by Honor James
“Danel.” Byrne reached over and put a hand on his friend’s arm. “Deep breath. Making all their heads explode is bad business and damn messy.”
“He does have a point though.” A little louder, Briar said, “Just because I am having lunch with my mates does not mean that weapons should be drawn.” She looked up at Danel. “Please, join us?” she asked him quietly and went back into the safety of Byrne’s shadow.
Danel sat down and handed her a bottle of water. “You okay?” he asked her, holding the bottle tight so she couldn’t draw it away immediately. “Briar, if it’s too much we can find somewhere else for lunch, you know. You do not need to be or should be subjected to them.”
She shook her head and slid her hand down the bottle so it covered his. “I’m okay. They will need to get used to this eventually. I would like to be able to spend lots of time having lunches with you guys, so they will just need to deal. Do I like it? No. But you are both here, both of you are beside me and won’t let anyone close, right?”
“Of course not,” he said. Moving a finger, he stroked her hand gently and then released the bottle. “We’d never let you be hurt, Briar. It goes against everything we are. We”—he indicated himself and Byrne—“may not be of the same species, but our values are damned close to the same. A woman being hurt is highest on our list of no-no’s.”
“And your mate being hurt even higher.” Taking the water from him, she took her food from their trays where she had settled it and began to eat. It was actually kinda nice, being able to spend time with them like this, no drama, no fear, just them.
“Of course,” Byrne said softly. Smiling, he bumped his shoulder to hers lightly. “Mates are special, unique, and a treasure. They are to be protected above all others. For without them we are nothing. Empty shells that eat, breathe, and move about but never really live.”
“Well, then it’s good you have me. You get to teach me to do all of those things again. Hopefully we will all teach each other how to live.” If only she could get through the trial of the man that had attacked her, that was. Yep, that was going to be a ball of sunshine.
“Why that look?” he asked, leaning forward slightly. Not into her space, they were both careful of that, allowing her into theirs but not intruding into hers. “Why the fear, Briar? What’s going on in your beautiful head, sweetheart?”
She sighed and shook her head. Leaning her forehead to Byrne’s shoulder, she whispered, “Evidently his family is quite influential and have pulled enough strings to get him a trial. Something I have to face. Something I don’t want to face. I had been assured that he would be killed, that he would never harm another, but now…” She shrugged. “Now not so much.”
“I’m sorry, little mate,” Byrne said softly. Moving a hand, he took hers gently in his and squeezed her fingers. “If you need us to be there, we will be. We won’t let you go through this alone unless it’s what you want. And I wouldn’t place too much on what his family is pulling. With your testimony and that of the others, he will be put to death.”
“Oh you had better believe that I want you there,” she whispered with a chill racing over her entire body. “There is no way in the world that I can face him again, not without both of you with me.” She felt panicked just thinking about it.
Danel reached across the table and covered their joined hands with his. “We’ll be there, Briar, every day, every step of the way. Whatever you need, you just tell us.” He gave a squeeze and then pulled back. Very neatly, he flicked open a napkin and spread it on his lap.
“Dude, we’re in a cafeteria, not fine dining at the Ritz,” Byrne said with a chuckle.
“Doesn’t matter where we are, there’s no reason for the manners and etiquette I was taught to slide,” the Ahnjel countered.
Laughing now, Byrne shook his head. Lifting her hand, he pressed a kiss to her fingers. “Eat up, darling. We have work to get done at some point today, and I know you do as well.”
“I know.” Briar found herself smiling and nodded. “I know. I do have a great deal to do. Oh, I did have questions on the cold cases you brought me, too.” She began to eat as she spoke. “I can’t find the autopsy films anywhere. I have the photos, but the imagers seem to have lost the films. That’s completely weird, too, because those things are on triple lockdown. No one should ever be able to get to those. Ever.”
“Are you sure they are not merely misfiled?” Danel asked, sipping at his water. “Because that happens more often than not. A single digit out of place would do it, and they would seem forever lost in the filing system your people like to use.”
