by Lola Gabriel
“What?” Archer replied. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and never let go, but the way she was looking at him with murder in her eyes told him it would be a mistake right now.
“Why the hell are you keeping me a prisoner? I thought Mark’s people were behind this. I never dreamed it could be you,” Brianna said.
“Who the hell is Mark?” Archer asked, the only thing he could think of that wouldn’t take their conversation further into the realms of complete nonsense.
“The hunter,” Brianna answered.
“He didn’t have people. He worked alone. And he’s not a problem anymore.”
“Then I’ll ask you again. Why are you keeping me prisoner?”
Archer sat down on the end of the bed, confusion raging inside of him. “What makes you think I’m keeping you a prisoner? The doors aren’t locked.”
Did she really think so little of him, even now?
“The armed man who demanded I come back to bed was a big clue,” Brianna said.
Archer smiled as he realized what was going on. Of course Brianna didn’t know Michael. She had assumed he was there to keep her in.
“What’s so funny?” Brianna asked.
“Brianna, you’re not a prisoner,” Archer said, shaking his head. “You are free to leave whenever you want to, although I hope you will stay so we can talk. Michael, the man with the gun, is from my pack. He wasn’t making sure you didn’t escape. He was there as a precaution, just in case there were any repercussions from the hunter.”
“So you’re telling me if I walk out now, you won’t try to stop me?” Brianna questioned. Her tone was still suspicious and cold, but her eyes told a different story. Her eyes wanted to believe him.
“I’ll beg you not to leave, but neither myself nor any of the pack will physically try to stop you,” Archer said. “Brianna, you saved my life. Do you honestly think I’d repay you by locking you up against your will?”
Brianna shook her head, looking suddenly sheepish. “I was just… I don’t know. I woke up alone in a place I didn’t recognize. I convinced myself I was Mark’s prisoner, and I guess seeing you made me believe you were my captor, I didn’t stop to question any of it after that. I just ran with my crazy theory.”
She smiled at Archer, and he returned her smile. He opened his arms, and Brianna ran to him, throwing herself into his waiting arms. He held her tightly, thanking his lucky stars she had woken up and they could do this again. He rubbed his cheek against hers and took in her scent. She held him so tightly, it was like she never wanted to let him go, and that was just fine by him. Eventually, though, she did let him go.
“I have a lot of questions.”
“Then come sit down, and I’ll do my best to answer them all,” Archer smiled. “How much do you remember from before you passed out?”
“Everything, I think. Mark shooting at you. Me getting in the way. Pain. Lots of pain. You dealing with Mark and then coming to my side. And that’s about it until I woke up here,” she said.
Archer nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty much how it all went down. Brianna, I said I would answer your questions, and I will, but first, I must ask you one of my own. Why did you jump in front of that bullet? Why were you willing to risk your life to save mine?”
Brianna shrugged. “I knew it would be a silver bullet, and I’d seen firsthand what even the smallest scratch from silver could do to a shifter. I knew if it hit you, you would be dead. But if it hit me, it would be fifty-fifty, so I took my chances.”
“But why? Why were you willing to risk the odds at all? You were only in that situation in the first place because of me.”
“No. I was in that situation because of Mark. And the thought of losing you made me more afraid than the thought of anything Mark could have done to me. Now it’s my turn. How long have I been here?”
Archer felt his heart swell when Brianna admitted the thought of losing him scared her so much. Now that the hunter was gone, there was a chance for them to be together safely, and for the first time, Archer let himself hope that Brianna would want to be with him.
“This is day five,” he said. “The sheriff found a surgeon who pulled the bullet out of you and didn’t ask any questions about why it was in there or why we couldn’t take you to the emergency room. And then a nurse cared for you while we waited for you to wake up. You were lucky. The bullet didn’t hit any internal organs, and it missed your spine by less than a quarter of an inch.”
“Day five? I’ve missed a full week of college so soon?”
“I’m afraid so. But I did contact your friend Macey, and I told her you weren’t feeling well and asked her to keep notes for you.”
“Thank you.” Brianna laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Just that with everything going on, you thought of my education.”
“I thought of you and what you would want,” Archer gently corrected her. “Brianna, when we first met, I told you being seen with me could be dangerous. And now you’ve seen it. And I know this is so selfish of me, but I can’t just let you walk away without telling you how I feel. Brianna, I’m in love with you. Every instinct in my body is telling me not to let you go. I swear to you I will never let anyone hurt you ever again. Would you consider giving us a go?”
“I…” Brianna started. Archer could see by the look on her face that she was about to try to let him down gently. He couldn’t bear to hear the words, so he cut her off. He rubbed his palm over her cheek.
“It’s okay. I understand if you don’t want anything else to do with me. I know I’m not the easiest guy to love, and I know how dangerous it would be.”
“I wasn’t going to say any of that,” Brianna replied. “I was going to say I feel the same way about you. I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since the night we spent together. I only agreed to go out with Mark to try and move on from you, but it didn’t work. All it did was show me how much I wanted to be with you.”
“But you don’t look even a tiny bit happy about any of that,” Archer said, knowing she was still going to turn him down.
