Autumn Rising

by Marissa Farrar

  Ground slid beneath his foot, and he skidded, leaving his stomach behind. He gave a yell of alarm. His grip on Blake tightened, determined not to drop his cousin, and the skid came to a halt. His legs trembled from the exertion and adrenaline, but he was half way down now and he had no other choice than to keep going in the direction he was headed.

  Movement came from above, rocks and dirt slipping down the cliff, gathering momentum until they created a mini landslide and rained down upon him. He ducked out of the way, but could do little about the sudden onslaught, rocks smacking him painfully on the head and shoulders. The same rocks would also be hitting Blake, though the other man gave no indication that the blows hurt, or that he even noticed. He heard men yelling to one another. They had figured out he’d had no choice but to go this way. Soon enough, they’d follow, and though they didn’t have his shifter speed, eyesight in the dark, or strength, they also didn’t have the handicap of carrying an unconscious man over their shoulder.

  His feet splashed in ice cold water, and with relief he realized he’d reached the bottom. He had no intention of trying to run up the other side, but instead followed the small channel downstream, hoping the water wouldn’t get any deeper. More rocks and dirt rolled and clattered down the side of the ravine, caused, he assumed, by the men continuing their descent after him. If he didn’t keep going, he’d lose the small distance he had.

  He’d been running for miles, and the weight and size of Blake was taking its toll. His legs felt heavy, his calves threatening to cramp with every stride he took. His neck and arm muscles bulged under the strain, his lower back in agony.

  The banks of the ravine began to level out, and he was able to head away from the river and into the forest again. He was relieved to once again have the cover of the trees. He’d not heard anything from the soldiers in a while. Could he dare hope he’d lost them?

  He was exhausted and in pain. Though he didn’t want to, he allowed his pace to slow, knowing he needed to if he was going to make it much farther. He wanted to collapse against a tree, and put Blake down, if only for a few minutes, to allow him to stretch his tortured muscles. But he feared if he put Blake down, he’d never manage to pick him back up again.

  A bright, hot spear of agony shot through his lower back as his muscles went through an excruciating spasm. He pitched forward, losing his grip on Blake and throwing him to the ground as he did so. His cousin hit the forest floor with a heavy thud that made Chogan’s stomach turn. The pain in his back was blinding. He wasn’t even sure if he could move.

  Chogan gave a yell of anguish and desperation. He could hear the soldiers again, though he had no idea how near they were. His hearing was excellent due to his wolf-guide, but not such that he could hear miles and miles away. They must be close, and getting closer.

  Clutching his lower back in pain, he crawled over to Blake. His cousin’s face was completely motionless, his chest still.

  Chogan lowered his head and stifled a sob of anguish. Shit, no. Not Blake.

  With a shaking hand, he reached out and placed his fingers against Blake’s thick neck. His hands were numb from carrying his cousin for so long. Had he been carrying a dead body all along? Was anything there, the slightest beat? His own heart clenched in pain. No, he didn’t think so. He placed his cheek directly above Blake’s mouth, desperately hoping to feel the heat of his breath on his skin, but he couldn’t feel anything.

  In the distance, the sound of approaching men grew louder.

  He sat up and covered his face with his hands. He’d done everything he could. He didn’t have any strength left, and if he tried to carry Blake any farther, they would both die.

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Cuz. I’m so sorry for everything. I did everything I could.”

  Running as a man was no longer an option, he could barely walk. He needed to shift, and he couldn’t carry an unresponsive Blake. Their journey together had come to an end.

  Chogan struggled with tears, heat burning the backs of his eyes, a hard lump in his throat. First, he had left Tala, and now he’d lost Blake. Tala and Blake’s father, Lakota, would never forgive him. Lakota might only be Chogan’s uncle, but he had been like a father to him when his own deadbeat alcoholic dad had run out on him.

  He’d let them all down.

  Ignoring his screaming back, he lowered his face to his cousin’s and placed a soft, dry kiss on his forehead. “I’m sorry, Blake. I’m so, so sorry.”

