Shapes of Autumn (Boxed set, books 1 - 5)

by Veronica Blade

  Oh, God. What now? He didn’t want me to wait for him?

  “Being with you…” He gave a slight shake of his head before continuing. “Since the moment you bumped into me, I’ve never wanted any other girl. It’s always been you, Autumn.”

  “I feel the same way about you.” I held my breath, hoping he wasn’t about to tell me that his feelings wouldn’t be enough to survive our separation and we should end it now.

  “That we can’t explore a physical relationship in depth sucks. It’s always sucked and it always will.” He planted his hand behind my neck, making it impossible for me to squirm away. “But that couldn’t be nearly as bad as being without you.”

  And I could breathe again. “I concur,” I whispered.

  “I don’t want to be without you, Autumn. Ever. And I couldn’t leave here without you knowing...” He paused, slowly exhaling then filling his lungs again. “I’m in love with you. Since you first wore that purple dress, there’s been no going back for me. You could be some other creature with all the wrong lady parts and I’d still never get enough of you. I’d still want to be with you. Forever.”

  So not what I was expecting. I jumped, ready to throw myself at him and he thrust out a palm to stop me. He reached into his pocket and dropped to one knee. “We’re young and people might say we don’t know what love is. But I know there will never be anyone else for me.”

  “I feel the same.” But why was he kneeling? “Get up. This is weird.”

  I could hear his heart thrashing beneath his chest. “I was going to wait because… I didn’t want to freak you out. But I can’t leave without doing this. And maybe not next month and maybe not next year, but someday I hope that you’ll agree to… make it legal.”

  I froze. Make what legal? No way could he be talking about marriage.

  Zack opened his hand to reveal a red velvet box. He lifted the lid and a gigantic diamond ring twinkled up at me. “It’s a lot to ask, I know. You don’t have to answer me. But if you wanted to wear it while I’m gone, that would be okay.”

  My eyes began leaking and I wiped away tears with my fingertips. “I thought you were going to break up with me. And tell me not to wait for you.” A sob snuck out which made the tears more plentiful. I sniffed and averted my face in an effort to compose myself. And maybe I could get a moment to say something more profound.

  “D-do you want to wear it? Or would that be too weird?”

  I glanced at the ring again. I’d never seen that kind of filigree and the metal didn’t look smooth and polished like modern rings. Although the rock was the biggest diamond I’d ever seen in real life, the ring was far from perfect, as if someone lovingly created it by hand without the aid of modern technology.

  I loved it.

  I gave him a watery laugh, plucking the ring from the box and shoving it past my knuckle. “I would be honored to wear your ring, Zack De Luca.”

  Zack pulled me into a hug and I buried my nose in his neck, wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed as close to him as I possibly could. “I love you. More than anyone or anything.”

  ***

  Zack drove away ten minutes later. We all waved to him from the curb, staring down the street until the Mustang turned the corner and disappeared. Renzo draped an arm around my shoulder and guided me away. “He’ll check in hourly. He’ll be fine. We’ll get through this.”

  Renzo believed we’d get through it, but I wasn’t as sure. Zack and I hadn’t been apart in months, not for more than a few hours at a time. Already, withdrawals were creeping up on me and worry blanketed me.

  We had so much to accomplish these next few months. Zack had to stay undercover, we needed to rescue Natasha, dethrone Mortimer and free my species. I vowed to keep the faith that Zack and I would survive this—that we all would—and we could be together again soon.

  THE END

  LORD OF THE WOLVES

  Shapes of Autumn, book five

  VERONICA BLADE

  SUMMARY

  Zack left Autumn behind weeks ago to infiltrate the werewolf castle. Each day, he endures abuse from the vile werewolves, failing to learn anything that might help in overthrowing the cruel empire. Not only could his suffering be all for nothing, and his friends and family slaughtered, he may not even get to see the love of his life again.

  Werewolves aren’t known for their compassion, and Autumn worries Zack might be killed before she can get there with their small but fiercely determined army. As Autumn and others scramble to assemble a force that can withstand the werewolf king’s unusual powers, Autumn has little hope any of them will survive. But never seeing Zack again would be an even worse fate.

