Autumn's War (The Spirit Shifters Book 4) Read Free

Autumn. We still don’t even know if we can trust him. He might contact his men near the perimeter and use them to come after us.”
    She looked toward Thorne, but the other man just shrugged. He obviously wasn’t bothered about not going. “Okay, fine,” she relented. “Peter and Sahale, you take another car. I know you won’t be able to drive right into the forest, but the vehicles will take you closer, and then you’ll have to walk the rest.”
    “We can all just fit into one car,” Peter suggested.
    “But if something happens to that car, you’ll be stuck. It’s safer to have two.”
    Peter nodded his agreement, and Autumn tried to ignore the pleading stare Mia was shooting her.
    Chogan spoke up. “Why don’t we take a couple of motorbikes instead of a second car? The bikes will let us get deeper into the forest, and we’ll be faster.”
    “Very well. You know what direction we’ll be heading,” she told them all. “Whatever you find, come back here and then follow this road back down. We have some other things to attend to before we reach the city, so you’re guaranteed to come across us again.”
    Peter’s gaze traveled across the sea of people and vehicles. “I’d say you’re going to be hard to miss.”
    “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She hoped they didn’t draw the attention of Vivian Winters before they’d even reached the city.
    “We’ll go now then,” said Chogan, though his voice was strained.
    She took his hand. “Are you sure you’ll be all right going back there? I can’t imagine how hard it must have been, watching—” Her voice broke, and she struggled to say the words. “Being there when Blake ...”
    He squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. Yeah, it was terrible, but if I don’t go back, I’ll never forgive myself.”
    Her mouth twisted, trying to hold back tears.
    Chogan stared into her eyes, and she thought he was about to say something else, but instead he leaned in and kissed her cheek, his long hair brushing her face.
    “Thank you for not hating me.”
    “I care about you, Chogan,” she said, softly.
    “Yeah, I know, but you love my cousin.” He shook his head briefly. “ Loved my cousin.”
    “Love,” she said. “It’s still love.”
    He gave her a repressed smile, and turned his back and headed to the cars. “Which one are you guys taking then, ’cause I’m riding a bike?”
    “We can go in mine,” said Sahale, nodding to his ten year old, silver Honda Accord.
    A couple of people from the reservation donated their bikes to the cause, catching rides with others with larger vehicles. Chogan took one bike, Peter the other, while Nadie climbed into the car with Sahale. The motors roared to life, and they began to move down the road, picking up speed as they went. Chogan lifted a hand in a farewell, backward wave.
    Autumn stood and watched them go. She was numb with grief, hollow, as if someone had carved her heart right out of her body and left only a ticking clock.
    She didn’t want them all to be separated again, but she had no choice. She couldn’t leave Blake’s body out there for the animals, and, however badly she felt toward Tala, she understood the other woman had people who loved her.
    Mia stood at her side, but as soon as Autumn glanced down at her, she saw her friend’s eyes swimming with tears. Mia shook her head at Autumn and walked away.
    This was the problem with choosing to be the one in control. She had promised to lead these people, but doing so would mean making choices not everyone liked, and possibly even losing her friends because of it.
    I’ve lost everything else, she thought. Blake’s dead, my career is over, my father could be anywhere. Why not lose my best friend as well? Self-pity swelled over her and she took a deep, shaky breath. She didn’t have time for tears of self-pity. She had a job to do.
    She approached Lakota. “If we’re going to create more spirit shifters before we reach the city, we’re going to