Ashwood Falls Volume Two (6 page)

She blinked then drew her eyebrows together. “What about your telepathy?”

He raised his hand to touch her cheek, but she took a step back. That made his leopard growl and claw inside him. “It doesn’t work.” It came out a little rougher than he intended, but Addyson didn’t flinch.

“Not at all?”

He shrugged and turned to survey the room. The sofa was pushed back a couple of feet, no doubt to make room for Addyson, Will, and the sentries to sit on the floor. However, Keegan thought he liked the couch where it was. It made the living area appear bigger.

His heart ached and made his chest feel tight. Why had he come here of all places? Because it was the safest place for Addyson and Will.

He heard Addyson’s bare feet shuffle over the stone floor, and he closed his eyes. Her scent was too enticing, too much. He didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to keep the control over the throbbing need in his pants.

“What is this place?”

He turned to face her again and narrowed his eyes. Her tone told him she already knew, or at least knew some of it.

Damn Pack rumor mill.

“I found this cave about six months before Cate became pregnant with our third child. I was hunting and stumbled upon it. We’d come here during hunts when we wanted to get away from the others for a moment or two. When she found out she was pregnant, I worked on it as much as I could in secret. I wanted it to be a surprise.” He paused to take a deep breath and push back the building fury and pain. Too much of what he’d learned over the last few days had brought back the pain of betrayal. The knowledge his daughter had been alive all this time and living in the Onyx den only built up the fury more. Yes, he was happy to know she was alive, but at the same time worried about whose side she’d turn to when she found out.

And she’d find out. Keegan would make sure of it.

He peered into Addyson’s gaze and continued. “It was going to be a safe place for her to deliver the baby and stay until she was strong enough to return to the den. The war with Onyx had us both worried.”

Addyson nodded and stepped closer. “What happened?”

He shook his head and started to pace. “I can’t, Addy. Not now.” Coming to a stop in front of her, he cursed himself when he saw the disappointment in her face. He reached for her and was relieved when she didn’t pull away from him. He took her hand and brought it to place over his heart. “I’ll tell you someday soon.”

She lifted her violet gaze to his and nodded. “I trust you.”

He smiled but whispered, “I’m not so sure I trust myself, especially when comes to being alone with you.”

Then he released her hand and turned to head outside to find Tanner.

A
ddyson let out a breath and sat down on the sofa. Her whole body trembled, but not from fear. She was on the verge of sensory overload. Sure, she didn’t suffer pain or have crippling visions at his touch, but it’d been far too long since she’d been able to rely on a Pack mate for the comfort of skin-to-skin contact.

Her leopard was touch-starved to the extreme, and the more Keegan offered, the more she fought for control over her cat.

Shifters needed the simple touches from Pack members just as much as they needed the air they breathed. The only way she was able to keep from going completing insane was Keegan. He was the only one she could have minimal contact with.

And he knew it.

He’d also been trying to drive her over the edge in the last couple of weeks. That was why she needed to learn to build her shields and strengthen her resistance toward the male.

A smile lifted her lips, and she leaned back on the couch. Pride filled her chest. She’d built the first layer of her mental shield by using Tanner’s aura. However, it was a very weak layer.

She didn’t need to think too hard on why Keegan could break through her shields. It had nothing to do with his telepathic abilities. He’d confirmed that when he admitted he couldn’t read her and she was a haven of sorts for him.

No, Keegan Andrews was her mate.

She’d known this from the first time she’d met him, but his heart still belonged to a ghost.

With a groan, Addyson pushed herself to a stand and went to the kitchen to start dinner. She really needed to get a grip and shove her schoolgirl fantasy of Keegan and mating out of her mind, no matter how much it hurt.

She reached the kitchen just as the stone door slid open and Keegan walked in with his youngest son, Alec, and Luna’s middle son, Dane, following behind. She smiled and nodded at the enforcers. “Are you two staying for dinner?”

Alec gave her a crooked grin. “Sure. I’d never turn down a meal.”

Keegan growled low in his throat. “Addyson is working on building her shields, so she won’t be wearing her gloves. As long as you are careful you may stay.”

