Chapter 58
58
DASH
Briar’s heat broke yesterday, four days after it started.
We tried telling her to take another day to rest and regain all the energy she— we all —spent, but once she called Clover and was updated on Sadie, the baby, and the scene that took place outside of the clinic, it was obvious that wasn’t going to happen.
Instead, Landon’s turned to rushing around like a madman, trying to throw his courting gifts into the basket Jasper had delivered overnight in an aesthetic way while Briar takes a shower.
Alone because, in her words, she’s still recovering from the last week and is off limits for the foreseeable future.
Ronan questioned how long that would be and earned us another few days’ delay before the bathroom door shut in his face.
Asshole .
“You know that she doesn’t need you to do all of this. I’ve never seen you tie a ribbon in all the years I’ve known you,” Jasper notes from his seat on the couch.
Landon continues struggling with the two ends of soft pink ribbon.
The brown basket on the coffee table is tall and bulging with the presents he’s gotten her.
There’s even shredded paper in the bottom that matches the ribbon colour.
For a guy whose idea of wrapping Christmas presents is rolling something up in plain brown paper and using half a roll of tape to seal it shut, this is a monumental moment.
“She deserves more than a pile of gifts in a reusable bag, Jas,” he replies.
“I know that. I’m just saying that she doesn’t expect anything grand. Even if we do have a habit of going there for her.”
Landon lets go of a breath.
“This isn’t grand enough. Not even close.”
“She’s going to love what you got her,” I reassure him, picking up on the dull sensation of anxiety that doesn’t belong to me.
Ever since we marked Briar, sharing emotions with each other has been .
. . interesting. We’re five days in now, and I’m still not any better at keeping my boundaries up than I was then.
This morning is the first one in a week where I haven’t woken up suffering from my own arousal.
Instead, it was Jasper’s that had me throbbing in my boxers before dawn.
When I rolled over in bed and saw him fucking Briar from behind, it made sense.
Obviously, I joined in.
But that isn’t the point.
Landon looks up from the basket and drags a hand down his face.
“I was hoping it would be easier to do these things after her heat. But I almost think it’s worse now.”
“That’s because you want to make sure you continue to be worthy of her,” Jasper murmurs.
“We’re all bonded now. If I fail with her, I fail all of you. I won’t be able to handle losing her and all of you at the same time.”
Ronan kicks his feet out in front of him, resting them beside the basket.
“Nobody is going to fail her. There’s four of us to keep each other in line. We’re together for life.”
“And we have an advantage now with feeling her emotions. If we still can’t stop messing up with the help of that, we just simply don’t deserve her,” I say.
Jasper nods. “How is everyone doing with that?”
“With the lack of mental privacy?” Ronan asks.
I tuck a piece of paper further into the basket.
“It’s not a lack of privacy as it is just a bit overwhelming for everything to be so open between us. Now, when you get pissed and run off, we’ll be able to have an idea of what’s wrong with you, Lan.”
“Great,” he deadpans, but it’s a mask.
Finally, he gets a decent enough bow with the ribbon and leans back on his knees, staring at his work.
Ronan gives the basket a nudge with his sock-covered toes, earning a sharp glare from Landon.
“It will just take practice to block out each other’s emotions when we don’t want to feel them. But I think it could be a handy tool for the time being. At least while we transition into a more stable pack again,” Jasper says.
Ronan cocks a brow. “We weren’t stable before?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” I ask while Landon huffs a laugh.
Jasper opens his mouth to answer but freezes before any words come out.
One by one, the others snap their heads toward the stairs.
I’m the last to catch the whiff of lemon cookie and follow their eyes.
Our omega hops down the stairs, appearing as clear-minded as she’s ever been.
There’s a healthy glow to her skin in addition to the natural brightness of her eyes that’s returned since yesterday.
Three foreign jolts of desire and pure obsession shoot through me before they’re followed by a fourth, this one the strongest. I swallow when my gaze is drawn to the three healing marks showing on her skin.
Briar’s chosen to wear a pastel pink tube top that shows off her throat and shoulders and the three marks spread across them.
I lean forward, gripping my knees in anticipation when she jumps off the last step.
She winks at me before spinning, her hair already held up in a clip so I can see every curve of the bite I laid on the back of her shoulder.
The only one on that side of her body.
“Well? Do you think they look good?” she asks in a sing-song voice.
Ronan, Jasper, and I throw ourselves off the couch while Landon jerks to his feet, guarding the basket.
“I’ve never seen anything I’ve loved more than our marks on your body, love,” Jasper declares.
She quirks her lips.
“Nothing? Are you sure?”
“Got something you want to show us to try and change our mind?” Ronan asks, his tone deep and rumbly.
“Nope. You can use your imaginations for that one, Ro.” She shifts her attention to Landon, cocking her head with a sharp curiosity while lifting a hand to press against his mark.
“Why do you look so weird right now?”
Landon’s eyes flare wide at the same time we all feel her nerves.
“I could stare at my mark on your neck for the rest of my life, Haven,” he rambles.
She releases some of her worry.
“So, what’s going on?”
When her eyes land on Jasper, he abruptly looks away.
He’s such a shitty liar, and it’s almost comical that he hasn’t tried to get better at it by now.
