“And who are you?”
“My name is Robert Carter.”
Blake frowned. “I know that name ...” He lifted a finger and pointed at the other man as recognition dawned on him. “Congressman Carter?” He couldn’t help the surprise in his voice. What the hell was a congressman doing standing out here in the middle of nowhere, and what did he want with Autumn?
Robert Carter gave a slow nod. “That’s right.”
His eyes narrowed. “I hope you’re not going to be another Vivian Winters?”
“No, no.” Robert shook his head. “Not at all. I’m not a scientist or involved in research. I’m on your side.”
Autumn twisted in Blake’s arms to face him. “He says he knows my mother.”
“Impossible. Your mother died years ago.”
“Not according to Robert. He says she’s alive and well.”
“What?”
The man nodded and stepped closer. “What Autumn says is true. Her mother had similar abilities to Autumn, though we didn’t know how to complete the process back then. People were after her and it was decided that faking her own death was the only way to make them go away. She was terrified they’d look toward Autumn, even though she was only a child back then. But of course the ability to shift had never been passed down generation to generation, so it was never considered that the ability to create shifters would be any different.”
“So my children might be able to change shifters, too?” Autumn’s gaze settled on Blake.
He held her eye. He’d so badly wanted her to say ‘our children’ and felt that she had, too. He didn’t want to push the topic, not with so many people around.
Robert nodded. “It’s a possibility, yes.”
She took a deep, shaky breath. “Wow. This is all too much.”
Blake bit his lower lip. “I’m sorry, but there’s more.” He glanced back toward the new arrival, and then back to Autumn. “We need to talk to you—in private.”
Robert nodded and moved back toward his car.
“Let’s go into the house,” said Blake.
Autumn uncurled from him and he tried not to experience the sense of loss at her lack of contact. But she moved right behind him, her hand lightly touching the base of his neck, and he knew she didn’t want to be apart from him any more than he wanted to be from her.
Chogan, Lakota, and Wenona followed them in. Blake didn’t want anyone else involved, only the people who’d been present during the murder of Madison’s ex, and those who already knew. He couldn’t keep this a secret from Autumn either. They couldn’t have secrets if their relationship was going to work.
“Autumn,” he started. “I have something I need to tell you.”
She stared at him. “Go on.”
“While you were away, Madison’s ex turned up and tried to abduct Madison and Billy.”
“Jesus.” She frowned. “Are they all right? I haven’t seen them.”
“They took off. There was an altercation and Madison’s ex was shot.” He stopped clearing his throat, and tried again. “That is, I shot Madison’s ex.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, crap.”
“Yeah, you can say that again. The cops showed up here looking for him. Turns out he’s an official around here, and people are missing him.”
“Shit.”
“The thing is, we need to move his body. We didn’t think anyone would be looking for him, so he’s in a shallow grave not too far from here. His truck is not far from there. But we need to destroy the body, or the police will find it and everyone involved will be going down.”
“Including you.”
“Especially me.”
Her lips pressed together, a muscle in her jaw twitching. “You can’t go to prison, Blake.” She gestured to his wheelchair. “Not as you are.”
He reached out and took her hand. “I’m not going to prison, which is why we need to do this now.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll help.”
He didn’t want her involved, but it was too late for that. He knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She wasn’t some weak, helpless woman. She was his equal and more.
He turned his attention to another strong woman. “Wenona? Do you think you’ll be able to lead us back to the place you buried the body? You know this area better than anyone.”
She nodded. “Yes, I’m sure I can.”
“I’m coming, too,” said Lakota.
Blake shook his head. “No, father. You need to stay here. The others need your guidance.”
In truth, his father still looked exhausted, the lines around his eyes and mouth had deepened, the whites of his eyes bloodshot. Lakota had already done far too much for them, and Blake didn’t want him doing any more. But he knew telling the older man that he looked tired and so needed to stay wouldn’t work. Lakota was proud, and wouldn’t admit to any weaknesses.
Lakota nodded. “Very well. I’ll watch over the others.”
“Thank you, Father.”
Chogan brought his hands together in one sharp clap. “Okay, let’s do this.”
They walked out to where the others still waited on the porch. The man who had bailed out Autumn lurked awkwardly by his car, checking his phone.
“Peter, Mia,” said Blake. “Do you think you can keep that guy occupied for an hour or so?”
“He could probably do with using the bathroom and something to drink,” said Autumn with a wry smile.
“Sure, sweetie,” said Mia. “Everything okay with you guys?”
“Yeah, we’ve just got some stuff to sort out. Probably best you don’t know about it, not yet anyway.”
She nodded. “Sure.”
Blake waited on the porch, while Autumn went down to invite the new guy into the house and explain that they had something to deal with. He could hear Chogan and Wenona talking in low tones, and knew they were discussing the best way of destroying the body quickly.
It didn’t matter if the cops found him dead, as long as they couldn’t figure out who, or what, had killed him.
