Andrew [Whitedell Pride: 9]

by Catherine Lievens

  He knew he was going to have to break up with Xavier soon, though. He saw how the man looked at him, and even if he couldn’t understand how Xavier could possibly like him, he could see the man cared, and he didn’t want to hurt him more than he probably already had. It wan’t as if he wasn’t used to be alone anyway, and he would have Soren’s company for a while. Sure, there wasn’t going to be anything sexual between them, but he could go without for a while.

  “Here. The sheets are clean, and I hope you don’t mind taking the couch.”

  Soren narrowed his eyes at him. “What about the guest room? You don’t want me to shed hair all over the bed? You wouldn’t see it anyway on those white sheets, my tiger is white.”

  Oh, so Soren was a white tiger. Andrew really wanted to see it, but there was no way he was going to mention it. The man was irritating enough as he was. Andrew was stunned that Soren had mentioned the fact that he was making him sleep on the couch instead of in the spare bed. No one with manners would have. “Sorry, I’ll be sleeping there. I just can’t stand sleeping where that man was.”

  “Change the sheets.”

  If only it was that easy. “I already did, but I still can’t stand the thought. I also found out I’m missing dirty clothes, and I’m really creeped out as it is.”

  Soren clucked his tongue. “Fine, do what you want. You’re not a very good host, though.”

  “And you’re an even worse guest.”

  Andrew stormed out of the living room, but he still had the time to hear Soren yell after him, “And what about food? I woke up in the middle of the night to help you and you’re thanking me this way? No bed, no food?”

  “If you want to eat you can raise your furry ass up from the couch and find the kitchen!” Andrew hollered back. God, the man was infuriating!

  He quickly went in the spare room’s bathroom even as he heard Soren move around the lower floor, then pots banging in the kitchen. He couldn’t believe that man was really going to cook! He hadn’t been serious when he had said that, but the delicious smells coming from downstairs as he got out of the bathroom made his stomach growl. He was not going to go downstairs and give the man satisfaction, though, so he just headed to bed and tried to sleep.

  He listened to the noises Soren made for a long time, and when he finally fell asleep his dreams were filled with dark blue eyes and white fur. The sun was already up when Andrew woke up, the alarm on his cell phone blaring. He reached for it on the nightstand and silenced the annoying thing before rolling on his back, his forearm on his eyes.

  He didn’t want to get up, but he had an appointment at eight thirty, so he had to. Andrew started moving but he stopped when he felt something heavy holding back the sheets. He moved to his side, thinking that it had to be stuck somewhere, only to jump up and screech loudly.

  “What? What? Is that guy here?” Soren bolted up from the bed, looking frantically around the room.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Andrew yelled at him, his hand still on his chest. The damn shifter had nearly given him a heart attack! Soren was still looking around searching for an intruder, so Andrew stopped him. “There’s no one here but us, idiot! Now do you mind telling me what you were doing in my bed?” And oh god, Soren slept in the nude. The vision of his body was now seared into Andrew’s brain, the long limbs and white, white skin, the powerful chest and...his morning wood. Shit! “Cover yourself, damn it! I don’t want to see your-your...” Andrew gestured at Soren’s waving dick.

  Soren seemed to think the situation was hilarious because he started laughing. “What? You don’t like the view?”

  “No!”

  Soren raised a brow as he looked down Andrew’s body to his erection. Andrew grabbed his pillow and hid his dick under it. “It’s not for you, asshole. It’s a normal physiological reaction.”

  “Yeah, sure. You can try to convince yourself of that, but we both know the truth.”

  Andrew yelled in frustration and threw his pillow in Soren’s face before stomping away to the bathroom. He wanted to scream and then pout like a kid, but he wasn’t one, damn it! How was it possible that that man could make him feel like he was a hormone-ridden teenager again? Soren was getting under Andrew’s skin, and Andrew wasn’t sure he liked it. No, wait. He knew he liked it, and it made him furious with himself.

