Page 43 of The Pack Next Door (The Wolfverse #4)
Briar
“If there’s anything we know how to do, it’s play capture the flag…”
I replayed what Jace said on the way home to Moon River and that night.
It was still buzzing around in my head the next morning when Mum and I made for the football field where the trial would take place.
Glen Hallow alphas had a reputation that was formidable, but also prevented them from moving to other towns.
What ruling pack would want a pack that would try to take power by any means possible?
I stared out at the field, watching townspeople painting markings on the grass.
“Over here, love.” Jacinta was still with us, and she steered Mum towards the area covered by a large marquee.
“You need to stop fussing,” Mum grumbled.
“Alright, darl.” Jacinta made a show of stepping away. “You want to sweat your arse off standing out in the sun.” She made a show of fanning her face. “I’m going to get out of this bloody sun. If you want to join me for a cheeky mimosa…” A thermos was brandished. “You know where to find me.”
“You…” Mum shook her head. Obviously, the idea of sipping wine and orange juice appealed to her, but she turned back to me.
“Maybe I will go and sit under the marquee.” She mopped at her forehead.
“Wouldn’t want to end up with heat stroke.
What about you, darling?” Her eyes twinkled, making clear she knew exactly what she was doing.
“Want to catch up with those alphas of yours, or did you do that enough last night?”
I’d been forced to slip out into the forest again, and this time all three of them emerged from the shadows.
Part of me hoped I was quieter about it, but I’m pretty sure my cries echoed out through the forest. Hopefully, they didn’t wake Mum or any of the neighbours up, but I was able to shake my head confidently right now.
My eyes skimmed across the grass to where the guys and their dads were huddled together on one side, no doubt talking strategy.
“No, I think they’ve had about enough of me.” For now. My sleeve dampened as I wiped sweat away, hoping that was just the sun, not my own heat. “Let’s head for the marquee, because standing out in the sun on a day like this is for suckers.”
“This will be an opportunity for the town to see real alphas.”
That snide comment had me looking up as we approached. Yup, it was April spouting off. People looked on politely, though some had clustered closer to listen to what she had to say.
“Even though there’s only three of them?” someone asked.
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.
April’s nose pinched as she sucked in a breath, the skin around her mouth pulling tight before she clapped back.
“If they were the weak sort that makes up the majority of modern packs,” she snapped. “But not my sons. Each one has the strength, the speed of two, even three other alphas.”
“If she does say so herself.”
Jacinta appeared with the kinds of plastic cups most kids drink form, then filled them before handing them over. I smiled into the rim, taking a sip as I stared at the field. Anywhere but at the Whitlock pack’s mother.
“Sounds like you’ll have your hands full, Briar.” I turned around to see half the town smiling at me. All of them but April.
“The strength and stamina of six alphas?” Someone else snorted. “Maybe that’s the noise I heard coming from the forest last night.”
Kill. Me. Now.
“You know what they say about a lusty courtship,” someone else said.
“Nothing that bears repeating in polite company.” We all turned around to see that Damien had walked over. “Gods, it’s hot.”
“Mimosa?” Jacinta offered.
“There is literally nothing I’d want more, but if I start drinking now, I won’t stop.
” Something interesting happened then as he looked over my shoulder and in the direction of April.
I followed his gaze, catching the moment he and the other omega locked eyes.
Something crackled between them, and it was far from pleasant.
His face went very hard, his eyes harder, but when he looked back at us again, his friendly demeanour was back.
“I’ll wait until this afternoon when this madness is over. ”
“Pretty sure those boys from Bordertown are fast, April,” someone else said as another pack assembled on the field. “Look at those tall, lanky fellas. If they were betas, they’d move like lightning down the footy field.”
“Speed without power is only good for running away from problems,” April shot back.
“Do we drink each time the mother talks up her sons?” Jacinta’s rakish grin had me bursting out laughing. That earned me a dark look from the Whitlock omega. “I mean we’d be passed out drunk on the grass before the game is done and then no one would be feeling the heat.”
