by Abigail Owen
Andie opened her mouth to respond but the sound of his cell phone ringing cut her off. With a soft curse, he pulled it out of his pocket and glanced down at the screen.
UNDER ATTACK
“Damn,” he muttered. He leapt to his feet and grabbed Andie’s hand.
“I’ve got to go. Now. I know we need to finish this, but—”
“What’s going on?”
She followed him to the door, but he turned and held out a hand. “No. You need to stay here.”
After a beat, she said, “They’re here, aren’t they? Carstairs?”
His jaw hardened, and he said nothing.
“Jaxon?”
He blinked as an invisible fist punched him in the gut. He’d had no idea how much he wanted to hear his name on her lips until she’d said it. With an effort, he kept his focus on the immediate issue.
“Yes. If this isn’t them, they’re close. But I’m guessing it is. They may not be sure you’re here, though, so we can’t risk their seeing you.”
She sank down onto the chair by her bed, her hands trembling. Jaxon wanted to wrap her up in his arms and tell her it would be okay. But he couldn’t. He had to get out there immediately. Damn. The timing couldn’t have been worse.
“I have to go. Stay here and wait for me. We’ll talk when I get back.”
He turned and opened the door. He was out of time. Glancing over his shoulder, that fist hit his gut again as he recognized the misery in her shadowed eyes, hidden by anger and bravado, but it was there.
“Dammit,” he muttered. In three long strides he was at her side. Leaning over, he placed a hard, fast kiss on her surprised lips. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
And then he headed out to confront whoever, or whatever, was attacking his dare.
Chapter 14
Andie sat for a solid minute. She lifted a shaky hand to her lips where she could still feel that brief kiss. She struggled to control her breathing as realization crashed over her in waves. She was in love with Jaxon Keller – she’d stopped thinking of him as A.J. a while ago. Carstairs had found her, and now she was responsible for putting Jaxon in this position, forcing him into a war with a dangerous man. A string of swear words screamed in her head, though she uttered not one syllable.
Well, she had made this mess, so she could fix it. She had to leave here, now, before things got worse. Before Jaxon lost his dare or his life. When he was just a name, she hadn’t thought of what her request for asylum would mean to him. But now…
Andie shook her head. Now she’d risk wolves and Kyle Carstairs to keep Jaxon safe. But first she had to stop that fight and draw the attackers away.
Without further thought, Andie grabbed a backpack and started stuffing her clothes and some other necessities in it. On the off chance she got out of here in one piece, she’d need it. She quickly made her way to the guards’ locker room. Thankfully she found it empty, as all the defenders were likely dealing with the attack. Stripping down, she shoved the rest of her clothes in her pack. Instantly she shifted into her cougar form.
Andie grabbed the bag in her jaws and ran out the door. Instinctively, she knew the battle would be happening around her rock. Her scent was all over it. If this was Carstairs, their forces would be drawn to that place.
She loped through the trees, swift and silent as a shadow, and circled around her rock, approaching it from the opposite direction than she typically did. About a quarter mile out, she picked up the sounds of the fight - trees and branches breaking and rustling and the large cats growling and squalling at each other.
Andie stopped and stowed her backpack up in the branches of a tall tree, making sure to note its location for when she returned. She continued on to the rear side of her rock. It angled at a fairly sharp incline, but was scalable. This must be the way Jaxon had come the night he’d snuck up on her. It had the advantage of being protected, invisible and downwind – at least tonight. They wouldn’t smell her or see her approach.
Andie quickly moved up the steep rock face. She could hear sounds of the fight on the other side, helping her make sure of her position. Finally, she reached the top. Slinking along on her belly, she peered over the edge and studied the scuffle going on below her.
She was able to identify the Keller cougars in their cat forms now. And, of course, she was intimately familiar with all of her own people in their shifts. If she’d been in human form, she would’ve frowned. The people Carstairs had sent made no sense.
