by Abigail Owen
“We’d been there a few days when the attack happened. Timber wolves. About fifteen or so. Maybe twenty. I don’t really remember. I guess a decision was made to stay in the house where we were meeting and to fight them from there rather than run for help. This is almost twenty years ago now, so a lot of the technology we have today wasn’t around yet to call for help.”
Andie swallowed hard before continuing. “The people we were with, my mother included, held the wolves off as long as they could, but, the wolves just kept coming. They… have you ever seen a wolf shifter pack attack? A coordinated one?”
A.J. nodded, but didn’t elaborate. Andie grimaced. “Then you know that they’re relentless. No matter how many of them die or are injured, they just keep coming.”
She shook her head as memories of fangs and fur, those eerie coordinated howls, and the reflection of eyes in the moonlight flitted through her mind. And then blood everywhere. Screaming. Chaos.
“After the first night, my mother took one of the wolves they’d killed and skinned it. I asked her why she was doing that, and she said that it was to help me escape. That if I saw a chance, I should wrap up in it and leave. Head south. Use all the survival skills Dad had taught me.”
“It was to mask your scent,” A.J. murmured.
Andie nodded. “My mother was a very smart woman. She was killed during the second wave of attacks the next day. She’d hidden me in a safe hole in the wall, but I saw it all. A wolf ripped her throat clean out. I don’t think I’ve seen so much blood, even since. I watched as he dropped her to the floor where she kicked and twitched the last of life out of her.”
Andie stopped talking as that image filled her head. A wave of nausea buffeted her, and she swallowed.
“But you got away?” A.J. said softly.
Andie pulled herself back to the present and nodded. “She’d hidden me in the wall with the wolf skin. After they checked the bodies, the wolves left. Although to this day I have no idea how they didn’t hear me. My heart was pounding so hard.”
A.J. reached over and rested his hand on hers. She hadn’t even realized it was trembling until he held it.
“I waited, days it seemed like,” Andie continued, her eyes filled with the haunted memories. “But in reality it was probably just overnight. When I came out of my hiding place, I started gathering supplies like my Dad had showed me. And I saw something move. A boy, a little older than I. He was unconscious, but he was breathing. I found a sled and pushed us out of there.”
“How long till someone found you?”
Andie shook her head. “They didn’t. I managed to get us to a lodge of shifters about a hundred miles away. Some people my Mom and I had visited previously.”
Andie saw the shock register in A.J.’s eyes. A six-year-old girl had hauled an unconscious boy a hundred miles through Northern Canada in the snow and managed to find a safe haven.
“Jeez,” he breathed.
Andie smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I told you I showed talent young, and my Dad took advantage of that. The boy did wake up after the first day. And he’s the reason I didn’t die, lost out in the wilderness. He helped get us back to the shifters I was hoping to find. So I didn’t do it alone. But you asked me why I check everything?”
A.J. tipped his head, waiting for the answer.
“They got inside the house on that second wave because someone had opened a window to let out some of the smell, and it had disabled the alarm on the house. More warning could have made the difference between my mother’s being dead or alive today. Kyle Carstairs terrifies me. And I’m a damn good fighter now. But the only thing that scares me more than Kyle is a pack of wolf shifters. Those pack shifters may not hit the compounds as much anymore, but it still happens. And they definitely still attack the cougars in the wild. Now I have Kyle Carstairs hunting me too. So yeah, I check.”
A.J. reached out and pulled her into his arms. “You don’t have to worry about that here. I will keep you safe from wolves or Carstairs or anything else that comes for you.”
Andie let her head fall on his chest and closed her eyes. “I know.”
Chapter 12
A few days later, Jaxon was headed inside from a run through the obstacle course. Andie was still out there working with his men, but he had a meeting with his High Council in an hour and needed to prepare. He entered the guards’ room and hit the showers before returning to the locker where he’d stored his clothes. He’d just finished buttoning his shirt when the sound of his cell phone ringing caught his attention. He fished it out of his bag and looked at the screen. An unknown number flashed at him.
