Autumn Rising (13 page)

Autumn found herself in a stairwell, a set of concrete stairs leading up. She ran, taking them two at a time. The whole time she checked the phone, hoping for even a single bar.

Below her, the door slammed open, followed
by the sound of feet hitting concrete and a yell that she thought came from Thorne. “Autumn! Stop!”

She had no intention of stopping.

Instead, she pumped her arms and legs, forcing herself to move faster. She was thankful for her habit of running, her fitness allowing her to cover one flight and start on the second without needing to slow. She checked the phone once more and saw she had a single bar of reception. She had to slow in order to plug her father’s number in, and hit the dial button. The phone just beeped as she lost reception once again.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

Thorne, and, from the number of footsteps, another person as well, was starting to gain on her. Only adrenaline pushed her on. She tried the number again, and this time it rang. “Come on, Dad. Please answer.”

Another door led off the stairwell, and
without thinking about where she was going, she pushed through it. She would never be able to keep up her pace on the stairs. She looked left and then right, trying to decide which way to go. Ahead, she saw the sign for the ladies room. That would have to do. She wasn’t going to get out of here today, she knew that much. She’d have to take comfort in hoping she could speak to her father and let him know she was still alive.

She ran into the bathroom, and locked herself in a
stall.

A male voice came down the phone.
“Hello?”

At the sound of her father’s voice, she had to stop herself from bursting into tears.

“Hello?” his voice said again. “Autumn, is that you?”

“Yes, yes
, it’s me, Dad.” Her voice came out strangled.

“Autum
n, where are you? Are you hurt?”

“I’m
okay, but I don’t know where I am. Some kind of government facility. I don’t have long. They’re coming after me.”

“Who are? You need to give me more than that so I can find you!”

“I don’t think you’re going to find me, Dad. I’m sorry. Calvin Thorne is here, and a woman called Vivian Winters seems to be leading the whole thing. I think she’s crazy, Dad. She’s ordering innocent people to be killed.”

“Things are crazy in the city too. The whole place is going nuts.”

“Just stay inside until this is over. Stay in your basement, and lock your doors. If I ever get out, I’ll come find you.”

“You can’t expect me not to look for you,
Autumn. You’re my little girl.”

“I’m sorry, D
ad. I’m sorry for this whole mess.”

“It’s not your fault, s
weetheart. You can’t help what you are.”

Doors banged, feet slapping against the floor. Men’s voices calling her name.
They were almost here.

She reduced her voice to a whisper. “I don’t have long,
Dad, They’re coming to get me.”

“I’ll find you,
Autumn.”

“No! Don’t! Please, just stay in the house. Stay safe, for me. I don’t know what Blake or Chogan are doing, if they’re even still alive. I don’t know about Mia either. I
’ll need someone I love if I ever get out of here. I’ll need someone I can go to.”

She suddenly felt so utterly alone.

Fists crashed against the other side of the bathroom door, making the door strain on the flimsy lock. Autumn jumped.

Thorne shouted,
“Come out of there, Autumn. Don’t make me break down the door.”

“Break
it down!” she yelled. “Isn’t that what you get paid for?”

She placed her ear against the phone again.

“Don’t wind them up, Autumn,” said her father. “I don’t want you to give them an excuse to hurt you.”

They don’t need an excuse,
she thought, but didn’t say out loud. “Dad, get in touch with Lakota Wolfcollar on the Big Lake Reservation. Tell him that his family is at a cabin about one hundred miles north west of Chicago. It’s been deserted for years, but the army is using it as a compound to keep shifters.”

The crash came against the other side of
the door again, the flimsy lock bending on its hinges.

“They’re nearly in. I have to go.”

“Autumn, wait!”

The crash came again as Thorne smashed
his whole body weight against the door. One of the screws of the lock pinged out and rolled to the floor. The lock hung half-on, half off, barely keeping the door closed.

“I’m sorry. I love you.”

Autumn hung up and climbed to the back of the toilet, knowing the next hit would send the door flying open. She didn’t want to be caught directly behind it.

The door smashed
open, hitting the dividing wall. Thorne flew in with it, carried by his momentum. He reached out, his hands closing around her forearm, and pulled back, dragging her out of the toilet like a spoiled child who’d been having a tantrum.

“Who were you calling?” he demanded.

Realizing he’d be able to get her father’s number from the call log, she swung the arm still holding his cell, and threw it as hard as she could. The phone hit the tiled wall and shattered, broken pieces of plastic and metal falling to the floor.

