19. Oliver

Chapter 19

Oliver

I take a deep breath as I climb out of the car and look up at the house I grew up in. The familiar sights and scents have had my wolf pacing excitedly ever since we started getting close to the farm. Nothing here has changed in the few months since I left home.

It's the middle of the day. Right around the time my parents are usually stopping their chores to have lunch together. In all the time they've been mates, they've never missed a meal with one another. It was one of the things I always admired about their relationship. No matter what, they made time for each other.

I climb the steps to the front porch, my heart rate climbing as I do. I can hear them inside, my mother talking about how one of the chickens is brooding a clutch of eggs. My father is asking her questions and telling her he's proud of her prized flock of egg layers. They're adorable.

Then I hear my brother. He's quiet, barely audible. I can't make out what he's saying, but he sounds like he's sulking. My parents both go quiet.

My heart stops in my chest. I get the feeling that he must've said something about me. Something about the way I left and abandoned them all. The way I ran away from my responsibilities and dumped them all on him. The way I just made a decision without telling anyone anything about it.

Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe I should never have come back.

Just as I'm starting to wonder if I should run away, the door swings open.

My mother stands there, gaping at me with a surprised look on her face. She stares at me for a moment, blinking slowly, as if she's not sure she believes what she's seeing.

"I knew I caught your scent on the wind," she says with tears shining in her eyes. "I knew it wasn't just my imagination this time."

"Mom!"

Before I can say anything else, she's thrown her arms around me and is pulling me into a hug. She smells like flour, cinnamon, and the honey-scented soap she's been using since before I was born. The scent is comforting and familiar and instantly brings a smile to my lips.

"Welcome home, Oliver," she whispers in my ear. "My dear pup, you have no idea how much we've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Mom," I reply, my voice thick with emotion. "I've missed you all so much."

I feel the tears welling up in my eyes, and I blink them away.

"My boy." I hear my dad's voice and look up to see him filling the doorframe behind Mom. "Look at you. If I didn't know better, I'd say you've gotten taller since I last saw you."

"That's impossible." I chuckle. "I'm not a child anymore."

"You'll always be our child." Dad smiles. "No matter what."

Mom releases me, only for Dad to pull me into one of his bear hugs. He lifts me right off my feet, squeezing me so tightly I feel like my lungs might pop. He smells like the earth after a fresh rain. I can't help but bury my face in his shoulder and breathe deeply.

"I'm glad to have you back," he says quietly, his voice shaking slightly. "I—we were so worried about you."

"I'm sorry," I whisper as Dad sets me down and steps back. "I can explain."

"No." Mom shakes her head emphatically. "The letter you gave us explained plenty. We agreed that when you came home, we wouldn't push you for your reasons. In the end, all that matters is that you're back."

"When I came home? How'd you know I would come back? I didn't even know until recently," I say as I look at both of them.

"Because this is your home," Dad says with a satisfied nod. "We didn't know when you'd come back. We didn't know the circumstances. We just knew that someday you'd come back again. Even if it was only to tell us that you'd found a new home and place of your own. You've always been a good boy, responsible and loyal. We knew we'd see you again once you found your way."

"And you did," Mom adds, wiping a tear from her cheek. "But it seems that you brought more than just yourself."

"Yeah, I did," I say with a nod of confidence that I've never felt before. "Let's go inside and I'll introduce you all and tell you what happened while I was away."

My mother eagerly steps aside and gestures for us to enter her home. I look back at the four alphas standing by the car.

My alphas.

My heart swells when I see them all standing there, watching me, waiting for any sign that they're needed. I couldn't have asked for more support than what they've shown me since we left their pack. They've followed me across multiple states, abandoned everything they knew, just to stay by my side.

I gesture for them to join me as I turn to follow my parents inside the house. The feeling of all four of them at my back is more satisfying than anything I've ever felt before. With them, I know I can take on the world.

"If I'd known you were coming, I would've had lunch prepared," my mother says as she busily heads into the kitchen and starts to poke around in the various cupboards. "I can whip something up if you just give me a few minutes."

"We ate in town," I explain with a smile. "But if you wanted to include us in your dinner plans, we'd love that."

My mother stops in the middle of pulling a stack of trays out of the cupboard. She looks at me with pride shining in her eyes.

"Of course," she says with a nod. "I would love that."

"You have changed," my father says, gesturing to the big dining table that fills the center of the front room. The table is oversized for a small family of four, but the extra chairs have always regularly been filled by other pack members stopping in for a visit. For some reason, this is the first time I've realized that the table has always been arranged to seat eight.

My parents, my brother, myself…and my four alphas.