Page 38 of The Warrior's Captive

Never officially his mate, but she was. Shewas.

Sweet, submissive, darling little Briar May who used to pretty much be afraid of her own shadow, who had tried to talk herself into being okay with a life that was stagnating all around her, who had experienced nothing of the outside world. She was, barely holding herself together, but only because what wanted to come out of her was something vicious and scary. The wolf in a way that no one had ever seen. She wasn’t far enough along in her pregnancy for the shift to truly do any harm, at least she thought, but even still, she wasn’t going to let the wolf have control.

But there was a point where she wouldn’t have any say any longer.

“No one is going to keep you from him.” Zora’s hand was blissfully cool on her forehead, and then she cupped her face like someone twice her age, someone twice as wise, would do. Like Brooke would. Zora looked so much like her mother. They were both dark haired and beautiful. Soft. Trustworthy. A person you could tell just by looking at once that they had a great amount of love and knowledge, tenderness and goodness in them.

It was no wonder Kieran had taken one look at Zora when they were practically just kids and fallen completely in love.

She waited as Zora searched her face, waiting for her to calm down. She tried to steady herself and her breathing, but that was easier than it sounded. It was still choppy. She inhaled and scented her brother. He smelled like fresh herbs, the kids, like sunshine and earth and familiar wolves. He was still there waiting for them in the living room, probably tortured and uncertain and pained. He wasn’t just her alpha. He was her older brother and he felt responsible for her wellbeing.

He wouldn’t leave without Zora either.

“Where are the twins?”

Zora’s soft smile was full of a mother’s love. “With your mother and Silas in their cabin. I brought them over immediately.”

“Did they see?”

There was the smallest hesitation, then Zora exhaled forcefully. “Yes. For a second. Not everything. They know someone is hurt and has to stay at our cabin and that their grandma is coming. They’re not afraid. They have all of us to protect them.”

“I’m so glad they’re okay.” The sight of their tears when she’d made it back home would forever be burned into her memory. They didn’t seem to suffer any ill effects of that day. They’d made it back to the big cabin unharmed and told Kieran everything. They’d just been so happy she was home they wouldn’t stop crying and hugging her and telling her how much they loved her.

“Okay.” One inhale. A huge one. One long exhale. Zora’s, not hers. She couldn’t manage even that much. “Castor’s pack, they gave their word he would be unharmed, but he’s not.”

“No!” Briar May’s fingers grasped Zora’s upper arms. They bit in hard, but Zora didn’t even seem to feel it.

“We don’t know what happened, his pack alpha said it was family business,” Zora said, though her words seemed to float in the air. All Briar May could think of was that this was all somehow her fault.

“He’s running a fever, which has to mean something is infected, but my mom will treat him. She’s the best healer in the state. I have faith in her. He’ll be okay from what I saw, but that was just a quick assessment. I know he’s a hardened man who has done things. He was raised in the kind of environment I can’t even imagine. Like something from centuries ago. He looks like he’s been lost in time, dropped in the wrong era, but this kind of barbaric deed, it’s unfathomable.”

Briar May let out a keening wail and Zora clutched her face tighter. “I’m sorry. I’m making it worse. I just need to prepare you, but there are no words. He’s clothed, but I can’t even begin to guess what’s underneath. His face is a wreck. Broken, swollen, and cut up. I think the rest of him is in worse shape.”

She choked back a sob. “Please. Help me there. I don’t know if I can even walk, but I’ll crawl if I have to.”

“No. No. Darling, no. Kieran! Kieran!”

Kieran careened into the bathroom looking half like a ghost. “Will you carry Briar May to the cabin? She’s in shock and she’s not well, but she needs to be there with Castor.” His doubt was visible, but Zora pressed on. “Please. She needs him and he needs her just as badly.”

Though he was alpha and a big man in the prime of his life, Kieran bowed his head to his much smaller, daintier wife’s decision. His trust and love for her shone so plainly in the look they shared, that Briar May started sobbing when he wrapped his arms around her. Zora kept one hand on her back as she was lifted and she walked beside them all the way out of Briar May’s cabin, down the gravel road one street over, and into the big cabin.

That cabin, above all other buildings anywhere, would always be special to her because it was the place where she’d been raised. The exposed beams in the ceiling, round golden logs, the huge porch, green door, wood stove and fireplaces, the soft curtains and bright splashes of art normally cheered Briar May, but now they barely registered.

The sight of the two guards, Philip and Stefan, at the foot of the large wooden staircase with the huge log posts made her heart catch. She thrashed in Kieran’s arms, suddenly desperate to be put down. She had to get past those men. She had to fly up the stairs and find which bedroom they’d put Castor in.

Briar May couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d somehow cursed him. She’d had a bad feeling that he wasn’t okay being sent back to his pack, but she’d waited to act.

“Where is he?” Kieran still hadn’t put her down yet, even though she was twisting and turning in his arms. She put the question to both men, but they just tilted their faces to the top of the stairs.

Kieran brushed past them, carrying her without jostling her. He didn’t set her down until he’d checked every bedroom and found the one they wanted.

Nothing could ready her for the sight of what had been a strong, whole, beautifully fearsome warrior now broken and bruised. He sat on the edge of the queen bed.

Kieran could hardly set her down before she was moving. She flailed through the room and threw herself at Castor’s feet. He was dressed and wearing boots, but the parts of him she could see were so wrecked that it was almost as though he’d already joined the ranks of the dead. His one eye was completely swollen shut, and the other was only open a crack, just enough for her to see the blood and fog.

He didn’t look like he knew where he was, though how she could read anything from a face so battered and torn, everything swollen and cut up, she wasn’t sure. He proved her wrong when he inhaled and turned his face to her.

“Briar May…”

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