Page 32 of The Pack Next Door (The Wolfverse #4)

Briar

“Do you think it would help if I came out to see Tom at his studio?”

I was on the phone with Honey, Tom the potter’s wife and business manager.

“I don’t know, love.” Her voice sounded impossibly tired down the phone line. “You know what he’s like.”

Grumpy, moody, artistic. I smiled to myself. It was almost as if he was an omega himself.

“Even if it’s just to apologise for how this all went down?” I asked.

“That’s probably what he needs to hear, and if I could just get him to the phone…” I heard her sigh. “He’s so damn stubborn, as well you know. That’s an awfully long drive for you to come, just to pander to the old fool.”

But I’d do it. Finding suppliers who made handmade work to sell to the masses was literally the point of Omega Core.

I could buy crates of wonky pottery that was mass produced to look handmade from China, but it would never replicate the feel of something that actually was.

I still had the very first bowl I bought from Tom when he came to the city for a craft fair.

Small, delicate, and the prettiest shade of almost translucent jade, it fit right in my hand.

I didn’t even know what I’d use it for, but I had to have it.

And I’d developed a loyal fanbase who felt the same way.

“The drive is no biggie,” I said, but even as the words came out, the logistics hit me.

Leaving Mum? I could get Jacinta to come and stay with her for a night or two.

My heat…? Maybe I’d need to call Candy and find out exactly where she got Mr. Knotty from.

“Honestly, it's the least I can do. I put you guys in this situation.”

“You’re a good girl, Briar.” Honey’s tone changed, still sounding tired but also relieved now. “If you think you can make the trip, we’d love to have you. The guest house is always available.”

Tom and Honey bought a sprawling rural property many years ago, complete with several outbuildings that they’d turned into either accommodation or Tom’s studio.

The minute she said that, I could just see the rolling hills around their house, the massive silver gum trees.

My own breath came out in a slow hiss, because the place was so peaceful.

No one cared about my designation or whether or not I had mates or anything there.

But Moon River did.

I looked across the grass at the Whitlock place. The sun was setting, and I had promised to go over for dinner. It was past time we had a conversation. Coordinate with them around the trials, my trip, and Mum’s care, that was what I needed to do.

“I’ll hit the road tomorrow if I can find someone to stay with Mum,” I told Honey. “When I leave, I’ll send you a text.”

Once I got off the phone, I got cleaned up and put on a cute linen shift dress and some strappy sandals.

Nice, not too formal, but showing I’d made some effort, hopefully it would help me manage the situation without too much angst. As I came downstairs, I consciously pushed the Whitlocks’ feelings to one side as Mum looked up from the couch.

“You sure you’re going to be OK?” I asked. When Jacinta brought her home, she was looking quite flushed. I’d whipped her up an omelette for dinner as she wasn’t feeling like anything heavier. “You’ve taken your pain meds?”

“Yes, Mother…” She hauled herself upright and then blinked before taking me in. “So off to tangle with the in-laws, huh? That can be tough. I was pretty sure your grandmother was going to drag me out of her house by my ear when she found out I was pregnant with you.”

I didn’t have much to do with Dad’s side of the family for exactly that reason. It’s hard to like a woman who was openly hostile towards your own mother. Dad had my half-brothers with his new wife, and when Gran remarked that she found boys easier to get along with, I left her to it.

“Something you need to know that my mother never told me.” Mum fixed me with a steely gaze.

“You don’t have to sit there and take people’s abuse just to keep the peace.

” My mouth twitched, remembering the conversation between Mads, Gideon, and me.

“Especially with that April woman. She may be an omega, but she seems like a raging bitch.”

OK, that was it. Shocked laughter burst out of me, helping release the tension that had been building all afternoon.

Not sexual. Mads had sorted that out nicely, but another moved in to claim territory.

I’d spent my life getting past the fact I didn’t have mates, only to find out Lady Fate had done me a dirty.

Just when I had come to love being mate free, she had to shove three alphas at me.

Only for them to want a life completely incompatible to mine.

Not all fated mates ended up together, and while it sucked that it looked like that was the case here, we could create a temporary alliance to get what we wanted, then move on with our lives.

“If she starts taking potshots at me,” I replied with a wink, “I’ll tell her I’ll sic my mum on her.”