Surveying the scene closely, she saw no place where she could help or intervene. If anything, she’d be an unfortunate distraction. So she lay low and watched carefully.
Jaxon’s forces were good fighters. Really good. Twice, she saw one of the Protectors use a move she’d shown him. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, she would’ve smiled. Time and again she found her eyes drawn to Jaxon. The distinctive black markings on his face made him menacing when he was in full combat. Since she had similar markings, she wondered if that’s how she looked when she fought.
He was pitted against one other cougar at the moment. Jaxon bided his time. She’d noticed that about him when they sparred. He used his patience like a weapon, just waiting for his opponent to make a mistake. He kept himself small, low to the ground. His ears lay flat against his head, and he bared his vicious teeth. But no hiss or growl came from him. Just deadly, silent intent.
The other cat paced back and forth, darting in every once in a while only to quickly retreat, trying to pick his moment to truly attack.
Don’t do it, Ben, Andie thought. She’d recognized him immediately. His coat was a light tan, almost pale grey in color, and she’d been working with him extensively when she’d left the dare. He was young, large, and quite powerful. But he also tended to be hasty and rushed his moves due to lack of experience.
Suddenly Ben lunged toward Jaxon, his forelegs extended, claws unsheathed, and he took a wild swing at Jaxon’s head. But Jaxon leapt up a second before it happened and stretched to his full length. He was easily nine feet long from his nose to the tip of his tail, big even for a male cougar. He took a risk exposing his belly like that, but it worked. He twisted in the air and came down on top of Ben hard, his jaws clamped over the back of the young lion’s neck. But Jaxon didn’t kill him… he just held him still.
That’s when she saw it. The slight twitch of a tail in the tree above where Jaxon now lay on top of Ben.
Oh, hell no! No matter that she’d once considered these men her friends. No one was taking out Jaxon if she could do something about it.
Jaxon was focused on the cougar he held still, and all his other men were otherwise occupied with their own skirmishes. She stealthily dropped the fifteen feet or so to the rock below her, landing quietly on the pads of her large paws and absorbing the shock with fluid grace. Then she crouched low, her legs positioned under her, her muscles bunched and ready to spring. She zeroed in on the form in the tree, no longer visible to her from this vantage point.
She waited. She had to time this perfectly.
The minuscule shake of the branch was her only signal. Without hesitation, Andie put all the power of her hind legs into her leap. She easily cleared the gap of about thirty feet and slammed into the mountain lion as it dropped out of the tree intending to land directly on top of Jaxon. Her horizontal momentum sent both her and the large cat crashing into the ground.
Andie allowed her body to roll but was up on her feet as soon as she came to a stop just out of view of the rest of the brawlers. She eyed her opponent warily, and recognition dawned. Mike. A friend. At least, she’d once thought so. Andie tipped her head to the side and gave a little mewling sound. Times like these she wished that shifters could hear each other’s thoughts.
Mike shifted suddenly and squatted before her in his human form. “We’re not here to fight, Andie. I’ve got a message for you. Pretending to check out Keller was the best way to get it to you.”
Before Andie could do anything, she heard Jaxon call
out, “Stop your fighting or I’ll snap his neck.”
Andie mentally swore. She didn’t have much time, but she needed to talk to Mike now. Checking that she and Mike were still out of view, she shifted. “How long have you really known where I was?” she whispered.
“Only about a week.”
She gave him a grim look, her jaw clenched. “If you know, then Carstairs will figure it out pretty soon.”
“You’ve got that right. I can keep him off you a little longer by saying we didn’t see any sign of you here. But that will only buy so much time.”
“Do it. I’ll be gone by then anyway. What’s the message?”
“It’s from your contact, Papa Bear. He said to tell you he’s offering you more options.”
Andie nodded. She hadn’t wanted to go that route, but her choices were dwindling. “Okay. I’ll get in touch with him later.” She glanced over her shoulder but only heard a low murmur of voices, likely Jaxon and his men deciding what to do next. She looked back at Mike. “How bad is it?”
