Chapter Thirty-Five: Briar

“No. You’re cut off, Kid. Three drinks is more than enough for someone your size.” Caelan had grumbled when she’d poured the third drink, and had placed the bottle of bourbon next to his chair. Now he confirmed that he’d actually be confiscating it.

“I’m fine old man.” Briar pulled his shirt over her bent knees so that she was nearly entirely hidden inside what on her small frame was a vast amount of fabric. The dragon shifter raised an eyebrow. Since he’d been working for Rose Industries he’d seen two Omega wolf shifters pass through doing the job that Brielle was recruiting Briar for. They were popular and sought after in the brothel and one of the girls had ended up leaving and happily marrying one of their patrons at the end of her contract. The sort of total submission that they naturally offered wasn’t common, especially from a predator type of shifter, and they definitely had a sort of customer that wanted that when they came in for a visit.

But while Caelan and Briar had been eating dinner, and really since the moment they had gotten off the helicopter, he had been evaluating her disposition and nothing about the girl standing before him said Omega. She didn’t bow her head or avoid his eyes and she had thrown sassy replies his way more than once.

While he didn’t have extensive experiences with Omega females, the few he’d been around had practically cowered in his presence. They hadn’t spoken. Hell, they hadn’t even glanced in his direction. They’d been more skittish than most of the white tail deer shifters were when they first arrived. She obviously thought she was an Omega though, that much was clear. But after spending a few hours with her, Caelan was clear on one thing. The tiny underweight female was going to be trouble and if he thought his cousin would listen he would have told him to cut her loose.

He knew better though. If he told Hudson that the girl was more trouble than she was worth, his cousin would only be more interested in the little She-Wolf. Fuck, he might decide to keep her for himself, for the month, or worse, for the entire fucking year. Caelan realized he’d clenched down on his molars so hard that his jaw ached.

“I am old compared to you.” He blew out a slow breath, finally responding to what Briar had said nearly a minute before. “And I don’t want to have to babysit your hungover butt tomorrow morning.” He vaguely realized he wasn’t swearing like he normally did for her benefit. “Or I’ll have Brielle complaining that I didn’t take good care of you. She said I had to return you in the same condition I received you in-”

“Like I’m some-” Briar stood up abruptly, frowning down at Caelan for a brief moment before rocking back on her heels, her arms going out to both sides to steady herself. “Some thing.” She glared at Caelan for a long moment before collapsing back onto the couch.

“No one thinks you’re a thing, Briar.” Caelan stood, walking back to grab a bottle of water from the kitchen, with a sigh. He cracked it open and walked back over to where they’d been sitting for the better part of an hour.

“Yes they do. My mate thought I was some thing that could just be thrown away. And then you said…” her voice trailed off and for a moment her eyes unfocused as she stared off into the distance. “Well, I can’t remember now but you said whatever it was that you said that made me want to throw my glass at your head.”

“And that just proves that I made the right decision cutting you off, Little Wolf. However, I will have to insist that you work on drinking this bottle of water. And please try to eat more. You’ve had what? Half a piece of pizza and some fries?”

“And three glasses of bourbon.” Briar smiled warmly up at Caelen as he put the bottle of water into her hand, her anger of a moment earlier apparently forgotten.

“You know what? Brielle should kill me. Because I am doing a terrible job of babysitting you.”

Briar’s nose wrinkled at his words, but she took a sip of the water before she spoke.

“I’m not a baby.”

“You most certainly are not, Kid. No one is going to be accusing you of that. And for the record, I think that whoever your mate is, is a complete and total dumbass.”

Briar rolled her eyes at his words, before setting the water bottle down and flopping down on her back on the couch. “Not such a dumbass. He needs a strong Luna. Not a half starved runt like me. Even Torin didn’t want to look twice at me when I was throwing myself naked at him. I’m such an idiot.” Caelan’s eyes widened at this particular tidbit of information as his hand tightened around his glass.

“You’re not an idiot, Little Wolf. You’re a woman who has been through a lot in the last week, at least according to the little that Brielle has told me. And now you have a chance to start a new life. That’s never easy, but from what I’ve seen, you’re brave. You just don’t give yourself enough credit. I don’t know many women, fuck, I don’t know many men that would stand up to me the way you have since we’ve been in this room, but you’ve done it again and again.”

“But that doesn’t count. I know you’re not going to hurt me.”

“Fuck Briar. I’m a Dragon Shifter. That’s enough to make most people shut up and do what I say. But you’ve been sassy and smart mouthed and fun to be around. If I met you in a bar and I didn’t know that it wasn’t part of my job not to date you I’d ask you out in a second.”

