Chapter Fourteen
Valen
Marcus had raced back to campus for his car, leaving Valen and Sylvain to watch Hudson and Briar from the shadows. Despite their distance, Briar’s voice, soft and lilting, had traveled down the street, through the darkness, directly to him. If he hadn’t been so keenly alert for any sign of Asher or his soldiers, he would have closed his eyes.
She was nervous. He could smell it from here, but she didn’t let it stop her. When the policeman asked her questions, she answered politely, her responses short and to the point.
The officer was relaxed. It was only a matter of time before he sent Briar and Hudson on their way.
Valen stalked closer to the light. One of the hardest things he’d ever done was leave her there with only Hudson to protect her.
Hudson—who’d nearly thrown everything they had away today. If it hadn’t been for Briar, throwing herself across the restaurant…
It would have been the end.
The end of Asher, most certainly, but Hudson would have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of soldiers, whose scent lingered in the air. Without Asher to control them, the soldiers would have done what their instincts demanded they do: feed. They’d have overrun the restaurant, murdering the humans inside. Valen couldn’t be sure of how many soldiers Asher had, but knowing his maker, it had been scores. There was every possibility he, Sylvain, and Marcus wouldn’t have been able to protect Briar.
Though they’d have died trying.
Marcus’s dark SUV rolled to a stop just outside of the well-lit block of restaurants. Hudson thanked the officer and led Briar toward the car. Valen started after them, sticking to the shadows but not bothering to check his speed. The faster he got there, the sooner he could reassure himself she was well.
Sylvain had the same idea. He arrived at the car the same time as Valen, nearly ripping the door off its hinges in his haste to get inside.
Unfortunately for both of them, Briar was in the front, next to Marcus. They were left in back, Sylvain in the middle seat, sandwiched between him and Hudson.
“Hurry,” Valen said. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching forward to touch Briar’s hair. She was all right. Her winter scent was strong, and beneath that was the older scent of fear.
Briar opened the window a crack, and fresh air blew in, clearing out the tangle of emotions. “I’m all right,” she said. “Hudson explained I had a jealous ex-boyfriend. I thought for sure the officer was going to offer to take him for a beer.” Her joke fell flat, but Marcus wound his arm around her shoulders, as if to soften the lack of response she got. “Is everyone okay?” she asked. “He didn’t hurt any of you?”
“We’re fine, little one,” Valen answered. At least, they were physically fine. Mentally, he was more than a little messed up. Hudson had been right, and Asher had put them in a position where Valen and Sylvain’s strength and speed were worthless.
Only Briar’s fast thinking got them out of there.
“I don’t like it,” Sylvain began. “But I think we’ve been stupid to keep Briar out of our conversations about Asher.”
“I agree,” Valen answered immediately. It had been stupid. Just like it’d been stupid for Marcus and Hudson to not include him and Sylvain. “We need to work together. No more secret plans.”
Briar peered over her shoulder, face flaming. “I don’t know if we can plan for Asher. The one thing he excels at is surprise.” She faced the front again and clasped her hands on her lap. The air rushing through the window blew her hair over her face, so she had to tuck it behind her ears. The movement uncovered her scar, and Valen suddenly remembered what Asher had said back in the restaurant.
He’d bitten Briar. Tasted her.
As if Briar was thinking the same thing, she trailed her fingers from her ear down to her neck, fingers pressing against the skin. “The first time Asher appeared to me, he said he’d taken me to a place that wasn’t a dream, or real. It felt real. Except, he said he controlled it. He could change everything I felt, and saw, in a blink. I don’t understand, though, how he was able to hurt me there and not have it carry over here. I’m sure there’s an explanation. Do you think he hypnotized me or something like that?”
Yet again, when other humans scurried to hide like cockroaches, Briar stepped forward. Here she was, asking Hudson questions and delving deeper for information.
Yes, she was scared, and yes, she’d been hurt. But she didn’t freeze. Her momentum kept her focused on finding a solution to their problem. Valen compared himself to her, and admitted, he had no idea what to do next. He was overwhelmed by what he’d learned. Knowing Briar had been hurt, and that she’d come so close to being hurt again, had the beast inside him raging for war.
He couldn’t be logical. The calm exterior he presented to the world was a mask. Especially right now, when it seemed as if Briar could slip through his fingers like her silky hair.
“I don’t know,” Hudson answered. “There’s certainly evidence of hypnotic suggestion altering brain states.”
“Brainwaves?” Briar asked.
“Yes,” Hudson answered.
“So he was lying.” She shivered.
Hudson unbuckled, reached over her shoulder, and rolled up the window. “Maybe. I don’t know, Briar. You’ve been exhausted and pale. I certainly want to believe it was all in his head—that what you experienced was a vivid dream state. But I can’t discount the signs suggesting he fed from you.”
Sylvain growled, and Valen clenched his hands into fists. Fed from her. “All that matters,” Valen said, “is that he doesn’t do it again. He never touches you again.”
Marcus slowed his car, driving down into the dark underground garage. Usually, he parked on the street, but Valen understood his hesitation in doing so tonight. Still, soldiers could be anywhere.
“Wait here,” Sylvain commanded and glared at Valen.
“We’ll make sure it’s safe,” he said and opened his door. Sylvain went one way, and he went the other, senses open and searching for any sign of something unusual.
But there was nothing. No soldiers, no Asher, no crawlers. The only thing Valen smelled was car exhaust. It was safe.
Sylvain must have determined the same thing, because he was already at the car by the time Valen returned. Somehow, he’d gotten Briar into his arms first and dashed up the back stairs that led to the rear entrance of Marcus’s house.
