Page 120 of Power Shift

“Am I the only one concerned about what they were doing together? This is out of character for him,” Ronan mutters.

I frown. “He wouldn’t hurt her.”

“I didn’t mean like that. Just that he’s been pretty fucking rude to her in the past.”

Jasper leans his forearms on the kitchen island and blows out a breath. The stress lines in his face aren’t the most comforting. “We need to have a pack meeting. How we’ve been recently . . . things can’t stay like this. We’ll collapse.”

“I agree,” I say.

Ronan taps his fingers to the countertop. “What do you think a meeting will do? Are we going to host an intervention?”

“It’s worth a shot. I want us to be happy, Ro. All of us together. Not just those of us who are prepared to welcome Briar into the pack. We need to figure out a path forward together,” Jasper declares.

Ronan doesn’t seem convinced. “Landon’s the only one with the issue. He needs to figure his shit out for the sake of all of us.”

“We’re pack. It’s our job to help him with that. And Briar needs us to as well. We can’t pretend that her heat isn’t coming any day now. If we don’t get things figured out before it hits . . .” Jasper’s words trail off, and a collective fog of dread hangs above us all.

I swallow, tasting the bitter beer that’s lingering in my throat while staring at Ronan. “He’s right. We need to discuss things with Briar and figure out what she wants to do once that time comes. I’m assuming you and Jasper will be the ones involved.”

“Not you?” It comes from Jasper.

It feels wrong to say no, but there’s no way she’d want me there with her during her heat when I’ve been so adamant that she’s not my scent match.

“I don’t see that happening,” I say.

Ronan chuckles lowly, not a hunt of humour in the noise. “Maybe if you stopped thinking so much about what Landon wants and focused on yourself, you wouldn’t be left out.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask roughly.

“You’re no better than Landon. This loyalty you feel to him has blinded you.”

“Just because I don’t feel the same way you do?—”

Ronan pushes against the edge of the island, eyes narrowed and gaze cold. “Don’t. You sound like a fool when you say shit like that.”

I don’t have a reply. His words sink in as I stand there, marinating in the frustration he has toward me. When I pull my gaze away and to where Jasper watches us, I hate that I can see the same feelings written all over his face.

“Landon’s gone to battle on my behalf, and I owe him my loyalty,” I try and argue.

Jasper nods. “I know. Ronan and I do too. There’s a reason we chose him to be the leader of the pack. But at what point do we have to question if he would want us to lose our chance at our one-in-a-trillion omega because we’re too focused on keeping the pack together.”

“We deserve a chance with her. She’s my scent match and my mate,” Ronan snaps.

Jasper smiles faintly. “As she’s mine.”

“She’s all of ours.”

Surprise flashes across my packmates’ faces, and I spin around, following the shift in their attention. When I do, Landon stares back at me. I can only gawk at the sight of his arm behind Briar, a hand seemingly resting on her back as they lean close.

The beautiful omega blinks up at Landon, a lip nestled beneath her teeth. There’s a glow to them, a sign that something happened while they were gone. Something that’s brought the colour back to Landon’s face and a warmth to the dark eyes that have been slowly dying the last few weeks.

Ronan, seeming to pick up on the same things I have, grunts, “What happened?”

“I should be the one asking you that,” Landon snips, his peaceful expression slipping. “Living room.Now. We’re having a pack meeting.”

“That was our plan as well,” Jasper puts in.

Briar smiles at him, reluctantly stepping away from Landon. She lingers near me on her way around the island to Ronan, and I breathe through my mouth to avoid inhaling her lemon scent.

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