“This is Keller.”
“This is Sarai Bouchard,” said a soft female voice on the other end.
Jaxon jerked upright so fast he smacked his head on his open locker door with a loud clang. The Seer calling him couldn’t be good. A couple of his patrolmen were in the room and glanced up, giving him curious looks as he stood there rubbing his head.
“Give me a moment to get to a private space,” he said.
“Hurry, I don’t have much of a window to talk.”
Jaxon grabbed his bag and hustled through the halls to his rooms. His state of semi-undress received more than a few strange looks from the folks he passed.
“All right. I’m alone,” he said, once he’d locked the door behind him.
“You need to give Andromeda Reynolds a message for me,” she said.
Jaxon tensed. Sarai was a member of the Carstairs Dare. There were only a few Kuharte, cougar shifters with supernatural gifts, in the Shadowcat Nation. No dare was allowed more than one in order to keep the balance of power even. JoLynn, their Healer, was the Kuharte in the Keller Dare. Unfortunately, Sarai, one of the most gifted Kuharte, had ended up with Carstairs, which meant this call could possibly be a trap.
“I don’t know an Andromeda Reynolds,” he said.
Sarai’s soft sigh reached his ears. “You need proof that Kyle and Walter aren’t sitting right next to me,” she murmured. It wasn’t a question. “Do you remember the conversation we had about ten years ago?”
Jaxon moved to look out his window; the mountains of Idaho rose up beyond the walls of the compound. Usually the sight of those wide open spaces served to soothe him. But not today.
“I do.”
“I told you that someone very special would drop into your life. That you wouldn’t be sure at first, but you would know just how important she was to you eventually. You know now, don’t you? You know that girl is Andromeda Reynolds?”
Jaxon held his tongue. Sarai, by Shadowcat Nation law, was not allowed to reveal her visions to any but the person they were about. Her referencing the visions she’d shared with him now most likely meant that Kyle and Walter were not with her. But he couldn’t risk their threatening Sarai to do this in order to confirm Andie’s location.
Another soft sigh. “I have no love for Walter Carstairs. But Kyle… let’s just say that he’s a monster. And you know Kyle well enough to realize that I would be risking my life to say that in front of him.”
Jaxon’s shoulders dropped just a little. “You’re risking your life just calling me.”
“I realize that, but this is too important. You know it’s her?”
Jaxon pictured Andie, tiny and spunky with her gorgeous hair hanging in waves down her back and her dark eyes, full of life, trained on him. His heart swelled. He’d waited for her after the Seer’s call. Ten years he’d waited. He’d rejected arranged matings, even though his Council had encouraged him to find a bride and produce the next Keller Dare heir. He’d waited.
“Yes. I know.”
“That’s good.” He could hear the smile in Sarai’s voice.
Jaxon ran his hand through his hair. “Go on.”
“Kyle and Walter are closing in on her location. Andie is good at covering her tracks, but that was only going to last so long. Have you married yet?”
“No, though the offer’s on the table. So
rt of.” A.J. had made the offer, not Jaxon.
A short silence greeted his statement. “She doesn’t know who you are? You kept your identity a secret as I told you.”
“I tried, but I’m pretty sure she suspects.”
“Well, that explains a lot,” she muttered. “I also told you that you would know when the time was right to tell her. That passed two days ago. Why didn’t you say something?”
Jaxon’s jaw clenched. Two days ago, Andie had told him about her mother. After she was done talking, he’d just held her for a long time. He’d had this overwhelming urge to confess all then but had held back. That moment had been about her, not him.
“The timing seemed off,” he said to Sarai now.
Sarai muttered something that sounded like, “Dense Alphas.”
“What was that?” he asked.
“Nothing. It’s just that not telling her in that moment, when she was vulnerable, means that when you tell her now, you might set off a series of events that could end very badly. It’s… hard to see… very fuzzy.”
