Page 44 of The Pack Next Door (The Wolfverse #4)

Gideon

“Looks like we’re playing the version of capture the flag where we all wear a flag.

” I scanned the field, reducing each one of the packs I saw clustered around the perimeter into a series of stats.

Height, weight, speed, strength. It felt like I had their numbers in seconds, my brain already powering forward, devising possible strategies.

“That works better for us than protecting one massive flag.”

“Probably why the Harts chose to do it that way.” Mads nodded. “Helped keep the playing field as equal as possible.”

That’s when I grinned. The hot air played across my fangs, making me shiver in anticipation.

The dads had been training us for just this moment since we were old enough to walk.

Starting out as endless games of keep away, then progressing to the actual thing, we’d started playing a full-contact version before we left primary school.

“They should’ve opted for the one big flag.” I shot my brothers a sidelong look. “You know how we have to play this?”

“Smash ‘em.” The dads arrived, carrying a cooler full of ice and beer between them. “Knock ‘em off their feet and when you get them on the ground, keep ‘em there.”

Ned took a long sip of his beer.

“Those are the tactics we use back home…” Jace corrected himself. “At Glen Hallow. You sure that’s what we want to do here?”

I frowned, making clear what I thought, but before I could reply, Maddox spoke up. Of course he did. My brother was fractious, distant since the moment we returned. Not for the first time, I cursed the gods for making him part of my pack.

“Doesn’t seem smart.” He put his hands on his hips, unconsciously trying to make himself bigger. I straightened up, making clear what a mistake that was. “The bunny trial was?—”

“A fucking joke,” Greg said with a shake of his head. “Chasing a rabbit doesn’t tell you anything about a pack other than that they can catch you dinner if the crops fail.”

“Care.” There was a strained note to Maddox’s voice. “Strength used for the community, not against it.”

“That’s just the political bullshit alphas tell the betas to keep them compliant.

” Ned turned his back on my brothers, focussing squarely on me.

“You know what to do, son.” I nodded slowly, my fingers clenching and then flexing.

“Win this trial and the leadership of this town is in the bag. Do that and get your mother the hell out of Glen Hallow.”

My smile faded, because it wasn’t hard to see it.

The bruises on Mum’s arms, her piteous cries.

Quiet and away from all of us, so we wouldn’t hear, but I did.

Might equalled right in Glen Hallow, and the alphas there weren’t above lashing out at my mother to prove their point.

It all stopped when I hit puberty. I shot up, growing taller, stronger than any other alpha in town.

That’s when the dads really saw me, knowing I could do what they couldn’t.

“You got it,” I replied, then moved to huddle up with my brothers.

“A town Briar has no intention of staying in?” Maddox’s voice silenced everyone.

Red spots formed in his cheeks as he stared us all down.

“One I’ll be gone from the moment these trials are done.

” His eyes scanned the field, but not to size up our opponents.

“Or earlier, because when Briar goes, so do I.”

“What—?”

I didn’t need this right now. Focus, that’s all I’d done on the drive home.

Even slipping out of the house wasn’t smart, but my wolf made clear it would happen with or without my permission, so I’d met our mate out there and helped ease her.

I’d forced myself to go back to sleep as soon as I returned to the house, my heart still thudding as my head filled with rapturous dreams.

Briar changing her mind when she saw us emerge triumphant, seeing the sense of it.

Her business could be conducted anywhere.

I’d even travel periodically with her to the city to help oversee the warehouse operations, between pack business, of course.

Relationships were about compromises, weren’t they?

I’d show her how far I was prepared to bend, if she’d just give me this, because the moment I saw my mother’s bruises, I’d sworn a vow.

No child I brought into the world would ever bear the same burden as I had. A vow I needed to fulfil right now.

“Mads—” Jace spluttered.

“Needs to focus right now.” The mulish look on Maddox’s face was one I was all too familiar with. “If you’re with us now, I need your head in the game.”

Jace had more to say, but one look at me silenced him as it did Maddox. A nod from both of them was all I needed to take control.

“They’ll partner up.” I stared at each pack, almost able to see shadows of them streaking across the grass.

“The leaner, faster pack members will partner up with stronger ones. Watch the ones they protect, as they’ll go for your flags.

The bigger brothers? They’re just there to protect the smaller ones. ”

“Wish I could say the same,” Maddox grumbled.

“Need me to watch your arse for you?” Jace joked.

“Watch it leave you for dust,” Maddox shot back.

“Shut up.” The wolf was talking, because the only way I’d been able to talk him out of stealing Briar out of her bedroom and heading for the hills with her was making clear how important this trial was.

Here we’d show her exactly what we were capable of and when she felt safe, secure, she could finally surrender to the fate she kept fighting. “We do this for Briar.”

That had the three of them settling, a grim determination about the set of my brothers’ jaws.

