Page 12 of The Pack Next Door
“Hello, Briar!” Jacinta had known Mum so long, I thought of her as an unofficial aunty. “Look at you, beautiful as ever.” My whole body tensed as she looked at the stage, then back at me, the squeaks of the PA system a perfect externalisation of how I felt. “But what’re you doing over here with us old ducks?”
“Speak for yourself,” Mum said with a snort.
“Shouldn’t you be up on stage?” Jacinta said. “Along with all the other omegas?”
Chapter 7
Gideon
Get to the opening ceremony on time, I thought as I stood in front of the mirror, twitching my collar until it sat just so.Make small talk with Omega Hart.The dads had done some recon and discovered that the omega was the one who called the shots in the Hart pack.Be confident, but not cocky. Be personable, but not too friendly. Be…My mantra was broken by the sound of one of my brothers lumbering up the stairs. I walked out of my bedroom to find Maddox standing there, sweating and covered in grass.
“I told you to have a shower.” The muscle in my jaw twitched as I took in just how filthy he was. “Not… whatever the hell you’ve been doing?”
“Fuck…” Jace came out, but he seemed far more amused by the situation than I was.
“Been doing my civic duty.” Maddox nodded in the direction of the house next door. “Cleaned up the neighbour’s garden for her.”
I watched him dust his hands off, my eyes twitching as grass clippings fell on the wooden floor. They were so bright green against the dark wood, screaming at me to fix them, fix them.
But I didn’t.
My brothers never understood why things like this bugged me, and our fathers were clear. They saw what I thought was an attention to detail as a weakness, and I couldn’t afford to show that.
“Have a shower.” My voice was carefully neutral, even as my wolf paced back and forth, back and forth inside me. “Make it quick. We leave in ten.”
“Maybe if you keep your hands off your dick for once, we’ll be out of here on time,” Jace called out to Maddox, but I just ran downstairs. I had to get away from them, from the grass, from everything.
“Just because it only takes you a few seconds to clean your micro dick doesn’t mean all of us have the same problem.”
Name five things you can see, I thought furiously.The boxes stacked up in the corner.Bloody hell, Jace had just dumped them on top of each other, making no allowances for size or weight.The kitchen counter. The stained wood, the granite benchtop were all quite dated. We’d need to swap them out for something more modern.The fireplace that dominated the lounge room.Was it to code? Had the chimney been cleaned out recently? It wasn’t an issue now, but it would be one when winter came. My eyes dropped down, staring at the signet ring I was twisting around and around my finger. It was my grandfather’s, gifted to me by my mother. As I traced the familiar shapes of the designs inset in the gold, I sucked in a deep breath…
And smelled something incredible.
The wolf leapt to his feet inside me and, to my horror, I saw black fur prickling across my skin. I hadn’t had a lapse in mycontrol since my early teens. He pushed me forward, discarding all thought of our plans. To the door, because the scent was stronger there, then out of it to…
Lose any trace of it.
I shook my head, regaining control with a snap and wondering what the hell was wrong with me. Jace strolled outside, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.
“Everything alright?”
The smug smile made clear he knew I was struggling with my control, but I just stared him down until he was forced to look away. Our fathers put me in charge for a reason. Jace could do the talking, charm the omega and the Hart pack, but I’d have to be the one that put the plan in place. Get accepted as contenders. Win each trial and then emerge victorious, then we could get our parents out of the town we were born in and out from under the alphas’ tyrannical reign.
“I’m fine.”
My expression made a lie of my words when Maddox joined us. He’d had the world’s fastest shower, and while he was no longer covered in sweat and grass, his hair was dripping on the front step, and his shirt stuck to his chest, translucent in places. It was his dress shoes in his hands that had my fangs grinding together.
“Better get going.” Maddox hopped on the spot as he pulled on socks and then his shoes. When he was done, he slapped my chest. My teeth bared as he strolled past. “Don’t want to be late, do we?”
We didn’t. That was the only thing that could get me moving. I locked up the house, grabbing the bouquet of flowers I’d picked up earlier off the kitchen counter, before plucking the car keys from Maddox’s hands. He settled into the front passenger side, in the face of Jace’s irritation.
“Do you remember what you need to do?” I asked both of them.
“Get Omega Hart chatting,” Jace said, staring out the window. “See if we can get him on our side.”
“And I’ll scope out the competition,” Maddox added. “See who the real contenders are.” He shot me one of those smiles that always meant trouble. “And what will you be doing, brother?”
“Introducing myself to all of the omegas,” I replied, my hands wrapping tighter around the steering wheel. “See if any of them are our fated mate.”
