Briar's Saviors [Beyond the Veil 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Honor James

  * * * *

  “Uh-huh, yeah, okay. No, that sounds good, yup,” Byrne was saying into a phone as he hunched over a laptop at the kitchen island.

  Danel kissed her cheek and handed her a cup of coffee, pressing a finger to his lips in the universal sign to keep her voice down. “He’s getting some info in from various teams,” he said, his own voice pitched low. “Apparently there’s been some activity that we all believe is your psychopath. Unfortunately, I don’t know if we actually have any solid evidence as to whether it’s truly him or not.”

  “We definitely have some solid information,” Byrne said as he put the phone down. “Relatively speaking, it’s solid,” he muttered. He tapped a few keys on the keyboard and then turned the laptop around. “You’d better sit down, Briar. This is live feed coming in from the team that happens to be over at your house currently, love.”

  The image wobbled around and was shifted at high speeds one direction and then another until it settled. “We are now entering the premises,” a voice said from off the camera but close. The voice gave the date, the names of those on hand, and the address. Her address.

  Briar watched the live feed and felt sick. Her home, a home that she had retreated to in order to heal, was destroyed. The walls had been ripped to shreds, the ceiling fixtures had been torn down. It was as if whoever did the destruction had done it in order to try to pull everything of her down and into the pile in the center. She bit back a sob, but her tears still tracked down her face. Looking up at Danel, she whispered, “How can anyone have so much hate in them?” And that was what it felt like, hate. Pure and simple.

  “I don’t know, love,” he whispered. He was standing right next to her, letting her lean into his heat, a hand stroking over her hair gently. Byrne had reached out to take one of her hands and was holding it tightly as she watched the agent moving from room to room. “But this just proves how much we need to stop this guy, permanently. No more prisons, no more therapy. Nothing less than a bullet to his brain will stop this guy and this proves it.”

  Briar nodded and gulped. “Agreed. Nothing less will stop him. No matter what the people on the other side say, he is a monster and he should never be allowed in a crowd of people. Ever. He has to be stopped and I know that you two are the only ones who can stop him.” She had total and complete faith in her mates, always.

  “We’ll stop him,” Danel said quietly. He slid his arm around her shoulders as the agent attached to the camera went into her bedroom. Oddly, it was the only space that was completely untouched.

  “What the fuck?” everyone, on and off camera, said.

  Byrne grabbed his phone and dialed. “Are you seeing this? No, it shouldn’t be. Get Dave out of there and send in the bomb squad just in case. No, I don’t think there will be, but this guy is off his fucking rocker, boss. Yeah, that’s true. Have them go in carefully, and if the room is clear have the techs go in before Dave pokes around.” Hanging up, he looked to her and Danel and shrugged. “I have no idea what he’s up to.”

  “Better to be paranoid than dead,” Danel said softly, squeezing her in closer to him.

  “The ceiling,” Briar whispered and didn’t remove her gaze from the images before them. “My ceiling was a pale yellow. That’s not pale yellow. That’s more of an orange color.” She felt sick. It was a very noticeable difference. “Please God, don’t let that be blood.” She whispered even as her brain worked and knew, just knew that if a light covering of blood was wiped over the yellow of her ceiling it would have turned it orange.

  Byrne shook his head and moved his chair closer to her, sliding an arm around her waist. Placing another call, he let the guys at the scene know about the ceiling in the bedroom. One of them must have said something to Dave, the agent acting as the cameraman, because the camera suddenly tipped up to look directly at the ceiling. “I don’t think that’s blood, Briar,” Byrne said quietly. The guys off camera were discussing it as well and the general consensus was that it was not blood.

  “I hope that you are right.” However, she was certain it was. With the damage to the rest of her home, why in the world would her bedroom be left untouched? Leaning her head on Byrne’s shoulder, she closed her eyes. She couldn’t watch anymore. She was far too heartsick to watch anymore.

  He cupped her head and squeezed her in closer to him. “It will be all right, Briar. He is trying to hurt you by going after your things. Things are replaceable, love. What he cannot touch, what he could never touch, is perfectly safe from him right here.”