“Fantastic.” Jaxon ran a hand over his face. “Is there anything else that you can tell me?”
“It’s time to tell her. Tonight. And she won’t react quite as you’re expecting.”
“Anything else I should know?” he asked dryly.
“Not that I can share.”
Jaxon shook his head. “Do they breed stubbornness into Carstairs Dare women? Or is it just my luck that the only two I’ve met are so intractable?”
“Heaven save us from men who mistake a woman knowing what’s best for being stubborn,” Sarai said in a dry voice. “When I say I can’t tell you more, it’s because with more knowledge the future might change in a direction you don’t like. I’ve told you what I can.”
Jaxon heard a knock on the door through the phone.
“Just a moment,” Sarai called out. Jaxon could hear her voice shake, as if she was suddenly afraid.
“I must go,” she whispered. “Tell her who you are, and prepare for Kyle and Walter.”
“Thank you, Sarai –”
But she’d already hung up.
Chapter 13
Jaxon sat beside Andie on the couch in her little sitting room. She seemed to like having her own apartment. He’d said he needed to stick her somewhere, and putting her with one of the guards was not an option. He hadn’t added that he’d end up mauling them if she stayed with any one of them. Jaxon would have preferred to have Andie move to his own room, but that wasn’t the smartest idea, and he knew it. Plus, she’d likely tell him to take a flying leap off a tall building if he tried it.
Tonight, he was pretending to read a report from Nick, but none of the words were sinking in. Distracted, he ran his hands through his hair as his mind churned, his talk with Sarai filling his thoughts. He’d yet to tell Andie his true identity, and the need to confess was weighing heavily on him. After what she’d told him about her mom and the wolves, he’d felt the time had come. The Seer had said that he’d know when, and he’d wanted to blurt it out after she’d spilled her guts to him. But he also wanted to get it right, and he was worried that he’d waited too long, let the deception get too deep. Apparently, he shouldn’t have waited.
Jaxon was going to have to tell Andie who he really was – tonight – and just pray that she’d understand his reasoning.
“Hey,” Andie said, pulling Jaxon from his thoughts. “I ran across a term today, and I wondered if you might know the story behind it?”
“Maybe. What is it?”
“Unskat? I saw it in a file about the Shadowcat Nation. It had to do with mating, I think?”
Jaxon nodded as he leaned back, placing his arm on the back of the couch. A few weeks ago, she would’ve looked at him questioningly. But now she moved closer, leaning slightly into him. Jaxon hid his satisfaction. He doubted she even realized she was doing it.
“I believe it was a term in the Shadowcat Nation to describe the permanent relationship created when a mated pair of cougars also marries. It means one in several Iroquois dialects.”
“Huh. Do you know why we don’t use it?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really remember. But, along that topic, did anyone ever tell you why we used an Iroquois term – awa dare – to name our ten groups ‘dares’?”
Andie raised her eyebrows. “No. I’ve always wondered since the Nation has people from many other cultures from all over the Americas.”
“Hmmm… Even the name ‘Shadowcat’ comes from the Iroquois. Their terms were used because the Alphas who established the Nation wanted to be associated with the legend of Dajoji. Do you know it?”
Andie shook her head with wide-eyed fascination. “Never heard of it, but please go on.”
Jaxon smiled and absently wound a strand of her hair around his finger. He wasn’t surprised at her interest. He’d found over the last weeks that she liked hearing stories along these lines. He could just picture her as a little girl listening with rapt attention at her father’s feet.
“Ga-oh, the Spirit of the Winds, was selecting assistants to control the storms in the four corners of the sky. When he called for someone to be the Spirit of the West Wind, a terrible darkness crept into the clouds that moved in torrents of chaos. With a deathly scream, sounding like claws rending the heavens, Dajoji, the Panther appeared. It is said that he can combat violent storms and that even the sun will hide his face when Dajoji shrieks. The leaders who formed the Shadowcat Nation wanted our enemies to cower in fear when we let forth our cougars’ screams.”
