Chapter 4
Briggs glanced at his phone before sipping at his coffee.
Hudson raised his eyebrow. “That’s the third time you’ve checked your phone. You waiting for a message?”
“Just checking the time,” Briggs said.
“You got someplace to be?”
“The same place you need to be. Work.”
“We’ve still got half an hour,” Hudson said.
“I’m new to the firm,” Briggs said. “I need to make a good impression.”
Hudson just rolled his eyes before drinking his coffee. Briggs studied the sugary sweet drink Hudson was sipping. “Christ, you’re giving me diabetes just watching you drink that sweet shit.”
“Drink that bitter shit you call coffee and mind your fucking business.”
Briggs laughed, and Hudson grinned at him as Briggs said, “Fuck, I’ve missed you, man.”
“Missed you too,” Hudson said.
“You ever think of moving back to Wellington?” Briggs asked.
“Nah,” Hudson said. “I don’t love the city, but my mate is happy here, and that’s all I care about. Plus, there are benefits to not living in a remote community in the middle of fucking Alaska.”
“Like your shitty sweet drinks?” Briggs said.
“Yep,” Hudson said. “My parents flew here a few months back to meet Rosalie, but I’m taking her to Wellington this summer.”
“Your parents liked Rosalie?” Briggs asked.
“They loved her,” Hudson said with a look of pride. “I knew they would. And she really liked them, too.”
“That’s good,” Briggs said.
Hudson studied him for a minute. “Mom told me what Lucille did to you, Briggs.”
Briggs grunted in annoyance. “Can’t get away from the fucking gossip, even here.”
“She wasn’t gossiping,” Hudson said. “I asked her specifically why you’d moved to the city since you weren’t telling me.”
“I wasn’t telling you for a reason, asshole.”
“She’s the cheater, Briggs. You don’t have to hide that from me. You did nothing wrong,” Hudson said.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Hudson just stared at him, and Briggs sighed. “I’m still in love with her, even if she did cheat on me, and it’s fucking humiliating to be that guy who can’t get over a girl, no matter how bad she fucked him over.”
“Still in love with her,” Hudson said.
“Yes,” Briggs said.
“Huh.”
“What does that mean?”
Hudson shrugged, and Briggs glared at him. “What, Hudson?”
“You just seemed into that little green witch. The one who kicked your ass with the tree.”
“One, she did not kick my ass with a tree, and two, I’m not into her. She did something weird to me with her magic.”
“Right,” Hudson said.
“I’m not into humans.”
“I wasn’t either until I met Rosalie,” Hudson said. “But you’ve been acting off since you helped Willow with her ghost mission a few days ago. Did you try to dry hump the witch again in front of the boss’s mate or something?”
Briggs growled under his breath. “I didn’t touch Cece, and if I’d known that’s who Willow was trying to talk to, I would never have gone with her that night. The witch has put some kind of spell on me, and I just need to avoid her until it wears off.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works, bud, but you can try," Hudson said.
He sipped at his drink again, and Briggs hoped like hell that time apart had dulled Hudson’s ability to read him like a fucking book.
They’d been good friends in high school and remained close even when Hudson worked construction in Canada.
They hadn’t drifted apart until Hudson moved to the city, and he had cut off contact with everyone from Wellington except for his parents.
And even that had been limited to phone calls and texts.
Not that Briggs could blame him. He would have done the same thing if a crazy ass grizzly shifter had been trying to kill him.
He sipped at his coffee and checked his phone again. He’d straight-up lied to Hudson about the little witch, and he felt like a piece of shit for lying to his friend. But admitting that his bear was obsessed with a woman he barely knew felt strange and a little embarrassing.
His lie about still being in love with Lucille had come easily enough.
Up until the moment he’d met Cece, he had still been in love with his ex-fiancée.
But the little witch had driven every thought of Lucille straight out of his head, and now, instead of nights dreaming about a life with Lucille, those dreams were filled with images of thick, dark forests and lush grassy meadows and one curvy, golden-haired witch wearing next to nothing and moaning his name.
His cock went half-hard just thinking about it, and he cursed inwardly. It was a spell and nothing more, and just because his bear was too fucking obsessed to realize it was magic didn’t mean Briggs had to fall in line with his bear’s absolutely insane belief that Cece was their mate.
Hudson stood, and Briggs grabbed his coffee.
He and Hudson headed toward the door, both of them ignoring the looks they got from the other shifters and humans in the coffee shop.
They were both over seven feet tall and thick with muscle.
Being stared at by others whenever he wasn’t in Wellington felt as natural as breathing at this point.
Still, annoyance at being stared at like an animal in a cage poked at him.
He ducked through the doorway and followed Hudson down the street in the brisk cold. Hudson took one look at him and said, “You gotta get used to the staring. It happens a fuck of a lot more here than it did in Wellington.”
“Because the population of Wellington is almost entirely polar bear shifters,” Briggs said.
Hudson laughed. “Good point. Still, if you’re going to live here, you can’t let the attention get to you.”
