Saving Briar

“Please. Let me remember you like this.” Briar stared up at the man who had saved her life and had then made her feel things she hadn’t imagined possible, all while asking for nothing in return, and prayed to the Goddess that his answer would be yes this time. It would have been so much easier to stop asking for more from him, if she didn’t see the same desire that she felt reflected in his gaze every time she looked at him. But it was there, plain as day, whenever he thought she wasn’t looking.

“I know what this is. I know what I am. I know we aren’t possible. Not long term. Just let me have right now.” She noticed the way Torin flinched when she said we, as if he couldn’t even stand the idea of them as a couple.

It was fine. She understood. Even her own mate hadn’t been able to stand looking at her. He’d rather she be dead than consider bedding her, it seemed. Briar could think of no other reason for him to send his Beta and warriors after her, the way he had. She didn’t expect a man like Torin to be any more willing to entertain the idea. And after a couple of days in his presence, Briar had no doubt that Torin was more of a man than her old Alpha could ever dream of being.

No, Briar told herself. She was a realist. She knew what this was. The desire was likely there because the man was lonely, the same way she was after finding out her mate wanted nothing to do with her, and she was a warm body, after living alone for who knew how long. But she hardly cared why he was attracted to her too, because every time she was near him, all she could think about was how much she wanted to be closer to him. What would it feel like to run her hands over the hard plains of his body, to taste the salt of his skin beneath her parted lips?

Her hands went to Torin’s shorts, tugging them down easily as she looked up at him, her teeth biting nervously at her lower lip. Her stomach fluttered as she wondered if she’d be any good at this. She had never done this before, had only read about it in the magazines that some of the other girls from the high school left on tables in the pack house after they finished reading them. Briar hoped the lists of tips she’d read over the years actually contained some hint of useful information.

She half expected him to move away, but instead he threw his head back, letting out a slow, hissing breath, one heavy calloused hand raising up to wrap lightly around back of her neck as he brought his head forward again, his eyes even darker than they normally were as he regarded her with a steady gaze, not saying a word.

“Wolfling,” his voice was caught somewhere between a prayer and a growl, beginning with the one before sliding into the other. “What are you doing to me?”

“May I?” Her tongue flicked out, wetting her lips, and he let out a groan, forcing himself to let go of her neck and not grab hold of her thick dark waves as he took a single step backwards so that he could brace his arms on the wall behind him, feeling oddly unsteady on his feet. What the Hell was this woman doing to him? He felt like a teenage cub nervous about his first time, not a man who’d gone through high school and college, had lived his life and found his mate and now felt like he was about to be brought to his knees by a girl who was half his size.

He opened his mouth, and almost- just almost- managed to find the strength to turn her down again, but that wasn’t what he heard himself say when the words passed between his lips.

“Fuck. Wolfling. Yes.” Briar sank to her knees gracefully, her eyes still fixed on his face. As her lips parted, her small, soft hands wrapping around his thick girth, she paused, biting her lower lip one more time, her face falling into a frown, He opened his mouth, about to tell her that they could stop, she didn’t have to do this, when she quickly rushed out what was on her mind.

“This is the first time I’ve ever done this, in case I’m not any good. I really really want to please you. I want you to feel good. So please, just, be patient with me.” She’d looked away from him for the first time since she’d dropped her towel, as she rushed to get the words out, but now, she tipped her lips towards the head of his cock, her wet pink tongue flicking out as she took him between her lips, leaving no doubt in his mind, in less than five seconds, that whatever she lacked in experience she would more than make up for with enthusiasm.

Within ten seconds Torin couldn’t help but wonder if it could possibly be true that she hadn’t done this before. She was so incredibly good at it. She bobbed up and down the length of his cock, taking him deeper and deeper in until he was hitting the back of her throat, her hand working up and down the rest of his slick length, bringing him closer and closer to the edge with every move that she made.

“Fuck, Briar. I’m close.” He meant to give her a chance to pull away if she wanted to, but she didn’t and instead he found his hands buried in her dark hair as she stared up at him with those dark, gorgeous eyes. He lost control, pleasure racking his body as she clung tightly to him, swallowing every last drop until he finally stilled and pulled away from her, bending as she gasped to catch her breath and scooping her up, into his arms. “That was seriously your first time doing that Wolfling?” She nodded, a smile curving the edges of her lips, “because that was absolutely amazing. I’ve never felt anything like that.”

He placed her gently into his bed, ignoring the loud warning voice in his mind that told him that letting her intrude on that extremely personal space was one of the biggest mistakes that he could make. It wasn’t like she would be spending the night there. She would only be in his bed for a few minutes while he got dressed.

As he began to step back he caught the faint scent of her desire and almost immediately he was hard again. He didn’t understand the why of it, but the things this woman did to him were unreal. Pulling back the covers he surprised himself by sliding in next to her, pushing her silky smooth legs apart with his knee, a groan leaving his lips as she moved easily into him, fitting her body against his as if they had been made to fit together, which seemed ridiculous since he was so huge and she was so petite, a fact that was all the more noticeable when she was right next to him.

One of his calloused fingers slipped between her legs, as he enjoyed how wet her slick heat already was for him. Briar’s lips brushed against his neck, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as she drew herself nearer and nearer to him, her breathing turning ragged as his thumb found her clit.

“Hell yeah, Wolfling, just like that. I want to feel you come for me.” It was taking every ounce of control he had, even this soon after coming, not to position himself between her legs and replace his fingers with his cock. He wanted her every bit as badly as he knew she wanted him to take her, but he was still clinging onto a thread of self restraint that had probably been made stronger by the release she’d given him ten minutes earlier.

“I want to feel you inside of me.” Her voice was needy, and desperate, and he almost gave in. He let himself imagine it for a moment, what it would feel like to glide in and out of her wet pussy, how tightly he knew she would be wrapped around him, how she would move under him and the little sounds he knew she would make. He was already familiar with them from the times he’d made her come all over his tongue, but he knew he could make her come even harder if he was filling her up with his cock. But that couldn’t happen. Not when she was a virgin and he knew he had to give her up.

“We can’t, Briar.” She knew the second she heard him say her name that he was serious. His tone was final. “Fuck, I want you. But you’re not mine and I’m sure as Hell not yours.” The words hurt as much, if not more, than any of the physical blows that she’d endured before she escaped.

In less than three seconds she was out of the bed, and in another three she was back downstairs. She was back in her bedroom, the door slamming behind her, before she realized that she’d left both her t-shirt and the sweater she’d meant to take with her to wear, back upstairs with Torin. But she certainly wasn’t about to slink back up there to retrieve them. That idea could fuck right off. Fuck.

Tears slid down her cheeks as she slammed her hand into the hardwood headboard of the bed, not even bothering to make a particularly good fist. She relished the pain that shot through her hand and wrist as it made contact with the wood, before sliding back into the bed, to burrow under the covers.

“I can’t stay here another night.” Briar whispered the words out loud, but she was talking to her wolf. She half expected her wolf to disagree and try to convince her to stay. It was still cold out there, and she was being hunted. If she could put her feelings aside she knew she would see that it was a mistake. But her wolf remained silent on both the matter of the man upstairs and on whatever she felt about leaving and going it alone. And Briar couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit disappointed that her wolf hadn’t tried to convince her to stay.