Autumn's War (The Spirit Shifters Book 4) (12 page)

Chapter Seventeen

AUTUMN LEFT MIA with her brother and the other people they’d rescued and went to see Blake in Lakota’s truck. He was lying across the back seat, his useless legs dangling out of the open doorway.

She hesitated, feeling awkward. She didn’t want to speak while leaning over the top of him. Instead, she headed around to the other side of the car and opened the back door nearest Blake’s head. She wanted to cry and laugh, and kiss his big, handsome face all over, but he didn’t even acknowledge she was there.

Autumn squeezed her backside into the footwell, so her face was almost level with Blake’s. “Hey,” she said, softly. “How are you doing?”

“Why are you here, Autumn?” The cold tone of his voice shocked her.

“I’m here for you.”

“I don’t want you to be. My life is over. I don’t see why I should take you down with me, too.”

She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it hard. “Don’t say that, Blake. Do you have any idea how happy I am to see you alive? I thought I’d lost you.”

“You have lost me. The man I was is gone.”

She made her voice as determined as possible. “The man I love is right in front of me.”

He shook his head, his nose wrinkled his lip curled in disdain. “How can you love me? I’m half a man.”

“Stop it!” Anger blazed through her and she snatched her hand away from his. “When I found out you were dead, my God-damned heart was broken, and now here you are, trying to break it again.”

“This isn’t about you. You’re not the one who’s going to have to live like this.”

The anger faded away to an all encompassing sadness and guilt. He was right. Was she being selfish to try and make him see another side of this, to make him shoulder her pain as well?

Chogan approached. He’d changed out of the scrubs and back into his usual wardrobe of a close-fitting t-shirt and jeans. “Hey, Cuz,” he said, his voice unnaturally bright. “You had us worried there for a while.”

Blake didn’t respond. He just stared at the back of the seat.

Chogan glanced to Autumn. She gave a slight shake of her head.

Chogan tried again. “You know, this might not be permanent. We heal. I thought I left you for dead, but here you are, talking and breathing. There’s every chance your legs will heal in time.”

Blake’s head snapped toward his cousin. “Shut it, Chogan. You have no idea what you’re talking about. This isn’t going to heal. I feel nothing. Can you understand that? Nothing. My legs and …” he turned away, his cheeks heating red. “Everything else down there … might as well not exist.”

“What about your wolf? What about if you shift?”

Autumn didn’t think it possible, but his expression darkened even further.

“That’s the other thing,” he said, his jaw tight. “I can’t. When I try to connect to my wolf, it keeps its distance and whines. It knows I’m broken and it doesn’t want to become broken as well.”

Autumn placed her hand on his shoulder, wishing she could wrap her arms around him and lay her head on his chest, but the barrier Blake was putting up was too great for such intimacy. “Blake, I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t want your pity, Autumn. I only want to be left alone.”

Chogan jerked his head back, a signal to call her away.

“Okay,” she told Blake. “I’ll leave you alone for the moment, but don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily.”

Blake didn’t respond.

Autumn swallowed hard against the painful lump in her throat. She’d thought she was getting Blake back, but the man lying in the back of Lakota’s truck only looked like Blake.

They moved away from hearing distance.

Chogan ran a hand through his hair and glanced around. “We can’t stay here. Even if no one in the facility managed to get the alarm out, someone is going to realize contact is down and send the military to find out what’s happened.”

Autumn nodded. “You’re right. We need to get everyone mobile.” Her choice of words made her cringe.

Chogan reached out and touched her elbow. “Don’t beat yourself up, Autumn. We’re all going to feel the same way around him. This is hard for all of us.”

His kindness made her want to cry all over again. She gave a sniff. “Thank you.” Her voice was choked. “It’s hardest for Blake, though.”

They stared at each other. The betrayal they’d committed against Blake hung between them like something cancerous. It seemed so much worse now Blake was suffering.

Chogan glanced away. “Let’s get the troops moving.”

They moved between everyone, clapping people on their shoulders, helping them load back up, making sure everyone had a ride. Chogan went with Madison and Billy again. The young woman, Daisy, seemed comfortable with Billy, so she tagged along, too. Lakota and Autumn rode with Blake lying across the back seat. He didn’t say a word the whole drive. Peter and Mia took her brother and the other woman they’d freed. Nadie took care of Tala, while Sahale drove. A couple of the other shifters had been persuaded to take Romero, though they hadn’t wanted to. The ex-soldier was angry and in pain, and the wolf fighting with him for his body seemed to be in the same mind-frame.

The vehicles were getting crowded as they drove away from the facility and headed back onto the highway. They needed to find somewhere safe to stop and recuperate.

After less than an hour, one of the cars up front pulled over, the hazard lights blinking.

Autumn frowned. “Stop the truck,” she told Lakota, as a figure emerged from the car and began waving her down.

Lakota did as she asked, pulling over just after the other car. The person who had been waving her down was Tocho.

“Hey,” she said, climbing out. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine. We’re still looking for somewhere to rest up, right?”

“That’s right.”

“My auntie has an old homestead only a few miles from here. I’ve not seen her for years, but I’m sure she’ll do everything she can to help us.”

Autumn frowned. “How can you be sure?”

Tocho shrugged. “She practically raised me, but ran off with some rich, white farmer when I was in my teens. She doesn’t have anything to do with the reservation anymore, and pretty much keeps to herself since her husband died, but she’s a good soul. There’s no way she’d turn us away. Plus, it’s miles from anywhere. No one would ever think to look for us there.”

Autumn glanced at Lakota, who had gotten out of the vehicle and stood behind her shoulder. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s the best option we have.”

She nodded. “Okay. Tocho, lead the way.”

