Page 1 of The Pack Next Door
Chapter 1
Briar
“Hey, boss!” I smiled as I heard my warehouse manager, Emma’s voice through the car speakers. “How’s your mum?”
I sighed and then smiled to myself as I drove into the pretty town of Moon River. I took in the newly painted sign, the big jacaranda trees lining both sides of the main street, strewing purple petals everywhere, then looked past them to the park beyond. The children’s play equipment had been updated from scalding hot steel to bright and colourful plastic, but the massive tree in the centre was the same one I remembered climbing along with all my friends when I was a child.
“Not sure,” I replied, focussing back on the road. “I’ve only just got into town. Did the big shipment arrive?”
“Ye-es.” Emma replied warily. “But?—”
“Did the new pottery pieces arrive? The blue ones?” I asked, almost able to see them in my mind. We’d found this potter who created the most incredible vessels. Rather than flawless commercial pottery, they were perfectly imperfect, the marks of the potter’s fingers on each one. We’d sold out of the green andred glazed pieces, but he’d branched out into the most heavenly blue line, just for me. “Tell me none were cracked in transit.”
“Briar.” Emma was supposedly my subordinate. I hired her to take on the logistics side of my online business when I could no longer fulfil the items from my lounge room. “You’re on leave. Your mum had a fall and you’re taking a week or two off to look after her.”
To see if I could convince Mum to move to the city with me. I had some brochures for some incredible assisted living places in my bag. If I could just get my mother to look at them…
“Don’t worry about the shipment, boss,” Emma said. “Me and Seb–” He was her offsider. “–we’ve got this.”
But every single bowl was already sold, I wanted to say. If one was damaged, we’d have to decide which customer missed out. The thought of having that conversation with people who had supported me from the very beginning of my business, Omega Core, had my chest hurting.
“OK.” Emma laughed because she could tell that admission was dragged from the depths of my soul. “Just… let me know if there’s any damaged items. Tom is an amazing craftsman, but each bowl takes ages to build, fire and glaze. We’ll have to let?—”
“Trust us to look after the stock,” Emma said firmly. “You look after your mum.”
Easier said than done.
After saying our goodbyes, I turned off the main road and into the nearest petrol station. Getting out of the car, it felt like every muscle protested after being forced to sit behind the wheel for the last five hours. I popped the petrol cap, then filled up the tank, staring blankly at the interior. I used to ride down here with my friends, and after filling our bike tyres from the air compressor, we’d go inside and buy icy poles on a hot summer day. I found myself smiling, almost able to see those spindly legged little girls giggling as they exited the shop.
I just didn’t expect to see one of them standing behind the counter, looking a lot older, when I walked inside.
“Hi,” Diana said, looking up with a professional smile. “Just pump number…” Her voice trailed away, eyes widening as she took me in. I could almost see the cogs whirring inside her head. “Briar? Are you, Briar?—”
“Reynolds.” I sketched a little bow. “Class of 2009. Damn, Diana Garrison. It’s been a long time.”
We hung out in the same friend group at school. I wouldn’t say we were super close, but we’d held each other’s hair back after a night of drinking cheap wine and that forged a bond that wasn’t easily broken.
“It’s Diana Kirkland now.” She held up a hand, revealing a very pretty diamond solitaire wedding ring.
“Oh my god,” I said, my hand going to my chest. “You married Gary Kirkland?”
He was a beta that crushed on Di badly when we were in high school.
“No.” When her cheeks flushed pink, I saw a girl of sixteen, not a woman in her thirties. “Cory.”
“Cory!”
The alpha packs were the ones that caught most girl’s eyes, and some of the boys, but Cory Kirkland ran a close second. He was the local football star, never having found a sport he couldn’t master with ease. Being a beta, that made him seem a lot more attainable to most of us, including me.
Right before I revealed as an omega.
He and all other betas were suddenly out of my reach.
“But what about you?” This was the moment when I told someone from my whole home town about my life. In my head, I’d practised talking about my apartment, my business. We’d both be happy for each other and… Instead I watched Dianacrane her neck, not so subtly checking mine out for mating marks. “You left town after… the whole mating debacle.”
A moment so damn embarrassing I’d left Moon River and barely been back. Why would I when the whole town had watched me get rejected by each of the local alpha packs. Two were already mated by the time I turned eighteen and the one that hadn’t found their omega a town over. They just neglected to tell me that.
“Did you find your alphas?” Di asked, her excitement evident. “And bring your mates here?” A glance out the window made clear there was no alpha pack lurking outside. “Have they come to put themselves forward as potentials as they decide who the ruling pack is?”
