Page 65 of The Pack Next Door (The Wolfverse #4)

Briar

“Oh, darling.” Mum was looking a million times better and was now walking around the church with no cane, Jacinta by her side. “This is just beautiful. You are so clever!”

“Clever? Not sure about that, but happy?” My face muscles hurt because I couldn’t stop smiling.

This is why we did launches. I’m not sure if I’d ever done a serious cost/benefit analysis, but the emotional satisfaction of pulling off an event meant I’d do one every time. “Yeah, I think we did good.”

My eyes scanned the church, seeing so many customers milling around, peering at the pieces. Some had wanted refunds rather than repaired pieces, but demand for Jace’s and Tom’s collab was so great we could’ve sold the rest three times over.

Tom had threatened to start breaking pieces up on purpose to triple their value.

“But you’re looking good.” I looked my mother up and down. “How’s the nurse I found treating you?”

“Such a busy body.”

Mum dismissed the woman with a wave.

“Angela is amazing,” Jacinta corrected. “She’s got the both of us down the pool doing some water aerobics. Feeling young and spry enough to chase some of those hot young alphas around the gallery.”

She waggled her eyebrows at Jace who just looked mildly alarmed as he walked past.

“You won’t be doing that anytime soon.” Mum looked like that cat that got the cream. “Not when they’re wearing mating marks.” Her eyes rolled my way. “So, things did work out in the end.”

“Some things are still a work in progress.” I looked across the church to where Candy was telling Gideon a wild story if her gesticulating was anything to go by. “But yeah, I’d say this is going to culminate in a happy ending.”

Jacinta choked on a mouthful of wine, catching my innuendo. Mum thumped her on the back.

“What? What, Jacinta?”

“I’ll leave you to explain it to her,” I said, pressing a kiss to my mother’s cheek. “So you’re on for brunch tomorrow?”

“We’ll be there with bells on!” Jacinta said. “Now, a happy ending…”

“Well, this has been a smashing success.” Gretchen sidled up, cradling a wine glass in her hands. “That’s a sea of red dots there.” Stickers were used to indicate which pieces had been bought. “I even got my husband to agree to purchase some of the larger pieces.”

“As an investment.” Richard was a little stuffy, but he loved his wife to distraction. “Not sure why broken pots are worth more than whole ones, but what do I know?”

“About art?” She turned his face her way and placed a kiss on his lips. “Nothing, darling, but that’s why you married me.” Her focus swung back my way. “Now, Briar, we need to set up a meeting this week. I’m thinking a little collab in the future?”

I blinked. Gretchen was a major power broker in creative circles and that could mean a huge boost in profile. Fighting to keep my cool, I nodded and said, “I’d love that. I’ll give Colette a call.”

The two of them went back to discussing pottery and its market value as I wound my way through the crowds. Gideon was looking more and more alarmed as the seconds passed and I needed to rescue him.

“Hey, what up, bitch?” A few people turned around at Candy’s cry, including Riley, who just shook her head.

“This looks amazeballs, as per usual, but what the fuck is with the broken pottery thing? Is this some kind of arty farty bullshit I’ll never understand?

If I knew you could make this kind of money breaking plates and putting them back together, I’d have smashed every one in my house rather than posting feet pics up on the internet. ”

“What?”

Riley and I said that at the same time. Candy grinned, making clear she was either lying or glorying in the fact she was still able to shock us.

“Tell me you are not doing that,” Riley said. “Troll doll?—”

“Calm your tits, Fanta Pants,” Candy shot back. “Or don’t. I’m thinking you, me, smiley Riley here, and that bar down by the university once the dust settles here. You can drink shots out of the navels of twenty something boys again.”

“There will be only one set of twenty something navels Briar goes near.” Strong hands pulled me back towards Gideon, and I may have let out a little sigh. He always managed to make me feel small and safe when he did this. “But thank you for inviting my mate out.”

“Ooh…” Candy made a childish sound. “Someone’s all growly and protective.”

“Embarrassingly so.” I glanced up at Gideon only to see him smiling down at me. “Don’t be the kind of guy that stops a girl from hanging out with her friends.”

“Nah.” Candy’s dimples popped as she grinned at me. “You don’t choose the single life, it chooses you.” Her hand went to her chest. “I’ve seen many a mighty warrior brought down by relationships, but fear not. This little solider will continue the good fight against the tyranny of monogamy.”

“Tyranny?” Haze appeared beside Riley. “Is that a fancy word for no man or men would be crazy enough to try to get you to settle down?”

“There’s no stopping the Candy train!” she cackled, making the motion of a conductor pulling a cord for a train whistle. “Speaking of which, did I tell you about the time I was with these seven guys?—”

“No!”

People turned around at my and Riley’s sharp reply, but it was better than one of her insane stories.

“OK, fine. I won’t tell you.” Her arms crossed as she pouted. “I also won’t tell you where Mr. Knotty is in your car.”

“Are you serious?” Haze growled. “I threw that damn dildo in the bin!”

