Page 21 of The Pack Next Door (The Wolfverse #4)

Mads

My mother was being a bitch.

I loved her, really I did. Sometimes it took a bit to remind myself of that fact, just like I did right now.

Mum helped a lot of people in Glen Hallow and was always involved in our lives, supporting us as we grew up, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be a judgemental cow sometimes, because that was what was happening in this moment.

“Mum—” I growled.

“What? It’s a fair question.” She peered at Briar. “Unless she has mating marks I can’t?—”

“Nope.” Briar bit that off. “I’m unmated.”

And likely to remain so if this went on.

“Briar’s an incredibly successful businesswoman.” I looked across at Jace and smiled as he came to our mate’s defence. “Pretty sure she’s flat out building an empire.”

“A businesswoman?”

How did my mother make that sound like a crime against humanity?

“Yes.” Briar gave up all pretence of eating and that wasn’t right.

Her scent soured, smelling like burnt flowers, and I did not want that at all.

Fix it, my wolf demanded. Fix it, or I will.

“I know it’s customary for omegas to find their mates and help run their alphas’ household.

I know, because that was the way I was raised.

But when it became clear I wasn’t going to find my mates, I built a whole other life instead. One I’m incredibly proud of.”

Briar was glorious. I’d seen only a few people manage to shut my mother up, but she achieved it now. I wanted, needed, to tell her that she had found her mates, that we were right here, but for once I kept my big mouth shut. She was holding her own, and she didn’t need me to rescue her.

But I wondered if she might come to like me to protect her from time to time.

Just to take some of the pressure off her and let her devote her energies to what she cared about.

If it was this business, I’d do whatever it took to learn about it and every single thing she sold.

Right as I was entertaining fantasies of sneaking under my mate’s desk and distracting her during an important business call, Mum had to go and ruin it.

“Well, in my day, an omega knew her place was in the home?—”

“A place you have turned into a haven to come home to every day,” Adam said. “But I think we can all agree that times have changed and alphas and omegas with them.”

“Not always for the better.”

Gods, did Mum always have to have the last word?

For someone who tried to put it about that she was this delicate little omega, she certainly had some opinions.

I sucked in a breath, ready to shut her down, when I saw Gideon’s expression.

He looked way too pale and was ignoring the deliciousness of Maggie’s cooking, staring fixedly at the table.

He was always the closest to Mum growing up. Part of me had been jealous of the attention she lavished on him when I was a kid, but not now. My love for my mother and what I needed to do were really separate things.

“Briar is doing what makes her happy, just like having kids and being at home was for you, Mum.” Her lips thinned down, making clear she didn’t like that at all, but her emotions were her problem. I turned to Briar. “So how did the work emergency go?”

Pretty sure that was an excuse to stay out of the garden, but either way, I was interested in her answer. Watching Briar take a mouthful of food helped settle me, before she replied.

“We’ve got an issue with a freight company trashing a shipment.

It came from a very talented and somewhat eccentric potter who is tricky to deal with.

He tends to get… fractious.” She smiled ruefully.

“My team and I have been scrambling all day to try to organise insurance claims and make complaints about the delivery company so we can at least refund buyers, but…” Her shoulders drooped.

“I still have to break the news to the potter, and that is not going to be fun.”

“I can do it.”

Where the hell had that come from? I didn’t know this potter from Adam, so what help would that be? I wanted to though. Taking this load off Briar’s shoulders was a very real need. She smiled then, which gave me hope, then shook her head.

“I can’t even ask my staff to make the call.” Her spoon sank back into the bowl. “I’m the one that built the relationship with him.”

“Mum, dads.” Hearing Gideon speak was weird, as he’d been conspicuously quiet during this entire exchange. “You talked about scoping out the park for the trial tomorrow?”

“So we can develop strategies?” Ned got to his feet. “Sounds like a plan.”

“But what about dinner?” Mum protested.

That stubborn look meant trouble, but my dads had it handled.

“The kids weren’t expecting us for dinner and we talked about grabbing a meal at the local Chinese restaurant. Some chow mein and a wander through the park? Been a while since we’ve had date night.”

Ned held his hand out and Mum eyed it, then allowed him to pull her after him.

“Leave the dishes,” Mum said as they walked out. “I’ll get them when we get home.” She spared Briar a sidelong look. “Lovely to meet you, Briar.”

