Andrew [Whitedell Pride: 9]

by Catherine Lievens

  * * * *

  Andrew’s eyes flew open and he was instantly awake. He didn’t know why—he was the kind of person who needed a little while to become human again in the morning, and he could count on one hand the number of times he had woken up as aware as he was now.

  The room was darker than when he had fallen asleep, which meant he had slept longer than he had planned to. The guy who had to fix the broken window would arrive soon—maybe that was what had awakened him, so he listened, just to see if he really had heard the guy.

  He heard nothing.

  Andrew tried to relax again, although he knew he wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep. He didn’t want to anyway, but he could wait a little bit more before getting up, at least until he really had to. He couldn’t let go of the feeling that something wasn’t quite right, though, and it made it impossible just to relax in the soft cushions of the couch. He gave up, getting on his feet and stretching out before heading to the bathroom.

  Andrew couldn’t shake away the feeling of being watched, followed, and he cursed his stalker. He knew it had to be him who was watching him right now, but even if he felt spooked by the feeling of the man’s eyes riveted on him, he felt safe. This was the exact reason why he’d had the alarm system installed. The stalker couldn’t get in, and while Andrew felt sick from the sensation of the pervert’s gaze on him, he knew the man couldn’t touch him.

  He looked at the panel on the wall in the entrance, smiling at the green and red lights casting a glow in the low light. He really had to turn on some lights if he didn’t want to hurt himself, but first—bathroom.

  It was only as Andrew washed his hands after taking care of business that he realized something was wrong with the alarm. As he visualized the panel in the entrance in his mind, the wrongness of the image hit him like a fist in the guts—all the lights should have been green, indicating the alarm was engaged.

  Andrew froze, remembering the red light blinking. It meant that someone had disarmed the alarm, and as much as Andrew wished it was Soren, he knew it wasn’t possible. His mate didn’t have the code yet.

  Andrew’s heart was beating hard as he considered his options. He didn’t have that many of them to begin with. He was in the bathroom, which lacked weapons of any kind, and while he could lock himself in and wait for the cavalry to arrive and rescue him, it wouldn’t do any good against a shifter’s strength. The stalker could simply throw the door down.

  Andrew’s phone was in the living room, on the coffee table. His best option would be to call Finn. His friend could be in the house in a handful of seconds and whisk him away, but Andrew had to get to the phone first, and he didn’t know where his shifter stalker was in the house, although he would have bet his left nut that he wasn’t far from the bathroom in which Andrew was hiding.

  He was a hundred percent sure the man was there, waiting for him to make a run for it. If he had to guess, the man had entered through the broken window, but Andrew was in the dark as how he had managed to get the alarm’s code.

  The broken window!

  Andrew could wait for the man who had to fix it arrived. But what if the man was delayed? What if Andrew didn’t hear him knock or if he just couldn’t get to the door and the man walked away? Andrew would have to get out of the bathroom if he wanted to answer the door, and the stalker could get him then.

  Andrew hesitated, considering the possible ways to get out of the house, and he finally made a choice. Getting out there was probably dumb, but it was better than being cornered in a bathroom with a window too small for him to escape from. Besides, maybe the stalker wasn’t in the house. He could have gotten in to leave flowers or steal more dirty laundry as far as Andrew knew.

  Andrew felt like one of the heroines in those bad horror movies when he opened the door, just barely. They always went up the stairs instead of heading outside, and always called out loud to check if anyone was there watching them. They were always the first ones to die, and Andrew definitely didn’t want that to happen to him.

  He was going to do everything he could to avoid that, and he kept his goal—getting to the front door in one piece—well in mind as he cracked the door a little more open and listened carefully. He just had to get to the door and make a run for his office or one of the stores near it.

  When he didn’t hear anything, Andrew took a deep breath and slid into the dark hallway. He could see the front door right in front of him, the light from the street lamp shining through the curtain that covered the glass. It was so close, yet so far away, and he hurried toward it, trying to make as little noise as possible.