They got back into their vehicles and within a couple of miles turned off the freeway. They took a smaller road, and then found themselves roaring down a long gravel drive. A woman in her seventies, as wide as she was tall, stood on the veranda with a shotgun cocked and pointed at them as they stopped their vehicles.

Tocho climbed out of the car. “Auntie Wenona! Put down the gun, you crazy old lady!”

Autumn’s mouth dropped open at his disrespect, but Auntie Wenona only laughed and put down the gun.

“Tocho!” she cried, holding her arms open to him. “My boy, Tocho. I thought you’d forgotten all about your old Auntie.”

He stepped into her embrace, though her arms only managed to wrap around his waist, her head barely reaching his chest. It wasn’t that Tocho was particularly tall, just that she was so short. She gave him a hard squeeze and then peered around him.

“You have an entourage now, Tocho? Did you become famous since I last saw you?”

He laughed. “No, Auntie. These are my friends. Most are from the reservation. You may even know some of them.”

Lakota climbed from his truck.

She thrust her hands onto her wide hips. “Well, well, Lakota Wolfcollar. Tell me my old eyes aren’t seeing things.”

Lakota laughed, approaching the porch. He stopped beside her and kissed her on the cheek. “If they are, Wenona Ohare, we are both having the same vision.”

“It’s good to see you, Lakota. You look exactly the same.”

“You too, Wenona.”

She smacked him on the shoulder. “Pish. I’ve doubled in size. Too much butter and cream, that’s my downfall. Anyway, you’re not here to talk about my eating habits. What brings you all here?”

“We need somewhere to stay and rest for a day, before we carry on down to Chicago,” said Lakota. “We have people who are injured who need to be helped.”

She nodded, thoughtfully. “Of course. My home is your home. But why are you all going to Chicago?”

The older man frowned. “Have you not seen the news?”

“I don’t watch the television much. I don’t listen to the radio either. All they do all day is jabber. I prefer to read my books.”

He placed a hand on her arm. “Wenona, you always knew about the existence of spirit shifters, right?”

She nodded. “Of course. None of my family were blessed with the gift, or curse, or however you want to look at it—”

Tocho stepped forward. “They have now, Auntie Wenona.”

She frowned. “Tocho? Not you, surely? You’re too old to be chosen by a spirit.”

Autumn found herself being bundled forward. She stumbled up the steps toward the older woman, trying not to trip over her own feet.

“This is Autumn Anderson, Auntie. She has the power to create shifters.”

Her cheeks colored, feeling like she was being put on display. She was under the other woman’s scrutiny.

“You changed my Tocho?”

She nodded. “He asked me to.”

“Why?”

Chogan stepped forward to stand at her side. She was grateful for his presence, though after everything they’d been through, she wasn’t sure why the older woman’s acceptance bothered her so much.

“There’s a war going on between shifters and the government, Mrs. Ohare. We need as many shifters as possible on our side.”

Wenona squinted at Chogan, though Autumn didn’t think there was anything wrong with her eyesight. “Is that Chogan I’m looking at?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Well, didn’t you get all grown up on us?”

He smiled awkwardly. “I guess I did.”

“And you’re a shifter, aren’t you? I remember you and your cousin when you were boys, always running around stark naked ’cause you were always shifting from boy to beast.” She looked out over the crowd. “Where is your cousin? Lakota’s boy? Blake, isn’t it?”

Autumn felt Chogan stiffen at her side.

“Actually,” said Autumn, “he’s one of the reasons we need somewhere to rest. Blake is hurt and we need to try and make him better.”

Worry clouded her features. “Well, sure. Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I wouldn’t have kept you waiting out on the porch all this time.”

“There’s a lot of us,” Chogan warned.

Her eye line drifted back to the mass of people congregating on her lawn. “I can see that. Bring the ill and injured inside. Everyone else may have to do with the barn round back. It’s not pretty, but it’s warm and dry.”

“Thanks, Wenona,” said Lakota. “We appreciate that.”

Tala and Romero were carried into the front parlor and laid on the floor, far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to hurt each other. Romero was almost fully wolf now, snapping and snarling at everyone around him. It was dangerous to go near him. They’d only just got him inside without being hurt. But within a minute, his wolf’s muzzle began to morph back to a man’s mouth again, and the danger passed.

Tala wasn’t much better. Though she’d given up on voicing her pain, learning over the last week that it did her no good, she still hissed air in over her teeth as her bones snapped and her muscles split and grew. Pain etched into the rigid expression on her face.

“We need to help them first,” Lakota told Autumn. “I can’t concentrate on the spirits guiding me about what to do with Blake knowing they are like this. It’s unnatural.”

“They already have my blood in their systems,” Autumn said. “Do you need more?”

Lakota shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s the spiritual side I need to work with.”

“What can I do?” she asked, nerves creeping through her insides like weeds. She didn’t want this to go wrong. While she didn’t give a shit about Tala, she cared about the people who loved her. And though Vivian had been to blame for Romero, part of Autumn couldn’t help but feel responsible.

“Just stay nearby in case I need you.”

She nodded.

Who to help first? She could see the debate raging within Lakota’s heart. He would want his daughter to stop being in pain first, but this was something untested, and at the same time, he wouldn’t want to experiment on her.

He got to his knees beside his daughter. Seeing her in pain, as a father, all he would want to do was try to make it stop.

“I need candles,” he said to Wenona. “As many as you can find.”

She nodded and disappeared into a different part of the house. Autumn could hear thumps and scrapes as she searched for what Lakota needed.

Wenona returned, her arms full of church pillar candles. She got to her knees beside Lakota and allowed them to tumble to the floor. “We get a lot of power outages out here,” she said by way of explanation.