Saving Briar

Torin stalked to the door and yanked it open, his backpack slung over his shoulder, rage pulsing through his veins.

“Are you two ready to go yet?” Torin barked out the words and Oaklyn turned her face away from where he was standing before she rolled her eyes. She knew her old friend well, and she’d never seen him this close to losing his grip on his beast, not once in all the time that she’d known him. Like everyone else, she’d heard the stories and knew that it had happened after Aria had been killed, but she hadn’t been there to see it first hand. And fuck, if it happened now, she was afraid they wouldn’t ever get him back.

“Deep breaths, Torin. Reel him in. Losing control now won’t do a damn thing to help your Girl.” She held her friend’s gaze, her eyebrows rising as his eyes flashed a more amber shade of brown than his normal deep chocolate hue.

“Ted.” Oaklyn had been ready to go for ten minutes. Ted, however, had disappeared into the room he and Oaklyn had been sharing, and still hadn’t emerged. “You thought I’d be the one to slow you down, didn’t you? Washing my hair or some shit like that?”

Torin merely grunted in reply, his eyes focused on the door his friend was behind. He actually hadn’t expected Oaklyn to slow them down, but he was too bogged down in his thoughts of Briar and what might be happening to her to express that verbally. He’d known Oaklyn too long to think she’d get caught up in something like washing her hair when she knew that another woman was in danger. What he didn’t understand was why his best friend was taking so long to get ready.

Just as Torin was about to tell Oaklyn that he’d take his own car and that she and the doctor could catch up later, the door to the guest bedroom swung open and Ted emerged with his backpack slung over one shoulder.

“Torin-” he began, his face shining with some news that he was obviously eager to share.

“We need to go. Now.” Torin growled the words and Oaklyn gave Ted a smug smile as they followed their friend out the door to his truck, the only sound that met their ears, the crunch of snow under their boots, as they threw their bags in the back of the cab.

“Shotgun.” Oaklyn said in a low voice to Ted, before shooting him a quick grin. “You probably don’t want to sit next to your Buddy right now anyways. He’s pretty-”

Before she could finish her sentence the sound of paws on snow put all three of the Kodiak shifters on high alert.

“We’ve got Mutts incoming and they aren’t bothering to hide that they’re coming. Fuck. I like this outfit. If I have to shit and this shirt gets ruined, I’m going to be so fucking-”

“Enough Oaklyn.” She hadn’t thought that it was possible for Torin to sound angrier than he’d sounded before, but in that moment she learned that it was.

“I’m just saying. I love this outfit.” His only response, from right beside her, was a low growl.

Oaklyn smiled. With Ted on her right and Torin now on her left she felt completely and utterly safe. Whoever these pups were, and she could hear that their steps were now slowing, if they thought that taking on three fully grown Grizzly shifters was a good idea, then they had another thing coming.

“Here Puppy, Puppy, Puppy.” Oaklyn said the words in a low, sing-song voice, earning another growl from Torin.

“Enough, Oaklyn.”

It wasn’t wolves, but a golden haired man, wearing jeans and work boots, who stepped into the clearing in front of Torin’s home first, the palms of his hands facing outward to show that he was unarmed. A single wolf flanked him on either side as he came forward slowly, his head down in a surprising sign of submission that only made Torin’s frown deepen. Was this some sort of a trap?

With at least twenty meters still separating them, the man stopped and looked up, his bright blue eyes meeting Torin’s dark gaze for the first time.

Torin wasn’t quite sure how he knew that the man standing before him was Briar’s mate, but the second their eyes met he had absolutely no doubt at all that that was who he was looking at. A small part of him wanted to surge forward and tear the man apart, piece by piece. He was fairly certain he could do it, easily. After all, the man didn’t really look like much of a man. He was more like a boy. And once he was torn to pieces, Briar would be free of the pain he’d caused her. She’d never have one of those painful fainting spells again.

The blond haired man seemed to read his mind, because he raised his hands, his palms still facing outwards and quickly began to speak.

“I know what you must think of me-”

“I don’t think you do.” Torin’s voice was deep, and it seemed to vibrate with the energy of his anger.