“You would?” Again Briar’s nose crinkled, her eyes registering genuine shock at his admission.

“Yes, Little Wolf. I would. But I can’t and so I think we’re going to have to settle on being friends. Is that okay with you?” As Briar began to nod, a yawn escaped from between her lips.

“You really aren’t going to be able to eat any more, are you?” She shook her head from side to side and then gripped the couch, closing her eyes for a moment.

“The room spinning?”

“Mhmm.” She’d been about to nod, before she thought better of it.

“Teach you not to drink that much again. I’ve never seen a shifter get drunk on that little alcohol, but you are literally a lightweight. You’re tiny.” Briar shrugged and picked up the bottle of water again, taking another sip as she watched him begin to pack up the rest of the food and put it in the fridge.

“Why don’t you move over to your bed, Kid.” Briar stood, slowly this time, and fixed the tall dragon shifter with a glare.

“That is definitely my least favorite nickname.”

“Good to know.” He gave her a wide grin and Briar narrowed her eyes.

“I just guaranteed you’re going to call me that from now on, didn’t I?”

Caelan’s smile only grew wider as she crossed the room and plopped down into her bed.

“I’ll just have to come up with something worse for you then Dragon-Man.” He raised his eyebrows, but didn’t say a word in reply. “And don’t think that’s it. Obviously it’s not because that doesn’t sound embarrassing. But I’m going to figure something out, probably after the room stops tilting every time I move my head and once I do I’m going to use it every chance I get.”

“Okay, Kid. Anything else you need before I turn off the light?”

“No, thank you.” Caelan tried to remember the last time he’d smile as much as he had since he’d guarded the little she-wolf but he honestly couldn’t recall. Maybe it was the last time he’d visited home and seen his younger sister. But that had been a good few years earlier.

“All right. Good night Briar. Get some rest. You have a big day ahead of you. Sweet dreams.”

------------

It started with a whimper and then a scream of complete and total terror. Caelan had woken up before either sound, although he wasn’t sure exactly what it was that had roused him from his dreams. He realized that it must have been a change in Briar’s breathing a moment before she screamed again. Then he was on his feet, moving across the room, trying to speak gently, his hands freeing her upper body from the enormous comforter she had rolled herself into as he knelt by the side of the bed.

Caelan found himself in a rare moment of uncertainty. Briar had been through a lot. He didn’t want to make it worse by frightening her and he knew that a Dragon Shifter shaking her out of a nightmare could very well terrify her more than the nightmare itself.

“Little Wolf,” his voice was barely more than a whisper at first, but it grew louder as he repeated the more affectionate of the two nicknames he’d given her. “Little Wolf. Come on. Wake up. It’s just a nightmare. Wake up.” Finally he did wake up, gently touching her arm, relief flooding his body when her eyes came open and recognition quickly chased away the terror.

What he hadn’t expected was that she would throw her arms around his neck, pressing her face against his shoulder, not bothering to hide the tears that slid down her cheeks, making the skin between them slick and salty.

“Hey, Little Wolf. It was just a bad dream. You couldn’t be safer than you are now. Here with me.”

She shook her head and sniffled and with her head still pressed against his shoulder he took one finger and raised her chin so that he could see her face.

“You doubt me, Kid?” He tried to joke, but the fear in her eyes that remained caused his humor to fall flat.

“No. I don’t doubt you, Cae.” Caelan found himself smiling at the nickname she’d given him, pleased with the easy familiarity, even if it was a mistake to allow himself to get close to any of the girls, even as a friend. “But you don’t understand. He can still hurt me. Even when I’m here in this room with you. Torin could stop it, but no one else can,” she paused, obviously thinking hard on what she’d said, “or at least I’m not letting anyone else, and that means I’m fucked.” His eyebrows shot up. It was odd, hearing the petite girl swear so vehemently.

“So you think Torin, that’s that Bear Brute, right, can protect you better than I can?” Briar let out a small sigh and shrugged.

“I know you’d do whatever it took to protect me, Caelan. I also know that my mate doesn’t have to get into this room to physically harm me. And even you, my big strong Dragon Shifter bodyguard, can’t fight someone who is a hundred or a thousand miles away. Can you?” Caelan’s brow furrowed.

“You know, dragon’s are lucky, Cae. Having a mate sucks. I’d give anything to get rid of mine. It’s not the happily ever after they made it sound like when we were pups. At least not for girls like me. The Moon Goddess must have been seriously drunk when she assigned my mate. My best case scenario, if you can even call it that, is getting out of the situation alive.”