Coming Back Home

by Megan Linden

  “Crazy and then some. Damian had another meltdown about being human, Theresa acts as if she forgot she learned how to control her shifts a month ago and Mia curled up in a sandbox and announced she was a wolf who was going to sleep for a week. Then she actually fell asleep!” Susan shook her head. “That girl has never slept a minute during recess, but she can fall asleep in the loudest, most crowded place in the entire center.”

  “She’s a bit of a rebel.” Jack smiled. He had a soft spot for the tiny black-haired devil with the lightest gray eyes he had ever seen.

  Susan chuckled. “She’s something. The kids asked about you, but since I thought you weren’t here, that’s what I told them.”

  “Fine by me. I’ll just sneak out when I’m done.” He glanced at the desk he was occupying. “Sometime next week.”

  “What happened to make you do this? We don’t have any evaluation coming or anything, do we?”

  “Not that I know of.” He shrugged. “I guess I just got tired of the mess.” A plausible enough excuse.

  Susan nodded. “Maybe we should switch when you’re done. You get the class to yourself and I bury myself in paperwork.”

  They both knew it wasn’t going to happen. Not only did she hate paperwork more than he did, but Jack was also still only a teacher’s assistant. He ran a few one-on-one classes and spent the rest of the time helping with Susan’s group, but he couldn’t be their primary teacher yet.

  When he’d decided not to go away for college, he’d known it would take more time to get a diploma online. And he wasn’t even that far behind. He was set to graduate at the end of this school year, but sometimes he was chafing to just…be done with it, already. Some doors magically opened to a person with a degree. He knew he had been lucky to have gotten a job here without even an undergraduate diploma, but he had worked hard for that ‘luck’. Every summer since he’d turned sixteen he’d spent helping around here, volunteering occasionally during the school year, as well. Being the son of the principal who was also the pack’s Beta had definitely given him a foot in the door, but he’d made sure to prove wrong anyone who suggested Jack got any special treatment after that.

  Besides, he loved the little ones like crazy. And seeing the kids from different shifter and human cultures interacting and playing with each other was incredibly inspiring. It had pushed the pack to reach out and connect to many different tribes and troops over the years. Now, more and more packs were doing it, according to the grapevine, but Harrington Pack had been the first to do so on a scale bigger than a solitary truce between neighbors.

  Jack zoned out a bit, his thoughts drifting away, and he almost didn’t notice Susan getting up.

  “Okay, the break’s over.” She put a cup in the sink and tried to swallow a yawn.

  “Good luck!”

  She made a duck face. “Yeah, to you, too.”

  Jack gave himself points for not asking about any new arrivals that Susan—who usually spent most of her day outside with the kids—would have definitely noticed. You don’t care, he reminded himself. Just sit here and ignore the outside world and it will be fine.

  He glanced at the clock. Connor was probably already here.

  There was a part of Jack that had expected to feel it happen, as if Connor’s mark on his territory had to always be recognized. He should be relieved that he hadn’t felt anything. He knew that. The last thing he needed was a special connection to the man who had rejected him. The problem was, Jack had never done anything the way he should have when it came to Connor.

  This time was no exception.

  * * * *

  It was five minutes to six when Kevin knocked on the teacher’s room door and announced it was time to go home. Jack jumped out of his seat, ready to go—or he would have jumped, if he’d had any energy left. It had been increasingly difficult to stay cooped up in the office throughout the day, and he’d been fighting boredom on top of the anxiety, so he was truly spent.

  Kevin frowned at him as they walked through the building to the parking at the front.

  “You look like hell.”

  Jack shrugged. “Gee, thanks. You make me feel all warm and fuzzy.”

  “If you feel fuzzy, that just confirms my worries that you’re going to faint,” Kevin told him dryly. “And being a smart-ass reduces your chances of me catching you when you do.”

  “Liar. You’d catch me, anyway.”

  “You still look like hell.” Kevin looked him up and down then grimaced. “If you don’t want your mother to ban you from coming here, you should at least try to act a little better.”

  Jack sighed and straightened, rolling his shoulders.

  “How’s that?” he asked.

  “You look less like you’re about to die, so I guess that’s progress.”

  Jack nodded. He would take it. “You probably heard the story from Taylor, right?” he asked suddenly. He hadn’t had a lot of time alone with his brother’s mate recently, so he hadn’t had a chance to ask.

  “He gave me the basics, but he also said he realized now that he’d known very little of the actual story. You’ll probably get an earful about that when you don’t look so bad.”

  “I didn’t…” Jack started to protest but then he paused. “Yeah, okay, I didn’t exactly come clean about some things when the break-up happened, but it wasn’t like I wanted to rehash everything then, you know?”

  “Rehashing is one thing, but if you react like this, it seems like you haven’t dealt with whatever it was.”

  Jack turned his head away. Did you know that Taylor was your mate the first time you saw him? he wanted to ask Kevin, hurt flashing through him. Did you just know, even if everyone was telling you it doesn’t work like that, telling you there’s no such thing as an instant bond? But they were coming out of the building by then and Mom B was sitting in the car, close enough to overhear them, so he kept quiet. It didn’t matter anymore, anyway.

