Page 4 of The Pack Next Door
“Nope,” I replied, watching the hatchback travel up the street and then come to a stop outside of an aging house. The garden was a mess, completely overgrown. “I’m Jace.” I held out a hand, and this time the guy shook it grudgingly. “We’re moving in at number 7. As soon as my brothers and I have unloaded, we’ll be taking the truck back to the rental company.”
“Oh,” the old bloke said. “That’s alright then.”
Yes, it was, because after he’d put his bloody car in his driveway and I made it up the street, fate’s plan became clear. I rolled up to number 7, throwing the truck into park, only to find the little hatchback parked outside the house next door.
“You looked well pleased with yourself,”Mads said when he and Gideon arrived. “Is it just because you didn’t have to sit in the damn car with this dickhead the entire drive over?”
He jerked his thumb in Gideon’s direction.
I could’ve told him. Mads, he would’ve been stoked, running next door and huffing and puffing, threatening to blow the omega’s door down if she didn’t want to come out to play immediately. But Gideon…? I looked him over as he marched up to the front door, unlocking it with the new set of keys he’d picked up.
“Gideon—”
He cut me off immediately.
“The dads called,” he told me. “There’s some kind of meet and greet this evening. We need to present ourselves to the ruling pack anyway, so we’ll do so at this event. Don’t worry about unpacking everything right now. Let's check if the electricity is on and there’s running water.” He looked me up and down slowly, those weird amber eyes of his glowing. “We need to clean up before we go to this event.”
Yeah, I wasn’t telling Gideon shit. Let him walk on into the town square and then quietly lose his mind when he saw our omega for the first time.
“You got it,” I said with a bow, grinning all the way up the stairs of our new place and into the bathroom.
We had water and power, and as I stared across the gap between our house and Briar’s, I wondered. What would makeher smile? In my mind I saw it, the moment those pretty lips twitched and then curved, almost against her will, finally succumbing to a smile. Yeah, I wanted that a whole lot, and I’d think about all the things I’d like to do with that mouth as I jumped in the shower.
Chapter 3
Briar
“There you are!” Mum looked so excited to see me, and that brought on the first wave of guilt, followed quickly by another as she struggled to get to her feet. I dropped my bags on the floor, rushing forward to try to help. “Don’t fuss!”
We both blinked at that, obviously surprised by her sharp tone. She shot me an apologetic look, then hobbled over to the kitchen, her weight pressed hard into the cane she used.
“Sorry, love.” She shook her head, moving laboriously slowly towards the kettle. “Let me put on the kettle for you.”
“Let me.” She was about to fuss, but I pulled out a tin of tea from my bag. “I brought that tea mix you love.”
Mum wanted to argue, but thankfully settled down on a stool.
“The one with those little flowers in it?” she asked.
“Chamomile?” I nodded, opening the cupboards and pulling out some tea cups. For a moment I paused, seeing the familiar mugs and plates we’d used all throughout my childhood. A tea pot was retrieved and then I got everything ready. That familiarritual helped settle me, forcing the wolf to stop pacing back and forth inside me. “So?—”
“Was your?—?”
Mum and I looked at each other and then shook our heads at having spoken at the same time.
“After you,” I said.
“I was just going to ask how your drive was.”
“Uneventful,” I replied, listening to the kettle boil. “The paddocks looked pretty dry on the way down.”
“No rain.” Mum sighed. “Been a terrible drought. The farmers are beside themselves, having to shoot stock. No help from the government. All of them are holed up in the city.” She looked up at me. “And how’re things going with your little business? You know you could always come back here if all that is getting too hard.”
What was hard was knowing how to tell her. The minute it became clear I was an omega, she’d mapped out a life for me. Mate one of the young alpha packs, take over as ruling omega of the town, and let Damien and his pack retire gracefully when the time came. The fact I had a whole other life, one where I went beyond survival and was thriving, was too difficult for her to accept.
“There’s a lot of new alphas in town.”
Hope, that’s what I heard in her voice and saw in her expression as she stared into my eyes.
