first snow.
Reluctantly, she untangled herself from Blake’s arms and pulled her clothes back on. She turned back to him, and reached out and touched his cheek. “I’ll send Chogan and Peter in to bring you out into the parlor.”
He nodded.
She headed out to the kitchen to find Wenona brewing coffee and making rounds of toast. Gratefully, she accepted a cup. “You’re too good to us,” she told the other woman.
“Rubbish. I like having people around for a change.”
Autumn glanced out of the window at the multitude of people and vehicles. “Even this many people?”
Wenona laughed. “Maybe there are a few too many. I’m not sure my food stocks would last more than another day or two.”
“I’ll make sure someone goes out to replace them for you.”
Chogan appeared, Madison and Billy close behind. Autumn tried not to allow the new woman’s constant proximity to Chogan bother her.
“Chogan, would you go and help Blake out here, please? He shouldn’t be hidden away in a bedroom. I want him to be involved with what is going on.”
Chogan nodded, his long hair falling around his shoulders. “Sure thing, Autumn. How is he?”
She smiled. “Better—mentally, I mean. Physically, he’s still the same.”
A number of the others made an appearance, rubbing sleep from their eyes, lured in by the scent of coffee. Tocho gave his aunt a hug, and bit into a slice of toast.
Autumn spotted Romero nursing a cup of coffee and made her way over to him. He lifted his head as she approached.
“Hey,” she said. “How are you feeling?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know how you want me to answer that question. I’m now the thing I’d been taught to hate.”
“I hope you understand that we were never the ones to hate.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I get it. Vivian was the one in the wrong this whole time. She’s just been using the rest of us.”
“Do you know where Vivian may have gone once she realized the facility was under attack? People said she was there when we hit, so she must have escaped through an exit we didn’t know about.”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t exactly paying much attention to what was going on at the time. I had my own problems.”
Autumn wished Calvin Thorne was still alive. A stab of pain twisted in her gut. She hated that Thorne was dead under her watch. Bizarrely, she missed his no-nonsense attitude, and the solid, if slightly menacing presence at her side. It felt as though too many of the men who had tried to protect her had ended up either hurt or dead. She prayed there would be no more casualties in her future, though considering the task they were about to take on, she feared her prayers would be ignored.
She remembered someone else had an insight into the facility. “David?” she asked Peter’s friend, interrupting a conversation he was having with a couple of shifters from the reservation. “Do you know where Vivian Winters might have gone?”
He pressed his lips together and then said, “The only place in Chicago is the facility where this whole thing started.”
The place Autumn had first met Blake.
“Is it likely she’d go back there?”
“I can’t think of anywhere else she’d be able to manage things from. If you took out all the electronics at the other facility, the first thing she’d want to do is start up communications again. Without that, she’s just a voice yelling into space.”
“Okay. We head there then.”
She moved her attention onto who would stay and who would go with her. Her eyes alighted upon her best friend, drinking coffee and continuing to catch up with her brother.
“Mia, I think you should stay with Marcus and the others.”
Mia turned to her, frowning. “What? No way. I’m not being separated from Peter, or Marcus again. We all stick together.”
“We can’t all stick together. Some people won’t be prepared for what we’re about to go into. Think of Daisy. And what about Madison and Billy? People here need you.”
She folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes. “You can’t turn me into everyone’s babysitter, Autumn,” she hissed. “That’s not fair.”
“You might get hurt if you come with us.”
“So what? I asked you to change me into a shifter, and you refused. Now you’re making me stay here while you fight?”
Marcus spoke up. “You might want us to come with you, Autumn. We weren’t kept in that place for no reason. We have our strengths.”
Interest sparked within her. “Of course you do. And ... what are they exactly?”
“Daisy is an empath. She can make people feel things they don’t want to.”
Autumn looked curiously at the silent girl. She didn’t look like she could tie her own shoelaces, never mind affect people in such a way. But Marcus was right. She wouldn’t have been in the facility without good reason.
“And what about you, Angie?” she asked the other woman they’d released.
&
nbsp; Her face twisted. “You really don’t want to know.”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.”
