by KH LeMoyne
“Hmm.” She wrote the new topic in her journal and flipped back to another book for corresponding details on Mrs. Paskell’s telltale symptoms as a train whistle cut through the air.
“The four thirty?” Callum!
Hand to her chest, she bit back a smile. The foolish whistle rang every day, but for some reason, she was certain this was his train. She could almost sense him as her pulse raced. Granted, this was the longest he’d ever been gone, but he always came home to her.
Eager to clean up for the day and head out for a brisk walk home, she closed all of Doc’s books and returned them to the shelves. As luck had it, she’d finished updating his ledgers and made reminders for the patients he’d see when he returned from his trip next week.
Placing his journal on top of five others at the corner of his desk, she gave the room one more quick check. Every instrument was clean and in its designated drawer or glass jar. His spare medical satchel sat on the counter, refilled with instruments and standard medicines, ready to go.
She pulled the door to the office shut and glanced over her shoulder. Doc’s single-story cabin and the modest barn beyond both had their doors closed, with everything locked down tight. She swung her cloak over her shoulders and jogged toward her mother’s connecting property.
Her skin tingled and her breath grew short. She scented Callum on the breeze, and something inside her calmed. It couldn’t be an illusion. Callum was home, she knew it. The memory of his wild scent, intertwined with her own, set her blood ablaze, and her cougar scratched beneath her skin. They both wanted the same thing—his presence. But she’d missed his whiskey-colored eyes devouring her with heat, the sexy dimple that showed too rarely these days, and the thick chestnut-brown hair she loved to spear her fingers through as he kissed her senseless.
Yes, it was about darn time.
Too distracted by her emotions, she didn’t even allow the scent of lye and fragrant oils to slow her down. In the bright light of Callum’s homecoming, even making soap didn’t seem so bad. As she rounded the corner of her mother’s house, voices brought her to an abrupt halt.
“If the alpha sent them because he can sense she’s pregnant,” Callum said, with an edge to his voice, “I need to take her away now.”
Well, damnation. Any chance of a private moment to tell Callum about the baby was gone. Instead, he stood there, his nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. Not good.
Gillian marched forward. “Momma, put the gun down.”
“Why? I trusted this boy. After all the effort I went through getting those serums and the mystic blessings to keep you from shifting, he destroys all my work by refusing to keep his member in his pants.”
Gillian winced at her mother’s words and drew in a slow breath. Her mother had lived through enough horrors for a lifetime, her beautiful features carved with lines of worry. Gillian didn’t want to add to her burdens.
“And you”—her mother waved a hand at her—“with your secrets. All this time, I waited for you to be honest and tell me.”
“That’s not the way any of this happened,” Gillian said, her frustration rising. “I wasn’t keeping if from you. I just wanted Callum to know first.”
She should have known her mother would find out. From Callum’s tight-lipped expression, it seemed he wasn’t taken with the idea either. She could feel a frown forming on her face and tried to hold it back. This was wrong. Her news should be exciting, something to bring a carefree expression of wonder to her mate’s face. Well, not mate yet.
Instead, his shoulders straightened in a pose she knew too well. She doubted he was aware how easily she could read him, but from the lock of his jaw and his rigid posture, she knew his protector mode had overtaken any chance she had of discussing options. Too focused on her safety and well-being, he’d fixate on his plans, shrugging off her suggestions.
Reasoning with him now was useless.
“I expected with her inability to shift and our abstaining from a complete mating, the spell would hold,” Callum stated more calmly than he looked. A tiny shiver of irritation ran through her at his lack of comment or apparent thought to the baby. His planning didn’t address happy bundles of joy. Just as quickly, she acknowledged the unfairness of her judgment. He’d been blindsided. By her mother, no less. “But I’m sorry, Maisie. If I had known, we would have waited.”
Really? Nope. She hadn’t been about to wait any longer for her mate. But there would be a better time to argue that point with her future mate.
“My girl here is headstrong.” Maisie’s shotgun barrel dipped as she rolled her eyes at him. “But I thought you were smarter, Callum. I guess I should have had the talk about birds and bees with you after all.”
“I’m perfectly clear on where babies come from, Maisie.” Callum’s gaze dipped once to Gillian’s belly. Then his expression hardened, his mind no doubt processing at the speed of light for answers. Not what she’d wanted. “I have a plan.”
Of course he did.
“Wait. I’d like a say here.” Gillian stepped closer, but he shook his head and enveloped her in his arms, his breath at her neck as he kissed her skin. In front of her mother no less. With just his touch, her discomfort washed away. This was the reunion she’d expected those first few moments. His warmth, his touch. Even never having shifted, she and her beast were aligned in what they considered important. They both missed Callum. The past weeks had stretched too long for comfort. “My bag is ready. We’ll just—”
“Leave.” Callum nodded, finishing for her.
“Right.” Now they were back in lockstep. “They’ve never found me before. This time won’t be any different.” But as she looked up at him, she realized he was talking to her mother. Twisting around in his arms, she could see her mother’s expression matched Callum’s, and she had the audacity to nod as if they were having a secret dialogue of their own.
