Page 89 of The Pack Next Door
Things had spilled onto the back deck. The dads were no doubt nowhere to be seen, but by the way they were staggering, they might’ve been sleeping it off.
“And this… Briar woman!” April was going off, her face an alarming shade of red. “This is who you want by your side?”
“Who else would we—?” Mads snapped, but Gideon cut her off.
“Briar is our mate.”
“How can you be certain?” She flung her hand through the air. “She does nothing to support your bid to become ruling pack.”
“Nothing to support…” Jace’s voice was completely flat. “That idea is dead in the water now, thanks to the dads.”
“We were the idiots that decided to follow their advice,” Mads argued.
“This whole… popularity contest idea is a ridiculous one,” she spluttered. “Who heard of running a town that way? You won!”
“We lost.” Gideon’s voice was so utterly without hope it was kind of scary. “We lost because we played by the rules of the place we were born, not the place we want to live in. You said you wanted to get away from that life, to live a softer one here. How can that happen if we import the same culture?”
“A softer life under your rule!”
I couldn’t see April’s face, but I could visualise her expression perfectly. Cruel, vainglorious, she would’ve loved to be the one to swan around town, rubbing her sons’ achievements in everyone’s face, including Damien. She was a very small, very ugly person, and for just a second, I felt sorry for the Whitlocks.
That’s when Mads saw me.
Hope flared to life in his eyes, and that had me shaking my head. The wolf pushed hard against the bond, sure she knew what to do.
“Which is why that omega would never be the right one for you. A woman her age? How can she give you the many big, strong sons you’d need to hold a town like this for perpetuity?”
My bark of laughter came out unbidden.
They all turned around now, Gideon too pale, Jace looking stricken, and April? Her eyes narrowed, her perfectly applied lipstick peeled back to reveal her fangs.
“Well,” I said, “I can help you out there. I can’t have children.” Her response didn’t matter. Theirs did. “Which is why this would never have worked out. Just came over to say goodbye.” I looked their mother up and down. “And good luck, because you’re going to need it if you want to stay in Moon River.”
At that, I turned on my heel, marching off, with my head held high.
Chapter 43
Mads
“Briar!” She was walking away. That thought was like a thin whine in my head, cutting through all the bullshit, and that had me moving. “Briar, babe…” I threw myself off the deck and marched beside her, but she didn’t even spare me a second look. Her car, that’s what she was focussed on and I quickly saw why. Packed and ready to go. “You’re leaving?”
“It’s for the best.”
She went to wrench her door open, but my hand was on it, closing it again without thought. That was a mistake. My mate taking a step backwards, the burnt smell of her scent transmuting into something else…
Fear?
I snatched my hand back as if the car was made of molten metal, staring at her.
“For the best? Look, I didn’t say anything before, but I’m not staying here.”
I’d practised this so many times in my head, but in no scenario had she watched me act like a damn feral wolf on thefooty field. My eyes sought hers, my fingers itching to tip her chin my way.
But I’d lost that right.
Never had it, that was the problem. I’d let Gideon, my family’s, bullshit get in the way of everything that mattered, and that ended today.
“Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be, Briar.” I dared a smile. “If the city is that?—”
