Saving Briar

“I’d be auctioning off myself?” Briar breathed the words so softly that Caelan could hardly hear them from where he was sitting and he was only a few feet away. His eyes were focused on Brielle now, and while Briar had only looked up and dared to glance at him once, she had seen the rage burning in his eyes, all of it directed at the woman sitting next to her. Briar’s forehead had wrinkled for a moment as her eyebrows shot upward.

She hadn’t really been paying attention, she’d been so frightened when they’d gotten onto the helicopter and fled from the Torin’s cabin, and more specifically her pack in the woods beyond it, but she hadn’t thought that he disliked the other woman. Now she was far less sure. Had that animosity always existed between the two of them, or was it new?

“Not at all, Honey. Please. Don’t think of it like that.” Brielle’s hand rested lightly on her wrist and Briar repressed a shiver. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the other She-Wolf, she really did. Or at least, she had. And Briar was grateful that Brielle had gotten her away from the situation that she had found herself in, when she’d come to Torin’s cabin. Just the memory of her last hours there were enough to have Briar swallowing hard, trying to force down the lump that had risen in her throat.

“You aren’t selling you.” Brielle emphasized the last word as she stared into Briar’s eyes. “Hell, if you want to, you can just lay there. You’re a virgin. They aren’t paying for you to swing from the chandeliers or knock their socks off. If you want you can even discuss putting in a clause that says they can’t be rough with you. Although it’s announced before the auction and usually those auctions bring in about 25% less than when that isn’t announced.”

“Twenty-five percent?” Briar’s voice was a little louder this time, but not loud enough to be heard over the growl that she was now certain had left Caelan’s throat.

“Men who are in the position that the men who are at our auction are in, aren’t usually very fond of rules and restrictions.” Brielle shrugged, before finally tearing her gaze from Briar and glaring at the enormous dragon shifter who was only sitting a short distance away.

“Do you have a problem Mr. Kerr? Because if you do I suggest you take it up with your cousin instead of huffing and puffing and by the Goddess did you really just growl at me? Should I expect to see smoke puffing out of your nose next, Caelan? I think you know exactly what Hudson would say if he was sitting here with us right now and I’d be willing to bet my next month’s salary that you’d be keeping your opinions to yourself. So why don’t you just pretend that he’s here and shut the fuck up. And if you can’t do that, at the very least, put in your ear buds, because I swear you aren’t messing up this girl’s chances just because you have some juvenile crush.”

“I don’t-”

“He doesn’t-”

Both Briar and Caelan rushed to speak at the same time, with Briar falling silent, her eyes falling to her hands, which she now had folded in her lap, while Caelan gave Brielle one last glare before leaning back in his seat, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his phone.

“You know you could always claim her at the auction. You are family. And I’m sure you have enough in your ba-” Brielle began and Briar thought the cell phone might shatter in his hand as she watched his knuckles turn even paler.

“She’s not for me.” He bit out the words, not sounding particularly happy about them. Brielle’s eyebrows shot up.

“Then why the fuck-”

“None of your business, Brielle. Just think long and hard before you do this, Little Wolf. Because we won’t force you. You are here as a guest. And I will still help you get on your feet, even if you say no to this deal your new Bestie is offering you. Remember if something sounds too good to be true-”

“Enough Caelan.” Brielle interrupted the muscular man yet again and Briar couldn’t help but be amazed at how fearless she was when she spoke with him. Sure Briar had joked around with him a little, had even engaged in a little verbal sparring, but she couldn’t really imagine actually arguing with him when he was angry. And Briar had very little doubt that the man who had held her through her nightmares into the early morning hours was seriously angry at the moment.

“And he’s right. You have other options. You can still stay with me if you don’t do this. I just heard from Oaklyn how much your mom and sister needed the money and I thought I could help.”

Briar realized that she was gripping the arm rests of the seat so hard that she was surprised her claws hadn’t come out from the stress of the entire situation. A small voice in her head asked if she’d told Oaklyn, about her mother and sister. But maybe Torin had shared it with his friends and that’s how Brielle had gotten the information. Torin. Briar closed her eyes for a long moment.

“Does Torin know…” Briar started to ask the question and then let her voice trail off, keeping her eyes closed as she waited for Brielle’s answer.

“I can’t say for certain. I mean not a hundred percent certain. But I didn’t hide who I worked for from Oaklyn or Ted and I never have. You saw the helicopter we flew away in. It was stamped clear as day who it belonged to on the side and the bottom. And I don’t know a soul alive in the shifter world who doesn’t know what business Rose Industries is in and what a gorgeous girl like you would be doing leaving in the middle of the night with men like these and someone like me. And he didn’t come after us.”

“You should keep that in mind when you make your decision, Briar. Torin didn’t try to stop you and he isn’t coming after you.”

Briar’s eyes slowly opened as her teeth began to worry her bottom lip, something she realized she’d begun to do more and more in the past couple of weeks.

“If I do this, I want something guaranteed, beyond just the money.” From where he sat Caelan was surprised by the change that had come over the supposed Omega’s face and he found himself sitting up in his seat. While he’d been listening closely before, now he was hanging on every word as he waited to hear what she would say.

Brielle’s head cocked slightly to the side, her eyes narrowing just a bit in surprise. She obviously hadn’t expected her new charge to be the type to negotiate.

“You all have made it sound like Mr. Rose is powerful in the shifter community. Right?” When Brielle nodded, Briar continued. “I want a guarantee that my mother and sister are taken away from the pack I grew up in and put in another pack, with a rank above Omega. They don’t have to be high ranking wolves, they just can’t be servants. I want my sister to be able to be like everyone else. I don’t ever want her to go hungry. And I don’t want her to have to be a whore. Ever.”

“You’ll have to speak to Mr. Rose when we get to Las Vegas. He finalizes all the contracts before they can be approved.” Briar nodded, not looking the least bit disturbed by the news, but Caelan noticed that her hand was still gripping the seat hard, and her knuckles were as white as bones.

Caelan stood up from his seat, gazing down for a moment at the two She-Wolves before he made his way towards the back of the plane, his empty glass in his hand, giving the appearance that he was wandering on back for a refill. But that wasn’t the case. When he passed by Brielle he bent, placing one hand on the shoulder of the best recruiter his cousin had, his lips practically brushing against her ear before he opened his mouth to speak.

“I don’t think she’s an Omega, Bre. And I think you bit off a Hell of a lot more than you bargained for with this one. But good luck with that.”

He could practically hear the string of curses that he knew Brielle was thinking, and would have said, if she hadn’t been doing her best to charm Briar, and try to act like the picture of sophistication and grace. Not that the shine wouldn’t be off that soon enough as it was. In a short while they would land and while there would be no shortage of wealth dazzling her eyes, it came with far too many strings in Caelan’s opinion.

Caelan felt his jaw clench knowing that the world they were bringing Briar into was no less violent than the one she’d left behind and if Brielle had been honest with her she would told the girl that it was likely to be every bit as dangerous, if not more so, than the one that she was fleeing.

But it wasn’t Caelan’s place to tell Briar any of that, Hell, he knew his cousin would make him pay if he heard what he’d already said, so he refilled his glass himself, pouring a couple fingers of whisky before returning to his seat, this time facing away from the two women, trying not to notice how silent Briar was as she stared off into the white tufts of clouds that drifted far below them.