“You do that.”

If this was years ago, I’d have believed her.

Mum was my rock growing up, going to bat for me when I had a difficult teacher or was getting bullied at school.

Pretty sure she couldn’t take April now.

There was nothing wrong with my mother’s will or determination, but her body wasn’t up for the same fight.

I’d have to sort the Whitlock pack’s mother out myself.

And Gideon.

Nice bottle of wine tucked under my arm, I walked down the path to their house. Right as I went to knock on the door, it was pulled open and Jace stepped out.

“You came.” There was a look that only men you’d been intimate with could wear.

Like they looked you up and down and replayed the last time you were together.

That had me shifting restlessly. The heat might have settled for now, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t feeling the echoes of everything that happened in the forest. “Wasn’t sure if you would. Everything OK?”

I moved slowly, purposefully, coming to stand beside him, my skirts brushing his legs.

“If you’re asking if I’m going to climb on your lap and start grinding in front of your entire family…” I meant it as a joke, but the sudden intake of his breath told me otherwise. “Then the answer is no. Mads helped me out.”

“Me and Mads next time.” He stared into my eyes, making clear this was a promise, not an offer. “See if we can give you some… relief for longer.”

And I might just need it. Booking in a sex appointment before I made the drive out to Honey and Tom’s seemed awfully clinical, but what other choice did I have?

“I might just take you up on that.” I passed him the wine. “For dinner. It’s a nice drop.”

His grin was bright in the darkness as he offered me his arm.

“I’ll drink it, pretending I wasn’t wishing I was tasting you, not some fermented grapes.”

My mouth fell open as I stared at his cheeky grin, but before I could respond, we stepped inside.

Good food cooking, that’s what I noticed first, then the fact the TV was playing a football replay. All of Jace’s dads were sprawled on the couch watching it but had the grace to look up as we entered.

“Am I interrupting something?” I asked Jace in a low voice.

“Hello, love.” Ned, I think it was, got to his feet and came over wearing a knowing grin. “Maddox said you were feeling a bit toey. Glad he could help you out.”

Um, what? I glanced at Jace, who at least had the grace to stop smiling. He shot his dad a dark look, but Ned paid him no mind.

“Right, so you must be pleased your sons won the first trial,” I replied cooly.

“Written in the stars, that was,” Ned said. “Though the boys couldn’t have done it without your help.”

“I could do with some help right now.” April was bustling around the kitchen, complete with a frilly apron tied around her waist. Her hands went to her hips as she inspected me with a far cooler gaze than her son had.

Apparently, my dress didn’t pass muster.

She looked at me like I was wearing a potato sack. “Briar?—”

“Is coming outside for a drink,” Jace interrupted smoothly, quickly marching me towards the back door. “Dads!”

“Yeah?” came a distracted chorus.

“Help Mum out.”

The cool night air was a balm compared to the thick atmosphere of their house. As Jace pulled out a chair for me to take, his brothers appeared. Mads emerged out of the shadows at the same time Gideon walked out the back door.

No way back home but over the fence, I thought.

Surely a sign of how the night was going to go, but I was OK with it. I couldn’t have built my business to the size it was without dealing with tough situations. Getting through tonight was just another one.

“Briar—” Gideon started to say.

“Would you like a glass of wine?” Jace placed my bottle in the ice bucket and inspected the other one’s label. “Looks like we’ve got a red and a white.”

“White, please,” I replied with a smile. “Then I think we need to talk.” For some reason my focus was drawn back to the house. “I thought we’d have the house to ourselves.”

“The parental units had other ideas.” Mads’ grimace was exactly what I expected. He poured me a glass of wine and then handed it to me. “Always sticking their nose into everything.”

“Right, well.” I could do this. If the Whitlocks’ parents wanted a front row seat to what was going down, I guess I could give them one. “I appreciate this is a situation none of us were prepared for.”

“Not a situation.” Gideon sat down at the head of the table, his eyes not leaving me for a second. “An opportunity.”

I nodded in acknowledgment.

“I guess it is. Part of me always wondered why I never found my mates, and now I know. You want to become the next ruling pack, and I?—”

“Here we are!” Max burst through the door carrying a silver platter, laden with lots of gorgeously presented hors d’oeuvres. “Something to tide us over until dinner.”