Page 13 of Coming Home

“What the hell are you people?” he cried out, his anxiety rising.

Crawley shifted first, as I followed closely behind.

“What the hell is this, Shay?” he demanded.

I looked at Jake, confusion evident in his eyes. He had no idea we were shifters, but worse than that, it was obvious he had no idea shifters even existed.

“Jake, calm down, it’s going to be okay,” I told him.

Bulldog, who was actually a bear shifter, roared, and the kid nearly leapt into my arms.

“That’s just Bulldog, ignore him, and focus. Jake, I need to you look at me and breathe, just breathe.”

Mike shifted back. “What are we going to do with him now? I thought you personally tested him,” he said to me.

Everyone was suddenly on edge. It couldn’t be possible. There was no way Jake could be a human.

“I did, and so did the Major. I’m telling you, he can run circles around all of you. Yeah, even you, Truman,” I retorted to the jaguar trying to circle Jake like prey.

At first chance I expected Jake to flee, but when that moment came, he froze and just stood there, staying close to my side.

“What are you?” he finally asked me.

I sighed. “I’m a wolf shifter.”

“And-and, you thought I was like you? That I could shift or whatever you call that?” he stuttered.

“Yeah, I did. Major Collins has never been wrong on this before. There are certain signs he’s trained to watch for.”

“Major Collins is one of you, too?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No, he’s human.”

“But-but he knows about this?”

I nodded.

“And he goes out of his way to ensure humans don’t know about this,” Mike said in a threatening tone.

I was impressed that Jake was able to ignore him so easily as he focused solely on me.

“Wh-why me?” he stuttered again.

The kid was white as a ghost and I feared he was going to go into shock.

“Because you’re the best of the best, Jake. You outran everyone. I had you packing two hundred and fifty pounds up that mountain yesterday, and you ran with it despite clear exhaustion setting in. That level of endurance, well, quite frankly, it’s not human. It’s a huge flag that Collins watches for. There were at least two other shifters in contention for this spot and you beat them hands down.”

“What happens to them? I mean, are there other units like this?”

“No,” I said. “We’re the best of the best, period. We all made our choices when we joined. Military life is hard enough without having to hide this part of you all the time. I know you can’t possibly understand that, but we’re the lucky ones. We don’t have to hide here.”

“I’m calling Collins. He can deal with this. In the meantime, he’s your problem, Shay, until we figure what the hell to do with him,” Crawley said.

“Wait, what?” Jake asked, suddenly snapping out of the daze he was in.

“The Verndari have a serum that erases memories. I could probably get my hands on some,” Truman offered as he finally shifted back.

“You’re kicking me out? Just because I can’t change into some animal? That’s bullshit! I earned my right to be here, and if Ben’s right and this is the best of the best, the infamous Ghosts, then I’m staying. I’ve worked my ass off to be here. I deserve it,” Jake said

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