Building a Pack is Ruff, Part 1 (The Pack Pets Omegaverse #2)

36. Garret

Chapter 36

I t’s not my finest moment being hunkered down in a firetruck in a snowstorm while other people do all the work. But I’m pretty sure I’d be useless right now out there. I haven’t been trained to do any of the stuff these guys have, and when they’re already shorthanded, adding in my bumbling inexperience might make the situation worse. I came to help if there was a medical necessity, but thankfully all the people and pets in the house are safe, if not happy.

There didn’t seem to be much of a fire when we arrived, more than the owners could have put out, but all the snow seems to have kept the blaze down, which is pretty fucking miraculous. Leo pulled me with him to check the people out, but the woman said that their son got them up, he was overheated and when he woke up, he saw lights dancing on the ceiling. It was already too big to put out, so she and her husband each grabbed one of their kids and ran out of the house. Luckily her phone was charging by the bed so she was able to call 911.

The husband walked down to their neighbor’s house to borrow some blankets for the kids, but the older couple just drove down and everyone piled in the back of their car to keep warm until we arrived—including the cat who apparently came running out of the front door shortly after he left. Leo looked it over, and while it's a cranky bastard—understandably—it seems mostly fine.

Xan must not have told Leo about what happened earlier today, because he’s been surprisingly friendly—as opposed to the death glares I’ve been getting from the mini-alpha. I should probably stop calling him that, even in my head—I’m pretty sure he’d savage my kneecaps if I accidentally said it out loud. Honestly, it’s so fucking weird to have someone as big as Leo and him in the same pack. The other one, Gabe, is almost as tall as Leo, but it doesn’t look out of place on him since he looks like he could tear my head off without much effort.

Now there’s a lot of yelling coming from the side of the truck. I think it’s Joseph, Sam’s brother that Leo tried to introduce me to earlier. He’s glared in my direction a few times but hasn’t deigned to actually speak to me. Which is fine—honestly the guy looks like an asshole. He also looks vaguely familiar.

Then I hear another voice, I think this one’s Gabe, he didn’t say much, but his voice almost sounds like he gargles gravel on the regular. Fuck, but I sound like a judgmental asshole in my own head tonight. That being said, this day was a fucking rollercoaster from hell, so I’m gonna give myself a pass, just this once.

Something slams into the side of the truck—not hard enough to rock it, but it’s still a pretty loud bang—and I pop my head out the door to see that yeah, it’s Sam’s brother, the douche. Apparently, he just hit the truck. I don’t know what the clang was, and if he wants to have a tantrum at his age, that’s up to him. Unfortunately for everyone, my opening the door draws his attention. His hard glare turns to me, but he doesn’t have anything on the angry stare of the mini-alpha I dealt with earlier—he doesn’t have anything to hold over me.

“What the fuck are you looking at, you little shit?” His low growl is menacing, but I don’t have the time or inclination to deal with anybody else’s bullshit, so I just ignore him and shut the door. Alphas don’t generally like that, and the next moment he rips the door open. His face is an ugly mottled red as he reaches in, grabbing at the jacket that Sam let me borrow and trying to drag me out of the truck. All I wanted to do was stay out of any more fucking drama…and now this.

Before he can pull me more than a couple of inches, we’re both yanked out. He flies backwards across the road, and I get unceremoniously dropped to the pavement. Fun-size is beside the open door of the truck, along with a man in a blue police officer uniform. “I know he’s kind of a punk, but I get dibs on kicking his ass first for how he treated Kelly today, get in line, shit-head.”

Ahh, shit.

I didn’t want to get arrested tonight.

Wait, what did I do?

I mean, I was an asshole earlier today—but right now, what did I do?

Is it illegal to pretend to be a firefighter?

I mean, strippers do it.

Then Sam’s there with Gabe, who looks mad enough to have steam coming out of his ears. Sam picks me up off the ground, checking me over, and hissing at the scrapes across the palms of my hands from where I hit the ground. His reaction is confusing at best, more so when he moves me over to sit me down on a running board of the truck.

He stalks over to where his brother is laying on the ground looking dazed, and before anyone can react, he grabs the guy’s jacket, pulls him off the ground and knocks the everloving shit out of him.