Addyson ignored Keegan’s grumpy tone and asked, “Any special request?”

Dane, carrying a black case, stepped forward to stand even with Alec. “Anything for me is good.” He turned to Keegan and asked, “Where do you want this set up?”

Keegan pointed to a desk along the far wall. “Over there.”

The wolf Beta nodded and proceeded to the desk, set the case on it, and opened it to reveal a laptop and other equipment Addyson didn’t recognize.

“What is that?” she asked as she watched Dane pull out cables and a small black box.

“It’s our security system and a secure way to communicate with the Pack,” Keegan replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

Addyson pursed her lips and started pulling things out of the fridge. She really didn’t know what the sudden shift in Keegan’s mood was all about, but as soon as they were alone, she’d find out.

Will climbed up on a stool on the other side of the counter. She offered him a smile then studied him for a few moments. A thought came to mind, and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t asked him before. “Are there others? Scribes, I mean. What about your family?”

Will looked away from her to watch Alec and Dane work on the security system while they talked to Keegan. “I’m not sure. I’ve never heard anyone mention it inside Onyx. As for my family, my whole den was destroyed.”

Addyson’s heart broke for the boy. She reached over the counter and covered his hand and squeezed. “Oh, hun, I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged. “They live in my heart. When I’m stronger, I’m going to ask Blaine if I can join the next round of soldier training. I’m going to fight in the war.”

Keegan walked over then and sat on the stool next to Will. “I think you’ll make a good soldier.”

Will sat a little straighter and smiled. “I want to help bring Onyx down.”

Addyson met Keegan’s gaze for a moment before bending to put the roast in the oven. She heard the pride in Keegan’s voice as he said, “You’ll get your chance one day. We’ll all get our chance.”

****

K
eegan stepped out of the cave and found Alec, in leopard form, stretched out on a large branch in the nearby oak tree. Keegan knew his son wasn’t sleeping. The male was too calculating and lethal to let his guard down. Alec might be the leopard Beta until Blaine announced otherwise, but Keegan’s youngest son held the power of an alpha.

Alec flicked his tail in a sign that he knew Keegan was there. Keegan sent his son a thought. “
I’m meeting Kieran. I shouldn’t be gone long.
”

“
She’ll be fine. Dane is running a perimeter check.
”

Keegan nodded and started off toward the west to a neutral part of the mountain that had been left unclaimed by the Packs in the Smoky Mountain/Blue Ridge Mountain region. There were only a handful of neutral areas now thanks to Onyx and their bastard mutants.

He stopped at a small stream about a half-mile from the cave where he’d left Addyson sleeping, peered into the water as it rushed by, and waited. Kieran was never on time. Not that Keegan blamed him. The male was a spy after all.

The crunching of leaves under heavy footfalls made Keegan glance over his shoulder. Kieran leaned against a tree several feet away, his large arms folded over his chest. Keegan turned and sat on a boulder. “You look well.”

One of Kieran’s shoulders raised in a half-hearted shrug. “I manage.”

Kieran had once been the Marshal of Ashwood before Blaine came of age to claim the title and the Pack had almost been completely destroyed by the rogues. By all rights, Kieran should be serving on the Council of the Elders, but that too was gone. Very few elders existed, and those who had survived lived in hiding. Many were hidden away by their Packs because they were the Pack’s only link to the past and the history that was passed down from generation to generation.

So Kieran had mentored Blaine into his role of Marshal and then taken a seat as a senior enforcer until the day he left and the Pack believed he had gone rogue. Keegan didn’t do anything to discredit the rumor. No, he let the rumor circulate and reach their enemy’s ears. Besides, it made it easier for Kieran to find a place inside the Onyx den.

Keegan narrowed his eyes and demanded, “Show me the proof.”

Kieran casually reached inside his jacket pocket, pulled out something, and tossed it over to Keegan. He caught it in midair. When he opened his palm, his heart stopped. “Where the fuck did you get this?”

Fury built up inside him as he stared down at the rose-shaped locket he’d given Cate on their first date. She had said she lost it while on a run. She’d cried for hours over the damn thing.

