Pack Larsen (North Five University)

Chapter 1

Munro

“This is stupid,” Juniper, my purple-haired, unbiological but soul-deep-bonded twin grouches from the driver's seat of her brand-new truck that includes all the bells and whistles. A truck she was gifted for her birthday from someone who she won’t name, though there’s absolutely no doubt whoever it is has money. Like, real money. I’m talking, dropping a hundred thousand dollars on a truck for someone else, kind of loaded. And I have a funny suspicion I know exactly who it is.

She glances over at me, ignoring my narrow-eyed glare, then in the mirror at Aero and Pace, and shakes her head like she’s disappointed in us all. Hell, she very well could be. After all, we’ve had this argument several times before and after her birthday, and yet nothing has changed other than the dire need we now face for somewhere to live. “Why don’t you just call he—?”

“Nope. Not doing it. Shutting it down right the fuck now,” I interrupt with a vehemence that shocks even myself.

“You’re such a stubborn bastard, Ro. Fucking hell, what is even your problem with her?” Juniper snaps back, only one wrong word from either of us before she gets real pissed. And a pissy omega who hates everyone is not the omega I want to be sitting in the truck with. Hell, Aero isn’t even the omega I want to be sitting in the truck with, and he’s pack.

As it was, the little she-devil with pink, blue, and purple pastel streaks in her pale-blonde hair and molten-silver eyes much like her namesake seems to be taking up far too much of my thoughts, conversations, and air. She’s a proverbial thorn in my side that I can’t seem to be rid of, and it drives me fucking crazy as much as it pisses me off. So much so that Juniper doesn’t even mention her name anymore, sick and tired of the glare I will send her if she so much as whispers the first syllable.

“He has a crush,” Aero supplies from the back seat, and I turn my nasty glare on the asswad I’m supposed to love like a brother.

“You’re dead to me,” I state calmly, but the ball of sugary sunshine simply grins before his attention is dragged away by the leader of our merry little band of rejects.

“Leave him alone, and check out this house,” Pace demands, handing his beat-up cell phone over to Aero before rubbing his hands over his tired face. The search for a new home has been a demanding one, with time running short until we’re rendered homeless.

After the owners of the house we’re currently renting decided at the last minute that they wanted to sell and move on to greener pastures, we’ve been fumbling for somewhere new to stay. Now that we don’t have an actual house, we’ve been forced to seek alternative housing. Unfortunately, the motel is draining whatever funds are coming in, bleeding us dry enough that it’s become far more dire than it was to find somewhere a little more stable, wallet friendly, and costs less than what we’re paying for a sub-par motel room shared between the five of us.

Sadly for us, anywhere close by to the university and the twins' workplace is already taken or costs way more than what our budget would allow. Hell, our budget would only allow a shoebox for all five of us to fit in at this rate. I’d take that over the bland motel room that only contains one place to sit and two single beds that don’t make for a comfortable sleep when forced to share with another dude. A dude that kicks, too.

“Fine,” Juniper snaps, quickly following it up with an exhausted sigh. “I still don’t see why you guys won’t just crash with us if you won't speak to the bubblegum Voldemort.”

Aero, the sleep kicker, snorts, slapping his hand over his mouth to stop his giggles, and I catch a brief hint of Pace’s smile before it’s gone just as quickly as it appeared. Apparently, my pack finds the purple-haired demon beside me hilarious, moreso when her sarcasm, wit, and endless parade of banter is aimed in my direction.

“We already explained why, hon,” Aero soothes, because of course he does. After all, if any of us in the truck knows how to calm an omega, it’s the other omega sitting in the truck with us.

Juniper rolls her eyes, leaning her elbow on the window frame and mussing her vibrant-purple hair up in the process. “You know what, you’re all too fucking stubborn for your own damn good. We have the space, we don’t mind the company, and you guys are toeing the line of desperation at this point. Let me help you.”

“You are helping, kid,” Pace chimes in, clapping Juno on her shoulder in a brotherly fashion that makes me want to roll my eyes. “You’re helping scout out potential prospects.”

