Page 87 of The Pack Next Door
“See!” April crowed, too caught up in her own battle fever to see that no one else shared it. “Now you see what true alphas are.”
“Brutal fuckwits?” someone drawled.
Her head snapped back as if slapped. Too pale, blinking, she stared at the crowd, her situation finally dawning on her.
“Dunno how you play capture the flag in Glen Hallow—” another person said.
“Glen Hallow?” someone whispered, scandalised. “Why would we allow Glen Hallow alphas in Moon River? Everyone knows they’re little more than savages.”
April rallied quickly, sucking in a breath as if to puff herself up like an angry cat.
“Strong, capable of doing what it takes to win.”
But that wasn’t how you succeeded in the alpha trials here. I might’ve spent years away from Moon River, but even I knew that.
Something I’d tried to tell the guys.
There was a relief to the realisation that the Whitlocks didn’t have a hope in hell of becoming the next ruling pack. I could go now. They’d limp through the final trial, maybe even regain public support, but eyes would be on them going forward. Watching them, looking for signs of this same savagery.
And I’d be on the road out of here.
“Shall we go?” I asked Mum with a fake smile.
“I think so.” She cast a sidelong look at the grass, then shook her head. “There’s nothing I want to see here.”
I’d intended for us to slip away, leaving the rest of the town to witness the trial. I didn’t belong here and Mum was still tired and sore, so I had an excuse. What I didn’t expect was for others to take that as a cue. April stared disbelieving as others picked up their chairs, their coolers, and headed towards the car park.
“Well, that was a bloody great mess.” Jacinta let out a huff of breath. “Who knew those Whitlock boys were like that?” She fixed me in her sights. “Did you, Briar?”
Mum, Jacinta, and some of the passers-by seemed to ask the same thing, so I just shook my head.
“Nothing like that.” I let out a sigh, unable to reconcile the game with the way they treated me on the road trip. “I never would’ve supported them for ruling pack if there was any indication of aggression.”
“You said you were heading back to the city soon?” Mum squeezed my hand when I nodded. “Probably for the best.”
Her sadness, where did that come from? Oh, because she thought I’d end up with them.
“For the best,” I agreed. “And probably tomorrow.” My focus shifted entirely to my mother. “Is that going to be OK?”
“You never needed to come down in the first place,” she said. I gave her a meaningful look. “I got banged up and now know rattling around in the old house by myself isn’t an option.”
“We’re gonna be roomies!”
Jacinta wrapped an arm around Mum’s shoulders, giving her a squeeze, which had my eyebrows shooting up.
“Why am I suddenly scared?”
“Jacinta is always saying her place is too dark and pokey,” Mum said. “I said she could stay with me plenty of times before.”
“But now I have to say yes,” her friend replied. “Make sure you don’t get into trouble. It’ll be mimosas for breakfast, followed by a spot of gardening, then Irish coffee for lunch…”
I shook my head. Lecturing the two of them about responsible drinking would only fall on deaf ears.
“Well, send me the bill for your gardening supplies or maybe I’ll just sign you up for a wine subscription.”
A regular home nurse visit, that would definitely be on the agenda, but we could argue about that when I was back home.
Home.
