Andromeda's Reign

by K. S. Haigwood

  Phoenix shrugged. “What will losing a week’s worth of memories hurt? I’ll tell Mena the compound was attacked after she said her wolf’s name and that she was injured during the occurrence. It won’t be difficult for her to believe that she spent a week recovering in my chamber. You can tell Ace something similar. Didn’t one of his pride members fall recently? Tell him slayers attacked and knocked him out for a week. That could explain the temporary blindness, too. Freak accident.”

  Clay’s nervous eyes shifted to the others, and then they were immediately back on Phoenix. “I can’t risk it. When he finds out—”

  “He won’t find out. They won’t be bonded any longer. If you take their memories, there won’t be any reason for either of them to question it. They will believe what we tell them.”

  Clay shook his head. “I have a bad feeling about it.”

  Leaning forward for emphasis, Phoenix continued. He could see the interest hiding behind wariness in Clay’s eyes. He knew he almost had him. “You want him back in the band, don’t you? He will never consider it if he is with her, Clay. Ace already told you that he missed it. He won’t be heartbroken. He won’t even remember her. She needs to come home, to Montgomery, where she belongs. Mena has a pack to look after. She can’t do that from here and Ace can’t look after his pride from there. This is a solution that will fix everything. Their communion will never work. If anything, you will be helping them. You have to see that.”

  Clay’s expression hardened. “And what if he does find out, huh? What then? I like my balls where they are, not shoved up in my throat, just so you know.”

  “How can he be upset with you? He won’t remember what it felt like to love her. If you tell him that he was once in love, but he just doesn’t remember it, he will laugh in your face. It’s widely known that the Alpha lion doesn’t do commitment. He’ll probably thank you for it.”

  Clay swallowed, and Phoenix could tell that the guy was seriously weighing his options. “What if he finds out and he isn’t happy about it? I’m being totally real, Phoenix. I may be a rock star, but I honestly don’t have many friends. I don’t want to compromise—”

  “Blame it on the ritual and say you didn’t know reversing the bond would erase any memories he had of her. He doesn’t need to know that it was intentional.”

  Clay was silent for a long moment, but then he finally spoke. “I need to think about this. I can’t—I won’t—make this decision now.” Clay’s eyes were sharp as they pegged Phoenix. “FYI, if I do this and it all blows up in my face, my finger will be pointing in your direction.”

  Phoenix sat back, a satisfied smile on his face. “Of course. Like I said before, it’s only a suggestion. I’ll leave the decision completely up to you.”

  Friday, February 6th 2015 4:28 p.m. PST

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  Andromeda

  Freedom had only come in one other time. The food she brought in had looked like scraps of what hadn’t been eaten from lunch. One of the fried chicken legs on the paper plate even had a bite taken out of it. Although, the bones may be sharp and sturdy enough to stab someone in the neck if she couldn’t find anything else before they come to get her to be executed. She frowned. There would probably be more than one guard if they had to move her. She’d heard Slade talk about how skilled they were at fighting. Andra huffed in frustration. She didn’t stand a chance with a damn chicken leg bone as a weapon.

  Andra had left the food untouched, not that she’d really had an appetite in the first place. That had only been an excuse to get closer to the girl, hoping Freedom would see her as a sane person, instead of the monster she assumed Andra was.

  Andra glared at the 12 quart cooking pot Freedom brought in with the food. She’d said it was the only thing she could find. Well, Andra thought, I literally have a pot to piss in. It was a thin, stainless steel pot, not very heavy, but it would definitely knock someone out of she hit them in the head hard enough with it.

  As it turned out, she really did have to pee. Maybe she could throw her urine in their faces, temporarily blinding them before hitting them over the heads. Or at least grossing them out to throw them off their game. What were her other options? She didn’t have any weapons, besides a chicken leg. The chains barely had any slack in them. Strangling someone with them wasn’t going to happen. She couldn’t even touch her hands together.

