Chapter Fifty-Five: Briar

“You’re free to go.” Caelan walked into the room, a wide smile splitting his face in two. He looked so much younger than he had the last time she had seen him.

“What?” Briar could hardly believe what he was saying. Was it really possible? What could Harlow have done to convince Mr. Rose to set her free.

“Harlow worked some sort of magic and I just got the call from Mr. Rose that you are free to go. I believe there’s a group waiting for you in a suite on the floor below this one. If you want I can escort you down there. You’ll still need to meet with Mr. Rose before you leave the premises so that the magical contract between you can be severed. And we’ll need to wait for the witch to get here to make that happen.”

Briar was still dressed up from her photo shoot. She and the trio that had helped her get ready had been waiting for the auction to begin so that they could watch it in real time on the computer in the photography studio. The photographer had just finished selecting the photos that were going to be posted online, and Briar heard a frustrated sigh from somewhere behind her as Caelan made the announcement.

“I guess we won’t be needing these after all.” Briar heard someone say the words, but she was so focused on Caelan and leaving that she hardly noticed them.

She did take the time to thank everyone who had helped her get ready, but they could all tell that she was impatient to go downstairs and see for herself what was actually going on.

It wasn’t that she doubted Caelan’s words. Out of everyone in the building who worked for Hudson Rose, he was the only one she really trusted. Briar wasn’t sure why Caelan was so protective of her, but she recognized the impulse he clearly had to keep her safe, and it went a long way to easing any fears that she might have had about following along after him as he led the way down to the lower floor.

As they came to the door where Briar’s friends were waiting for her, she glanced down and saw that her hands were trembling. Had what Harlow said really been true? She didn’t think that the other girl was lying to her, Harlow had seemed far too earnest for that to be the case, but at the same time, maybe she’d misunderstood.

Torin had been extremely protective of her. Maybe he just hated the idea of her going into this type of work. He seemed like he might have a knight in shining armor thing going on. What if he saved her today only to lose interest in her by nightfall. With their history, it seemed as likely as not. He had, after all, made it clear that he didn’t see a future where the two of them ended up together. How could that have changed while they had been apart?

“You know you don’t have to do this?” Caelan was standing by her side when he finally spoke in his low, rumbling voice. “The offer I made earlier still stands. If you need a place to stay, you can stay in my apartment. No strings attached. You can take your time and figure out what you want to do next. If you’re only going back to him because you think it’s your only option, other than working for my cousin, then know that it isn’t. I’d be happy to help you Briar.”

Briar turned and threw her arms around Caelan, giving him a tight, long hug, before she let him go.

“I won’t forget what kind of a friend you have been, Caelan. But I’m going to be okay now. I can feel it. I didn’t want to leave Torin in the first place, and I only did because I didn’t think he cared about me. But if he really came all this way to see me then there must be something there and what I felt wasn’t just one sided. If I don’t at least see if we’re compatible, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

“He’s a lucky bastard then, Briar. If you ever need me, call, text, do whatever it takes to let me know you need help and I’ll be there. You aren’t alone anymore. I think you have more friends than you have even realized yet.”

Briar wiped away a tear that had escaped from the corner of her eye, and finally turned back to the door. Caelan took a few steps back, giving her space as she reached her hand up and finally knocked three times. The sound seemed to fill the quiet hallway, and for a long moment there was silence before Briar heard someone on the other side of the door.

The door swung open almost immediately and Briar saw Oaklyn standing there, her eyes wide with surprise as she realized that Briar was actually standing in front of her.

“Come in, come in.” Oaklyn’s voice was clearly excited and she practically vibrated with the energy of her excitement as her eyes swept over Briar’s made up form.

Caelan had stepped back far enough that Oaklyn didn’t even notice him, and Briar didn’t say a word, sensing that the tall dragon shifter wanted to simply slip away.

“I was afraid we’d never see you again. When you left that night I had no idea that this is who Brielle worked for. But once Ted and Torin figured it out we all agreed we needed to get down here right away. I was afraid Torin was never going to pull his head out and get his act together, but thankfully he did. Come in, come in. Torin’s in the shower right now, but he should be out soon. I think he’s trying to stay busy so he didn’t go charging upstairs after Harlow to see how things were going.”

Briar nodded as Oaklyn continued to ramble on about how happy she was to see her and how afraid she’d been that they wouldn’t be able to find her.

“Is Harlow here right now?” Briar finally came far enough into the suite that she was able to look around. She took a step backwards, and nearly turned to leave when she realized who was laying back on the couch, his eyes closed, a pained expression on his face. “I’m not sure this is a good idea. I can wait outside.”

“Why don’t you come into the bedroom, Honey? We can let him sleep. Did you know that he came to Torin and demanded he be part of the search for you. It seems that man finally found some of the sense the Goddess gave him, even if it was too little too late.” Oaklyn kept her voice low as she tugged Briar towards a door she hadn’t noticed before.

Following along behind Oaklyn, Briar avoided looking in Theon’s direction. His being there felt wrong, and a part of Briar felt like she should be angry that he was there, or hurt because of everything that had happened. But then the image of Theon’s face when she rejected him came unbidden to her mind, and Briar found that she only felt pity for the man who was now curled up on the couch in obvious pain.

Yes he had caused her to suffer a great deal. He had thrown away the bond that the Goddess had given them. But Briar didn’t feel pain with the severing of the bond. She’d only felt relief. She knew that wasn’t what was supposed to happen when one mate rejected the other. It was supposed to be incredibly painful and damaging to both of them. But for some reason that wasn’t what had happened to her.

Briar let Oaklyn guide her across the large bedroom, to sit down on the king size bed, before she realized that Oaklyn hadn’t answered her question.

“I didn’t see Harlow?” She tried another angle, hoping that Oaklyn would tell her she was simply out doing some errand, although Briar couldn’t really imagine what that would be. “She came with you didn’t she? She’s here, right?”

Oaklyn’s teeth worried her lower lip as she avoided meeting Briar’s eyes.

“She didn’t actually come with us. We ran into her here, in Mr. Rose’s office. After our meeting she came and found us downstairs. I guess there’s some plot against Theon and someone came here to try to hurt you to take down Theon. He thought that if he weakened Theon by hurting his mate, he might be able to overpower him and seize control of the pack. At least that’s the little that I’ve gathered from what everyone has said.”

“Someone is still after me? And they came all this way to get to Theon through me?”

“Yes. But Torin will never let that happen. He cares about you, Sweetie. And he finally realized that pushing you away was one of the biggest mistakes he’s ever made.”

“But Harlow?” Briar let out a frustrated sigh, running her fingers roughly through her hair. “She isn’t here now?”

“No.” Oaklyn looked down at her hands, knowing Briar wasn’t going to let this go. “She hasn’t come back.”

“What if whoever is after me hurt her? We have to make sure she’s alright? I mean you just said he’s here in this city. And he what? Brought her along for fun? Why was she here?”

“That I don’t know. Hopefully she’ll be along soon. But my number one priority is making sure that you’re safe. Because I’ve seen Torin broken once, and I never want to see that again. I don’t know what that girl did to make this happen, but I’m grateful as Hell to her for whatever she did. Now wait here for a few moments while I yell through the door and tell Torin you’re here. I’m sure he’ll be along once he knows who’s waiting for him inside this room.”