A Secret Baby for the Shifter (Stonybrooke Shifters)

by Leela Ash

  ***

  Milo told her that he would stand guard for a while so that she could get some sleep. She agreed, though it was hard to wait. Someone was in the cabin, and Jessa knew that whatever rest she managed was not going to be peaceful. They had to get closer and make sure that they weren’t seen. The last thing that she wanted to do was get caught as well. She closed her eyes for a few minutes, but soon it was morning and the time had come for them to leave.

  Jessa got up and looked around. Her heart hammered in panic when she couldn’t find Milo. She asked Carin and Jason if they had seen him, but it was becoming clear to her that he had left. He was going ahead, to take care of it himself. She thought it was the most ignorant thing to do, but she knew it was to keep the rest of them safe. He was much like Mike in that way, trying to make everything better by taking it all on his own shoulders. The only problem was, he had no idea what he was going to get involved in. What if he got caught? What if she did? Then what would happen to Michael? What good would three casualties do?

  Jessa had Carin watch Shane and she promised him that she would be back soon. Jessa had to fight with Jason a little bit. He was bound and determined to go with her, but she didn’t have time to argue. Jason needed to stay and keep his grandmother and Jessa’s son safe as well.

  “You have to stay here with them Jason. You are the man right now and you must keep them safe. No matter what you see or hear from the cabin, you must keep them here.”

  “What if they come for us?”

  “They won’t.” Jessa wasn’t sure of much, but she was sure that she would not be telling them where they were. She would rather die than have something happen to her son. She knew that Michael must have been forced to tell them, but he would have known that they were gone. She had to believe that.

  “What if they do?”

  “If they do Jason, me, Milo and Mike are dead and you should all run. But it is not going to come to that. Just hunker down for a day or two. There is enough supplies for a week. You don’t have to leave for anything, so don’t.”

  He nodded, his eyes widened, but he seemed to come to his own resolve. Jessa was happy to see the change in him and it made her feel safer leaving her son with him and Carin. Whatever was going to happen, it was her son in the end that she cared about being safe.

  When she finally headed out, she was already tired from the confrontation and leery of what was going to happen next. She hoped that Michael was still okay and that she could somehow get him out of there.

  In the far back of her mind, she hoped she had been wrong about everything and it was just a coincidence. That somehow it was just a new group that found a spot for themselves for the night, just like they had before. She wanted to believe that Michael was not in trouble, but taking care of whatever it was he thought he had to and was coming back to her. He had told Milo that he would catch up and she wanted to believe more than anything that it was true. Jessa wasn’t prepared to think about what happened after he left.

  She looked for Milo’s tracks, but he was always untraceable. Jessa couldn’t believe that he had left alone, knowing and hearing what those men were capable of. It might not even be the same people that Mike went after. Mike may not be with them and Milo could be walking into some kind of trouble. She didn’t know what he was thinking, but she was touched by the thought. He wanted to help, that much was clear. What wasn’t clear was what the consequences were going to be for doing so.

  There was nothing to deter her from her thoughts and they were taking over far faster than she would have liked to admit. It wasn’t that she had no faith in Milo, but he was used to hiding in the shadows, not confronting someone. With the ordeal with Billy she had found that he had been protective, but still in a way that kept him out of the line of fire.

  “There is nothing you can do until you get there Jessa. Stop worrying about it.”

  Her words did little to make her feel any better, but it was something.

  4

  Michael was the first one up the next morning and he was more than a little happy to see that everyone sleeping. He hadn’t wanted to give them the cabin, but it hurt so much and he knew that they would be gone. There had been a small danger that she hadn’t left, but he was sure that she had. It was no place for her to stay and though he knew Jessa loved him, she would make sure her son was safe first. It meant that she wouldn’t go do anything stupid, like coming after him.

  Caston had been upset when she hadn’t been there. He had gotten rough with him again, but not like before. Michael knew that the brute was not going to ever lay eyes on her. Jessa was going towards the sea and somehow, he assured himself, he would catch up like he had promised.

  The only thing good that had come out of the ordeal was the fact that he had learned more about himself. He had learned that the present was more important than what had happened in the past. He didn’t live there anymore, and even though in the present, he’d had everything he had ever wanted, Mike had ruined it by going after the past.

  Now he wished that he could go back, maybe change his decisions, but he had learned about the man that had haunted him for so many years. It was enough that he now pitied the old, lonely man instead of seeking out vengeance. Michael knew now that he didn’t have to kill him to go on. He should have left with the rest of them. They would have all been halfway to the coastline by now. Even if there wasn’t much that way, they would have at least been together.

  He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to forget the stupidity of his choice. Instead of being with her, with all of the ragtag group that had quickly felt like family, he was tied up and pushing an existence that wouldn’t last much longer. While he felt sorry for Caston, the old brute had no intention of keeping Michael alive. Once he realized that Mike wasn’t going to tell him where to find the rest of them, he would most assuredly kill him. It was what men like him did.

