Chapter 12
Briggs stood at the bottom of the stairs, his foot tapping against the floor. His bear’s continual growling was really starting to piss him off.
Go to her. She’s upset.
He stomped back into the kitchen, ignoring his bear’s insistent growls.
Yes, Cece was upset, and that was apparent from the minute Mal and Willow left.
Her cheeks stained with tears, her bottom lip trembling, Cece had mumbled something about a nap and fled upstairs to her bedroom.
She’d shut the door and cried quietly, but his hearing was excellent, and he could hear her sobs.
Go to her.
He couldn’t. Trying to comfort her would only make things worse. His comfort would quickly turn into something else, and that was the last thing she needed right now. But he had precisely zero control around the little witch, and if he touched her…
He growled under his breath when his bear tried to take control.
Knock it off! We can’t go to her.
His bear retreated with a snarl, and Briggs took a deep breath. He couldn’t comfort Cece, but he had to do something for her. He couldn’t just sit on his ass while she cried over her dead aunt.
He looked around the kitchen, anxiety eating at his stomach until his gaze fell on the ceiling light. There! He’d fix the ceiling light and make her dinner. He couldn’t cook as well as Cece, but he knew how to make a few dishes. His anxiety eased a little, and he went hunting for light bulbs.
Ninety minutes later, the doorbell ringing brought Cece out of her bedroom. She joined him at the front door, leaving a respectable distance between them. “What’s going on?”
“Food’s here,” Briggs said as he pulled out his wallet and yanked open the door.
Confusion on her face, Cece gave the delivery guy a small smile.
Briggs growled low in his throat when the guy nodded before staring blatantly at her tits.
They were mostly hidden under her usual hoodie, but neither he nor his bear wanted anyone but him to notice Cece’s breasts - not even the punkass kid delivering pizza.
The kid’s eyes widened at his growl, and he took a step back. “You’re a grizzly shifter, yeah? You’re fucking huge, man.”
Briggs scowled at him and held out the cash. “Not every large shifter is a grizzly.”
“Dragon, then?” The kid studied his hair. “You don’t have the colour stripes in your hair, but you could dye it, right? You’re pretty old, so you probably dye it.”
Cece tried to turn her laugh into a cough, but failed badly. Briggs glared at her before shoving the cash at the driver. “Give me my fucking pizza, kid.”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t burn me to a crisp over it,” the guy said as he took the cash but held onto the pizza box. His gaze landed on Cece again. “If you ever get tired of dating a grumpy dragon, I know how to treat the ladies right.”
Briggs’s growl reverberated from his chest as his bear surged to the surface. He would kill the puny human for trying to take his mate from him, and then he’d take Cece to his bed and fuck her until she was covered in his scent and there was no doubt who she belonged to.
“Whoa. Dude’s sprouting white fur.” The delivery guy, blissfully unaware of his imminent demise, cocked his head. “What kind of dragon has white fur?”
Her voice pitched high with anxiety, Cece snatched the pizza box from him. “Time to go now.”
“Wait, I gotta give you change,” the kid said as Briggs growled again.
“Keep it!” Cece shut the door, throwing her body against it to get it to close fully as Briggs growled again.
He wanted to shift, wanted to smash through the door, and chase the fucking kid down, tear him open, and eat his guts.
His body was swelling, and his bones were beginning to crack. A thin layer of white fur covered his entire body, and he made another low growl. With the last of his willpower, Briggs fought for control. If he killed the delivery driver, he’d go to prison, and Cece would be unprotected.
His bear immediately retreated, horrified at the idea of his mate being left alone. His body shaking, Briggs sucked in a few deep breaths, embarrassment covering him in a thick coat. Fuck, what was wrong with him?
“Sorry,” he said, his gaze on his clenched hands. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I’m not scared.”
He looked up. Cece was still pressed against the door, the pizza box in her hand, but there wasn’t any fear on her face. Instead, she stared at him with an intensity that made his cock stir.
“You almost shifted,” she said.
Shame washed over him again. “No, I didn’t.”
“Uh, yeah, you did.” She sounded weird, and he could smell how excited she was. “That dumb kid pissed you off, and you almost shifted.”
He scowled at her. “I have better control than that.”
“Do you?”
“Yes,” he snapped before grabbing the pizza from her and carrying it into the kitchen.
She trailed after him. “It’s no big deal if you shift around me.”
“It wouldn’t scare you?”
“Not at all,” she said. “Anytime you want to shift to your polar bear, go right ahead. I have no problem with it.”
He studied her, a little confused by the eagerness in her voice. “What -”
“Oh my gosh!” Cece stopped abruptly and stared at the light, which now glowed brightly from three bulbs. “You fixed the light.”
He set the pizza on the table as she said, “Thank you for doing that.”
“You’re welcome.”
There were a few seconds of awkward silence before she crossed to the fridge and opened it.
She peered inside, then shut the door and turned to the pantry.
Like the rest of the cupboards, it was missing its door, revealing its nearly empty shelves.
Cece studied the two cans of soup and the bag of rice before choosing one of the soups.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Heating some soup for dinner,” she said.
“I got pizza,” he said.
She blinked at him. “Okay.”
“It’s for both of us,” he said.
“Oh, um, that’s kind of you, but I don’t actually eat out that much. I’m on a pretty tight budget, and I can’t afford to cover the cost of my share of the pizza.”
