AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“When I was thirteen, I got my alpha sign. Nobody wanted anything to do with me after that. They’d seen plenty of alphas by then. Said we were like animals, good for nothing but brawling and lusting after women. That kind of behavior wasn’t appreciated among my people. We were supposed to be one of the Five Civilized Tribes, after all. It didn’t take me long to get the message. A few weeks later, I decided to leave. Took a horse and just started riding.”
Shannon hugged her arms around her knees. It was hard for her to imagine the huge, long-haired alpha as a boy, but the thought of him riding off into the wilderness all alone made her heart ache with pity.
“So how did you two meet?” she asked.
This time, it was Tanner who answered. “Well, in some ways my story is similar to Logan’s, I guess, and in some ways it’s different. I didn’t have a father growing up, so my mother had to raise me on her own.”
“I’m sorry about your father,” Shannon said.
“It wasn’t like that, ma’am. I said I didn’t have a father growing up, but I guess you could also say I had a thousand fathers. My mother worked one of the brothels up in Denver, back when it was still called Cherry Creek. She was a fine woman, though, and the other women in the brothel helped her take care of me.” He smiled. “That’s how I know Rosie Redbottom. She used to work up there in Colorado before she came down to Arizona and went into business for herself.”
“Is that where you met Logan then?” Shannon asked. “In Colorado?”
“Not exactly. I got my alpha sign when I was thirteen, just like Logan did, but the scarlet sisters didn’t turn me out right away. They liked having me around, I guess, and when I got a bit older, some of ’em even took it upon themselves to school me in the ways of pleasing a woman.”
The alpha smirked, and Shannon felt herself blushing again.
“Well, that sounds like an ideal situation for a man such as yourself, Mr. McBain. I’m surprised you decided to leave.”
“I didn’t decide to,” he said. “I had to. You see, sometimes the customers would get a little too rough with the girls, and whenever that happened, it was my job to set ’em straight. Even a young alpha is more than a match for a grown beta. But one night, I ended up going a little too far with one fella. I didn’t mean to kill him. I guess I just didn’t realize how strong I’d become. Had to get out of town after that. Same as Logan, I took a horse and just rode out.”
He took out his tobacco pouch and papers and started building himself a cigarette. Shannon admired the nimble precision of his fingers as he worked.
“It was a few years before me and Logan crossed paths somewhere in New Mexico Territory,” he went on. “We’d both been living on our own for a while at that point, and I reckon we were both a bit feral. We got into a terrific fight over nothing in particular. We were just a pair of foolish, angry alphas with nothing better to do. We’d stop every now and then to get some water and sleep, then we’d go back to it, beatin’ on each other till we were both bloody and raw. After a couple days of that, I decided Logan was one tough son of a bitch, and I reckon he decided the same about me. Figured we might as well team up and raise some hell together. We cut open our hands and shook on it, and that’s how we became blood brothers.”
Tanner had finished rolling his cigarette. He struck a match to light it, then he held up his right hand. In the wavering glow of the match, Shannon could see the scar running diagonally across his palm.
“So that’s our story, Miss Duffy,” Tanner said, shaking out the match. “What about you? Got any brothers or sisters?”
Shannon hesitated for a moment, thinking about how much she really wanted to reveal to these men. They had shared their stories, so it only seemed right she should share something of her own.
“I’m an only child,” she said at last. “And I suppose I can relate to your stories in a way. I never knew who my real parents were. My father, Samuel Duffy, found me when I was just a baby. During one of his journeys through the desert, he came across a farmstead that had recently been raided. The place had belonged to a Mexican family who had remained after the war. According to the Treaty, they should have become citizens of the United States with all the same rights as any other Americans. In practice, however, things didn’t work that way. Everyone on the farmstead had been killed except for me. Samuel discovered me hidden behind some barrels in the cellar. He said it was a miracle he found me, since I wasn’t making any noise at all. He took me in, raised me as his own, and showed me enough love for two parents.”
“He sounds like a good man,” Logan said.
Shannon nodded. “The best. I’m not the only one he saved. When he started Duffy Ranch, it was never about money. If he’d wanted to, he could have been a rich bastard like Ned Flarity. But my father despised the way hucow women were treated. He wanted to create a place that would be a sanctuary for them, a place where they could be happy and safe. That’s why I have to find that firestone—to carry on my father’s dream.”
Shannon felt herself getting emotional, and she worried that she may have said too much. Not everyone felt the same way she and her father did about hucow women. In fact, most people didn’t.
She was glad when she saw the two alphas both nodding.
“He sounds like a good man, indeed,” Logan Summerhill said. “And it sounds like he passed some of that goodness on to you too.”
“Thank you,” Shannon said. “I miss him a lot.”
A lump was starting to form in her throat, and the pressure of tears was pushing behind her eyes. She waited until the wave of emotion died down, then she said in a cracking voice, “Well, I think I’m ready to go to sleep now.”
“Alright, Miss Duffy,” Tanner said gently, as he pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll take the first watch, tonight. Logan, I’ll wake you up around midnight to switch off.”
“Sounds good,” Logan said as he lay back on his blanket. Almost instantly, he was snoring softly.
Shannon waited until Tanner had walked away from their campsite, then she undressed, and put on some long underwear and a pair of thick wool socks. The desert got cold at night, and those clothes would do a better job of keeping her warm than her daytime outfit. She rolled her jeans into a tight bundle to use as a pillow, and pulled her blanket around her body. The ground was hard, but she was so tired she barely even cared.
Somewhere in the distance, a coyote howled again, but this time Shannon didn’t react with fear. She felt safe knowing the alphas were with her, watching over her.
It felt good.
But that good, safe feeling held dangers of its own, Shannon reminded herself as she drifted off to sleep. She would have to be careful around the two handsome alphas. She had far too much to lose.