I have no idea when it happened, likely when Juniper Baines was ran off the road by her psychotic foster brothers and almost killed in the process and Pace got badly injured while trying to protect her, but she and my family have gotten much closer than I ever imagined we could be with anyone we didn’t intend on bringing into the pack. Sure enough, pack Baines have quickly cemented them as an extended family of sorts, each of them offering help, showing up randomly to hang out, or simply pitting Juniper on us when he’s hormonal and wanting space from her protective and clingy alphas. They don’t stay away long, often with Lowie and Leylan hanging out with Rage and Haze while Juniper spends a couple of hours in silence with me or Aero.

“Is it because you guys are afraid of hearing sex noises or something?” the prickly omega blurts, scowling at the road. “I mean, the room is soundproof, for one. Secondly, get over it. Packs have sex. Don’t be such prudes. And thirdly… I don’t have a third point. I didn’t think that far ahead. All you have to worry about is Evron walking around shirtless. Man is allergic to clothes, but he keeps it contained… mostly.”

“Fucking hell,” Pace groans, though I’m convinced I catch his lips twitching again. Not quite a smile, but enough of an indication that he isn’t being such a stiff as he usually is. Something only Juno brings out in him, apparently.

“What? The guy likes to freeball. Don’t judge,” Juniper snickers, grinning at the groans of despair that fill the truck.

“I really wish you wouldn’t talk about your alpha’s balls,” I grumble, throwing my hood up over my head as I slouch in my seat, uninterested in hearing about the balls of any other male in existence. I mean, that’s what her pastel-haired little princess is for, right? If she wants to talk balls, she can do it with the pain in the ass I keep trying and failing to ignore.

“Geez, is there anything I’m allowed to talk about, your majesty? If I knew you were so high maintenance, I’d never have befriended you,” Juniper snaps, grouchy all over again, my bad attitude rubbing on her.

The guys in the back snicker and snort, but I simply shrug a shoulder. “That’s a lie, and you know it. We were meant to be best friends.”

“You’re more like a brother I want to strangle, but whatever. You live your delulu life, babe,” she retorts, shaking her head and reaching for the radio volume control, switching the true crime podcast she’s been half listening to all the way to max.

Groaning as a chick talks about a man who murdered his wife and unborn child, I roll my head to stare at my platonic twin flame and yell, “You’re going to burst my eardrums!”

“Good!” she yells back, and that’s all that’s said while we sit in loud silence as Juno drives us to the first potential residence for my pack and me.

By the time we reach the first place, an apartment that looks to have seen better days just on the border of town, I’m fully informed on Brewing Murder’s host, Darci Coffey, opinion on the killer of the podcast we’ve been forced to listen to and am about ready to haul myself out of the truck for a brief taste of freedom.

Thankfully, Juniper parks outside of the apartment building and turns the truck off, silencing the podcast and its morbid tales. I wish she hadn’t and my eardrums were still being assaulted when the jackass blurts, “Well, this looks like a shit-hole. You’re not choosing this place over my house. I forbid it.”

“You forbid it, huh?” Aero snickers, leaning between the headrests to kiss her head aggressively, forcing her to swat him away with an eye roll.

“Luckily, that isn’t your decision to make,” Pace smirks, another indication that he’s softened toward the unnaturally grumpy omega. I guess sharing a trauma experience would do that, I suppose. It’s no less annoying, because I found her first. She was my friend before theirs, the thieving bastards. Now they’re all ingrained in her life just as deeply as I am, and I have to share my unbiological sister with the bunch of shitheads who keep laughing at my misery.

Hiding my smile over the fact that I’ve accidentally given Juniper more family than she probably bargained for, I climb out of the car after Juniper and my pack mates, all of which are already staring up at the building with a look of distaste. I can relate. The place looks like a bit of a shithole, which I find incredibly misleading.

Juniper holds up the piece of paper with the property listing on it, blocking our view, and then she drops it to reveal the shitty building. Lifts the paper, then drops it. She repeats the action one more time before she says, “You guys see this, too, right? I’m not seeing things?”

“It’s… not quite as they’ve pictured,” Aero attempts strategically, squinting at the building like it’ll change how it looks.