“I was horrible to her. I didn’t protect her. I let her down when she needed me most. I have completely and utterly failed her.” Torin’s eyes widened for a moment before narrowing again. Twice wolves had hurt the women he cared about. He wasn’t about to go trusting an Alpha, of all the people in the world he might trust, just because this one managed to say the right things.

“But she’s in danger now. We believe that the dragon shifters have her. You have to know what that means. You know how strong the Rose’s are. If he’s already sold her, or if she’s signed a contract? She’ll be lost to us.”

“Us?” Torin growled the word.

“Do you care about her?” Torin’s eyes widened, and his expression showed that he was genuinely shocked by the question. “Stupid question. I can see from everything here that you do. I have a better question. Do you have reason to believe that she cares about you in return.”

“I-” Torin began to speak but his voice trailed off. He had no idea. How could she care after everything that had happened. He’d rejected her advances over and over again and now, because of what he’d done, she was in more danger than she’d been when she’d run from her own pack.

“She does care for him.” Oaklyn volunteered the information, looking back and forth between the two men. “I saw the way she looks at you. If she thought there was any chance at all she never would have left. Hell if she thought there was a chance even now I’m sure she’d be on the first helicopter back here. She didn’t want to leave, she just didn’t want to be a burden, so she felt like she should leave.”

Torin ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the roots as he wished he could kick his own ass.

“Listen, man. I know this is a highly unusual situation but we both want the same thing; for Briar to be safe. I have one of my guys watching Mr. Rose’s website. We’re watching there to see if she goes online as one of his girls.”

“When I was in the room back there I was on the phone with Tye. He said he can fly us. But it’s still a four hour drive to the airstrip.”

“That’s why you were on the phone?” Ted nodded, a small smile curving his lips before he shrugged.

“I wanted to get it squared away and I knew if we started driving I’d lose service about a dozen times between here and the main road.” Torin nodded, some of the anger he’d felt subsiding until he remembered where Briar was and why she was there.

“Let me come with you.” The wolf shifter was speaking again and Torin felt his blood pressure spike. “I’ll bring two of my guys along. The more of us that are there, the better. Rose Industries is going to have an army. Especially if he’s planning on auctioning her. I don’t know if that’s still a possibility…” The man’s voice trailed off and Torin’s brow wrinkled as he tried to figure out what the other man was saying.

“I know Rose is the King of gambling and prostitution in the Western Hemisphere in the shifter world. Are you saying he sells women?” Nothing would surprise him, but Torin had never heard anyone claim that Hudson sold actual slaves.

“No. No. At least not from what I've heard.” The wolf spoke quickly, but Torin noticed his frown deepened. “But one of my guys apparently has an interest in this part of his business and he explained it to me this morning. When Hudson gets a new girl, if she’s a virgin, she has the option of auctioning off her virginity.”

“Briar would never do that.” Torin said the words quickly, but the man shook his head, a frown settling over his features.

“The more beautiful women often make six figures off the auctions. They take fifty percent of the proceeds. After the auction, most decide to go to work in Mr Rose’s brothel in Vegas, where the girls often are able to make six figures again before their first year contract is up. Some sign up for a second year. A few even do a third year..”

“Briar-” Torin began again.

“Briar grew up very poor.” Torin’s eyes flashed and he glared at the man standing in front of him as he began to speak, again dropping his gaze to the ground. “She was often hungry, as I’m sure you noticed. Her mother and sister still live in the same poverty she grew up in. I have no doubt in my mind that if she were given the power to change that, she would do anything she could to make sure they have everything that they need, especially now that she believes she’ll never have a mate.”

“You are going to reject her, aren’t you?” Torin asked, picking that out of everything that the man had just said.

“Yes. I am. But somehow I don’t imagine she’s going to be alone, or unhappy, after we save her.” A ghost of a smile turned up the corner of the blonde man’s lips. “By the way, I’m Theon. Briar’s unworthy mate, as I’m sure you’ve figured out after spending time with her. Now let’s get this show on the road. I think we all know how important it is that we get to her before that auction happens.”

Torin narrowed his eyes at the Alpha who was mated to the woman he knew he was falling in love with before nodding. He’d do anything to get her back, even if it meant working with Theon, because all that mattered was that she came home safe and sound and happy. Even if at the end of the story, her happily ever after meant that she ended up with someone else.