Pretty sure none of us let a breath out until we heard the front door close.

“So, is it just me or did your mother really not want to meet me?” my mate asked with a wary smile. “If I interrupted something?—?”

“She interrupted something.” My elbow was now free to rest on the table as I turned towards Briar. The way her pupils expanded, her nostrils flared, helped settle something inside me. She was feeling whatever the hell this was too. “We intended to come by and talk to you tonight.”

“About…?” Briar knew. She had to by the way she looked at each of us in turn. “Because if this is about the garden again?—”

“Briar.”

“Or chicken stealing, because the Hendersons have already had a word to Mum about wolves taking their chooks.”

I waited her out, each one of us leaning closer, and that’s when her hands went to her lap. The graceful curve of her back, I traced it with my eyes, right before she straightened up.

“One of my friends thinks you have to be my alphas.” Hearing her say the words was everything I didn’t know I needed. “I mean, that’s ridiculous…”

She had some argument she’d been cooking up in her head, but when my hand shot out and took hers with mine, it all fell away.

Big eyes flicked up to meet mine, and I’m not sure if she saw the mute prayer there.

To agree with her statement, or disagree, she wasn’t sure, but whatever the outcome, she didn’t want us to hurt her.

That had me picking her up out of her chair and placing her on my lap.

Only when my arms went around her did I feel like I could take a full breath.

One now perfumed with the scent of roses.

“It’s not ridiculous and you know it.” My hand rubbed at her thighs, the need to get between them tamped down by the far more pressing one of making her understand. “Didn’t you feel it? Because I did. That little feminine voice saying the dirtiest things…”

“OK, you didn’t tell me anything about that.

” Jace moved into her spot and then clasped the back of her calf.

“For me, it was getting out of that truck, expecting to get bollocksed out by some little old lady and finding something far better waiting for me.” He peered up into her eyes.

“The one woman I’ve been looking for my entire life. ”

We all turned to Gideon then, and he stared without blinking. Quick to act, but slow to express himself, he sucked in a breath before resting his head on his hands.

“The night of the opening ceremony, there was so much chatter. Alphas, omegas, the entire town watching on and passing commentary. It was like this… pressure.” I frowned, having no idea that was the way he felt about it.

“That just wouldn’t ease until I heard someone shout your name.

I looked out into the darkness, wondering who was making such a fuss, only for every thought to go out of my head the moment I laid eyes on you. ”

Shit, it turned out that stick up Gideon’s butt helped him be almost poetic when it counted.

“Mine, that was what I thought.” His finger traced circles on the tabletop. “And then protect. Get you the fuck away from the people, the noise, the spectacle, because none of that shit mattered. Just you.”

“I…” My hand moved, rubbing reassuring circles on her back.

She might be about to reject the lot of us, not having space for alphas in her city-girl life, but she’d do it with whatever comfort I could give her.

Hands rose and then fell again. “I don’t know what to say.

Less than twenty-four hours ago, I thought it was impossible for me to have fated mates. ”

She was pulled backwards so she lay across my lap, my arm wrapped around her shoulders. Those eyes, I needed to stare into them.

“So take your time. Work out how you feel about this. We’re here for the process.”

“Every step of the way,” Jace agreed, “but…”

I wanted to kick his butt for letting his eyes trail down her legs, but that sweet, sweet scent of rose and vanilla bloomed, making me uncomfortably aware of just how fucking hard I was.

My body didn’t give a shit about any of this.

It knew exactly what hers needed. Whisking her upstairs and into my bedroom, every piece of clothing torn off her, right before the three of us descended upon Briar.

My mouth filled with saliva, something I had to hastily swallow away.

“You’re in heat. Not that pseudo thing.”

“Pseudoestrus…” she hissed.

“Yeah…” My hand slid up her thigh without thought. “This is about as real as anything I’ve ever felt before.”

“Which means we need to take things more slowly.”

My fangs were bared as Gideon cut through the intense atmosphere with his cool words. It took a second, but the big head re-engaged, knowing he was right, even as I cursed him mentally. I’d mark Briar as soon as I worked my knot up inside her, so there was no way I could get even close to that.

“He’s right.” Jace cursed under his breath at my words, but I set Briar back on my lap and pulled her bowl over so it was in front of her. “So how about you be a good girl and eat?”