Inside, Valen and Marcus searched the house, top to bottom before they finally relaxed. Seeing Asher tonight had made something clear: he could be anywhere, at any time. They’d believed themselves safe, but it was all an illusion.
Sylvain set Briar carefully on her feet, making sure the curtains were shut before he joined her where she collapsed on the couch. Carefully, he pushed her hair back from her face, and stared at her. Something passed between them. Briar’s unspoken question was met by Sylvain’s unspoken answer.
His brother’s shoulders sagged, and he wiped a hand down his face. “Briar asked me about Annie.”
Annie. Hair as dark as night, eyes blue as the sky. Her skin had been so soft, just like her voice. Everything about Annie had been sweet and yielding.
“Asher spoke about her, dropped her name like it was a bomb,” Briar whispered. “And Sylvain mentioned her name in passing, but he said it wasn’t up to him to tell me about her. I don’t know if I even have the right to ask about her. She was your wife—you don’t feel about me the way you felt about her—”
Hudson, Sylvain, and Marcus all began to speak at once. Each assured her they cared about her; they were serious about her. But Valen could tell, in Briar’s mind, a wife and whatever it was she’d defined herself as to them, were very different.
Valen held up his hand to stop his brother’s explanations. “We need to tell her.”
Briar glanced at him from under sandy-colored lashes. She bit her lip; the pink bleached to white. Rubbing her knees, she took a deep breath, waiting.
“You’re so different from Annie,” Hudson began, but Valen cut him off.
“No,” he answered quickly. “Don’t. What I felt for Annie… Don’t minimize it, Hudson.”
If it was possible for Briar to get paler, his words made it happen.
“It was different,” Valen said. “A different time. We were different. I was different…” Two hundred years ago, he’d been a hothead, especially when it came to the people he cared about. He’d been more like Sylvain, quick to anger and ready to fight. The love he felt, the desire to comfort and protect, he’d kept that buried deep in his heart. It wasn’t until after Annie died, after she’d killed herself, that he began to show his emotions.
He couldn’t help feeling that if he’d done it with Annie, she’d still be alive.
“Annie was human. We’d left Asher. Had been on our own, the four of us, for two hundred years or so, before she came into our lives.” Valen eased himself onto the coffee table across from Briar. Her shoulders were tense, lifted nearly to her ears as if she was bracing herself for a physical blow.
Valen’s stomach clenched. No. Not a physical blow, an emotional one. They’d messed up, again. Different century, same mistakes. Valen had hoped his actions showed Briar how he felt. He was quickly falling in love with her.
If he was honest with himself, he’d probably been there for a while. It had started when he smelled her: winter, ice, and the sea. But the moment she’d yelled his name to apologize for being short with him, it had been settled.
Each day with her, each night watching over her, was his way of telling her how much he cared about her—how much he loved her. But she wasn’t a mind reader, and she was young, and so inexperienced.
Possibly, she’d misread his love as brotherly affection, even though his feelings were far from fraternal.
“Briar,” he said. He paused for a moment at the declaration he was about to make in front of his brothers but squared his shoulders. “Briar.” Finally, her blue eyes, wide and scared, met his. “I love you.”
A beautiful pink flush rose from her neck to her cheeks. Valen breathed her in, but tingeing the edges of her scent was fear. Her breath had caught, and she waited. “But…”
She was waiting for what came after I love you, but for Valen, nothing came after the words. They were the beginning and ending of everything he wanted with her, so he smiled. “But nothing, Briar. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she replied, and then, she did something he did not expect. She straightened her posture and lifted her chin. “But I don’t love you like a friend. Or a brother. I love you like…”
“Like I love you,” Hudson interjected. “Like I want to wrap you in my arms and never let you go.”
“Or like I love you?” Marcus asked. “Wanting to know every thought that passes through your mind.”
“Or like I love you…” Sylvain’s voice was quiet but choked. He forced words that had more than once broken his heart past his lips. “To crush in my fists anything that would dare to hurt you or cause you pain.”
“Yes.” Briar’s lips trembled, and her eyes filled with tears. She was quick to wipe them away when they fell. “I love you like that. I love all of you like that.”
“You feel the same way? About all of us?” Hudson, their eldest brother and leader, would not let a question go unanswered. He would clear up any misunderstandings. By the end of this discussion, each of them would know how the other felt.
“Yes.” Clear. Concise. No question.
Her scent blossomed, filling the room. It drifted over Valen, stronger because of the joy that shone like a sunrise from her eyes.
“No matter what happens,” Valen said, hoping this would help him explain himself. “No matter how much time passes, I will love you as I do now. It is…” He looked to Marcus for the word. “What is the word for so much? Never ending?”
“Infinite,” Briar whispered.
“Infinite.” Valen nodded. “By having loved Annie, I do not love you less. My love for her filled my heart, but so does my love for you.”
One side of her mouth lifted. “I understand. My love for you, Valen, is not less for loving Sylvain. And Hudson, and Marcus. There is room for all of you. There’s plenty of room.” She glanced between them all.
Dropping his head, Valen released a breath. Thank God. She understood. Not only did she understand, but she’d perfectly summed up what he’d been trying so hard to say to his brothers each time Annie’s name was brought up.
Annie was dead. She was never coming back. But Valen would honor her memory. He would not compare one woman to the other, nor would he compare the strength of his feelings.
Neither one of these women he loved deserved that. Briar would have his heart for the rest of their lives, and beyond.