Territory (16 page)

“Well tough shit! Because from what I saw tonight whether or not she
wants
you, she
needs
you. And if your too stupid to realize that you almost lost your mate tonight than that’s your damn problem, but I’m not going to stand by and watch you let her die just so
you
can keep from being hurt!”

There was a long pause then the woman’s voice softened. “Briggs, you’re my little brother and I love you, but you just don’t know what you’re doing. I promise you two things brother. I promise you that if anything happens to her, you’re going to blame yourself for the rest of your life. And I promise you that living with that kind of guilt and regret is going to be harder to live with than having taken the chance at losing your heart by loving her.

I don’t know what you and Dell were thinking. Truthfully, I think you’re a pair of fucking idiots. I’d have hoped that Chloe would know better. But when Mama called me… Well, the fact of the matter is that I’m your elder and as such I claim Kya as a member of this pack.”

“Cindy, don’t.”

Kya heard the warning in Briggs’ voice and feared for Cindy.

“It’s too late little brother. It’s done. It wouldn’t matter anyway. Mama said Dell offered her a place in the pack and that she accepted. So I don’t
need
to claim her as a member, but I’m doing so anyway.”

“You can’t do that, you’re not the Alpha.”

“You think that title means shit to me? You and Dell both know that the
only
reason I’m not Alpha is because I’m not a man. And don’t challenge me chump-change, I’m not in the fucking mood. I’ve tolerated more of your shit than I can possibly stand for one day.”

Kya opened her eyes and stared up at Briggs.

“She’s awake.” Cindy announced angrily.

Unsure of where she was, Kya struggled to sit up but was forced back down by Briggs. Cradled in his arms, Kya put a hand to his muscled chest and pushed weakly.

“Put me down.”

Briggs stared down at her, his typical scowl creasing his brow. It looked to Kya as if Briggs couldn’t decide if he wanted to obey or argue.

Kya shoved again, a little harder this time. “Put me down.”

Briggs lifted Kya into a sitting position, but kept her on his lap, his strong arm at her back holding her upright.

Kya scanned Josephine’s small apartment, her eyes coming to rest on the short woman leaning a hip against a counter in the kitchen.

“Kya, this is my sister Cindy. Cindy, Kya.”

Still too weak to get up, Kya simply stared at Cindy. The small woman was undoubtedly Brigg’s sister. With her shoulder length brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, Cindy’s face was all angular lines with high cheekbones. The warm tan color of her skin was interrupted by a smattering of freckles sprinkled high across her cheeks. Kya’s eyes slid to Cindy’s arm where she saw the three band familial tattoo that encircled Cindy’s forearm. Cindy stood at about Kya’s height, but looked unnervingly intimidating standing arms crossed over her chest. The scowl that now marred Cindy’s lovely features was simply a feminine version of Briggs’.

“Thank you for your help. I’m still not able to shift. If you hadn’t come…he’d have killed me.”

“Exactly!” Cindy shouted pushing away from the counter and stalking towards Briggs, her finger pointed at him. “
You
should have been here.”

“I got here as soon as I could.” Briggs tried defending himself, but his words lacked the conviction they needed to convince his angry sister.

“It would’ve been too late. If you’d just claim her you would have known her fear, felt her pain. You could’ve gotten here that much sooner.” Cindy crossed in front of Briggs and Kya, and Kya saw her jaw working. The hint of a smile twitched at Kya’s lips as she instantly recognized the familiar habit.

Cindy came back to stand in front of them as she shoved her arm into her coat. “I’m heading home. Soon as she’s ready, you two make your way over. I’ll call Doc, she’s gonna need him.” Cindy crossed to the front door and pulled it open, stopping to turn back to Briggs. And little brother…” Cindy smiled wickedly. “If you don’t come back
with
her…don’t come back at all!” Cindy slammed the door behind her adding emphasis to her words.

Briggs exhaled deeply, his shoulder’s slumping as tension seeped from his frame with the departure of his sister.