  Maybe he hadn’t succeeded at being silent, or maybe his stalker had been waiting for him to exit the bathroom. Either way, the man stepped out of the living room and cut off Andrew’s escape route, standing right there in the middle of the hallway.

  Andrew recognized him right away, although he didn’t remember his name. He had seen that face only hours earlier, after all. He stopped moving, waiting for the bear shifter to make the first move.

  “Hi, Andrew.”

  “What do you want?” Andrew’s fists were tight and he held them still against his sides.

  The bear shifter tsked. “I really can’t believe you’re asking, love. I know you have to hide our relationship from the world, but it’s only the two of us right now.”

  Andrew had no idea what the man was talking about. “We don’t have a relationship. I don’t even know your name for Christ’s sake!”

  “Fred. I’m Fred.” The shifter’s eyes made it clear he wasn’t happy with Andrew’s words. “Why are you trying to deny our bond?”

  “We don’t have a bond or any kind of relationship!” Andrew had never been so happy to be able to feel the bond he had with Soren. His mate’s presence was warm and shiny, keeping the panic at bay even as Andrew tried to push the fear and worry he was feeling through the bond in the hope Soren would feel something was wrong. He did feel worry coming back at him, but he couldn’t allow himself to concentrate on it, not when Fred was moving toward him.

  Andrew stepped backward, seeing a flash of anger showing on Fred’s face as he did so.

  “Why are you moving away from me? I’m your mate!”

  “You’re not,” Andrew spat at Fred. “Soren is my mate, and no one else.”

  “I should have claimed you when we first met months ago, but I wanted to give you the time to get used to shifters, but you had to go and let that cat claim you! Doesn’t the mating bond mean anything for you?” The man’s voice was getting louder. “I won’t make that mistake twice, love. I’m going to claim you, and I’m going to kill the bastard who took you away from me.”

  Andrew could tell Fred was serious about claiming him when he saw the fangs dropping in his mouth. He didn’t know if a bite from Fred could really hurt his bond with Soren, but he wasn’t going to stay there and find out, not if he could help it.

  Sending a desperate cry through his bond with Soren, Andrew turned around and ran for the backdoor. He knew there was no way he could outrun a shifter, but he had to try. He couldn’t let Fred bite him, ever. Even if the bite didn’t hurt his mating bond, just thinking about it made Andrew feel violated.

  Andrew was so close to the door, he could have touched it with only a few more steps, but he felt a hand pulling hard on his shirt, stopping him. He fell backward, right in Fred’s arms, all the while trying to keep his balance but failing miserably.

  Hard arms went around his body and warm breath bathed his nape as Fred tried to block him, so Andrew did the only thing that came to his mind. He stomped hard on Fred’s foot, throwing his elbow into Fred’s stomach and slamming his head backward at the same time.

  He hurt his elbow on the granite that passed for Fred’s stomach, but the crunch and howl that came from the stalker when Andre’s head collided with his nose was satisfying, even if it hurt like shit for Andrew too.

  Fred released Andrew, but he didn’t get f
ar. Andrew took only a few steps before a hand pulled on him again, and this time he went down. He saw the corner of the kitchen’s counter coming toward him, then a flash of pain to his temple blinded him, and darkness filled his sight as he lost consciousness.

  * * * *

  Soren hadn’t noticed it was so late. He had been talking to Adan the whole afternoon and had been elated when the man had smiled—actually smiled!—at him. He had ran to the doc’s office and had had him check over Adan, and while his condition was still the same, Jared had told him it was a very good thing. Soren really hoped the man was slowly coming out of it, and he had stayed and talked some more to him, his eyes never leaving Adan’s face and his heart breaking every time the smaller man smiled as Soren told him about Andrew.

  He had realized the room was getting dark only when he felt a jolt of fear and panic coming through his bond with Andrew. He had immediately grabbed his phone and run toward Dominic’s office, calling Andrew as he walked, but his mate hadn’t answered the phone.

