Avenging Autumn Read Free

old an animal was, what type of beast they were, if they were in heat, or possibly injured. She knew exactly how long it had been since they’d passed this way, and how long it would take her to reach them. She could smell the weather on the air—if there was due to be rain, or if a lightning storm was close. Even the trees surrounding her had their own language, as ancient and mystical as time itself, as they buried their roots deeper into the earth and reached their branches to the sky.
    Every sound the forest emanated was distinguishable by her sharp ears. From the scurry in the undergrowth over a mile away, she knew the creature creating the sound was a vole. The whoosh of near-silent wings, and cracking of twigs in the branches of trees overhead, told her an owl had alighted in their foliage. The distant rushing whisper alerted her to the fact a river ran through the forest only a couple of miles away, and the splash of large paws hitting the water told her a bear fished for trout in its rapids. 
    Mia had never known it possible to be so alive before. She could run like this forever, and never grow tired.
    But no, she was dreaming, and would have to wake. Her run wouldn’t last, and the euphoric feeling it brought would fade. The real world pulled at her, coaxing her into waking, though she fought against it. She’d rather stay here, in this intoxicating world of scents and sounds. But she felt herself being pulled, her whole soul wilting in disappointment.
    “Mia?”
    Oh, Peter’s voice!
    Suddenly, waking didn’t seem so bad, and she allowed herself to release the dream and open her eyes.
    Peter’s warm, handsome smile and gray eyes looked down at her. The light filtering through the drapes told her morning had arrived. She didn’t mind releasing her dream when this was what she woke to—the man she loved. But then she realized the dream hadn’t ended, but merely faded. Though her eyes were open and she could feel Peter’s warm body pressed against hers, part of her mind was still with her panther, the big cat hunting in the forest. She could see out of the animal’s eyes, and, if she concentrated hard enough, could still pick up on the scents and sounds that surrounded it, and the sensation of being in another creature’s mind.
    “How are you feeling?” he asked her.
    She smiled. “Good. Strange. Different ... but good.”
    “You’re healed?”
    She glanced down at her naked skin. Her bare breast was barely hidden by the sheet, but her shoulder was exposed. The skin was smooth and creamy, as if the gunshot wound—the shot intended for Autumn—she’d received while standing on the steps of the Chicago government facility had never been there.
    Mia wiggled her shoulder around. No residues of pain alerted her to any deeper injury. “It feels fine. As if it never happened.”
    “And what about the rest of you?” he asked, sliding his body beside hers, propped up on his elbow, head supported by his hand. He reached out and touched her temple. “I mean about what’s happening in here.” Weirdly, he didn’t feel as hot as he had before. Peter’s skin had always burned against hers, as if he were running a fever, but now he simply felt warm.
    It’s because you’re hot too, she told herself. Peter wasn’t the only one running a temperature.
    “Well, I just woke up from the most wonderful dream.”
    He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips. “You know that wasn’t a dream, right?”
    “Yeah, I know, ’cause it’s all still happening.” Her fingers fluttered around the back of her head. “Somewhere back here.”
    “You’ll learn how to control it over time. It’ll always be there, but you’ll be able to zone in and out of what your spirit guide is experiencing. If your guide wants you to know about something, it’ll break through whatever barriers you’ll have naturally put up in order to function like a normal human being.”
    She hugged herself, her skin rippling with