15. Kai

Chapter 15

Kai

I'd taken the train to the end of the line, as I needed to get my "fake not fake" ID card renewed from Froon.

My mates were at work, and I had Albie with me. Another passenger on the train helped me carry the stroller up the stairs, and now I was sitting in Froon's office while one of his assistants prepared my card.

Albie, as Dante's bio son, was a legitimate member of Tarrin society, but my existence was in the gray area.

"You've experienced many life changes since you arrived." He shuffled papers, of which there were many, on his desk. I never understood how he found anything, but he'd never made a mistake with my documents.

"Yes. I mated three alphas and had a baby." In the back of my mind was always that niggling fear that I'd be whisked away, either back to Pineville or to another dimension, with or without Albie.

If my son was with me, I'd mourn the loss of my mates and how they would grieve not having Albie in their lives. If it happened and I was alone, grief would envelop me until the end of my days. The only positive would be knowing my son had three alpha dads to raise and love him.

"I met someone who is like you."

Froon's dark eyes studied me as if waiting for my reaction. I was stunned into silence, my mind mingling with fear and excitement. Knowing I wasn't the only one lifted my spirits. I could connect with and maybe meet up every month for lunch with someone from the before time.

"From Pineville?" Not that it mattered if I didn't know them. But we could reminisce about our old lives while also relishing the new ones. But what if the person didn't have a great life here? What if they were pining for the before time?

"Yes."

I asked the person's name because I would know them unless they arrived after I arrived in Tarrin. But Froon didn't know, just said he'd heard whispers. They hadn't come to him for an ID, but if they did, he'd let me know.

"But you said you'd met people like me the first time Dante and I came here."

"People who didn't have the correct documents. Not someone who came from Pineville."

On the train journey home, I pondered how I'd react if the rumor was true. I couldn't take my mates or Albie, and my heart would be wrenched out if I deliberately left them behind. If the choice was taken away from me, I had no control, but I wouldn't elect to leave.

Maybe Albie sensed I was conflicted, and he ate and played for the rest of the day, napping and finally sleeping in the evening, allowing me to wrestle with the possibility of meeting someone from Pineville.

I was busy with my online work and the baby, and I made an effort to join in my mates' conversation and laugh at their jokes. Keeping this a secret was necessary until I had more details, even though I knew how I'd answer if the possibility of leaving was presented to me.

And when Froon's message arrived in my inbox, I sweated profusely, and my heart jacked up the pace, thinking it was a racecourse. I practiced the breathing techniques I'd used during labor before reading what Froon had sent.

I've not met the guy but his story is intriguing. Come for tea tomorrow.

"What are you up to today?" Gideon asked as we sat around the table eating breakfast.

I swallowed and choked on the piece of toast I'd been chewing. Seymour banged me on the back, his dragon-shifter strength ensuring the mouthful sprang out of my mouth onto the floor.

My mates hugged me and argued about who would stay home from work to be with me today.

I assured them I was fine and had planned an afternoon with Albie both at the park and shopping. They reluctantly agreed, saying they'd check on me regularly before they synchronized a schedule of who was calling me and when.

The morning passed slowly, the minutes creeping by. Even the train was in frustrate-Kai mode, stopping longer than usual at each stop.

Froon was waiting with a pot of tea when I entered his shop, and the bell above the door tinkled. He poured me a cup as I tore off a nail, my mind a tangled mess of "what if" questions.

"Well?" I said as he took his first sip.

"I don't know the man's name, but like you, he had been in a car accident."

Memories of that day, the noise of the train rushing over the tracks and me frantically trying to get out, filled my head. Sweat trickled down my spine, and I placed a hand on my sleeping baby's head to assure myself I was here and not about to be crushed by a speeding train.

"But he had flashes of memory after that when he was in the hospital."

Maybe what happened to me only occurred when someone had an accident. That was odd. Like a giant hand picked them up and tossed them into another universe.

"He must have been unconscious because there were times when he recalled doctors hovering over him, pumping his heart, and long periods where machines beeped, but he couldn't speak."

Froon explained the guy was only in Tarrin a short time before he disappeared, so there was no roadmap to how to return to Pineville. I was relieved. The decision was taken out of my hands, unless whatever hand had placed me here decided to send me back.

But as Albie sat on my lap on the return home and other passengers chatted to him and made funny faces so he'd laugh, I ran over the details Froon had told me. Studying the piece of paper where I'd jotted notes, I pondered why this unknown man's story seemed familiar.

He's been in an accident, hooked up to machines, was in and out of consciousness and appeared in Tarrin when he was… I gulped. Was he here when he was unconscious? And did that mean I was…? I couldn't say the word.

But if it was as I thought, there was no going back.

This was my new chance at life.

I tossed my notes in the garbage when I arrived home. That was the end of that.