Autumn's Blood: The Spirit Shifters, Book One

by Marissa Farrar

  Chogan spoke up. “You could make us more prevalent than human kind.”

  “And why would I want to do that?”

  “Because you’re more one of us than you are one of them.”

  She got to her feet. “I don’t want to be on any sides!”

  Blake reached out and took hold of her hand, pulling her back down beside him, centering her. “It’s okay. There aren’t human and shifter sides; that’s just Chogan’s way of thinking.” He glared at his cousin.

  Chogan lifted his hands in defense. “It isn’t just my way of thinking, there are plenty of others. Think how people are going to treat her when news gets out about what she’s able to do. Plenty of people will want her to try and change them.”

  “And plenty of others will want her dead because of it. Most of society views us as something out of horror story—werewolves, beasts, shape-shifters. That Autumn has the ability to create more of us will only make people want to get rid of her.”

  “Err … neither of you are making me feel any better here,” she said.

  Chogan ignored her. “What about your sister, Cuz? How do you think she’s going to react?”

  The spirits never blessed Tala with the ability to shift, even though the concentration of shifters on the reservation was high compared to the rest of society. Her lack of abilities had eaten into her as a teenager. He’d hoped she’d come to terms with it, but he imagined if she found out about Autumn’s ability she would probably be one of the first in line demanding to be turned by Autumn’s blood.

  Chapter Seventeen

  LAKOTA WOLFCOLLAR ROSE to his feet. “Speaking of your sister, I think now is a reasonable enough hour to go and let her know you’re home. She deserves to find out direct from us, not from word getting around town. You know what the reservation’s grapevine can be like.”

  Blake gave a grim smile. “Yes, I know.”

  “Afterward, you can rest. I’m sure you must all be exhausted.”

  At his words, Autumn gave a wide yawn. Blake had been aware that she’d slept part of the way here, her soft body embedded against his fur and muscle, but the brief rest clearly hadn’t been enough to stave off her tiredness.

  “Where is Tala living now?” Blake asked.

  “Not far,” said Chogan. “Only a couple of blocks over.”

  “So you see her often?” He directed the question to both his father and cousin, but Chogan was the one to answer.

  “Yes, practically every day.”

  His heart tightened in his chest. “I don’t know how she’s going to react to me being back.”

  Chogan chuckled. “I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

  They got to their feet. His father gave Blake another appraisal, his eyebrows raised. “On second thought, I think you should change first.”

  He glanced down at the too-small clothing and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “I kept all your old clothes. Your room is the same as you left it.”

  He looked to Autumn to make sure she was all right with being left alone for a few minutes. She reached out and squeezed his hand, giving him a nod and smile to tell him she was fine.

  Blake headed down the hallway, back to the bedroom where he used to sleep as a boy. He’d left at the age of nineteen, too young to bother to move to another house in town. The first time he’d lived away from home had been hundreds of miles away. His hand traced objects from his childhood—an old stereo which still took tapes, the faded posters on the walls. He could hardly believe his father had kept all of this the same. A pang of guilt seared through him.

  What else had he expected? For his father to pack up his stuff and forget he ever existed?

  He pulled open the dresser and unfolded a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Quickly, he stripped, replacing the items he wore with the ones from his teenage years. The clothes were a little snug—he’d bulked out since his teenage years, though he’d been big even back then. Still, they fitted a hell of a lot better than the ones Chogan had stolen from someone’s backyard.

  He went back out to find everyone standing in the entrance hall, waiting for him. Chogan seemed eager, almost hopping from foot to foot. By contrast, Autumn was pale, dark shadows beneath her aqua blue eyes. She looked exhausted and Blake wished they weren’t putting her through another excursion. He’d forgotten she didn’t have the extra reserves shifters did.

  “You can stay here if you want,” he told her. “Get some rest in my room.” The idea of having her in his old bed sent a thrill through him.

  “No.” She smiled. “I want to meet your sister.”

  Chogan threw back his head and laughed. “You might not be saying that after you meet her.”

  Blake narrowed his eyes. “Ignore him,” he told her.

  Together, they left the house and walked down the middle of the street. Autumn stayed close to his side and he automatically put his hand around her waist, allowing her to lean against him. Both he and Chogan tired less easily because of their body’s abilities, but he guessed, apart from her so far untapped talents, she was as human as anyone else.

  She smiled up at him, grateful. “You keep me warm.”

  “Oh!” He hadn’t realized she’d been cold, just tired. “You should have mentioned something at the house. I would have found you a coat.”

