Page 77 of Briar

Wonderful.

Kai

“Where is she?”

I’m right behind Jenson as he explodes through the door of Ravenhall, the car doors left open behind us in our haste. River shoots up from where he’s sitting on the stairs, dragging his hand across his neck repeatedly.

Shut up. She fell asleep in the car. I put her in her room.

Shoving past Jenson, I frown.Is she okay?

“I think so.” He whispers it, but his face still shows the strain. “Aiden messaged. They got him.”

My tense muscles relax at that. Fucker won’t be approaching any more women in the dark.

“I’m going up there.”

I put my hand on Jenson’s arm when he tries to stalk past me.Let me.

His emotions are leaking out of him. Fear, and anger, and everything I’m feeling, but in such a way that he’s almost bleeding with his panic.Please.

At his nod, I’m already moving, passing River and leaving them talking in low tones as I jump up the stairs. Briar is out, River’s coat pulled over her where she sleeps on top of the sheets.

My eyes sweep over her, looking for injuries before I ease onto the bed beside her and tug her into my arms. Her sleepy murmur has the tension leaking from my body. “Kai?”

I can’t sign, not when I’m holding her. And I can’t let go of her, not yet. Briar turns, shuffling closer until her cheek is pressed against my pounding heart, her leg sliding between mine.

She sighs as if it’s exactly what she needed.

I don’t move until her breathing changes. A sleepy murmur as her eyes flutter open. “Hi.”

I press my lips to her forehead before pulling back, my eyebrows drawing down in a clear question.

“I’m okay,” she whispers. “Really. It just – it scared me. If River hadn’t come when he did…,”

She trails off, leaving the words unspoken. She doesn’t need to say it.

My heart beats faster at that. I sign with one arm, keeping the other wrapped around her.

We would find you. Always.I promise.

She smiles, but there’s something sad in it. I study her for clues before my chest tightens.He told you what happened?

It’s clear from the look in her eyes. She’s looking at me - not differently. Butdeeper. As if she sees a small, scared child instead of the man I am now. I still.

Briar’s nod is slow. “Not everything. But basics. You saved his life.”

I roll my eyes.That’s up for debate.

He was the one who carried me out of that building. Whostayedwith me. A seventeen-year-old boy became a manovernight, with a broken kingdom and a traumatized child attached to him as a bonus.

Jenson never made me feel like a burden.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s not up for debate at all.

He saved me.My mother was not a good person.

I settle back.She was sick. In the head.