Hannah's Fate, page 1
Hannah’s Fate
A Shadowcat Nation Prequel Short Story
Abigail Owen
COPYRIGHT © 2013, 2021 by Abigail Owen
Smashwords Edition
Hannah’s Fate
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Cover Art by Abigail Owen with Authors On A Dime
A Shadowcat Nation Prequel Story
Dedication
To My Nephews
Letter To Readers
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading my Shadowcat Nation series! First published starting in 2013, this vintage series of books is dear to my heart because they were the first steamy paranormal romance stories I ever wrote. What a journey!
Even now I love to go back and reread them, fall in love with the characters and world all over again, and also appreciate how my writing has changed over time. I hope these books give you hours of wonderful escape and leave you with a smile and a happy sigh.
Xoxo, Abigail Owen
Award-Winning Paranormal Romance
& YA Fantasy Author
* * *
This story was originally published in the multi-author “Here Kitty, Kitty” anthology of paranormal romance short stories. I hope you’ll check it out. All profits go to benefit the Exotic Feline Rescue.
The Shadowcat Nation
Thirty years ago the population of mountain lion shifters was on the brink of extinction. Today, much like their wild counterparts, shifters are running out of land and resources. The encroachment of man has resulted in the loss and destruction of shifters’ natural habitats worldwide. This external threat has led to a new reality where only the strongest survive. Pack shifters, such as wolves and coyotes, use their coordinated family groups to pick off the loners, like cougars, in order to obtain their territory.
Going against their mysterious and cagy natures, mountain lion shifters banded together to form the Shadowcat Nation in order to pool their resources and protect themselves from the packs. Reaching from Northern Canada, across the United States, all the way down to the southern tip of South America, the Nation is divided into ten Dares, each led by an Alpha who has clawed his or her way to the top. However, cougars don’t naturally work or live well in group societies, and the shifters are constantly battling their innate desire for domination and sole control, their animalistic instincts often triggering infighting and inter-Dare rivalries.
The success of the Shadowcat Nation, though critical to the survival of all cougar shifters, still hangs in a delicate balance.
Chapter 1
“Nick Jensen is back. Have you seen him yet?”
Hannah’s ears perked up. She was scrunched down in a high-backed chair, so the two women who’d just entered the common room had no idea she was there. When she’d recognized Stella’s high-pitched voice, she’d pulled her legs up and made herself as small as she could.
“Mmmmm…and he’s even hotter now than he was before, if that’s possible,” Cathie, who’d come in with Stella, said. Hannah cringed. She wasn’t sure which of them she disliked more, and usually she wasn’t the type to dislike anyone. But something about these two…
“I heard he hasn’t taken a mate yet,” Cathie continued.
“This season?”
“At all.”
“Hmmm…” Stella mused. “I bet I could convince him that it’s time he did. I was just meant to be a mate of an Alpha’s Council leader. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s gorgeous.”
The girls’ voices faded as they left the room. They must have been just passing through. The compound the Keller Dare occupied had multiple common rooms, and they each had multiple entrances. The layout of the building was intentionally designed to bring all the mountain lion shifters who lived here together more often, to force them to interact with one another whether they wanted to or not. Cougars tended to be loners, part of the nature of the beast inside them. The wild cats were elusive and highly territorial. In fact, not everyone lived at the compound. Most lived elsewhere and just came and went as they pleased. Cougars needed too much space to stay in one place for long.
As soon as Hannah was sure Stella and Cathie were well gone, she hopped up and made a break for her personal suite of rooms. If Nick Jensen was around, she was going to make herself scarce. Even though it had been nearly eight years, the shame of his rejection felt as fresh and as raw as if it happened yesterday.
She’d been such an idiot. Totally cliché. In love with her brother’s best friend for years…ever since she was twelve and he was eighteen. Then, when she’d been a sixteen-year-old, hormone-driven not-yet-a-woman, she had thrown herself at the so-hot-it-should-be-illegal Nick Jensen…and been totally and humiliatingly rejected.
Logically, Hannah knew she’d grown up and that the intense emotions connected with that evening were tied to her teenage perspective of that night. Regardless of time and age, even after achieving not only her bachelor’s degree, but also her master’s in business and earning her way onto her brother’s Alpha’s Council at only twenty-four, thinking back to that horrifying moment still brought the emotions clawing back. That awful, want-to-die-of-mortification moment. The shame that had only his name.
Even now her cheeks singed at the thought. Ugh.
Luckily, right after the most embarrassing night of her entire life, Nick had gone back to college and hadn’t come home, and a few years later Hannah had been able to escape to college herself. She’d eventually had a boyfriend (several actually), lost her virginity, grown up, made some mistakes, and now here she was, back with her family where she belonged. But she hadn’t seen Nick in the year since she’d come home. Jaxon had sent him away to work on some intra-dare relationships.