  He hurried out of the shower to his room and got dressed. Andrew was starving, and the incredible scent of bacon and eggs came from his kitchen beckoned, so he headed that way. He found Soren in front of the stove, waving a spatula around as he danced to the radio. Thank God, he had put some clothes on, because the scene might have given Andrew a permanent boner if Soren had been naked. It was already sexy as hell as it was, and Andrew couldn’t keep his eyes away from the tiger’s swaying hips and his amazing ass encased in tight denim.

  Well, the man might be infuriating, but at least it seemed he was good at cooking. Maybe letting him stay in the house wouldn’t be too bad after all.

  Andrew sat down at the table and waited for breakfast to be ready. Soren quickly finished and put his plate on the table before sitting down. One plate. Only one. Where was Andrew’s breakfast?

  “What? You know where the kitchen is, so you can cook your breakfast yourself, right?” Soren said, his eyes glittering in mischief.

  “What the fuck? Are you serious?”

  Soren shrugged. “Sure. Now, if you want some eggs, you could always ask nicely. Maybe I’ll give them to you.”

  Andrew watched as Soren literally made love to his fork with his mouth. His lips closed on the fork then he slipped it out and proceeded to lick it clean, his tongue moving on it way longer than necessary. Andrew felt his cock stiffen and he knew he had to get out before Soren noticed it. He stood up so fast that his chair slammed against the wall, then stomped away, grabbing his bag as he went and opened the door.

  “Hey, where are you going? I’m supposed to walk you to your office!”

  Andrew heard Soren move behind him, but he didn’t care. He had to put some distance between them before he jumped the man and ravished him.

  * * * *

  Soren rose from his chair and ran after Andrew. Okay, he knew he shouldn’t have teased the man like that, but how could he not? Andrew was so touchy about stuff that it was actually funny. What wasn’t funny was that Soren hadn’t been able to finish his breakfast. He might have teased, but he had prepared Andrew’s breakfast earlier and had put it in a brown paper bag, ready for take away.

  It wasn’t as if Andrew could leave him there anyway, not unless he was going to lock Soren in the house, which from the noise of the key in the lock, he was already doing.

  Soren ran to the door only to find it closed. “Andrew! Open up! I have to go with you!”

  Nothing. Andrew wasn’t coming back for him, and while Soren was seething, he was also kind of amused. He wasn’t sure what Fate had thought when she had thrust them together, but he was actually having fun. He would never admit it to Andrew or to anyone else, though.

  That was one of the reasons he’d ended up in Andrew’s bed last night, the first one being that the couch was really uncomfortable. That thing was not made to sleep on it, so after tossing and turning for a while, he had just decided to go upstairs. He could have chosen to sleep in Andrew’s bed, but he wanted to be close to his mate, so he had settled in the guest room, next to Andrew. And of course he had slept naked just like he did at home. The look on Andrew’s face when he saw him was priceless.

  After a few minutes, Soren was sure his mate wasn’t going to come back for him, so he took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Finn’s number. He so didn’t want Dominic to find out he had already lost Andrew, and he would find out if Soren called Ani.

  “Soren, hi.”

  Thank God, he had answered. “Hey, Finn, I need a favor.”

  “What can I do for you?”

  “Could you come here and shimmer me out of the house?”


  “Okay, you have to explain where here is first. The only thing I know is that Dominic told us you’ll be away for a while.”

  “I’m helping a friend of Dominic’s, but the guy didn’t appreciate my sense of humor and he locked me up in his house. I have to follow him to his work, though, so I would be eternally grateful if you could come and let me out.” Soren heard someone guffaw in the background and he knew that Bryce had heard everything. Damn! Shouldn’t the man been at work or something?

  He quickly explained where he was to Finn.

  “I’ll be there in a few seconds.”

  Finn hung up and Soren just had the time to put away his phone before the air shimmered in front of the door and Finn appeared. Of course, Bryce was with him, and of course he was still laughing.

  “He locked you in?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Now you can stop laughing and get me out of here, please? There’s a stalker after Andrew, so I can’t leave him alone.”

