Page 39 of The Pack Next Door (The Wolfverse #4)

Briar

“There she is.” Honey emerged from the house, arms wide, giving me a hug as soon as she was close. The scent of lavender and good cooking hung around her, making me want to hold on that bit longer. “How was your drive? Tom’s up at the paddock?—”

“Rounding up lost sheep?” I said. “We ran into him at the gate.”

“Well, I’ll apologise now, shall I?” She steered me towards the main house. “That man is like a bear with a sore head most days, let alone when the fence fails.”

“He might not be so grumpy. Some… friends came with me.”

I shot her a sheepish look as this wasn’t something we’d discussed beforehand. I’d tried to book one of Honey’s other cabins on Airbnb, but they looked like they were booked out for months. The guys had indicated that they could go to fur and curl up under a tree to sleep if they needed to.

“Friends?”

Her eyebrows shot up.

“They’re apparently a dab hand at herding sheep, so they’re helping Tom right now.”

“Seems like there’s a story there. You can give me all the goss over a cup of tea.”

“So these men are your mates?” Like almost all betas, Honey was barely able to suppress her excitement at the idea. “After all this time.” With a shake of her head, she refocussed back on me. “How do you feel about that?”

“Weird,” I replied with a shrug. “I was told I didn’t have any, so them moving next door to my mother was a shock to say the least.”

“Almost as if fate was pushing you together,” she said, looking over the rim of her cup at me.

“Well, fate has it wrong.” I set mine down. “They want to become the ruling pack of my hometown and I’m heading back to the city in days.”

“Surely the business could be run from Moon River?”

I smiled to soften my words, then looked her straight in the eye.

“But I don’t want to. Going home, seeing Mum, it's been lovely, but it also reminded me of something. It’s the place I was born, where I grew up, but it’s not home anymore. If Mum wasn’t there, I wouldn’t go back at all. It’d just be some place I remember fondly.”

“So maybe these alphas will go to the city with you.” Honey was warming to the topic. “They could help you with the business, packing orders and things.”

I shot her a sad smile. Betas didn’t like to think about the fact that some fated mates didn’t end up together.

“That’s not what alphas do. Pack life, it doesn’t really work in the city.”

“Have you asked them?”

As if summoned by her question, the sound of motorbikes roaring up cut through the peace of Honey’s kitchen. Boots crunched on gravel, and then the door was wrenched open.

“Got all the sheep rounded up,” Tom announced with a grin, going over to Honey and pressing a kiss to her temple.

“The fence was fixed too.” He turned to face me, his cheery expression a shock to see.

“Hello, love. These fellas of yours? You can keep them around. Bloody useful, they are.” If only aptitude for sheep herding and fence fixing was what I needed. “Fellas, how about a beer?”

As Tom got all of the guys beers, he made the introductions.

Bonds forged in the paddock were apparently as strong as they were immediate.

Cans were cracked, and as we sipped at our tea, they downed their drinks.

“Come through into the mudroom. There’s a place to clean up here.

Hun, we’ve got enough food to feed these blokes, don’t we, love? ”

“Plenty of meat!” she called back, then went to the kitchen drawers, pulling out a peeler. “Though I’m going to need to peel some more potatoes.”

“I’ll help,” I said, rushing forward. “It’s the least I can do after this debacle.”

“None of that was your fault,” she said as we settled down at the kitchen table. The potatoes were fresh dug, the smell of loam still strong. “That freight company, though… Those idiots barely made it up the hill to our place, and don’t get me started on the way they packed the truck.”

I picked up a peeler, skinning one potato, then another as she debriefed me on everything that went wrong.

“Gods, that smells amazing.”

Tom had decided the guys had earned themselves a tour of the property. Seeing as I didn’t get that until the second or third visit, I was beginning to think he liked them. Jace stumbled inside, drawn into the kitchen by his nose.

“Lamb we raised ourselves,” Honey said proudly. “Rosemary and thyme from the garden, and a squeeze of lemon from our own trees.”

The couple had been raised in the city but came out here when they were still young, looking for affordable land.

They’d transformed it into a paradise, one I loved visiting.

But I also loved going home again. For them, the lack of neighbours was a bonus, but for me there was a dizzying kind of isolation.

Even on days I didn’t catch up with friends, it was all those little conversations you had with your barista, the lady at the news agency, the green grocer letting me know when the new season’s peaches were in, that mattered.

They created the feeling of community I craved.

Close and yet not so bloody close that they were speculating on what my hypothetical children looked like.

“Well, it smells amazing.” Gideon was perfectly polite in his manner. “But don’t feel like you need to feed us. We can take fur and get rid of some of those rabbits for you.”

“Might getcha to do that later,” Tom said, dragging out the chair at the head of the table. “But you’ve earned a good feed. Fixing those fences like that? Saved me from having to get the local bloke over who charges like a wounded bull.”

“We’d be eating roast lamb sandwiches for days if you didn’t turn up,” Honey assured him, grabbing plates and setting them on the counter.

I went to give her a hand, but she waved me away.

“Shepherd’s pie. Even cold lamb for breakfast.” She winked at the guys.

“You’ve saved me from ‘accidentally’ tossing the leftovers to the dogs. ”

“You’re not giving the bloody dogs leg of lamb!” Tom grumbled. Spick and Span, the two border collies, wagged their tails hopefully from where they lay in one corner of the lounge room. “Too damn spoiled as it is.”

I let the conversation wash over me, my spine relaxing by increments until it was pressed against the back of the wooden chair.

And Mads’ arm.

I glanced at him in alarm, catching his smug smile and Tom’s knowing one. Evidently, the potter had been given an explanation of why they were with me and he also approved of the match.

