Page 49 of Coming Home

“She’s right, Mom. I know how proud you both are, but Shelby’s part of this family now. We may not have sealed our bond yet, but it’s going to happen before I leave. She works at the school so keeping them on their schedule will be easy for her.”

“Plus, there is plenty of room at the Alpha house. My parents and I are the only ones still living there. There used to be nine of us,” she reminded them.

“I’ll talk to Cora just to make sure it’s no problem,” Mom said.

“Mom, if it’s a problem, Shelby can just stay at the house with the boys. We’ve got this. I don’t want you and Dad worrying.”

“We’ll be fine, Mama. Shelby will take good care of us,” Will confirmed.

“Yeah, that’s cool with me. too,” Troy said. looking relieved that we had a plan in place.

My parents were very proud and humble people, so I know it took a lot for Mom to reach for Shelby’s hand and thank her, essentially accepting her offer to take care of my siblings.

We visited for a few more hours. There were lots of laughs and joy, but I could see as the day went by how exhausted my parents were. The boys didn’t want to leave them, but I insisted. We had originally only planned to spend the day, most of which would have been driving, but since Thomas made alternative plans, they now included putting us up in a local hotel for the night so we would get two days with my parents. The plane was to fly us home the next night.

When we got to the hotel, I found Thomas was full of surprises. He had gotten us a penthouse two-bedroom suite. The boys’ room had two queen beds, and my and Shelby’s had a king. I owed Thomas big time and wasn’t sure how I could possibly repay him.

Shelby didn’t seem to think anything of it. Rarely in our lives did moments arise that truly showcased our Pack status differences. This was one of those times, or maybe it was just me now. The army life was definitely not penthouse suites

“We didn’t pack to stay the night,” Troy said.

“I know, just get some sleep. Mom and Dad aren’t going to care that we’re in the same clothes as yesterday,” I assured him.

“I’ll be right back,” Shelby said seconds before leaving the room. I didn’t know what she was doing, but I couldn’t just leave the boys alone to go after her. It set my wolf on edge having our mate out of sight in a strange place and I wondered, not for the first time, just how I was going to make myself leave her when the time came.

“I’m hungry,” Will said.

We had had lunch at the hospital with our parents, but it was getting late in the evening and I had to admit I was a little hungry, too.

“Let’s wait until Shelby returns and we’ll discuss dinner then,” I told them.

They retreated to their room and turned the television on. When I peeked in on them a few minutes later they were both buried in their phones.

Shelby didn’t return until a full hour later and I had practically worn a trail in the carpet pacing the room waiting. When she walked in, she was loaded down with bags and boxes of pizza.

“Sorry,” she said. “I figured everyone was getting hungry, but the pizza place took forever.

“Did someone say pizza?” Will asked as he poked his head back into the room.

“Wash up and let’s eat,” she said, smiling happily. “I’m starving.”

“Me too,” Troy agreed.

I took the pizzas from her and set them down on the dining room table. What kind of hotel room had a dining room?

“Where were you?” I finally asked. I needed to pull her into my arms to calm my wolf and ensure for myself she was okay. Actually, what I really needed was to drag her ass back to the bedroom and make her fully mine, but I did neither.

“I just grabbed a couple of things I thought we’d need. Thomas called and said that the plane was scheduled to pick up tomorrow evening, but if we needed more time to just let him know and he’d handle the arrangements.”

“Give me your phone,” I said a little more harshly than I meant to. She dropped the bags she was carrying to the floor and pulled it out of her back pocket to hand it to me.

I quickly programmed in my number, then texted myself so I would finally have hers.

Shelby giggled as she watched, and that sound alone began to settle me.

“Why didn’t we do that sooner?” she asked as she started sorting through the bags.

“What did you buy?” I asked.

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