  Biting them might work—if they got close enough to her mouth—but that wouldn’t save her life. It didn’t matter. She was a dead wolf anyway. Andra had to go out fighting. At least if Ace found her afterward, he’d see the damage she caused and be proud of her.

  The thought of Ace made her heart ache. And after she meditated, she realized that her heart ached for Phoenix, too. Everything she’d felt for him that she hadn’t been able to feel under the bond had returned to her. Andra remembered every touch and kiss and how they made her feel when she was in his arms. The trouble was, she felt all those things and more with Ace. She’d given Phoenix a harsh, clean break. It was less complicated to leave it that way, even though it broke her heart to hurt him. She would only hurt him more if she expected him to stay with her when she knew she loved Ace, too. “You’re one hot mess, Mena Hoke… Mena,” she said again, and then squeezed her eyes shut when she remembered yelling at Brad for calling her Mena. Why had she done that? Was she turning into a different person? Of course she was. The bond was forcing her to.

  She had been gone almost two hours, and knew they were probably going out of their minds with worry. If the executioner didn’t get here in the next six hours, she and Ace were as good as dead anyway. Or that’s what she figured would happen after the bond took them out.

  Maybe Phoenix was right about finding a way to reverse the bond. If she hadn’t gotten upset and ran out on everyone, she might have considered it. It would certainly be safer if they weren’t under the bond’s influence. This situation proved that.

  And Roel… She sighed as she shook her head. He was on his way, and, boy, would he get a surprise when he arrived. Justice had nearly killed him, and he had killed Jaxon and others. Lea had almost been taken. Andra’s stomach flipped, and she was glad she hadn’t eaten what Freedom brought to her.

  Glancing at the pot again, she knew she didn’t have any other choice but to use it. Her bladder was about to bust and she wasn’t pissing on herself.

  Her injuries were finally healing, albeit slower than normal for a shifter, but she didn’t feel like screaming every time she moved now. Andra slowly got to her feet and scooted the pot closer with her foot.

  The chains weren’t long enough for her to bring both hands to the button and zipper on her jeans, but she could twist and get them undone with one hand, so that’s what she did. Getting the jeans over her hips wasn’t a walk in the park, either. She had to keep twisting back and forth, shoving each side down a few inches at a time.

  Something poked her leg, and she let out a yelp. Slipping her hand inside her front, right pocket, her fingers closed around something hard. Though the surface of the object was smooth, it had pointy edges. Andra’s eyes grew wide the moment she realized what it was. After wiggling it out of the tight space, she stared in awe at the brooch Ace had given her. Decorated with an inlaid design, held tight by heavy gold, the zircon, citrine, peridot and amethyst princess cut stones surrounded and cradled the single brilliant cut diamond in the center. It was magnificent. The two-inch pin on the back that was used to secure the jeweled item to clothing had come undone. That’s what had poked her.

  Her eyes moved from the pin to the cuff on her wrist, and then the key hole in the cuff. The key hole was small, only a little bigger than a standard set of handcuffs that police officers carried. Ace had been alive a long time and she had his memories. She wondered if he’d ever taken an interest in picking locks.

  The trouble with that was she still didn’t know how to access his memories in her brain. Well, if Freedom didn’t come get her to be executed anytime soon, she had almost six
hours to figure out how to find a way to get free.

  And she would start her search, just as soon as she finished peeing.

  Friday, February 6th 2015 4:43 p.m. PST

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  Ace

  “Getting anything yet?” Slade said.

  I clenched my teeth together and ran a hand over the stubble on my face. I hadn’t been able to shave since I’d gone blind, and the shit was beginning to itch. Same went for my hair. I usually kept it tight to my scalp on the sides, but Andra seemed to like running her fingers through it, so I hadn’t touched it since our bond. What I’d give to have her hands anywhere on my body right now. But that wouldn’t happen until I got her back. Christ, what were they doing to her? “No,” I said, in a low tenor, “and it’s pissing me off.”

  It had been two hours since she meditated, so I gave it a hard guess that there was still an hour before I would start to notice a change, begin to feel her and hear her thoughts again. After the meditation bubble was broken, I would find her.