This had to be some kind of a sick joke, Onyx’s attempt of hurting him from the grave.

“From Ana.”

Keegan snapped his head up and met the other male’s gaze. “Who?”

Kieran nodded to the locket. “Open it.”

Keegan opened the locket. At first his brain refused to recognize what he was seeing. After a few moments he saw the woman who looked too much like Cate to be anyone but her daughter. “Her name is Ana?”

“Zorana, but she likes to be called Ana.”

Zorana. That was the name Cate had picked out, saying it was exotic and beautiful, just like their little girl would be.

Keegan didn’t miss the subtle note of compassion in Kieran’s tone. Keegan studied the male before saying, “She’s your mate.”

Kieran took a deep breath and unfolded his arms. “I haven’t claimed her. I can’t. Felix has raised her as his daughter and forbids anyone from mating her or touching her.” A tic formed in Kieran’s temples as if the idea pissed him off as much as it did Keegan. “Felix would kill her and drop her off at your doorstep, if he knew you even suspected she was alive.”

Keegan rolled his fingers around the locket and stood to pace. “Why are you telling me now?”

Kieran ran a hand through his dark hair. “Because I need to get her out of the den. I think Felix has caught on to the fact that I’m a spy, or at least he’s starting to believe I might be. His new Marshal is a nosy son of a bitch and has a big mouth. I’m not sure how much either of them knows. There is also a small group in the Pack that plans to break away and join a small shifter rebel group.”

Rebels? Fuck. What’s next
?

Keegan started to pace again. “Okay, we need a plan. You have to stay in and rebut the rumors. Do what you must to keep Felix from finding out the truth for a little while longer.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m not sure.” Keegan turned away to head back to the cave but stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Tell Felix that Ashwood Falls has a new leopard Alpha.”

Kieran lips twitched. “You’re hoping he goes after you directly now?”

Keegan didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. Kieran knew him too well, and he also knew the laws. Alphas couldn’t directly attack one another.

Even though the Onyx Pack had broken just about every peace law set in place, Felix hadn’t broken the Alpha rule and come after Keegan. It seemed the rogue leader had learned his lesson from before.

Felix hadn’t gone after only Keegan; he’d gone after Luna as well. Hitting both Pack Alphas had made the two Packs band together as one Pack and fight to bring down Onyx once and for all.

Now that Keegan wasn’t Alpha, he was free to track the rogue Alpha down.

Just like Felix was able to hunt him.

A
ddyson dried her hands and laid the kitchen towel on the counter. She was itching for something to do. Her cat paced under her skin wanting out, but she couldn’t run like she wanted and needed. She was in unfamiliar territory where rogues could track her down.

No. They couldn’t track her anymore.

She lifted her hand to the base of her neck, feeling the small scar. Beneath it had once been a GPS tracking device Felix had order to be implanted soon after she was abducted. She’d woken in Ashwood’s medical center scared that she’d endangered the Pack until Danica, the leopard Healer, told her that the tracking device had been removed and destroyed.

She froze as she thought about the GPS and went in search of Will. She found him in the room he’d chosen, stretched out on the bed reading on the e-reader that Keegan had given him. Will looked up and met her eyes.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, concern etched into his face.

Addyson walked farther into the room and whispered, “Do you have a tracker in your skin?”

He smiled as though he’d been caught stealing milk from a kitten and turned to show her the back of his neck. She sat down on the bed beside him and reached out to trace the small scar. “When did you remove it?”

He turned to face her and shrugged. “The night I ran from Onyx.”

“But they tracked you to the den.”

“Because I was too slow,” he said, disgust in his tone. “Someone opened my cell door. I hesitated. I guess I thought it was a trick.”

Addyson frowned. “Someone let you go?”

Will nodded. “Yes. They wore gloves, so I couldn’t get any feedback from the lock.”

They fell silent for a moment. Addyson remembered hearing Keegan talk about Graham’s kidnapping and how someone had unlocked his cell as well. She studied Will again. “I don’t understand.”

Will turned off his e-reader and set it on the bed beside him. “Some Onyx members are planning to break from the Pack.”