Page 15 of Briggs (Paranormal Council Enforcers #16)

Todd

G ah, Briggs was so gorgeous and hot. I honestly thought that my body would never react to a man again after everything that I’d been through, but it was as if I were fourteen again and my hormones were screaming “orgasms required!” I knew it wasn’t the best way to be thinking, and I was trying to not let my inner thoughts out, but I was failing.

How could I not think that way when he was so sexy?

“You’re quiet. Did you want me to just talk about myself? I find myself somewhat boring though.”

I made a face. “Sorry. No. I mean, you can. I was wondering about your family. Are your parents still alive? Do you have siblings?”

“Yes and yes.” Briggs smiled at me. He was walking with his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants. “I’m from a rather large pack in Colorado outside of Boulder. My parents are still there, doing their own thing.”

“Are they nice?” I asked. “My parents were, despite the fact that our pride was a bit whack.”

Briggs smiled at me. “My parents are, yes.” He shrugged. “Well, at least I think they are. My dad’s name is Robert, and he’s a teacher for the pack school. Mom’s name is Kathleen, and she’s a nurse. She works for the pack’s clinic, helping with babies and all of that stuff.”

Wow. His parents had gone to school for a while. The fact that I’d not ever attended any type of formal school was suddenly heavy in my mind. “Do you miss them?” I wondered.

“Eh. I mean, I don’t not get along with my parents. They had time for us, and we never wanted for anything. But they weren’t super involved with me and my siblings. I’m the middle of five. I have an older brother and sister and then a younger sister and brother.”

“Five, huh?” I glanced off to the forest beside us. “I wonder if my parents were going to have more. They had the four of us, and I was fifteen when they died. They’d only been together for sixteen years. I always wondered if they would have had more or if they would have stopped.”

“Can I ask you something?”

I looked up at Briggs. “You can ask anything. I’ll answer if I can. If it’s about my time in captivity, I’ll tell you, but I might need a bit more time.”

Briggs shook his head. “No, I didn’t want to ask about that. I was curious about your uncle, Robert.”

At the mention of his name, my body reacted as expected: chills went down my spine, and my cheetah pushed to just below the surface. “What about him?” I managed to ask.

“I was just curious if he was always shady? You were a teenager when he sold you. Did you spend time around him before that?”

I relaxed a bit. This was my mate, and he wasn’t trying to hurt me.

“Not too much. He was my dad’s older brother, and they didn’t really get along all that well.

I’m not sure if it’s because Dad had found Mom or if it was something else.

I only remember seeing him a handful of times before we were sent to live with him. ”

I had already told this to the guy at the council who had asked me questions about my family, so I didn’t know if Briggs just didn’t know or if he was wanting to hear it from me.

Either way, I didn’t mind too much sharing my past with him.

It wasn’t something I could change, even if I wished I could.

“Do you get along with your siblings?” I asked, hoping to change the subject and move it back to what I hoped was something that was much more enjoyable.

“I get along with them, yes. Are we super close? Not really. We’re all about three to four years apart, and with my next older and younger siblings being sisters, they weren’t really interested in anything that I was.

They’re super girly and were into makeup, hair, shopping, things like that.

” Briggs smiled before shaking his head.

“Josh is eight years older than me, and by the time I was four, he was shifting, so he was always out with the other teenagers in the pack that were shifting.”

“But you have another brother.”

Briggs snorted. “True. I do. He’s actually an omega and didn’t really want much to do with his alpha brothers. That’s me and Josh. He hung out with our sisters, but he didn’t really do too much with me. And Josh was out of the house and away at college before Slade started school.”

“Did you do that too?” I asked. “Go away to college, I mean. Did you have fun and enjoy things?” I sighed. “I never got to go to school.”

“I did go to college. We all did. My degree is in computer science. They tried to get me to join Salvatore’s team, but I didn’t want to be stuck at the council building all of the time. I could do that back in Colorado.”

“Do you want to go back? I mean, someday? Or are you happy staying here?”

Briggs shook his head at me. “I’m happy here.

I don’t need to return to my pack. I made little to no difference there.

Here, I feel like I’m helping others.” Briggs stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

I felt a tingle go through my body like I had before when he touched me.

That was certainly promising. “Do you want to move away?”