“You stupid bitch!” he growled, grabbing her by both shoulders and giving her a shake. “I needed that!”

Her head snapped back and forth. “Get off me!”

He stopped shaking her, but he kept hold of her shoulders.
“I can’t. Vivian is after you now. You didn’t want to piss that woman off, Autumn. She has no morals.”

“You and her should get on like a house on fire,” she said, still struggling
against him. The other guard stood in the doorway. There was no other way out of the small space, and she was never going to get past two big men. Even so, she didn’t intend on letting them take her quietly.

She wrenched her shoulders, one way and then
the next, trying to dislodge his grip. When that didn’t work, she kicked out at him, hoping to catch him in the shins.

“Don’t make me do this
, Autumn,” he growled at her.

But she had no intention of being taken easily this time. His hand gripped her shoulder and she twisted her neck and lunged down with her mouth, sinking her teeth into his flesh. She bit as hard as she could,
the iron taste of blood filling her mouth. Thorne gave a yell of anger and pain, pulling away from her and spinning her around at the same time.

“I didn’t want to have to do this.” Clutching his injured hand to his chest, he pulled back his other fist and punched
Autumn in the face. Pain exploded in her cheekbone, one side of the room turning black. She spun round at the blow, colliding with the bank of sinks mounted on the back wall. Her legs gave out from under her and she slid to the floor.

She was only aware of
Thorne standing over her, and the overwhelming smell of urine and disinfectant, before the black crept over the rest of her vision and she was present no more.

Chapter Sixteen

CHOGAN TOOK BLAKE, Rhys, Michael and Mischa off to one side. “I know each of you has a strong enough connection to your guides to be able to survey the perimeter. We need to spread out, each of us taking an area of the circle,” he looked toward Blake and Rhys. “Just like we did before.” The two men nodded.

He gave each of them a direction to send their spirit guides in. “Look out for anything that might be a
weakness we can use to our advantage. Guards missing, or being distracted. Anything at all.”

“We understand,” said
Mischa.

“Okay, do it
now. We don’t have much time.”

Chogan closed his eyes
briefly, focusing in on his spirit wolf. The animal was tense, and restless, and seemed happy to have something to do. It took off at a run in the direction Chogan had allocated himself. The usual sounds of the forest were subdued, as though the creatures contained within it knew that predators were close by. The animal grew closer, the perimeter just beyond a line of trees. Something else had changed. Different noises interrupted the normally peaceful song of the forest, hammering, the whine of screws being turned, men shouting to one another. Chogan didn’t like it. He urged his wolf on, breaking through the trees and bringing the perimeter into view. His heart sank. They didn’t just have the soldiers and guns to contend with. Behind the soldiers, a huge ten feet tall metal fence was being erected, the top curled with barbed wire.

Shit.

They couldn’t have built the fence the whole way around the perimeter. Not yet anyway. Though this part seemed almost fully complete, other areas surely would be less so. This made their immediate escape plan even more important. While a fence wouldn’t be a problem for those with winged spirit guides, the rest of them would be trapped. Chogan briefly considered sending his wolf farther along the perimeter to check out the rest of the fencing and try to discern if there were any gaps, parts that hadn’t been built yet. But then he remembered he’d sent the others to do just that.

Delegation,
he thought, forcing himself to think like Blake. They would report back, and he’d only waste much needed time if he checked things out for himself.

Chogan pulled away from the mind of his wolf, first praising
the animal for its help. He brought himself back to the present, taking in the sight of the worried faces standing before him.

“You saw the fence,
too,” he said, but it wasn’t really a question.

Blak
e nodded. “South-west of here. It’s not yet fully erect. It’s a weak spot, but we need to move now. If we wait an hour, they could easily have the fence up.”

“Anywhere else?” Chogan
asked, looking around them.

“North-west isn’t up yet either,” said Mishca.
“If we move, we’ll make it.”

Blake added
, “It’s a positive that the soldiers have been tasked with putting up a fence. It means they’ll be distracted by the build and won’t have all their attention focused on watching out for us.”

Chogan looked toward where the others were milling around the porch.
Some of them had gone back inside. If it weren’t for the bruised faces, and the way most spoke together in hushed voices, their heads together to hide their tears, they could have been on some kind of camping trip.

“Everyone!” he called. “We need to ready ourselves now. The time has come for action.”