  Chapter One

  Zack

  Zack, can you hear me?

  My girlfriend had the worst timing when contacting me telepathically. That said, no time had been good these past three weeks since I’d gone undercover.

  My skull exploded in pain and I flew across the room.

  I grunted and peeled myself off the wall, regretting that I allowed myself to be distracted. Like I needed more bruises. As a werewolf, I healed quickly, but we felt pain the same as everyone else.

  Crap, I had to reply to Autumn before Gunther or any other werewolf got close enough to sense the energy emitted when supernaturals talked telepathically. I didn’t want her to worry I was dead. I can’t talk now.

  “Get up, Jack.” Gunther stalked toward me. “Either you enjoy getting your ass beat or you’re extremely stupid. But what do I care? If you don’t survive your initial training, natural selection will take care of the problem. And once you’re gone, no one will miss you.”

  While I appreciated that the name Jack sounded similar to Zack—easier for me to remember to answer to it—and I admired King Cedric’s cleverness when creating my new identity, I hated any words that came out of the mouths of these vile werewolves.

  I hadn’t bothered getting up after being tossed, and when Gunther stopped in front of me, his hulking body appeared twice his height from my vantage point—a frequent view for me lately. I’d sparred with him enough to figure out he got a kick out of inflicting as much pain on me as possible. But the sparring matches had given me plenty of opportunity to gage his strength and remove any doubt I could take him.

  Except I couldn’t put this guy down and risk the werewolves realizing my true strength or any of them getting a glimpse of my vampire-werewolf hybrid abilities. They had to believe I was like any other weak newbie werewolf pup. So I had stayed in first gear and, as a result, I’d gotten my ass handed to me repeatedly.

  No words could describe how sick to death I’d become of werewolves, but especially this Gunther guy. He was a bully and one of the nastiest werewolves I’d ever met, which was saying a lot. After three weeks living around them, watching them come and go, I’d met many.

  My patience had been tested at each turn, and I constantly squashed the driving need to muster every ounce of my hybrid power, and months of hardcore training with vampires and shape-shifters, to effortlessly smash this guy. But giving him the ass kicking he deserved probably wouldn’t make me any friends. And I couldn’t risk ruining any chance of discovering where they were hiding Natasha, the shape-shifter queen.

  Still, the urge to show him what I could do suffocated me, made me itch to break free.

  He grabbed me by my shirt and shoved me against the wall, nearly crushing my spine. “You worthless sack of—”

  My brain shut down and I thrust the ball of my hand up into his chin. His jaw jammed backward with a crunch and the bones in his neck snapped. His head flopped to the side as he toppled to the tile floor. I braced myself, knowing a broken neck would probably keep him neutralized for only a few minutes, an hour tops. He’d be so full of rage, I’d have to kill him in self-defense.

  Unless I got killed first.

  Since overpowering Gunther with my bare hands when he woke up would raise red flags, I needed a weapon to protect myself against him or against anyone else who f
elt I’d crossed the line. My gaze flashed across the great expanse of tile floor to the wall, locating my favorite dagger. Every muscle in my body stiffened when I noted the lack of motion around me and the eerie silence. All eyes fixed on me.

  Uh-oh.

  I’d lost control and drawn attention to myself. I inwardly seethed at all the crap I’d taken from these dogs and how badly they’d treated me while I had tried to get information. They hadn’t given me anything I could use. Three weeks of holding it together, trying to make friends with these mutts, and I’d screwed everything up.

  I hadn’t even met the werewolf king, much less learned where he was holding Natasha. Three weeks of hell for nothing.

  “What happened, Jack?” Cesar growled, his fists planted on his hips, showcasing his massive biceps. He rarely spoke to me, but when he did, he never bothered looking at me. Like I wasn’t worth that little effort. I sure had his attention now.

  If I backed down and they let me live, I’d risk being killed a hundred different ways later. Or I’d forever be their whipping boy and never make progress on my mission.