  Soren tried again, but the phone kept ringing and no one was picking up. He shoved the thing in his pocket, more scared than before because he couldn’t feel anything coming from Andrew right now.

  He didn’t even knock at Dominic’s door. He just barged in, silently thanking whoever was listening to him that the Alpha wasn’t getting frisky with his mate. It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d walked in on that, but he’d rather go without getting an eyeful of his Alpha’s naked butt.

  He really didn’t care about the instant scowl the lion shifter gave him. “Something’s wrong with Andrew.”

  The scowl disappeared from Dominic’s face, replaced by fierce determination. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. I should have gone home a while ago, but I was talking with Adan and it looked like he was making progress. I lost track of the time, and I felt fear coming from Andrew, then nothing. I called but no one answered.”

  Soren could see Ani sitting on the couch, his gaze already blank and telling him he was communicating with Finn. The air shimmered only seconds later and Bryce’s mate appeared in the middle of the room, a frown on his face. The man was working hard to become a fighter for the pride, and he was always the first one to pitch in when someone was in danger or just needed help.

  Dominic stood from his chair behind his desk and held his hand out to Ani. “You just pop me in, okay? I want you to come back here as soon as I let your hand go.”

  Ani rolled his eyes but nodded and reached for his mate while Soren clasped his hand on Finn’s shoulder. The air around him moved and he felt his stomach do a flip inside him, but it took only a handful of seconds before Andrew’s living room appeared.

  Soren immediately saw that his mate’s cell phone was on the coffee table, but he couldn’t see much more than that since the house was dark. He had to thank his shifter sight that he was able to make out the silhouette of the furniture, or else he would have stumbled on something in his rush to go through the house and find something, anything that would lead him to Andrew.

  The fact that he was looking for his mate didn’t make him rash, though, and he took care to check no one was in the hallway before stepping in it. He knew Dominic would have his back, so he concentrated on the scents in the air. He could smell both Andrew and the bear shifter they knew was his stalker, and the scents became heavier with each step he took toward the kitchen. He could tell they had been there only moments ago, and he hated that he had been too late to save his mate, especially when he smelled the blood in the kitchen.

  Soren recognized his mate’s blood, and while the amount on the counter edge was small, it still made his tiger roar in anger. Their mate was hurt. The smell of blood lingered in the room, the fresh air coming from the open door scattering it, but it was still there, still a proof Andrew needed Soren’s help.

  His cat wanted to run outside and find the shifter who had taken their mate, tear him apart and hurt him as much as it could, and Soren was so close to letting him out. He knew he couldn’t, though, because he needed his human, rational mind to find Andrew.

  “I found a broken window in the living room, and Finn told me it happened when the alarm system was installed. Someone had to come by and fix it, but the stalker used the opportunity to get in the house. Finn also told me Andrew was positive he had armed the alarm, but the panel in the entrance says it isn’t. It seems the stalker knew the code, or that Andrew let him in.”

  Soren turned to Dominic. “He wouldn’t have let anyone in, not with the stalker around. The man entered through the broken window, I’m sure of that.” Soren cursed. He needed to find out who the stalker was, right now. The only problem was that they didn’t have clues that could at least point them in the right direction.

  He turned to the open back door and followed the scents outside. He smiled a feral smile when he realized the bear shifter had run toward the woods and not toward the street, and that they might be able to follow the trail the man had left. He needed help, though, because he wasn’t that good a tracker. “We need to call Nate.”

  Dominic nodded and got his phone out. Nate might be the pride’s Beta, but he was also the best tracker they had, and he was the one stepping in when things like this happened. It had been happening way too often in the last year and a half, but luckily they had been able to save all the people who had been kidnapped. Soren only hoped this was going to be true for Andrew as well, because he didn’t know if his tiger would survive the blow if something happened to their man. They had only about a week, maybe a little more, to find Andrew before he would start to feel sick from the lack of Soren biting him, and they couldn’t afford it.

