Saving Briar

“Thank you for lunch. Or is this dinner? I don’t even know what time it is.” Briar was trying to climb down from her chair when Torin thrust his phone into his pocket as he hurried back across the room. On a normal day, when she hadn’t passed out twice, he was sure she could easily handle hopping down from that height. But right now he felt like he needed to treat her like spun glass.

“It’s somewhere between lunch and dinner.” He murmured as he reached her side and surprised himself by reaching out and catching her around the waist to lower her to the floor. Her waist was so tiny his hands practically spanned the distance around it, and she looked up at him in surprise, her hands coming up to steady herself on his chest so that she wouldn’t fall forward as he lowered her to the ground. He was only touching her for a moment, because that was the length of time that it took for him to bring her from the edge of the seat to the floor, but it was more than enough time for a wave of emotions, most of them entirely confusing, to rush through her body.

She gave her head a small shake, her hands having come to rest on his thick, muscular forearms, as she steadied herself, a small voice in her mind asking why this felt so natural, standing quite close to a man who wasn’t her mate. Usually it felt odd for Briar to be close to any man, even the members of her own pack. As he stepped away, and she let go of the light grip she had on his arms, she could still feel his eyes on her, watching her curiously, and she realized then that it wasn’t just men.

While she hadn’t had time to give it much thought, Briar wasn’t really used to being touched, even platonically by anyone, other than her mother occasionally, or her younger sister, who she hugged before school, or sometimes sat with on the couch to watch tv with early on Saturday mornings before she had to be up and at work again.

“That was the doctor on the phone, wasn’t it?” She managed to find her voice as she tore her eyes from his perfectly muscular arms, trying not to dwell on how attractive they were. She scolded herself mentally. This man was just trying to help her, yet here she was half dead and having just lost her mate, who probably wanted her dead, and she was checking out her rescuers forearms? Had she hit her head when she fell? Come on Briar, pull it together.

Torin nodded, and for a moment she thought that his cheeks had turned a darker shade of red, but she had to have imagined it, hadn’t she? He couldn’t really have just blushed at her question about a phone call with the doctor?

“Does he have any ideas about stopping it? Or am I just stuck with this unless he finds me and rejects me or kills-”

“Hey-” He surprised her when he stepped close to her again, cutting her off before she could say what she was thinking. But he had to see it too. After all, he wasn’t a human and most shifter communities had at least a taste of the same brutality she was facing now.

Even if it hadn’t lasted up until modem times, he would still understand it because it wouldn’t be that far back in his people’s history. And just looking at him, Briar had a feeling that he was capable of the same hard brutality that her pack had been known for. Although for some reason, standing just inches away from him, staring at his chest, she realized she’d never felt safer.

She drew in a sharp breath when one of his fingers caught the bottom of her chin, forcing her to look up at him before he said another word. As an Omega, staring at the ground came naturally to her. Or at least it had by the time she’d gotten to middle school. Once she’d been starved enough, it only took a few fights at school, when she’d done things that weren’t considered “Omega-like” before she’d learned it was best to keep her head down, literally and figuratively, and to keep her mouth shut.

While initially it hadn’t come naturally to her, like it had to most of the other Omegas in the pack, by the time 7th grade was over, she’d gotten the hang of it. She just needed to keep her head down and work until there wasn’t any fight left in her any longer. It sounded easier than it looked.

“No one is going to hurt you. Not while you’re here with me.” Even his fingertip was rough and calloused beneath her chin and a small shiver of pleasure mixed with desire that she didn’t quite manage to suppress passed through her body, as he tilted her chin up so that she would meet his eyes. “Are you cold again?” His brow furrowed as he mistook the shiver for something entirely different from what it actually was.

“No. No, I’m fine, really.” His eyebrows shot up as if he could hear the lie in her voice. Maybe he could, but it seemed just as likely that he misunderstood what she was thinking and feeling again. She was certain that if he knew what she was feeling and thinking he would be on the other side of the room. “Just a little dizzy.”

Briar realized immediately that it was the wrong thing to say. She needed space from this man and while she’d said the first thing that popped into her head to excuse the behavior that she was certain he must think was strange, her excuse had only brought him closer, because of course he didn’t want her keeling over again in the middle of his breakfast nook.

“Here. Let’s get you back over here, closer to the fire again. I can grab your blanket and we can make a little nest for you over here, Wolfling.” She raised an eyebrow as he tugged her into the sitting area where he had held her for who knows how long earlier, while she had been unconscious.

“Thank you.” Her voice was hardly above a whisper as she let him tug her towards a large overstuffed leather couch, that she sank down onto with a small sigh of pleasure. Her body did ache from the traumas she’d experienced over the course of the last couple of days, but she’d also just had a filling meal and she was getting more rest than she had in a long time. While she didn’t expect to be able to stay on here, just the chance to rest and perhaps get strong enough to be able to move easily would be a huge benefit to her. Heck, just not being out during the storm was a real blessing.

“You don’t need to thank me,” he sat down heavily on the other end of the same couch after tucking the thick, soft blanket around her. “Anyone who saw you out there would have done the same thing.”

Briar gave him a small smile and didn’t argue, but she wasn’t so sure. Instead she changed the subject.

“What did your doctor friend say on the phone? Does he have any ideas about anything that might help when those um-” her voice trailed off as she tried to find a word for what she was experiencing. “Fits I’m having? Whatever you want to call them… anyways. Does he have any medication or anything that I can take that can make it less painful when they come on?” She stared at him with her large, dark brown eyes, and watched as the enormous man began to shift nervously at his end of the couch. This time she was certain that he looked uncomfortable and maybe even nervous, although she had no idea why.

“He actually did.” Torin ran a hand through his hair, leaving the short ends looking unkempt as he began to study a place on the far side of the room as if it were the most interesting thing he’d ever seen. “When Ted did his residency he actually spent time with a Wolf Pack and he saw something similar to what you’re experiencing. And he had a solution for me. But I’m not sure if it’s something you would be comfortable with.”

Briar watched the Bear Shifter and this time there was no doubt in her mind that his cheeks had turned a bit more pink as he began to broach the subject of what the good doctor had told him.

“Do you know what he told me, Briar?” she felt her pulse pick up at the question, because the way he had said her name and the intensity of his gaze on her face gave her a small clue.

Was it possible? Of course she’d heard the Old Wolves’ Tales but she’d never imagined that they might be true. But then again, she’d never really imagined it could hurt like this when her mate touched someone else. And if that was true then it sort of made sense.

The idea made it hard to breathe.

Closing her eyes she took three slow breaths before she turned and looked at Torin. He was obviously expecting some sort of a response from her. And what was she supposed to say? How had he taken the news from his friend?

He’d already done so much for her, she couldn’t honestly expect him to do that too, even if the idea made her stomach flutter and parts of her body ache and pulse in a way that never experienced before.

And then she felt the pain closing in, as her head fell back on the pillow, and she gave a small whimper, her teeth clenched together so hard she wasn’t sure she’d be able to say anything at all.