“Yeah, I know,” Briggs said. “I’ll adjust.”
The coffee shop was only a few doors down from the office, and less than five minutes later, they were standing in the foyer of the Burke, King, and Frost Security office.
“Morning!” Willow smiled cheerfully at them from her spot behind the reception desk.
“Morning, Willow,” Hudson said.
The door opened, and Garth, a muscular bull shifter with dark hair and a pierced septum, walked into the office. He was followed by a lean blond cheetah shifter named Fenton.
“Swear to God, Fenton,” Garth said.
“Fuck.” Fenton shook his head. “Wildebeest shifters are crazy.”
“Hell, yeah, they are,” Garth said before winking at him. “But totally worth it.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Fenton said as the door opened and Bishop King, a grizzly shifter and one of the three owners of the firm, walked through the door.
“Hey, boss,” Garth said.
“Morning.” Bishop clapped Garth on the back before heading into his office.
Mal was next through the door, and he placed one of the two paper cups he carried on Willow’s desk.
Willow smiled at him. “Thank you, honey.”
“You’re welcome, my mate.”
Kat, a jaguar shifter and the third owner of the firm, stepped out of the boardroom. “Can we get the meeting started? I have a client meeting in half an hour.”
Mal nodded, and Briggs followed the others into the boardroom. They sat around the table as Bishop closed the door and sat beside Ronin, a phoenix shifter with a smart mouth and Kat’s mate.
“Big guy,” Ronin said, holding out his fist.
Bishop bumped it. “You watch last night’s episode?”
Ronin nodded. “Yep. Mario and Isa are horrifyingly toxic, but fuck if I don’t love it when they’re on the screen. It’s goddamn magic.”
Fenton laughed. “Your addiction to 90 Day Fiancé is somehow both hilarious and sad.”
Bishop growled at him, but Ronin just grinned. “No more than your Big Brother addiction.”
“Harsh but fair,” Fenton said.
“Okay, listen up,” Mal said. He stood at the head of the table with a tablet in his hands. “We have some new assignments to hand out. Fenton, you’re working the Holson job this week.”
Fenton groaned. “Shit, can I do anything else?”
“It’s your turn,” Mal said.
“It feels like it was just my turn,” Fenton grumbled.
“I know it’s shit work, but it’s just for the week,” Mal said.
Fenton nodded, and Mal turned to Hudson. “You’re assigned to the Carter job.”
“Shit,” Fenton said. “The Holson job isn’t looking so fucking bad now.”
Garth laughed. “Hey, at least you’re not doing the mall security job. That’s boring as shit and…”
He trailed off as Mal gave him a look. “Fuck me, I’m on the mall security job, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, sorry, man,” Mal said.
“Win some, lose some,” Garth said.
“Briggs, I want you on our pro bono job,” Mal said.
“Willow is convinced that the witch, Cece, is still in danger, and wants her to have a security detail. She doesn’t think Cece will agree to it, though, so this is strictly observation work.
Sit outside her house, her workplace, follow her wherever she goes, but keep a low profile. ”
“Do we have someone for overnight?” Kat asked.
Mal nodded. “Davis finished up the Morris job last night. I’ll talk to him later today when he’s in the office and assign him for overnight.”
“He’s gonna be pissed,” Ronin said. “You know he hates the night shift.”
Mal didn’t reply, and Briggs cleared his throat. The wolf shifter glanced at him. “What’s up?”
“I’d like to be reassigned if possible,” Briggs said.
Hudson kicked him under the table, but Briggs ignored it. He didn’t care if he was jeopardizing his job. He couldn’t accept the assignment. He needed to stay the fuck away from the little witch.
No! His polar bear roared angrily. We’re the best ones to keep our mate safe.
She is not our mate. Chill the fuck out.
“Briggs?”
He forced himself to focus on Mal. “Sorry. What was that?”
“I asked if there was a particular reason you wanted to be reassigned.”
“Maybe it’s because he got his ass kicked by the tiny tree witch,” Ronin grinned.
Briggs curled his lip at him, and Ronin’s grin widened. “Don’t be embarrassed, my guy. I saw the tree witch in action, and she’s pretty deadly with those tree branches.”
Mal was still waiting for an answer, and sweat sliding down his back, Briggs said, “I just think it’s best if I’m assigned to a different job.”
Mal studied him for what felt like a fucking eternity before saying, “Garth, you’re on the pro bono job. Briggs, you’re doing mall security.”
His polar bear growled so loudly, it made his fucking brain reverberate against his skull. Before he could stop himself, Briggs said, “Are we sure Garth can handle the assignment?”
“What the fuck did you just say?” Garth’s horns poked through his forehead, and his stocky body swelled.
“Garth, cool it,” Bishop said.
“The asshole just insulted me,” Garth said before snorting loudly.
“Knock it off,” Bishop said.
Garth took a few deep breaths as Mal, his gaze way too sharp for Briggs’s liking, said, “You can have the pro bono job or the mall job. Take your pick, Briggs.”
Ignoring his bear’s growls, Briggs said, “Mall job.”