Everyone reacts. Gabe and Xan go to restrain Sam, Leo picks Joseph up off the ground. The tall alpha’s mouth is set in a tight line as he looks over the asshole with the now busted lip. I have no idea what the hell I landed in the middle of, as I sit here in the dark, freezing my ass off, watching this fucking circus. Thankfully the fire is finally out, but these poor people don’t need all this shit in their goddamned front yard while they’re trying to deal with everything else.

Looking over at the family in question, they seem less bothered than the situation calls for. Maybe random street brawling is common in this area, but they look like they’d be set if they just had a blanket and a bucket of popcorn. What a fucking shitshow. I walk over to where Sam's sandwiched between Xan and Gabe, there’s quiet talking between the three and Sam’s knuckles look a bit worse for wear. I open my mouth to ask what happened. “Hey, um…if you have a first aid kit around here, I can patch your knuckles up, that’s gotta sting like crazy in this cold.”

I am an idiot.

Fucking certifiable.

Why did I just offer to do that?

All three of them are now staring at me, their faces ranging from disbelief to laughter. Xan is the first to react, doubling over in a fit of giggles. At least he finds the situation amusing. Gabe grumbles something low and growly, the only part I manage to catch is, “missing our fucking honeymoon for this shit,” before he stomps over to where Leo and the police officer are talking to Joseph. I should probably learn more about the guy who wants to beat the shit out of me for unknown reasons.

I’ve had plenty of guys that want to beat the shit out of me before, but there’s usually some sort of antecedent…I’ve never even met this asshole before tonight, at least not that I can remember. Finally, Xan straightens up, wiping a tear from his eye and grinning like a lunatic. “Shit, Sam, looks like you better take junior here home, it’s after his bedtime. Let’s go see if Paul can give you two a ride back to the station while we finish up here, yeah? Oh, and tell Kelly we’re not open tomorrow, nobody in their right mind is gonna be out in this shit.” He walks away, still laughing quietly, while I try to figure out how to apologize for whatever I did to piss people off today.

“Listen, Sam, I don’t know what I did. Seriously, I was just sitting in the truck, trying to stay out of everybody’s way since I wasn’t needed. There was yelling and banging and when I stuck my head out the door your brother started yelling at me. I don’t know who pissed in his cornflakes this morning, but—no offense—the man’s got issues.”

Sam lets out a loud bark of laughter. “Yeah. Yeah, he does kid. Listen, you didn’t do shit. Like I was saying in the truck on the way over, he’s pissed off that I formed a pack with Teddy and Kelly. Teddy’s his omega’s baby cousin, and well…I’m not exactly a spring chicken. Apparently, it’s embarrassing to him, and you showing up with me put you in his crosshairs.”

My thoughts go red at the thought of someone disrespecting Kelly. I totally did it earlier, but we’ve already established that I’m an asshole, and I’m trying to apologize. Would it make me a stalker if I said I was just going to keep apologizing until she accepts it. Yeah, that probably sounds more than a little creepy.

Also, it’s a bit more information that he gave me on the drive, especially about Teddy being related to his brother’s omega. Maybe that’s why Joseph looks so damned familiar. Maybe I met him with Teddy when we were younger.

Sam seems to be waiting for an answer—possibly some judgment on his pack’s relationship—he looks like he’s braced, ready for me to be disgusted by him, but I’m going to have to disappoint him. Shit, I love Kelly, and my brother loves Teddy, it’s not like I don’t understand his reasoning. As for being old… “Wait, how old are you, Sam? I would have pegged you for mid-thirties, maybe late thirties going by the gray.” Now I’m just being an ass on purpose to get him out of his head. He looks good—if I was into men, I could see the appeal of the rugged lumberjack vibe he has going on.

He lets out a low chuckle. “Let’s go see if Xan sorted a ride for us, and get back to our beta and omega?” I almost trip over my own feet at what he just said, calling them ours instead of his. We aren’t a pack, but maybe since Joseph lumped us in together, he feels like we need to present some sort of united front. I don’t understand it, but I’ll take the amiable Sam over the pissed off angry Sam any day of the week.