Authors: Susan Bliler
Territory (21 page)
Briggs smiled down at her. “It’s a family recipe. Elk stew with red potatoes and corn. It’s famous in these parts.”
Kya spooned an oversized quarter of steaming potato into her mouth and moaned in appreciation.
That is so good.
“I’m glad you like it.”
Kya was enjoying her meal too much to be annoyed with Briggs intrusion into her thoughts. She shot him a dirty look as she grabbed the warm, buttered yeast roll and took a bite.
Briggs smiled down at her a moment longer before his recently absent scowl returned. He turned and stalked toward the door. “Take your time eating then get changed. We need to hit the road before sunset.”
“Road?” Kya yelled around a mouthful of stew. “Where are we going?” Kya’s question was left unanswered as Briggs clicked the door shut behind him.
Kya finished her meal, changed in her room, then crossed back to Briggs’ room to retrieve the tray full of empty dishes before heading down stairs.
The kitchen was empty except for Briggs who sat at the center island sipping a cup of coffee. “You ready?”
Kya set the tray on the counter and eyed the kitchen. “Where is everyone?”
Briggs stood and retrieved a coat from the coat rack behind the door. He approached Kya and wrapped the coat around her shoulders. “They’re giving us some space.”
Kya’s belly lurched. “Why?”
Briggs grabbed Kya’s hand and pulled her along behind him. “You ready?”
“Where are we going?”
Briggs drug Kya along behind him, out the back door and to his truck. “We’re going to Limestone Canyon.”
“What for? Where’s that? Who’s all going?”
“Too many questions.”
Kya tiptoed as they approached the truck, peering into the truck bed where two large coolers and several duffle bags were strapped tight.
“How long are we staying? Shouldn’t I pack something? What’s happening?”
Briggs pulled the passenger door open, but Kya balked. “Will you please answer me?”
Briggs spun her to him, “I’ll answer one question now and the rest on the way. Make it quick.”
Kya glared up at him indignantly. Too many questions, she didn’t know which one was the best to ask now. “Why are we leaving?”
Briggs hoisted her up into the cab as he answered. “We need some time alone.”
After stopping in town to gas up and grab snacks, Briggs steered the truck onto the highway.
“I know you have many questions. Ask.” His command was clipped, his eyes glued to the road.
Kya didn’t know where to start. So she began with the most obvious of questions, “Where are we going?”
“I told you, Limestone Canyon.”
“What…where is that?”
“It’s near Belt. Closer to Raynesford actually.”
“Okay, I don’t know where either of those places are, and what I meant is
why
are we going there?”
“We’ve got a family cabin there. It’ll be a nice spot to get away from everything for a few weeks. We need some time alone.
Briggs slanted her a glance and added, “In relation to distance, it’s about a five hour drive from here.”
Kya gnawed furiously on her bottom lip.
Why does he keep saying we need time alone? I wonder what’s really going on.
“Look, we’ve both been through a lot in the past few weeks. We need to get a few things straightened out.”
Annoyed, Kya flashed him a scathing look. “Can you
not
read my thoughts if I didn’t want you to?”
Briggs shifted restlessly. “Yes.”
“How?”
“I can choose to not hear you, to stay out.”
“
If
I asked, would you stay out of my head?”
A moment of silence lapsed before Briggs answered. “I would…try.”
“Briggs?”
The steering wheel creaked under his grasp.
“Will you please stay out of my head? Just for now. Just until I learn some control?”
Briggs turned to frown at her. “I’ll try.”
“Thank you”, Kya whispered.
“My turn.” Briggs’ frown deepened as he turned his attention back to the road. “Is there anyone else that wants to kill you? Anyone else that might come looking for you, that I need to be aware of?”
Kya shook her head, “No. Aside from Theron, his pack, and Josephine, no one else in the world even knows or cares that I’m alive.” The comment was stated simply, not to induce pity, but as a mere statement of fact.
Briggs didn’t see it that way. “You are part of our family now. The pack,
our
pack knows and cares a great deal that your alive.”
Kya fidgeted before expelling a long breath and changing the subject. “What else can you make me do?”
Briggs smirked, taking her bait. “Nothing.”
Kya eyed him biting her lip. “Is that true?”
“Yes, it’s the truth. And for the record, I didn’t
make
you fall asleep either. I can only influence your body’s own desires…heighten them.”
“How?”
“In the truck you were tired, but you were fighting it. I too was exhausted, so I opened our path of communication. You could fend off your own exhaustion, but coupled with mine? You didn’t stand a chance.”
“So you gave me your exhaustion?” Kya’s forehead crinkled.
“I guess you could say that. It’s the same with strength. If you were hurt, I could force my power on you. Make you strong again. Well, stronger.”
Kya’s brows shot up in incredulity. “You can heal me?”
Briggs chuckled, “No. Well, maybe, depending on how injured you were...”
Silent moments passed as Kya contemplated what this new revelation meant. Then instantly her head snapped towards Briggs.
“When Kyler had me in the trunk. He was just about to light me on fire and I tried to shift. Nothing happened. I mean I didn’t shift, which I kind of expected, but there was no pain either. It was you! You gave me your power?”
