Chapter Twenty-Nine: Briar

“Nice to meet you.” Briar said softly as she followed after the man who’d helped her out of the helicopter, down a hallway lined with doors, her stomach sinking with every step she took. She wondered where he was from. He had an accent. It was faded like maybe he’d been here a while, but she could still clearly hear it.

“Well that wasn’t very convincing, Sweetheart. You don’t sound like it’s nice at all, meeting me.” Still holding her red bag in his hand he grinned and swiped the keycard on the last door in the hall before pushing it open with one hand and tilting his head to signal that she could lead the way. She attempted to smile, but knew that the expression on her face looked more like a grimace than anything vaguely pleasant.

“Don’t worry Briar. I’m not going to gobble you up. Seriously. I already told you. I’m here to make sure that you’re safe. Brielle told us about your pack. She was concerned about your safety. That’s why you two didn’t drive home. Even with Rian along with you, cars are much easier targets, at least with the sort of weapons we’d face up here. You would have had to stop for gas, bathroom breaks, and besides, it would have taken much longer for you to get down here.” He flicked on the light as the door shut behind him and she heard the deadbolt slide into place, frowning when she realized that he was still inside the room with her.

Taking five steps forward Briar realized that they were inside a large, luxurious hotel room. There were two king sized beds facing a huge TV, a small kitchenette, and even a sitting area with a gas fireplace. Just past the sitting area there was a sliding glass door, and on the other side of it was a balcony that stretched the entire length of the room.

Caelan had walked past her, setting her suitcase lightly on the bed next to the fireplace and unzipping it before turning to the other bed and plopping down on it, his boots kicked up on the comforter as Briar turned to stare at him, her eyebrows raised, the fear she’d felt since she’d inhaled his scent slipping away as annoyance and exhaustion took its place.

“Are we seriously sharing a bedroom?”

“I was told that you were an Omega? Did I misunderstand what that meant? I mean, my kind doesn’t have an equivalent concept, but I thought I grasped what was meant when they told me what you were.”” He sat up as he spoke, turning his body towards her, and the boldness that had somehow allowed Briar to speak a few moments earlier completely deserted her.

“You probably got it.” Her eyes fell as he pushed himself up, taking a step towards her as she just as quickly began to move backwards, until she’d run out of room to move away from him across the spacious hotel room.

“Brielle told me to come along and watch after you and she promised that you would be a quiet, pretty, mouse-like little thing who wouldn’t be a problem at all because you were used to submitting to every other wolf in your pack. But that doesn’t quite seem to be what I’m seeing, is it?”

“Isn’t it?” As her back hit the wall lightly he caged her in on either side with his thickly muscled arms. He wasn’t touching her, but he didn’t need to, to completely intimidate her whether that was what he meant to do or not.

“What are you?” Her voice was hardly more than a whisper and he leaned closer, using one hand to lift up her chin, forcing her eyes to meet his as they flashed, a fiery orange, the pupils losing their round shape for a moment as they morphed into slits.

“I’m the man who’s here to make sure no one hurts you. And that includes me. Even if you had an attitude bigger than the one that Brielle tosses around some days.” He leaned back, grabbing her hand lightly. “Let’s order room service. Did they starve you in your pack?” His eyes moved downward for a moment, taking in the way her collar bone jutted out, from the better part of a lifetime of being underfed.

“I used to give most of my food to my little sister. Our family didn’t have enough after our dad died and I wanted her to be stronger than I was. I thought that if she had enough then maybe she’d have a chance at being more than my mom and I were.”

Caelan nodded as he picked up his cell phone. “What do you feel like? Pizza? Burgers? Chinese? Breakfast foods? A little bit of everything?” “Whatever you want?” Briar shrugged. She was about to say that she wasn’t all that hungry when her stomach growled loudly, betraying her. “Can you order something to drink with whatever you decide on though? Liquor, wine, whatever, just something to help me forget.”

For a long moment he didn’t reply as he pressed his lips together into a line. “You’re not even legally old enough to drink, are you? I mean, I know you’re not. I saw the background check we ran on you when Brielle called for an Exfil..” He said the last part more to himself than to her.

“She called for a what? And you did a background check on me? Seriously? Brielle didn’t even know I would be coming with her? How’d you guys know to do that?” Caelan shook his head, ignoring her questions as he picked his phone back up.

By the time he’d finished ordering, Briar’s eyes were wide.

“You must be hungry.”

“Make yourself comfortable, m’eudail. It will be a while before Andrew gets back with the food.” He’d stayed close to her, and her back was still against the wall, all the while during the phone call but now, finally he stepped back and she drew in a slow breath, as she forced herself to relax.

“I still want to know who you are, Caelan.” He was halfway back across the room to his bed, but at her words he stopped and turned back towards her.

“Do you really want to know? Because what if I tell you and then you can’t fall asleep knowing that I’m sleeping just a few feet away from you?” His voice was low and she could hear a rumble of laughter in his chest. A small part of her knew that if she hadn’t still been so stuck on Torin she might have thought that that accent of his was sexy as Hell. She was sure that most women who came across him probably thought so. He was undeniably good looking.

“I do want to know.” She bent and unzipped the boots that Oaklyn had given her earlier before slipping them off and placing them next to the bed. Next she pushed open the suitcase, her fingers slipping through the pile of luxurious fabric before turning her face towards the muscular man who’d settled back on the opposite bed again. He was watching her with an appraising gaze. “And I want to know where you’re from as well.” He raised an eyebrow at her new request.

“You are a demanding little thing. Not at all like Brielle said you’d be.” He made a tsking sound, but she could tell by his expression, before she dropped her eyes back to the contents of her suitcase, that he was amused. “I live in Las Vegas.”

“Not what I meant.” Her response was immediate and she could practically feel him roll his eyes even though she wasn’t looking at him.

“But as you might have guessed I’m from Scotland.” Briar nodded, accepting this answer.

“And I’m what the Finnish call a Lohikäärme. What the Turkish call the Ejderha. And what the Polish call Smok.”

“Are all of your kind this prone to blathering on? I mean I’m a werewolf. It isn’t as if we’re not well known, is it?”

“The Germans call us Drache.” He kept going, a smile curving his lips, completely undiscouraged by her reaction. “The Italians call us Drago.” At this she stilled.

“No.” She shook her head. She’d heard the stories but she thought that they were myths, at least in modern times. They were something that existed once upon a time, but not anymore. Did they?

“That isn’t possible. They’re extinct. You’re making fun of me saying that’s what you are. Aren’t you?” Was he? Had she just run away from one nightmare to land herself smack dab in the middle of another? Had she jumped out of the frying pan only to throw herself directly into the fire and if she had, did she have any chance of figuring out how to get herself out?