Upwind from the clearing, Andrew crouched high up on a
branch of a tree overlooking the scene below. With Jake’s help he was able to
slip their watchdogs and follow the rest of them here. He had to use his
tracking ability to follow Rance, but by God he was able to do it without any
of their knowledge. From the little information he’d garnered there was some
kind of ambush that happened. But to his consternation, he could not find any
other casualty except for the scattered wolves and one lone male being loaded
in the stretcher.
On the far side, Rance and Alex stood locked up in a
tender embrace. Something was seriously fucked up here if wild animals ambushed
and attacked humans in broad daylight. And he knew there are no wild packs of wolves
roaming Ohio. So where did those fucking wolves come from? And how about the
unbelievable speed that Rance moved? Not to mention his uncanny ability to know
what was happening with Alex. Andrew intends to find out, and there was no
better time than now.
He climbed down the tree. Not even bothering to keep
quiet or hide his presence. Even before he reached the bottom, he noticed that
several men were standing waiting for him. One of them was Damian. He looked pretty
pissed. His arms were crossed over his chest and his face scrunched up in a
frown that would have put fear in a lesser man. But Andrew was not daunted, he
had stared death on many occasions and one pissed off male would not deter him
from finding out what his sister got into.
Jumping off the last couple of feet, he slowly
straightened and faced the welcoming committee. Smiling amiably, he flexed his
hands loosely on his sides, readying for an attack if needed. Andrew met the
gaze of Damian head on. Blue and steel grey eyes clashed. The tension was
palpable in the air. The two betas standing next to them shifted restlessly on
their feet. Although smiling, Andrew’s stance and flinty gaze was a issuing a clear
challenge to Damian.
Their silent
battle for dominance would have continued on if not for Alex’s shout ringing
loudly in the quiet of the woods.
“Andrew! What are you doing here? Damn it! You just
have to stick your nose in my business. Why couldn’t you have waited for me in
the mansion?” Alex rushed in with Rance trailing behind her.
“And hello to you too.” Andrew said sarcastically,
training his inscrutable face towards Alex. Looking her up and down, he
ascertained that she was not harmed or hurt in any way. Breathing through his
nose, he let his muscles relaxed from his battle ready stance.
“Besides, my business is to make sure that you’re
okay.” Andrew replied without heat.
Stomping her foot, “see I just knew you’d say something
like that.” Trying to keep her irritation in place was hard, knowing that
Andrew was just being himself made it harder to hold on to her annoyance. Even
though she was older than him, he had always been protective of her even when
he was smaller than her. Now, with all his training in the military, he took it
to extreme levels. It was endearing before, and sometimes infuriating. But now,
it’s downright dangerous. A whole community of shifter was on the verge of
exposure because of her. She had no clue as to how Andrew, or her family, would
react once the cat – er - wolf is out of the bag.
“As you can see, I’m fine.” She felt Rance stand behind
her and put his hand on top of her shoulders. He squeezed gently to offer his
support. Looking back at him, she smiled and turned back to Andrew.
“How did you manage to follow us?” Rance asked.
“I tracked you. Even if you made it hard for me to do
so,” he paused for a second and directed his steely gaze on Rance. “No natural
man could move as fast as you can, even if they’re Olympic sprinters. So tell
me, Rance…. What are you? And what have you involved my sister into?”
Alarm colored Alex’s face, as she took a step forward.
Rance held her still and shook his head. “Allow me to answer him.” Rance put
his arm around her shoulder and faced Andrew squarely. “I’m sure you have a lot
of questions for me, and I’m willing to answer all of it. But I’d rather take
this inside where Alex can be comfortable. Let my betas do their job here.”
Turning, he did not wait for Andrew to answer. Rance knew that he would follow,
if not out of curiosity, then out of concern for his older sister.
Andrew followed after Alex and Rance after nodding
briefly at Damian. He did not fault the man for being contrary; after all he
must be following Rance orders. He did not sense personal antagonism from
Damian. Andrew had no ill feeling towards the man, in fact he approved of
Damian’s loyalty to his future brother-in-law.
