Page 56 of The Broken Wolf's Redemption

“Horror ones, no doubt.”

Briar May had come all that way and Seren couldn’t turn her away. She half wanted to, but she couldn’t think of a single legitimate reason other than that her brother was a bit of a douchebag and was banned from the shop. Rome did apologize and he’d never attempted to so much as contact her in two months. Briar May had never been anything other than kind. Holding her accountable for her asshole brother’s actions wasn’t okay. It would say that Seren still felt something for him, that she hadn’t moved on, that she wasn’t mature enough to separate the two. Above all, she always tried to be professional. Denying Briar May would fall under the category of causing someone undue distress and hurt, and that wasn’t professional or a decent thing to do as a human being.

“If you want to come back to my room, we can talk about what you want.”

Briar May was taken aback by the suggestion. She clearly hadn’t expected to get through more than the shop’s front door before running into a whole lot of rejection.

She followed Seren back and she tried to pretend that she wasn’t affected. Not by the somewhat familiar, fresh flower scent of Briar May, not by the fact that she looked nothing at all like Rome, but was still his sister and had the same family blood running through her veins. Not by the source of information she could have been if Seren had dared to ask.

She wouldn’t. She didn’t want to know.

It wasn’t her business what Rome was doing. She did want to ask about Waverly, but she wouldn’t even do that.

In her room, Briar May stood near the door and Seren took up her tablet. She had a good app where she kept everyone’s appointments and all notes from the consult, plus attached reference materials or links her clients sent. She opened that up. Her hands weren’t shaking at all. Her heart wasn’t pounding far too fast. She was only going to ask about the tattoo. Only that.

“Sometimes, when I think about Rome, I still think about stabbing him.”

Briar May laughed. Her purse was black leather and slung across her torso, over the baby bump bulging from her coat. She took out a white envelope and held it out. Seren withdrew like it was toxic waste dripping from her fingers.

“It’s a check,” Briar May explained. “For the roof. Rome wanted me to give it to you. He thought about mailing it, but decided you’d probably throw it out once you opened it and saw who it was from.”

“He thought I wouldn’t tear it up and throw it out coming from you?”

“He hoped I could convince you to take it. He wanted me to say that he understands you had to get legal representation, and at the very least, you should let him reimburse you for that. Use the money for the roof. That isn’t cheap on commercial buildings.” She shrugged and her cheeks grew pink. “I wouldn’t know about that, but that’s what he told me to say.”

Seren set the tablet aside before she dropped it. She crossed her arms. “He really told you what he did?”

“Yeah. I thought you were his girlfriend. I should have known better. Although, you guys looked good together. I thought there was something real there. Not just when he looked at you, but when you were with him. I know my brother isn’t an easy person or even a good one, and that it would take a special kind of person to be with someone like that, but I thought if anyone could, it would be you.”

“Because I’m gullible and obviously a little bit deranged?”

“Seren,” Briar May said patiently. “You’re a strong woman. You’re a wolf who was raised in human society and you’re thriving. Rome said you went through your own hell with your previous husband. He wouldn’t say more, but there’s a reason that exes become exes. Even though the world is a hard place, especially for a shifter and even after heartbreak, you didn’t let the glow you have go out. Most of us are just strong when we’re forced to be, but you seem strong all the time. Strong and kind. That’s a very hard thing to be. I know now that my brother was blackmailing you, sort of, when I first met you at Brooke’s, but you brought him anyway. You were so good with Waverly. She really connected with you. The way you talked about my brother and the way you looked at him, it was like witnessing magic. He couldn’t contract that. I think you felt it long before he tried to buy it and get you to sign off on it, otherwise you wouldn’t have gone to him in the first place.”

“I knew he was rich,” Seren protested, eager to defend herself.

Briar May blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Would you ask just any rich person for a loan?”

“No. Rome was a client. No other client had that kind of money that I knew of.”

“But you didn’t even know for sure he had it.”

“I had a sense of it.”

“Is that really the only reason you asked him? Is this place the only reason you agreed to the terms he set out?”

Seren gaped at her. She was suddenly so on edge that she felt like snapping something about would Briar May stand there and ask questions like that if it was herself or her daughter in her place, but that would be terrible. It would be giving in to emotion instead of thinking first and letting what she felt simmer and fade before she reacted. It didn’t matter that she was bleeding. She didn’t have to spread those cuts to someone else.

It didn’t matter that she’d been bleeding for months now.

“Did Rome send you here or did he write up a check because he knew you were coming?”

“A little of both,” Briar May admitted without any trouble. “We all drove back in. Castor would never let me come to the city alone. We left Sadie with my parents for the day, and Waverly too.”

“Waverly?”

“Rome bought a farm a month and a half ago. It was a place my parents knew about. This little old lady lived there. She was one of the last holdouts to sell in the area. My dad has been trying to incorporate that land into our holdings for almost forty years. She had no idea that she was surrounded by shifters. She thought it was a few developers buying everything or someone running a huge commercial farming operation. She was ninety-three, and when Rome approached her, she finally agreed to sell. She always wanted to retire down in Florida, and he helped her find a great condo as part of the deal.”

“Wow. Ninety-three and still living on her own. That’s incredible.”

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