“I’m positive. I spent a great deal of time looking. And they autocode as well, so there is no way that they would be able to be misfiled. With the systems in place, there is no way to misplace them.” She admitted to him honestly, “I’m going to go into the catacombs later and look. I would like company if you wouldn’t mind?” She didn’t go many places at all alone. Ever. Not anymore.
“I won’t be able to, unfortunately. I have to head back out. There appears to be another witness that I absolutely must speak to in person,” Danel muttered.
Byrne snickered. “This time with a puma for a pet, I’m betting,” he whispered in her ear. A little louder, he added, “I can go down with you. I’ll just bring my pile of crap along and work on it while you’re digging around.”
“Thank you,” she said with a nod. “I just don’t want to be alone. Especially down there.” It was dark down there, and some of the catacombs went very close to the Veil, oddly enough. Even underground she could feel it. It still terrified her, the Veil did, but she would survive especially now that she had them with her.
Byrne leaned in, his shoulder just brushing hers. “I won’t let you go in alone,” he said softly. “Tell me when you want to go and I’ll be there.” Giving her a crooked grin, he bumped her shoulder ever so slightly before pulling back out of her personal space.
“Or you could go and question my apparent witness and I’ll go with her,” Danel said.
“Not on your fucking life,” Byrne said. He waved his fork toward his friend. “After what happened with the last one. Not happening.”
Danel muttered something under his breath. It wasn’t in English and, she was guessing, it wasn’t exactly a compliment either. Not with the way Byrne started to laugh. No, she was betting it was very uncomplimentary. Probably even crude.
Briar laughed. “Yeah, and cats really don’t like dogs,” she teased Byrne, her hand squeezing his knee letting him know just how much she was teasing him. “Thank you, Byrne, for not letting me be alone, for being willing to come with me. Perhaps we can do it after I get Danel his shot and cleaned up and gone?”
“Sounds good.” He tipped his head to her. “While you tend the scratching post.” That comment got another rude, but not in English, comment from their dining companion. “I’ll run up to my office and grab the files. Maybe between the two of us we can answer some of the questions instead of creating new ones for once.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Right, well, I will take care of Danel while you go up to your office and get the files you need. When you get back, I should be ready to go down to the catacombs.” Briar looked to Danel and smiled. “It’s going to be good. Don’t worry so much. Take a Taser with you, and if someone has something that comes at you, tase the fucker.”
“Yeah but then there’s paperwork. And that’s if the damned thing works like it’s supposed to. Which, given I’m an Ahnjel, it likely won’t,” he grumbled. “I’d more than likely end up shooting myself in the balls and electrocuting myself while I’m being mauled. I do not want to become one of your Internet sensations that badly, thank you very much. And shut up,” he snapped at Byrne, who appeared to be hyperventilating he was laughing so hard.
Briar frowned. “Maybe I should go with you?” she asked softly. “I would keep you safe, keep the animals of the world from hurting you anymore.” She didn’t like that at all. She hated it
, in fact. She hated that he would go out and undoubtedly he would be harmed.
Dead silence. When she looked up, they were both looking at her with soft expressions. Ones that had her cheeks warming. “We’re just teasing, Briar,” Byrne said softly. “The lynx, one in a million chance of happening. He’ll be fine. Mainly because he’ll shoot the next cat that tries to use him for a scratching post instead of trying to talk it down.”
She nodded and licked her lips. “I’m sorry. I just don’t like the idea of you being hurt.” She looked from Byrne to Danel and then shrugged. “I know, complete turnaround, but honestly I’ve always felt that way. I’ve just distanced myself from my feelings so that I wouldn’t do something I wasn’t ready for yet. Now I’m ready,” she admitted.
“You do not now, or ever, have to explain yourself to us, doc. You did what you had to do and we respect that. We’d expect nothing less from our mate.” Danel smiled slightly. Shaking his head, he cursed, his eyes on the wall. “I have to get going or I’m going to be late.” Standing, he leaned over the table to look her in the eye. “If he gives you any trouble, smack him with a rolled-up newspaper, okay?”
