The Enchanted: Council of Seven Shifter Romance Collection

by Juniper Hart

  “You know what? I’m sorry. Never mind,” she mumbled. The black-haired driver whipped her head back toward Briar and smiled lazily.

  “Don’t be crazy,” she said. “Hop in. You can’t be out here by yourself. You’ll get eaten by a bobcat or something.”

  An unexpected shudder slid through Briar’s body, and she eyed the couple for a long moment. Even in the dark, she could see how much alike they appeared: the same shiny black hair, their cobalt blue eyes an identical shade. Are they twins?

  “Seriously,” the driver growled, her good nature fading. “Get in the car. We’re not sitting out here all night.”

  You always let fear guide you. Get in the car before you get eaten alive by an alligator or something. Without hesitating, Briar grabbed for the handle on the back door and slid into the backseat.

  “Thanks,” she muttered. “I’m really sorry about this. You can leave me anywhere in civilization. I’ll find my way home.”

  They didn’t say a word as the car continued stealthily down the road, and Briar sat back against the leather seats, willing her heart to slow down.

  “You say you had a fight with your friend?” the woman asked, peering at Briar through the rear-view mirror. “Must have been quite a fight if you ran out like that.”

  “It was stupid,” Briar said quickly. “I shouldn’t have run.”

  “No,” the man said, speaking for the first time. “You probably should have stayed.”

  Briar chewed on her lower lip. “There’s really not much out this way,” she offered. “I didn’t realize that.”

  “Oh? Is this your first time out this way?”

  Briar nodded. “Yeah. I don’t even know where I am.”

  The woman chuckled.

  “I guess that’s the beauty of it,” she commented. Briar didn’t know what to make of the statement. “Do I look familiar to you at all?”

  The question caused Briar’s head to jerk up.

  “No,” she replied softly. “Are you someone famous?”

  The couple snorted and exchanged a look. “No, sweetie. We just thought you might have recognized us. We recognize you.”

  Briar’s eyes widened, and a cold fear clutched at her heart.

  “I think you have me confused with someone else,” she told them. “My name is Briar Baker.”

  “We know. You and your friends robbed us. Don’t you recognize our car?”

  Oh, no, no, no!

  “Don’t you recognize this spot, hon?” Raven purred. “This is exactly the place where you and your pathetic friends robbed us. A little poetic justice, don’t you think? What are the chances that you would be stupid enough to return to the scene of the crime?”

  “Please,” Briar gasped. “I had nothing to do with this!” Oh, God, please save me, she prayed silently. She had never been a religious woman, and if she had, it was clear that God was mocking her in those moments. In an effort to hide, Briar had walked directly into Raven’s hands.

  She’s going to kill me. Alicia warned you about this. Alec warned you about this!

  “Please!” Briar mewled. “I had nothing to do with that—”

  “Why don’t you tell us where our stuff is, Briar?” Raven asked conversationally. “And we’ll make this as painless as possible.”

  “And I want the name of your friends, too,” her companion told her, craning his neck around to leer at her.

  “I swear, I don’t know where your things are. My van was there, yes, but I wasn’t. Ask Alec. He knows the truth.”

  The temperature in the car seemed to drop ten degrees at the mention of Alec’s name, and the couple looked at one another again.

  “Honey,” Raven sighed, pulling the car off to the side of the road. “We are not Alec.” Through the glowing green lights of the dashboard, Briar saw the glint of the gun as Raven’s companion waved it in her face.

  “Who else was with you, and where is our stuff?” the man asked. “I won’t ask you again.”

  Briar squeezed her eyes shut and sniffled as tears burned behind her lids. You can’t give them Colton’s name. They’ll kill him. They’re already going to kill you. That’s enough.

  “I swear,” she moaned. “I had nothing to do with it.”

  “This is useless,” Raven grumbled. “Shoot her.”

  The gun fired so loudly inside the closed car, Briar’s ears popped, but the searing hole in her heart overpowered anything else she felt as she slumped forward.