  She shook her head. “No need. I’m good like this.”

  A spark warmed his heart and he held her a little closer, so her hip pressed against the top of his thigh, her elbow tucking into his waist, her shoulder beneath his arm. It felt good to move like this, like one person.

  They followed his father down the road, taking the first left onto another street. Blake couldn’t help but compare the neighborhood to how it had been when he’d left. His father had been working hard to bring the properties up to a good living standard. It was always going to be hard getting people to invest in property they didn’t technically own. Tribal laws meant the whole of the reservation was owned by all the people living on it. When everyone owned the land, no one owned the land. The result was that the houses built upon the land were worth a lot less than in non-reservation areas, so loans were hard to come by. Hence the reason for there being so many mobile homes.

  Still, the community had obviously done their best to bring up the standard of this area, though he had no idea what the rest of the reservation was like. At least Tala had ended up living here instead of one of the poorer areas.

  Blake smiled as he observed the small whitewashed house with the picket fence. So his sister had gone all domesticated on him. It was hard to imagine. He wondered if there was a man in her life and found himself frowning. He had no right to try to play the protective big brother.

  They piled up the path, nerves suddenly churning his stomach. His father gave a sharp rap of knuckles on the front door.

  A few minutes passed. Chogan stepped forward and knocked, harder this time. A noise came from inside, a muffled shout to wait. The door flung open.

  A young woman stood on the doorstep, her jet-black shiny hair hanging down to her waist, her slender body wrapped in a robe of some kind of silky material.

  “What the hell’s going on?” She looked between Chogan and her father, and then past them. Her dark eyes widened, her neck straining forward as though reducing the gap would help her make sense of what she was seeing. She stepped off the stoop, one hand clutching her father’s arm as she went, gently pushing him aside.

  “Blackened Hawk?” She shook her head. “No, it can’t be. I must be seeing a ghost.”

  “It’s me Tala,” he said, stepping forward and breaking the contact with Autumn. “I’m home.”

  “But ...” She shook her head again, blinking. Only a matter of feet separated them now and she reached out a hand and placed her fingers against Blake’s cheek. “It is you.”

  “Yes.” His face broke into a smile. “I’m—”

  His words cut off as a sharp crack sounded across the other
wise empty street. A moment later, pain and heat seared his cheek and he realized what had happened. She’d slapped him.

  “That’s for not being around the last ten years,” she spat before turning around and storming back into the house.

  She’d left the front door open, and Chogan started to head in. When no one else followed, he turned back to face them. “If she’d not wanted you to come in, she would have slammed the door in your face as well.”

  Blake and Autumn exchanged a look. She offered him a sympathetic smile, and reached up and gently touched his cheek. “You okay?” she asked him softly.

  “I deserved it, and I’ve had a lot worse.” He resisted the urge to capture her fingers in his own and kiss her hand.

  “Come on, then,” Chogan said, laughter behind his voice. Blake guessed he’d enjoyed seeing Tala slap him. “Can’t get much worse.”

  They piled into the house, Autumn awkwardly lurking behind Blake’s huge form. He didn’t blame her. He couldn’t imagine being dumped into a room with Tala on top of everything else she’d been forced to go though over the past twenty-four hours.

  His sister stood in the middle of her small living room, her arms folded, her weight shifted to one side, her foot tapping. She didn’t appear much different than when he’d left, except she was taller, her hair longer than before. Anger, so often present when she’d been a teenager, still burned in her eyes. Only perhaps that anger was darker now; he wondered if his disappearance for the past ten years had something to do with that.

  “So what are you doing back here?” She glared at him. Her eyes shifted to where Autumn stood. “I suppose she has something to do with your return. Are congratulations in order?”

  He frowned and glanced back at Autumn and realized what she meant. “Oh, no. Nothing like that. Or at least, we are back because of Autumn, but not in the way you’re thinking. This is Doctor Autumn Anderson. She’s a colleague.”

  Autumn stepped forward as if to shake hands with his sister, but Blake put out an arm, keeping her back. Tala had barely looked at her. Instead, her attention remained focused on Blake.

  “Oh, right. ‘Cause the way you two were cuddled up certainly seemed like something was going on.”

  Blake suddenly found himself unable to look at Autumn, tension buzzing between them.

  “Well, whoever she is, I’m not going to leap into your arms and play the doting baby sister, if that’s what you were expecting. I’ve barely heard a word from you in almost ten years and I’ve done just fine without you.”

  Blake frowned. “What are you talking about? I wrote to you all the time, from all over the world, wherever I was stationed.”

