Page 74 of The Pack Next Door
“I’m sitting in the back with Briar!” Jace said, throwing himself into the back seat, then patting the space between us.
“So we don’t have to listen to your shit music anymore?” Mads grabbed the keys from Gideon’s grip, hurrying over to the driver’s side seat before his brother could protest. “Thank the gods.”
As I slid across the seat, I wondered if Gideon would join us. Instead, he took the front passenger side seat. Turning off the music, then consulting the map, he gave Mads directions.
After stopping one more time to ‘relieve me,’ we arrived at the property mid afternoon. The sun was dropping lower in the sky, turning the grass and the massive gum trees gold as we passed, but while I soaked in the sights, always feeling at peace on Tom’s and Honey’s property, we weren’t greeted by an especially happy presence.
Tom jerked the fence open, wheeling his trail bike through, his face like thunder when he looked up and saw who’d arrived.
“Tom.” I got out and walked over. “I’m so sorry?—”
“Can’t worry about a bunch of bloody cracked pots right now,” he snapped, then gestured to an expanse of grass down the hill. “The bloody sheep have gotten out.” The doors to the car closed and he looked up as the Whitlock pack approached. I half expected him to chew them out, but instead a slow smile spread. “These lads of yours… They look like fit fellas.” I was left standing there as he strode over, hand out. “Tom Wells.” Each one of them introduced themselves with a shake of his hand. “Know anything about herding sheep?”
“Herding?” Jace’s fangs flashed in the sunlight. “Only been rounding up our grandparents’ sheep since we were kids.”
Mads looked Tom’s trail bike over.
“Got any more bikes, or are we rounding them up in fur?”
Chapter 36
Briar
“There she is.” Honey emerged from the house, arms wide, giving me a hug as soon as she was close. The scent of lavender and good cooking hung around her, making me want to hold on that bit longer. “How was your drive? Tom’s up at the paddock?—”
“Rounding up lost sheep?” I said. “We ran into him at the gate.”
“Well, I’ll apologise now, shall I?” She steered me towards the main house. “That man is like a bear with a sore head most days, let alone when the fence fails.”
“He might not be so grumpy. Some… friends came with me.”
I shot her a sheepish look as this wasn’t something we’d discussed beforehand. I’d tried to book one of Honey’s other cabins on Airbnb, but they looked like they were booked out for months. The guys had indicated that they could go to fur and curl up under a tree to sleep if they needed to.
“Friends?”
Her eyebrows shot up.
“They’re apparently a dab hand at herding sheep, so they’re helping Tom right now.”
“Seems like there’s a story there. You can give me all the goss over a cup of tea.”
“So these men are your mates?” Like almost all betas, Honey was barely able to suppress her excitement at the idea. “After all this time.” With a shake of her head, she refocussed back on me. “How do you feel about that?”
“Weird,” I replied with a shrug. “I was told I didn’t have any, so them moving next door to my mother was a shock to say the least.”
“Almost as if fate was pushing you together,” she said, looking over the rim of her cup at me.
“Well, fate has it wrong.” I set mine down. “They want to become the ruling pack of my hometown and I’m heading back to the city in days.”
“Surely the business could be run from Moon River?”
I smiled to soften my words, then looked her straight in the eye.
“But I don’t want to. Going home, seeing Mum, it's been lovely, but it also reminded me of something. It’s the place I was born, where I grew up, but it’s not home anymore. If Mum wasn’t there, I wouldn’t go back at all. It’d just be some place I remember fondly.”
“So maybe these alphas will go to the city with you.” Honey was warming to the topic. “They could help you with the business, packing orders and things.”
I shot her a sad smile. Betas didn’t like to think about the fact that some fated mates didn’t end up together.
