Page 129 of The Pack Next Door
“On a road full of hairpin turns and narrow roads? Nope, I’ve got it.”
“Hey, I’ll have you know?—”
“That you drive like a complete idiot.”
Their squabbles faded away as I opened the back door of the car and slid my mate inside. I was following her seconds later, seat belts ignored as my mouth crashed down on hers.
Fuck, I was losing control.
“Jace—!”
“On it,” he said.
Wheels spun gravel and we were off, hurtling towards destiny.
“Briar…” Pulling away from her mouth physically hurt me, but I needed to tell her. Not during the launch. The poison of my parents was like holding an overfull cup. I didn’t want it spilling on her, but if we were a pack, I had to let her in and that started now. “Our parents turned up before the launch.”
“They what!?” Jace yelped.
“Steady, dickhead.” Mads smacked our brother upside the head, then turned to face us. “What happened?”
“Your parents got kicked out of Moon River,” Briar said, her lips thinning. “Damien filled me in on the details.”
“That’s why they were ringing you all the time,” Jace said.
“Does anyone ever tell me anything?” Mads protested. “So why the hell did they end up here?”
That had me frowning. I had no idea how they’d tracked us to the church, but Jace had an idea.
“Did we remove our phones from the family account? It shares our location with them.”
“Shit.” Mads pulled out his phone and then started tapping furiously to fix that, but I focussed on what was important.
My mate.
“They thought I would choose them,” I said. “They tried to make their fate my responsibility. Probably because up until now, I let them. Not this time. I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t want to ruin the launch.”
“Gideon.” Her fingers linked with mine. “That’s not something you need to do. I hate the idea of you suffering in silence.”
“Not suffering.” My thumb moved restively over her knuckles. “I wanted to protect you. I’ll always protect you, with everything I’ve got. You. I choose you and made clear that if any of them get within ten feet of the city, I’ll take it as an act of aggression and respond accordingly.”
“Fuck, yes.” Had Mads ever looked at me with approval? If he had, I didn’t remember it. Suddenly, Jace’s need to make everyone happy made sense. This glow I felt in my chest was big, expansive, and wanted to envelop every single member of my pack. “Glad to have you with us, brother.”’
“Am I with you?”
It was Briar I asked, not Mads, because in the end, the omega is always the heart of the pack. Her smile spread wide, right before she threw herself at me.
“I’ve just been hoping, waiting for you to feel ready.”
“Now.” I pressed my mouth to hers, lost in the sensation of all her softness. “Jace?—”
“Get us the fuck home before you force me to pull over and rut our mate in the bushes?” he said. “You got it.”
The rest of the trip was a blur, as was the elevator ride up to the apartment. Other people thought to get in with us, saw the four of us and then stepped backwards. Maybe they could see what I did, that this had to happen. Mads had the door unlocked, his shirt off and over his head the minute we got inside. The lock engaged, we stumbled into the main bedroom, and that’s when I paused.
“Part of me wants to tear every inch of clothing off your body,” I told Briar.
“Please don’t.”