  Being nice hadn’t worked for me. I stretched my shoulders back. “I got tired of him,” I snarled.

  In my peripheral vision, seven werewolves surrounded me. I couldn’t fight all of them. I could, but I probably wouldn’t win. Maybe if I raced to the door, I’d make it past the entryway and into Autumn’s Mustang before anyone stopped me.

  Fat chance of that happening.

  “And I’m hungry.” I glared at the wolves. “First one to touch me loses a limb.”

  The space between my shoulder blades stung and I stumbled, struggling to remove the dart but unable to reach it before my knees buckled and I reeled forward. No one bothered catching me and my face slammed into the hard tile. The last thing I felt was the excruciating pain of my cheek bone shattering.

  Autumn called to me telepathically and I faded to black.

  God, I loathed werewolves.

  Chapter TWO

  Autumn

  “He hasn’t answered you?” Renzo paced the velvety rug of King Cedric’s suite, his gray eyes dark and downcast in worry. When I’d met him months ago, before Zack and I knew he was Zack’s father, I’d noticed his rough skin. If a supernatural didn’t appear healed and perfect, then the damage had to have been deep and the destruction too great to mend quickly. I suspected he’d been burned alive. His skin had improved slightly over the months, though, making him and Zack resemble each other more each day.

  “No.” I gnawed on my bottom lip, hating that we were comfortable and safe at the vampire palace in Los Angeles, while Zack was risking his life among werewolves somewhere in Utah. He wasn’t right around the corner where we could get to him quickly if he needed help. I wish I had fought harder to prevent Zack from leaving. But he’d been insistent that he was the only one who could infiltrate the werewolf castle. He was right. But I still hated that he was in danger every moment.

  “Tell me again what he said before.” Renzo ran his hand through his dark brown hair, then his feet ceased their abuse of the carpet and he faced me.

  I grimaced. “That he couldn’t talk now.”

  With a flourish of his hand, Dathan rose from the overstuffed chair. Now that he was standing in front of the window, the sun brought out the faint red in his brown hair. One side of his face was still puckered and raw from being nearly dismembered in an explosion a few weeks ago.

  Dathan was the vampire king—when he chose to be. Cedric had been ruling the vampire kingdom since I’d met them, because Dathan had been preoccupied. For instance, Dathan had been very busy manipulating Zack and me, making us do things we didn’t want to do. Of course, it was all for a good cause. If we succeeded in overthrowing the werewolf king, freedom for all supernaturals wouldn’t be just a fantasy anymore. Dathan often came across as a bit of wild card, and I often suspected his motives, but my gut told me to trust him. He’d proven time and time again he would always steer us in the right direction.

  “It’s only been a few minutes,” Dathan said. “When werewolves are nearby, he can’t talk to us. That could be all there is to that.”

  “You’re probably right.” Though Renzo’s voice remained even, his stiff posture betrayed his anxiety. No one could blame him for obsessing over his son and all the different ways Zack was risking his life. “He always has long silences between checking in. This is normal.”

  “Dathan, who did you say we were meeting in Arizona?” I asked in an attempt to distract Renzo and myself from thinking about how Zack was faring in the werewolf-infested town with the disgusting werewolf king.

  “More supernaturals to help in our battle to overthrow King Mortimer.” Dathan scratched his scruffy chin as his blue eyes touched on both of my parents, Quentin and Olivia.

  And once the werewolf king was overthrown, who would replace him? That wasn’t my concern at the moment though. I just needed King Mortimer gone so Zack and I could be free to truly be together. My werewolf mother and my shape-shifter father could come out in the open too. Although the fact that my mother was a werewolf, not a shape-shifter, was still a secret that I wasn’t supposed to know—or anyone else. “Who are we meeting? Vampires or werewolves?”

  Dathan’s mouth curled up. “Witches.”

  “Witches?” I blinked. “Like real witches?”

  He chuckled. “Yes, genuine witches. They’re not quite what’s depicted in the movies, but they have powers which may prove useful to us.”