“I have the sight of death.”
“The what?”
“I can predict when people are about to die. It’s as if they get a kind of black aura. I can see death settling over them before it’s even happened.”
“Jesus.” Autumn tried to figure out how such a gift—or curse—would be useful. Would she really want to know if she, or anyone she loved, was about to die? But perhaps if they’d had Angie with them before, she’d have kept Thorne out of harm’s way. But, she also realized, she would have done nothing to help Blake because he hadn’t died in the end. Despite what Blake was going through, he was very much alive.
Angie shrugged. “I know. It’s not the most glamorous thing in the world. You can imagine how people felt about me when I was a child and kept predicting that old Auntie Nora was going to die the next day. Everyone was frightened of me, even my mother. They all distanced themselves from me, terrified I’d predict their death next.”
“I’m sorry,” said Autumn.
“Don’t be. You didn’t do anything.”
Autumn turned to Marcus. “Back at the facility, you said you were telekinetic.”
He nodded. “That’s right. The drugs they gave us to suppress our abilities are starting to wear off now. I don’t know about the others,” he glanced to Daisy and Angie, “but I can feel my abilities returning.”
The girl and woman both nodded in agreement. With a chill, Autumn wondered if Angie could see anyone who was about to die yet.
“I have to admit that your abilities may come in handy.”
Mia stepped forward. “If they go, I go.”
Autumn turned to Angie. “Can you see anything about Mia?”
Angie pursed her lips, and shook her head. “No, but it’s only been twenty-four hours since those bastards last dosed us. I can’t tell for sure if I’m working to the best of my ability.”
Autumn sighed. She guessed she would get no guarantees. “Okay, so you guys can come. Tala, Romero, Lakota … you all stay here with Blake.”
“No way,” said Tala, and Autumn sighed. She felt like just telling them all to do whatever the hell they wanted. No one was listening to her anyway.
“You don’t have experience shifting yet,” she told Tala. “You’ll be a hazard for us.”
“You’ve just turned loads of new shifters. How am I more of a hazard than they are?”
She had a point.
“I’ll stay here with Wenona and Blake,” said Lakota.
She smiled, relieved someone agreed with her. “Thank you, Lakota. Some of the others will be staying too, such as Madison and Billy. Plus any of the non-shifters from the reservation, of course.”
How many shifters did they have? Those she’d turned, together with ones from the reservation, and some who had joined their convoy on the way—at least two hundred. Would that be enough to take on the city? The military would be unorganized right now, with Vivian’s communication center taken out. Plus now they had an empath, a telekinetic, and a death shadow seer on their side.
Autumn gave her head a slight shake, almost unable to believe she was thinking such things. If someone had said it to her a couple of weeks ago, she’d have laughed in their face and placed a call to the men in white coats.
Chogan had carried in Blake and placed him on the couch. He watched the scene with a pale face and unreadable features. She glanced over to him, caught his eye and gave him a small smile. How hard this must be for him? The man who had been in control, in charge of everything, now forced to sit back and watch.
“What do you think, Blake?” she asked, turning to him. “You worked in the facility where Vivian might have gone. Do you have anything to add that could help us?”
He shook his head and glanced away. “Peter worked there, too. I’m sure he can tell you anything you need to know.”
She tried not to feel rebuked by his response. “Okay. Peter, what do you think?”
Peter gave his old friend a longing look she recognized only too well. Like her, he wanted Blake to get involved. Even if he couldn’t be there physically, he could use his intellect to help them. But Blake had always been about the brawn. He was a physical being, and having half his body taken away from him was about the hardest blow he could suffer.
“They’ll be on a skeleton staff,” he said. “I’m sure this Ms. Winters will have a couple of men with her, but for the most part there will only be the basic operatives at the facility. But, Autumn, you need to figure out what your priority is. Is it bringing the people of Chicago onto our side, or is it taking down Vivian Winters? Because you won’t be able to do both at the same time.”
“Won’t I?” she said, sudden anger surging inside her. If it wasn’t for Vivian, Blake would be walking right now. Thorne would be alive. She wouldn’t have suffered as she had at the other woman’s hands.