“Briggs, let me go.” Kya pushed against his arms weakly, attempting to stand. Instead Briggs turned her body to cradle her again as he stood and strode from the kitchen to the living room carrying her with him. He laid her on the couch then stood and disappeared into the kitchen. Kya heard him rummaging through drawers then the ice chest before he came back with a towel full of ice that he twisted into an ice pack and pressed gently to her cheek.

Kya’s anger swelled as she eyed him hotly through her one good eye. “I am
not
going with you!”

Briggs sniffed the air then went to Josephine’s guest room where Kya slept. He threw the door open and grabbed a duffle bag that he found lying on the ground. He was vigorously emptying the contents of a dresser drawer into the bag when Kya appeared in the doorway behind him.

“What are you doing? Those aren’t even my things! Josephine just loaned me those clothes.”

Briggs’ hands stilled for only a moment before he continued. You’ll need a wardrobe for now. I’ll pay her for the clothes.”

Still holding the icepack to her face, Kya slowly shuffled to the bed and sat, one hand holding he ice pack to her eye and the other clamped firmly over her aching midsection. “Just stop! I’m not going with you.”

Briggs’ brows drew deeper together as his hands kept at their work. “You should be lying down. And why do you keep saying that?”

Kya threw up her hands as she eased back on the bed. “Because it’s true! I’m staying here.”

Briggs stopped filling the bag and stood frowning down at her. “You
are
coming with me!” His low even voice sent shivers up Kya’s arms.

“Why?” She barked, “Because you’re afraid of your sister?” Kya mock laughed at him before she turned her face away.

When Briggs spoke, Kya could hear his barely controlled anger. “There are many things that I may be, but afraid of my sister isn’t one of them.”

Kya kept her eyes locked on the window, watching as a heavy snow began to blanket the earth. “Funny how you didn’t want me with you until
she
demanded it.”

“Kya,” she could hear the warning in his tone, “I’m only going to tell you this once. Regardless of our pack hierarchy, I respond to no one’s commands. I may be a wolf, but I am also a man. You’d do well to remember that.”

Kya heaved a heavy sigh as she watched flakes fall on the other side of the glass. Her voice came out on a barely audible whisper, “Oh, I remember.” She knew Briggs heard her, but he didn’t respond.

“Is there anything else you’d like to take with you?”

Kya finally turned reluctant eyes to him. “Briggs, I’m not going with you.”

“The hell you’re not!” He threw the duffle bag over his shoulder then crossed to the bed and scooped her up. “What the hell do you think Tyler’s going to do when he finds out Kyler has been killed?”

“That was Tyler.” Kya protested exasperation evident in her tone.

“Whoever, you know what I mean. If
Kyler
isn’t already here, he will be soon.” Briggs walked as he spoke. He stopped at the front door and grabbed a coat off the rack that hung behind the door.

“Because I told Josephine I’d be here when she got back.” Kya dropped her hand and her eyes searched the room. “And I told her I’d watch her place. Besides, I’m not really well yet, so I should probably just stay here…until I’m fully healed.” Kya gnawed on her bottom lip and looked down at her hands, trying to avoid Briggs’ scrutiny. She was grasping at straws and she knew it, but she just couldn’t live in the same house with him knowing that he didn’t want her.

“Those are all fine excuses. Now I want you to tell me the real reason you don’t want to come with me.”

Kya forced a laugh and pushed at his chest trying in vain to get him to set her down. “Those are my reasons. I don’t…
owe
you any more than that.” Trapped in his arms, she fidgeted nervously looking anywhere but at him.

Briggs leaned his head down until his face was inches from hers. “The truth. Now.”

A resigned smile tweaked her lips as Kya realized she was just exhausted. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained and she didn’t have the energy or the desire to fight anymore. She licked her lips before she looked up and stared Briggs evenly in the eye, their faces inches apart.

“I don’t want to go with you because I can’t bear to be around you.”

Kya felt Briggs’ sharp intake of breath, she continued hurriedly before he got the wrong idea. Today was the day she’d clear the air once and for all.

