Page 16 of The Pack Next Door (The Wolfverse #4)
Jace
“Briar’s going into heat.”
Her scent was delicious when I first breathed it in, but now? It was like a hand around my already swelling knot, giving it a tug.
“Yes.” Gideon didn’t look surprised at all by that knowledge. Instead, his eyes quested upwards, scanning the facade of the house before landing on one of the windows. “And her scent is deepening fast.”
“What?” Mads stepped between our brother and the building. “How do you know that?”
“I notice things.” Gideon’s voice became clipped and cool, the one thing that seemed to piss Mads right off. I sighed, raking my hands through my damp hair. “Briar’s scent changed last night.”
“When?” Mads looked at me as I shouldered forward. “We were all there at dinner and didn’t pick up anything unusual.”
Gideon lost for words wasn’t something we saw often, but that sidelong look, the way he pursed his lips, told us everything we needed to know.
“Something happen when you escorted Briar home, brother?” I asked, my voice a low growl. The wolf wanted that question answered too.
“Not on the walk home.” Mads grinned, a wolfish thing full of fangs. “Afterwards.”
“I went into the garden to clear my head when you two cleaned up the mess you made.” The more pissed Gideon got, the more carefully he enunciated his words. “When I was outside…”
He couldn’t say it, but he didn’t need to. My wolf howled inside me, making clear what needed to happen. Pick up Briar and then whisk her over the fence and into our house. We’d crank the air conditioning just to watch her nipples pull tight, right before we— The door opened and Briar stepped out.
We weren’t three men standing before her right now, but three wolves. Hungry ones that would only be satisfied by the taste of her flesh. Would she cry out when I worked my tongue inside her, her hips lifting up off the seat like she had…?
Fuck, Briar was getting herself off as she sat beside me in the car.
I moved, we moved, needing to get close to her, stopped only by the front step. Briar flattened herself against the door, because her wolf knew. When her heat peaked, she’d run, forcing us to prove ourselves worthy of mating her as we gave chase.
“So… the garden?”
Fuck the garden, I wanted to snap, but then she put her hands on my arm and Mads’, pushing us aside so she could walk out into the garden. That big hat, those sunglasses, masked her expression, but I could smell her response. Rose bloomed, that tart perfume growing sweeter by the second.
“Whatever you want,” I growled.
“So the garden bed edging has been laid out in a series of curves.” Didn’t hear a word.
Just watched that pretty little hand sway through the air and knew I wanted it on me.
“The roses need to go in the centre of the spot where the curve reaches its peak.” She turned to see each one of us staring, eyes no doubt burning bright silver, then frowned. “Like this.”
Briar went to grab a rosebush, but Mads and I were there before her, our lips peeling back when we got close. I picked up a white rose, he a pink one, and then we went to place them where she said they needed to go.
“Right.” Her hand flapped air towards her, which just had her scent billowing outwards.
My nose worked, wanting to drag all of it deep into my lungs.
“But let’s work out a pattern for the colours.
” Her finger seemed to tap in slow motion against her bottom lip, and I wanted to replace it with my thumb.
I’d trace the shape of her mouth, then kiss every inch of it. “Light to dark?”
“There’s enough to create an alternating pattern.” Somehow Gideon was all cool, calm, and collected, and that tracked. Mads and I called him the Ice Man behind his back. “Not a perfect one if they were all just white and deep red, but…”
We just watched as he placed the pots on the ground and when Briar made a small sound of appreciation, he picked up some of the other plants and arranged them around the roses.
“Yes…”
She clasped her hands against her chest, and that was all the incentive I needed.
The wolf’s eyes identified the pattern and layout and we started to move.
Place the pots exactly as our mate wanted.
Please her, that beat hard in my heart. I went back for more and more plants, my brothers doing the same, until finally we were forced to step back as there were no more left.
“This is satisfactory to you, omega?” Gideon asked in a low growl.
