Saving Briar

“What the actual fuck?” Brielle turned back towards Harlow the moment the door slammed shut behind the two men, keeping her voice low as she moved towards the obviously frightened woman, her eyes softening now that Hux and Poe were gone.

Harlow drew in a sharp breath and waited for Brielle to speak again, half afraid to say anything, or to even hope that Brielle’s reaction had meant what she hoped it meant.

“You don’t want this, do you?” Brielle walked over to Harlow and she could tell that the She-Wolf was taking in her more obvious injuries, although having not seen a mirror, Harlow was left to wonder exactly how terrible she looked. If she went by what she felt like she was in pretty rough shape.

“Please help me. Please.” Harlow was surprised by how rough her voice sounded when she spoke.

“They think we traffic women who aren’t willing to come here to work.” Brielle let out a string of curse words before reaching for the small purse she had over her arm. “That’ll be the day. The day I quit my job and walk away without looking back.”

Brielle settled on the bed next to Harlow, but kept her movements slow and cautious, as if she were afraid she might frighten the other Wolf-Shifter. Strangely though, Harlow felt safer than she had since she’d said goodbye to Theon when he’d left her house. She wasn’t sure that it was a good idea to trust anyone here, but something deep within Harlow told her that Brielle wasn’t going to harm her.

“Hux is my daughter’s father. He and Beta Poe knocked me out and brought me here. And Hux says he’ll keep me away from Kayla if I don’t do what he says.”

Brielle’s brow furrowed and she shook her head.

“Mr. Rose only allows willing shifter’s to come work at The Dragon’s Lair. Hell, we turn women away. And obviously you’re beautiful enough to work here without a problem, but there’s no way I’d even bring you to Mr. Rose for an interview unless I knew you were enthusiastically onboard with this whole thing. Which obviously you aren’t.”

Harlow felt a wave of relief, but it only lasted for a moment.

“You have to help me, please. If you cancel the meeting and leave me with them, they’ll just find someone else to take me. Hux wants me gone and no matter what he promised earlier when he said I could see our daughter if I went along with this whole thing. I don’t think he has any intention of me ever coming anywhere near her if he’s able to get rid of me. This is his chance to get me out of the way once and for all.”

“I’m not going to leave you with them.” Brielle frowned before standing up and walking to the window. “I’m actually from a pack not too far from where you’re from, so I have an inkling of what you’re dealing with, although I have to admit I’ve never seen a pack dynamic this fucked up before. And just to be clear, that was your father, wasn’t it? Who’s also here to sell you to us?”

“I think so.” Harlow finally managed to get out the words. “I don’t know for sure.”

“Oh I do.” Brielle turned back away from the window and crossed the room, sitting down beside her this time as if they were old friends. “We were told we were being brought a half human, half wolf shifter, who was the daughter of the pack Beta. We rarely get ranking wolves around here, as you can imagine, so Mr. Rose was particularly curious. Especially with you three coming down from the same part of Alaska as another new employee that we’re hiring.”

“Briar?” Harlow guessed, before shaking her head. “No that can’t be right.”

“Do you know Briar? Because you two could be twins. Or at the very least, sisters.” Harlow’s eyes widened at the She-Wolf’s words. She knew that Brielle wasn’t wrong. She and Briar weren’t close, but they knew each other, and over the years she knew they’d both heard frequently how much they resembled one another.

“We aren’t related.” Harlow said the words, then shook her head. “I mean, how could we be related? Her father was an Omega who was killed five or so years ago in a hunt put on by our former Alpha. If my father’s the pack Beta like you seem to think, then we still shouldn’t be related at all.”

“She doesn’t act like an Omega.” Brielle whispered the words, more to herself than to Harlow. “That’s what Caelan said, the man who’s been guarding her on the trip down from Alaska, and he’s right. She doesn’t. Hell, even Mr. Rose was impressed with the demands she made when she met him.”

“Wait. Briar is here and met with Mr. Rose. As in the man who I’m supposed to have an interview with to begin working as a hooker? How the heck did she get here? Her mate is looking for her. He knows he fucked up and he wants to make things right with her. He said she was in danger and I don’t think he’s coming back without making sure she’s okay.”

Harlow realized she was rambling and stopped, looking over at Brielle who was staring at her with wide eyes.

“And I thought that my pack was fucked.” Brielle bit her bottom lip before punching in the passcode on her cellphone. “We don’t take unwilling workers here. But I know Hudson wants to sign Briar and she is willing. Hell, she might already have signed the contract by now, I haven’t been by the office since before lunch. And honestly, I’d argue that she’s a Hell of a lot safer here than she’d be back in your pack, especially with the way that things are turning out right now.”

“I just don’t understand. Why would Hux and Beta Poe bring me here? I mean I get that apparently they want to sell me and make some cash, but I can’t help but feel like this isn’t the easiest way for them to make money. I just feel like we’re missing a major piece of what’s going on. Unless it’s just that Hux wants me gone now that he’s found his mate.”

Brielle frowned and nodded slowly, before glancing down at the phone in her hand.

“It is really odd for them to show up at the same time that we’ve brought another one of your pack members down here. Especially when she was scared out of her mind when I first met her about the idea of going back to her pack. But if the Alpha is trying to make things right, then I can’t think of a single reason why his Beta would come here separately, with what definitely appears to be an agenda of his own.”

“Hux is going to try to take down Theon.” Harlow blurted out the words, realizing that what Hux told her earlier had to be part of the reason that he’d come all this way.

“Theon?”

“The pack Alpha. Briar’s mate. Hux told me on the way here that he’s mated to the girl that dated Theon for years. The one he basically rejected Briar for. And she is desperate to be Luna. If he doesn’t become pack Alpha he’s going to lose his mate once she turns 18 and is able to reject him because she’d rather be our pack’s Luna than be with him.”

“That’s fucked. And that’s coming from someone who has never wanted to find their mate.” Brielle shook her head and both women stood silently for a moment before she spoke again. “Wait. Your Alpha hasn’t rejected Briar yet, has he?”

“No. I believe that’s one of things that he’s here to do to try to fix this mess.”

“Fuck.” Harlow’s eyes widened when Brielle swore again, but didn’t speak, as she waited for Brielle to share whatever it was that was going on inside her head.

“If I was an evil son of a bitch and I wanted to kill my Alpha, what would I do if I didn’t think that I was strong enough to take him head on.”

“Weaken him?” Harlow’s eyebrows furrowed as she tried to figure out where Brielle was going with this.

“And how would you do that?”

“Silver?”

“You could use silver or wolfsbane. But you’d have to find a way to get that into his system, and he’s going to be on guard right now with everything that’s going on so I imagine that might not be the easiest thing to do.”

“No-” the idea of the surest way to weaken Theon came to her all at once as she realized what had caused Brielle to curse earlier. “They wouldn’t? Would they?”

Brielle shrugged. “I wouldn’t put anything past a man who thinks he’s going to lose his mate. And it doesn’t sound like there’s much love lost for Briar in that pack anyways. Theon should have rejected her right off if he wasn’t planning on keeping her, but he didn’t. And he just might pay for that mistake with his life, but I’ll be damned if Briar is going to pay for it with hers.”