  Bryce’s eyes hardened a bit as he became serious. “A stalker?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, look out for Andrew then, ‘cause Dominic will have your hide if you let him get hurt.”

  “What do you think, that I would let anything happen to my mate?” Soren snarled a bit, his tiger clearly annoyed by the suggestion that they weren’t enough to protect their mate. He realized his mistake as soon as the words came out of his mouth, but it was too late to take them back. Bryce’s eyes widened as Finn hugged Soren, congratulating him.

  “Andrew’s your mate?”

  “Yes, Bryce. He doesn’t know it yet, so please, could you keep it to yourself?”

  Bryce laughed. “Oh man, this is going to be so entertaining to watch. Andrew is the most feisty, sarcastic, and snarly man I know, and you,” Bryce gestured at Soren, “You’re the exact opposite. I wonder who’s going to wear the pants in your relationship.”

  Soren had had enough of the guffaws, so he raised a brow at Finn. The Nix was used to Bryce’s antics, so he just rolled his eyes and grabbed both of them before shimmering away. Soren was surprised to find himself in an office. The style was similar to the one he had seen in Andrew’s house, and Finn knew the code of the alarm since he rushed to the panel and entered it. “Where are we?”

  “In Andrew’s office. Dominic established a number of safe places we can shimmer without anyone finding us, so that if there is an emergency we don’t have too many problems moving quickly. Andrew offered his office, well, the broom closet, but I shimmered here, since it’s too early for clients to be here.”

  It looked like the man hadn’t arrived yet, but it wouldn’t take him long, since his house was pretty close. After saying goodbye and scowling one last time at a chuckling Bryce, Soren used the time he had until his mate arrived to inspect the place. From what Soren could see, the alarm system was a good one. There were even motion detectors he could activate at night. All in all the office looked like a safe place, so the problem was Andrew’s house and when he was out.

  Soren heard the door open, so he sat down into Andrew’s leather chair and pulled his feet up on the desk, trying his best to look relaxed. He wasn’t, but he wanted to take Andrew’s mind off the stalker, and it seemed like teasing him worked.

  The look on Andrew’s face was enough to tell him he was doing the right thing. Sure, he looked like his head was about to explode when he saw Soren there, but Soren saw the tiny smile on Andrew’s lips before he schooled his expression and started scolding him.

  “Take your feet off my desk! What are you, an animal? And how did you get out of the house?”

  Soren threw him the paper bag containing his breakfast before getting up and walking to him.

  Andrew caught the thing and opened it, his eyes vulnerable for a few seconds.

  “No need to thank me.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it. It’s the least you can do after sleeping in my bed and eating my food.”

  Oooh, snarky. Their banter might seem harsh to someone who listened to them, but Soren could see the small smiles and the shining in Andrew’s eyes. They were both having fun.

  “Well, Andy, if I hadn’t had to come and save your ass in the middle of the night, I wouldn’t have had to sleep in your bed and eat your food, now, would I?”

  Andrew’s eyes were shooting daggers, but he really had nothing to answer to that, so Soren just settled on the couch in the corner. Andrew started eating, and it pleased Soren’s tiger to see that they could provide for their mate. This was only the first step, of course. The next one would be finding the stalker, but Soren wasn’t sure of what he could do to achieve that. He had to stay with Andrew, so maybe he was going to end up face to face with the stalker, but someone also had to actively look for him. Maybe Isaiah could find something.

  “I have an appointment in about ten minutes, so you should go.” Andrew looked like he was trying to be hard, but there was no heat in his voice. Yup, the mating bond was already at work.

  “I’ll be sitting in the entrance, so if you need anything, just holler.”

  Andrew stood up and threw away his waste before narrowing his eyes at Soren, who still wasn’t moving. “Go on, then.”

  Soren made a show of standing up and stretching, smiling when he saw Andrew’s eyes latch on the strip of skin he had exposed between his t-shirt and his pants. Of course, the man quickly looked away, but it was enough to make Soren happy, even if Andrew was already scowling at him again.