  There was nothing more he could do.

  With tears in his eyes, he stood, ignoring the pain his whole body seemed to be in—he knew he’d be in worse pain as soon as his shift began—and willed his wolf to come to him.

  Chogan braced as the wolf’s spirit rushed toward him through the ether. It hit him with full force, knocking him back, so he had to stagger to stay on his feet. Instantly his senses sharpened, and right away he was able to determine the exact distance of the men on his tail. Less than two miles, and there were at least twenty of them. He could even smell the acrid tang of gunpowder on their clothes, the cigarette a couple of them had shared not long before the attack.

  The pain he’d been in moments before quickly became like comparing a pinprick to a shark bite as his body began to rearrange itself into another form. Every bone in his body shattered and reformed at once. Fur made his previously smooth, nut-brown skin plush. His nose and mouth elongated to form a muzzle. His mouth suddenly full of sharp, deadly teeth.

  Chogan shook his fur out, releasing the new muscles that no longer hurt as his human muscles had. He paused and looked back at his motionless cousin. Dead, he’s dead. He had to be. He’d not healed at all, and any shifter who was going to start to heal, to recover, would have begun to by now.

  The men were close now, just beyond the last line of trees. He had to go.

  He couldn’t help the mournful cry that burst from his lungs as he howled for the loss of his cousin, his friend, the only member of his pack. His fallen comrade.

  Then he turned and ran, springing through the forest undergrowth with long, fast strides. The route he took was through close knit bush and undergrowth, making the progression of the soldiers slow. Even if they used the chopper to try and follow him with heat trackers, they would struggle. He was wolf now, not a man, and they’d have to distinguish between him and the numerous other animals—bear, fox, lynx—found in the forests.

  A shout came from the men, followed by the slowing of footsteps and a change of direction.

  Chogan’s heart sank.

  They’d found Blake.

  Chapter Twenty

  AN ARM SNAKED around Autumn’s waist, waking her. Familiar strong fingers wrapped around her own, holding her tight against his big, hard body. Blake! Blake was here. Had he changed his mind about them breaking up? She recognized the pattern of dark hairs on his thick forearm, the masculine scent that was so wholly his own filling her senses. Her back pressed against his warm chest, her bottom fitting comfortably into his crotch, and the knowledge from what she felt there told her he wanted her again. Her heart swelled with love, tears of happiness pricking the backs of her eyes, a lump forming in her throat. He nuzzled into her hair, his hot breath heating her skin. She felt so safe here, held in his arms, just as she always had.

  Something troubled her, nagging at her, but she desperately tried to ignore it. She was so glad to have him here, with her again. Where was here? a little voice whispered in her mind, but she blocked it out, only wanting to think about Blake being beside her again.

  She twisted in his arms, coming face to face with him. The sight of his face again, the wide smile, high cheek bones, and coffee colored skin was the best thing she’d ever seen. He smiled at her, and she stared up into his deep brown eyes.

  “You came back to me,” she said. “I was frightened I’d lost you.”

  “You’ll never lose me, Autumn. I’m so sorry for what I said. I was an idiot.”

  He lowered his mouth to her, his lips pressing against hers
in a slow, firm kiss. She opened her mouth, their tongues meeting in a delicious dance.

  What was wrong with the bed? Her shoulder and hip pressed uncomfortably into the hard, cold surface. Hard? Cold? Something wasn’t right. No, no, she didn’t want to know. She wanted to stay here, with Blake.

  He broke the kiss, and pulled away.

  No, no, she wanted to say. Keep kissing me. Don’t ever stop. But the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth.

  “It’s not real, Autumn,” he said, his eyes filled with sadness. “Nothing is real anymore.”

  Alarm rippled through her in a wave. “What are you talking about?”

  “We’re all lost. All of us.”

  “I don’t understand. You’re right here, so am I.”

