Page 45 of The Pack Next Door (The Wolfverse #4)
Briar
Things weren’t going well.
Growing up in the country, I’d spent many an hour sitting on the sidelines of a football game.
The way the crowd responded, it was like it became an entity in itself.
One minute it was roaring in approval of a brutality I found frankly alienated.
April led the charge, shouting her encouragement, but at some point, the wind changed.
Was it when Jace drove his elbow into a man’s unprotected ribs or when Maddox swept him off his feet, forcing his spine to take the full brunt of his fall? It all felt unnecessarily aggressive, the political wrangling of betas somewhat preferable, but I guess there was an honesty to this.
And so was the crowd’s reaction.
“Hey, that’s not on!” someone shouted, stabbing a finger at the field.
“Play dirty, those Whitlocks,” someone muttered, then shot me an apologetic look.
I wanted to protest, to say this all had nothing to do with me. That I was just hanging around to see them take over the town, but right now I couldn’t do that.
Because I wasn’t sure if I wanted them to.
Mads’ face was a mask of agony. Where was the cocky smiling guy who helped me with the lawnmower?
Because his expression wasn’t borne from the pain he endured, though scratches and blood was smeared across his skin.
The same hands that had cradled me close, stroked me through one shaking orgasm and into the next were pounding into their enemies.
And it looked like each strike, each blow, hurt him as much as his opponent.
If only that were true.
He jerked back, fangs bared, as he tore a flag from an alpha, holding it up in triumph. Where was the joy? That’s what I wanted to know.
And restraint.
“What…?” several people cried out. “That’s not OK.”
Jace, the gentle. Jace, who had cheered me out of my terrible mood, only to leave me feeling safe and secure, punched his enemy in the face now, then tore the other alpha’s flag away. I watched the crowd look around for a referee or something, but that’s not how this worked.
Beta society was one big hierarchy. Teachers, bosses, parents, coaches, and referees were granted authority by the group, but only able to wield it with the collective’s approval.
If you lost the support of the whole community, a ruling pack might get ousted.
Particularly if the betas had the support of the other alphas in the town.
It was why several packs were permitted to live in the same town.
Their desire for power working for the benefit of the beta population, forcing a change of the guard if the ruling pack got too power hungry.
In Moon River, that was why the Harts were very particular about who was allowed to live in the town.
Any one of the other alphas could rule it one day.
And right now, I wasn’t sure the Whitlocks would ever get a chance.
As I scanned the crowd, adulation was replaced by disquiet, then disgust. Faces were screwed up, throats went quiet, and people began to pull back, Mum included. She looked up at me.
“These alphas of yours…?”
She wanted me to assure her they were worth supporting, that I would be safe with them, and I didn’t know how to convince her.
That if I’d seen even a tiny skerrick of this behaviour, I would’ve left them for dust, not gone on a road trip with them.
Jace’s arms were strong, supportive as he held me on a hilltop, but right now he was using them to smack down his opponents with a casual brutality that had my nails raking across my arms.
“Mum…” She nodded, getting to her feet, her things collected. “I think?—”
“See!” April crowed, too caught up in her own battle fever to see that no one else shared it. “Now you see what true alphas are.”
“Brutal fuckwits?” someone drawled.
Her head snapped back as if slapped. Too pale, blinking, she stared at the crowd, her situation finally dawning on her.
“Dunno how you play capture the flag in Glen Hallow—” another person said.
“Glen Hallow?” someone whispered, scandalised. “Why would we allow Glen Hallow alphas in Moon River? Everyone knows they’re little more than savages.”
April rallied quickly, sucking in a breath as if to puff herself up like an angry cat.
“Strong, capable of doing what it takes to win.”
But that wasn’t how you succeeded in the alpha trials here. I might’ve spent years away from Moon River, but even I knew that.
Something I’d tried to tell the guys.
There was a relief to the realisation that the Whitlocks didn’t have a hope in hell of becoming the next ruling pack.
I could go now. They’d limp through the final trial, maybe even regain public support, but eyes would be on them going forward.
Watching them, looking for signs of this same savagery.