  I had a feeling this was going to be the longest hour of my life. It would help if I could see, but no, I was sitting my ass in the passenger seat of Silvia, with Slade behind the wheel, driving like a fucking grandma. This car wasn’t meant to be driven slow. Was traffic bad or what?

  It wasn’t his fault. I mean, it wasn’t like we had any leads on which direction to go. I had mine and Andra’s cell phone that Slade found in the dumpster. Both were still intact and working properly, but that didn’t help me find her.

  Slade’s cell rang and I tilted my head, enhancing my hearing as he accepted the call. “Yeah?”

  Clay’s voice came through the line. I held my hand out, and the phone was instantly deposited in my palm. “What have you got?” I said.

  “The location spell isn’t working at all on her,” Clay said. “Embyr and I have both tried. We got nothing. According to the map, she isn’t even in the country. The only other time I did a location spell and the person couldn’t be found, it was because the person was… he was…”

  “He was what?” I barked.

  Clay sighed. “The guy was dead, Ace.”

  Swallowing hard, I gripped my fingers tighter around the phone. “She’s not dead, Clay. I would know.” Honestly, I didn’t think I would actually know. When we were under the meditation, I couldn’t feel her at all, but I had to tell myself that she was alive or I would lose my mind.

  “I don’t think she is, either,” Clay said, “but we still can’t locate her. Rainey just got off the phone with one of those ex-demons. A few of them are on their way here. Just wanted to let you know in case you wanted to meet them and hear how they can help us… if they can help us.”

  “Yeah, we’re on our way. It’s about a half hour before the sun sets, so we’ll all be able to search for her soon.” Ace ended the call and handed the phone back to Slade.

  “Home?” Slade said.

  Ace nodded once.

  Chapter 47

  Friday, February 6th 2015 4:55 p.m. PST

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  Andromeda

  After several attempts of trying to break into Ace’s memories in her mind, Andra was about ready to give up. There had only been a few flickers of images, yet she couldn’t figure out how she’d managed to make them happen.

  Blowing out a breath and closing her eyes, she imagined a door. It wasn’t just any door. It was the door to Ace’s memories. She knew this because she told her mind that’s what it was. Didn’t hurt to try and use her imagination; nothing else was working. Standing in front of it, she imagined that it would be steel, and suddenly a two-inch thick, dark gray steel door replaced the dull wooden door in front of her.

  She reached out to grab the knob, but after trying to turn it, she discovered that it was locked. Andra frowned.

  “You are my mind and you will do what I tell you to. Unlock the door,” she said, and then she heard a click. Andra’s eyebrows rose as the door knob turned freely when her wrist twisted in the air.

  Pushing through the door, she stepped inside to find a wide hallway that seemed to go on forever. The floor was tiled in red and black, like a checker board. It reminded her of a scene out of Alice in Wonderland or a roulette table. How fitting for Ace, she thought.

  On each side of her were an infinite amount of red doors set in the black walls. “There are so many,” Andra whispered to herself, and then she frowned. “Where do I even start?”

  Narrowing her eyes on the first red door to her left, she grabbed the knob, turned it then pushed her way into the room.

  The feel of a different time surrounded her as she walked into a small room with off-white walls. The man beside the bed was tall and thin, but Andra could tell from his build that he was a working man. His skin was tanned and the hand that shakily reached out to the white blanket the woman in the bed was holding was calloused. He smiled adoringly down at her with a familiar looking mouth.

  Andra gasped when she realized this man was Ace’s father. His pale hair was a few shades lighter than Ace’s, but his mouth and eyes were exactly the same.

  The man and woman ignored her presence as she walked closer to the bed to get a better look at what the woman was holding. It was obvious that this was a memory, and that she wouldn’t be seen while she was here. As she grew nearer, Andra focused on the beautiful woman, knowing instantly that this was Ace’s mother. Her long brunette hair was pulled to the side and sweat covered her brow.