  “Where is here, Autumn?” he said, echoing her earlier thought. Had they been her thoughts or his? Her mind blurred, so confused. “I can’t see it. I can’t see anything anymore.”

  She pulled away from him, and gasped in shock. Where moments ago she’d been staring into his deep brown eyes, there were now only bloodied holes gouged into his skull.

  She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

  “Where are you?” he said, blindly reaching out, grabbing at her. His legs twisted with hers, pinning her down, though she fought and kicked to try to escape. His voice was heightened with panic. “I can’t find you, Autumn. Where are you, where are you?”

  She wanted to help him, but her fear had overwhelmed her. Her body’s flight or fight response had kicked into action.

  “Don’t you love me anymore?” he said, and she couldn’t take her eyes off those gaping holes.

  She started to cry, her emotions torn. “I do, I do!” She felt as though someone had reached into her chest and was wringing her heart out like a twisted cloth. She wanted to help him, wanted to so badly, but she was frightened, and horrified, and the whole time something told her things were very, very wrong.

  “No, you don’t. You love him,” he spat the last word—literally spat—spraying her face with warm, sticky blood ...

  AUTUMN WOKE WITH her heart pounding in her chest and her face wet with tears. She also had a blinding headache and no idea where she was. She groaned and sat up, one hand pressed against the side of her face where the pain spiked though her like a knife, piercing behind her eye. Her other hand met with a familiar cold, smooth surface, and everything rushed back to her.

  She was back in the God-damned room again, and she’d blown any chance of ever getting out. Even worse, she’d learned just what horrors lay beyond the walls of this cold, sterile room. The woman residing over her was not only cruel, Autumn suspected she was crazy as well. It was not a good combination.

  That poor man, Romero. His poor wife and child, too. Her heart went out to them all. She prayed they’d find a way to reverse the shift—a blood transfusion of the regular kind, perhaps? Either that or the shift would need to be completed. Romero couldn’t continue his life as he was. His family might stand by him, at first, but how long could you stand by helpless when the man you loved had become a monster? How long would any mother put her daughter through experiencing their father as half man, half beast? He was a thing of a child’s nightmare.

  Autumn thought she should be thinking of Romero as her enemy, but she couldn’t bring herself to. Everyone thought they were fighting on the side of the righteous.

  Something jangled, and she looked down to discover her feet chained together. She gave them a couple of good yanks, the metal tightening painfully around her ankles. Taking care not to fall, she leaned down one side of the table to peer beneath. The end of the chain had been looped under the table and through a metal ring welded to the bottom of the heavy slab. A padlock held the chain together.

  Great. Now she was in an even worse situation than she’d been before. She couldn’t even get off this God-damned mortuary slab.

  Her dream of Blake haunted her. She prayed the dream hadn’t been some kind of psychic shadow, telling her Blake had been hurt. She’d been so happy in those few moments before things had gone bad. She only hoped she and Blake would be reunited for real, so she could make things right between them again. Back in the forest, when Thorne had dragged her away, she’d looked toward Chogan for help, not Blake. She bitterly regretted that now. Why had she done it? Perhaps it had been some residing bitterness toward him for breaking off their relationship, or perhaps she’d been feeling guilty about kissing Chogan. Whatever the reason, she wished now she’d taken those last few seconds to tell him that nothing had changed about the way she felt about him. If something was good, you needed to fight for it, and she’d just let him slip through her fingers.

  Autumn pressed her lips together to prevent the onslaught of sudden tears. A hard, painful lump formed in her throat, but she choked it back. She took a deep, shuddery breath, sniffed, and pressed the balls of her hands against her eyes, trying to focus on the pain that caused instead of the hopelessness of her situation. Crying wouldn’t help anyone.

  Everything seemed quiet around her. How long had she been passed out? Was it night-time? Or morning, even? It was impossible to tell.

