Page 17 of Coming Home

“What? My dad? What happened?” I managed to say. I was already turning emotionally numb. It was my default setting in any crisis, and I was bracing for the worst.

“Apparently there was an accident out on the ranch. Your dad’s been hurt pretty badly. Bad enough that the major has approved immediate family leave for you. He’ll have your flights booked and ready by the time we get you to the civilian airport.”

I vaguely remember packing my stuff and saying goodbye. The whole team insisted on riding to the airport to see me off. I knew if they could, they’d all be flying home with me. I had no real information on what had happened or even if he was still alive. My parents were true mates and fully bonded, so if he died, so would my mother. No one had mentioned her so far and I held on to hope that meant they were still alive.

It took almost thirty-six hours to get back to Wyoming. I was exhausted and jet lagged when my plane landed. Thomas Collier met me personally. I had always known him as Shelby’s little brother. Of course I knew he would someday be Alpha, and I’d heard the moment he had assumed the position, but it was just hard not to see him as the little kid I knew when I left town. He wasn’t that kid anymore, though, he was a full grown man with a commanding presence.

“Ben, welcome home,” he said. “I wish it were under better circumstances.”

“Thomas,” I said, shaking his hand. “It’s good to see you. Now what the hell is going on? I haven’t received any information aside from it was urgent that I come home immediately.”

“I’m sorry, Ben. Your dad was in an accident at the ranch. Someone lost control of one of the tractors. Your dad’s leg is shattered. We were able to medevac him to a facility. They were able to save his leg, but since the bone was so fragmented it required extensive rods to stabilize it.”

“He’ll never shift again,” I whispered. I had seen it once before and heard the stories of shifters who had taken gunshots with similar damage. We healed fast, but if the bone was too shattered there was no repairing it. The artificial rods and screws would keep him from shifting. It was a fate worse than death for our kind.

“I’m so sorry. He’ll walk again in time, but he’ll never shift again. He and your mom discussed it. He said he’d rather walk in his skin and never shift than to amputate the leg and struggle in skin and fur for the rest of his life.”

I nodded, still emotionally numb as I tried to absorb what he was telling me.

“Is Mom with him?”

Ben shook his head. “She was through the surgery last week but came back to be with your brothers. They’re struggling. She asked me not to call you home, but I overruled her.”

“Damn right you should have, too,” I murmured. I hated the thought of her going through this alone and worrying about bothering me over it. I tried to curb the anger that flared at the thought. I knew I hadn’t really been there for them since I joined the army, but damn it, this was important and family came first.

I stared out of the window in silence as we drove. As we entered Collier territory, I cracked the window and welcomed the familiar smells. The sights, the memories, it was all so overwhelming. I’d called a lot of places home over the years. Usually it was where my unit was, but that didn’t pack quick the same punch as Collier, Wyoming.

Thomas drove me straight home. From the outside it looked like something from a time capsule. Nothing had changed in the last nine years. I took the front steps two at a time and walked in without knocking.

Mom was sitting in the living room, and startled. I think she had dozed off waiting there.

“Ben?” she asked in a sleepy voice.

“Hi, Mom,” I said.

“It’s really you?”

I smiled and nodded as she rose. I hesitated only a second before swooping her up in my arms. She was small and frail to me now. I could see how she’d aged in my absence, and she looked weak and tired.

“I’m here, Mom. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Thomas said a quick hello then left us to catch up. She filled me in on more details about Dad and told me all about my twin brothers. They were now twelve and in the seventh grade.

“Where are they?” I asked. I wanted to see for myself that Troy and Will were really okay.

“They’re at school. Your daddy and I decided it would be best to get them back to a normal schedule. Today’s their last day before Thanksgiving break.” She started to tear up as she said it.

“What is it?”

She reached for my hand and held on, almost like she as scared I was going to disappear before her eyes. “You’re here and I’ll have you home for Thanksgiving. All my babies under one roof for the first time in almost a decade.”

Guilt set in as I thought about it.

“Shelby will be happy to see you, too,” she surprised me by saying.

I had purposefully avoided thinking about her, pushing it aside every time I so much as thought her name, but being back in Collier it was nearly impossible not to remember. Everything reminded me of her because there wasn’t an inch of this place that I didn’t have a story that started with “Shelby and I . . .”

I had no plans to see Shelby. Even after all this time, I wasn’t sure my heart could handle it, but I didn’t want to upset Mom further by saying so.

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