  She snorted. “A few crappy letters. Big deal.”

  “I wrote you every week, Tala. Even after I realized you were never going to reply.”

  She shrugged and stared at the floor, her naked toes rubbing at the rug. “Maybe I didn’t want letters. Maybe I wanted my big brother.”

  “I’m sorry. I never thought I’d be away so long. The years kind of got away on me.”

  She lifted her head, fixing him with her sharp, dark eyes. “So what are you doing back now?”

  He shook his head. “It’s not something I want you to get involved in. I just wanted you to find out about me being here yourself, not hear it from gossip around town.”

  She gave a weak smile. “Well, thanks for thinking of me ... for once.”

  “Tala, you know what happened. If I’d stayed, I would have broken apart the family. Is that what you wanted?”

  “By leaving, you broke us up anyway.”

  He nodded, not knowing what to say. She was right.

  Chogan stepped in. “Right, well, if the heartwarming family reunion thing is done, I suggest we get some rest.”

  Blake offered his sister a smile. “I’ll catch up with you again later, Tala. Even if you’re not happy for me to be home, it’s still good to see you.”

  AS THEY HEADED back to the house, Autumn couldn’t shake the residing awkwardness she’d experienced from being in Blake’s sister’s home. The other woman’s welcome was in complete contrast to the one they’d received from Blake’s father.

  “I’m sorry about Tala,” Blake said.

  “Don’t be.” She smiled at him. “I can kind of understand her being pissed.”

  “Yeah, she’s angry with me, but she’s always been a bit like that. Even before I left.”

  Lakota interrupted. “Tala’s had a difficult life. She lost her mother as a young child.”

  “Oh!” She glanced to Blake, realizing, of course, that what happened to Tala had also happened to him.

  Lakota continued, “It was always assumed Tala would be wolf too. After Blake started to shift from such a young age, and showed such control, understanding and empathy with his spirit guide, then, not long after, Chogan began to shift and was also wolf, we assumed Tala would have the same talents. We even named her, assuming she would become a spirit shifter. Her name means ‘Wolf.’ But the years went by and a spirit never made itself known to her. The older a person gets without being able to shift, the less powerful a shifter they become—the less in control of their talents they are. Those who obtain guides very late in life often don’t even have the ability to shift, they simply have the wisdom and guidance of their animal guides. So the more Tala grew up, the more frustrated she became.”

  Autumn frowned. “But I thought becoming a spirit shifter wasn’t passed down generation to generation.”

  He laughed, the sound deep and hearty—that of a much younger man. “It isn’t. For example, I have never been blessed with the ability to shift. But that doesn’t mean some families won’t show a greater propensity for the gift.”

  “So Tala resented her brother and cousin for being able to do what she wanted.”

  Lakota nodded. “And not only that, it made her feel like an outsider in her own family. Her mother being white also didn’t help. Tala found herself unable to fit in properly anywhere, at home or in the community.”

  Autumn turned to Blake. “But you didn’t feel like that?”

  He shrugged. “My focus was always on my spirit guide. I didn’t think about anything else growing up except for shifting and running as a wolf. Tala never had that.”

  “And then you left,” she said.

  “Yes, and I’m not sure she’ll ever forgive me.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  AUTUMN STEPPED THROUGH the front door of Blake’s old home and a wave of tiredness washed over her. Blake looked down at her, a crease of concern between his dark eyebrows.

  “You must be exhausted. Why don’t you take my old room? I’ll sleep on the couch.” He looked to his father as if for confirmation.

  Lakota nodded. “That’s fine. I’ll be out all day now, I have work to do. So you have the place to yourself. Time to figure out what your next step is going to be.”

  “I’ll leave you to it as well,” said Chogan. “My own bed is calling.”

  Blake guided Autumn to his old bedroom, the heat of his palm burning against her lower back. She looked around curiously at the small collection of sporting trophies, the posters on the walls, the stack of music tapes in the corner. How strange to be transported into the domain of a boy who was very much a man now, standing beside her. Yet, despite the teenage surroundings, she couldn’t help the surge of excitement at being in such close proximity to him again. The bedroom was small, Blake’s sheer size filling the majority, dwarfing the small, single bed. She sensed the charge between them, the unspoken words of attraction between two adults, though she knew she should have greater things on her mind. Yet still, all she could seem to focus on was the memory of the smooth, brown skin of Blake’s back, the strong curve of his pectorals and biceps. How she wanted him to strip naked once more and allow her to run her hands all over his body, committing every inch of his skin to memory.

  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.”