Suddenly, sounds of the fight broke back out. Ben must’ve twisted away from whoever Jaxon had keeping hold of him.
Mike grimaced and quickly answered her question. “Kyle lit into your dad pretty hard. Smart, not letting your dad know where you went. Lucky they didn’t kill him outright, but they still need him. But Kyle, that sadistic bastard, enjoyed beating him just for the hell of it.”
He would, Andie thought. Kyle wanted the Beta position because it would solidify his succession to Alpha when Walter died. He’d been seriously pissed when Walter had refused. But what Kyle had yet to figure out was having two brutal, selfish men in the top two positions would most likely result in losing the dare. It was a reality her father had constantly struggled with. His presence kept the dare together, but his absence meant the people under the Carstairs would be in greater jeopardy. So he stayed. Besides, Kyle wasn’t above murder to take the Alpha spot, and Walter knew that. Making Kyle Beta would be like signing his own death warrant.
A pair of fighters slammed into the other side of the tree blocking them from view. Andie and Mike skittered back. She kept half her mind on the sounds of the fight, listening for any indication that Jaxon was in trouble.
“He’s okay though?” Andie asked, still needing to know about her dad.
“Yeah. You know Mark. Tough as nails.”
Andie nodded again. She had all the information she needed. Time to go. But now she had another problem. She had a feeling Jaxon wouldn’t let her just go off to the backwoods of Montana. But she also needed to stop this fight before anyone got seriously hurt.
Mike seemed to follow her thoughts. “You get going. I’ve got this.”
Andie thought about the best way to stop the battle. She hoped to hell she didn’t make things worse with what she was about to tell Mike to do. “Order the men to stop fighting as soon as I’m out of sight.”
“Hell, no. They’ll rip us to shreds.”
Andie thought about Jaxon holding Ben’s neck in his teeth without biting. “No. And when they do stop, tell Jaxon you’re with me. Just… don’t tell him I’ve left.”
“Got it.” Mike shifted and started to move away.
“And Mike?”
He turned back to her.
“Thanks. And watch your back when you return to Carstairs.”
Andie didn’t wait to see his next move. She shifted and took a quick scan of her surroundings. No one was watching or could see her. Jaxon stood just beyond her sight, but she knew he was there. She felt flayed raw leaving like this. She’d never thought she’d find love… had been too focused on her dare and her career to think about it much. But now that she had, walking away – even to save him – was possibly the hardest thing she’d ever done. Worse even than leaving her father and friends still in Kyle and Walter’s clutches.
Her heart shattering with every step, Andie turned and took off into the night.
Chapter 15
At the sound of their leader’s order to stop, all four of the other Carstairs cougars not only quit fighting, but they shifted and stood to attention. The move was risky, given that his own cats might not be able to pull themselves out of the mentality to kill, and these men were more fragile in human form.
Jaxon immediately shifted as well. “Kellers, halt!”
His men obeyed and shifted. Then Jaxon turned toward the Carstairs man who’d given the order. “You want to explain yourself?”
“My name is Mike Green. We didn’t come here to fight. We came for A.J.”
Jaxon glanced at his men, who shrugged their shoulders, their expressions wary. People outside his own dare didn’t know his nickname. “I’m Jaxon Keller. You’ve come to join me?”
“No, sir. We’ve come to talk with A.J. Reynolds, the mountain lion who came here to ask for asylum weeks ago.”
Jaxon narrowed his eyes. “And what exactly does A.J. stand for?” If these men were on a fishing expedition - trying to figure out if Andie was here - he wasn’t going to give that information away easily.
“Andromeda Jaci,” Mike answered. “Although she hates that name.”
Jaxon frowned, his mind racing. A.J. and Mike… those two names were familiar, especially in tandem and associated with Carstairs. But he couldn’t think about that right now. “Well, we’ll just have to ask… er… A.J. about that when we get back to the compound,” he said. “Stay in human form. We’ll shift and lead you back there to dress and be debriefed.”
