Chapter Forty-One: Caelan

What Caelan was about to do could earn him the beating of a lifetime. If Hudson wasn’t his cousin he’d be risking his life with his stupidity.

Did he have feelings for the girl?

He had to ask himself the question, simply because he was acting like a complete fool over her. But the honest answer he found when he really thought about it surprised him.

Objectively he knew that Briar was beautiful. Anyone, man or woman could see that. Caelan wasn’t sure how it had gone so long unacknowledged in her own pack, but he imagined that it was the sort of thing where, when you saw a person every day since they were small, you didn’t always realize what they’d grown into until it hit you in the face like a two by four. Perhaps that was what her mate had felt like when he’d finally realized who she was to him.

No, Caelan’s feelings were distinctly of a more brotherly variety. And he couldn’t imagine allowing his baby sister to do what he was supposed to support Briar in doing just because his cousin thought he could make some quick money off of the girl.

Of course this was different, namely because Briar wasn’t his sister, and he hadn’t known her since she was tiny. He had no reason to feel so protective over her. But something about the little Wolf Shifter seemed to bring out his desire to protect, without any thought for personal gain. Caelan wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about that, but he knew he wasn’t doing a good job resisting the pull of his conscience, or whatever it was, and he was increasingly sure that he didn’t want to try.

Caelan had supported his cousin with all that he had in him, since he’d arrived in America. He regularly put himself in harm’s way, although harm was very unlikely to come to a dragon shifter, as long as he had the five and a half seconds needed to complete his transformation, unless it was in the form of major firepower, a stronger, faster, or smarter dragon, or one of the few beings in the universe more powerful than a dragon, which were few and far between.

Now Caelan wanted a favor of his own. Really, it was less a favor than for Hudson to overlook what he was about to do. He’d convince the girl to do something else. She wasn’t made for this, not like some of the girls who showed up at Hudson’s office. Brielle was the perfect example. When she had arrived in Vegas, she had been excited about the money, the luxury, and the positions that the women who went to work at The Dragon’s Lair often found for themselves after the time on their contract had run out.

But fuck, he didn’t want that for Briar. And he couldn’t begin to say why.

Caelan didn’t have a problem with what went on in the brothel. He’d enjoyed a number of nights there himself when he tired of his own company. But the idea of Briar being auctioned so that she could support her family and escape her past was not one that he could stomach. If he could put a stop to it, Caelan suddenly knew that he would. Now he just needed to find the time between the planes landing and Briar’s first meeting with Hudson. Caelan was certain his cousin would get the pen in the little She-Wolf’s hand and the contract signed as fast as he was able, if he didn’t do something to stop it before she met with him. And once the contract was signed it was nearly impossible to break.

Rian stood from his seat near Caelan and walked towards the back of the plane, giving his friend a smug grin as he passed him. Caelan turned his head as Rian passed by, but managed not to turn to look at Brielle. Instead he strained his ears, hoping he’d hear a sound that would give him the opening that he needed. In the long moments that followed Caelan only heard the steady hum of the engines and the hiss of the air coming in through the vents. Then he heard it. The sound of high heels quietly clicking against the carpet as Brielle followed her boyfriend towards the back of the plane.

The moment that Caelan heard the door to the bathroom shut he was out of his seat and in two large steps he’d closed the space to where Brielle had been sitting and settled in, leaning towards Briar as she made a concerted effort to ignore him.

“I need to talk to you right now.”

Briar’s head jerked in his direction, her eyes wide as she searched his face. He knew it was because of the seriousness, and perhaps the hint of desperation that infused his tone.

“Listen Caelan, I don’t really want to-”

“You don’t have to do this. You have other options. I have a spare room at my place you have for as long as you want. No strings attached. I’m hardly ever there. I’ll help you get a job for someone else. You can save up to help your mom and sister.”

“Caelan-” he could tell from her tone what she was going to say before she said it and so he rushed on, trying to give her more reasons to make any decision other than the one that he suddenly knew deep in his bones that she had already decided to make. He was offering her an out and he was desperate now that she take it.

“Hell, Briar. If you want I can stay with my brother and we can figure out a way for your sister and mom to stay with you in my place while we get everything sorted out.”

“But they wouldn’t have a pack.” Briar’s eyes had turned back to the window as he spoke. The only sign she was listening came when she responded to what he had just said with what he knew was the beginning of her telling him she was going forward with this deal with the devil.