“Wait, I told you that I needed to give you a shot and clean those up again. Are you leaving without those?” she asked with a frown, her hand on his arm stopping him. “And don’t worry, I have a newspaper squeaky toy that’s been in my desk drawer from the moment I met you two.” It was something she had shoved far away as soon as the incident happened, but now she could playfully bring it out, she hoped.
“Crap, right.” He looked to the clock again. “I’ll meet you down there. I need to grab some paperwork. Say in about fifteen minutes?” he asked, looking back at her. At her nod, he lifted her hand and kissed her fingers and then dashed off.
Byrne was staring at her, a half-peeved and half-amused look on his face, when she looked over. “Do you seriously have a squeaky toy in the shape of a newspaper?”
“Yeah, I’ve kinda had it since I met you.” She whispered softly. “I thought it was cute, honestly. Something that I thought we could play with one day.” She felt silly saying that, but there it was.
He stared at her until she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Shaking his head he gave a soft chuckle. “Woman,” he muttered in that exasperated way that said he didn’t know what to do with her. Leaning over, he blew a breath over her ear. “I’ll play along as long as you promise to let me play with you, too, at some point.”
Briar blushed profusely but she looked up at him brazenly and smiled. “As long as you promise that it’s something that I would really, really like. A lot.” Her gaze faltered a little, her tongue darted out to lick her lower lip, and she whispered. “And I know I don’t have to ask you for no spankings. I know you would never do that, never do anything to hurt me. I realize that now.”
His gaze dropped slightly and then darted back up to meet her eyes. “Neither of us would ever hurt you, Doc. It’s not in us to harm the woman that is our mate. To do so would be like cutting out our own hearts. As it is, we’ve pretty much been feeling a little like we’ve lost a limb for a while now. Knowing you were hurt, being able to do nothing, doesn’t sit well I have to tell you.”
“Now you can,” she whispered very softly, just for him to hear. “I can’t do this alone anymore,” she admitted. “I’m glad that I have you both with me now because I think that I reached the end of what I can do alone and I was just trying to muster up the courage to come to you two when the kitty cat brought you to me instead.”
“Lynx,” he murmured and then grinned. “Now he’s got me doing it, crap.” Chuckling, he tipped his head. “You’ve never been alone, Briar. We were always there for you, will always be here for you. We just gave you the space you needed and wanted, but we were never far. We wanted to be closer but knew you’d hate it, so we stayed back.”
“Thank you for that. I think that I needed it. I had to have the time that you gave me and I’m thankful for it. I think that with the sessions I’ve been having with my shrink I was able to have a breakthrough. I realized then that I’m only letting him win all the more. He knew. Somehow he knew that I had mates out there. He knew it when he did that to me and laughed about it. Told me that he was at least going to destroy you along with me,” she whispered and pressed her face to his chest. She couldn’t help herself from crying. This was more than she had ever told them about it.
“Shh,” he whispered softly. One of his hands touched her hair, lightly, hesitantly as if afraid she’d pull back. He kept his touch light as he stroked her hair and upper back. “He didn’t win, Briar. You’re stronger than that. You’re proving it right here, right now. You may have been down for a time, but you were never out. And each day you will get stronger. There will be setbacks, there always are to any form of recovery, but you just push ahead and keep getting better. You also have us. Use us when you need to. We’ll do whatever is needed to help you get through this, little mate.”
“That means a great deal to me,” she admitted softly. “That you know just what I need. Thank you for that.” She didn’t pull back for a time. She simply sat there and accepted his comfort. Finally, however, she pulled back, took a deep breath, and nodded. “All right, we should likely get going or Danel will be pacing when I get back to medical. Go grab your files and stuff and we will meet there?”
He stared at her for a time and nodded. He got to his feet and helped her up from her chair. “I’ll see you in a few minutes. Hopefully by the time I get there he’ll have stopped whimpering and crying at the needle and such.”