I shook my head. “No. I like it here. I hated it in New Mexico. Granted, my pride was really messed up, and we didn’t ever get to do anything. But it was unbearably hot and just…” I glanced around. “It’s pretty here. And my cheetah loves to run in the snow.”

Briggs smiled down at me. “We’ll have to go running this winter. My wolf can spend hours out in it. Granted, I think he’s more made for the snow than your cheetah, but I’m very much willing to spend time in the snow with you this winter.”

I sighed. “That would be wonderful. I promise not to leave you behind,” I joked with him.

“Oh, it’s like that, is it?”

I grinned up at Briggs, who was smiling so big that his eyes looked as if they were twinkling. I got that saying now. “Yeah. I might not be an alpha, but I have no doubt that my cheetah is faster than your wolf.”

Briggs laughed before he started nodding.

“I’m sure you’re correct. My wolf is very good at tracking, and he can go for long treks, but no, he’s not built for speed.

” Briggs slid his hand down my arm and wrapped it around mine, giving it a quick squeeze.

He dropped it too soon, and without even wondering why, I reached for his hand as he pulled it away.

I slowly slid my fingers in between his, and when I closed them around his, he did the same.

When I looked back up at him, he was still smiling, but it was different now.

“I won’t leave you behind,” I whispered.

Briggs’s smile widened. “You can. Just promise to come back to me.”

“I’ll always come back to you,” I told him. I wasn’t sure we were still talking about running in our shifted forms together, but Briggs was my mate, and I couldn’t see myself without him already. I’d known him for all of a few hours, and I barely knew him.

“And I you,” Briggs told me. He took his free hand and brought it to my face. He cupped my cheek and then rubbed it with his thumb before he dropped his hand.

“How—” I was cut off by the loud grumbling of my stomach. My eyes widened while a smile returned to Briggs’s face.

“Are you hungry?”

I cringed. “Maybe. I didn’t really eat much of my lunch. Actually, only a few bites.”

Briggs looked around. “Well, we’ve only made it about ten or so minutes away from the council building. Why don’t we head back, and then we can go down to Timber Valley and get started on our date?”

I smiled just as my stomach rumbled in agreement. “My stomach says yes.”

Briggs chuckled. He gave my hand a squeeze and started walking back in the direction we’d come. “Do you know what you want? There’s a diner that has diner-type food, a pizza place, chicken, Chinese, a few burger places. You name it, and I’ll take you.”

I was torn. “Can I be typical and just say either pizza or burgers?” I glanced down at our still-joined hands. Something as simple as Briggs holding my hand meant so much. I really needed to get over things before Briggs decided I wasn’t worth the hassle that I’d probably end up being.

“I’m down for either. Which would you like tonight? We can always pick the other next time.”

Oh, that made it even more difficult. “I…” I sighed. “Burgers. But only because I really want some fries.”

Briggs chuckled again. “Burgers and fries it is.” He glanced at me. “Milkshake with it?”

Now, that just wasn’t fair. “That’s just wrong,” I said with a smile.

“How so? If you aren’t a milkshake guy…”

“No, I love ice cream. I love all foods and will eat absolutely anything. Seriously.”

“Milkshakes go great with burgers and fries. Personally, I’m a pie guy myself. Fruit pies are my favorite, but I’ll eat just about any pie. I’m not a fan of rhubarb pie or pecan pie, but other than that, I’ll eat it.”

“Have you tried the pies at the bakery? My friend Banner works there. He and I…” I trailed off because his story wasn’t mine to share. “He was rescued too. Not with me, but probably from some of the same people.”

“I have been to the bakery, yes. It’s a favorite of the enforcers.

The cafeteria at the council building has a great selection of cakes and pies, but that’s about it.

I think whoever they have baking for us, their specialty is cake because we have it all five days of the week.

And if there’s pie, there’s still cake as well.

And some of the cakes are really extra.”

I looked up at Briggs. “I’ve not had the cake from there. We get lunch from there sometimes, but not often. Usually, lunch is provided by Dr. King.”

Briggs’s smile dimmed a bit. “Do you like working for him? Is that what you want to do?”

I snorted. “It’s not what I ever saw myself doing, but I’m not going to complain.

My housing is covered, and the council pays me well.

That’s saying a lot since I suck at my job.

” How ironic was that? I happened to be paired with an alpha that had a degree in computers, and I could barely turn the things on.