Page 96 of The Pack Next Door
“Don’t have to,” he agreed. “Want to.”
The need for food outweighed the one to be peevish, especially when I took the first mouthful. With the same greed I’d indulged in plundering their bodies, I swallowed the soup. Over and over, until the spoon scraped the bottom of the bowl. I was finally feeling myself when it was done.
Which presented a problem.
“I think the heat has broken.”
Turning around, facing Jace, that’s what I needed to do. We had a deal and that was now over, so we needed to work out what to do next. How the hell did they get to the city? What happened to the last alpha trial? The launch! It was all there, a burden waiting to be picked up.
So why did I settle back against Jace’s chest, just basking in his warmth?
“Your scent started to shift a couple of hours ago,” he said. “We ordered some food and Mads is running you a bath right now.”
“We’ll sort out your aftercare.” Gideon appeared in just a pair of shorts that hung loosely on his lean hips. “Then we’ll clean up and get out of your space.”
A sensible plan, if ever there was one, so why did Jace’s grip on me tighten? And why didn’t I fight it, desperate to clamber free?
“Ready for a bath?”
Mads emerged looking like he’d just had a shower. I followed the trickle of water dripping from his hair all the way down his chest before meeting his eyes. He held a hand out, offering to help me out and before I could think twice, I took it.
Feeling shy around three men who’d seen me at my most vulnerable was ridiculous, and yet that’s how I felt. I scurried towards the bathroom, Mads picking me up seconds later.
“You don’t need—” I started to say as he lowered me into the water.
“Yes, I do.” He grabbed my favourite body wash and lathered the citrus scent in his hands. “Now turn around. I’ll scrub your back for you.”
Chapter 47
Gideon
The first time I helped my mate ride out her heat was supposed to be a moment of triumph. So why was I consumed by as much shame as I was lust the last few days? I wrung out the mop viciously, then swiped it across the floor, when a set of feet came into my field of vision. I looked up to find Jace standing there.
“You’ve done a good job.”
He looked around, seeing that every evidence that we’d been here was erased from the floor. The bedding was stripped and was swirling around in the washing machine. A couple of candles lit and the windows opened, allowing fresh air to whisk away Briar’s scent. I hadn’t wanted to. That rich floral perfume… I’d be uncomfortable walking past florists for the rest of my life, unable to smell roses without thinking of her. The way she felt in my arms, her gasps, her moans. My mind had catalogued every single one of them, because on some level, I knew I didn’t deserve them.
“It’s almost as if nothing happened,” Jace finished.
“And for us, we have to act like it didn’t.” I fixed him in my gaze. “We didn’t earn the right to be here for Briar’s heat.” A shake of my head and I was forced to acknowledge the feeling that came rushing in at that statement. “I didn’t deserve to help her through her heat. I let… everything.” I couldn’t open that can of worm, not yet. “Get in the way of what was important. The alpha trials, Mum…” My hand wrapped tighter around the handle. “I fucked up. Right when I was supposed to be proving myself worthy of Briar, I showed her exactly what kind of alpha I am.”
“Maybe you should tell her that.”
Looking up, it felt like my skin burned hotter than during her heat. Briar stood there, Mads at her back, clad only in a towel. My eyes sucked in the view of her just as hungrily, right before I met her eyes.
“Just that,” I said. “I was an idiot. I didn’t listen to you when you made clear you wanted to come back to the city, because in my mind, it would all work out. We’d become the next ruling pack, and you’d be vindicated by becoming the omega.”
“Something I told you I didn’t want.”
Her clipped tones, the way she jerked open drawers and then pulled clothes on, it was nothing more than I deserved.
“I didn’t listen.” With a blink, I saw my mother’s bruises, heard her words pleading with me to get her out of our hometown, but now I saw that for what it was. “I could try and excuse that…” With a shake of my head, I forged on. “But there’s no point, because there is no valid one. Just lies and bullshit, and you deserve more than to hear me recite that. Just…” The mop was put back in the bucket and I drifted closer because my feet, my eyes, my focus was always drawn back to Briar. “Know that we’re here now.”
“Before you head back home, right?” Our mate looked from one to the other of us. “You’re going back to Moon River.”
“Mum wanted to live there.” Mads shrugged. “Well, now she can, unless she pisses off Omega Hart and his pack.”
Her scoff made clear what we all knew to be true. The chance of my mother pulling her head in and behaving in a reasonable manner was slim to none, but she wasn’t my concern anymore.