  Soren was positive his mate could find a way to free himself, but to do that he needed to be well. Andrew was stubborn and fierce. He had to get out and come back to Soren.

  “Nate is coming. Nysys is shimmering him in.”

  Soren chuckled, the sound dark. “Maybe you should really think about getting some more Nix in the pride. They’re good when we have emergencies.”

  “I’m actually trying to convince Nysys to talk to his friends. From what he told us in the beginning, their little group formed because none of them is accepted in their tribes. We just have to convince them to move here and finish the extension of the mansion first.”

  Soren didn’t have the opportunity to answer because he saw Nate walking toward them in the hallway. The man stopped near the door and Dominic explained what had happened with Andrew.

  “A bear shifter, huh?”

  Soren nodded and started stripping, his clothes falling on the floor right there. He quickly shifted and shook his fur, the need to roar almost overwhelming. He kept the noise in only by focusing on Andrew. They didn’t need the stalker to know that they were onto him.

  Nate moved toward the tree line and Soren followed the jaguar, far enough behind not to disturb the scent trail. His tiger was impatient and wanted to run ahead, but Soren kept a tight leash on him, although it was definitely harder in this form.

  Soren followed Nate as he moved between the trees, desperate to find his mate or at least to feel him through their bond, but it stayed silent for now.

  Chapter Six

  The headache pounding right in Andrew’s temple made him want to thump his head against the nearest hard surface, but since he was trying to feign unconsciousness, it wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do.

  Oh, he had no doubts Fred would find out he was awake soon enough. Having shifter’s senses made it easy to hear Andrew’s heart beating frantically or his breathing hitching, but for now the man wasn’t in the room Andrew was in, or at least he didn’t think so. He decided to crack an eye open, hoping that he would find some kind of painkiller close to him, but of course he couldn’t be so lucky.

  Andrew was in a bedroom, lying on the bed. The only light came from the small lamp on the nightstand, but it was enough to see that the room was well kept, the bed made, and everything
was clean. Andrew didn’t know why, but he had thought his stalker would be living in a dump—possibly because the man stole dirty underwear. But no. The room was neat. Not that his stalker’s skills as a cleaner would do anything to help in Andrew’s situation, but it was nice being on clean sheets.

  Andrew moved a bit, doing a quick inventory of what hurt. He half expected his neck to hurt with a new bite, but the only pain he could feel came from his temple, and when he reached up to touch it, he hissed as his fingers came in contact with an open wound. It wasn’t bleeding, but Andrew could tell it had been at some point, although it seemed that someone had cleaned him up.

  “You’re awake, love.”

  Andrew wished he could have had a shifter’s senses, because he hadn’t heard Fred coming in, just like he hadn’t heard him in his house either. It was a shifter’s thing to be so silent, although Andrew had thought it was a feline shifter’s prerogative. Obviously, he’d been wrong. “Where am I?”

  “At home, with me. You don’t have to go back to your home, not this time. I want us to be together from now on.”

  Fred moved closer to the bed and Andrew slid as far as he could from him without falling from the bed. It was becoming obvious to him that Fred had some kind of delusion going on. He seemed to think the two of them were mates and had some kind of relationship that Andrew didn’t want anyone to know about them because of his job. Andrew wasn’t sure if he should keep insisting on telling Fred the truth or if he should just go with it and try to find a way to get out of the house as fast as he could.

  Andrew shook his head. “Can you give me something for my headache?” He wasn’t sure it was a good idea to take anything Fred gave him, but he needed to think, and to do that, he needed the headache gone. The man turned around and headed back from where he had come, so Andrew took the time to try to send some reassuring feelings to Soren. He felt ridiculous doing it, but he did feel better when he got back warmth and a wave of love. He sure wished he could actually talk to Soren like Ani and Dominic did, because this was way harder to understand.