Andie gave a little shiver. “Good story. I like their thinking. All Shadowcats should be told that story. I think it would help build solidarity within the Nation.”
Jaxon nodded his head slowly, only half-listening. Now that his story was over, his mind was back on what he had to do tonight. He’d planned on telling her soon anyway. Andie hadn’t said as much, but he could tell she still suspected his identity. Not only that, but whatever patience she’d had was gone. The last few days she’d been working out her frustrations during training. She didn’t always win, and other than the first night they’d met, she’d yet to take him down. But she’d stepped up trying.
But Jaxon’s hand had been well and truly forced. Sarai’s message was clear that Kyle and Walter Carstairs were on Andie’s trail. If they didn’t already know she was with the Keller Dare, they soon would.
Now that the moment had come, finding an opening was proving impossible. Should he just say, “Hey, babe, only kidding… I am actually Jaxon Keller?”
Andie sighed and waved a hand in front of Jaxon’s face. He blinked and refocused on her, realizing that she’d been talking for a few minutes.
“You’re not listening. What’s got you miles away?” she asked.
Jaxon looked intently into her soft brown eyes, noting the flecks of gold in them, and saw only trust and companionship reflected back at him.
He cleared his throat. “Andie… we need to talk. There’s something I should’ve told you a while ago.”
She tipped her head to the side, and her small smile faded. She closed her laptop with a click and set it on the coffee table. Turning back to him she said, “Let’s have it.”
Something in her tone alerted Jaxon, and a combination of relief and frustration rushed through him. “When did you know?” he asked.
“That you’re really Jaxon Keller? I’ve had my suspicions from the beginning. You really threw me off when you offered to marry me as A.J., and then backed off when I insisted on needing Jaxon.”
She hopped up and paced the room, her cougar evident in the flowing, feline grace of her body. “But it was all the little things that really clued me in. I can’t beat you in a fight. You can sneak up on me without my knowing it - every damn time. The guys defer all decisions to you. A couple of things that have been said.”
She looked over, and he felt her eyes, like a physical touch, as they trailed down his tense body. “And you’re so clearly an Alpha mal
e. I was an idiot to believe you weren’t the Alpha in the first place.”
He still couldn’t get a read on her reaction. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
That earned him a full on glare. “Why the hell didn’t you?” she asked in a soft voice. He opened his mouth to answer but snapped it shut when she continued, “God, you must’ve thought I was really stupid not to figure it out. I didn’t say anything because I wanted to see what kind of game you were playing with me.”
Okay, so she was pissed, but she was taking the high road. Jaxon felt like an asshole. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was going to have to handle this carefully since he couldn’t tell her the most important reason for lying, not yet. The Seer had been clear.
He looked Andie directly in the eyes. “I’m sorry about deceiving you. More than you know. At first I told myself that it was to get real reactions from you. You would’ve acted differently had you’d known for sure that I was the Alpha.”
“And after you stopped testing me?”
Jaxon winced at the bitterness lacing her voice but held her gaze. “I immediately asked you to marry me.”
Andie’s eyes widened, and he could tell she remembered that moment. Jaxon gave her a little half-smile and held up his hands. “Okay, so I did jump you first. I couldn’t hold out a second longer. I’d been wanting to taste those lips since the moment sarcasm started dripping from them the night we met.”
His eyes dropped to where she was nibbling on them now. She stopped when she noticed the direction of his gaze. Andie’s shoulders went back. “You could’ve told me your identity later. It’s been over a month since that day.”
Jaxon sighed. “Once I got to know you, I thought that I’d gone too far, that you’d never forgive me. I wanted a chance to show you who I am – who I really am – first. And when you calm down enough to think about this rationally, you’ll realize that if it had been you in my situation, you’d have done the same.”
Andie crossed her arms. “Don’t I look calm and rational to you?”
Jaxon grimaced. She did. A little too much. “You’ve got to be furious with me. Shouldn’t you, I don’t know, be throwing things or something?”