I chuckle, and Briar snaps a look at me.
Smirking, I offer my hand for her to take.
Once her fingers are in mine, I’m linking them.
“You’ve got the pack leader still stumbling all over himself, Bright Eyes. Coming down here looking like a goddess certainly isn’t helping. You’ll have to excuse him.”
“I’ll excuse him once I know what he’s hiding,” she sasses while I spin her into my arms.
Her skirt flares out, exposing a flash of the pale skin of her thighs not hidden beneath fishnets this time.
The high-top sneakers on her feet are ones I chose to slip into her closet when we set out to fill it.
I bring my mouth to her ear, keeping my voice low.
“He’s hiding something for you. Go easy on him.”
“For me?”
“Act surprised.”
When I release her, she goes right for Landon.
The sassy sway of her hips puts me under a spell.
I dig my heels into the ground to keep from following her.
“So, do I get a kiss? You were already up and out of the nest when I woke up, so I got one from everyone but you,” she says, lip jutting out in a pout.
Landon reaches for her with ease despite his lingering anxiety.
She cuddles into his chest and wraps her arms around him, squeezing tight.
When she tips her head back, Landon’s already bending down to kiss her.
“We’re going to be late to see Sadie if you don’t hurry up, Landon,” Ronan says, purposefully cutting them off.
The sooner Landon gives her his courting gifts, the faster he can be proven wrong and see that there was nothing for him to worry about in the first place.
Landon pulls back from Briar and eyes Ronan with annoyance.
“You won’t be able to go with us with two broken legs.”
“What’s with all the threats recently? First Thorne, now me?” Ronan palms his chest and sighs, laying it on real thick.
Briar rolls her eyes at the two of them.
“I actually think it’s kind of sexy.”
“In that case, I’ve got a few threats to make myself,” Ronan says, straightening.
I snort. “You’re shameless.”
He shrugs while Briar peers up at our pack leader.
She cups his cheek, and he nuzzles into her hand.
“He wasn’t completely wrong. I told Sadie we’d be there in thirty minutes at least twenty minutes ago.”
Landon stands there for another moment before slowly stepping aside, revealing the gift he’s been fussing with.
The rest of us watch while Briar blinks at the overflowing basket.
“Are all of these . . . paint-by-number sets?”
“Yeah. Sort of.”
There are at least thirty of them.
Split between colouring books and thin packs of individual themed sheets, I doubt she’d run out of them for years.
Maybe even a decade.
Landon’s even gone all out on the paints and brushes.
The tiny containers of paint, from white to black, pastel to neon, and every colour in between, take up the majority of the basket.
I’d say there’s a healthy number of options there for her.
Despite all of that, I think what steals the show is the custom brush case he got her.
Not only is it her favourite colour, but he’s had it monogrammed with her name and bedazzled with real diamonds.
The lemon and cookie designs that were added to the inside of the case stole my breath for a second when he first showed it off to us.
The entire thing is really fucking thoughtful.
He should be proud that he pulled something like this together for her.
If I wasn’t so confident in what I’ve done for her, I’d be feeling nervous.
“And they’re for me?” Briar asks softly, dropping to a crouch in front of the basket.
Timidly, she reaches a hand into the basket and runs a finger along the front cover of the first book.
“You mentioned that paint by numbers was your favourite hobby, so . . .” He trails off.
“So, you decided to buy me hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars’ worth of them? And this case—oh, my god. It’s gorgeous.”
Landon’s expression is loose, open.
His eyes are fixed on Briar, watching her pull the brush case out of the basket.
She drops to her knees and sets it over her lap before tracing her name.
“You deserve to have an endless supply of the things you love, Briar. We want to spoil you. It makes us happy to do that,” he says.
She sniffles, making me stiffen.
“I did my makeup today and everything.”
“And you look beautiful, with or without it,” Jasper murmurs.
“Thank you. I just wasn’t expecting to cry it all away, let alone already. This is incredible.”
Briar cranes her head back to peer up at Landon.
The grip she has on the case is enough to explain how much she loves his gift.
But when she pulls it into her chest, that sends him toppling.
“I’m never going to stop courting you. None of us are,” he declares.
She shakes her head, disbelief filtering through the blue in her eyes.
“I only need you to love me.”
“That’s the bare minimum. We’re always going to go beyond and above for you. That’s the deal, take it or leave it,” Ronan says.
“Oh, is that so?” She sets the case back into the basket almost reluctantly before rising off the floor.
“I guess it would be silly to keep fighting you on it, then.”
Ronan smirks.
“You still could, if it would make you happy.”
“I think it would make you happier,” I poke.
Briar’s cheeks pinch with a smile.
“You’re all ridiculous.”
“Yet here you are.” Jasper twirls a piece of her hair around his finger.
“Standing here continuing to give us all a hard time after we just spent the last five days in bed together.”
“Oh, it was such a hassle, was it?”
“I’ve never been hassled with something I can’t wait to do over a thousand more times,” Landon chimes in.
She strokes the back of his hand.
“A thousand? That’s it?”
“If we had it our way, there would be no number high enough,” Jasper says.
Briar looks at each of us, her happiness a lightning bolt travelling through my chest. I clutch onto it, holding it in place for as long as possible.
“We’ll go with that number, then.”