The level of tension in the compound ratcheted up a notch, but with it came a sense of determination. Backs straightened, shoulders put back, tears wiped from faces.

Chogan waited until everyone had gathered around and
then cast his eyes over the group. The new couple, Danny and Lexie, stood apart from everyone else, not quite joining the gathering. They stood face to face, Lexie with her arms folded. From the exasperated expression on Danny’s face, he assumed they were fighting about something. He didn’t want to listen in on their conversation, but considering Danny was in his team, and he needed for the young man to be focused, he felt he owed it to them all to stay on top of whatever was going on.

“I don’t
want you to go,” said Lexie. “It’s going to be dangerous. Aren’t we in enough trouble already?”

“I have to. The other men are going. Why should I get special treatment?”

“Fine, but I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not,” Chogan interrupted. “We need to be able to focus, and we can’t worry about you. Danny will be distracted if you are there.”

“But—” she started.

“
I understand this is hard, but we need Danny so the rest of you can escape. I’m sure he cares about you, and he wants you to be safe above everything else.”

Danny nodded his agreement. “He’s right, babe.”

Tears filled her eyes. “It’s okay for you,” she said, addressing Chogan. “Everyone you care about is going in the second group. I don’t see you sacrificing someone you love.”

“I’ve already lost people I love,” he said, thinking of
Autumn. “And I’m sacrificing myself.”

She turned to her boyfriend again. “Please, Danny. You know I can handle it.”
A look Chogan couldn’t quite read passed between them, but Danny shook his head again.

“Lexie,” said Chogan
, needing to move on to other things. The clock was ticking and he didn’t have time for this. “I promise I will do everything I can to make sure Danny stays alive.” He turned to the other man and gave him a nod. “But you can handle yourself, I’m sure.”

Danny puffed out. “Course.”

Chogan wondered what form their spirit guides took, and hoped that Lexie would be able to cope with what was coming. He turned his attention to the others.

Leah stood with Toby, a kind of big sister protectiveness radiating from her over the boy. The father and son, Garth and
Jerome, respectively, also stood together, Garth’s hand resting protectively on his son’s shoulder. The new woman, Julianne, stood to one side, listening with a grim expression on her face. Harry Bernard, the older man of the group, hung out at the back. Chogan worried about how strong his contact was with his shifter. He tried to cast his mind back and remember if he’d witnessed the older man shift at any point, but no occasion came to mind. Michael, Rhys, and Mischa all stood at the front, Blake by his side.

“Begin your shifts now,” he told them.
“Then we separate into groups and go in fast and hard. If you need to hurt someone, hurt them. If you need to kill someone, kill them.” A shocked mutter went up from Harry and Julianne, but this was no time for sensibilities. “Do not think for a minute that those men and women out there won’t take you out with a single shot if you give them a chance.” He looked to see what his words had done, and saw most of the others nodding in agreement. “Blake’s team, you need to be invisible. If you can get past without violence, then do it. My team, we’re going to be the ones making the noise. We want to get their attention to keep it away from the rest.”

The group moved apart, claiming spots beside trees, near bushes, around the side of the cabin, in order to create a modicum of privacy.
The women kept their clothes on, the material falling from their bodies as they changed, but the men held no such qualms and stripped before shifting.

The forest was filled with the sound of bones breaking
, moans, and yelps of pain. Chogan gritted his teeth, doing his best to stifle a long, mournful howl of agony. He struggled to concentrate on the progress of those around him. Never had so many shifters morphed at the same time in one place. His shoulders wrenched back, his neck lengthening from between his shoulder blades. He dropped to all fours, his legs shortening and growing thicker in the thigh. His hands and feet cracked and snapped, the normal nails loosening from the nail beds, and dropping to the ground, while claws protruded from beneath. His skin prickled, then seared, as though it were on fire, and he knew the millions of strands of fur had speared his normally smooth skin.

Mentally, his focus sharpened as his wolf guide settled into his skin. His senses grew stronger,
picking up the scent of a fox which had urinated against a tree the night before. The track of a squirrel appeared like a neon light trail across the ground. As his wolf ears unfolded from his head, the sounds of the forest sprung to life—insect wings beating against the night air, the scurry of a mouse beneath the exposed root of a tree, the distant bark of a mating fox. And beyond all of those sounds came the thrum of engines, the sound of metal hitting metal. The call of men shouting to one another. Those were the people they were up against.

