Andromeda's Fall (Shadowcat Nation) (9 page)

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.

“I
don’t even know if I can trust you.”

“I
think I can help you with that,” Mike said.

Jaxon
arched his eyebrows. “Oh?”

“Is
Hannah at the compound by any chance?”

Holy
hell… that was it!
Jaxon remembered how two guys named A.J. and Mike had helped Hannah and Nick
escape the Carstairs compound last year. Hannah had gone there to discuss a
business deal between the two dares. But she’d suspected that Kyle and Walter
Carstairs had different motives, and Nick had gone with her. Turned out that
Kyle had his sights set on making Hannah his bride. Apparently he had a habit
of trying that particular tactic. He was even willing to challenge Nick, who
was posing as her husband at the time. But it hadn’t come to that. Hannah had
known somebody on the inside. Someone named A.J. Only clearly, A.J. wasn’t a
guy, but a girl who now went by the name of Andie.

Jaxon
didn’t know if he wanted to strangle Andie or kiss her. Hannah too for that
matter. Unfortunately, right now he couldn’t do either. He needed to find Andie
first.

Jaxon
turned around. “Charlie, get Hannah. Now.”

“On
it, boss.”

Charlie
hightailed it out of the dressing room, while everyone else sat there in
uncomfortable silence. Jaxon ignored the others as his mind ticked through all
his possible courses of action. He had to get to Andie before someone else did.
He fought the urge to pace like a caged animal. As Alpha, he couldn’t afford
the luxury of letting anyone else see him lose it. He must remain cool, calm,
and in control at all times. Even if he wasn’t.

Several
long minutes later, Charlie’s voice preceded him into the room. “Found her.”

Hannah
walked in behind Charlie. When she saw the group of men gathered, her eyes grew
wide. She focused on her brother. “Jaxon? What’s going on?”

He
nodded at Mike. “Do you know this man?”

Her
eyes got even bigger. “Hi, Mike.” She turned her confused gaze on her brother.

“Hannah,
this is not the time to hold something back. Andie has disappeared, gone rogue
or maybe to another dare. I need to know if I can trust this man.”

She
nodded. “His name is Mike. He helped Nick and me to escape Carstairs last
year.”

He
leveled his most Alpha stare at his sister. “And who, exactly, is A.J.?”

Hannah’s
lips thinned, and she shook her head. “I told
both
of you that I didn’t
want to get in the middle of this.” She sighed deeply. “A.J. is Andie. She’s
responsible for my being alive and still with the Keller Dare and married to
Nick. Mike helped, but Andie was the driver.”

“We’ll
talk more about this later. But for now, do you have any idea where she might’ve
gone?”

Hannah’s
brow wrinkled. “If she left, she had good reason. And likely she’s got a plan.
She’s the most levelheaded strategic thinker I’ve ever met.”

Jaxon
walked over and gently took Hannah’s shoulders in his hands. “I told her who I
am, and then I had to leave before we had a chance to talk about it. I’ve got
to find her.”

Hannah
softened at the look of desperation in her brother’s eyes. “She went to
our
cabin in Montana,” she whispered

Jaxon’s
grip tightened. “How does she know about that?”

“Because
Andie and I had discussed the possibility of her having to go rogue. We worked
through a couple of scenarios to help her buy time while she figured out a
plan.”

 “You
couldn’t have shared this with me?”

“Would
you have given her any options? Discussed it at all?”

Jaxon
looked away. He wouldn’t have, though not for the reasons Hannah thought. Jaxon
glanced over to Pete.

“Get
the chopper ready.”

Andie
stayed low to the ground. In the summer this field was probably filled with
luscious, tall grass. However, winter had hit Montana early this year and
blanketed it with a thick layer of snow. She’d been battling a wicked storm for
the past twelve hours or so.

Cougars
actually thrived in the cold and were known to do much of their hunting when
other animals holed up to ride it out. So she was built for the weather, but
that didn’t make it easy to get through. Exhaustion weighed on her, and every
single step was an act of sheer will.

It’d
taken her four days to travel this far, hampered as she was by having to stay
off the grid as much as possible. Luckily, she hadn’t come across any other
shifters – cougars or otherwise. She couldn’t use her credit cards because
they’d track her, but she did have a little cash. She always carried some in
case of an emergency. She’d managed to take a bus for a good portion of the
journey and had called her contact, Papa Bear, from a pay phone on the way. He
was going to meet her at the cabin.

After
that she’d hitched a ride with a few truckers. Hitching was not the smartest
move for a normal human, but for a cougar shifter with fighting skills, less
risky. The last guy to pick her up had been named Mac. She’d stuffed her
slightly hysterical giggle back down inside when he’d introduced himself.
Perfect name for a truck driver. Old and weathered, with a handlebar mustache,
he was totally the gruff-cowboy-grandpa type. He hadn’t asked any questions,
for which Andie had been grateful. She’d spent most of her time looking out the
passenger window, not really seeing the countryside. Just lost in thought.

“Now,
it’s none of my business where you’re going or what you think you’re doing,” Mac
had said when he’d pulled off the highway to let her out. “But are ya in some
kinda trouble?”

Something
in his forthright gaze had made Andie want to tell him the truth. “Nothing I
can’t handle,” she’d said.

