by KH LeMoyne
As the train began to pull out of the station, a blonde-haired woman holding the hand of a little girl, the spitting image of her, made their way down the aisle. Behind them, another woman with curly dark hair and a low-slung hat covering her brows followed them, holding an infant in her arms.
A slight tremor buffeted Gillian as if a breeze had just blown through the car, but the doors were closed and the train was barely moving. She glanced toward Callum. His expression revealed nothing, but his hand had tightened over hers.
The little girl sat in the seat in front of Gillian, closest to the window. As soon as her mother settled beside her, the child began to chatter. The sensation of something otherworldly, strangely familiar, yet not quite detectable, shimmered along Gillian’s skin. She waited, trying to decipher the origin, but as elusive as mist, it hovered just out of her reach. The only thing she knew for certain was that it originated from the girl and wasn’t exactly like anything she’d felt before.
When the infant released a mournful cry, Gillian fought back a gasp. The cry itself was unusual, but what swirled around her differed from the sensation she experienced from the little girl. She clenched Callum’s hand, and he looked quizzically from her to the women who’d chosen the two rows of facing seats in front of them. He raised a brow, but she shook her head, not wanting to voice aloud what her instincts were telling her.
Perhaps she was just sensitive because of Callum’s comment about omegas moments earlier, but no conversation could affect her with such longing and sadness all at once. It had been ten years since she’d felt such a wealth of emotion. Ten years since she’d last set eyes on her baby sister. Ten years since the alpha had pounded down her parents’ front door, ripped Dana from her crib, and smothered the infant into eternal silence because she might one day grow up as a threat to his power. Gillian had lost not just her sister that day, but also her father, who had fought to save his younger child. If not for the arrival of Callum’s parents, the sheriff, and several other folks in the town, the alpha might have wiped out her whole family.
She remembered many things about her sister, but what she best remembered of Dana was the feeling of awe. A beloved shared sense of want and acceptance. She’d been taught healthy shifters shared their emotions, especially with their children. However, omegas interacted on a higher, stronger symbiotic level. Her family had openly embraced the exchange and nurtured the rareness of Dana’s power.
Gillian remained quiet, watching the woman holding the infant.
The baby’s cry was a heart-wrenching call for touch, an emotional need. Yes, the woman was holding him, but he wasn’t receiving the feedback he needed for comfort and well-being.
The little girl, on the other hand, seemed at ease with the woman who moments ago she had called mama. Neither mother nor daughter projected the sensations of an omega, but the tingle in her belly hinted they weren’t normal shifters either.
With several more hours before she and Callum reached the stop she’d planned for them to get out and stretch their legs, she settled against his shoulder. A few hours should be enough to find out more about the women and children sitting in front of her.
Not that it was any of her business. But if other gifted children existed in this territory, then she might convince Callum to consider approaching Alpha Black.
Callum slid his arm around Gillian’s shoulders, expecting her to snuggle closer and fall asleep. They’d been traveling with only brief naps since jumping the train several days ago. Even he knew it wasn’t enough rest for an expectant mother. Yet he had no choice but to keep them moving. He could feel the alpha at his back, could almost imagine sharp teeth gouging into the alpha’s marks at his neck.
At least they were safe for now so he could let down his guard. Gillian lay still against him, though she wasn’t asleep. He’d inadvertently squeezed a little hard on Gillian’s shoulder about an hour ago, but she didn’t jerk, much less glance at him. He’d bet money she was focused on the people in front of them for some reason, the combination of women and children, most likely.
With a slow inhale, he’d confirmed after they boarded the women and their children were shifters. The closest mother was a fox shifter. He couldn’t distinguish the scent of the other woman, but the higher-energy shifter vibration of her was recognizable.
Perhaps Gillian puzzled over the same thing. With a child on the way, she noticed children everywhere they went. He watched them more closely now as well. Hard to believe before the next year ended, he would be a father. As soon as they found a safe place to settle, he intended to show Gillian just how proud he was of the coming event. However, she remained oddly tense in his arms.
“—then we visited my sister,” the woman with the daughter said. “How old is your baby?”
“The boy is my sister’s child.” The woman with the hat looked out the window, shielding Callum from a good look at her face. “She died in childbirth, and the boy’s father isn’t able to care for him right now. I’m taking him home to our parents’ house until he’s older. I’m Nettie.”
“Oh, how sad. I’m so sorry. I’m Anne Hunt, and this is my daughter, Mae.”
Nettie bowed her head a fraction, and her remote, almost cold gesture had Callum now paying more attention to the women. Given her sister’s recent death, Nettie lacked the emotional signature of sorrow or loss. His cat detected only odd blankness in her. Moreover, nothing about her loose hold on the fussing infant appeared maternal. Then the baby’s cries heightened, and, to her credit, Nettie occasionally jostled him. Still, Callum felt he could do a better job of calming the boy. Others on the train glanced toward the sound of distress as well.
Mae moved from her seat to stand in front of the baby. “Can I touch him?”
Nettie snapped her gaze back to the girl. He caught a brief glimpse of her eyes, overly bright with almost a feverish attentiveness. Callum’s hand clenched, and Gillian shifted in his hold, signaling her awareness of what was taking place.