“I can’t breathe when I’m around you. I’m happy and terrified and worried all at the same time and…well, it makes me sick.” Kya shifted her gaze to the window as tears pooled in her eyes. “I get that you don’t want me. I get that I’m not what you’d want if you had a choice. But it literally physically hurts to be so near to you and to not…have…you.”

Briggs opened his mouth, but Kya sped on wanting to finally have it all out in the open.

“You keep sending me mixed signals. Telling me you can’t let me go and then in the next breathe telling me that you choose not to have me. What you’re doing to me is more painful and torturous than anything Theron ever put me through. You’re hurting me in the one place that he could never touch…Briggs…you’re breaking my heart.”

Kya felt something then, and its foreignness startled her. She clutched her hand to her chest and looked up at Briggs. “What was that?”

He locked his eyes on her hand at her chest.

“What did it feel like?” His voice was a near whisper with no real conviction to his question, like he already knew the answer.

“It felt like…like…a little flutter, but it was s-sad. It felt like it should have been painful, but it wasn’t. It was right in my chest, I could feel it.” Kya stared at Briggs in astonishment. Excitement and fear mingling in her tone. “Briggs! Do you know what it was?”
He raised his eyes to hers, sadness darkening the typically honey warmth of his eyes to a dull weary brown. “Me. What you felt was me.”

Briggs silently carried Kya back to her room and placed her on the bed. He turned from her and paced the room, shoving a hand into his hair and holding it there, while the other rested rigidly on his hip. “Aside from the pack ties of communication, mates can typically share feelings, emotions, and sensations. What you felt was my…regret.”

Kya watched him pace the room shaking her head, “Regret?” She didn’t understand what he meant, and then it hit her. “Oh. At our situation?” She dropped her head. “Briggs, I’m…”

Briggs cut her off angrily. “No! I don’t regret our situation.” He crossed the room and dropped resignedly into a chair. “I regret having made you feel…”

He eased his large frame back in the chair and sat with his head slightly tilted back, his eyes closed. He appeared to Kya to be completely relaxed, except for the fact that the grim line of his mouth betrayed his attempt at a calm demeanor. He sucked in a breath and his eyes snapped open pinning Kya in place.

“Her name was Jessika. We were in love. Correction,
I
was in love. She wasn’t one of us, but she knew what we were. She accepted me for who I was. Cindy said it couldn’t work because Jessika wasn’t my true mate. I didn’t care. I
wanted
her to be my mate. I didn’t have the experience of Cindy, Dell, and Mama. I’d never found my true mate, so how did I know that what I was feeling for Jessika wasn’t what they’d all felt when they found theirs? I assumed they were wrong. Mama told me true mates were pre-destined. But I didn’t want it to be. I thought that because I was a man too that I had some choice in the matter. I asked Jess to marry me, but she thought it was too soon.”

Briggs’ eyes were no longer looking at Kya, but looking through her. “One hot day in July she asked me to take her swimming. We were cliff jumping and screwing around in the water. It was a beautiful day. She jumped from the highest point as I was climbing back up the face of the cliff. After a few minutes when I got to the top I turned to find her but she was gone.” Briggs leaned forward and dropped his head between his hands. “I dove in and couldn’t find her. I called the pack and we searched the water for days. We never found her body.”

Kya’s throat tightened with emotion as she watched agony etch itself in his dark profile. She wanted to go to him, to hold him, but she didn’t move. “Briggs, I’m sorry.” She swallowed back the jealousy she felt watching Briggs’ agony over another woman.

Briggs didn’t look up as he continued. “It was the worst time of my life. I didn’t think I’d survive. Then a year after the accident Cindy drug us all to the State Fair in Great Falls. I needed a break from everyone so I went to watch the rodeo alone and that’s when I saw her.”

Confused, Kya waited for him to continue. Long moments dragged on before Kya had to ask. “Who?”

Briggs looked up, his complexion pale. “Jessika.” He sneered as he said her name, and Kya gasped in shock at the revelation. “I wasn’t sure it was her. I thought I’d finally lost my mind. Then when she saw me and the blood drained from her face. I knew it was her. I confronted her and her…boyfriend.” Briggs stood and paced the room, looking like he wanted to strangle someone, anyone.