So why are you hiding? her inner voice taunted her.
Not hiding, she argued with herself. There’ll be plenty of time to bump into Nick Jensen. He’s home for good now, after all. And so what if he hasn’t found a mate yet?
Stella and Cathie were welcome to him. She couldn’t care less.
* * *
Two days later, Hannah sat beside Jaxon in the conference room where the Council usually met to discuss business. Her brother was the Alpha of their Dare of cougar shifters. Hannah’s role was to manage many of the corporations they owned. And she fucking loved it. She was damn good at it. She belonged here.
So why the hell was she so nervous?
Because Nick would be at this meeting, that was why.
Hannah flicked an invisible piece of dirt off her skirt. She’d changed her stupid clothes at least five times. Hell… Was she sixteen again? She wanted to look as though she hadn’t been trying, but at the same time, it wouldn’t hurt if his jaw dropped to the floor when he first saw her. Fantasies of Nick falling on his knees and professing what a fool he’d been to reject her filled her head.
She ruthlessly pushed them aside.
Confidence, Hannah. She repeated that mantra over and over again. She was a successful, strong, capable woman. Gone were the glasses, the acne, and the awful hair. Her roommates in college had seen to that much better than her alpha brother could have. But more than that, her success was enough to give anyone a feeling of accomplishment. Nick was just a man, for heaven’s sake. Nothing to get all freaked out about.
“Something bothering you?” Jaxon’s deep voice caught her attention.
Hannah feigned casual surprise. “Not at all. Why do you ask?”
He reached under the table and stilled her jiggling leg with his hand. Hannah laughed and tried to play it off. “Too much coffee this morning, I guess.”
“Mm-hmm.” Jaxon turned back to the report he’d been reading.
Hannah flipped open her laptop. Plenty of things to keep her busy, and if she was concentrating on them, then she wouldn’t be concentrating on the door. She managed to get lost in a spreadsheet as the rest of the leaders started to filter into the room.
Chapter 2
Nick tried not to let his eyes linger on the gorgeous woman sitting next to Jaxon. Hannah had grown from a gangly teenager—all legs and big eyes and carroty hair—into a stunning woman. Her conservative blouse failed to disguise lush curves he didn’t remember. Her big eyes were now wide and catlike and a shade of dove grey that gave her a cool air. Her hair had deepened in color as well, now a striking shade of dark red. He wondered what she would look like as a cougar. Sandy brown, or would there be a reddish tint to her fur?
Although to be completely honest, even as a teenager Nick had seen the potential in her, and he’d always thought her beautiful. But now…now he had a hard time keeping his eyes off her. He’d thought of her every day for eight years…since the night of her sixteenth birthday party.
What a fucking disaster.
Slightly tipsy, she’d cornered him on the patio and thrown herself into his arms. Not that he didn’t want what she was offering, but it had been too much too soon, and she was way too young. He’d been her friend, her confidant, and her protector since she was five years old. So at that damn party, the six years separating them had seemed like a lifetime.
That hadn’t been his only reason. Jaxon woul
Like it or not, this was a male dominated society and one not inclined to trust any new cats. Several decades prior, the cougar shifter population had been in danger of being wiped out. Other shifters who moved in packs, like wolves and African lions, had slowly been picking off the species who were loners, like cougars and tigers. The mountain lions had responded to the threat by forming the Shadowcat Nation for protection.
Hannah was smart and driven, and she’d always said how much she wanted to be a key part of Jaxon’s Council. She’d needed to do that without Nick, or the entire dare would see only his influence. As it was, being the Alpha’s sister, she already had a lot of bias to overcome. So after graduating from college, Nick had taken a position that would keep him away a lot. He was the key liaison and negotiator with other Dares, as well as other species of shifters.
Now he was back. Finally.
The agonizingly long wait was finally at an end. He’d always pictured their reunion in more romantic circumstances. They’d be alone and she’d run into his arms crying about how much she’d missed him. After that the fantasy turned to other activities. Carnal activities.
Instead he walked into a crowded conference room, and Hannah sat across from him with her nose buried in her computer. His view of her was blocked by various members of the Council coming up to welcome him back home and shake his hand. Gradually, he made his way around to where Hannah sat. She appeared to be working on some kind of spreadsheet and didn’t look up.
“Hi,” he said.
Great opening line, dumbass.
Rather than turning that adoring, almost-hero-worship-like gaze on him that she’d had at sixteen, she just looked up with a detached, but polite smile. “Welcome back, Nick. It’s been a while.”
The balloon of anticipation inside him popped and deflated with a pathetic, high- pitched whine and the cougar side of him might have winced.
Sure, he hadn’t expected her to fling herself into his arms in front of everyone. But maybe a special smile just for him, or at the very least, a hug for an old friend. Instead, she acted as though he was nothing special to her.