Nettie held out her hand to the girl. “Of course. I’ll show you how.” She rubbed Mae’s open hand over the baby’s face and around his tiny fist.
From Callum’s vantage point, he noticed Mae shudder at the woman’s touch. Yet Nettie restrained her for what struck him as too long. As the girl’s mother seemed preoccupied digging in her satchel, she’d missed the interaction. She also didn’t have the clear view Callum did of Nettie. For that matter, neither did Gillian. Mae escaped the hold and burrowed into her mother’s side as if she’d found the exchange frightening.
Evidently not noticing her daughter’s upset, Anne continued. “How far do you have to travel? My husband and son should be picking us up at the Lester station.”
Nettie’s lips curved up. Not into a smile Callum found appealing, but maybe his current nearly mated situation colored his objectivity. “Oh, how fortunate. I will be getting off in Lester as well.”
“Are you staying in the boardinghouse there? Miss Rosie lets several nice, clean rooms. And I hear she offers a nice breakfast as well.”
“My brother will be picking us up at a farm just outside Lester. I just need to find a ride from the station or walk.”
“We could drop you off. It will be no problem. I’d hate for you to have to walk with the baby.”
Callum noticed the conductor enter through the door at the end of the car. “Next stop, Lester. Fifteen minutes. Exit is on your left.”
Gillian lurched out of his arms and sat up, brushing her hair away from her cheeks. “I’m feeling the need for a bite to eat. Maybe we can stay in Lester for the night and plan the next part of the trip?”
What? He knew she’d originally mentioned putting more distance between them and Seattle. But if she wanted this, then he’d accommodate her.
As the train slowed, he rose and slung his duffel over his shoulder. He glanced toward the two women also standing. They jostled back and forth with the sway of the train as the station became visible outside the windows. When he reached
for Gillian’s hand, he noticed her still watching the women.
Perhaps she’d also found Nettie strange. Shifters had excellent hearing, so speaking about this before they were out of sight wasn’t possible. But his inquisitive mate would tell him her thoughts once they were out of range of the two mothers. He stepped back and allowed Gillian to exit into the aisle first, following her to the end of the car, down the stairs, and onto the small train depot landing. He walked to the small one-room building at the end of the platform.
“How far is it to Miss Rosie’s boardinghouse?” he asked the man at the depot window.
“Just down the lane and through the trees,” the man responded, casting a glance toward Gillian. “A short, easy walk for your missus.”
Callum turned back with a hand out to Gillian. She was watching the Hunt wagon roll away. Nettie held the baby and sat in the back on one side. An older boy sat beside her with Mae scooted as far to the other corner of the wagon as she could get. A middle-aged man sat on the front bench with Anne. “Looks innocuous enough.”
Gillian looked at him. “Then why do I have such a bad feeling?”
“Your maternal instincts clamoring? Or perhaps you’re picking up something about the health of the children and their mothers?”
“Perhaps,” she said, though she didn’t look convinced.
6
“Any interest in sharing what you’re thinking?” Callum said.
Gillian inhaled and held her breath deep in her lungs, trying to memorize the new scents of the people in the Hunt wagon as she stared down the narrow lane. There wasn’t much point in sharing her findings about the two children on the train. They were both gone without any confirmation of whether Alpha Black even knew of their existence. However, Mae’s mother didn’t hide her daughter or seem afraid for her. Quite the opposite. But she hardly had enough evidence to convince Callum to take a chance with the new alpha. At least, not yet. Not that she blamed him. If his current struggle indicated the repercussions of an alpha oath, she’d be wary as well. Still, rumors had reached even her in her isolated life. There were alphas who people claimed were just. Fair even.
“I am a bit tired. I can see the appeal of riding on the train, but I’m not certain I love it quite the way you do.”
He chuckled. “I didn’t ride the train for love. I didn’t work on them either.” His dimples showed as his eyes lit with a spark she rarely saw now. “Our alpha hates newfangled things. The trains got me away fast and took me places where he didn’t have his spies watching. I made investments I could keep secret and made connections he didn’t know about.”
She gave him a sideways glance, intrigued. “Investments. As in businesses? What type?”
“Aside from the vineyard?” He drew in a deep breath and looked over the treetops. “I only have a small ownership in most of the businesses. A good way to help others and hide what I had for a rainy day.”
She couldn’t help but glance up and hold her palm out to the clear blue sky. He tapped her palm with his. “Very funny. It’s fortunate we aren’t there yet. It’ll take us a few years before we run through what I put away. I made far better than a good wage on my side jobs.”
“Better than Deemer’s lumberyard?” She’d liked when he’d worked close to home and she could kiss him every night, though his restlessness, once he became familiar with the business and gleaned all he could from the job, became evident. Nothing should hold him down. She’d come to that conclusion during their first star-filled summer dating, and she’d encouraged him to look for something new.
His mouth kicked up. “I—we actually own shares in a lumberyard in Montana.”
Surprised and enjoying what was now becoming a game, she tried again. “Better than working in Deemer’s hardware store?”