“Ah, yes.” Her cheeks were flushed such a pretty pink. What would they look like when she finally submitted? “I’ll go get the spade from the shed.”
“The same shed I had to brave for you the other day?” Mads asked. Did my brothers ever bother to share what they knew? Not for the first time, I wondered what kind of pack we were. “I’ll find the spade if you give me an idea of where it might be.”
“Oh, yes, of course.”
That little stammer was so sweet, but my smile died when she turned and walked down the side of the house. Not sure what Gideon was doing, I turned and followed the two of them out the back.
The issue with the shed was immediately apparent.
The wolf was filthy with me. How could we live in the grand house next door and allow our mate to deal with this? The cobwebs, the thick layer of dead leaves, could be hiding all sorts of critters that could harm my mate.
“So it should be— Whoa!”
My hands shot out, picking Briar up by the waist with the intention of depositing her on the other side of me.
Trouble is, once I started touching her, I didn’t want to stop.
If you put a gun to my head and asked me what the hell we were doing in the shed, I wouldn’t have been able to answer you.
Briar’s eyes flicked up, holding mine as her mouth fell open.
One pant, then another, I watched her chest rise and fall with rapt fascination.
A step closer and she was forced to suck in breaths faster.
My thumb slid up her ribcage, trying to span it, even as the rest pulled her closer.
One stumbling step forward and I was lost. My head angled down, my lips seeking hers, when my brother interrupted.
“Can’t have you going into that shed, omega,” he said, and I watched his hand move in slow motion, cupping the front of her throat and tipping her head backwards. “There’s dangerous things in there.”
“I’m a wolf.” That little note of defiance in her voice was all it took to have me grinning. “I can kill a snake just as easily as an alpha can.”
“But why would you bother yourself with that?” When her eyes met mine, I traced the line of her throat, knowing how pretty it would look when she accepted the bond and my mating mark. Every damn person that saw her would know Briar was mine. “When you have us.”
“We’ll do anything you need, omega.” Mads stared down at her, that smirk of his spreading. “Absolutely anything.”
“Anything…?”
She was so close. Her perfume was so thick I could barely take a full breath, my head starting to spin.
“Just tell us what you need,” I prompted, knowing I couldn’t do anything without her consent. But if she gave it? I’d put all of the theoretical knowledge I’d developed into practise and see if I could get Briar simmering.
“The garden?—”
“That’s what your mother wants.” I let out a growl as he pulled Briar against him, then shot me a dark look over her shoulder. “Not you.” I watched his hand slide down her front, her chest instantly thrust out. Instinctively, she knew exactly what she wanted. “Tell us what you want.”
Her brows knotted as her head fell back against his shoulder, and that had me stepping closer.
“I…” She had me hanging on every word she uttered. “I…” Those eyes flicked open again, staring into mine, and when a small frown formed, I felt a pang. Had we pushed her too hard? Scent didn’t equal consent, we all knew that, but— “I’m in pseudoestrus.”
“What?” Mads looked down at her, then across at me. I shook my head, having no idea what that meant.
“A fake heat.” She seemed to come back to herself, trying to push away from Mads, but he held her in place. “Even though I haven’t found my alphas, I still come into heat.” Briar shook her head slowly. “But it shouldn’t be so soon.”
“All alone?” That thought was like a splash of cold water to my face. “Briar…”
“Alone.” She blinked and shook her head. “It’s hard, but I’ve done it before, and…” A long sigh. “I’ll do it again.” Her eyes went to the shed. “Everything you need should be in there. If not, I can pay?—”
She went to pull away, and the wolf saw that as one thing: an incentive to chase.
Perhaps that’s why my arm shot out. Against all of my training, I hauled her backwards, the wolf growling in approval when her body pressed against mine.
That tremor, I knew what it was now, my nose delving into the crook of her neck.
Need, that’s what I got with each long breath.
“Why the hell would you do that?” I said. “When you have us right here and ready to service you.”