  She nodded but didn’t open her eyes. “Things are replaceable and I could care less about them. I have what I need here with the two of you,” she whispered and rubbed her forehead on his shoulder. “Just hold me? Don’t let me go?”

  “Not ever letting you go,” he whispered. She felt him press a kiss to her hair as he squeezed her in closer and began to rock her back and forth. On her other side she felt Danel moving and the sound of a chair being dragged toward her before his heat along her back and side returned.

  Briar was able to relax there in the arms of her mates. Her fingers were wrapped tightly in Byrne’s shirt and she refused to let him go. She needed him too much to let him go. She needed Danel as well, so him holding her close was a reassurance.

  “Bomb squad is coming in,” Dave’s voice from the laptop said. “Jonas did some scans and he’s not picking up anything from either side of the Veil that could be explosive. But he’s going in cautiously since we all know there are fuckers out there trying to find new ways to blow us up. We have the bomb robot ready to go in, so we’re all clearing out. Will keep you updated as we find out stuff.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Rubbing a hand over Briar’s back, Byrne shot Danel a look. Their day had gone from bad to worse, to nearly horrific in a big way.

  The bomb squad hadn’t found anything in Briar’s house. It had been one hundred percent clean. The orange ceiling, though, had been chemically altered with a coating of some hallucinogenic spray that, had she turned the heat on in her house, would have begun to affect her in time. Best guess by the lab boys was that it would have put her on edge and, when the big, bad Luhpyne had shown up to torture her, made everything thousands of times more pronounced.

  They claimed it was an amped-up version of an old military torture drug that, when administered, made anything done from a slap to a wound, feel like the nerve endings in the body were on fire. Basically the asshole had been planning on torturing her again and, given his sick track record, attacking her in the most intimate way possible.

  But she hadn’t gone home, and the guys at the labs had started to clean up the stuff. Unfortunately, that left them all with the big question, where the fuck was the guy?

  They’d gotten their answer, about an hour ago, when he’d finally come for her. Not that they’d known he was coming. They had in fact had a small, light meal and been watching a movie. Oddly enough it had been Danel that had sensed something was off. Byrne hadn’t even gotten a whiff of the guy before he’d been in the door of the condo.

  One second they were watching a romantic comedy and laughing, the next the front door was splintered open and hell came calling. The sound of Briar’s scream still echoed in his head. She’d frozen the instant the Luhpyne had stepped inside. But the man’s words had definitely jolted her into motion.

  * * * *

  One hour ago…

  “Seriously, who says shit like that?” Danel asked on a laugh. “It’s so fucking cheesy! No woman could possibly fall for that.”

  “But she did,” Byrne pointed out to him, laughing just as hard.

  Briar had a hand over her mouth trying, valiantly, to smother her own laughter. He was sure that it was pointed at Danel’s outrage more than the movie, but it was nice to see her happy instead of fearful. Which meant the movie idea had been pure genius.

  “Then she’s an idiot,” Danel declared. Shaking his head in mock disgust, he reached for his glass and then grunted. “Crap, I
’m out. Anyone want anything from the kitchen while I’m up?” he asked, getting to his feet.

  “I’ll take a refill, too, please.” Byrne offered his empty glass to him.

  “Oh, the cookies from on top of the fridge please,” Briar asked with a grin.

  “You got it, babe.” The Ahnjel winked at her and headed for the other room.

  “It is really horrible, the movie I mean,” Briar whispered, snickering at the schmoozing going on in the movie.

  “I know,” he whispered back. “Why do you think I picked this one?” he asked, chuckling softly. Hugging her close, he pressed a kiss to her hair. From the corner of his eye he saw Danel pause on his way back out of the kitchen, a frown on his face and his head tilted slightly.

  “What’s up?” he asked, sitting up slightly.

  Danel stood for another moment and shook his head. “Nothing, must be hearing shit.” Walking toward them, he set down the drinks and was just passing the cookie bag to Briar when the front door exploded inward.