“Leaving me to organise your escorts home?” Damien shot her a meaningful look. “Just let Kieran know if you need a lift. He’s running the shuttle bus service today.”
“Of course, when my sons take over as ruling pack, Moon River will finally have a proper omega running it.”
Record scratch.
If I looked from April to Damien, so did everyone else, just in time to see her triumphant expression.
Like I knew she was a bitch, but a raging one taking pot shots at the ruling omega?
That was damn near suicidal. My hand whipped out, landing on Damien’s arm in time to feel the fine tremor there.
Fur grazed my palm as he fought for control, finding it seconds later as he shot her a toothy grin.
“I’m glad you are so supportive of Briar.” His arm went around me, holding me tightly against his side. “Pretty sure I speak for the entire town when I say that we would all welcome her taking over the position as ruling omega from me.”
The word me was bitten off, but right as she went to say more, Damien turned us around, marching us away from the marquee and over to the shade of a nearby tree.
“Are you OK?” He asked, and I watched his chest heave.
“Are you?” I replied. “April is a bitch, but usually she’s more passive in her aggressive.”
“Of course she is.” His lips thinned as he stared into the back of the woman’s head, forcing her to turn around. Her eyes flashed silver, right before she scowled and focussed back on the field. “Always has been a right bitch.”
“Always…?”
My eyebrow cocked up, making clear I was open to hearing the story if he wanted to tell it. With a sigh, he shook his head and then faced me.
“How’re you surviving Cyclone April?” he asked, taking my hands in his. “That’s why I came by. We were supposed to have dinner.” Shit… “And then you left town with the guys.”
“Work emergency.” My smile was tight. “They came along to… help.”
“Help?” The mischief that lurked beneath the impressive facade of Omega Hart reared its head then. “Do tell.”
“Nothing to tell,” I replied smoothly. “So, the trial?—”
“Trial, schmial, Briar.” His hands went to his hips. “Gimme the deets.”
“You first,” I replied.
That smile faded, and he looked across the field where his mates were coordinating the set up efforts.
“So being male and an omega is not such a big thing now. Who can argue with what fate ordained?” He nodded slowly. “When I was young? Lots of people. I was an aberration, a sign of the gods’ disfavour.”
“Damien…”
I squeezed his hand, but he forged on.
“My mates came through town and that caused a big flurry. April was one of the other omegas and a girl called… Cathy was the other one.” His free hand raked through his hair.
“Cathy was a quiet, retiring girl. She ended up with a really nice pack that took over the running of the town all three of us were born into. But April?”
There was something very vulnerable, very real in his gaze.
“The Whitlocks had made clear that she was their mate, but being only three of them, she didn’t think her hopes of becoming ruling omega of a town were good with them.
” His lips pursed. “Everyone saw the way my pack looked at me, because they dared to pay court to me in front of the whole town. People had a lot to say about that, some good, some bad, some just trying to adjust to this change in collective wisdom. But only April tried to slip into their rooms at the local pub and see if she could ‘compromise’ them, forcing them to mark her, not me.”
“That fucking bitch.” The violence of my response shocked me, but my head jerked up as I peered over the top of his head. “I’ll?—”
“Not do anything on my behalf.” His tone was firm as was the look he levelled at me.
“I’ve had the singular pleasure of watching her try her damndest to get out of the hole that is Glen Hallow and see that no one has offered her and her pack a place.
The fact that packs from that town are known for trying to overthrow the ruling pack the moment they can worked in my favour.
” He winked at me. “I might’ve let the other ruling packs know just how far April is prepared to go to get what she wants.
The other omegas refused to allow that viper into their nests, and so that’s where they stayed. ”
We both looked across the field to where the dads were stepping away from the Whitlock pack.
“Her sons don’t seem to be anything like their snake of a mother, though. That’s why I approved their move to Moon River. I figured out from under her influence, they could be a solid pack that looks after the community it serves. So…” His grin was back. “How are the Whitlock serving you, Briar?”