“Archer, I don’t care about the danger. I know you would go to the ends of the earth to protect me. If I didn’t know before, I saw it with Mark. You could have used the information to take him out without risking your own life. But you didn’t. You saved me. The problem is that you’re immortal, and I’m not.”
“But that doesn’t have to be a problem. I love you, and that’s all that matters to me. We can be together for your lifetime, and that will have to be enough for me. We can be happy for decades. And I can live with not having children. I always figured that would be my fate. I just never dared to hope I would meet someone like you.”
“But I’ll get old, and you won’t,” Brianna said.
“Yeah, but age is just a number, Brianna. You’ll still be you,” Archer told her. “I don’t care about anything but being with you.”
A tear ran down Brianna’s face. Archer reached out and brushed it away. Brianna stared down at her lap, and he gently pushed her chin up until she was looking at him. He could see the turmoil in her eyes, but he could also see the love there. The turmoil was about something else holding Brianna back.
“There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?” Brianna nodded, and Archer felt his stomach roll, dread filling him for a moment. “Whatever it is, Brianna, you can tell me. And we’ll find a way to fix it. Together.”
“It’s not that simple. It’s… Archer, I’ve been lying to you. I’m ready to tell you the truth, but I know you’re not going to like it, and I’m afraid it will ruin everything.”
“Nothing you say or do can change the way I feel about you, Brianna. Please, just tell me.”
Brianna was silent for a moment, and although Archer wanted to break the silence, he held himself back, letting her take the time she needed to tell him what was on her mind.
“Do you remember what I told you about my roommate in Ne
w York being taken by a Matchmaker?” Brianna finally said. Archer nodded.
“It was a lie. I didn’t even have a roommate. The part about the Matchmaker and the bear shifters was true, though, only it didn’t happen to someone else. It happened to me. I was the one the Matchmaker took. And I learned to believe in the supernatural world because, during my rescue, I saw two bear shifters and a dragon shifter change in front of my eyes. It was nothing to do with going off into the middle of nowhere and watching a bear pack running free. I made that bit up to convince you I’d seen enough to really believe.
“When I was safe, Raina, one of my rescuers, told me everything. I came to Nebraska because I no longer felt safe in New York. I was constantly on edge, waiting for someone else to try and snatch me away. I was living like a wreck, and I knew something had to give. Logan, the other bear shifter who rescued me, pretended he was a customer of the Matchmaker’s, and he gave me the money he was going to use to pay for me so I could have a fresh start.”
“I don’t understand,” Archer said. “Why is any of this a problem now? I understand why you didn’t tell me sooner. You didn’t know if you could trust me then. But you’ve told me now. It’s a good thing, Brianna. If you have the Sanmere protein in your blood, it means you can become a shifter, and we can be together forever. We can even start a family.”
Brianna’s face contorted with pain for a second, but she pulled herself under control quickly. Archer was feeling more confused by the moment. He couldn’t work out for the life of him why Brianna was so upset. Did she think he was angry with her or something?
“That’s the problem, Archer. I can see how happy that makes you; the idea of eternal love, a family. And I don’t know if I can give you all of that.”
Archer frowned again. “You’re not sure if you love me enough for a real commitment?”
“No, it’s not that,” Brianna denied quickly. “I know I love you, and I know I want to be with you forever. But for you, forever means literally forever. For me, it means the rest of my life. My human, mortal life. Because the thing is, Archer, I don’t think I want to become a shifter. I’m sorry.”
Archer felt as though he had been punched in the gut, and for a second, he could do nothing except stare at a patch of the wall over Brianna’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” Brianna repeated. “I just… Not telling you would have felt too wrong, like I was leading you on or something. And I don’t expect you to hang around while I wrestle with my conscience over this. No matter how much I love you, I just don’t think I’ll ever be ready to become an immortal, and it’s not fair of me to be with you knowing that.”
Archer looked back at Brianna, suddenly feeling better. She wasn’t walking away from him. At least, not yet. She was only worried he wouldn’t want her now because he knew the truth about her. He took her hands in his and smiled at her.
“I love you, Brianna. I love you no matter what. When I thought you couldn’t be an immortal, I didn’t care. I wanted to spend the rest of your life with you. And that hasn’t changed. If you do decide you want to become immortal, then I will be honored to be by your side forever. But if you don’t, I will be equally honored to spend your lifetime trying to make you as happy as you make me.”
“Do you really mean that, Archer? Or are you just saying it hoping I will change my mind?”
“I’ll be honest. Of course I hope you’ll change your mind. Of course I want forever with you. But I understand if you don’t want that. I understand that immortality isn’t for everyone, and that not everyone wants to be a shifter. And I would never try to push you into becoming something you don’t want to be. You would end up resenting me, and I couldn’t live with myself if that happened.”
“But this way, you’ll end up resenting me. You’ll know I could give us a way to be together forever, and I’m choosing not to.”
“I could never resent you, Brianna. In some ways, knowing you only have a normal human life span and that you want to spend it with me is more real than knowing you have forever to change your mind.”