Chapter Twenty-five
AUTUMN WATCHED AS Chogan helped Blake into the passenger seat of the truck. Wenona took the seat in the back. Most of the others had gone back inside the house, fussing around the new arrival, but Mia lurked outside of the house on the porch, watching them go.
“Everything okay?” Autumn asked her.
“I just hate how we’re always having to separate, you know?”
“Sure. But it won’t be for long this time.”
She gave a wry smile. “Until the next time. Can you tell me anything about what’s going on?”
Autumn couldn’t tell her anything about the murder, but she could talk about something else. “Robert says my mother is still alive. He says she might be able to do the same as me, and that I might pass this gift ... curse ... whatever the hell it is, down to my children as well if I have any.”
She didn’t know if she should be experiencing pride or terror for children who didn’t even exist yet, or why she should feel anything at all. She hated the idea of her children being persecuted, or even being put on a pedestal for what they could do. The possibility of them being able to live normal lives was whizzing past her. Perhaps she could bring herself to understand what her mother had done. If she had children and was able to do something in order for them to have normal lives, would she do it? But she shook her head. If she was ever blessed enough to have a child of her own, she would take that child and run before she ever let herself be parted from them.
“I heard what Robert said about your mother,” said Mia. “That’s crazy. I mean, we would have known, surely. Or had some kind of clue, or someone would have spotted her. It’s one hell of a story he’s telling, you know that, right?”
“Yeah, but he’s damn convincing.”
“That doesn’t mean what he’s saying is true. He might have his own agenda. You don’t know that you can trust him. I’m frightened for you, Autumn. So many people
seem out to hurt you.”
Autumn pressed her lips together, considering her friend’s words. “I know that, but if he hurts me and I can’t go back to the courts when I am told to, he’s going to lose one hell of a lot of money.”
“Okay,” she relented. “Just be careful.”
Autumn noticed Mia standing with her hand pressed against her stomach. “Are you still unwell?”
Mia whipped her hand away and clenched it at her side. “Oh, no, I’m fine. Just tired, that’s all.”
Autumn gave a small smile. “Mia, honey. Is there something you need to tell me?”
Her friend bit her lower lip, her eyes darting from side to side to see who else was near. “I can’t ... Not until I talk to Peter.”
Autumn widened her eyes. “Are you ...?”
Mia stopped her with a wave of her hand. “I don’t know for sure yet. But I’m late. Very late, and I’ve been feeling sick and tired all the time.”
Autumn resisted clapping her hands together in delight. “You are! I just know you are! How exciting.” She took a couple of steps and enveloped her friend in a hug. “I’m going to be an auntie!”
“Shh,” she said, though her cheeks glowed with excitement, her eyes shining. “I haven’t told Peter yet. He needs to hear it from me.”
“Of course. You have to look after yourself now. No dangerous stuff, okay?”
Mia smiled. “Okay.”
Feeling lighter on her feet, in her heart, Autumn ran down toward the truck where the others waited, the engine running. Even though she knew she was about to help dispose of a body, the idea of Mia having a baby created a bubble of happiness inside her. Nothing could bring her down from that.
The smile must have been plastered on her face. Blake looked at her with a quizzical frown, but she gave a shrug and climbed into the back. Wenona glanced over to her, the many lines around her eyes creasing deeper.
She knows, too!
Perhaps Wenona had been the one to tell Mia about her condition. She wasn’t sure, but she had a feeling Wenona knew. Autumn reached out to give Wenona’s hand a squeeze, and the two women locked eyes and gave each other a secret smile.
Chogan got the truck moving, driving around the side of the house, and heading into the back of the property, rather than out toward the main road. They left the graveled area surrounding the house and went off road, Chogan choosing a track Wenona pointed out. The ruts of tire tracks in the dirt already marked the way, and Autumn assumed the wheels of the other guy’s truck had left the imprints. They’d have to make sure the route they took also destroyed the possibility of the police taking any imprints from the tracks and matching them to Madison’s husband’s vehicle.
The truck bumped and jolted along the trail. They took a number of different trails, Wenona pointing from the back seat each time they needed to take a new turning.
“Over there,” said Wenona, eventually, pointing into the undergrowth. Not far from the trail, a truck had been driven into a tree, the hood crumpled and he driver’s door left wide open. “We wanted it to look like he’d had an accident and then wandered off, disoriented into the forest,” Wenona explained.
“Where he then shot himself and buried himself in a shallow grave?” Autumn replied, eyebrows raised.
She shrugged, color rising to her cheeks. “It wasn’t a flawless plan.”
Chogan had packed a number of items into the trunk, including a couple of shovels. He jumped out and headed around the back. He opened the rear door and started to unload.
Autumn got out to help, and Wenona joined her.
“Can you help me down?” Blake called out to his cousin.
“You don’t have to leave the vehicle, Blake,” said Chogan. “It’s not like you can dig or anything, and we didn’t bring the wheelchair.”
“I know, but I should be there with you. This was the result of my handiwork. It feels wrong to be hanging out in the truck, while you guys have to deal with all the shit.”
“I’m strong enough to do this on my own,” said Chogan. “Seriously, Cuz, stay in the truck.”
