Chapter Seven: Briar

Her head was pounding, but despite the discomfort she still felt Briar had never felt so warm and safe in her entire life.

“Lay still, Little One, you had quite the fall. Again.” The deep voice was so close to her that if she hadn’t been wrapped tightly in a thick cocoon of blankets and held in his strong arms she would have likely bolted. But she was and so instead she slowly opened her eyes, realizing that she had burrowed her face into his chest. He smelled delicious, like all the things that she loved, cedar and honey and a hint of salt. For a moment she was tempted, or perhaps it was her wolf, to flick out her tongue and taste him, to see if he tasted as good as he smelled, but she quickly suppressed the impulse, her cheeks turning pink with embarrassment at the idea.

It was only a moment later when she realized that she was naked beneath the blankets that she was wrapped in, and then her cheeks burned an even deeper red as she shifted, not sure what she should say or do. He cleared his throat, recapturing her attention, before she managed to feel how still and hard he’d grown beneath her.

“You were taking a shower and I heard you scream. By the time I reached you, you were unconscious again, but your head was bleeding. I wasn’t able to dress you and stop the bleeding so I wrapped you up, first in towels, then in this blanket and I carried you here so that you would be near the fire and I could make sure that you were breathing and were alright until you came round again. And here we are. The shirt for you to get dressed is still in the bedroom, but I think I’d rather carry you there at his point. Is that alright?”

“I think so? My head hurts.” Her voice was barely louder than a whisper as she spoke this time.

Standing, he gathered her more firmly against his chest. Her heartbeat sped up as he carried her back towards the room that seemed to be her’s, at least for the time being. Cradling her in one arm he opened the door, depositing her on the enormous bed, still wrapped in blankets and towels, before stepping back.

“The shirt is right there,” he said with a frown, his brow furrowed. “I’m going to step outside the door, but I’ll leave it cracked. I don’t want any chance of you falling again.

“I feel fine right now.” She objected, her voice sounding stronger than it had a moment earlier.

“Did you feel fine before you got in the shower?” he questioned.

“Yes. For the most part,” her voice was smaller now.

“I am going to wait just on the other side of the door with my back turned. I’ll listen for you. Call for me the second you’re dressed and I’ll take you out into the kitchen to eat.” Briar nodded obediently. “Oh and what’s your name?”

Briar froze, pulling the blanket more tightly about her shoulders as if it offered some sort of protection. For a fleeting moment she thought about saying something different, giving him a fake name. But what would she say? She’d never been a very good liar, even to save herself and his tone was powerful, almost like an Alpha order, vibrating through her body with authority.

Her eyes flickered to the floor in submission and she sighed before giving a small shake of her head. “Briar. I’m Briar.”

Glancing up she saw him nod, a small smile curving up the corner of his lips. “That’s pretty. Okay, Briar. I’ll be out here waiting.”

Turning she watched as his broad shoulder barely fit through the door frame. As promised he stepped to the side before closing the door, leaving just a crack remaining, so he’d be able to better hear her if she passed out again.

Slipping out of the blankets and towels she wondered if she would. It only took a second to pull the enormous grey t-shirt over her head. She practically swam in the softly worn fabric, and as promised it was more of a dress than a shirt. It reached all the way to the tops of her knees and touched her elbows, although it also kept slipping down over her shoulder when she tried to adjust the neckline to make it stay in place.

Oh well, it would have to do.

Running a hand through her elbow length dark brown hair she realized that it was already dry, a mess of uncontrolled curls and waves. Laying next to the wood stove must have dried it far faster than it normally would have on its own, but she badly needed a comb to try to tame the soft mass of tangles. She reached the door and pulled it open, stepping through only to be met by a growl of disapproval from the enormous man who she had come to know as her host.

“I thought I told you to call for me when you were ready to go into the kitchen. I won’t have you falling and hurting yourself again until we know that you’re steady on your feet.”

Almost without thinking she rolled her eyes, but she tucked her chin down as she did it, so he only barely saw that she had done it. “I’m not a child, Sir. I can walk at least. And I won’t be more of a burden on you than I’ve already been.” She took a step back as she said the words, giving herself as much space from him as she could. “I’m very used to caring for myself and for others even, but I’m not used to being cared for.”

Torin blew out a slow breath as he watched her carefully, making sure that she wasn’t unsteady on her feet.

“Right now, whether you like it or not, you are the one who needs care. And I’m in a position to offer that care. You’ve passed out twice and by the condition you’re in you seem to be in some kind of trouble. Is that not true?”