  “Seriously, Drake? Inside the damned car? I just had it detailed!” Raven yelled. “Get her out before the blood sets.”

  “If I’d let her out, she would have just run!” Drake complained. The entire conversation seemed surreal.

  They’re arguing over the damage my blood is going to do the upholstery, Briar thought. They aren’t human. They are monsters. Monsters…

  Blackness enveloped her, and she felt her life slipping away, but not before Drake opened the backseat and dragged her out by her arms, leaving her to die on the abandoned dirt road.

  Before death consumed her, she heard the strange whooshing again of the unknown bird high in the clouds.

  It’s a vulture, she thought, succumbing to the darkness, coming to feed on my corpse.

  12

  She’s out here. I can feel her.

  The wind flushed against Alec’s face, the flap of his wings catching against the non-existent breeze. There was an almost dead stillness to the night that made him uneasy. It was too calm, too quiet.

  Alec dipped lower, his green eyes blazing through the night on careful watch. He wished he’d thought to call on members of his pack to help him with the search, he was the royal dragon prince after all, but the less who knew what he was doing, the better.

  He wasn’t entirely sure that Laurel had taken his words at face value. For all he knew, she had put fairies outside his mansion to keep an eye on him, as well as on Raven and Drake, to keep them all in line.

  I just need to find Briar and put her somewhere safe. Then I’ll walk away for good, he lied to himself. He soared lower, his nose picking up the faintest scent of something…

  His majestic head whipped around, the scales of his nostrils flaring as he tried to figure out exactly where he had sensed the movement, but just as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

  Come on, Briar. Where are you?

  There was a relief to knowing that Raven and Drake had gone. Having them in such close proximity to Briar had made him nervous, even though he was sure that wherever Briar had gone, she wasn’t apt to run into them again.

  Then he saw the lights, and he froze, suspended in the air.

  That’s Raven’s Challenger. Why is it parked there? He waited, staring intently at the vehicle as he tried to determine what to do next. If he made his presence known, the demons would likely just take off before he could see what they were up to, and Alec could tell they were certainly up to no good. Gracefully, he let himself to the ground, ensuring he was out of the car’s view if Raven should happen to look into the darkness behind.

  What are they doing? His huge frame melded away back into his mortal form, and he ducked off to the side, the hairs on his arms rising as he peered closely. From where he stood, though, he could see nothing, not even the figures inside the car.

  I hope they’re not getting it on. That would just make me a weirdo standing here, he thought with disgust. He was just about to move away when a gunshot rang out. The flash illuminated the interior of the Challenger, and suddenly, Alec heard Raven yelling at Drake.

  His heart in his throat, Alec resisted the urge to bolt forward, something instinctive holding him back as Drake hurried around from the passenger side toward the backseat of the car.

  “Oh…” Alec choked, watching as Drake pulled a body from the rear of the vehicle. He left her on the ground and jumped back into the car, the duo racing off into the night as Alec flew forward.

  “No!” he groaned, dropping to his knees. “Oh, Briar, wake up!” The gunsh
ot had clearly pierced through her chest. If it had missed her heart, it would be nothing short of a miracle. “Briar! Briar, open your eyes!”

  But she was lifeless, a limp body in his arms, blood pooling around the hole in her shirt. Anguish and fury raged through Alec as he rocked her in his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” he moaned. “I’m so sorry!” He buried his face into her hair, choking back his cries of pain. There was nothing left to do but take her off the lonely road.

  Time didn’t mean anything at that moment, and Alec waited for his shudders to subside before he rose, gathering her limp body in his arms. What am I going to do with her? I can’t bring her home. I can’t call anyone…

  As he stood in shock, trying to make sense of his next move, Briar stirred in his arms. Alec gasped and looked down at her face. It was still pale against the darkness, no breath moving in her chest. He was just imagining things.

