Saving Briar

The soup was nearly ready when Torin heard the scream. Turning he raced in the direction it had come from, his gaze swinging from side to side, searching for possible danger. Could someone have gotten into his home? Was there a threat? Had whoever hurt the girl before, gotten her again?

He was surprised at the fierce wave of protectiveness that he felt well up in his chest, but even as he ran to see what was wrong, he pushed the feelings away. Of course he instinctively felt the need to protect her. Even if she was a wolf, she was still small and fragile and injured. It was natural that he would feel drawn to protect a woman in her position.

When he arrived at the bathroom he found that her scent was the only other scent in his home and sighed with relief. At least she appeared to be alone in the bathroom.

“Girl? Wolfling?” He suddenly realized that he still didn’t know her name. “Are you alright in there?” She didn’t answer. Turning the knob he found that it turned easily in his hand. She had left it unlocked and he gave thanks for that at least. If she had locked the thing he would have broken it down. After that scream, and now her silence he needed to make sure she was okay.

“I can’t hear you, and I heard you scream, so I’m opening the door to check on you.” He eased the door open slowly and then, when he glimpsed her tan form, crumpled at the base of the shower, the hot water beating down on her, the irony smell of blood stronger than it had been since he found her, he let out a growl and raced towards her, suddenly not worried about what he might see.

“Fuck, Wolfling, what happened to you?” In a moment he was beside her, one strong hand turning off the water while the other turned her over to make sure her face was clear of the water, and that she was breathing. With relief he saw that she was, but that she must have hit her head on the way down, because she had a nasty cut just above her eye that was bleeding.

Wishing he had more than two hands, so that he could apply pressure to the wound, while also wrapping her in a towel, he shook his head, reaching for a dry washcloth, that was still on the pile of towels he had left her, and applied pressure to her cut, before quickly positioning her on his lap so she was no longer awkwardly sprawled in the shower. Pressing the washcloth to the cut again, he reached for a towel and wrapped her in it as best he could, before scooping her up, and heading in the living room, where there was a fire blazing in the wood stove.

He sat in his huge leather chair, cradling her in his arms, and grabbed a blanket, tucking it all around her, so that his eyes were no longer tempted to sweep over the round curves of her breast, or the tapering bend of her waist. He shook his head. He should not be thinking of these things when he was holding this poor half starved woman in his arms who had gone through who knows what. He wanted to smack himself across the back of the head, as he gently pressed the washcloth against her wound and heard her sigh in his arms as she nuzzled her face closer to his chest.

Torin frowned and wondered what it was that was making her have these attacks. He would have thought she was fainting from hunger, except that scream that she had let out had been one of pain and terror. He’d half been ready to find a team of dragon shifters in there, stealing her away. Shaking his head he used the hand that wasn’t holding the washcloth to her head and reached for his cell phone.

“Hey Teddy,” he kept his voice low, his eyes on her face, watching to see if she’d regained consciousness. “How far out are you?”

He frowned when his friend said he didn’t think he’d make it until morning. He'd hoped his friend might have gotten up into the mountains fast enough to beat the storm.

“She’s not doing great,” Torin said in response to the next question. “She woke up and wanted to get cleaned up before she ate. She was in the shower and she had another scare where I heard a scream and I came in and she was unconscious.

She hit her head this time and she has a cut just above her eye. The same sort of attack happened the first time I saw her too and she was out for a couple hours. At first she sounded like she was in a lot of pain. I’m hoping she wakes up faster this time because she needs to eat, she’s obviously malnourished.”

“What kind of a shifter did you say she is?”

“I think she’s a wolf. She hasn’t told me though.”

“I see.” There was a long silence. “Do you think there’s any chance she just reached maturity? As in, she just turned eighteen recently?”

“That’s a strange question.” Torin fell silent as he stared down at the small female cradled in his arms. She was so much smaller than a Grizzly shifter would be and being malnourished made it even harder for him to tell, but finally he spoke again. “It’s possible. She looks young, because she’s so underfed, but yeah, I think she could be.” He tried to ignore the way his throat tightened as he said the words.

“Torin, this is just a theory, and I only have heard of this happening one other time, when I was in California working with a wolf pack during my residency. I met a girl who was in the hospital. Her mate was a bastard. He was the beta of the pack I was staying with. He’d gone to visit another pack and he cheated on his mate, who was this beautiful sweet girl."

"Apparently he didn’t know that his mate would feel incredible pain if he even touched another woman that way, and would feel pain that was almost enough to kill her when he actually had sex with someone else. Now usually wolves don’t cheat on their mates. Their bond is incredibly strong. And if they reject each other this can be avoided, which is what happened to the poor sweet little thing when he came back. She rejected him as soon as he got home and much to his shock it just about broke him. He resisted rejecting her, but he finally gave in and completed the process because she wasn’t taking him back. It about killed the both of them.”

“I had never and have never seen anything like it before or since. I don’t know if that is what this is, but it’s what came to mind when you mentioned it. Now if she isn’t marked and mated yet by whoever her mate is, maybe it wouldn’t be as strong. But I remember what that poor girl went through and it was horrendous. We were giving her pain killers trying to manage her pain and they really couldn’t touch it. It was like her soul was being ripped apart over and over again.”

“So if that’s what this is, the only way to stop that aspect of it would be-”

“For the both of them to reject each other.”

“We’d have to find him.” Torin felt a headache coming on.

“Yes.”

“Although presumably there’s a good chance that he’s the reason she’s fucked up like this.”

“Also yes. It would be the only way to stop it. If that’s what’s happening. But once she wakes up, she should be able to tell you.”

Torin gripped the phone in his hand so hard he thought that it might break. “Alright man. Thank you. And hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow. Where are you staying tonight?”

“You know Oaklyn?” Torin could picture the busty blonde that lived part way between where Teddy called home and his cabin and was well known for making the Grizzly shifter’s who stopped by feel at home.

“Of course. You know I do.”

“I thought I’d spent the night there. Make sure she’s feeling alright.” Torin laughed and shook his head.

“Well you two have a good night then. I’ll see you as soon as you get through. Let me know when you’re headed this way.”

They said their goodbyes and Torin glanced down at the woman sleeping in his arms. He couldn’t imagine what kind of a man would reject their mate, but especially a mate as lovely as the one he held on his lap.

Leaning his head back he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was getting harder and harder not to get more involved than he cared to be with the little waif spread out across his knees, and it had only been half a day. How the Hell was he going to keep his emotions in check when he was in this deep and they’d hardly even had a conversation?