  “Hi, honey, how was your day?” she asked when Jack got into the backseat. He tried to ignore her worried look in the rearview mirror.

  “I did paperwork all day, so you can imagine.” He tried for a normal tone, even grimacing in a way that made her chuckle.

  “I can more than imagine. I know. I’ve had more of those days than I care to admit.”

  Jack turned to the window when Kevin started the car and he searched for something safe to say but was drawing a blank. The sight of the center’s residential wing made his insides twist and he swallowed against a tight throat.

  These were going to be two really awful weeks.

  Chapter Four

  Thomas, the guy helping Connor with the move, wanted to show him around the center after they’d hauled all the baggage from the car, but Connor just asked him if the communal kitchen was where he remembered it being then told him he would take it from there. Thomas raised his eyebrows, obviously curious, but Connor managed to gracefully shove him out of the door before the uncomfortable questions could start.

  He leaned against the closed doors and looked around the room. After crying and fussing through most of the morning, Rosa was now sleeping soundly in her carrier that stood next to the big bed and the nightstand. The rest of the furniture consisted of a closet, a dresser and a table with two chairs. Everything was baby-proofed and it looked more personal than a hotel room, which Connor appreciated. He was feeling out of place enough as it was, still not used to being back in Harrington Hills, and he didn’t need an impersonal living space on top of that.

  He freshened up, unpacked most of Rosa’s things and was about halfway through his own when she stirred in her carrier and opened her eyes. He crouched in front of her and rested his hand over her chest, something he’d learned anchored her a bit if she was disoriented, especially right after she woke up.

  She looked straight at him and her small hand curled around his thumb. Connor smiled at her, feeling warmth spread through his entire body, washing away some of the exhaustion. He’d stopped asking himself how
the hell it had happened multiple times a day, but there were still moments like this when he could hardly believe it was his life.

  Rosa did a wiggle that he already knew meant ‘Pick me up or else’, so he unbuckled her and lifted her into his arms. He nuzzled the side of her head.

  “How about a quick tour of our new place, huh?” Connor asked her quietly. He went around the room, making sure that he touched everything, so it would smell like him. Earlier, he’d put something of hers on every piece of furniture to spread her scent, as well. Baby werewolves could never really settle in a room that didn’t smell like them or their parent.

  After the ‘tour’, he changed her diaper and fed her, sneaking longing glances at the bed. He would love to take a nap, but he knew there was no way Rosa would fall asleep again so quickly. “I guess it’s time for a walk,” he muttered quietly. Ever since he’d had Rosa with him, he’d started talking out loud more often, as a lot of stuff he’d read stressed that the baby needed to hear his voice. It had been strange at the beginning, but now it was just natural and, when they were alone, he talked to her pretty much all the time.

  He put Rosa into the carrier on his chest and took a deep breath. Here we go.

  Their room was at the far end of the residential wing, away from the open common area with the playground. It might have been to give Connor and Rosa as much peace and quiet as possible, or it might have been to keep them away from stumbling onto somebody they shouldn’t. Whatever the Beta’s reason, Connor was grateful.

  Since the playground was to the right, he went to the left, before turning to the forest not far away from the building. He headed for the only place he knew well—a small clearing hidden behind the trees. He hummed and smiled to himself as Rosa rubbed her forehead against his chest, cooing quietly.

  He found the shortest path easily, his steps as sure as if he’d been here last week, not…a year and a half ago. He shook his head. It hadn’t felt that long at all.

  The clearing looked the same—shadowed by the trees on all sides, with a patch of sunshine falling on an old wooden panel in the middle. Jack had dragged it here years ago when, after a few days of rain, the ground had still been too damp to sit on. Connor had teased him about being afraid to get wet, but that hadn’t served him well because he’d been banned from sitting on it for the rest of that day.

  He smiled, dropping the bag with Rosa’s things on the panel. He took her from the carrier and lifted her over his head to see her grin down at him as she waved her little arms. He rubbed his nose on the side of her head while he lowered her, then he put her on the ground on her hands and knees. She’d started crawling the previous week and she’d shifted for the first time while she’d been doing it, so he was hoping for a repeat today. He’d put Rosa in an old dress she’d almost grown out of, so it wouldn’t be a loss if it got ripped by a sudden transformation.

  But, for now, she was happy to crawl in her human form, only pausing every few steps to look back and check to see if he was still there. Connor pulled up his legs under him to sit cross-legged on the panel and rested his elbows on his knees. Staring at Rosa, who was safe and happy—and close—put him at ease and he let himself relax.

  He realized he was carrying more tension than he’d thought—tension about coming back, about his father’s reaction, about Jack, about not being able to reach out for help. This last one, thankfully, was mostly settled now. Connor was incredibly grateful to the Alpha for all the help she’d offered him. He’d made more things wrong than right ever since he’d come back and she’d been very gracious, given the circumstances. He had no doubt that Rosa’s presence helped, since the pack’s expansion through birth was significant to any Alpha. He should’ve remembered that. He should’ve remembered that Jolene Harrington was—as she said so herself—the Alpha to him first, anything else second. He promised himself not to forget it again, if not for himself, then for Rosa.