  He held her closer and kissed her forehead, and as he did, her skin was warmer to the skin of his lips somehow.

  “Briar?” he mumbled, looking at her through red-rimmed eyes. “Briar, can you hear me?”

  Her full lips parted, and she released a sigh of pain, her eyelids fluttering slightly.

  “BRIAR!” he yelled, falling to his knees again to lay her on the ground. “Briar! Open your eyes!” Slowly, she managed to part her lids, her face gradually regaining color, but her breaths were mere whispers, wheezes which terrified him.

  “We need to get you to a hospital,” Alec growled. He knew he had to shift, no matter what the consequences of her seeing him were, and he did, watching her eyes grow huge with shock and terror. Briar struggled to speak, but he had already placed her on his back and flown upward, well into the night above the clouds where they wouldn’t be detected.

  “Alec?” she whispered. “Alec…”

  Alec didn’t respond, his tail swirling upward to cast him forward like a sail. In minutes, the lights of Miami appeared below them as Alec began his descent. He landed behind Mercy Hospital, uncaring if he was detected or not. His life was already over now that he had shown himself to Briar, but that didn’t matter—not when her life hung in the balance.

  He transformed back into his mortal form, Briar sliding meekly onto the pavement before he swept her back into his arms and bolted toward the emergency room exit.

  “Alec,” she breathed, staring up at him in shock. “W-what… W-what…?”

  “Shh,” he told her warningly. “Just be still, Briar. You were shot.”

  “Raven,” she mumbled. “Raven and Drake.”

  “I know,” he told her urgently. “But you can’t tell anyone that, all right?” The glass doors parted, and to his surprise, Briar started to struggle in his arms.

  “Put me down,” she muttered. “I can walk.” He paused and looked down at her, the chaos of the emergency room ignored.

  “You were just shot,” Alec said quietly. “You need to relax.”

  “No,” Briar murmured, looking down toward her chest. Alec’s eyes fixed where she stared, and together, they watched as the bullet slowly shoved itself out of the gaping hole in her chest. “What is happening to me?” Briar mewled. “What is going on?”

  “What happened, sir? Is this a gunshot?”

  Alec’s head jerked up, and he stared at the intern who approached him, reaching out for Briar. Instinctively, he pulled her back and shook his head.

  “No,” he said quickly, turning away. “False alarm.”

  “Sir! We need to take a look at her. She’s covered in blood! Both of you are—”

  But Alec was already sprinting out of the hospital, running toward the shadows before they could be caught.

  “I was shot!” Briar cried. “I felt it! I felt myself die!”

  “You need to calm down,” Alec instructed her. “Just be calm.”

  It wasn’t until they were several blocks away that Alec finally put her down in an alleyway and sank against the brick wall, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Look at me,” he told her. When Briar obliged, her shocked face gaping, Alec saw that all of her color had returned. “Look at your wound,” he instructed. “Let me see it.” She didn’t argue as he moved to look down her shirt and sighed deeply. “It’s healing. You’re healing.”

  “What does that mean?” she squealed, touching the hole and wincing. “How is this possible?”

  Alec had his suspicions, the very same ones which had struck him when he’d first seen Briar at the hospital earlier in the day.

  “Never mind that now,” he said gruffly. “We have to get you somewhere safe.”

  Briar scoffed weakly. “Safe? Like your house?” she asked sarcastically. “Did you send them after me?”

  He gawked at her. “You can’t be serious right now. Of course I didn’t send them after you. I brought you to my house to keep you away from them.”

  “Then how did they know where to find me?” The panic in her voice was almost tangible, and Alec reached for her, pulling her into his arms.

  “I know you’re freaking out right now,” he told her in his stoic way. “But you have to believe me when I tell you that you need to stay with me, all right? We’ll get you out of this situation, but you can’t run off again.”

  Briar released a stifled sob, and she buried her face into his chest. Her body trembled against his, and Alec forced himself to think.

