Page 91 of The Pack Next Door
Jace prowled forward, his eyes blazing silver, and I let out a long sigh. Sometimes it felt like being in this family was a burden I had carried since the moment I was born. I tried to point out the bullshit, the hereditary crap everyone seemed determined to pass on, and somehow that made me the bad guy.
“Gideon, don’t listen?—”
Did he hear the fearful tremor in Mum’s voice? The first real note of emotion, I realised.
“We swore to protect Mum.” My arms crossed my chest. “Well, you have to know I wasn’t about to sit around and wait until I was grown to strike back against a man who’d hurt my own mother. I’d do what the dads wouldn’t.”
“Jace, darling?—”
Shit, she was looking wider for support, but for once my brothers listened to me.
“I marched up to the alpha residence,” I said, able to see it clearly. “All of fourteen years old and hadn’t even shifted yet, I demanded to see the alphas. The enforcers gave me an audience for the sport of it. Stumbling into their living room, I had theattention of every damn person there when I told them what I’d do to the man that hurt my mother.”
Gods, that day was seared on my brain. It was a core memory I could never suppress.
“You did what?”
Gideon barely breathed that out.
I swallowed hard, staring in through the door from the deck to the house, as if that would rouse my drunken fathers from the couch. “They told me that the only alpha that hurt Mum was Ned.”
“What…?”
Everyone kept saying that dumb fucking word, and why was that? My own fathers told me my brothers knew all about this and were determined to keep the peace. The ruling pack’s words rang in my head. That Ned had come home from the pub drunk and Mum started railing at him for the life they lived, the weakest pack in town. That she was made for more than this. On and on she went, even after Ned told her to shut up, getting in his face when he tried to walk away. His hands had shot out and with all the power of his body, he’d gripped her wrists tightly and then gave her a shake to shut her up.
I’d taken a swing at Ned the minute I got home, all that rage and fear giving me some power, but he’d met it easily. Sober now, all the dads stepped forward, making clear what a mistake it would be to continue down this path. Mum said she’d forgiven Ned, and I needed to as well. I’d asked her, begged her, to leave with me and my brothers. Somehow, we’d find a way to provide for and protect her. She’d dismissed the idea as ridiculous, just like she always did when I came up with a solution, right up until the point I’d said I’d tell my brothers the truth.
“Mum said you knew.” The wolf and I watched our brothers’ faces for every expression. “She said that they told you what Ned did, and he apologised.”
“No…” Gideon shook his head back and forth almost convulsively. “No. No.”
“Never said a word about that to me.” Jace was always Mr. Smiley, but there was none of that now. Something very hard and very angry rose as he stared at our mother. “Not one. Just rabbited on about getting out of Glen Hallow.”
“Your father was under a lot of stress,” Mum snapped.
“And that’s your problem, not ours.”
Why the hell had that only occurred to me now? It was like I was holding my breath under water for so long, my lungs burning with the effort. But air was right there, if I just allowed myself to bob up and take a breath.
I did that right now.
My house keys were in my hands in seconds and I threw them at my mother. She made a small cry as if in pain, even though they landed at her feet.
“You wanted a place here? As far as I’m concerned, the house is yours.” Was that a gleam in her eyes? “You just have to suck up to Omega Hart for long enough to get permission to move in. Me?” My arms were thrown wide as I stepped towards the door. “I’m fucking done with all of this bullshit. You can either come with me to find Briar?—”
“I’m in.” I’d waited my whole fucking life for Jace to look at me like this, and it was a strange kind of pleasure. It hurt as much as it pleased me. What would it’ve been like, to have this kind of understanding before now? “One hundred percent.” The look he shot Mum was one of disgust. “Should’ve been from the start.”
“Finally getting your head out of your arse, brother?” He shot me a wry smile before punching my arm. “Good to have you with me, because I think it’s gonna take all of us to make clear we’re the alphas for Briar.”
That’s when we all turned to stare at Gideon.
“I’ll notify the Hart pack that we are withdrawing our application for transfer to Moon River.” Gideon could be a cold prick, but Mum had never been on the receiving end of it. Her face crumpled, her hands shaking as she reached for him. He brushed past, completely unperturbed, to slap the car keys into my hands. “Because we are done here.” His smile was tentative. The muscles in his face, they didn’t seem to know how to work properly. “I fucked up. I fucked everything up, but…” He stared off down the road our mate had taken out of town. “The only alpha trial I care about is getting back our omega.” Gideon’s eyes met mine. “Making it up to her… and to you, brother.”
He offered me his hand and I shook it, unable to believe what I was hearing. Didn’t stop me from running upstairs, shoving whatever I needed into my suitcases. Rolling them downstairs, I found that we had an audience as we carried our bags outside.
“This is a mistake,” Ned growled, his eyes still bloodshot.
“Nope—” I went to reply, but Gideon was there before me, pushing in between us. The dads were forced to crane their neck to look up into his eyes.