  “He’s perfect, Garret,” the woman said as her dark-green eyes looked down. She adjusted the blanket in her arms, and a little hand, with five tiny fingers shot up from the bundle.

  The man reached forward and offered one of his long fingers for the baby to latch onto. He smiled, proudly. “He sure is, MaeLynn.”

  With love pouring out of her shimmering eyes, she looked up at her husband. “What would you like to name your son?”

  “Do you like the name Jesse?” he asked her.

  MaeLynn’s smile grew as she shifted her gaze back to baby Ace. It was difficult for Andra to wrap her mind around that a baby this small could grow up to be six-foot-seven and half as broad as a rhino. “I love the name Jesse.”

  Andra took a step closer, needing to see Ace’s face as a baby. Garret didn’t look over at her when she moved up beside him. The strangest feeling came over her when she locked eyes with the infant. He just stared at her, as if he could see her and knew her, like his soul knew her soul.

  There was a slight burning in the center of her chest, and Andra reached up to rub her sternum as her head began to buzz and whirl.

  “Andra…” Ace said through her mind.

  She looked all around the room, frantically searching for him, but he wasn’t here. “Ace! Ace, where are you?”

  There was no reply, and the baby began to fuss and cry as she backed away. She wasn’t going to find out how to pick handcuff locks in this memory.

  Andra turned and rushed out of the room. After pulling the door closed, she drew in a deep breath and studied the long corridor. Each room contained one memory that Ace had in his life. It would take her forever to look at them all. She didn’t have forever. At best, she had only five and a half hours, and that was if the executioner didn’t show up and terminate her life before the bond took her and Ace out.

  If I die, will it hurt Ace? Will he die, too? The thought made her blood run cold. There had to be an easier way of finding specific memories in this place.

  Remembering that the door had unlocked when she’d told it to, she wondered what she could tell the room to do to help her now. Asking it to lead her to the door she needed seemed a bit too easy, but she was definitely going to try it before discarding the idea.

  “Which door will show me the memory of Ace learning how to pick a lock?” she said, her voice echoing off the walls and down the long corridor, but, after a handful of seconds, nothing happened.

  She blew a breath out through puffed-out cheeks as she thought about wh
at to do next. Peeking in every door to see if Ace was chained up in any of the rooms would be too time consuming, but what other choice did she have? Think like the Alpha wolf you are, Mena.

  “Identify the memory that resides within each door,” she said.

  Loud screeching and scraping noises began, and Andra had to put her hands over her ears to drown it out. It stopped after about ten seconds, but nothing appeared different.

  Huffing irritably, she glanced to the door on her right and paused. Reaching out, she ran her finger tip across an elegant black script that had been engraved in the face of the wooden red door. The words read, My first steps.

  Turning, she looked at the door she had entered first. Black script was written at eye level on it where there had been no words before. Met my soulmate.

  What? She took a step back, horrified. It couldn’t be. The memory behind that door didn’t have anything to do with Ace meeting his soulmate, unless his mom was the woman fate intended for him to be with. Andra couldn’t have really been in that room when Ace was born. It was physically impossible. But he’d looked right at her… and those words on the door…

  Glancing down the hall that seemed to go on forever, she wondered if he’d seen her other times before the bonding. Had his soul met hers before? Was that what it was? Was it possible that they really were soulmates, not just forced soulmates? If that was the case, why hadn’t she ever seen him before? Or had she, but just didn’t remember it? Surely Ace would have mentioned this if he would have remembered it. It was too mind-boggling to try and figure out now, but she made a mental note to talk to him about it if she ever saw him again.

  Thinking back, she remembered how enamored and captivated she was with him when she’d listened to the first song he’d sung on the Salacious Limerick CD that she’d bought over five years ago. It had become an obsession of sorts to find out everything she could about him after that. Trey Thatcher had been in her thoughts more than she would have admitted to anyone, especially Marc. Of course, Marc had noticed, and gotten a bit jealous about it. She wondered if her deceased husband had known Trey was really a shifter and the Alpha of a pride of lions.