“And your mother.” Ned stared at me, not even acknowledging my brothers. “Do this for her, son.”

“Obliterate every last one of these pricks.” Max was obviously half pissed. “Don’t kill ‘em, but if some of them can’t get out of bed to participate in the last trial.” He shrugged. “Well, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”

They had more words of advice, but it was cut off by a voice blaring over the loudspeaker.

The rules of the game were outlined as the crowds cheered.

No maiming, no serious injury, or you were instantly disqualified.

The restless presence of beta police officers at the edge of the oval made clear what would happen if there was a fatality.

But the ambulance waiting beside it? I’d make sure it didn’t go back to the hospital empty.

With a shake of my shoulders, claws sprung free from my fingers.

One of the Hart alphas noted that as he approached with our flags.

“Tucked into the back of your shorts,” he said, handing them over. “Not hidden by your shirts or tied in any way or you’re disqualified.” We shrugged off our tank tops, the cool breeze wicking away some of the sweat there. “Play hard, but play fairly, right?”

All the way up until the point of almost being disqualified, I amended, nodding in recognition of the alpha’s instruction.

“This isn’t the way?—”

Maddox was always the small voice of doubt in my mind, and right now I was forced to ignore it, ignore him.

This was the moment we’d prepared our whole life for and he didn’t realise it was my sacrifices that allowed him the luxury to question that.

Before I could bark at him to get it together, the siren blared.

“Jace, left,” I snapped. “Maddox, right. Take out the protectors and strip the runners of their flags.”

“And what’re you gonna do?” Maddox shot back, even as we all sprinted forward.

“Take out the five person pack.” I shook my arms, feeling the strength, the size a partial shift gave me and only me. “They’ve got the numbers right now, but not for long.”

The first member of the opposing pack ran up to me, caught up in the excitement.

His far bigger brother lumbered along behind him, calling his name.

No condition, I noted that coolly, right before sidestepping the first alpha, my foot shooting out to trip the guy, my arm colliding with his chest, forcing him to go spinning through the air.

As his brother stared open mouthed, I snatched the original alpha’s flag, waving it at him right before shoving it into my pocket and aiming for his.

“Get him!”

We were all alphas, but in every pack there was one that held more power, more responsibility.

Parents impressed upon that alpha the lessons needed to be learned, letting the natural order within each pack form.

I watched the five pack’s leader falter, then rally, gesturing to his brothers to attack me.

I danced around the lumbering alpha. He might’ve had a chance against me if this was just a test of strength, but I was never allowed to develop such a one-sided skill set. Endless hours of strength training along with cardio, the ruling pack mocking my fathers’ efforts, I had it all.

A grin played across my face as he snorted, then went barrelling towards me.

I produced his brother’s red flag, waving it in the air to the roar of the crowd, spinning around when he got close.

As he thudded past, I snatched his flag from his shorts, then threw myself sideways without a pause.

Don’t let them guess what you’re about to do next, I remembered my fathers’ words well.

Rolling across the grass, I sprang up in between two of his brothers, snatching their flags as well.

As my arms went wide, I heard the crowd’s cries.

It felt like they cheered for me as I stood there, basking in their adulation.

There was a hungry, desperate part of myself I kept locked down, only letting it out when I was on the field.

Capture the flag was a codified way to establish the rankings of the different packs in Glen Hallow.

The ruling pack was twice as big, twice as savage, so there was no bringing them down, but you could earn favour by clawing your way further up the ladder.

That’s what I’d done for my family, my mother.

When we avoided the bottom of the pecking order, someone else got hurt, not her, and that knowledge had me staring down the last alpha.

“It’s done,” I said, his brothers groaning as they got to their feet, helping each other from the field. “Hand over your flag…”

The crowd’s shout had me spinning around.

I was vaguely aware of movement behind me as I turned to see Jace and Maddox collide with one of the other pack’s members.

Jace knocked the man off his feet, Maddox following it up with an elbow drop to the guts of his opponent.

The sound of the crowd, it shifted, becoming one less of adulation, but of disgust.

Why?

This was how the game was played. Pitting your pack against the other and finding out who was stronger and who was weaker. It was what wolves did. My hand shot out, shoving the alpha that tried to sneak up on me away, then looking over to pluck his flag from him.

Were they not entertained?

With us at the helm, no one would dare attack Moon River.

We could preside over a new period of safety and the prosperity that came with it.

Briar’s business could flourish, becoming a destination store that betas from all across the country would travel to visit.

It was all there for the taking. At the sound of the remaining alpha’s curse, I jogged, then ran towards my brothers, getting faster as faster as the other three enemy alphas rallied.

I wasn’t so sure that we were what this town wanted, but we were the alphas they needed. My feet flew across the grass, just in time to see two of the alphas’ heads jerk up to catch sight of me and launch themselves forward.