He sighed in annoyance. “It’s my treat. Grab some plates and napkins.”
She hesitated, and he made another soft growl. She rolled her eyes. “God, you’re so growly.”
He swallowed his answering growl and flipped open the pizza box as Cece grabbed plates and napkins. She poured them both a glass of water and slid into the chair across from him.
“It’s pepperoni and mushroom with bacon and green peppers,” he said. “If you don’t like it -”
“It’s perfect,” she said. “Honestly, any pizza that doesn’t have ham or pineapple is perfect to me.”
“Pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza,” he said.
She grinned. “Well, look at that, we actually agree on something.”
She took a big bite of the slice of pizza he put on her plate, a blissful look crossing her face as she chewed. “Oh God, this is so good. I haven’t had pizza in ages.”
His cock now a fucking stone in his pants, he concentrated on his own slice rather than imagining how else he might put that blissful look on Cece’s face. Making her ride his face, maybe. Or fucking her on that comfortable couch while the firelight danced across her perfect body and her magic -
“Briggs?”
He dragged himself from the fantasy, his voice hoarse when he said, “Yeah?”
“You okay?” Cece had stopped eating, a concerned look on her face.
“Fine,” he said. “Eat your pizza.”
She took another bite before studying the light fixture. “It looks so much better with all three lights. Thank you again.”
“No problem,” he said. “I tried to make dinner, but you didn’t have enough food.”
The scent of her embarrassment drifted to him, and he cursed inwardly, but she smiled cheerfully at him. “I’m a little low on groceries, but I’ll buy some more tomorrow.”
They ate silently for a few minutes before she said, “So, how long have you worked for the security company?”
“Not long,” he said. “A couple of months.”
“What did you do before that?”
“Heavy equipment operator for a logging company.”
She cocked her head. “Here in Ashdale?”
He sipped some water. “Alaska.”
He could smell her excitement. “You’re from Alaska? Fairbanks?”
“No, a small town called Wellington.”
“Oh. I’m planning a trip to Fairbanks. Have you been there before?”
“Yes. Why do you want to go?”
Her cheeks went pink, but she said, “I, um, like polar bears.”
Dismay trickled into his stomach as she said, “There’s a polar bear boat tour in Kaktovik, and you have to fly from Anchorage or Fairbanks to get to it.”
“You’re going to Alaska so you can take a polar bear boat tour,” he repeated slowly.
“Yes,” she said, her excitement returning. “I’ve never seen a polar bear in person before, and I’ve loved them since I was a little girl.”
Dismay turned to annoyance in a heartbeat, and he couldn’t stop his scowl.
Cece didn’t seem to notice. She was almost bouncing in her seat now.
“They have five-day or seven-day tours, and if you go in September or October, you’re almost guaranteed to see polar bears.
I’d love to do the full seven-day tour, but I’ll most likely -”
“You do know that polar bears are not on the planet for your amusement, right?” he snapped.
She gave him a defensive look. “I know that. The tours are very respectful of the animals, and it’s not like I’ll be going up to one and poking it or something.”
“That’s supposed to make it better?” he asked. “You’re gawking at them while they’re just trying to live their damn life, but it’s okay because you’re not touching them.”
She flushed bright red. “I want to see one because I love them so much. They’re beautiful animals and they -”
“If you love polar bears so much, then you’d know the better place to see them is in Canada, not Alaska,” he said.
She swallowed hard as he scowled at her. “Humans are all the same. You want what you want and don’t consider anything else. How would you like it if you had people lined up to gawk at you through your windows? It’s fine because they’re not touching you?”
“It isn’t like that, okay? I have a love and appreciation for polar bears because they’re incredible animals and I would never do anything to harm them or -”
“You want me to shift just so you can see a polar bear, don’t you?”
Her face turned a fiery red. “No, I… I mean… I know that shifters need to spend time in their animal form, so I wanted you to be comfortable and -”
“Bullshit,” he snapped. “At least be honest with me.”
“Fine,” she said. “Yes, I would like to see a polar bear in person, and if you shifted, that would be very cool. But I’m not asking you to shift for me. I’m just saying that if you want to shift, I don’t have a problem with it.”
“I’m not shifting for you,” he said. “I’m here for your protection, not your goddamn amusement.”
“I know that!”
“Do you?”
She pushed her plate away, anger and shame rolling from her in equally thick waves. “You just can’t help but be an asshole, can you?”
“Saying something you don’t like doesn’t make me an asshole,” he said.
“Whatever. Thanks for dinner.” She stormed out of the kitchen, and he heard her stomping upstairs.
His bear snarled at him, and Briggs rubbed at his forehead before closing the pizza box. “I’m not apologizing. I didn’t say or do anything wrong.”
He ignored his bear’s grumbling as he cleaned up the dishes and put the pizza box in the fridge.
He continued to ignore his bear as he climbed the stairs.
He wasn’t an asshole. Humans with their belief that everything put on the goddamn earth was there strictly for their enjoyment were the assholes.
He cocked his head, staring at Cece’s door just down the hallway. The muffled sound of her crying drifted to him, and the sound deflated his anger like it’d been popped with a pin. A my mate is crying, and it’s all my fucking fault pin.
He groaned before muttering. “Fuck. I am an asshole.”
His bear growled in agreement as, feeling overwhelmingly guilty, Briggs trudged to his bedroom, Cece’s soft crying piercing straight into his chest.