That had her grinning, “He’s not bad with needles.” She touched Byrne’s cheek and nodded. “I will see you soon. Will you clear our table for us?” Since she hadn’t had a tray, she had just piled her things on his tray, poor guy.
He leaned into her touch, a look of bliss sliding over his face before his expression was neutral again. “Of course.” He smiled and stepped back to let her slip away. “Go ahead, I’ll be a couple minutes behind you at least. Go.”
“See you soon,” she said, and then before she couldn’t do it, she raced away. She walked faster than normal through the halls, partially because she was alone and partially because she wanted to see Danel again. Weird. She knew.
Chapter Five
“Geez, Briar, I was about to come and look for you,” Danel said. He’d been pacing when she’d come in and had stopped dead, raked a look up and down her body, twice, and practically vibrated from likely wanting to scoop her up. “Are you okay? No troubles? What took so long, woman?”
“No, no troubles. I just spent a couple of extra minutes with Byrne ensuring that he would come down to the catacombs with me and such. And I wanted to assure him that I really did have a rubber squeaky toy newspaper that he and I could play with.” That had her smiling, a smile that he hadn’t seen in far too long, if ever.
Snorting at that, she watched as he rolled his shoulders, the tension being shrugged out of his body visibly. “You should dig it out and toss it for him. He doesn’t find it all that amusing when I do such things, but for you I have a feeling he might actually enjoy it. Now, I hate to rush you, darling, but I need to get a move on, so if you wouldn’t mind…” He trailed off hopefully.
That had her grinning. “I think that I will. Yes. Shot and then we will get you out of here.” Briar’s hand touched his. He felt the heat and softness of her palm to his arm. “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt much. Well, I hope not at all, but I can’t guarantee that. Do you dislike shots?”
“I’m not particularly fond of them given how I grew up. So I’ll be looking at something else while you give me the shot. Though I do need to ask, just where the hell are you planning on sticking me with the needle?” He was watching her suspiciously.
“Well, I could do arm or bum. You get to choose if you wanna roll up a sleeve or drop trow.” She teased him with a smile and moved away from him so that he could make his choice. Her back was to him, prepping the needle, he thought.
“Will you tell me about it? One day? I won’t push or prod, but I learned the hard way sometimes it’s good to talk about things that happened to us.”
He was grumbling under his breath, and when she turned, he’d bared part of an ass cheek. Not a lot, but enough, and he had his head tipped back, telling her he was staring at the ceiling. “Not much to tell really. Ahnjels without kin are, like every other race, dumped into what you might loosely term ‘orphanages.’ But for my race, unlike some of the others, we’re often sold off to be used however the owner wishes. For a few of the rarer lineages our blood can be used as aphrodisiacs or, in other cases, like a powerful drug to boost another Ahnjel’s abilities. Like humans we have blood types, but it’s not the same beyond that. Our classifications are more complicated and, like your rare types, the rarer one of ours is, the more desperate people are to have it. They will kill to get ahold of an Ahnjel before his time of coming of age because while the blood is strong, he or she is very weak.”
“That’s terrible,” she whispered. “Alcohol swipe here, honey.” And just that quickly injected him before he knew it. She knew he didn’t because he didn’t even flinch. “And you have a rare type don’t you?” she asked and then patted his fanny, what little he showed. “All done, Danel.”
He adjusted his jeans and then turned to look at her. He shrugged, “One in five billion chances of having my blood,” he said quietly. “And as there are usually only about seventy to eighty thousand of us at any given time…Anyway, I should get going. Thanks, Doc,” he said. He hesitated a second then leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek. Stepping away, he tipped a small bow and headed toward the door.
Briar watched him leaving and cleared her throat before he could make the door. “We are stronger sometimes because of what’s been done to us. I won’t break, Danel,” she told him softly. “In fact, I might surprise you with the things I want,” she admitted. “I just wanted you to know that.”