“The general public probably won’t even know who Vivian Winters is. The people they’ll know will be the military men going from house to house, tearing their loved ones away from their arms. Yes, shifters have been portrayed as monsters, but we need to make people see the real monsters are the men with guns.”
“You’re right.”
She thought for a moment. “So we want to spread out, and cover as much of the city as we can. Help those who need help, but remember that we need to be the good guys. Don’t kill unless you absolutely have no choice, but at the same time, remember that the men you are up against are armed.”
Someone called out to her, “What about the inhabitants of Chicago? Half of them will be armed, too!”
A nervous laugh rose up from the group.
“That’s why you need to not be fearful to the people. Make sure they know you are on their side.”
“That’s easier said than done when they’re seeing a black bear lumbering toward their front door,” another voice called out.
They had a point. “I want each group of shifters to have someone with them who is either not a shifter, or who agrees not to shift unless absolutely necessary. That person can act as a mediator between the shifters and the people.”
The shifters had their natural groups, their families and friends, the people they’d travelled with. Autumn wouldn’t need to divide them into teams, they would do that for themselves, and it was in their nature to protect the ones they loved.
“Very well,” she said. “We protect the citizens, and fight the soldiers, and then get the people behind us. That’s the plan.”
It seemed so simple, and yet monstrously huge, all at the same time.
“Let’s move out.”
The shifters spoke among themselves, packing up and loading their vehicles. Autumn turned to Blake. Though Chogan and Peter had been lurking nearby, both men moved away to give them some privacy.
She crouched beside the couch and reached out to take his hand.
He shook his head. “I hate that you’re going without me.”
“Would you rather I didn’t go?”
“Part of me does, but I know you’d never let me tell you what to do. And anyway, it isn’t that I don’t want you to go. I know you’re doing the right thing. It’s more that I hate that I’m not coming with you.” He growled in frustration and snatched his hand away, slamming his balled fists down on his legs. “I hate this! I’m useless.”
She grabbed at his hand again. “Stop it. No, you’re not. Do you think everyone who can no longer walk is useless? People live full lives despite not being able to walk. I will help put an end to this war, and then you and I will live out our lives together, whether you can walk or not.” She stared at him fiercely. “Got it?”
A hint of a smile touched his lips. “I think it was your stubbornness I first fell in love with.”
“Yeah, well, you give as good as you get.”
Outside, horns started blaring.
“I think everyone is ready to go.”
“You have to come back to me, Autumn,” he said, staring into her eyes. “If you don’t come back, I’ll have nothing else to live for.”
She believed every word he said. Her life meant his as well.
She nodded. “I’ll come back.”
One final kiss said goodbye, and she forced herself to step away from him. Tears filled her eyes. She prayed she would come back, or that if she didn’t, he’d find the strength to carry on.
“I love you,” she managed, as Chogan led her away.
His words followed her. “I love you, too.”
Chapter Twenty
THEY WERE BACK on the road again.
Chogan drove, while Daisy and Angie sat in the back. Autumn sat in the passenger seat staring out of the window as the miles flew by. She needed to concentrate on the overwhelming task ahead, but her mind stayed with Blake. She would have done anything, given anything, to make him well again. If she could sacrifice her own legs for him, she would have done so. Her heart felt hollow, as if she’d left the part that made the organ substantial—the blood and valves—behind. She fought against tears, not wanting to reveal her weakness, even though her traveling companions would understand.
A tap on the shoulder made Autumn twist in her seat, blinking back the tears. She cleared her throat and said, “Everything okay?”
Daisy nodded. She pointed to Autumn and ran a finger down her cheek.
Autumn forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m sad. It’s okay. I left someone behind who I love.”
Daisy smiled and reached both hands out, awkwardly reaching around the headrest of Autumn’s seat to place both palms against the sides of her face. Autumn’s first instinct was to jerk back, but a warmth emanated from the girl’s hands and stopped her from doing so, as did the serene expression on her face. She smiled at Autumn, peaceful, and the heat in her palms increased.
Autumn's War (The Spirit Shifters Book 4) Page 14
