Page 18 of Briar

My voice is like gravel. Kai spins to look at me, his eyebrows pulling together as River pales. “She’s too sweet. It’s fucking obvious that she doesn’t fit with us.No.”

Only part of that is true.

I need someone we can make a start-and-finish, short-term deal with. Someone I can use and walk away from without looking back. Without caring. It doesn’t matter how perfect she is, how much I want to see her in Ravenhall, sprawled and satisfied, dark silk against cream bedding.

It doesn’t matter that Iwantto see her face when she climaxes with my cock buried inside her.

That was my input. My request, for good fucking reason.

You haven’t even spoken to her.Kai’s hands fly with his agitation, his eyes dark.At least speak to her first.

I already fucking know how that’s going to go.

I’m shaking my head, backing away. But River stalks after me. “She’s not Katherine.”

“I know that.” I snap the words, trying to keep my voice quiet as my hand rakes through my hair. “But Jesus - look at her, River.”

For the love of fuck – she has strangers, three of the most dangerous men in the city standing around her, loaded up with weapons and arguing, and she’sstill fuckingsleeping.

No defence instinct. How the hell is she stillalive?

She wouldn’t need it if she was ours.

Fuck. I take another step back, and my hand is shaking. “River. Please.”

This is what I was afraid of. Nothing – not a single fucking thing in this life – scares me, but the possibility of what’s in front of me is enough to have my heart pounding and sweat dotting my brow.

A possibility I can see clear as day, history repeating itself. River’s expression shifts into something I’ve never seen before.

As if he’s torn.

As if he’s already chosen.

I swing to stare at Kai, and my stomach churns. “You too?”

He meets my gaze, steady and resolute.She might not even say yes. But you are not your father.

The divide is clear.

Kai’s face softens.If this is your choice, I will respect it.

River opens his mouth—

“River?”

At the small, shaky voice, the three of us swing around. My eyes collide with bright, vibrant green, fucking emeralds and sunny fields and holyfuck.

As I stare into Briar Roses’s wide, perfect fucking eyes, I already know I’ve lost the fight.

Briar

Ican feel my eyes widening as I bolt upright. “God, I’m sorry. I didn’t even realize—,”

River’s hands are already up, placating, even as he glances at the two other men he’s with. “Don’t worry. We just got here. We were discussing how to… uh… wake you.”

How embarrassing.

Despite myself, my gaze returns to the taller one. He’s just as handsome as River, with curled brown hair, longer on top and short on the sides, and steel-gray eyes that should be cool, but instead feel like a brand as he watches me. As if he’s marking me, somehow.