  When he opened his eyes and refocused on the dim light streaming in from the windows, Mike was eye level to the man that had filled his thoughts and his mind for so long. There was nothing that he could do but stare back at him. He was gagged and tied. He wasn’t going anywhere, and dirty looks just seemed to piss the man off.

  “I see you’re up. Ready for more questioning?”

  Mike tried not to respond, but it was hard not to. The last thing he wanted was to answer any questions, especially the way that Caston liked to ask them. Caston was one of those people who genuinely liked to hurt other people, and Mike could tell he was in for it by the smile on his face. It was unnerving, the idea that he could do it for hours and be relaxed the whole time. Caston was a man with patience. That was not always a good thing. When he saw the familiar smile, he shivered on the inside and hoped like hell that instead of looking as afraid as he was, he looked determined. If he could manage that, it would be enough.

  He tried to respond, forgetting that he had a dirty gag in his mouth. He instead met his eyes and nodded his head that he was.

  Caston moved towards him and pulled the gag don. Mike spent time trying to moisten the painfully dry areas in his mouth before he was forced to speak. He had nothing to say, but he was happy to have that out of his mouth.

  “So what can you tell me about this woman, this Jessa?”

  He shrugged and told him that he didn’t know. “She was supposed to be here when I got back. Maybe she left without me. You know how woman are. They are even more skittish nowadays. She could have seen us coming and be watching us right now. I really don’t know.”

  Caston liked the idea of the woman just anywhere around. He made a mental note that he was going to go look for her, but instead he asked more questions. No one else was up yet and he wasn’t ready for the gripes and moans for the rest of the day that would surely take place.

  “What do you know? Does she have any family? Anywhere else that she would go?”

  He shook his head that she didn’t. “No, when I found her, she was all alone.”

  Caston grinned and Mik
e looked away so that the man wouldn’t see his anger because of it. The older man was playing him like he was stupid and the best thing for him to do was let him think that as long as possible. When he realized his error, Mike hoped that it was a big enough one that he would be able to get out of there.

  “Yes, I have found many on the road, all alone and in need of protection. They of course realize too late that I am not it.”

  “If there are so many, why would you bother with just one girl? There are many more out there like you just said.”

  Caston made a face. “No, they are getting to be less and less. All of the good ones turn bad or get taken. Either way, the choices are not as good as before all of this. Now a man has to work for it. You seem like the type that would not hold on unless she was Grade A. Am I right?”

  Mike wasn’t going to answer him, but in any world, Jessa was Grade A. The idea of her being around such men made him sick to his stomach. It was not hard to think of what they would do to his beautiful Jessa. They would ruin her and most likely kill her. He couldn’t let that happen.

  He looked away, desperately trying to think of something to say when he saw something outside the window. Mike was sure that he was seeing things. Then he saw a head pop up behind Caston and he gasped.

  “No...”

  “What was that?”

  Mike tried to recover, seeing Milo brought so many questions running through his head. What was he doing there and did it mean that the rest were close? He had only told Caston that because he wanted the gang to look for them around there, giving them more time to get further away. What the hell was Milo doing there!?

  “What was that, Mike?”

  Caston’s voice had risen and he looked back at him. “No, it was not like that. She is not like that. The first time I met her she was in a garden. I had never met someone like her, but now she has left me and maybe if I wasn’t here I could find her. But her tracks are probably gone now.”

  He said the last bit a little louder, hoping that the man outside would get the point and try to make some tracks taking him in the other direction.

  “We can look together. The rest of them will be up soon.”

  Michael just shook his head. “You don’t want your men to get to her first. How apt are they to turn down a piece of tail? She won’t even make it to you I bet.”

  He was playing on the man’s greed, hoping that he wanted her all to himself and by the look on his face, he did. Caston was sure of himself, so sure that he did not fear Mike. The man was strong, but he was stronger.

  “We will leave now then.”

  Mike was jerked up by the arms and wrists tied together. He didn’t make a sound, not wanting anyone else to wake up. If he could get him out there by himself, no matter the ropes and the lack of gun, he would come out on top, Mike was as sure as Caston was. One of the men was wrong though.

  When they were a bit away from the cabin, Caston finally stopped and took the gag off of Michael completely. “So where is she?”

  Mike tried to look around, to see if Milo had made some tracks for them to follow. He really hoped he did because the last thing Mike wanted was for Caston to somehow get his hands on his Jessa. He would not be able to live with himself if that happened and he knew that it was a gamble bringing the man out there. But why was she still there? Was it really that hard for her to do as he asked? Chuckling to himself, he figured it actually was.

  If he knew what he had known about Jessa before, he didn’t know if he would have jumped her in the first place. It was only because she fancied him in a way that she had let him get close. Mike knew that and knew that he should have stayed. Nothing was worth losing her over.

  Caston looked at Mike as if he may have lost his mind. It was clear that he was thinking about something and he wasn’t so sure that he thought it was for the best. “So where are the tracks?”

  “We have to go back towards the cabin. We just took off in a direction and didn’t even check for them. She was here a day ago and it hasn’t rained, so there should be something of a clue of where she went.”