  His daughter suddenly turned to him and flopped onto her butt, looking at Connor before grinning and reaching her hands toward him.

  “Don’t be lazy. Come back,” he told her, moving down to sit on the grass. There was maybe six feet of space between them. He reached out his hand and she tilted her head a bit. “Come on, baby.”

  Rosa slowly crawled back to him until she was close enough for him to catch her. He lifted her onto his lap. “Great job.” Connor rubbed their cheeks together. “Want to go again?”

  He put her back on the ground, facing away from him. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, glancing between him and the grass, but then she went to explore some more and Connor leaned back to rest against the wooden panel behind him.

  It went on for quite a while. Rosa crawled away, paused, crawled back, he praised her, she crawled away again and the cycle continued. When she started fussing, he fed her and, for a while, she stayed put on his lap before crawling away once more. He could tell she was getting tired, so he packed up their things, and when she returned this time, he put her back in the carrier.

  “Time to go, sweetie. But we’ll be back tomorrow, huh? You still have a lot of ground to explore here.”

  She made a sound that Connor chose to interpret as agreement, and they headed back to their room. Once again they didn’t meet anyone on their way. He might be able to learn not to tense every time he needed to stick his nose out of the door, after all.

  * * * *

  It was past seven and Rosa had been asleep for maybe ten minutes when there was a soft knock on the door. Connor, who was lying on his bed, drifting off, sat up and focused his senses.

  It wasn’t a familiar scent, but whoever it was still seemed safe—definitely pack. Connor got up slowly and crossed the room to open the door before someone would decide to knock louder and wake Rosa.

  “Hi,” a young woman greeted him quietly. She was probably a few years older than him, dressed in flip-flops and a long yellow dress that looked nice against her dark-brown skin.

  “Hi.” Connor stepped forward, out of the room, so he could leave the door ajar and minimize the chance of his daughter waking up. “What can I do for you?”

  The woman smiled and shook her head. “I just wanted to introduce myself to the newest neighbors. My name’s Tamara. Principal Harrington asked me to welcome you here in her stead, too, since I’m a…well, kind of a community leader around here.” She clasped her hands together. “I’ve been living here for over a year now, longer than anyone else currently around.”

  He nodded. “I’m Connor. Nice to meet you.”

  “You, too.” She smiled again. “Do you need anything right now? We have a well-stocked storage for emergencies, and, of course, the kitchen has everything, too, but if you or your daughter have any allergies or something, let us know.”

  Allergies were one of the very few health problems that could happen to a werewolf, but it was still rare, even with one of the parents being human, as in Rosa’s case. Connor shook his head. “No allergies so far. And thank you, but I have everything for now.”

  “Okay, good. The principal said you know the place, but if you need a tour at some point—”

  “I do know it. The Beta… The principal was right.”

  Tamara opened her mouth as if she wanted to ask something, but Rosa sniffled from inside, the telltale sign of her being on the verge of waking up.

  “Listen, I’m sorry, but my daughter is fussing and if I don’t check on her—”

  “There will be a price to pay.” Tamara took a step back and raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, still with a smile on her face. “I know how that goes. Good luck, and I guess I will see you around. I live on the other end of the wing, in case you need anything.”

  Connor thanked her and got back into the room before closing the door slowly. The moment he did it, Rosa let out a small snort and rolled onto her side.

  He smiled at his little savior, putting his hand on her back. “Thanks for giving me an out,” he whispered. It wasn’t that he didn’t like people in gen
eral, but chit-chatting with other residents of the center seemed weird. He wanted to avoid attention, not to attract more of it. It was the way he would probably always lean, after growing up in seclusion with barely any friends.

  He just wasn’t sure if it was even possible anymore. Having Rosa had turned his life around in every way and, if anything, he might need to make more effort for her sake. The last thing he wanted was for her to grow up like him.

  Chapter Five

  By noon on Wednesday, Jack had promised himself at least two dozen times to never get so behind on paperwork ever again. His messy handwriting was almost unreadable at this point, his hand hurt and he really, really wanted to get out of the office.

  Someone knocked on the door and Jack sighed in relief.

  “Come in!”

  He didn’t expect to see David, who was currently living in a state of bliss, thanks to the honeymoon period of his new relationship. Jack grinned at his friend. They had seen each other during the Full Moon Run, but they hadn’t talked alone since the accident.

  Jack turned on his chair to face him fully. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  “Hi.” David fell on the small couch against the wall. “Just decided to drop by, maybe see if you want to get lunch or something.”

  “Can’t.” Jack sagged in his seat. “I have paperwork to do and, besides, I’m still hiding out.”

  David closed his eyes, tilting his head back. “From your mom?”

  “No, why would I do that?”

  “I don’t know. Why would you hide from anyone?” David shrugged, looking and sounding almost asleep. “I thought you pissed her off or something.”

  Jack could ignore it, wave it off and change the topic. He was so used to not talking with anyone about Connor that it was second nature by now. But maybe it would be good to talk to someone and, with Terry away at college, David was his closest friend these days, not to mention he had the advantage of never having known Connor until a few weeks ago.