Chapter 3

Lachlan

"Aaron, is that you?"

"No, Mum. It's me, Lachlan."

She gasped and dropped the spoon she was stirring a pot on the stove with.

"Lachie? My baby?"

"I'm home, Mum."

She had tears in her eyes as I walked over and hugged her.

"Why didn't you call me? I would have picked you up at the airport."

"I know you would have. I wanted to surprise you."

"Mission accomplished." She kissed my cheek and stepped back to look at me. "You look good."

"So do you, Mum. It feels good to be home."

"I can't believe you're actually here, work free and everything."

I cringed.

"What is it?"

Mum always could read me like a book.

"I'm going to have a bit of work to do while here. In fact, if you'd like, you can meet the whole team."

"Delta is coming here? To Australia?"

I nodded and smiled, trying to make it seem like it was no big deal.

Dad and the boys walked in with my baby sister in tow.

My parents had me when they were very young and then decided no more kids. That changed when I was ten and they had three more boys back to back and then, at last, our baby girl. The boys were all teens now and my little Hannah-banana was growing up much too fast.

"Lachie!" she squealed, launching herself into my arms.

"Who are you?" I asked.

She shot me a look that only a little sister could manage.

"It's me, Hannah."

"No way. My little banana is not this big."

She giggled and threw her arms around my neck.

"I'm so happy you're home."

Home .

It should have felt like coming home, but it missed the mark. My home wasn't here anymore. This was my family, and I loved getting to see them, but it wasn't home for me anymore.

Of course, I didn't tell a ten-year-old that.

I said a quick hello to Jack, Toby, and Tom as they all spoke at once, trying to catch me up on everything I'd missed from footie to sheilas.

Tomorrow my team would arrive and I may or may not have work to do, so today I planned to soak up every second of my time with my family.

I'd already read the field report on my flight. The Collectors were here. At least five dingoes had been taken, including a King heir. If they were ballsy enough to do that, was any one of us safe? It made me hold Hannah just a little tighter and offer to spar with the boys a little more aggressively than the last time I'd seen them. Of course, they were all nearly as tall as me now. When had that happened?

"Can we go to the beach?" Toby asked.

I looked towards our parents, who both nodded.

"You kids have fun at the beach and I'll fire up the barbie for dinner when you get back," Dad offered.

"You're not coming with?" Hannah asked.

My parents shared a look that told me they had already heard about the kidnappings. I wanted to ask them what they knew, but I didn't dare. Not in front of the kids. I didn't want to freak them out or anything. There would be time for that later.

"We're going to hang back and let you kids spend time with your brother," Mom explained.

Jack shrugged. "Okay."

"Let's go, yeah," Tom encouraged, probably hoping to leave before they changed their minds.

"I'm driving," Toby announced, grabbing the keys and racing for the family car.

"When the hell did that happen?" I muttered.

Hannah slipped her hand into mine and led me out of the house. It made me feel like she was grasping to hold on to me for fear I'd disappear again or something. I didn't know how to explain to them that I was probably never moving back here, but that I would always be there for them.

If something came up and my family needed me, I'd drop everything and race back to Australia. They knew it. I knew it. Even my team knew it. But I was never going to be there for the everyday stuff.

After college, Mum, Dad, and I had a long chat about everything and they understood, and even encouraged me to stay my course and follow my heart. And I made a point of maintaining weekly video calls with them all every Sunday night to stay connected to my little siblings. It was the best I could do.

Hannah had been so little when I left home, but I'd gotten to watch her grow up this way. In some ways it made it feel as if I hadn't missed out on anything, but seeing them in person and how much they'd truly changed was more shocking than I imagined.

In truth, I had been a little worried about coming home. It had been so long and, aside from weekly chats, these guys didn't really know me. Or so I thought.

I was wrong. As we talked and teased each other all the way to the beach, there was nothing awkward or distant between us.

When Toby pulled up to the beach and parked, I just sat there, staring out across the water. I loved the beach and, like most dingoes, my family loved the water.

"Let's go!" Jack yelled as they all piled out and ran for the shore.

I watched them go, and then with a grin, I followed them.

We all stripped off our clothes down to our bathers and ran into the cold water.

Hannah squealed, but I picked her up and swung her around.

When the boys started splashing water at me, I used our sister as a shield.

To the humans around, we likely looked mental, but they didn't know that our inner dingoes warmed our body temperatures to a comfortable level. Even the kids, none of whom had their animals surface yet, still benefited from it.

Toby grabbed Hannah from me just as Jack and Tom dove at my legs, knocking me off balance.

"Oh, you want a piece of me? It's on."

They screamed and dove into the water, swimming out and thinking I wouldn't follow.

I did.

Working out daily with Delta team kept me in great shape. I easily caught up to them, grabbing Jack by the foot and dragging him back to me before lifting him out of the water and tossing him to the side.

"Oh shit!" Tom yelled.

I turned and headed for him, but by then Hannah and Toby had caught up to us and he snatched her up, putting her body between me and him much as I had done at the shore.

Time lost all understanding as we splashed, dunked, and played. It made me feel like I was just a kid again.

At last Hannah announced she was cold and hungry, so we swam back to the shore laughing all the way.

My heart was light. I hadn't realized just how much I needed a carefree afternoon with my siblings.

Back in the car I shook my hair, sending rivulets of water all over.

"Lachie! Stop it," Hannah squealed.

I winked at her.

"This was fun. Can we do it again before you leave?" Jack asked hopefully.

"You are staying more than a night or two, right?" Toby asked.

I cringed. I hated disappointing them, but I really didn't know how long it would be before I was called away.

"That's a no. I told ya," Tom said.

"It's not like that," I protested.

"Are you staying tonight?" Hannah asked, big blue eyes filled with hope, staring up at me.

"Yeah."

"Okay, then we'll take this one day at a time."

The boys all reluctantly nodded.

"I thought you were here on three weeks' vacation," Jack finally said.

"That was the plan. But something's come up with work."

"You have to go back to America early?"

"Not exactly. My team will be arriving here in Sydney tomorrow morning."

Toby's eyes widened. "You have a mission here? In Australia?"

"Yeah. But that's top secret."

They all nodded.

"Do we get to meet them?" Tom asked.

I shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe, yeah."

"Cool," Hannah said.

They peppered me with questions about everyone on the drive home and we were still in high spirits when we walked into the house.

Mom was standing in the kitchen, and her eyes glazed over with unshed tears.

"Mom? Are you okay?"

Toby rolled his eyes. "She's just overjoyed to see us all together. Am I right, yeah?"

"Hush. I was just cutting up some onions."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

None of us argued with her.

Dad walked in from the backyard carrying a steaming tray of steak and prawns hot off the barbie. My mouth was watering from the smells. And I suddenly couldn't remember why it took me so long to get back home.