  Just then, someone knocked on the door and Claire, Andrew’s secretary, poked her head into the office. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw that Andrew was not alone, but she didn’t comment. “Sir, your first appointment is here.”

  “Let him in, Claire.” Andrew walked to the door and held it open for Soren, so he strode to it, but before getting out he leaned into his mate and took a good whiff of his spicy scent. Soren let his breath bathe Andrew’s ear.

  He saw him shiver and couldn’t resist planting a kiss onto Andrew’s skin, just under his ear. “I’ll see you after your appointment, mate.”

  Soren walked outside, leaving a stunned Andrew hanging onto the handle of the door.

  * * * *

  Andrew stood there, unable to move. He wanted to think he had heard it wrong, that Soren hadn’t really called him mate, but he knew better. Maybe Soren had just been teasing. Andrew thought he would be capable of doing that just to get a reaction out of him. But what he felt for the man pushed him to think that Soren had said the truth.

  Would it be that bad? Andrew wasn’t known for having long relationships, but it was not for not wanting them. He knew very well that he was not an easy man to be with, but Soren seemed to be able to deal with Andrew’s moods, hell, he even provoked him!

  “Mr. Chevny?”

  Andrew was startled out of his thoughts by his client, and as little as he was able to concentrate on what the man was telling him, the appointment went well. He was lucky it was an easy case, a consensual divorce with no kids involved.

  He really wanted to talk to Soren, but the morning was busy and he couldn’t manage to find an occasion. He noticed that Soren was watching him every time he could, even winking at him when Andrew saw him talking with a curvy blonde and scowled at them.

  The morning passed way too slowly for Andrew’s taste, but when lunch arrived, he realized he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to give Soren the satisfaction of asking him if they really were mates but he wasn’t sure he could stand not knowing for any length of time. He’d already had to endure a whole four hours of it, and he would never get any work done if he didn’t put his mind at rest.

  But even if he found out they were mates, what would he do? It wasn’t like he could jump the man right there in his office—although he very much wanted to do just that.

  “Ready for lunch?” Soren was leaning against the frame of the door, his eyes sparkling as he smiled at Andrew.

  “Sure.”

 
; “Oooh, no snarky answer?” Before Andrew could give him one, Claire cleared her throat from behind Soren.

  “These came in for you just now,” she said, stepping into the room with a big bouquet of red roses. Andrew had never liked them—the color reminded him of blood, not passion. “Xavier is so sweet to think about you like this. I wish my husband would still have these attentions.”

  Xavier was sweet, but Andrew somehow doubted he was the one who sent them. He was a shy man, and while he was affectionate, he wasn’t one to send flowers, especially because he knew Andrew’s hatred for red roses. Soren seemed to come to the same conclusion as Andrew because he took the flowers from Claire’s hands and thanked her before closing the door after her.

  Andrew watched the flowers as if a snake was about to jump out of them any moment now. He didn’t want to read the note he could see attached to them. He just wanted to throw the whole thing away, but Claire would have thought it was weird, and they were trying to keep the stalker thing under wraps.

  Soren plucked the note and held it up. “Want to read it?”

  Andrew shook his head. “No, but you can if you want.”

  Soren opened the small envelope and his gaze hardened as he looked at the note. His eyes were blazing and Andrew was suddenly glad he was on the tiger’s side, because he knew that whoever his stalker was, if he ended up in Soren’s hands he would have a painful end. “It’s not a note, not really. It’s a picture.”

  Andrew reached for it even as his brain told him to stop. He needed to know, though, and took the picture with a trembling hand. It was a picture of him sitting in his living room with Dominic, clearly taken from outside the living room window. Andrew’s stalker had spied on him last night after he had left him the flowers, and while he didn’t have to worry about him exposing his friends for being shifters, he was still scared to death for himself. How many times had that man looked at him without him knowing? How many pictures had he taken?