He’d
just nodded and then glanced at the empty land around them. “I can’t say that I
feel so good ‘bout leavin’ ya out here like this.”

Andie
had smiled at that. “I know where I’m going, Mac. It’s fine.”

He’d
chewed on his ever-present toothpick for a moment. Then he’d reached into a
pocket and pulled out a wad of money and a scrap of paper.

“I’m
really touched, but I can’t accept this.”

“You’ll
take it and make an old man feel like he helped ya rather’n abandoned ya.”

She’d
had to gulp back the misty tears his gesture caused. “Okay. Thanks.”

“That
scrap o’ paper has my phone number and address on it. If ya find yerself in a
tough spot that ya don’t think ya
can
handle, don’t hesitate to call.”

Andie
had been truly touched - in her experience, people just weren’t nice like that.
She’d held onto the warmth that memory generated all through the last leg of
her journey. It had been brutal backcountry, and she’d had to make her way on
foot.

And
then the damn storm had struck.

Normally
she wouldn’t have minded, but she’d been in the middle of nowhere with very few
alternatives available, and it’d slowed her down considerably. She’d taken
shelter beneath an overhang cut into the side of rock and let the worst of it
pass her by. But as soon as she’d had a small amount of visibility, she’d
started out again. Finally, after what seemed like an interminable slog through
the blinding snow, she’d reached the cabin.

She
wasn’t done, though. Despite Hannah’s assurances that the cabin was the safest
place she’d find, Andie still had to do all the necessary precautionary checks.
She’d been patiently watching the home for about an hour. Hannah had told her
no one used it and that it was a Keller family cabin. Only Jaxon, Hannah, and
Nick even knew of its existence. But that didn’t make it a guaranteed safe
zone.

So
she waited and watched, all the while forcing her body to stay alert. Not for
the first time, she was thankful for her shifter nature. Mountain lions naturally
required a lot of room to roam. That ability to move over large territories had
served her well this week.

The
wind kicked up, blowing snow into her face.
Just need to get in the house
and sleep.

Usually
her animal side would revel in this sudden bout of freedom. In fact, as soon as
the storm waned, she’d take some time to explore the area a little bit. She
needed to be familiar with the land around the house so that she wouldn’t be at
a disadvantage if attacked. Still, the limitless feeling would be amazing after
so long in her own dare, but most especially after all her weeks being cooped
up with Keller.

Jaxon.

The
second she thought his name, Andie had to hold back a small sigh at the
combination of disappointment and yearning that’d haunted her on the journey all
the way from his compound in Idaho to here. She was convinced she was doing the
right thing, saving him and his people from Carstairs. And the longer she’d had
to think about it and the longer she’d had to trek through the blizzard, the
more determined she’d become.

After
several more minutes, Andie decided it was time to go inside.
I should be
observing longer,
she thought.
But I’ve got to get some rest. It’ll have
to be good enough.

She
was so drained that she’d come close to nodding off several times while lying
here. But her father had trained her well, and she’d kept up her vigilant
watch. There’d been absolutely no movement or hint of activity in or around the
house.

Andie
rose slightly onto her paws, her belly still close to the ground, and slowly,
stealthily prowled her way around the log cabin in smaller and smaller circles.
Finally satisfied, she hopped up on the deck and shifted. She shivered as the
freezing cold hit her bare skin but didn’t bother to dress. She’d do that when
she got inside.

As
quickly as she could, she located the hidden key in a knothole by the door. Teeth
chattering, Andie stepped inside into the protective walls of her new home. She
closed and locked the door behind her and then let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Thank
God,” she groaned.

But
she couldn’t relax yet. The cabin was still bitterly cold inside. She needed to
turn on the electricity, likely generator-driven, and light a fire. First
things first, time to get dressed. She picked her pack up off the floor and
pulled out the warmest clothes. Her hands were stiff and frozen by the time she
was done buttoning up.

“All
right. Next, some heat,” she muttered through blue lips.

Moving
from room to room in the house, she looked out the windows until she located a
shed on the edge of the property. Luckily she found a nice thick coat and some
gloves in the closet next to the front door.

Taking
a deep breath, she forced herself back out into the elements. Thankfully, the
shed wasn’t locked. After locating the fuel tank a short distance away, Andie
got the generator up and running, then headed back inside.

“Please,
please, please, let there be some firewood in here,” she begged, her breath
crystalizing on the air. It would take a while for the heater to make a dent in
the chill filling the house.

Luck
was with her again, and as fast as her frozen body would move, she had a nice
warm blaze going. Andie huddled up by the flames for a good while, thawing out.
But eventually, she forced herself back up. She set her exhaustion aside. She
really should familiarize herself with the house and its contents.

Starting
with the living room, she slowly explored every inch of her new temporary home.
Hopefully, Papa Bear would be here soon. Andie was pleased to find a decent
stash of canned food and dry goods that were still fresh, along with several
gallons of bottled potable water. Next she went down to the basement, saving the
bedrooms upstairs for last, knowing that once she found a bed, she’d be out
cold in seconds. But the big score was what she found in the basement. Andie,
hands on her hips, stared at monitors for defensive systems, a well-stocked
first-aid station, and a wall of weaponry that made her little Commander’s
heart leap for joy.

“My,
my, my. What have we here?” She grinned.

“Where
the
hell
have you been?” a familiar deep voice thundered from behind her.