“If shares in a cattle ranch as well count, then maybe.”
Swinging her arms as they walked, she kept guessing. “Better than Pete’s diner?”
“Also shares in two farms, two pubs, and a chicken hatchery.”
Pausing, she stared at him. “Your businesses must create a lot of goodwill.”
“I’ve been lucky to help good men who want to work hard and build their future. We get something out of this too.”
“One of those speakeasies I’ve heard so much about?” She laughed at his shocked expression. “It’s good to be flexible.”
“I can’t believe you even know what one is.”
“We live in the country, not in hell.”
He chuckled, more relaxed than he was on the train.
They continued toward a sign painted on a pine board and covered in designs of wildflowers, announcing Miss Rosie’s Boardinghouse. “Do you have a list of these businesses, or do you just keep them all in your head?”
“I have some information in the bank boxes.”
“There are more boxes than the one in Vancouver?”
He raised a hand, displaying four fingers. “Locations are spread out so we won’t be stuck anywhere without funds.”
They’d reached the end of Rosie’s walkway. The small main street of Lester spread for a few blocks in front and behind of them. She paused, wondering why all his planning had her more concerned than relieved. “You couldn’t have known about us when you started doing all this.”
Adjusting his duffel strap, he turned toward her. “I promised my parents I’d work as hard as I could and get out of Karndottir’s territory. However, I knew way before you turned sixteen, I’d never leave you behind.”
“Charm. Such charm.” Swear to the Goddess if her heart didn’t glow bright enough for everyone to see.
“Anything for you.”
“You’re also very comfortable being a loner and making all the decisions yourself.” Too comfortable. Would it even occur to him to resolve issues with her, before he planned them? He’d been confident enough to encourage her toward a career few women in their hometown, much less anyone they knew, would consider. She wanted more for them.
He drew her close and gave her a near-chaste kiss. “As far as the businesses, it’s not hard for me to remember. I planned these businesses when I wanted you and had nothing much else to occupy my mind.” His slow smile with one dimple appeared again. “I bought the land for some of them then.”
She stopped again. He had spent hours, no, months away from her committed to his telegraph job. Years, if she added up all the time since his parents had died. These flourishing opportunities were the result. Sure, she felt the loss of never being able to learn from Doc again. But Callum had invested his mind in these businesses. How could he not feel like he was giving away a part of himself? “And what? You matched up people on the run with your own dreams? Don’t you want to have one of these businesses for your own?”
He raised her hand and kissed her knuckles, his eyes holding the familiar sparkle which started the buzz in her toes and triggered the need in her core.
“To be honest. I prefer coming up with the plans and handing the effort off to someone else. I’ve gotten to explore so many different things instead of doing the same thing day after day.”
His comment stopped her in her tracks. He needed a steady change of pace? That better not be a sign. She had her own intellectual needs too, but she planned on being a permanent fixture in his life. In her book, one didn’t hand off babies and mates. She tugged at his hand, but he didn’t let go.
“Gillian Wallace Mann, don’t think I can’t tell where your thoughts just went.” He swung his free hand toward the train depot. “My plans occupied a lot of lonely hours when I couldn’t be with you. It was a job. Granted, a fun job. Yet, nothing compares to planning a future with you. Nothing.”
He dropped his duffel to the ground and cupped her cheeks. Before she had a chance to catch her breath, his lips captured hers.
Intense and ravenous, he kissed her as if she were his last meal. His tongue slid against hers until she couldn’t care less that they stood on the side of the road, displaying their affection in fro
nt of strangers.
When he pulled back and braced his forehead against hers, they were both panting. “I did everything for a lifetime of you. So I can kiss you morning, noon, and night and concentrate on raising lots and lots of babies with you.”
It was the first he’d mentioned the baby in a way signaling joy, and her heart skipped a beat at the open pride in his voice, the gleam in his eyes.
“Lots,” she whispered.
“And lots,” he added with a wink. Then he grabbed his duffel and gestured toward Miss Rosie’s house. “Let’s get checked in and find some food. Then I’ll show you how we’ll achieve lots.”
She laughed and had to run a bit to catch up with him. “I think you’ve already made great strides in that direction.”
“You’re only carrying our firstborn. Practice makes perfect, my sweet kitty. I aim to keep you happy.”
“I smell fresh baked bread and stew from the diner down the street. And pie! Right now I’m easy to please.”
He pretended to stagger and clutched at his chest. “I always figured the way to your heart was through my attention. At the very least, through some newfangled gadget from Doc’s office or the latest medical text. Now I learn your stomach comes first!”
“I suspect your firstborn is driving my desires right now. For now, you’ll have to stay on your toes. Just remember, I’m a modern woman. I can’t let anything keep me down.” They swung their joined hands between them as they walked up onto Rosie’s wide porch.
With an enthusiasm she’d missed, he kissed her knuckles. “I’d be disappointed if you did.”
Breslin stepped inside the diner and looked around. A dozen or so tables were scattered around the room, at least half of them full. He lent half an ear to the conversations.
“Twenty acres to lease for tilling.”
“Is the profit worth it?”
“What’s not tillable can be leased for industry.”