“So what made you come all the way out here?” he asked. “Honey makes a damn fine roast lamb, but not enough to make you get in a car and drive four hours.”

“I…” Was feeling like a girl standing in front of the school principal.

Tom was almost as old as my dad, and men of his age had a kind of gruff exterior that turned me into a little girl in seconds.

I wasn’t, though, so I set my arms on the table and leaned forward.

Away from the tiny little touches of Mads’ arm.

I couldn’t afford to let that distract me.

“I just wanted to say sorry for everything that happened with the latest shipment.”

“Not your fault.” Tom frowned so often the skin between his brows wore a permanent furrow. “It was them idiots.”

“Who are processing an insurance claim for us right now. You’ll get the sale cost of each damaged vessel back…

” But if money was the issue, Tom would be doing things completely differently.

Live close to town, employing apprentices to push out pots as fast as he could, because they flew off the shelves.

That crease between his brows deepened. “Which I know isn’t what you were after. ”

He made a show of shrugging, the corners of his mouth still turned down.

“Money comes in handy. Might not need to pay a fencer to come and do some work, but there’s the feed bill, some glazes that need reordering.”

“I can get an estimate, if that helps,” I replied in a rush.

“Get some of the funds to you now and the rest when processed…” The first time I met Tom, I wondered if there was some latent alpha energy.

The way he skewered you with his gaze, it felt like that was what was happening.

I let out a little breath, then tried again.

“Most of all, I just wanted to come by and say sorry for everything that happened. You didn’t want to do a big order like that. ”

“No.” His blunt finger traced a circle on the tabletop. “I didn’t.”

“And I assured you it would all go smoothly, that it would help increase the demand for your work, and that you’d be able to raise your prices so maybe you could spend your time making pots and pay someone else to run the farm.”

“To which I told you, every time I make pottery a job, the pleasure in the process diminishes.” As he stared at me steadily, the whole room went silent.

Just the crackle of the roast in the oven to punctuate it.

“Especially so when all my hard work doesn’t end up on people’s shelves, but in the bin. ”

The urge to hang my head in shame rode me hard, but I kept my spine straight.

“I’m sorry for that, Tom. There’s no excuse I can give, no justification that will make this situation go away. If I had any idea this would happen?—”

“Don’t beat yourself up.” It felt like everyone in the room let out a collective breath. “You’re a good girl. Those idiots at the freight company are another matter.”

“You must also be a hungry one.” Honey went to pull the lamb out of the oven, but Tom and my guys stood up, her husband being the one to put it on the wooden chopping board. “Now, does everyone want meat, vegetables, and gravy made from scratch?” she asked, finding a carving knife and fork.

They did. Food was passed around, and then everyone sat down to eat, which reminded me of why I loved coming out here.

Honey and Tom bickering. The smells of all of her dried herbs filling the room as they hung from hooks set in the top cabinets of the kitchen.

The sounds of sheep bleating off in the distance, carried into the room through wide windows, the air scented with eucalyptus.

Their property was relaxing in ways Moon River would never be, and that earned me a few sidelong looks.

Mads smiled at it, Jace watching me closely, but none more than Gideon.

It felt like he observed every mouthful I took, not doing so himself until I was chewing.

“So…” Tom looked around the room with a sly smile after all the dishes were cleared away. He’d produced a bottle of wine from a local vineyard that was very reputable and we were all having a drink. “The guest house is set up, but the others are all booked up. Where are the boys gonna sleep?”

“Bookings have been coming in thick and fast,” Honey explained.

“People wanting to escape the heat of the city.” Their property was built on high country, the cool ocean breezes helping moderate the summer heat.

“It helps bring the money in and is less stressful than pottery money.” My cheeks flushed hot at that.

“I could make up some beds in the main house?—”

“Pretty big bed in the guest house,” Tom said with a wink. “The alpha pack that came through on their honeymoon with their omega all seemed to fit and there were more of them.”

“We—” Mads started to say.

“Can take fur and sleep as wolves anywhere,” Gideon replied smoothly. Spick and Span looked up at that, seemingly curious. “There’s no need to put yourselves out on our account.”

“Well, now that’s sorted.” Tom got to his feet, running the hot water to wash the dishes. “We might clean up and then head to bed ourselves, love.”

I was going to offer to clean up, but he sidled up behind Honey, making her blush as he held her close, pressing a kiss to her neck.

She was his person in more ways than one.

Not just a wife, but the only other human being he could be consistently civil too, if not sweet.

I felt a flush of embarrassment at Tom’s insinuation, their public displays of affection.

He did that because he figured we would do the same at some point.

“I’ll show them where the guest house is,” I said, getting to my feet, then moving to bring the wine glass over.

“Leave that,” Honey insisted. “I’ll get the glasses. Have to or this old goat isn’t going to wash a single dish.”

“I’ll show you an old goat…”

Their banter could still be heard as we stepped outside and into the cooler night air.

Out here, the vibe completely changed. In the dark, I wasn’t the penitent girl, begging for Tom’s forgiveness.

I wasn’t even Honey’s dinner guest. With every step I took away from the house, I remembered exactly what I was.

When I turned around, the wolf inside me whined.

The Whitlocks’ eyes gleamed like silver beacons in the darkness, each one trained on me.

She wanted to take control, go sprinting forward and lead them on a merry chase.

Run and run until we couldn’t anymore. Then, as her sides heaved, she’d relinquish control, and they’d?—

“Here we are.” I opened the door to the guest house, instantly greeted by the scent of lavender and lemon wood polish. “So I figure we all have showers and then?—”

“And then what, omega?” Mads growled.