  Covering Briar quickly, Byrne shielded her from the flying pieces of wood as Danel dove out of the way of a large chunk. In the silence that came, broken by a dreamy sigh from the TV, they all turned. “Son of a bitch.” Byrne got to his feet fast and hauled Briar up behind him.

  “You’ve been a bad little mate, Briar. I’m going to have to punish you for that,” the large Luhpyne that had attacked her so many years ago and who was now filling the doorway proclaimed. “Get away from those posers right now, you bitch!”

  Briar let out a scream that could have woken the dead six counties away, which sent him, Danel, and the fucking Luhpyne with a death wish, into motion. They all crashed together in a flurry of fists as the sound of Briar’s feet running reached him.

  Taking a blow to the temple, Byrne shook it off and plowed his fist into the other man’s face hard. The psychotic shit just grinned at him, a crazed look on his face.

  “She was mine to start, and once I punish her for her indiscretions with you two shits, she’ll be mine again until the day I kill her.”

  “You’re never fucking touching her again, you freak,” Danel shouted. Driving an elbow into the Luhpyne’s gut, he rolled away, Byrne following quickly.

  They needed to alert the team, if Briar’s shriek hadn’t already, but their phones were on the kitchen counter, behind the Luhpyne and out of reach. Sharing a look with Danel, he nodded. He’d take on the Luhpyne and Danel would grab the phones.

  With no clue where Briar had gotten off to, and praying she was safely tucked away, Byrne threw a punch at the guy’s jaw. It knocked him off balance enough that Danel was able to slip past him to the kitchen.

  “Oh no you don’t, angel freak.” Danel was yanked back by a hand in his hair, pulling him right off his feet.

  It also gave Byrne the opening to kick the other Luhpyne in the face, which he did. He’d worry about his friend later, first things first, killing the large Luhpyne. Only he never got a chance.

  As the other Luhpyne recovered from the blow, turning murderous eyes on him, a shot rang out and his eyes went wide in shock. Then another shot and another and another. Over and over his body jerked as bullets slammed into his chest, right over the heart, and drove him back.

  An empty gun clicking was soon heard before the Luhpyne fell to his knees and over onto his face, already dead.

  Turning, Byrne saw Briar, gun up, still pulling the trigger. Moving to her cautiously, he put a hand over the gun and pushed down. “He’s dead, love. Let me have the gun,” he said softly. Taking it from her suddenly limp fingers, he caught her as she spun in a near-hysterical state into him. “Shh,” he whispered, “I have you, my brave little mate.”

  * * * *

  The now…

  After that the team had rolled in. Apparently the psychotic freak hadn’t been a total idiot and had barricaded the doors into their building, making it a bitch for the team to get in. They had in fact heard Briar’s scream and come running, unfortunately slowed down by some planning on the Luhpyne’s part.

  They were handling the processing and cleanup. The gun Briar had used was part of the evidence and she’d been wiped and processed as well. Now she was huddled under a blanket, curled up in his lap, and still shaking. Danel was handling the report for the moment, though Byrne knew he’d have to put in his accounting as well.

  Closing his eyes, he wrapped his arms around her tighter and held on. He was scared for her. She hadn’t said a word since the shooting and wouldn’t let him or Danel get more than a couple feet from her and only if one of them was holding her. They’d have to take her to the hospital and get her looked over, but that could wait. The only real concern was her mental health right then. There wasn’t anything physically wrong except a couple of scratches from the door shrapnel that would need tending.

  “Can I get you some water?” he said, finally breaking the silence. She hadn’t wanted anything earlier, just curling into a ball in his lap and shivering as she occasionally rocked. Maybe now he could get something into her, even if it was just water.

  * * * *

  “No, thank you.” Briar was still processing everything that happened. It had all been so sudden, so fast. She knew that she would feel relief when she finally was able to process everything in her mind, but that was then and this was now. She rubbed her cheek to Byrne’s chest, her fingers having pulled open his shirt so that she could rest her skin to his and feel the heat of him holding her. She had to have that connection, needed it, or she knew she would fall apart on them.

