Page 50 of Pack Rivals: Part Two
We walk over the lawn,The grass is long and tickles at our legs.
“Why the hell isn’t this cut?” Axel says. “I thought she paid someone to do it.”
“We should cut it for her.”
“Yeah,” he nods, “yeah, we should,”
We’re heading towards the giant oak. An old tyre hangs from one of its boughs, twisting slightly in the breeze. Axel’s determined that this was the tree I fell from. He wants to prove it.
“It was good having all the boys back together,” I say as we walk side by side, his pace matched by mine. “I even kind of enjoyed hanging out with Nate again.”
“He cooks now,” Axel says.
“Nate? Cooking?” I laugh. “I wouldn’t trust him not to burn down the kitchen.”
“We’ve had a few incidents,” Axel says, adjusting his shades on his nose. “Let’s just say, we’re on first-name terms with the dudes in the fire brigade now.” I chuckle harder. “His food is not bad though. Better than any of the pretentious shit most of the trained chefs will cook. You should come round, sample the goods.”
The weight on my shoulders lifts that little bit more. My feet feel lighter. “I’d like that.”
“Bring Silver and Hardy too. I missed those jerks – though don’t tell Silver that.”
“Silver spent six weeks after our bust up trying to persuade me to make it up with you.”
“Silver? Silver did that?”
“Yeah, you used to argue like a married couple but when you weren’t around he could never stop talking about you.”
“I thought he hated my guts.”
“He does.” I grin and Axel laughs. We reach the tyre and stop. It’s smaller than the picture I had in my mind. “Remember when we found the tyre out in the mud by the lake, dug it out. We told Dad we wanted to make a swing out of it and he said we could if we could bring it home ourselves. We dragged it all the way home. That thing weighed a ton, but we were determined to bring it home,” I say.
My brother rests his hand on it, squeezing the worn rubber.
“I remember when Dad hung it up.”
“Yeah, and you got first go.”
He grins. “I was the oldest. Dad pushed us so high it nearly gave mom a heart attack.” He nudges the tyre and we watch it glide through the air. “I remember him saying ‘one day you’ll push your own kids on this swing’.”
“Yeah, he said that.” I kick at the dust. “You want kids, Ax?”
“Yeah. For a long time I didn’t. I didn’t feel ready. But lately I’ve been thinking how nice it would be to settle down with an omega and start a family.”
“Bea,” I say.
“Yeah, Bea.” He meets my eye. “I’ve fallen for that one.”
“Me too.” I sigh and lean against the tree.
“I wasn’t lying when I said I’ve been an asshole. I’ve been an asshole to Bea too. Dad was tough, but he was never an asshole, and I’m not about to be an asshole to any kid I have.”
“We’ve got some making up to do,” I say.
Because it wasn’t just each other we hurt. It was our family – Dad, Mom, Molly. But worst of all it was our packmates – Nate, Hardy, Silver and Connor. We made them choose sides. We tore our friendship group right down the middle.
“We have.”
Axel tips his head back and peers through the leaves. Then he looks back down at me and grins.