Mike glanced over his shoulder toward the woods and then looked back at Jaxon. He nodded. “Lead the way.”
Jaxon was the first to enter the locker room. He half expected Andie to be there waiting but wasn’t all that surprised that she wasn’t. Not after the bombshell he’d dropped before running out the door.
He shifted and started pulling on his jeans. Without having to be told, his men took out some extra clothes that they kept in this room and handed them to the five Carstairs men. As soon as he was dressed, Jaxon waved William over. “Take them to the main interrogation room,” he said quietly. “I’m going to track down Andie and will meet you there.”
William gave him a funny look.
“What?” Jaxon asked.
“She was out there,” William said.
A tingle ran up the back of Jaxon’s neck. “Out where? In the fight?”
“Sure, boss.” William nodded toward Mike. “You didn’t see her take out that big cat over there with a flying leap from the ledge above? He was coming down right on top of you.”
A sense of dread started to pool in Jaxon’s gut. He’d been aware of the cougar above him, had seen someone else take him out, but hadn’t noticed that person was Andie. He should’ve known that she wouldn’t listen to him and stay in her room. “So where is she now?”
William shook his head. “Don’t know. I was a little busy at the time, and I knew she could handle herself.”
Jaxon held in a frustrated growl. He stalked back over to Mike. “If you’re here to talk to Andie, then where the hell is she?”
“Andie? You mean A.J.?”
“She goes by Andie here. My Protector says he saw her take you out. I’m not going to ask you twice.”
“I don’t know where she went.”
Jaxon gritted his teeth. “So you talked to her?”
Mike looked at him, poker-faced, and said nothing.
Jaxon started to suspect that Andie hadn’t just defied him to fight. She’d left. The panic welling up in him at the thought of her out there alone made him want to take off Mike’s head. Luckily, common sense prevailed.
He leaned forward, his face only inches from Mike’s. “Do you have orders to join this dare?”
“No. The plan is to return to Carstairs. Keep him off her scent.”
“You wouldn’t have to do that if she had asylum here.”
He saw the flash of doubt in Mike’s eyes, but still the other man remained silent. Jaxon let out a frustrated sigh. He hated to have to do it,
but he had no choice. He leaned forward and whispered just one word in Mike’s ear. Then he leaned back so Mike could see the truth of it in his eyes.
Mike’s jaw clenched. “Does she know?”
“No. And she can’t. Not yet. Now, where is she?”
“I really don’t know. I delivered my message, and then she left.”
“And you let her go?” Jaxon’s voice was quiet, but Mike flinched.
“She told me to stay. I took it as an order.”
“She’s just a Strategist. How can she give you orders?”
Mike frowned. “She’s a Commander.”
Jaxon felt as if he’d just been slapped. Hard. A female Commander wasn’t unheard of but was extremely rare. For a misogynist like Walter to let her take that position was even more confusing. But he’d seen Andie fight, and he’d discussed her strategies with her firsthand. He’d been a blind fool. No Strategist had skills like hers. No wonder Kyle Carstairs had tried to mate her. And given what she’d told him about her father, he’d bet she had also been trying to position herself to take out Carstairs eventually, helping her people survive in the meantime. No other way would she be a Commander for that monster of an Alpha.
“What was the message?”
Mike shook his head. “That won’t help you much either. A contact of Andie’s called Papa Bear wanted to discuss her options.”
Shit. Options could only mean one thing in Jaxon’s mind. She was going to another dare, another Alpha. Not if he had anything to say in the matter.
Mike broke into his thoughts. “She’s too smart to go anywhere Carstairs or anyone in our dare would know about. And good luck tracking her quickly. She taught me everything I know, and it took me weeks to figure out she was here.”
Jaxon spit out an expletive. He was desperate to run right out that door and go after her immediately, but he probably wouldn’t find her that way. Jaxon took a calming breath and thought about his next move. First he needed to handle these Carstairs men.