“And I give the cleaning staff fifty bucks each time they return him to me,” she countered.

As they sucked in breaths to start arguing, Gideon nudged my shoulder.

“The Harts have arrived.”

“Briar!” Damien rushed over the minute we got close and enfolded me in a hug. “Darling, this looks amazing.” He turned to his mates. “Doesn’t it look amazing?”

“Amazing,” Kieran deadpanned, then winked at me. “Shall I get you a glass of wine, my love?”

The way Damien’s alphas looked down at him–it was only now I really understood it.

Before the Hart pack was just an abstract goal, but I was beginning to understand how fate might work.

Perhaps not as Omega Whitlock, running Moon River, but the relationship dynamic.

Gideon cradled me close, something that had Damien’s eyebrow cocking upwards.

“So…” He eyed the bite marks on my neck subtly.

“Things seem to have progressed since the last time I saw you.” Without a look, he accepted the wine Kieran brought over.

“Which means I need to let you know of some changes back at home.” His lips pursed and suddenly I was tensing, wondering what had happened now.

“I didn’t want to tell you this over the phone, but?—”

“You had to kick my parents out of Moon River.” The flat way Gideon said that told me everything I needed to know. This was no great surprise to him. “I assume because they did something completely inappropriate.”

“Made an appointment with the new ruling pack.” Harry’s lips thinned. “Tried to have a conversation about bringing ‘traditional values’ back to the town. Wanted Damien removed from the town ‘for the sake of the town’s children.’”

“That bitch…”

The words were out of my mouth before I could think about it, but Gideon just rubbed reassuring circles on my back.

“I’d use worse words to describe her, so don’t hold back on my account.”

“Yes, well, it all backfired spectacularly,” Damien continued. “They’d burnt their bridges at home and now they don’t have one in Moon River either. I’d keep your eye out?—”

“It’s been handled.” My hand covered Gideon’s, because not many people saw it, but I did. Tiny fractures in his calm usually meant something so much more was going on beneath the surface. “They won’t bother us again.”

“Well, good.” Damien relaxed back into the circle of his alphas. “Rise above the crap you were born into. Grab happiness with both hands, that’s what I’ve always done.”

“Trust me,” Gideon replied. “I intend to. Now, Briar, I think it's time to deliver your speech.”

He steered me towards the back of the church, and when we came to a stop, I remembered the way he was when he returned from the car park. Wild eyed, chest heaving, intense.

“Something you need to tell me about?” I muttered.

“A whole lot of something,” he agreed. “But don’t worry about that now. Once we’re home, I’ll fill you in on every detail.”

“Home?” I gazed up at him. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call my apartment that before.”

“Wasn’t sure if you wanted me to,” he replied. “But if you’re asking if there’s anywhere else I feel like I fit, that I can take a full breath, there isn’t. Your apartment is your space, but… I’d love it if it became ours.”

My throat threatened to close up. Gideon was always so careful. Considerate, but guarded. It was now I felt like I was seeing the real man, but only momentarily.

“Ready to get this show on the road?” Tom stumped over, his frown already in place. Honey rolled her eyes behind his shoulder, then smiled at me. “If we get this over and done with, we can be on the road back to the property in time to bring the sheep in.”

“You got it, Tom.”

Mads and Jace looked up, somehow sensing that they were needed.

Excuses were made and they came to stand by the front of the group.

Emma tapped a cheese knife on her glass, the pure sound ringing out through the crowd, resulting in a peaceful silence.

The first time I addressed a crowd, I stumbled through it.

The second, I felt more confident. Now I was an old hand and yet there was still a thrill to the experience.

“I’d like to thank you all for coming,” I said with a smile.

“Hopefully you’ve found lots of beautiful things to look at today.

This launch is a little different than others we’ve done.

There were a lot of challenges to overcome, and I think you’ll see that in the pieces.

It starts with our artist, Tom.” He tried not to glower at the crowd and failed.

“Fighting to produce these beautiful forms from raw clay. The drying and firing process can be quite fraught, the high heat of the kiln sometimes fracturing clay rather than strengthening it. What survives then goes through the process again with glazing and then being transported to the city.”

“Except when there’s an idiot behind the wheel of the delivery truck…” Tom muttered.

A ripple of laughter passed through the crowd.

“We thought we would only be able to show you about a half of what is here today, but the idea…” I faltered then, but Gideon’s hand landed on my shoulder and I grasped at it.

“The idea of tossing away all of those beautiful pieces hurt me to the core and so, with the aid of my mates, we developed a solution.”

Together, the four of us moved towards one of the largest pieces. It was a spectacular statement vase on a large plinth all by itself.

“Sometimes the most beautiful creations come from the broken pieces of other things.” This was veering off into a personal confession, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

“Becoming better, stronger, as a result of that catastrophe.” I dragged my eyes up to stare at the crowd.

“So, I’d like to welcome you all to this product launch. ”

The thunder of applause let me suck in one breath, then another, my heart beating in time with their handclaps.

“You did it, Briar,” Jace said, coming closer.

“No, we did.”