Page 21 of Coming Home

WALKER: I’m on parameter detail today. Call anytime if you need to talk.

ME: Thanks. Working today too.

WALKER: Thought you were taking it off.

ME: I know. Hiding. Just call me a coward.

WALKER: You’re going to have to face him sooner or later.

ME: Why? He’s just going to leave again.

WALKER: But what if he doesn’t come back next time. Now’s your chance for real closure.

ME: I’ve found my closure, or close enough.

WALKER: Liar.

I stared down at the screen with a frown. I hated when he spoke the truth.

For the next several hours I attempted to bury myself in work. All outstanding papers were carefully graded. We only had three weeks of school left after Thanksgiving and I had all of it prepped and ready before lunch, which I skipped.

The afternoon was spent cleaning like a madwoman. No one even stopped by to check on me or even say hi, because they all knew I was blowing off the day, as were most of the teachers at the school.

I swore I could see my own reflection in the floor by the time I was done scrubbing. Physical labor and cleaning had always been helpful to my sanity. My family knew when I got like this to just stay away because I was working through something, and usually by the time I was done on a mad cleaning binge, I felt a million times better and whatever was bothering me was laid to rest.

But that nagging, itching feeling that had started the second Ben Shay walked in my classroom was not letting up. I knew I needed to go for a run.

Not chancing crossing paths with him, I packed up and headed to Peyton’s. No one was home when I got there, and for that I was grateful. I stripped on her back porch and ran. The area stunk a bit like Larken territory with a hint of Collier. Their scent wasn’t that different from our own, so I pushed past it and ran until nightfall.

I’d been out there for hours and still my wolf and I could not find peace. All she wanted to do was turn tail and run back to Collier . . . back to Ben. She was in mourning for him all over again.

He’s not our mate. He’s just our friend,or he was once upon a time. Now he’s nothing to us.I tried to reason with her, or maybe I was just trying to reason with myself.

Spending time in my fur should have made me feel better, but I felt worse when it was all said and done. Peyton was sitting on the back porch waiting for me when I finally returned to my skin.

She handed me my clothes without saying a word about it.

“Saved you some dinner. I’m about to put Eve down if you want to say hi.”

I nodded, dressed quickly, and followed her into the house.

“Thanks. Skipped lunch so I’m starving,” I confessed.

She frowned at me, but I turned my attention to Eve when she toddled in with Kenneth following carefully behind her.

“She’s getting too good at that,” I commented on Eve’s recently acquired walking skills. She was even beginning to run a little as she giggled at Kenneth like he was chasing her.

“Too good,” Peyton confessed. “I have some good news, though.”

“You’re pregnant?” I asked.

She laughed. “Not yet, but hopefully soon. I’ve officially gone off birth control. Eve will be turning one soon and we don’t want to wait to add to our crazy little family.”

I hugged her and wished her well. There was nothing little about Peyton’s family. When she’d taken Oliver as a mate, she did so knowing he was a package deal with not just Eve, but three nearly grown brothers he had raised since they were toddlers, and he was only like eleven or something at the time. I couldn’t even imagine it. She called them her boys and had a protective nature that rivaled the strongest Pack Mother.

They lived between packs, as did Lizzy and Cole. That meant they pledged allegiance to both packs. I didn’t understand how it was possible, but they made it work. In Lizzy’s case it seemed easier because we were strong allies with Westin Pack, but the Larken wolves had been our enemies for nearly as long as I could remember.

Peyton and Oliver were working closely with their Alphas to mend the packs. There was even talk of a possible merger of the packs.

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