“Really?” Brianna smiled.
“Really,” Archer said.
“Then let’s give us a go,” Brianna said.
Archer beamed at her, happiness radiating out of every pore in his body. He pulled her into his arms, and their lips met. Fireworks flew through his body. Brianna pushed her hands beneath his shirt, and it took everything he had to gently move back from her kiss and take her hands away. She frowned at him questioningly.
“Brianna, you’ve just woken up from a coma. Do you really think I’m going to risk making love to you before we have the all clear from a doctor?”
“But—”
“No buts. I’ll call the surgeon and get him to come and look over you to make sure you’re really okay. We have plenty of time for the rest, and you better believe we’re going to have a night that makes our last night together look tame.”
15
It had been almost two weeks since Brianna had woken up from her coma, and her doctor had finally declared her fit and well. She had begun to suspect that Archer had asked him to hold back on declaring her fully okay so she wouldn’t try to return to her own apartment. She sat on the end of his bed now and jokingly suggested the idea. Archer laughed and shook his head.
“You really think I would have waited two whole weeks to touch you if I’d had a choice?” he asked.
“So why did it take so long? I felt fine when I first woke up, and nothing has changed.”
“It’s the Sanmere protein. While it doesn’t make you immortal, it does make you a bit more resilient than the average mortal. Your body heals faster than someone would expect. I think the surgeon was just exercising caution, sure he had missed something, because he couldn’t explain how you seemed to be completely fine so quickly after being shot.”
Brianna had to admit that made sense. She grinned at Archer. “So we’re free to do whatever we want to now.”
“Not quite yet,” he groaned.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Brianna asked.
“Work calls,” Archer replied. “The pack has all taken to you, Brianna, but that doesn’t mean I can just shirk my duties.”
“I know. I get it. We’ve waited two weeks. Another couple of hours won’t hurt. It’ll give me time to go through Macey’s notes and get caught up before I go back to school next week.”
Archer leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I swear I’ll make it worth waiting for.”
“You had better,” Brianna laughed. She watched Archer hurry out of the room, blowing her a kiss as he left.
She stood up and moved to the lounge. She went to the file Macey had sent over for her with all of the course notes and opened it, laughing to herself at the level of detail in the notes as she scanned over them. There was probably more here than she would have learned if she’d been to the lectures herself.
She read the top two paragraphs before her mind went back to Archer. She sighed and closed the folder. She was never going to be able to concentrate on this until she let her mind go to the place she was trying so hard to keep it from. The place where she became an immortal shifter. The place where she and Archer got their forever.
She still didn’t know for sure if she wanted that. She wanted Archer, but she still didn’t know if she wanted the shifter life, even though she was starting to think seriously about it. It was obvious Archer loved her as much as she loved him, and in theory, she would have said she would do anything to spend eternity with him. But the reality of it was slightly different.
They hadn’t spoken of the Sanmere protein again since she had confessed the truth to Archer, and the fact that he wasn’t putting even a tiny bit of pressure on her to turn just made her love him more. She knew her turning would make him happy; happier than anything else she could ever do for him, but she didn’t think that was a good enough reason to turn. Or was it?
She needed to talk it through with someone, but who? She could hardly tell M
acey about this, and she couldn’t talk to Archer about it; it would be too cruel if she decided against turning. Maybe she could talk to Sven. He seemed nice, but that would put him in an awkward position with Archer. Archer had promised her he wouldn’t tell anyone from the pack the truth about her, and she didn’t want to cause any problems between him and his family.
Brianna wished she had some way to contact Raina. She knew in her heart what she would say, though: that true love was bigger and more powerful than anything, and if Brianna had the chance for eternal love, she should take it. In her own mind, she knew she should, but there was just something holding her back. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. Until she could, she would never be able to make this decision in any sort of final way.
She picked the file back up. She could torment herself with this all day and be no further forward. She had to do something practical instead, something that would force her mind to focus on something different.
Brianna looked deep into Archer’s eyes as he ran his hands over her stomach. He loomed over her, his naked body pressing tightly against hers, sending shivers of pleasure through her. He hadn’t been lying about making this night worth waiting for. She had lost count of the amount of orgasms she had had already. Her insides were like fiery jelly, sated yet hungry for more.
Archer moved his hand lower, coming up onto his knees between her legs. He pushed his fingers inside of her, finding her throbbing clit. He moaned when he felt how wet she was, and the sound sent another rush of fire through her. Her hands balled into fists at her sides. Her whole stomach contracted in time with the pulsing pleasure in her clit, and heat rushed through her, filling her chest, her arms, her legs. She felt as though she was nothing but a giant nerve ending, just a floating ball of pleasure.
Her orgasm came on quickly, taking her by surprise as it pushed her over the edge and consumed her. Her vision floated away for a moment, showing her spots of light that burst in time with the explosions going through her body. She gasped in a breath and then another one, feeling her lungs expanding. She felt the scream building in the back of her throat, and it ripped out of her body with such intensity that it hurt her, but the release it brought her made the scratchy pain worthwhile. She floated on a sea of pleasure as Archer continued to work her clit.