  “Witches don’t like your kind or mine. They keep to themselves. Why would they want to join us?” Renzo asked.

  “It is true they may choose to avoid embroiling themselves in battle.” Dathan shrugged. “So many of them have been murdered over the centuries through internal wars and attempted coups. I don’t know how many are left. I’m hoping that one of them cares enough for the future of their species and a chance at world peace that they’ll be willing to fight someone else’s battle. It’s worth a try.”

  “But it’s their war too. If we pull this off, they stand to benefit greatly if the new werewolf ruler keeps his people from hunting witches.” My mom scooted closer to my dad on the love seat, the top of her nearly black hair contrasting against my dad’s blond. “I wouldn’t mind meeting Queen Jane. Is that who you set the meeting with?”

  “Yes, and we should leave soon,” Dathan replied, checking the time on his wrist. “It’s a six-hour drive to Scottsdale.”

  “How long from there to get to Glendale, Utah?” I asked, more than a bit antsy to help Zack.

  “An eleven-hour drive, give or take. The werewolf king is about thirty more miles in a small town called New Dover, named after his old home in England,” Dathan replied.

  “Population maybe three or four hundred. All werewolves,” Renzo added. “That’s where Zack is.”

  Hundreds of werewolves against several of us? We needed to recruit a lot of witches. But from what both Renzo and Dathan had said, getting any of the witches to help us didn’t seem likely.

  “We’ll get our things packed.” My mom tugged on my dad’s hand and they slipped through the door to the adjoining room. It was great to see my mom up and around again. Dathan too. They’d both been horribly injured and disfigured in our last battle and it had taken weeks to recover. Fortunately, we wouldn’t be at war for at least a few more days, so they had time to heal more.

  Zack didn’t have much time to get us any information we needed. If he didn’t come through, we’d be storming the castle blind.

  “I can be ready to go in five minutes.” Renzo started toward the adjoining room, but Dathan’s voice stopped him.

  “You can’t go.”

  Renzo pivoted toward Dathan, squinting. “Excuse me?”

  “We’re collecting any witches willing to help, then going straight to Mortimer. But we must have witches capable of withstanding Mortimer’s compulsion. If Mortimer’s henchman, Ulric, could gain a vampire’s ability to glamour completely, combined
with the werewolf’s power to control someone remotely, we can be positive that King Mortimer can do both too. You’re only three centuries old and not strong enough to defend yourself against that kind of power. I don’t want you in a position where you have to battle your own son or one of us. We’ll be outnumbered as it is.”

  Renzo laughed once. “Ridiculous. Just you and a witch or two?”

  “Hopefully, multiple witches. Quentin and Olivia will also come with me.”

  Renzo’s nose flared. “How do you figure Autumn’s parents, weaker shape-shifters, will be immune to Mortimer’s charms?”

  “They’re older than you think.” Dathan stood, closed the distance and then laid a palm on Renzo’s shoulder. “Autumn’s coming too. She comes from powerful parents and she’s even stronger after being given vampire blood, so strong that she was able to fend off Ulric’s attempt to control her.”

  “Hold on.” Renzo angled his chin toward his chest, his eyes staring daggers. “You’re telling me I can’t come, yet you’ll risk the life of an innocent teenager? Two, actually—her and my son.”

  Dathan’s jaw set, his voice lowering. “Autumn is special and you know it. Since you met her several months ago, how many times has she surprised you?” He gritted his teeth. “I can’t bring anyone who is too weak to protect themselves against mind-control. But I need help. I don’t have a choice but to take her.”

  “Then share your blood and I’ll have the strength,” Renzo said. But his tone had changed. He knew as well as I did that Dathan hadn’t shared his blood with anyone in centuries. Zack and I were the only exceptions, for reasons I wasn’t totally certain of.

  “You know I can’t do that.” Dathan shook his head. “When I share my blood, the recipient is connected to me for eternity. As king, I have my people to protect. I can’t allow anyone the capability of finding me through that connection. Autumn and Zack, they saved Cedric’s life and I then used my blood to save Autumn’s. Extenuating circumstances.”