Saving Briar

“I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I really did believe that Mr. Fox had made an arrangement with Mr. Rose that allowed Miss Kelly to come along to the estate without an escort. But that was obviously my mistake. I must have misunderstood.” Lachlan shifted beside Harlow, standing closer beside her than he had when the well dressed man had initially approached.

“It’s fine, I’m sure. Misunderstandings happen.” Harlow spoke, trying to fill the long silence that followed as the two men stared at each other.

“Thank you for being so understanding, Miss Kelly. I manage all of Mr. Fox’s affairs and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. Now, if the two of you have everything you need, we can be on our way. Don’t you have any luggage, Mr…?” He paused and when Lachlan didn’t supply his name continued as if he hadn’t noticed the dragon-shifter’s rudeness. “Because if you need to run inside and get something, I’m sure I can safely escort Miss Kelly to the car where our driver is waiting while you go fetch your belongings.”

Harlow was almost certain she heard a growl rumble up through Lachlan’s chest, but he didn’t say a word in response. The only sign that he had heard what the other man had said was that his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“He has everything he needs. And he doesn’t talk much. So if you’ll lead the way, we’ll follow you to wherever the car is waiting.” Harlow thought she saw a frown pull down the corner of the other man’s mouth, but it happened so quickly that she wasn’t certain that she hadn’t imagined it.

Harlow sighed as she and Lachlan settled in the back of the car a few minutes later, his eyes scanning their surroundings in a way that made her feel surprisingly nervous. The luxury car had a divider between the front and the back seat. Harlow could still see the man who had met them speaking to the driver, and she realized that the divider was sound proof, and it also had the ability to go from clear to opaque, which became clear the moment the car began to move.

“You’re on edge. And even quieter than you were on our way down to breakfast this morning.” Harlow’s voice was low, but she had no doubt that Lachlan could hear every word that she said.

“He knew I was required to come with you. Something’s not right.” Lachlan’s accent became stronger when he was stressed and it was clear to Harlow that he was seriously stressed about the situation that they now found themselves in. “I told Hudson it was a mistake, sending you back up to Alaska, no matter how much the client was willing to pay. Something feels off about this.”

“Alaska’s a big state and I’m still far away from home.” Harlow reasoned, still keeping her voice low. “And Brielle said that Hudson vets all of the clients before they’re even allowed to bid.”

“Brielle vets them for him with some help from one of the tech guys.” Lachlan’s gaze swung in Harlow’s direction.

“Brielle?” Harlow swallowed hard, barely managing to get the name out.

“But she’s good at what she does, right? Otherwise Hud- Mr. Rose, wouldn’t trust her to do it?”

“If there’s anything there to find, it should be found before the auction starts.” Lachlan shrugged slightly. “That doesn’t change the fact that something about this entire situation feels off to me.”

They drove in silence for another fifteen minutes before the driver swerved, jerking the car to the side. Somehow he still managed to hit the pothole that he’d been trying to avoid. The car braked hard, and Harlow reached out to grab Lachlan’s arm without really realizing what she was doing, before the heavy vehicle lurched again and pulled entirely off the road, where they finally came to a complete stop.

“Stay here.” Lachlan growled the words at Harlow as he opened the door, pausing before he got out. “Do you understand?” Harlow fought the urge to roll her eyes and instead nodded. She wasn’t about to get out of the car if he thought that she was safer inside of it. She saw that both the driver and Mr. Fox’s assistant had gotten out of the front, and were coming around to check out the tires on the passenger side of the car to see if they were all right.

The driver was an enormous man, although he wasn’t quite as large as Lachlan, and as she watched through the windows, Harlow could see that Lachlan’s attention was immediately fixed on the more threatening of the two men. She saw the driver, who Harlow assumed was a wolf shifter, point to the rear tire and say something, before bending towards the rear passenger tire to take a look at it. The other man, whose name Harlow now realized she still hadn’t caught, appeared to be speaking loudly on his cell phone a few feet away from Lachlan. From inside the car, Harlow couldn’t hear a word he was saying, but she could tell that Lachlan was getting increasingly annoyed.

The smallest of the three men moved so quickly that at first, Harlow thought that she had imagined it. One moment he was standing a few feet away from Lachlan and the next he was right there beside him.

Lachlan’s head jerked and his hand went up, slapping at the back of his neck as if he were shooing away a bug. But by the expression on his face and the brief look of anger in his eyes, Harlow was certain that he knew what had happened. It took her a moment to realize that she had cried out to him when she’d seen that Mr. Fox’s assistant was so close beside him, but it had all happened so fast that by then it had already been too late. Besides, he probably never would have been able to hear her with the soundproofing that was clearly a feature of the car if her inability to hear any sounds on the outside of her small compartment was any indication.

Lachlan crashed to his knees, fighting to stay conscious. Harlow realized that both of the other men had backed away from him, giving him a wide berth even in his weakened state. Harlow grabbed for the door handle, only to hear the locks click into place.

“No, no, no, Miss Kelly. That will never do. My job is to deliver you safely to Mr. Fox. He’s paid a premium for you and he expects you to be delivered in one piece, unharmed.”

“Lachlan is Mr. Rose’s cousin. You do realize that, don’t you?”

“Hudson Rose isn’t established in our state yet. He’s trying to get a foothold, but Mr. Fox is determined to stop that before his influence is able to take root here. He and his father in law have worked hard to take what is rightfully theirs and that mobster that you’ve chosen to align yourself with won’t be able to touch him once he’s realized his vision.”

Harlow pressed the back of her hand against her lips, suddenly feeling rather ill.

“I would say that you’re fortunate to have caught Mr. Fox’s attention. But I think that in your case, it might not be good luck. I don’t know what his interest is in you, Miss Kelly, but I do know that he is determined to have you. And if I were in your shoes, I would do everything in my power to please him. Because I can promise you, you would be much easier to dispose of than Mr. Kerr was back there.”

Closing her eyes, Harlow took a deep breath, and conjured Kayla’s face in her mind. She had no idea what she had found herself in the middle of, but she needed to do whatever it took to survive and get back to her daughter. Turning her face to the window she watched as the trees went by, trying to pay attention to where they were going. But as the long journey stretched on and minutes turned into hours, Harlow found it impossible to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach.

Somehow she knew, long before they arrived, that she was far closer to her daughter than she had been since she’d first been kidnapped, and she couldn’t help but feel that whatever it was that she was swept up in, was far more dangerous than she’d initially imagined. This might not just be about some Alpha’s rivalry with Hudson Rose, which was what she had begun to imagine when Lachlan had been left on the side of the road. This felt far more personal and if her guess was right, the man who had purchased this time with her didn’t intend for her to escape in one piece.