Avenging Autumn Read Online Free PDF

a few doors.”
    “Thanks Wenona,” said Autumn.
    The sight of all the guns made Mia’s heart pick up its pace, the hairs on her arms rising. A shiver wracked through her body, and unconsciously she lifted her hand and rubbed at the spot on her shoulder where the bullet had entered. The hours after the shooting came back to her in flashes. Much of the events that followed were missing from her memory, as if chunks had been deleted in a script, but the parts she did remember were confusing and frightening. People yelling, blood everywhere, pain like nothing she’d experienced before. She knew shifting would be just as painful—Peter had already warned her about that—but at least she wouldn’t be terrified that she was going to die.
    Sahale and Tocho had been outside with the soldier who had delivered the box containing Autumn’s father’s hand. Autumn got Tala to call them in, and they manhandled the guy into the room.
    “What’s your name?” Autumn asked him.
    His eyes were wide, darting nervously around the room, and then to the pile of guns on the table. Mia realized the man didn’t have one of his own. Wasn’t that unusual for a member of an army to go on a mission like this unarmed?
    “My name’s Todd Newby,” he said.
    “Okay, Todd. How long is it going to take us to reach Vivian?”
    “By car? Or by ...” He glanced around, perhaps trying to figure out what each of them were. “By animal.”
    “The vehicles will move a lot slower than the shifters, so let’s say by car.”
    “Six hours, maybe closer to five, if we make good time.”
    “And how did you get here? We would have heard a vehicle.”
    “I left my truck up on the side of the main road, about three miles from here, and walked the rest.”
    She nodded. “Well, you’re going to take us back to your truck, and the shifters here will change and follow. Don’t try anything, or I’ll happily start sending you back to Vivian in the same way Vivian decided to return my father to me.”
    He held up his hands. “I don’t want any trouble.”
    “Too late for that,” snorted Chogan, as he bent to select a weapon. He lifted up a Beretta M9 handgun and weighed it in his palm. “You got more ammo?” he asked Wenona.
    She rolled her eyes. “Sure, I do, honey. What do you take me for?”
    “Then we’re good to go.”
    Autumn turned to Marcus and Angie. “You guys need a weapon?”
    Marcus stared at the table with intense focus. The pile of guns began to tremble, the handles and barrels rattling together. Mia found herself holding her breath. One of the handguns lifted into the air and spun around, the barrel pointed at Marcus.
    “I’ll go for this one,” he said.
    “Don’t do that!” Mia snapped. She couldn’t help herself. Guns weren’t a plaything.
    Marcus let the weapon drop back to the table. “Sorry, Sis. I forget to consider other people’s feelings at times. Bad side effect of basically existing alone for the last ten years.”
    “Yeah, well, consider them.” Immediately she felt bad at snapping at him. It wasn’t Marcus’s fault that he’d been kept prisoner his entire adult life. She got to her feet, put her arms around him, and kissed his cheek. “Sorry.
    His arm squeezed her waist. “Nah, I’m a dick.”
    She noted how Marcus still had a way of talking like a teenager. He’d not been exposed to enough male adults in normal environments to develop fully his adult self. She felt like the teenage Marcus she’d always remembered had simply gotten bigger, and now had stubble instead of the peach fuzz he’d always been trying to cultivate.
    “What are you smiling at?” he asked.
    She shook her head. “Nothing. Just remembering stuff.”
    “Is everyone ready?” Autumn asked.
    They all got to their feet.
    A touch on her elbow made Mia turn. Peter stood behind her, his serious gray eyes taking in her face. “This will be your first full shift from woman to animal. Are you sure you’re ready?”
    She offered