Briar ran a hand through her hair, and didn’t answer, still refusing to meet his eyes.

“I see, little wolf. Maybe you’ll be more willing to tell me your story once your stomach is full.” Her eyes came up at this, just in time to see him move forward, sweeping her up off her feet, so that she was cradled against his strong warm chest again.

“What are you?” She finally asked, in a small, almost childlike voice. He couldn’t help but laugh at the question and the shy way that she peered up at him as she asked it..

“I’ll make you a deal, Wolfling. We can trade questions, once I get you eating. But you must begin to give me at least once solid answer first before I will give you an answer. Does that sound fair?” Briar felt his dark eyes watching her as she furrowed her delicate brow, her mind racing as she considered his deal. What could it hurt, telling another shifter why she’d run? He obviously wasn’t a wolf? What was the worst that could happen? That he’d take her back to her pack?

Of course, there were horror stories of things that happened to girls who left the packs. Girls who fell in with dragon clans and thought that they’d found love when what they’d really found was that sort of trouble they’d never be able to get out of, or girls that simply disappeared and were never heard from again.

Disappearing forever wasn’t the worst thing in the world though, Briar thought with a sigh, as Torin set her gently on a high backed bar chair that was one of several that sat at his breakfast bar. Still she murmured her agreement to this deal of questions and answers as he left her in her seat and he gave her a small smile.

“I’m trusting that even though this chair is on the tall side, with the arms, you’ll manage not to fall out of it?” as if to make sure, he scooted it in so close that the darkly stained wood pressed against the brightly polished counter.

“I’ll do my best,” Briar murmured, taking a deep breath, and trying to pinpoint his scent, since he had yet to reveal what type of shifter he was. Maybe, if she could figure it out for herself, she could save herself a question or two. Her eyes narrowed as she followed his broad shouldered figure across the large kitchen space. It was as nice as any of the cooking spaces that she had worked in back on Iron Moon lands, including in the Pack House.

She sucked her lower lip in between her teeth, as she realized that his sheer size had to eliminate a number of possibilities. How many shifters were that size? Werewolf men were large in general, but many shifters weren’t hulking brutes that stood out among the general population, or at least that’s what her mother had told her once when she was younger. When she was small one of her favorite things had been hearing stories of other types of shifters, and dreaming that she was something other than she was.

There were horses, dragons, wolverines, bears, panthers, alligators, eagles, reindeer, a few types of snakes, and several species of deer to name a few. As Torin began to reheat the soup on the stove a second time, and put the bread into the oven to warm it up, Briar watched him with narrowed eyes.

He was bulkier than she’d imagined anyone other than a dragon, bear, or maybe one of the large horse shifters being.

“Still trying to figure it out Sweetheart?” her heart pounded in her chest at the endearment, even though she knew he was using it casually and when she looked up she saw a twinkle in his eyes that said that he was half teasing her.

“Wouldn’t you be? If you hadn’t already figured me out?”

“Oh I know you’re a little delicate wolf, but I haven’t you out by half yet, Wolfling.” Leaving the soup to heat up he walked over and filled up a glass of water and then crossed the kitchen to set it carefully in front of her.

Meeting her eyes he bent forward, crossing his arms casually on the table as he leaned against it. Briar wasn’t sure why, but she suddenly felt ensnared by that gaze and she wasn’t sure if she loved it, or if she hated it. The one thing she was certain of, was that it wouldn’t be easy to escape from it if it wasn’t what he wanted.

“So, Briar. I get the first question. And it is a doozy. I want to know why you ran away from your pack. What sent you skittering across my lands, after someone had obviously tortured you and tried to beat you to death?” His dark eyes locked on hers and Briar felt her stomach clench. He might not be an Alpha and might not have the power to give her an order, but this again, for a second time was damn close.

Still, she had made a deal. She’d told him she would answer his questions if he would give her answers of her own. And for some reasons, she wanted answers from this huge man who she knew next to nothing about, who had saved her in moments of absolute vulnerability twice now.

“Do you know much about wolf shifters?” she began and when he raised an eyebrow at her she shook her head. “That isn’t my question, but it has to do with how much I’ll tell you. I need to know if you need a huge involved explanation about the whole mate thing or not? So, do you?” Her eyes held a hint of a challenge as she met his eyes, her chin raised, her cheeks pink, looking perhaps more beautiful than he’d ever seen her, in her small act of defiance.

“No, you don’t have to explain it to me, Briar. I understand it all quite well. So we can go from there.”

And so she began her story, going back to the morning of her eighteenth birthday, when she woke up to go to what she didn’t know would be her last day of high school.