Page 20 of Shifter's Homecoming

He worked out a few wolf problems in his brain, then ran through the rules of engagement for every mission and strategy he’d ever learned. It all came to him easily. He nodded to himself sharply and opened his eyes, intellectually ready for anything.

The doctor was hauling equipment out the door and actually smiling. He was obviously thrilled they were about to be not-his-problem anymore.

Troy was there, and Rocko, too, and they were hotly discussing something in the corner. Troy must have felt Trent’s eyes on him, because he flipped him the bird without looking at him. Trent laughed quietly, unable to help himself. He hadn’t been ready forthat, because he’d never been flipped off by his brother before.

Troy half-smiled and the discussion with Rocko seemed to cool down a little. Rocko followed the doctor out the door and Troy headed for Trent, grabbing a stack of clothes on his way.

Trent sat up, noting how torn-up his leg still felt, hoping he would be able to walk. He could handle limping into whatever was coming next, but he didn’t want to be carried or rolled to it. His dignity could only take so much.

Troy reached him, tucked the stack of clothes under his arm, hauled Trent to his feet with his other hand, then shuffled them across the room to the bathroom. He put the stack of clothes on the sink, positioned Trent where he could grab hold of the sink, too, then moved to the door.

He stopped and looked back, his voice soft. “I’ll help you dress if you need it.”

“I’m good,” Trent said.

“Yep,” Troy replied, then left and pulled the door shut behind him.

Trent picked up a boot andhopedhe didn’t need help.

He caught his reflection in the mirror. Trent stared at his face, then raised a hand and ran it over his chin. He had definite scruff going on, and he had to admit, he thought it looked good. His face was alright, it would do, he could deal with looking like this as a man.

Would females like it?

He thought they might. He looked like Trevor, a little, and human women had always liked Trevor just fine, and his mate, Ella, sure thought Trevor looked good.

He wondered if Trevor was in this world, and for that matter, what about his long-dead sister and parents? They could be alive here, according to what Crew had said, and according to what thedragenhad said. Trent put the thoughts out of his mind swiftly. He had a mission. Besides, it wasn’t like he could ask Troy.

Troy banged on the door. “We don’t have time for you to curl your hair,” he growled.

Trent grinned. “Zip your muzzle,” he shot to his brother, then dropped the cotton robe to the floor, checked his massive thigh bandage and noted there was no blood, then turned to his clothes. He had a dark, short-sleeve, cotton work shirt, dark tactical pants, and jump boots. He dressed. He had to sit down on the side of the tub to get the pants on, but he didn’t fall, he didn’t faint, and his leg did not give him as much trouble as he’d thought it would. He was even able to tie a knot in the bootlaces.

Once he was out of the bathroom, though, it was apparent he’d used up most of his strength. Troy grabbed him under the arm and did most of the walking for him to get them outside. They had to walk a little ways to get to the vehicle, but Rocko was there to help and the streets were empty, so it was quick.

Once in the truck, Trent fell into a deep sleep.

***

He woke up some time later with no memory of any meadow dreams. A change in momentum and terrain was what had woken him. It felt like they were driving in a field over grass or dirt.

Trent didn’t move position, instead he opened his eyes just a little and looked around, cursing himself slightly. He’d meant to stay awake on the drive. He’d meant to keep his eyes open. He’d meant to gather intelligence and tuck it away in his mind. Instead, here he was, blinking like a pup looking for a teat to suck on.

“Where’re we?” he mumbled.

“Airstrip,” Troy said. “We found a human who would fly us. We’ll be there in three hours. There’ll be a car waiting for us once we drop in.”

Trent didn’t like the sound of any of that. He played over in his mind Crew’s exact wording from their briefing about what traveling was really like, what Trent could expect if he ended up in another world.

Crew had been trying to explain how the world could be exactly like what Trent was used to, same language, same types of people, same surroundings and lifestyle, and at the same time, be very different than anything Trent had encountered before.

The briefing had been almost a year ago, when Crew had first brought Dahlia, his One True Mate, home from another world. She’d sacrificed herself. She’d died, but because she’d been a traveler, she’d had an opportunity to find her way back to her world. Crew had found her and brought her home. After that, Graeme had convinced Wade he needed to bring Trent together with both Crew and Dahlia.

Trent had found himself consumed with an unexplainable desire to know everything about all other worlds they’d ever been to, and everything they knew about traveling itself. He’d kept them retelling their stories for hours.

Dahlia’s story had been the most fascinating to Trent, but even back then, he’d known that Crew’s story was the more useful. Dahlia had been a traveler from birth, a ‘natural traveler’, Graeme called her. She went to sleep in one world and while her body slept there, she lived a full and complete life in her dreams, waking up in another world as the same person. Crew’s story had been different. He was born a non-travelingwolfenpup with unexplainable powers, but he was not a natural traveler. When he’d been 13, he’d forced his way into the mind of Khain and the demon had done something to him that made him a traveler from that moment on. A ‘fractionated traveler,’ thedragencalled him, because his body disappeared when he fell asleep in one world and went to the other.

He had lived like that for22 years.Trent couldn’t imagine it, especially when he heard what kind of a world it was.

It’s truly survival of the fittest, Crew had said. It’s a lot like this world, but when something is different, it’s really different. For example, humans know shifters exist in that world, and not only do shifters not protect humans there, they actively oppress them. There’s no Khain, there’s no Rhen, so no shifters have a renqua. There is a government but it only wages war and defends borders. It doesn’t create infrastructure or provide services. Humans are weak but are willing to work hard and are geniuses with machinery, so shifters let them make tools and cars and roads and buildings and other things, but they aren’t allowed to make communication devices like phones, so there’s no Internet, no email, no smartphones, nothing like that. Humans aren’t allowed to congregate outside of approved areas, there’s no government-sanctioned schools or hospitals, there are human curfews, and there’s no rules against killing humans for fun or in anger.

---