“No. Now stop arguing with me, and help me out.”
Chogan rolled his eyes. “Jeesh.” But he didn’t argue further with Blake. Instead, he made his way back over to the vehicle, and put his arm around Blake’s waist in order to help Blake from the vehicle.
Autumn watched, admiring Blake’s mental and physical strength as he took hold of a shovel and used his upper-body muscle to manoeuvre himself across the ground and toward where the man had been buried.
Autumn look past him to where an area of the ground had obviously been disturbed. She shuddered, picturing the body of a man beneath, his face covered in dirt, bugs sliding and scuttling across his skin. As the men got busy digging up the top dirt, she busied herself by unloading the other items Chogan had filled up the back of the truck with—another shovel, a jerry can of fuel, and a roll of tarp. She gathered the items up and walked back to where the body was quickly being unearthed.
A foot and leg had been revealed, the skin and clothing encrusted with dirt. Autumn pressed her lips together, forcing her revulsion away. She wanted to be as mentally strong as the men, and couldn’t let a weak stomach let her down.
She approached with the items, now able to see over Blake’s shoulder as he used the rounded tip of the shovel to scrape away the last of the soil from the body.
“Autumn, look away!” Blake cried, as the body was revealed.
But it was too late for her to avert her eyes.
“Oh, God!” Her hand went to her mouth and she spun away, instinctively shielding herself from the sight.
Instead of a stranger’s body being uncovered from the dirt, she recognized the almost bald head, the tall, gangly body, and, something new, the bloodied stump where his hand had once been.
Chapter Twenty-six
MIA HAD STOOD on the porch, her hand instinctively placed across her stomach, as she’d watched the truck containing her best friend bump and jolt around the outskirts of the property, and then disappear behind the house. The growl of the engine had grown fainter as it had driven away, and she’d heard the crack and crunch of sticks and foliage being ground beneath the wheels as they’d made their way into the surrounding pine forests.
She’d not moved from that position, instead lost in thought, and awaiting her friend’s return. She didn’t know what the others were up to, but she figured it wasn’t good. She longed for this whole thing to be over and for life to get back to normal—or at least as normal as it could be now.
The door behind her opened, and she turned toward it. Peter appeared in the doorway, concern in his grey-green eyes. “Everything okay?” he asked as he approached, his arm slipping around her waist. “You’ve been out here a while. Waiting out here for them isn’t going to make them come back any quicker.”
Mia nodded and circled his waist with her own arm, so they stood hip to hip.
“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “I know that. I’m just worrying about what my friend is getting herself involved with now.”
“I don’t think this is Autumn’s doing. Whatever they’re trying to sort out now happened while we were away.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve known Blake long enough to pick up on when he’s being cagey about something. I think Autumn is trying to help Blake this time. I don’t think this is her mess.”
Mia gave a repressed smile. “I don’t know if that makes me feel better or not.”
“They’re partners now,” he said. “Just like you and me, right? If one of us had something going on that we needed help with, I hope we’d always feel we could trust the other one. I don’t want any secrets between us, Mia, no matter how big or small.”
She smiled, but internally her stomach contracted with guilt. She was hiding something from him now, something others knew about before him. She’d hate it if Autumn or Wenona let something slip about their suspicions and Peter felt as though he’d been
kept in the dark.
He must have noticed her anxiety on her face. “What’s wrong? Are you still feeling ill?”
“It comes and goes,” she said truthfully. “I’m feeling okay at the moment.”
“But something is wrong.” It was a statement not a question.
Her heart beat harder at the thought of telling him. What if he was furious? What if he hated children? It wasn’t something they’d even discussed, and it was so early in their relationship. She didn’t want to say or do anything to jeopardize what they had, but by not telling him what she was going through right now, she was keeping secrets.
She shook her head. She didn’t want to say the words, her fear at his reaction causing them to freeze on her tongue, but she had to say something. If he heard the potential news from someone else, it would only make things worse.
“I don’t even know for sure. I mean, it hasn’t been confirmed, so I might be completely jumping the gun ...”
The faint lines around his eyes and on his forehead deepened with worry. “Mia, please, just tell me.”
She looked up at him, tears shimmering in her eyes. “I think I might be pregnant.”
A wide smile broke out across his face, the lines of worry vanishing. He scooped her up around the waist and spun her around. Mia laughed, and thumped him on the shoulder. “Put me down, crazy man!”
“Sorry, sorry.” He gazed down at her with those serious eyes and reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No. I’m not going to break.”
He stood and stared at her with wonder in his eyes, and then leaned in and kissed her. He reached around the back of her head, his fingers locking in her hair. The kiss left her breathless, and she broke away wanting to wrap herself around him, but aware they still stood, exposed on the porch.
“We can’t get too excited, Peter,” she warned. “It’s not been confirmed yet.”
“No, but you feel like you are, right? And your period is late?”
“Yes, and yes,” she admitted. “Wenona was the one who told me. She said she has a sense for these things, or something like that.”
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