  He nodded his head that it made sense, but he could tell that Caston wasn’t so sure if he believed him or not. Mike sounded believable, but he knew that something was up. So Michael looked down, hoping that Milo had led him in the right direction.

  5

  “Milo! What the hell are you doing here?”

  The boy looked up, lost in thought, surprised to see her. “You shouldn’t be here Jessa. That bad man is coming and he has Mike tied up. I think it is only him, but I can’t be sure.”

  Jessa liked those odds, but not the fact that the man supposedly had a gun. She could deal with a lot, but it was hard to fight against a piece of metal flying at ridiculous speeds towards her. There was no going back from that.

  “Milo it will be fine. Take them to a place where I can jump him and it will be all over.”

  Milo wasn’t so sure, but he had seen her in action and didn’t doubt that she would do what needed to be done. “It is too dangerous. Michael didn’t want you involved in any of this. That is why he left in the middle of the night.”

  She didn’t want to hear it, knowing why he took off. It wasn’t because of anything but his desire to protect her. Jessa wanted him to know that she didn’t need his protection. She would rather be a partner, not just the doll on the shelf that could break.

  “I don’t care. I will scout ahead. You take them this way, away from everyone else. I remember a building up here that looks like a good place for an ambush. It’s an old fire house. You have to get them there. Okay?”

  He nodded his head, not wanting to go against her and still very aware of the men that were no doubt following the trail he was making. He didn’t know what Mike’s plan was, but he knew that the woman looking at him then with fire in her eyes was harder to ignore. Mike would be pissed and if they made it through it, Milo was sure that something bad would happen. But he would worry about that later. He had to worry about Jessa then.

  “Fine. I will take them there.”

  “You know where I am talking about?”

  He nodded, remembering seeing it as he had passed by it that morning. He didn’t know much more about what she was going to do, but he could only imagine. Jessa scared him. Milo would be the first to admit it. He knew that she was a kind person, but when she was crossed, Jessa was capable of anything.

  “Yes I saw it before. Are you sure you want to do this? He is not going to be easy to take out. From what I have heard, there is more to it with him. He laid waste to Jason’s family and to Mike’s too I think. He isn’t just a bad guy. He is a really bad guy.”

  Jessa just shook her head, tuning Milo out. She didn’t want to look at it like that. Though she was happy to have as much information as she could, there was little that was going to deter her away from him. “I can be really bad too, Milo.”

  ***

  Milo did as he was asked, taking the two men right to Jessa. He knew that there would be angry people when it was all done, but it had to be done. He was taking them away from the rest of the group, the ones that couldn’t really fight for themselves.

  When he was almost to the fire station though, a man came out of the bushes and grabbed him. It looked to be one of the guys that he had seen sleeping through the window. Milo had no idea how he had got there or how many more of them there might be. His eyes went to the firehouse as he was dragged back the way he had come.

  “Caston. I found him.”

  The older man sighed and looked at the boy. He was a pitiful display, obviously suffering from radiation poisoning. “What do we have here?”

  Milo looked over at Mike, who was trying to cover up his expression. He didn’t want him to know that he knew him. Not answering the question, he waited for him to repeat himself before he told him that he had never seen him before.

  Michael was also worried about the man that had popped up in front of them in the trail. He was supposed to be alone with Ca
ston so that he could find his moment. That wasn’t going to happen if there were more of them. Were they all there? His eyes took in the area around them and didn’t see anyone else.

  “I don’t know who that is or who the other guy is. I told you who I was travelling with. I thought that was why we were out there looking for her.”

  Caston wasn’t sure that he believed him. “So you say that you don’t know him?”

  He gestured to Milo, then grabbed him up and shoved him towards the man so he could take a good look. “I thought I saw a look that said you did. You are telling me you don’t?”

  Mike shook his head. He didn’t think it would be any better to tell him that he did know him. It seemed that everything he was doing was somehow the wrong choice. He hesitated and then he shook his head no. “No, I don’t know him.”

  “Good, I didn’t want to see him all day.”

  Then Caston turned back to Milo and shot him at point blank range in the chest. It happened so quickly that Mike didn’t have time to respond. He knew not of the plan to get them to the firehouse, but it wouldn’t have mattered if it did. How could one answer have caused so much grief?

  “I thought you said you didn’t know him?”

  He sneered back at Mike, liking that he had hurt him in some way. It wasn’t just physical pain that got Caston off, emotional pain was so much deeper.

  “So you knew the boy? Is that your Jessa?”

  Mike was still too shocked to say anything. He couldn’t recover and didn’t know what to do. He looked over at Caston, the same hateful look in his eyes as there had been the first time. “Now we are getting somewhere.” He smiled a little too big for Mike’s mind and he grimaced.

  “Boss, I think there are more tracks going towards that Fire Station not far from here. I think it is the woman.”

  Caston sighed, thankful that Jessa was not made up or some boy that had the face of a demon. “Good, then we will carry on towards the fire station. Is there anything that you would like to add Mike?”