Juniper shakes her head. “You know, you guys are lucky all of my guys are in class today and Munro and I have a free day to goof off, looking at this shit. If they were here, they’d be dragging you all home and forcing you to live with us, Evron’s free-hanging balls and all. Let’s go look at this place so we can reject it quicker.”

She doesn’t even wait for us before she’s striding away in her torn-up, black skinny jeans, biker boots that would surely hurt if you received a shin kick with them, and an attitude that would rival an alpha’s.

Pace looks over at me. “Is she always like this?”

“Always. You should know by now. You’ve spent enough time with her,” I volley, grinning like a smart-ass.

Aero outright laughs behind me as I walk away from the two, following the stubborn omega as she sneers at the cracked cement and mutters, “That’s a tripping hazard. I’ve lived in some dumps over the years, but I never once had to worry about tripping over fucked-up concrete. A burglary, sure, but not the damned concrete.”

Slinging my arm over my best friend’s shoulder, I lead her away from the stare down with the sidewalk and drag her into the building where the elevator is broken and the stairs look like they could do with a hose down.

Groaning, Juniper sends me a pleading look. “Do we really have to go up there?”

“Get that ass moving, honey,” Aero quips, shoving her up the steps before she can make another comment. “You never know, the inside could surprise you.”

“Only for the worst,” she quips under her breath, but she dutifully trots up the stairs, leading the three of us to the apartment in the listing.

And, what do you know? The place is as much of a shithole as the outside appears, and before we even take a step inside, Juniper is glaring at each of us with a narrow-eyed expression that promises an omega-level bitch fit if we even consider this place.

“Go on. Have a look. I dare you,” she pushes, and I’m pretty sure Pace, the serious, stern, alpha takes a step away from her.

Fucking hell.

With a raised eyebrow, I do as she dares, and I take a look around while she stands in the doorway. Reluctantly, the other two follow, checking the rooms and the kitchen quickly. It takes very little time to deduce that this place is not worth the rent money we’d be pouring into it, but I’ll be damned if we give the omega the satisfaction of telling her that she’s right.

“Act like you’re interested,” I whisper to my alpha and omega, warning them with my eyes that I will inflict bodily harm if they don’t.

Apparently, I’m scarier than Juniper Baines, because they start narrating their false thoughts as though they’re actually interested in the place with yellowing walls and stained carpet.

By the time we’re done dragging it out, Juniper is leaning on the door frame with an unimpressed look on her face. “You guys done dicking around? We have three more places to see before lunch, and my hopes have severely dwindled down to half percent.”

So, with the bossy omega that has ingrained herself into our lives, we go about checking out the other places, each one only a smidge better than the last. All in all, it turns out to be a bust, and all of our moods but Juniper’s have turned cloudy bordering on stormy.

“Cheer up, guys! This means we get to have slumber parties and barbeques and shit,” Juniper tries, a cheery voice to match her cheery attitude. Actually, I’m pretty sure this is the cheeriest I’ve seen her since her birthday and she was reunited with Leylan and Lowie’s parents.

“We’re still not moving in,” Pace reminds her for the billionth time. “We still have a few places to look at later in the week, and we still have time to find somewhere.”

Juniper parks the truck outside the motel we’ve been staying at and turns in her seat to give Pace a pleading look that doesn’t bode well for me. That alpha bastard is a sucker for a pleading look, even if he’ll deny it until he’s blue in the face. “Alright, fine. How about this, I’ll stop nagging you guys to stay with me, if you let me call someone to see if they’re still wanting to rent out of a few of her rooms.”

I frown. “Who’s ‘her?’”

“I didn’t say ‘her,’” Juniper tries to deny, and I squint at her.

“You did,” I say at the same time as Pace and Aero.

Juniper fakes a perplexed look and mutters, “Huh. Well, whatever. Let me call her.”

“Now that depends entirely on who that ‘her’ is,” I state, the start of a glare appearing on my face, because I’m pretty sure I know where this is going, and I know for certain I’m not going to like it.

I receive a challenging look from Juniper, and with more confidence than she should possess, she states, “Oh, you already know her. She’s your favorite person in the whole wide world.”

