Saving Briar

Briar

“I thought it would hurt more. Why don’t I feel anything? He was in pain, wasn’t he? I thought that the pain was supposed to be so bad that it could kill me.”

“He was definitely in pain.” Caelan said the words as he came back in through the door, a grim smile turning up the corners of his mouth. “Fucker deserves every moment of it. If he hadn’t been effected like that already, I would have made sure he was hurting in other ways when he walked out the doors.”

Briar frowned at his words, which caused Caelan to continue his tirade.

“Don’t look at me like that, Little Wolf. I know I don’t know all the details of what happened with your mate, but I know that he hurt you, badly. I know that whatever he did is what caused you to end up here. And that his incompetence as an Alpha is likely why you’re agreeing to this, just so you can take care of your family.”

Briar’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t respond. She didn’t see a reason to. What he’d said wasn’t untrue, even if she didn’t want to think about it that way.

“He really is sorry.” Briar nodded at Harlow’s words before turning to stare for a long moment at her reflection in the mirror.

“Well. At least now I’m truly free.” She said the words but they sounded hollow and not one person in the room was convinced that even Briar believed them. She wouldn’t truly be free for at least another year when her contract with Mr. Rose was completed. Closing her eyes she drew in a slow, deep breath through her nose.

“I can do this. I can survive anything for a year.” Briar said the words under her breath as she turned back to the group gathered in the room. Caelan looked extremely unhappy, although he hadn’t said anything else after his rant about what Theon deserved.

“I’m just certain that you’re going to do so much more than just survive,” Stephen was the one who spoke, as he came forward and clasped Briar’s delicate, smooth hands between his own. “You are going to flourish here. You’re going to have friends. You’ll be valued. You won’t be made to clean up a single dish or sweep the floor or slave over a hot stove.”

Briar nodded, but looked unconvinced, even as she tried to force her face into a mask of moderate happiness.

“What happens now? Do we just hang out here-”

“Oh no. As soon as you’re ready, and I’d say you are just about ready, we’ll take you up to the studio on the floor above this one. There’s a photographer waiting there who is going to take a set of photos that will be used for the auction, along with a video of you stating your name, your age, and answering a few questions about yourself. These will all be sent to the potential bidders as soon as they’re finished and edited by Bridget.”

“Okay.” Briar’s eyes traveled to Harlow, and she wondered what the woman who was probably her sister had decided to do. Then she turned back towards Stephen and squared her shoulders. “I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

--------

Harlow

The door closed and Harlow stood in the room for a long moment, weighing the choices in front of her. A part of her was ready to go upstairs and tell Mr. Rose that she would stay, as long as he promised that her daughter would be whisked away from Alaska and kept somewhere safe where she would at least be able to visit her regularly. But her mind kept going back to Theon and what he was doing, right at that moment.

Did he have any idea that his current and future Betas were conspiring against him? Was he walking into a trap?

She was certain, from the look she’d seen on his face, that he was severely weakened, at least momentarily, by the severing of his mate’s bond with Briar. If Hux found him now… a shiver went through Harlow’s body as she pushed away thoughts of how that would end.

Briar was safe now, or as safe as she could be in the position that she was in. And she was far safer than either Harlow or Theon would be, at least if Harlow made the decision that she was leaning towards. She couldn’t leave Theon to whatever fate awaited him with his heartless ex and traitorous best friend.

Taking a slow, deep breath, Harlow glanced around the room. Everyone had left to help Briar, even Caelan. She supposed it was better that way. She wouldn’t have to give any explanations or say goodbye to anyone.

Harlow practically exploded out of the elevators, impatient to find Theon. She raced out into the hotel lobby and practically slammed into Brielle.

“’I’m sorry. But I have to go.” She breathlessly said the words and tried to race past the She-Wolf and was surprised when Brielle’s hand wrapped around her wrist, preventing her from going anywhere. If she really was part wolf, Harlow certainly didn’t have any superior strength or speed yet, although with the amount of whatever it was that was in those needles Hux and Poe had injected into her, she wasn’t really surprised.

“Wait. You’re looking for that Alpha? The one Briar rejected?”

Harlow stopped resisting Brielle’s grip on her arm at the words and froze in place, wondering how the other woman already knew what had happened when she hadn’t been in the room.

“News travels fast here, Harlow. He’s fine. That doctor he came here with found him. I believe they’re in the bar. Unless they’ve already left. I spoke to them a few minutes ago and suggested that it would be in their best interests to do just that.”

“Fuck.” Harlow muttered the words, her eyes already traveling in the direction that Brielle had come from, trying to figure out where the bar was and if Theon and whoever he was with had already left.

“It’s that way. Just go past the lobby and stay to your right and you can’t miss it. And Harlow?” She released Harlow’s arm, but Harlow waited, just a moment longer for her to say whatever it was she was obviously waiting to say. “You can still change your mind. You have a job here waiting, if you want it. From what I’ve seen and heard he’s not worth it. But good luck.”

“Thank you.” Harlow was already jogging in the direction that Brielle had indicated, her heart pounding in her chest. What if she had already missed them? And what if Hux and Poe found her before she found Theon? What if they’d already found him and whatever doctor he was with? Was it that blonde woman?

Harlow’s mind was a jumble of fears and questions, but she pushed them all to the side. She was going to do whatever it took to find Theon and help him.

Her future, Kayla’s future and Theon’s future were bound together. She could feel it in her bones. And while Theon might not be her mate, she knew that she felt safer and more relaxed when she was with him than she’d ever felt in all her life. Who knew whether or not she even had a mate out there, somewhere?

If she really was what Hux and Poe had claimed that would make her half wolf. Did that mean she’d have a fifty percent chance of finding her mate, or even having one? Wolves almost always found their other half, but humans rarely ever were matched in the same way that wolves were.

She saw them, standing up to leave the table they’d obviously been sitting at, as she rounded the last corner and the bar came into view.

“Theon!” She tried to say his name loudly enough that he would hear it, without being so loud that everyone else in the room would look in her direction. And with his hearing he really should hear her, she thought. But as she got closer Harlow could see that Theon was practically draped over a large, serious looking man’s shoulder, while the blonde scanned the crowd with a worried expression on her face.

Who were these people? How had Theon come to be with them, and not his own men? Did he already know that there was treachery in his own ranks? Harlow felt as if she had an endless string of questions without a single answer.

She called out a second time and Theon still didn’t move, but an enormous man standing near him, whipped his head in her direction. He had to be a shifter. There was no way a normal human man could be that huge. His eyes found Harlow, halfway to them as she moved across the crowded lobby, and for a moment she thought he looked surprised, before his eyes narrowed and hardened and his face became unreadable.

He moved towards her fast, although not in a way that would raise suspicion of what he was, and as the good sense the Goddess had given her caught up with her, Harlow slowed, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end as she faced the enormous predator who had her in his sights.

“Please don’t let this be a mistake.” She whispered a prayer and then held her breath as the large man reached her side and grabbed her upper arm in a firm but not painful grip.

He leaned so close to her that she felt his breath against her ear as he spoke and Harlow had to fight against the wave of panic that she felt threatening to overtake her at his words.

“Where the Hell is Briar and who the Hell are you?”