Saving Briar

Torin couldn’t help himself. He was trying to come up with a plan, while forcing himself not to go storming over to the elevators and prying open the doors so that he could begin to search the area they believed Briar was in, room by room until he found her. His beast was half out of his mind, and Torin had never been so close to relinquishing control to the animal while around humans.

He had just turned back around to make sure that Ted didn’t need help with Theon when he heard someone call out for the Alpha from somewhere behind him. His eyes met Ted’s as Ted scanned the area in front of them, his eyes narrowing as he located whoever it was who’d spoken.

At his expression Torin had snapped his head towards the voice, just as she called out a second time. For one horrifying moment, he thought that it was Briar, changing her mind and coming after her rejected mate. Could werewolves do that? And even as that fear seized him, another part of him was relieved that she was safe. But both the fear and the relief were short lived as his eyes focused on the young woman’s face.

She looked a lot like Briar. They had to be related, of that there was no doubt.

He found himself moving towards her without even thinking about what he was doing. Whoever she was, this woman was obviously somehow related to Briar and her old pack, and she was chasing after Theon. She was more likely than anyone else that they had access to at the moment, to have answers about where Briar was.

Torin realized, as he reached the girl and saw the fear flash through her eyes, that he must have looked frightening, coming towards her with a look of determination on his face. That realization helped remind him to control his strength as he reached out and took her by the arm.

Between this woman’s resemblance to Briar and the fact that she obviously knew Theon, Torin thought that it wasn’t a stretch to guess that since she was here in Vegas there was a chance that she might have information that they needed.

“Where the Hell is Briar and who the Hell are you?” His voice, and words, were both rougher than he wished, but with half his energy turned towards not losing control over his beast, he didn’t have anything left to soften his hard exterior. Besides, maybe if she was scared she’d be more likely to answer him honestly.

“I’m Harlow. How is Theon? That huge dragon shifter upstairs said that he wasn’t good.” Despite Torin’s grip on her upper arm she was looking past him, her eyes glued to Theon as Ted helped him towards them.

“Not good. But he’ll regain his strength eventually.” He watched as the petite human sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and chewed on it.

“How do you know him?” Torin’s voice was quieter this time, but even at his best he knew he was intimidating to most humans.

“He is- he was mated to my friend. And we’re from the same town.”

“You know Briar.” Harlow nodded, still not looking at him. Ted and Theon were nearly to them and she looked as if she wanted to jerk herself free from his grip and run to the other man.

“Yes.” She didn’t elaborate further and he let out a quiet sigh.

“Do you know where she is now?” Harlow began to nod but then stopped herself.

“Not exactly. I mean, I was with her up until a few minutes before I came downstairs. But they were taking her to some photo shoot and I don’t know exactly where that is.”

“For the auction?” Torin knew the answer to the question even before Harlow nodded her head in answer. When Theon reached them, Torin released her arm, knowing that she wasn’t going anywhere as long as he was with them.

“We need to go somewhere to talk.” Ted was the one who spoke first, as Harlow threw her arms around Theon, her brow furrowed in concern.

“Why are you here?” Theon spoke for the first time since he’d come downstairs. “It’s too dangerous. You shouldn’t be here.”

“Not here.” Harlow shook her head, looking around nervously. “We need to get out of sight. Both of us. It’s more dangerous here than you know.”

---------

Theon

Every part of his body hurt. He knew that he should be thankful to be alive, because plenty of wolves didn’t survive rejection, but it was hard to focus on anything other than what he was feeling.

When Harlow had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and wrapped her arms around his waist, Theon had felt the discomfort wane and for a moment he thought he felt a flutter of hope in his chest. The moment she pulled away though it was gone, and it was such a fleeting break in the haze of sadness that had wrapped around him that it was hard to imagine that it had been real, or that it might be something that could last.

Harlow had insisted that they get a room, either here or at another hotel and Oaklyn had quickly agreed. None of the men had thought that they’d even be able to get a room inside the Rose Hotel, but Harlow had strode confidently over to the desk and not ten minutes later she returned with a room key.

“I told them to call up to Brielle and tell her that I needed a day to think and she told them to give me a key to the room. And it’s on one of the private floors!” Her eyes had shone with pride, but Theon hadn’t believed they were really going to make it up to the room with her until they were safely ensconced inside.

“I think we need to assume that there’s a strong possibility that they know we’re here. At least they do if anyone is paying attention to the cameras and noticed that you didn’t come up here alone. There’s also a possibility that this room is bugged. It might not be but we really don’t know.”

Theon couldn’t muster up the energy to care. He had plopped, face down, on the bed as soon as they’d walked into the room. A moment later he’d felt the bed compress as Harlow sat down beside him, and began to lightly stroke his arm. With every touch she seemed to chase away a fraction more of the pain that held him nearly immoble.

“We need a way to get to Briar. I’m not leaving here without her.” Torin had walked to the window and was staring down at the strip below. It was still a couple hours until sunset and after that the auction would begin. They were running out of time.

“What if she doesn’t want to go with you?” Harlow asked the question as her hand continued to stroke up and down Theon’s arm.

Torin stopped watching and turned to face Harlow. By the look on his face everyone in the room could tell that he hadn’t considered that possibility.

“I mean, she signed the contract. And she came here willingly. I didn’t get the impression that she was excited about the job, or anything like that, but she seemed committed to doing this to help her family.”

“Of course I won’t force her to leave. But I at least need her to know that I’m here.” Torin sounded truly desperate for the first time.

Harlow nodded and Theon held back a gasp of pain as she stood and moved away from him.

“And what about the contract?” Theon rolled onto his back so that he could watch Harlow, marveling at how confident she was becoming in the short time since he’d met her.

“I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she’s free to be with me, if that’s what she wants.”

“Alright.” Harlow smoothed her hands down the fabric of her outfit before squaring her shoulders. “I’ve got an idea about how we might do this. But the first thing we need to do is make sure this is what she wants. Because I’m not going to take part in hauling Briar back up to Alaska unless that’s exactly what she wants right now.”

“Understood.” Theon could see that Torin’s jaw was clenched as he waited for whatever it was that Harlow was obviously going to say next.

“Now I’m going to go upstairs and tell them that I’m considering staying but that I want to talk to Briar first. I need you to promise me one thing though, Torin. Keep Theon safe. There are people here who want to hurt him. Hell, they want him dead, so I need to know he’s in good hands while I’m out there doing this for you. And Theon once you’re feeling stronger I swear I’ll tell you who, but for now I need you to rest.”

“Now, I’m going to tell her that you’re here. And we’ll see if you mean as much to her as she obviously means to you.”

“Theon will be safe. And please, tell her I’m sorry.” Torin sounded like he was in as much pain as Theon was as he said the words before turning to look out the window again. “Tell her I made a huge mistake and I need her by my side. And if she’ll let me I’ll spend the rest of my life showing her exactly how much she means to me. I swear that I’ll never let her down again.”