  Closing her eyes, she shook her head and whispered, “Can they come back? Or can we go in tomorrow? I can’t deal.” Tears slid down her face. She was a medical doctor. Sure, she was a medical examiner, but she had still taken an oath to do no harm, and she had killed a man. She had done the worst possible thing and taken a life. She couldn’t claim self-defense because she had known that her men would have taken the asshole out before he could get to her. No, she had killed him because nothing else felt right. She had done so with eager glee.

  She looked up at Byrne and asked again, “I just want to go upstairs, lock the door, and take a hot bath. I feel so cold.” Which was why she couldn’t let them go. She was cold to the very core of her being. She didn’t want to ever let them go, was terrified if she did that the truth of what she had done would come rushing back to her.

  “The condo’s a crime scene, but yeah, we can wait until tomorrow for the rest of this,” he said softly. He pressed a kiss to her lips and gave her a squeeze. “We’ll go to the house for tonight and then come back in tomorrow. Danel!” he called.

  Her mate jogged over to them and touched her cheek, his eyes showing his worry.

  “Tell them to finish up here, but we need the keys on the wall by the door. We need to get Briar to the house for tonight. Tell them we’ll come back into town tomorrow to deal with the rest of this, but she’s done for tonight.”

  “Okay, I’ll let them know. Hold on a little longer, love. We’ll leave as quick as I can get the keys,” Danel said softly. Leaning in, he kissed her gently, rubbing his thumb to her cheek, and then he drew away and jogged off again.

  Ten, maybe fifteen minutes later, he was back with the keys in hand, jangling them at them. “Let’s go. Martyn’s in charge of the scene and said that we can come in tomorrow afternoon or the following morning. He understands and said to worry about our mate first and foremost.”

  Byrne shifted his arms to pick her up and stood, moving quickly for the SUV with her still bundled up in the blankets. “Good. I’m glad he’s the one in charge here. He has a mate of his own at home and gets it.”

  Danel opened the passenger door, and Byrne slid into the SUV with her in his arms with barely a jostle. Wiggling around, he settled into place and held her tighter. Danel jumped into the driver’s seat a moment later and had the engine turned over in the next.

  “Hold on, Briar, we’ll get you home soon enough,” Danel said quietly, reaching over to squeez
e her leg.

  Briar nodded and squeezed her eyes shut against the tears. They were being so good to her. So sweet and caring. “I love you both. So much,” she whispered in a choked sound. “And what house are we going to? They are still de-drugging mine.” She knew it wasn’t a word but that wasn’t important. “Where are we going?” she asked quietly but then sighed. “Wherever it is I hope it is far from here.” Her last words were spoken in a low, almost-whispered voice.

  “We’re going to our house. It’s outside the city,” Byrne told her quietly. “We’ve mentioned it to you before, love. But this will be the first time you’ll see it. It’s on a large chunk of land, so we have no close neighbors. It’s very private and secluded, but we went a little insane on the security for it, but I’m sure you’ll appreciate the measures we took.”

  Briar nodded. “Security is very good. I will not argue if you want to go overboard on security from now until the end of our days. I’m all for it.” She never, ever wanted to have their home invaded as it had been. That was another thing that was killing her. She had been attacked in her two sanctuaries. Three, when you included her home as well. In places that she should always be safe, she had been hunted down and attacked. “I need time off work,” she whispered. “I know that they still are working on putting my lab back together, so that should be easy enough to do. I hate to shove my work off on another, but I can’t be there. Not any longer, not right now.”

  She didn’t see them share a look but she knew they had. She could feel it. As attuned as she was to them both, and them to her, she didn’t need to see most of what they did to know they’d done it. “We’ll arrange that with the captain when we go in to finish statements off,” Byrne said. He was rubbing her back and stroking her hair, soothing her, she knew. “We deserve time off for the mating as it is, so we’ll take that and use that as a starting point. If it’s not enough, we’ll ensure you get all the time you need, love.”