Saving Briar

“I didn’t expect you so soon.” Torin pushed a calloused hand through his hair as he met his guests at the door, the frown that hadn’t left his face in hours still set in place as he greeted Ted.

“I made the mistake of letting her drive.” Ted nodded to Oaklyn, who was still back near his truck stretching her legs. The two women who had accompanied the doctor were talking and laughing as they took in the gorgeous scenery of the snow covered wilderness that surrounded Torin’s home.

While Torin had known Oaklyn for years, and she had been to his parent’s home a couple of times for events, she had never been invited to his home, so this was her first time seeing it. He supposed that if things had been different, he would have held events here with Aria, just as his father had with his mother. But there wasn’t time to think of that now. He had enough on his plate without bringing up memories or thinking about what he might have had if things hadn’t gone so terribly wrong.

“I hope it’s alright that Oaklyn brought her friend along.” As Ted said the words Torin nodded but didn’t reply. “How’s your She-Wolf doing?”

“It’s gotten complicated.” Torin picked up one of the extra bags that Ted had hauled out of the truck up onto his deck.

“I had a feeling that it might.” The smirk that curved the edges of his friend’s lips made Torin want to punch his long-time friend in the face. “Just by the way you sound each time I talk to you.” Ted seemed to feel the need to correct something in the first half of his statement, but the second half wasn’t much of an improvement.

“Something happened this morning-”

“Did she have another attack? How many has it been now?” Ted’s brow was furrowed as they walked into the house, lowering their voices as they set the bags inside of the door.

“No, that wasn’t what it was. At least not today. And there’s been at least,” Torin shook his head trying to count how many times the pain had overtaken Briar including that first day, “I guess around four or five times. It’s been so hectic I think I’ve lost count.”

“Her mate sounds like a bastard.”

“He is.” They’d gone into the kitchen and Ted had helped himself to a beer from the refrigerator. While Oaklyn had never made it out to his cabin, Ted was familiar enough with the place to make himself right at home. “I don’t think she’d still have a pulse if she hadn’t made it out here and I hadn’t stumbled upon her. She’s convinced he was going to reject her and then let his warriors rape her before they killed her.”

“What is wrong with the wolf pack’s out west of here? First-” Ted stopped, swallowing whatever words he was going to say and looking out the window as if he’d regretted speaking in the first place. “Nevermind. One of the reasons I brought Brielle, Oaklyn’s friend, along is because I thought it might be good for her to talk to Briar. She’s from another one of these pack’s with similar rules and she knows how it is. She ran away the day she turned eighteen, before she even had a chance to sense who her mate was, because she didn’t want to be tied to anyone in these parts. Said it was the best decision that she ever made.”

“What does she do now?”

“She has a good job down near LA. Lives among humans. Has an apartment on the beach. Rides her bike to work. It seriously sounds like she’s living the dream. She said if Briar wants she can put in a good word for her, see if she can get her a job. That she’d even be willing to let her stay in her guest room and rent it until she gets on her feet. Her apartment is huge for one person, and she was going on and on to Oaklyn about how lonely she is down there, with no one from back home to talk to.”

“That sounds too good to be true.” Torin was frowning at Ted’s description, but his friend rolled his eyes.

“Oaklyn’s known this girl since she was in pigtails, Torin. She knows her father and mother and her little sister too. She can vouch for her. It’s not like this is some stranger I picked up off the street. Brielle’s a good girl.”

“She’s a wolf, Ted.” Torin’s words came out as a growl and his friend raised an eyebrow.

“And so is the pretty little thing that just strolled out of your guest bedroom in a towel, friend.”

Torin spun around so fast, Ted was surprised he managed to stay on his feet. He crossed the room and was beside her in a moment, trying to remind himself of all the reasons that touching her was a bad idea, especially now that he could feel Ted’s eyes on him, watching his every move.

“You’re awake.” He wasn’t sure if she’d actually been asleep or not, although now that he was standing right in front of her he could see that her eyes looked red and a little puffy, as if she’d been crying hard, at some point over the course of the last several hours.

Pain shot through his chest at the realization that he had been the reason for those tears. But was that really likely? When she had a mate out there, who had rejected her and made it clear that he wanted her dead? Wasn’t it more likely that that was who she was really crying for? Everything that had happened between them, at least on her end, was probably the result of stress and her desire to have someone hold her in their arms and distract her from the pain that she was in because of what her unworthy asshole of a mate had done.

“I heard a car pull up and could hear voices outside. I was hoping that maybe your guests were here and that the clothes that fit me might have arrived with them.” Briar kept her gaze fixed steadily on the floor at his feet, not raising her dark eyes for even a moment to look up at his face.

He hadn’t realized how desperately he wanted her attention until he didn’t have it any longer. Suddenly Torin felt like he would do anything to get her to look up and stare into his eyes.

“Oaklyn and Brielle packed the red suitcase there for you.” Ted answered her question since Torin didn’t yet know what they had brought for her. “They had a lot of fun doing it. I know Brielle even threw in some of her own outfits. She said she could replace them all when she gets back to California.”

Briar’s chin lifted as she took a step to the side so that she could see Ted without having to look at Torin. His fists clenched as she stepped back into his friend’s field of view, still wearing only a small white towel, with nothing under it. A growl escaped from between Torin’s lips and while Briar didn’t even seem to hear it, Torin didn’t miss the chuckle that came from the kitchen.

At that exact moment the front door burst open and Oaklyn and Brielle appeared, along with a rush of whirling cold air.

“You must be Briar!” Oaklyn’s voice was excited and giddy as the small She-Wolf clutched the towel she was wearing more tightly around her body, suddenly seeming to have realized how little she was wearing in front of their guests.

“Let’s get her into something warmer than this, Oaklyn. El Jefe there wasn’t kidding when he said she needed some clothes. But you could have at least given her a t-shirt to wear, couldn’t you?” Briar opened her mouth, obviously about to tell them that that was exactly what he had done, but Brielle shook her head and cut the younger She-Wolf off again with a smug smile. “You don’t need to defend him, hermana. Just come with us.” Brielle tossed a frigid glare over her shoulder at Torin as she linked her arm through Briar’s and let the younger girl lead the way back towards her bedroom.