With the shift complete, the pain died away. Chogan lifted his head, snorting hot air out through his nostrils in a plume in the cold night. Blake, who shifted at the same speed as him, stood in wolf-form at his side. Their amber eyes m
et with a deep intelligence and understanding. The cousins didn’t often see eye to eye, but when they were as wolf, they couldn’t help but be harmonized. Others were in various states of their shifts. Toby’s shift was complete and he lifted into the air with a couple of beats of his huge, leathery wings and swooped above their heads. Michael also completed his shift, and he rose into the sky with an eagle’s shriek. Leah and Mishca were only seconds behind completing their transformations, the girl’s arms outstretched and elongated, frilled with the soft white feathers of the snowy owl. The ebony skinned woman now sleek with the beautiful patterned fur of the leopard. Garth and Jerome were mid-shift, the father some kind of wild dog, from what Chogan could tell, the son a big cat of the smaller variety—possibly a lynx. Still staying near the back, Harry Bernard had also completed his shift. The older man was a short, stout ball of muscle with lethal tusks protruding from his snout. His hands and feet were now trotters, a small tail wagging from his round behind.
A boar,
Chogan noted, pleased. They were fast and strong, and one his size was capable of goring a man to death with his tusks. He just needed to get close enough to do so without first being shot. Another bird rose into the air—Leah’s shift was complete—quickly followed by the new woman, Julianne, as an osprey.

Good,
he thought.
The more bird shifters the better.
Aerial attack gave them a huge advantage, as long as they didn’t have the chopper to contend with.

He turned his attention to the young couple,
wondering how Lexie would be getting on, and blinked in surprise. From the body of the girl had swelled a beast of epic proportion. Thick white fur covered the massive body. Paws the size of bicycle tires, lethal claws several inches long. She rose onto her hind legs, opened her mouth and roared, revealing white, massive canines. Beside her, Danny, in the shape of a jackal—though a large one at that, as shifters tended to be—was dwarfed.

And to think he’d been worried about the girl’s potential. While she wouldn’t be silent, she was the most powerful creature they had.

The huge polar bear fell to all fours, the huge paws crunching pine needles beneath foot. To show his respect, Chogan trotted up to Lexie and lowered his head. She reached out with a huge black nose, nudging his; cold against cold.

Blake trotted over, doing the same, first to Lexie, and then Chogan. Without needing to be told the group divided into the
prearranged teams. With Chogan stood the feline form of Mishca and Danny as a jackal. Above their heads, Michael swooped, glinting eagle eyes taking in a distance farther than Chogan could see. The bird’s lethally curved talons were ready for attack.

Standing at the front of the second group, Blake lowered his head toward Chogan, a sign of respect.
Behind Blake stood the massive form of Lexie, and the squat, snuffling figure of Harry. The father and son, a wild dog and a lynx, waited for their next instruction. Above his head was Leah, now perched on the branch of a tree, Toby, silent on his leathery wings, and Julianne, as an osprey. They were a strange group that was for sure. He wished again that Rhys had been able to shift. The big, strong tiger would have been a huge asset to Blake’s group. But hopefully the power of Blake and Lexie, plus the added advantage of three aerial shifters would be enough. He hoped this plan would work, and then Blake would be able to lead the others to safety. He wanted to be strong, to not fear the possibility of death for himself and those he led, but he knew attacking a large group of heavily armed men was all but suicide. He only hoped it would be worth it.

And find
Autumn,
he willed his cousin silently.
Find her, and never take your eyes off her again. Treat her like a queen.

Movement caught his eye. He turned his head toward the cabin’s porch to see Rhys, still in human form, walking from the front door with Tala held in his arms. The young woman was still mid-shift, her back bucking, arms stretching.

Damn, she was still conscious. He should have overseen the plan to render her unconscious in order to make it easier for Rhys to carry her. Why hadn’t Rhys done it himself? The man didn’t seem beyond hurting someone if it was necessary. Surely he didn’t have feelings for Tala, enough to stop him wanting to hurt her, even if it was for her own good? Chogan hesitated. He could do it himself, though he worried that with his strength as a wolf he’d do her some serious harm. He watched Rhys make his way down the porch steps. The man seemed to be coping with Tala for the moment. Perhaps her being unconscious was unnecessary after all. Maybe that’s why Rhys didn’t go ahead with that part of the plan—he’d known he’d be able to manage.