I ran past him, wiping the condensation off the window and peering into the darkness. A shadow moved in the distance.
When Logan opened the door, I could see more clearly as light spilled out of the cabin. It looked like a bear approaching on its hind legs. The visitor was wrapped in dark furs, and nothing human was visible except for two legs. Logan stepped onto the porch and waited by the steps. I knew he was using his keen sense of smell to detect deception or danger.
“Are you Logan Cross?” a woman asked, out of breath.
“I am.”
“Did you bring the money?”
“It’s inside. Come get warm, female.”
I backed away from the door and watched as she took off the trapper hat, flecks of snow and ice scattering to the clean floor. She appeared in her forties with dark hair and nothing distinct about her looks except plump cheeks and a small scar on her chin.
Logan shut the door and joined my side. “You didn’t bring the child? We had an agreement. I won’t give you the money without the child.”
“Where’s your car?” I asked in a panic. “You didn’t leave him in there, did you? The temperature is below freezing!”
Ignoring me, she looked between us and shook her head. “No wonder.”
I frowned. “No wonder what?”
“That you bid for a child on the market. The orphanages wouldn’t give a mixed couple a child, would they? What are you?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Childless. Does it matter what my Breed is?”
She shrugged. “I suppose not. Where’s the money?”
Logan lifted a cloth tool bag near the door and set it down in front of her, unzipping it so she could see the money. He looked up, the black rims of his eyes getting thicker. “Where’s the child?”
She’d begun to open her heavy fur coat when suddenly I noticed something against her chest. A cloth sling wrapped around her body, securing a tiny bundle. “I’ve only got half a bottle of formula left. I hope you brought something.”
My heart stopped.
It felt as though I were in a dream when she handed Logan a bottle and they spoke privately. Or maybe they spoke in perfectly normal voices and I’d gone completely deaf. The entire world simply stopped.
While the woman knelt and went through the money, Logan offered her a glass of water, which she waved away.
I’d taken a few steps back, speechless, unable to think clearly.
This was real.
And not just a child, but ababy.
Babies were rare on the black market, so we had always been prepared to receive a small child or even an older one. That had never been an issue with us.
She pulled open the sling and handed the little bundle to Logan, who cradled the infant against his chest, his large hand practically obscuring the baby’s head.
“Jiminy,” he whispered. Logan stripped his attention away from the child. “And the mother?”
“You won’t have to worry about her coming to claim her child. She was forced to give him up, but she accepted this fate.” After the woman secured her coat and lifted the bag of money, she took one last look at us before disappearing into the cold, dark night. “Good luck, and may the fates be with you,” she called out in the distance.
My feet were cemented in place. Logan shut the door, his eyes sparkling as he looked down at the baby. I’d never seen such a soft look on his face aside from when he looked at me.
After a moment, he centered his eyes on mine. “It’s a boy.”
With those three words, my baby was born. Tears flooded my eyes, and my knees weakened as I stepped back and collapsed on the couch.
Logan strode forward and knelt in front of me, placing the infant in my lap. The little boy squirmed before yawning and going back to sleep. “His name is Lakota. I think we should keep it to honor his mother. If she was forced to give him up, someone must have hurt her. The Relic said he’s a Shifter—probably a wolf, but she can’t be certain since she didn’t have information on the father. He’s ours, Little Raven. This is our son.”