Shit. Did I stay away too long? Leave this too late?
He managed to force a smile and say thanks, then take a seat, directly across from her at the long conference table.
Forcing himself to focus through a riptide of disappointment, he had to admit he was impressed. Hannah was involved, in one way or another, with most of the business dealings for the Dare. She was organized, clearly knew her stuff, and had definitely earned her place as one of the Council’s most respected members.
But she’d barely acknowledged his existence.
Her gaze seemed to skip right over him when she talked, and only landed directly on him if he spoke. Most of the business they’d discussed so far had been concerning other Dares with which they had peaceful relationships. So Nick’s insight from an ambassadorial point of view was minimal…which meant his mind was free to wander. Which meant wracking his brain over what had gone wrong and when it had blown up without his knowing.
“So, Nick,” Jaxon’s voice broke into his thoughts. “Tell us about your conclusions from the last year working our Dare relations.”
Nick cleared his throat. “You should all have a copy of my full report in the group forum. We’ve solidified relations with the McGraw panthers in Florida and the Rodriquez pumas in Argentina. Our biggest areas of concern are the Carstairs cougars in Canada and the Silvas in Brazil. The Carstairs, in particular, seem to be positioning themselves for some sort of direct conflict with us.”
Jaxon sighed. “Why choose to attack another Dare? Why not attack our shared enemies? The wolves or lions? I understand that coyotes have moved into their territory. Why not focus on them?”
“It makes no sense to me either,” Nick agreed.
“They seem very willing to deal in business,” Hannah spoke up.
Nick stared at her, something about that not sitting right, but he couldn’t put his finger on why. “In what way?”
She glanced at her notes briefly. “I’m scheduled to fly out to meet with them in person in four days. We’re looking at going in together on a fishing venture in Alaska.”
Instinct clenched his stomach, dread dropping in with wariness. “There’s something wrong then. Walter Carstairs himself essentially shut the door in my face. They’re not interested in peaceful relations with the Kellers or any of the others.”
Jaxon frowned. “What do you think their play is with Hannah?”
Nick shifted in his seat. “Walter’s son doesn’t have a mate. If they took Jaxon Keller’s sister…”
Jaxon lips flattened in a grim line. “A forced alliance against the coyotes, perhaps. Trust within the Shadowcat Nation has been one of our biggest issues. Or it could just be a power play.”
“They’d have power over the Keller Dare, and not from a pact,” Nick murmured. He watched as color leached from Hannah’s face.
She recovered fast, though, and, after a long blink, she focused on him. “It will be difficult for me to get out of the meeting without offending them, especially if it’s legit. And that could damage relationships with them further. Any suggestions?”
It was the first question she’d directed his way, and a trickle of satisfaction slid through him. At least she still trusted his opinion. As a child she’d always come to him first for advice. Before her parents, before Jaxon, before anyone.
“And if it’s a true business venture, it could lead to future opportunities to build a relationship with them,” Jaxon added. Though he didn’t look happy about it.
Nick tapped his fingers on the table, thinking…then had to swallow a smirk. Because maybe he could use this to deal with both issues—the Carstairs Dare and his relationship with Hannah.
“I can see you have an idea, Nick,” Hannah’s soft voice pulled his eyes back to her. “What is it?”
Nick glanced at Jaxon and then back at Hannah. He shrugged. “You still go. But I go with you…as your mate.”
Hannah’s eyes grew wide. “Excuse me?”
“In name only, of course,” Nick added.
She pursed her mouth, but otherwise he couldn’t get a read on her reaction. “Of course. But they’ll be able to tell. You can smell mates on each other, for one thing.”
Nick shrugged. “I’ll spend the next four days in close proximity with you, twenty-four hours a day. Should fix that temporarily.”
She snapped her computer lid down. “Mates know each other, and…touch.”
“We do know each other, Hannah. We grew up together. We were even friends once. And I’m sure we can fill each other in on the last few years.”
Nick turned to Jaxon for his reaction. After several thoughtful moments, his friend and Alpha nodded. “It’s a good idea. Nick will be able to help determine their motives and protect you if he needs to. And if their motivation is a mate for the Alpha’s son, they won’t want an already mated cougar.”
Nick studied Hannah’s reaction closely. She had no choice but to obey her Alpha. Not without challenging him directly. The only sign of her agitation was a small gulp, but she nodded her agreement.
Chapter 3
The confident knock at Hannah’s bedroom door heralded Nick’s arrival. As part of the “twenty-four hours a day” plan, they’d be sharing the same room. Which meant sleeping in the same bed. How the hell was she supposed to ignore him when he was with her all the time? Especially in the same bed?
Hannah had gone back and forth on the pajamas she should wear. Sexy? Buttoned-up? Boy-style? She’d landed on a combo, opting for comfy lounge pants and a tight tank top, but in no-nonsense black.