All expression from my face falls and I can feel Pace and Aero knowingly staring at me. I’m pretty sure I’d have a hole in the side of my head if they had the ability to beam me with the lasers I can feel shooting out of their eyes.

“No. Absolutely not,” I rush, already shaking my head.

“Wait, what?” Aero inserts quickly. “Who is it? What’s going on?”

“I think I already know,” Pace sighs, rubbing his hands over his face. “Does she even have space at hers?”

Juniper snorts as though she has a secret, confirming what I already know.

Narrowing my eyes on her, I forget my filter when I blur, “Silver got you this truck, didn’t she? She’s the one you’ve been secretive about.”

She shrugs. “I was held to secrecy, but fuck it, she’ll understand.”

“Silver?” Aero perks up instantly, his sugary, frosted-plum scent thickening ever so slightly. What the hell is that about? “As in, the pretty, little bubblegum baddie?”

“The one and only,” Juniper laughs, already pulling out her cell. She doesn’t even bother glancing at me, looking in the mirror as she addresses Pace and asks, “So, what do you say? Want to risk catching a disease from any of the places you’ve checked out today, or are you willing to let me actually help in some way or form?”

Pace watches her closely, likely weighing up the pros and cons as he so often does, and finally asks, “What do you know about her place?”

“Oh, it’s nice . Like, fancy-pants kind of nice. If I didn’t already have a rockin’ home to live in, I’d be frothing at the cooter to have her house. It’s huge, has plenty of rooms that you won’t all be up one another’s asses, and she keeps the fridge stocked always . She’s been holding interviews for roommates for the past two weeks with no luck. She called last night and stated that the last pack were, and I quote, ‘ a bunch of jock, frat boys looking to get their dicks wet and their brains fucked by drugs and I’d be damned all the way to hell and back before I allow that cesspool of herpes and chlamydia into my home .’ I was in awe at the creativeness,” Juniper explains, nodding like she was genuinely impressed.

Lowkey—like, super fucking lowkey—I’m impressed with that shit, too. I won’t utter a word about it, though. I’ve been burned enough in the past that I simply won’t allow another being to hurt me.

“I mean, we’re not jocks, frat boys, or riddled with sexually transmitted diseases, so we already have one foot in the door, right?” Aero hurries to say, almost like he’s chomping at the bit to snag a place at Silver’s. Seriously, what the hell is his deal?

Juno shrugs, though. “She’ll take you guys over the jackwads she’s seen all week. There was a female pack that wanted to rent the rooms as a makeshift brothel. I was there when she kicked them all out and it was glorious. Pretty sure she yelled something like, ‘ if a whorehouse is what you wanted, then you should have gone to your mothers, ’ as they were leaving, but sure she was having a really bad day that time.”

The truck descends into silence for a long moment after that and I turn in my seat, my own face filled with pleading when I look at Pace dead in the eye and say, “I don’t beg, ever, but I’ll do it right now if it means Juno doesn't call Silver.”

“Dude, seriously, what the hell is your problem?” the little, matching thundercloud beside me grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest.

I lovingly ignore the little shit, staring at Pace as he stares back. I see the moment he makes his decision, and I want to punch him square in the nose before he even utters a single word. “Make the call, kid. What harm could it do to check it out?”

“Victoryyyyyy!” Juniper screeches before I get the chance to throttle my pack mate.

“You’re dead to me,” I hiss at him, and he shrugs with a shake of his head and a tired sigh.

“We’re out of options, Ro, and you know it. What could be so bad about this, anyway? You don’t have to like the girl to live with her, at least until we find something suitable that won’t cost us our souls and health.”

“Whatever,” I grumble, turning to scowl out the window. “This is a bad idea, and I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ when I’m proven right.”

“Oh, get over yourself,” Juniper laughs, shoving at me like a kid sister. “It’ll be great. Just you watch.”

Then she makes the phone call and seals my fate, plummeting me head deep into a bad mood that I don’t bother to shake, even long after I’ve locked myself away in the motel room with a shitty box TV to keep my brain occupied from the vibrant, lively, bubblegum princess I’ve been trying to avoid, forget, and stop fucking thinking about.