“I didn’t expect today to be the day,” he continued. “But I knew this was coming. I’m ready. They’ll both be safe. I promise.”
Wait? What? Since when did he get to make decisions for her?
“We’re going to—” Callum started when her mom raised one palm.
“Don’t tell me. The less I know, the less of a risk someone else can force the information.”
“Mom.” Gillian wiggled out of Callum’s grip, but he snagged her hand and twined his fingers with hers to keep her with him. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I haven’t agreed to anything, and if I’m leaving, so are you.”
“No need to worry. The alpha would never use me for offspring. Besides, I’m welcome on the reservation.”
Gillian flinched at the reference to her baby sister’s death. No, nothing as sad as a mere death—coldblooded murder. Her alpha had killed Dana when he’d found an omega alive in his territory. He’d have killed her mother for giving birth to her, if her farther and others hadn’t intervened.
“You’d better take care of her,” her mother continued. “And my future grandchild. They are all I have left.”
Callum squeezed Gillian’s hand. “I’ll take her where Gauthier can’t reach her.”
Gillian jerked her hand. “Hey, ‘she’ is standing right here, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m certainly not leaving my mother alone.”
She’d have continued if Callum hadn’t dropped to one knee and gripped her hand harder. Those deep-brown eyes she loved so much, the ones showing every emotion, focused on her. “Gillian Wallace, do you trust me?”
Now he wasn’t playing fair. When she was six years old, she’d climbed up a tree, forty feet high. Her inner cat liked it up high. The problem was getting down. Twelve years old, never having shifted, and still afraid of heights, Callum had still climbed up and showed her the way down. That wasn’t the only time she’d gotten herself into a bind and he’d stepped in to save her. He’d not only put up with her antics, he’d also never dissuaded her from pursing joy and adventure. In all that time, he’d never told on her to her parents, s
ealing her loyalty to him. Years later, he’d been the one who urged her to go talk with Doc Johnston and see if he’d take her as his assistant.
He always had her back. Trust wasn’t an issue between them. “You know I do.”
“Then please trust me when I tell you this is much worse than we prepared for. We don’t have much time, or I’d explain. Since the alpha has sent his men here, somehow he knows you exist. That you both exist.” His hand moved to her waist. “They won’t stop until they find you and drag you back with them. There is no hiding this time. We’re leaving. Now.”
She couldn’t swallow past the tight lump in her throat and looked back to her mother.
“The minute you’re gone, I’m heading to the reservation for a good long stay.” Her mother ducked back into the house and a moment later tossed a packed satchel to Gillian, though Callum caught it with one hand and placed it on the ground beside him and stood. “I packed your two medical books on top, dear. Now don’t waste any more time.”
As if he’d considered his word final, she was being hustled off to heaven only knew where. However, her mother’s eyes glistened and her own tears threatened as well. This was the woman who had taught her how to endure grief with courage and was never stingy with love. She didn’t deserve to be left behind. Gillian wanted to scream. This couldn’t be happening.
Yet it was. And because her mother had also taught her to be practical, there was no point in arguing with the obvious. It was better to save one’s energy for the true trials in life.
“Afterward, we’ll send you information.” Gillian forced the words out, and her mother gave a brief, unsteady nod.
Callum kicked off his fancy dress shoes, stuffing them into one of the satchels. Then he crouched a bit, offering his back to her before he glanced back. “What do you say, sweetheart? Ready for an adventure?”
“I’d like some say in the adventure.”
“Once we’re clear of Gauthier’s men, you can have all the say.”
She’d had enough experience with him to recognize that the tightness in his face and his eyes darkening to almost black signified his terror. For her because of the baby? Because they could both be killed? Hard to say. His square locked jaw and refusal to blow the lock of his tousled hair out of his face said he was also determined.
“I must be crazy,” she said. As crazy as she’d been when she’d tempted, cajoled, and seduced him into finally making love to her.
She didn’t regret it for one minute. She just hoped he didn’t. She ran to her mother for a tight hug and a kiss. Then she returned to Callum. Gripping his shoulders, she hopped onto his back and accepted the satchels when he handed them to her.
“Crazy for me, I hope,” he whispered.
Yep. Crazy enough to leap from the top of a forty-foot tree and know he’d be at the bottom every time to catch her kind of crazy.
Traitor
Shifters Unlimited Book 3
Life is full of tough choices. Vengeance. Honor. Mating?
After spending years to orchestrate the perfect revenge, enforcer Breslin Taggart is poleaxed when a woman he doesn't even know exists steals his final prize and shreds his lifetime of work. He owes her payback, but that doesn’t mean he or his beast will let anyone else get their hooks into her before he’s taught her tempting, sweet ass a lesson.
Rayven can barely keep one step ahead of trouble, much less waste the time to plan an elaborate murder scheme. Yet it’s not like anyone is listening to her. Not her clan. Certainly not the sexy arrogant enforcer who looks at her with equal parts fury and lust. Definitely not whoever framed her. But hauled before the alpha tribunal with everyone she cares about at risk, Rayven doesn't have much choice but to enter into a battle she never wanted and fight! Unfortunately, winning the battle will rob her of the most precious person in her life.
