Autumn felt nauseated by her mother’s sweet tone. She was sick of people trying to kiss up to her when they wanted something. “You’re actually okay with your children being kidnapped and held captive by a biker gang to force me to talk?” She felt something stirring inside her, something dark and ugly. She’d felt it for weeks and weeks now, rippling under the surface, ever since her parents had tried to involve her in their drug-dealing scheme.
“Autumn, you have to realize this is your fault. If you’d just told us where you threw the seeds, none of this would ever have happened.” That was her father’s voice in the background. “Sapphire is not going to let anything happen to your brother and sisters. Everyone will be fine.”
“You think Sapphire has any control over an entire biker gang?” Autumn screamed into the phone. “You stupid bastard! Rot in hell!”
Sapphire hung up and cuffed her on the head.
“Don’t you dare talk to our parents with such disrespect,” she growled at her.
Now they were riding in silence, and Autumn could feel fur rippling under her skin. Her bones shifted, aching to re-form themselves. It felt different from usual. Something had changed. Something was wrong.
“I gotta take a piss,” the biker sitting next to her growled. “Pull over.”
They pulled over to the side of the road and he slid out. Autumn quickly slid out too.
“Hey!” Sapphire yelled at her.
“Stretching my legs,” Autumn said in an indifferent tone.
The biker walked off into the tall grass, headed for the treeline. The driver climbed out too.
“She’s not going anywhere, if she wants to see her family again in one piece,” the driver said to Sapphire.
The dark, angry thing rumbled inside Autumn and begged to be set free. She closed her eyes and thought about what Clover looked like when she shifted. The enormous bear, towering, swiping with her paws, claws carved like cruel daggers…
She opened her eyes again. Sapphire had climbed out of the car and was walking towards her with long, angry strides.
“I know you’re pretty stupid, but exactly how stupid are you?” Autumn said to Sapphire. “They’ll kill every last one of us as soon as I show them where the crop is. They won’t leave us behind as witnesses.”
“No, they won’t. Clover won’t rat them out, so they’d have no reason to harm them.” Sapphire didn’t look convinced as she said that.
“You expect all four of them to keep their mouths shut? You think that all these dirtbags are going to risk their lives and their freedom in the hopes that Clover won’t talk? And Imogen will know that something is wrong and she’ll have called the cops by now. We were supposed to be back ages ago. You just handed your entire family over to be slaughtered. Probably Mom and Dad too; why should these guys share? And why should they share with you, for that matter?”
Sapphire’s scowl wavered and she glanced over at the Skullrider standing next to her.
“How do I know you won’t kill my parents and me and take everything for yourselves?” she asked. No concern about her siblings, Autumn noted with disgust.
His answer was a vicious punch to the head, which laid Sapphire out flat.
Now it was only two bears she had to deal with, Autumn thought as the dark anger inside her got harder and harder to control.
The Skullrider looked at her. “You’re going to take us to the crop. Your family can die quick, with a bullet through the head, or they can die slow. We can force them to shift and then skin them alive while you watch.”
That did it. Autumn exploded. Fur burst through her skin and her bones lengthened. Instead of dropping to all fours, she shot up in height. Her ears were rounded instead of pointed, and her claws curved from her massive paws, long and cruel. Her latent bear, from their mother’s side of the family, came roaring out, and her bear was mad as hell.
She towered over the shifter, who was gaping up at her, so shocked that he hadn’t even shifted yet. Autumn lunged forward and with one mighty swipe of her claws ripped his throat open, leaving him gurgling and drowning in his own blood. He staggered a few steps and then pitched forward onto his face.
Autumn quickly shifted back into human form.
She glanced over into the woods; the other shifter was emerging from the treeline, zipping up his pants. He ran over, gaping at the dead bear and at Sapphire lying facedown in the dirt and groaning.
“They got in a fight!” Autumn cried. “I think she killed him! What should we do? Is she dead?”
The bear swore explosively, running over to kneel down next to Sapphire. “Hey, wake up, you stupid bitch!” he yelled at her, shaking her hard. “Wake up so I can kill you!” Sapphire moaned, her eyelids fluttering.
Autumn shifted back into bear form swiftly and silently, and before he could move, she’d ripped open his neck as well. He toppled over to the ground with a heavy thud, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he was still. The air reeked with the coppery scent of blood.
She stood there for a few seconds, breathing hard. She’d killed two shifters. She’d killed them.