“They’d be rogues.” Glancing down he saw that her grip on the seat rest had turned her fingers as white as bone. “I can’t do that to my baby sister. I do want her free from the pack I grew up in. But I want them to find a new pack. A place where they can start fresh. Where she can grow up to be whoever she was meant to be. Maybe even a pack without Omegas. I know a lot of packs don’t even have them anymore. I think I’ll ask for that to be part of the deal I make with Mr. Rose.” When Briar finally turned her gaze back towards Caelan she almost managed a convincing smile, although it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Caelan, my mate is fucking someone else. I’m on my own. I realize that this isn’t the fairytale ending I would have dreamed up for myself but let’s face it, this isn’t a fairytale. And even if it was, I certainly wouldn’t be the Princess in the story.”

“You should be.” Caelan sank back in Brielle’s seat, not caring how pissed she was going to be when she came out of the bathroom with Rian.

“I didn’t think a dragon shifter would be so sentimental.” Briar raised an eyebrow and gave him a weak smile before turning back to look out the window. “Besides. It’s only a year.” Her eyes drifted closed for a moment and she took a deep breath. “And tell me this. Does Mr. Rose protect his employees well? Does he make sure that the girls who work for him stay safe?”

“He does everything in his power to make sure that nothing bad happens to any of his people as long as they’re loyal to him and do exactly what he tells them to do.”

Briar met Caelan’s eyes and nodded. “Not being loyal has never been my problem.” She gave a small laugh that sounded pained. “And after…” her voice trailed off, her eyes fluttering closed again as she shook her head before continuing, “everything else that’s happened, at least I’ll finally be in control of my destiny. I won’t be a burden on anyone or an inconvenience.”

“You aren’t either of those things, Briar, and whoever put those thoughts in your head needs to be-”

“It’s fine, Cae. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Caelan was about to open his mouth to inform her that what she was asking him was simply impossible, that no matter what she decided he was going to worry about her until she was happily settled somewhere, preferably far away from his cousin and Rose Industries, when he felt a small hand land on his shoulder. He winced, not because Brielle’s grip hurt, but because he’d seen what her temper could do, and he had hoped to never be on the receiving end of her wrath.

“Tell me that this isn’t what I think it is, Caelan? You aren’t really that stupid are you?”

“I don’t know Bree. How stupid do you think I am?” Caelan tilted his head back and gave the dark haired She-Wolf his best smile, trying to sound completely undisturbed.

“Certainly not stupid enough to come, sit by my new friend and try to convince her not to come to work for our wonderful corporation. You wouldn’t want to try to screw her out of the opportunity of a lifetime, not when you’re happily living off those same riches, right, Caelan Kerr?”

Caelan glanced quickly at Briar and found that she was back to staring out the window, her eyes glazed over as if she were entirely oblivious to the conversation happening right next to her.

He knew Brielle expected him to deny what he was doing, but instead he just shrugged before pushing himself up out of the chair so he could look down at the angry She-Wolf, pausing to lean closer to her so no one else would hear what he was about to say.

“You might want to shower instead of rushing straight over to my cousin’s office to tell on me, Bre. Wouldn’t want Hudson to hear that you left your newest charge all on her lonesome both here and last night, so you could fuck one of his enforcers. Pretty sure my cousin thought that the two rooms we were in last night had Rian and I in one, and you and Briar in the other. That was pretty risky, don’t you think, leaving one of his untouched prizes with a young, virile dragon. If word got out that we’d spent the night in that room together, people might question her purity for the auction. And since Hudson can’t kill me, since I’m family, he might look for the next most appealing target.”

Turning Caelan strode back to his seat without looking back to see the expression on Brielle’s face. Her lack of response told him she’d bought his lie though. His cousin wouldn’t be pissed she’d left Briar with him. Caelan and Lachlan were two of the only people in the world that their cousin truly trusted. And Caelan wouldn’t have taken advantage of that trust just to fuck some girl Brielle was bringing in.

Raising one hand he asked the flight attendant to refill his drink. No, he wouldn’t have broken Hudson’s trust to sleep with Briar, but he’d broken it all the same, and that was something that the younger dragon shifter was having a hard time wrapping his head around. What was it about this little She-Wolf that made him risk far too much to make sure she didn’t regret the choices she was making right after she was rejected?

Caelan couldn’t begin to understand why, but somehow he knew he wasn’t going to stop, even if it meant risking his cousin’s wrath once he got back home.