Page 36 of Coming Home

“Ben, this is Walker,” she said, stepping away from him and discreetly putting her hand on my arm. It started to calm my wolf, but I still had a lot of questions.

I immediately started to size the man up. He was tall, almost as big as me, and too handsome for my liking. I could take him in a fight, but I suspected Shelby wouldn’t be happy if I messed up that too pretty face of his.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” she asked.

He shrugged and smiled. “Wanted to surprise you.”

My eyes shot back to hers, but she just shook her head.

“Walker travels with Maddie and Liam, or more so my niece and nephew. He’s assigned to their security detail.”

“Security, huh?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m with Westin Force’s Delta team,” he said proudly. “This is just one of my jobs.”

“Babysitting seems like a promising career,” I mumbled under my breath.

Shelby elbowed me and shot me a look to tell me she was not happy with my comment. Walker seemed completely unaffected it by it.

He shrugged easily. ”Not my first choice, but we take the assignments we’re handed without argument. Shelby tells me you’re in the army, so I’m sure you know what that’s like. She didn’t mention what it was you do exactly.”

Normally I would bullshit something and downplay my role, but my heightened testosterone had me wanting to put this punk in his place.

“I’m a sniper with one of the Ranger teams,” I said proudly, not able to bring myself to admit I was a Ghost. If this guy had any military knowledge whatsoever, and I suspected he did, then he’d know exactly what that was, but my guys were still out there doing what we do, and I would never jeopardize their safety by admitting to that.

“Sniper, huh? Talk to Cole Anderson if you’re considering getting out of the army, I hear there’s an opening for a guy with your particular skillset,” Walker said, surprising me. “Shelby and I are just friends, man. I just want her to be happy.”

“I’m aware,” I said dryly, still not sure what to think of this guy. “You’re also the only unmated male I’ve encountered here, so forgive me if I’m not ready to make friendship bracelets.”

Walker started laughing and slapped me on the shoulder. “Warning heard, loud and clear.”

He knows?I mouthed to Shelby.

She shrugged and hung her head in embarrassment. “He’s sort of like my current best friend, Ben. I tell him just about everything. Sorry,” she said, but I knew she wasn’t really.

“You replaced me with him?” I asked.

Walker laughed. “Don’t think of it like that. Think of it as you’ve been upgraded to a higher status I will never achieve.”

I didn’t want to like Walker, but it was kind of hard not to. The man certainly had balls of steal for talking so openly with me like that.

As Shelby leaned down and picked up a curly-headed little girl, I froze and just watched her. She looked so natural as she cuddled the child and made her smile. My heart swelled. I knew how badly Shelby had always wanted to be a mom and I couldn’t wait to give that to her. With a final kiss on the top of her sweet little head, Shelby placed the child back into the playpen she had found her and stood to stretch.

“I’ve got work to do. You two play nice together, please? For me,” she said.

“We’ll be fine,” Walker assured her.

I still wasn’t as certain.

I didn’t see Shelby again for a few hours. She was kept hostage working in the kitchen with the other women. There was lots of talking and giggling. The sounds of happiness filled the house.

Walker and I found a spot in the front living room and sat and talked. Damned if I didn’t like the guy. He told me a little more about Westin Force and some of the things they were doing there. When Lizzy and Cole Anderson arrived, Walker snagged him to explain even further just why a wolf pack would need the talents of a sniper.

“While we have security and sharpshooters on every Force unit, it’s the Bravo team that acts as our ultimate protection. They’re the only unit I know of that would seek out a sniper,” Cole informed me.

“Bravo? Not Alpha?” I asked out of curiosity.

Cole laughed. “Kyle has a thing about no unit being ranked equal or higher than him, so as the Alpha, there can’t be an actual Alpha unit. Likewise, he holds two Betas, so instead of Beta company, they were dubbed Bravo.”

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