1
Crowsnest Pass
Alberta, Canada
Why did nothing ever go according to plan? Rayven crouched lower and tried to shrink into the shadows cast by the warehouse roof. Just her foul luck, it was almost impossible to do beneath the floodlight brilliance of a harvest moon. Shit circumstances or not, she still had a break-in to commit and a hostage to rescue.
She stared across the parking lot at building 2B. In another thirty minutes, the moon would rise over the rooftops and obliterate her narrow hiding space. Barely enough time to find a way in without alerting anyone. Much less locate the kidnap victim and clear out without a trace.
A quick sniff reaffirmed gravel dust, industrial cleaner, and exhaust fumes. She froze and bit back a curse. Fresh signatures drifted on the faint breeze: six humans and three shifters. Whether they were inside the vehicle sitting in the parking lot or waiting inside the building to ambush her was impossible to tell from this distance. All she knew was that the scents hadn’t existed fifteen minutes ago when she’d crept across the barren creek bed from the highway. However they’d gotten here, the odds had gone from high risk to near impossible.
In all likelihood, there were now additional guards posted at the back of 2B, with others around the perimeter of the industrial park, narrowing her options to a quick frontal attack or crawling away to find access to the roof. Neither afforded her speed and safety, but she’d pulled a win before out of more difficult situations. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t done the prep work.
After two long weeks of skulking around the nearby towns, searching for a trace of the Wilsons’ missing teenage son, she’d finally found this place. Her instincts screamed that the isolated and seemingly abandoned industrial warehouse complex made an ideal place to hide Nathan Wilson. The insistent itch at the nape of her neck warned the same thing. Even with a dormant beast, her enhanced shifter senses worked just fine.
Outnumbered or not, she couldn’t back away. Based on her previous missions tracking children kidnapped from her clan, she’d get one night and no second chance to free Nathan.
Tomorrow, the warehouse and parking lot would be empty of cars, people, victims, and laboratory equipment. Supplies for the Thunder in the Valley summer fireworks display would once again be stacked inside 2B, gathering dust.
She’d waited too long once, early on in her rescues, and it was a lesson she’d never forget. Arriving at a hostage site right before the structure blew sky-high, Rayven barely missed being incinerated. Her greater fear had been for the children inside. The mixed blessing came later as she’d checked through the wreckage, sniffing the rubble before the first responders arrived. No children had died in that explosion. However, given the excruciating experimentations endured by the few youngsters she’d recovered alive, death might have been kinder.
Nathan Wilson had been missing for only a few weeks. At sixteen, he was older than most of the other victims and hopefully could withstand whatever the kidnappers subjected him to until she reached him. And she would reach him. Despite lacking the ability to call her beast, her tracking and hunting skills were better than most humans or shifters. Keeping a low profile within the clan settlements, she gathered information. Her stealth and speed gave her an edge following the kidnappers, many of whom were human, and anticipating their moves. However, learning from her mistakes and adapting was by far her greatest strength.
After several early frustrating efforts searching for the children alone, she now sought help from lower-ranking members of the clan. Not people she openly claimed as friends. Her past made her too dangerous to befriend anyone. However, living on the outskirts, she watched everyone. She knew which people had access to valuable sources of information and how to uncover secrets people would rather keep hidden.
In most cases, what she uncovered fell into the category of personal information like illegal cross-breed matings and family members secreted across the territory line to other alphas for a new life. Details Rayven would never betray to the current alpha or his enforcer team.
But she’d paid attention. Remembered everything for the years she’d lived as an outcast.
; When children of the same low-ranking clan members began disappearing, she did more than sit by and wait for news. She’d tracked and searched and most often brought children home. Her actions had bought her a few ties of loyalty, and more than a few enemies as well.
All of which left her here, on an usually hot but clear night, contemplating which distraction would get her inside 2B the fastest.
Rayven cocked her head as she leaned against the concrete block wall of the single-story warehouse and listened for signs of movement. For a brief moment, a teasing tremor rippled beneath her skin. As usual, nothing happened, and she released the breath she’d held, stifling regret.
She tensed at the metallic rattle of an industrial garage door followed by the low hum of more approaching vehicles. Risking a glance around the corner, she saw two large SUVs with enough mud and dents to appear well used pull past her out of the parking lot and head toward the main road. Neither vehicle warranted a second glance at night. Yet the nonreflective blacked-out windows, red LED lights flashing at the base of the rear windows, and tires with fresh-off-the-showroom tread she could make out from her location screamed professionals. Human mercenaries, most likely. She waited as a large panel van pulled away too.
The whole thing reeked of money, high-tech, and power, none of which fit the Karndottir alpha. He spurned technology, publicly opposed scientific pursuits for his people. He also wouldn’t bother to hide children if the urge to steal them suited him.
Another long sniff proved—nothing new. She squashed the urge to check over her shoulder. Perhaps she should have listened to her gut feeling about bringing backup. But throughout all her missions, she hadn’t uncovered any details about who ran this child-abduction experimentation scheme. The last thing she wanted was for the few people she counted on to risk their lives.
