Page 8 of The Pack Next Door
I turned, pretending to toss it into the shed.
“Briar!” She took a step forward, hands out to stop me. “It’s Briar.”
“Pretty name. I’ll try not to scream it out too loudly if anything in the shed bites me.”
“I’m pretty sure a big bad alpha like you will cope,” she said drily.
“All I’m hearing is you noticed I’m big.”
Her little chuckle, it was all I needed to brave the depths of the shed.
Chapter 5
Briar
“You’re finished already?” Mum’s eyes looked heavily lidded as her head rose up off the couch. With a frown, she looked out the front window. “If you are, who’s using the lawnmower?”
Maddox, calls me Mads, I wanted to answer, but instead, I sat down on the couch beside her with a smile.
“I was paying the Sandersons to look after your yard,” I replied.
“You didn’t!” Mum sat bolt upright. Money had been tight when I was young, especially after Dad left her. “I knew Miranda wasn’t sending her boys over from the goodness of her heart. Do you know she had the gall to complain to me about having to do it?”
“Well, apparently she passed the job onto the pack that moved in next door. One of them came over…” My voice trailed away as a huge silhouette went past the window. Mads was entirely focussed on hacking down the long grass to a manageable level with the whipper snipper, so he could go over it again with the mower. “And offered to do the job for me.”
“Oh, they must be nice boys.” Mum would’ve launched herself out of her chair if her hip didn’t protest. She sank back gingerly. “We need to invite them in for tea.” Her eyes gleamed as she stared at me. “You need to invite them in. A pack of alphas?—”
“No.”
My mother blinked at my abrupt answer and, attempting to soften it with a smile did not work at all.
“Briar, I know it was tough, being rejected in front of the entire town…”
It was horrifying, I wanted to snap. Left me wondering why the three alpha packs couldn’t have had a quiet word with me before the mating ceremony. I could’ve left town, avoided the whole debacle, watching the entire town react with shock, then pity, as the Forrest pack announced that they’d found their omega when they went to buy cattle feed at a nearby town.
Damien was furious. His alphas had to drag him away, because he was ready to scratch Amy’s, their omega, eyes out. Then they’d had a very curt conversation with the Forrests, making clear that they needed to try their luck in another town. They could’ve stayed in Moon River. Why leave when I had no intention of staying? Damien made clear he couldn’t tolerate any of them on his territory.
“...but don’t you think it’s time to get back out there?” Mum finished. “With all of these alphas in town?—”
“Damien and the Harts are sure to find a suitable heir to take over the town,” I said, getting to my feet. “Now, my calendar says we’re due at the doctor’s in half an hour. Did you want a hand getting dressed or?—”
“I’ve got it.” Mum hobbled up the stairs, each step obviously hurting her, and I just followed on behind her. Not saying anything, not sweeping in to throw my arm around her and helpwas killing me, but I stayed quiet. “Not sure what the doctor is going to say. It’s just bruised.”
“We’ll find out when we get there,” I said.
That earned me a dark look, but she disappeared into her room not long afterwards.
I went back downstairs and grabbed my suitcase, wheeling it into my old room. While Mum had obviously come in often to clean, I still caught the stray scent of the harshly perfumed body spray I loved before I revealed as an omega. All the band posters and photos of teen idols had been taken down, but my bookcase remained the same. Even as a child, I loved to decorate. With a smile, I ran my finger across one shelf, looking at the pebbles I’d found, each one a perfect soft shade of green or brown, along with the feathers plucked from the forest floor. Grouped with the beautiful little bird’s nest, it created a little tableau that had my breath hissing out, taking with it all my tension.
Until I spied Mads through the window.
The lawnmower had been turned off, and I admit the lack of the mechanical roar soothed me almost as much. He’d stopped to mop the sweat from his brow, his brown hair now almost black. But it was those perfectly taut abs that caught my attention. My fingers trailed along the wall, instinctively following the path of the perspiration as it trickled lower. When it reached the trail of dark hair, he looked up, those intense grey eyes feeling like they could pierce the gloom of my room and see me clearly.
Then he grinned.
I yanked my hand away from the wall and stepped back abruptly until my shoulders hit the shelves. My childhood treasures rocked on the shelf, threatening to overturn, when Mum called out my name.
“Well, are you ready, Briar? We’ll have to take my car. I can’t fold myself up small enough to fit into the little buzz box of yours.”