  “When they find out you’re alive, Briar, they’re going to come after you again. We need to find their stuff and get them off your trail.”

  “Why didn’t the gunshot kill me? How am I still standing here? How is my body healing?”

  The questions flooded him like a torrent, and Alec didn’t know how to answer her in a way that would placate her. If he told her what he thought was happening, she would definitely run again, and next time, Raven wouldn’t fail at killing her—especially if she found out what Briar was.

  “I have a cabin north of here,” he said softly. “I’m going to put you in a hotel room just for a short time while I go back for the car. You can’t leave. Do you understand? As soon as I come back, we will go to my cabin.”

  Briar drew back, her eyes narrowing as she looked at him.

  “Did you fly?” she asked suddenly, as though the memory had just come flooding back to her. “Like in the sky?”

  “Briar, you need to listen to me closely. I will answer all your questions, but only after you’re out of harm’s way. Sitting out here in the open is only going to bring trouble for both of us. Do you promise to stay with me?”

  She nodded very slowly, as if she was trying to convince herself that she was agreeing.

  “There’s a reason we were brought together,” Alec told her tenderly. “I’m supposed to protect you, but you need to let me.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why are you supposed to protect me?”

  He sighed and hugged her again. “There are some things that just can’t be explained with words. But you have to admit that it feels right between us, doesn’t it?”

  “I have no idea what’s right at the moment,” she countered, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Fair enough.” He stared down at her face. “You have to admit that nothing bad has happened to you when you were with me, then. How about that?” Begrudgingly, Briar stared up at him and nodded again.

  “Yeah,” she conceded. “I’ll give you that.” He smiled warmly and kissed her lips.

  “Everything is going to be okay,” he promised, but as she returned his embrace, Alec wondered if he wasn’t lying to her. She’s got a target on her back, and now I do, too. How is anything ever going to be okay for either one of us again?

  13

  Fly! Fly! Fly! Briar flapped her wings wildly, but she was still falling through the air, spiraling toward the ground at breakneck speed.

  “I’m going to die!” she howled in panic. “Alec, help me!”

  “You can’t die,” he told her calmly, falli
ng at her side. His face was scaly and green, an array of silver teeth gleaming as he spoke. He wasn’t Alec, but a dragon.

  “Please!” she cried. “Catch me!”

  “You need to fly,” he coached her. “You’re a dragon. Now fly!”

  Her lids flew open, and she gasped for breath.

  It was just a dream. A weird dream to accompany this insane day. Her eyes tried to focus, but the cabin was very dark, even though one light remained on in the small bathroom off to the side of the bedroom.

  “Alec?” Briar called out, her voice barely audible. “Are you here?” Instantly, she clamped her mouth closed, remembering that he had left. Being alone suddenly filled her with the same dread which had haunted her for days.

  He’ll be back soon. He just went for supplies. He’s got to act like everything’s normal so that Raven doesn’t get suspicious.

  Briar had little faith in that playing out as they intended, but she had to trust Alec. He was all she had. Before he had left her to rest in the remote cabin, far out of the way of civilization, he warned her to stay inside and lay very low.

  “The fact that your body hasn’t been found is going to alert Raven that something’s wrong. She’ll come back looking for you, I’m sure,” he told her. Ice ran through her veins at the idea.

  “She won’t stop until I’m dead, Alec.”

  “We’ll find a way to make her stop,” he promised. “You need to have faith in me.”

  Her eyes had narrowed. “How do you know someone like her?” Briar wanted to know. Alec looked away.

  “It’s a really long story.”

  That’s just code for “mind your own business.” But she didn’t have much choice in the matter.

  “What about my brother? What if she finds Colton?”

  “As far as we know, Colton isn’t on their radar,” Alec assured her, but there was a note of uncertainty in his voice.

  “As far as we know? That’s not a very confident response.”

  “Briar,” Alec said patiently. “We know for a fact that Raven wants you dead. You are my concern right now.”