And I’d be on the road out of here.
“Shall we go?” I asked Mum with a fake smile.
“I think so.” She cast a sidelong look at the grass, then shook her head. “There’s nothing I want to see here.”
I’d intended for us to slip away, leaving the rest of the town to witness the trial.
I didn’t belong here and Mum was still tired and sore, so I had an excuse.
What I didn’t expect was for others to take that as a cue.
April stared disbelieving as others picked up their chairs, their coolers, and headed towards the car park.
“Well, that was a bloody great mess.” Jacinta let out a huff of breath. “Who knew those Whitlock boys were like that?” She fixed me in her sights. “Did you, Briar?”
Mum, Jacinta, and some of the passers-by seemed to ask the same thing, so I just shook my head.
“Nothing like that.” I let out a sigh, unable to reconcile the game with the way they treated me on the road trip. “I never would’ve supported them for ruling pack if there was any indication of aggression.”
“You said you were heading back to the city soon?” Mum squeezed my hand when I nodded. “Probably for the best.”
Her sadness, where did that come from? Oh, because she thought I’d end up with them.
“For the best,” I agreed. “And probably tomorrow.” My focus shifted entirely to my mother. “Is that going to be OK?”
“You never needed to come down in the first place,” she said. I gave her a meaningful look. “I got banged up and now know rattling around in the old house by myself isn’t an option.”
“We’re gonna be roomies!”
Jacinta wrapped an arm around Mum’s shoulders, giving her a squeeze, which had my eyebrows shooting up.
“Why am I suddenly scared?”
“Jacinta is always saying her place is too dark and pokey,” Mum said. “I said she could stay with me plenty of times before.”
“But now I have to say yes,” her friend replied. “Make sure you don’t get into trouble. It’ll be mimosas for breakfast, followed by a spot of gardening, then Irish coffee for lunch…”
I shook my head. Lecturing the two of them about responsible drinking would only fall on deaf ears.
“Well, send me the bill for your gardening supplies or maybe I’ll just sign you up for a wine subscription.”
A regular home nurse visit, that would definitely be on the agenda, but we could argue about that when I was back home.
Home.
I let out a breath, almost able to see my room, my plants, my balcony. To be in my own space, I wanted that so badly, it hurt. So why did I see shadowy shapes moving from behind the curtains? Three tall, masculine shadows that converged as a hand pushed through the curtain, ready to pull it aside.
Getting the two ladies home and settled in the lounge room, I gave Mum her meds and made up a pile of sandwiches and tea.
They were chattering over what they would do to the garden as I went upstairs.
To pack, that was my intention, yet as soon as I walked inside my room, I found myself drifting over to the window.
As a teenager, I’d sat on the window sill at night, much to Mum’s chagrin, and looked out at the world, wondering what my life would turn out like.
Out of the darkness, I’d conjured all sorts of dreams, most of them not even ones I could articulate to another person.
Excitement, grand romantic gestures, they’d been high on the list, but underneath it all was a much more grounded desire for a life that was comfortable, worthwhile, meaningful.
I smiled despite myself, realising that no matter how they’d performed today, the Whitlocks had helped me to see something.
Good intentions were worth something, but they had to be backed up by real effort.
I needed to rebuild the relationship with Tom and Honey as well as my customer base, all while reconsidering my relationships with my suppliers.
Was I pushing other artisans into production schedules they found untenable, just because that’s what I’d do? I needed to find out.
But one thing I did know is that I was going to move on with my life and forget about having fated mates.
I’d gotten over the fact I couldn’t have kids pretty easily, I reasoned.
My wolf scrambled to her feet inside me.
I mean, it’d be weird going through another heat without the Whitlocks. There was something they had that even Mr. Knotty couldn’t match.
She paced back and forth, letting out a little whine.
But a silicone dildo could be shoved into the dishwasher afterwards, cleaned at high temperature, and packed away for next time.
A sharp bark let me know what she thought. Stubborn bloody animal, I cursed, showing her a choice snapshot of what we’d just seen. Somehow, she seemed prepared for that, staring right back at me as memories came unbidden.