  Movement came at the door, and it swished open. She scowled—and then winced in pain as the expression exacerbated her injuries—as the unwelcome form of Calvin Thorne entered. But something about him was different; his body language changed. He moved quickly and quietly across the room, his shoulders stooped, his back bent as though he was trying to make himself smaller. For once, he didn’t have that cocky, half-sneer on his scarred face.

  “What the hell—” Autumn started, but Thorne lifted a hand to silence her, and then placed his finger to his lips. The position allowed her the perfect view of the crescent of teeth marks in the back of his hand, and the purple and green bruises that surrounded the bite. The hand looked swollen too. She was pleased she’d manage to hurt him, even if it was a tiny victory.

  Autumn frowned. What was he up to?

  To her surprise, he pulled a set of keys from his belt as he approached.

  She folded her arms. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “So you don’t want to get out of here, then?” He kept his voice low, barely above a whisper.

  “Is this some kind of trick?”

  “No trick. And keep your voice down unless you want to get Vivian’s men in here.”

  “Aren’t you one of Vivian’s men?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

  “Not anymore. That woman’s crazy.”

  “You just worked that out?”

  Thorne had reached the table and got to work at her feet, using the set of keys on the padlock chaining her ankles together. He paused what he was doing and looked up at her. “Are you going to keep on chatting at me, or do you want to get out of here?”

  She couldn’t quite believe it. Calvin Thorne was breaking her out? “Are you sure you’re not messing with me?”

  He hissed air through his teeth in exasperation. “I’m on the verge of leaving you right where you are.”

  The chain around her ankles clicked open. “No, no,” she said, hurriedly. “I’m coming.”

  “It’s two in the morning, so we’re down to skeleton staff, and I’m one of them. As long as no one notices you’re missing, and we manage to stay out of Vivian’s way, we should be able to walk out of here.”

  “Where is Vivian?”

  “In her quarters, as far as I’m aware.”

  Autumn swung her legs off the table and cautiously climbed down. Part of her still expected Thorne to turn on her at any minute, perhaps punch the other side of her face and claim she was trying to escape. Her legs felt weak beneath her, and she steadied herself on the side of the table for a moment, giving her body time to readjust to the upright position.

  Thorne headed toward the door, and turned back to her. “Are you coming or what?”

  He still hadn’t tried to attack her. Could this be for real? She almost didn’t want to allow herself to hope in the expectation
everything would blow up in her face again.

  She pushed herself away from the table and took a couple of unsteady steps. “I’m coming.” Her legs grew more stable as she followed him from the room.

  They walked at a fast pace along the corridor, toward the elevator. Unable to help herself, she peeped in at the other prisoners. Most were asleep on the same table-beds that she’d slept upon herself, but others were curled up in the corners, arms over their heads, rocking.

  I’ll put an end to this, she vowed. She didn’t know if she was going to make it out safely herself yet, but if she got the chance she’d give everything she had to take these people—people who were supposed to have special powers—to safety.

  Thorne caught her looking and grabbed her arm, dragging her forward with a hiss. “Don’t worry about them. Get your own ass free first.”

  “But why are you freeing me, and not them?”

  “They don’t have the potential to change the world.”

  She didn’t know what to say to that.

  He got them to the elevator. Having full clearance of the building, he placed his thumb against the keypad, and hit level zero. Autumn didn’t know if they’d be going up or down. A second later, she felt the rise of the car. Vivian had told her the truth about the building being underground. It certainly explained the lack of windows.

  The doors slid open, revealing a small gravel parking lot surrounded by trees. The fresh air made her strangely dizzy, or perhaps it was the space after being held beneath ground for so long. A couple of expensive cars were parked at the edges of the lot, but they were positioned so the canopy of the trees covered them from any small aircraft passing above. She stepped out, and glanced over her shoulder at the building she’d just walked from. The elevator was housed within a red brick structure, small enough to be mistaken for an abandoned outbuilding. As she watched, the elevator doors slid closed, the outside of the doors disguised by rusted steel. Only the presence of a couple of expensive observational cameras mounted on the outside walls gave any indication that the building was anything more than an old storage shed.