Page 33 of The Pack Next Door
She was so close. Her perfume was so thick I could barely take a full breath, my head starting to spin.
“Just tell us what you need,” I prompted, knowing I couldn’t do anything without her consent. But if she gave it? I’d put all of the theoretical knowledge I’d developed into practise and see if I could get Briar simmering.
“The garden?—”
“That’s what your mother wants.” I let out a growl as he pulled Briar against him, then shot me a dark look over her shoulder. “Not you.” I watched his hand slide down her front, her chest instantly thrust out. Instinctively, she knew exactly what she wanted. “Tell us whatyouwant.”
Her brows knotted as her head fell back against his shoulder, and that had me stepping closer.
“I…” She had me hanging on every word she uttered. “I…” Those eyes flicked open again, staring into mine, and when a small frown formed, I felt a pang. Had we pushed her too hard? Scent didn’t equal consent, we all knew that, but— “I’m in pseudoestrus.”
“What?” Mads looked down at her, then across at me. I shook my head, having no idea what that meant.
“A fake heat.” She seemed to come back to herself, trying to push away from Mads, but he held her in place. “Even though I haven’t found my alphas, I still come into heat.” Briar shook her head slowly. “But it shouldn’t be so soon.”
“All alone?” That thought was like a splash of cold water to my face. “Briar…”
“Alone.” She blinked and shook her head. “It’s hard, but I’ve done it before, and…” A long sigh. “I’ll do it again.” Her eyes went to the shed. “Everything you need should be in there. If not, I can pay?—”
She went to pull away, and the wolf saw that as one thing: an incentive to chase. Perhaps that’s why my arm shot out. Against all of my training, I hauled her backwards, the wolf growling in approval when her body pressed against mine. That tremor, I knew what it was now, my nose delving into the crook of her neck. Need, that’s what I got with each long breath.
“Why the hell would you do that?” I said. “When you have us right here and ready to service you.”
Chapter 17
Briar
I shouldn’t be doing this. I certainly shouldn’t be drawing Jace’s head closer, even as Mads came to stand at my back. Fingers lifting the damp strands of my hair away from my neck, then a fingertip slid downwards. I definitely shouldn’t be feeling a whole body shiver in response. These men were not my alphas. But what if they were? That’s what my wolf, my heart, cried. What should have hurt transmuted into a vicious kind of pleasure due to my heat.
My fingers trailed along Jace’s nape, and a low growl told me exactly what he thought of that. In case I needed confirmation, his eyes burned bright silver, right before he flashed his fangs at me.
Yes, that.
His lips nuzzling my neck, making the skin exquisitely sensitive, then giving it a little nip. A prelude of what was to come. My thighs clamped together as a frantic pulse started up. Him, pinning me down on my childhood bed, forcing my hips up, my cries smothered by the coverlet as he worked his knotslowly but surely inside. Mads cradled my jaw in his hand, then turned his head my way.
“Wait your turn, brother…” Jace snarled.
“Don’t think I can.” I followed the path of a droplet of sweat as it ran down the side of Mads’ face. His smile faltered as we each stared at the other. “Been thinking about kissing those lips since I hopped over the fence and found your teeth sinking into them.” My mouth fell open as his thumb brushed against it. “Up half the night thinking about it.” He shook his head slightly. “If I’m gonna have any chance of sleeping tonight, I’m gonna need…”
His mouth hovered over mine, that heady woody scent of theirs multiplying by the second. I let out a thin whine, making clear what I wanted. As Mads’ head dipped lower, his hot breath fanning over my lips, Jace’s hand slid up my throat, feeling my pulse flutter, just before?—
“What are you doing?”
Gideon’s voice was like a bucket of ice water dropped over all of us. As I sprang back, his brothers reached for me, but the moment was over. I nearly… I could’ve… I shook my head, but that did nothing to dispel the faint red haze that clung to my field of vision.
Gods, I was getting worse.
“Spade’s in the shed.” I almost barked that out. Perhaps because my wolf was digging her claws in, trying to stop me from taking a step backwards. “I need to…”
My cheeks burned as I bolted for the back door, slamming the screen door behind me as I leapt inside.
“That you, Briar?” Mum called out from the kitchen. “Come and give me a hand with lunch.”
“Can’t, Mum.” I took the steps two at a time, using the wolf’s strength to get me to my bedroom in record time. “A work thing has come up.”
I didn’t intend to work at anything other than trying to tamp down the fire burning inside me, but when I opened my laptop to try to find the site with all the sexy stories I liked, my inbox popped up on screen. Emails, so many emails, the subject line growing more and more hysterical as I scanned them. The latest shipment of highly sought after ceramics had arrived with half the vessels cracked after an idiot delivery driver dropped the pallet. Breath in, breath out, I fought to slow each exhale down, grabbing at calm and then I opened the first email.
“Briar.”
