Page 31 of Tender Thorns
I’m barely dry when I dress in fresh clothing, eager to return to the institute. I could have cleaned up in my room there, but I didn’t want to taint the space with his blood. Briar should never have to think of her father again, let alone see anything that belongs to him, even if it’s evidence of his pain.
With all the protections in and around the property, I’m forced to walk the remaining distance to the school on foot after getting as close as the wards will allow. I look up, counting the windows until I’m focused on the glass separating me from Briar. It’s still early enough that I’m certain she’s in her room, but I feel a swell of panic pushing me to move faster to get to her.
Movement through one of the windows on a lower floor catches my eye just in time for me to see someone’s silhouette as they step away from the window. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be moving around at this hour, especially near the classrooms, since education won’t begin for hours.
By the time I enter the building, the fleeting thoughts of who is roaming around are already gone. I’m too focused on the fact that it takes me longer to get up a couple flights of stairs than it did to traverse all the miles to her village.
I catch her scent when I’m in the hall, and my heart thuds hard in my chest. When my hand lands on her door, every cell in my body burns with the need to see her. The knob doesn’t twist, even when I apply extra strength. Damn it, I have no right to be pissed she followed my orders and locked herself in, but that doesn’t stop me from cursing the fucking metal.
I slam my fist on the door separating us several times, and the resounding booms roll through the stone corridors like a train. After two breaths, I lift my hand again, ready to pound even harder, but the door is wrenched open by a drowsy Briar. She blinks her heavy-lidded gold eyes, trying in vain to keep them open for longer than a millisecond.
I don’t give her time to prepare for my invasion. I’m not even sure if I would be capable anyway. I wrap my arms around her tiny form and haul her up against my chest as I slam the door behind me.
She smells divine, like honeysuckle from the heavens. It’s not until she stiffens in my arms that I realize I’m tasting her skin with my lips and tongue, my gums aching with the need to claim her.
As much as I want her in my arms and need to touch her, Briar’s needs will always trump my own, and right now, her racing heart and rigid limbs tell me this isn’t what she wants. I lower her down my body, unintentionally moaning when her softness slides over my hard cock. Her face is flushed a pretty pink when she takes a step back. I also notice the demon lurking in the shadowy corner of her room, but I don’t acknowledge him.
“You came back,” she rasps out, then clears her throat.
“Of course I came back.” It dawns on me then that while I did leave the demon to watch over her, she didn’t know that, nor did I tell her I would be away. I never once thought about her needing to eat or anything else for that matter, only keeping her safe from harm.
“I had something small I needed to tend to.” I give the justification without prompting, which isn’t normal. I hate explaining myself.
“Okay.” She seems agreeable, but she still has her gaze trained on my neck, as if she’s afraid to look me in the eye.
“I came to you as soon as I returned.”
She reaches up with one hand and grabs the side of her neck, the same area I kissed just a few moments ago. “You did?” She sounds surprised by my admission. It makes me question if she understands what it means to be mated, which makes me want to gut her father all over again for keeping her in the dark.
“Yes, I did. Was it hard for you while I was away?” I’m trying to lead her to understand our building bond.
“I wasn’t sure what, if anything, I should do, but I bathed and went to get something to eat,” she supplies readily, as if she wanted to be the first to tell me as much.
“No one bothered you?” I question, stepping closer and closing the distance she put between us.
Her bottom lip caves in when she nibbles on it. “No, but I got turned around on the way back and wound up being somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be.”
“Where was that?” I reach for her hair, pulling the silky strands through my fingers.
“I don’t know, the instructor just said we shouldn’t be there.”
My eyes bounce to hers instead of focusing on her plump lips. “We?”
She fidgets, touching each fingertip to her palm, but she doesn’t try to escape me. “Kage, the male who came looking for you. Maybe he was looking for you again, or maybe he was following me?” Her brows furrow as if she’s confused. “It very well could have been just a coincidence that he showed up in the same place.”
The tension in my shoulders eases, and I resume petting her hair. “We can discuss the demon later. Who told you that you were somewhere you shouldn’t be?” I can think of many places the novices are not permitted, but I still want to know who thinks they can tell my mate where to be.
“I don’t remember her name or if he even told me it, but Ka—the demon knows.” She leans forward and whispers, “I don’t think she was supposed to be there either.”
I get distracted by her actions, and it takes me a moment to process what she said. “What makes you say that?”
“He told me, or I think that’s what he was hinting at. Oh, he said she had a nature ability,” she answers eagerly.
“Are you still tired?” I’m no longer interested in who the instructor is or where they were. That’s something I can ask the demon later.
Briar shrugs one delicate shoulder. “Is there something I should be doing?”
There are a million things I would like her to do to me, or more importantly, that I would like to do to her, but I settle on asking, “Would you come with me?”
