Trainwreck

Chapter 2

In her hurry to step back Hanni pushed the door so hard on its rails that it rebounded, and the Alpha had to block it with her forearm in order to get inside the bathroom.

Hanni managed a look at the corridor and a few meters away she spied a man - different from the guy who had been sitting with her - collapsed against a seat. He held his stomach as if winded and putting two and two together Hanni concluded he was the one who she'd heard beg outside the bathroom a few moments before.

The Alpha turned her back on Hanni, taking her time to peer down the wagon before she shut the door. The click of the lock slotting back into place sounded awfully final.

She pressed as far back as the tight space allowed and thanked the stars that, of all the toilets she could have sought refuge into, she'd had chosen the disabled bathroom. As a result the room was big enough to accommodate a wheelchair, and Hanni could put a good few paces between her and the woman.

The stranger slowly moved to face her and they locked gazes without speaking. Hanni was expecting the woman to talk or attempt to move closer, but she simply lounged into the door, hands stuffed deep inside the pockets of her coat.

Her eyes weren't the only stunning thing about her; Hanni came to the realization with a blush and a dry swallow that grated worse than sand against the sides of her throat. It was hard enough to tear her eyes free from that green gaze, the fact that they were the same height making it doubly difficult, but the rest of the Alpha didn't help slow her racing heart down.

The woman's mouth seemed made for kissing, the harshness of her jawline gentled by the concern clearly written all over the way she held herself. Hanni was certain that she would look more than imposing should she choose to but instead she slouched, legs bent slightly at the knee and head tilted to the side.

The Alpha studied her just as intensely as she was doing, and Hanni blushed again, tucking her chin down to try and hide her reddening cheeks.

"So.. uh..." Hanni shuffled and broke the awkward silence. She did not deal well with those. "What did he want?" She jerked her chin towards the shut door.

"He just wanted to help." The woman's voice curved strangely around the words as if their taste didn't quite agree with her, and Hanni had the impression quotation marks had been deliberately placed around the word help.

"And you?" Hanni found herself feeling belligerent. The situation was nobody's fault really, but she had to take it out on someone, and this Alpha was the closest thing. "Do you also want to help?" There was no hiding the fact that she loaded the word with more than a little scorn.

"I want to do what's right." The Alpha replied evenly.

"You've said that already."

"I'm not asking you to believe me." The patient facade broke for a moment, a flash of emotion disrupting the calm of the stranger's eyes. Hanni expected the woman to snarl forward and cow her into her place, but the Alpha simply rolled her eyes, her expression that of someone that had to deal with a particularly bone-headed child throwing a tantrum.

"How long to your stop?" Her tone was back to cool professionalism.

"An hour." Hanni narrowed her eyes. She didn't know what to make of this Alpha and it unsettled her. She would have liked to pace, except that with the two of them in it the bathroom had turned cramped, and her moving would have placed her closer to the woman than she cared to be.

"Hmm." The Alpha inclined her head so that her ear was pressed to the door and held up a hand, forestalling any question. Hanni found herself listening along, but beside the rhythmic thud of the train's wheels on the metal tracks she could hear nothing.