Briggs’ expression turned grave. “I thought if I could send you my power you might be able to shift. It was a long shot, sent from a great distance, and it didn’t work. Your body was too banged up. I wasn’t strong enough to help you shift, but strong enough to keep you from pain, to strengthen your body.”
“Wh-what happens to you?”
Briggs eyed her pensively, “What do you mean?”
“Does it weaken you to send me your strength?”
“In the truck when you were tired and I gave you my exhaustion…well let’s just say that I haven’t had the need to sleep.”
“So when you sent me your power, you were defenseless?”
“I am
never
defenseless, but weakened, yes.”
Kya pulled her feet under her and turned to Briggs. “How long does the weakness last?”
“Well, when I gave you my exhaustion, it was only a day’s worth. Meaning I didn’t need to sleep for a night. It was the same with my strength. I guess it’s what it would be like to spend the day running a marathon. I was exhausted, but not defenseless….just weak and tired. If we’d have been closer, and if I’d have sent you more of my power, it might be a different story.”
“Is that why I slept so long?” Kya crossed her arms over her chest in an angry gesture.
Briggs couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, you did ask for it. Plus, I had to get us home and you needed your rest. All’s well that ends well.”
Kya couldn’t help herself. “And did it?”
Briggs lifted a quizzical eyebrow in confusion.
“Did it end well?” She prompted.
Briggs turned his full attention to her and Kya suddenly felt her entire body flush as he raked his gaze slowly down her frame.
“Not yet.”
Kya tore her eyes from his, the cabin of the truck suddenly seeming too small and stuffy. She kept her eyes focused out her window. “You said that you can influence my body’s own desires. Heighten them. What do you mean?”
“It means if you want something, and I want the same thing, I can open our pathways of communication and you’ll not be able to resist.”
Kya was afraid to look at him as her belly somersaulted. “D-does it only work with sleep?”
“No. If there is
any
desire that you have and I want it too, I can influence you into action. For example sex…”
Heat flooded Kya’s face and she turned her head further from Briggs. She cut in abruptly, “Look, I don’t need to know
all
the details.”
She could heard the laughter in Briggs’ voice, “Well…if you change your mind.”
Again, Kya quickly changed the subject, “So this cabin, what’s it like?”
Kya could still hear the laughter in Briggs’ tone as he began, but as he spoke his voice transitioned to a deep husky tone that literally had Kya shivering.
“It’s warm. Safe and secluded. We’ll be completely alone for the next two weeks. Just you, me, and a small empty cabin. Nowhere to go, nothing to do. Only time to explore the woods, the cabin, our powers, our bond…each other.”
“Briggs!” Kya’s attempt at a warning sounded too terrified even to her own ears. And as Briggs burst into a bout of laughter, she knew he was intentionally trying to make her uncomfortable with his innuendos. “Not funny.”
Briggs laugh died quickly. “It’s not really. You’d better change the subject quick before I have to pull this truck over.”
Shocked, Kya’s eyes snapped to his. She couldn’t tell if he was still joking or not, but decided it was best not to find out. “Uhhh, is Isaac okay?”
Kya’s tensed shoulders relaxed as Briggs turned serious.
“He’s perfect, wasn’t a scratch on him. By the way, Cindy and Mike wanted me to give you their thanks for what you did. Coming from me it sounds lame, but Cindy was…
is
more grateful than you’ll ever know.”
Kya sighed, “They don’t need to thank me. This whole mess, all the trouble I’ve brought on your family, all of it’s a result of my coming to Montana in the first place. I’m surprised they don’t all hate me.”
“Well they don’t. And nobody sees any of what’s transpired over the past month as your fault. You were the victim Kya. It was you who needed saving, not us. And still at the end of the day it was you sacrificing your life for one of our pack.”
Kya didn’t want to continue this line of conversation either. The last thing she needed was Briggs thinking she was throwing herself a pity party or expecting his or his family’s gratitude.
“Mind if we listen to some music?” Not waiting for an answer Kya leaned forward and flipped on the radio. Kya turned up the unfamiliar song and leaned back in her seat exhaling deeply trying to loosen her nerves. She was more nervous about spending two weeks alone in the woods with Briggs than she’d ever been about anything in her life. Her thoughts jumped about drastically as she attempted to keep from thinking about and feeling her anxiety. She knew Briggs could smell it, and she knew there was nothing she could do to change it except to try to control herself. She was failing miserably.
Chapter 2
8
After what seemed an eternity, Briggs turned the truck off the main highway and onto a narrow country road. They followed the road a few miles then Briggs turned left onto a gravel road. Either side of the road was lined with knee-high snow berms.
“Do county plows come out this far?” Kya eyed the road ahead slightly nervous at what they might encounter.
“No. Not county plows. This road was most likely plowed by one of the local farmers.” Briggs pointed a finger out Kya’s window as they approached a small farm.
Kya craned her neck as they passed by to take in the quaint farm that was nestled in the hillside just off the road.
“There are several families that live out here year round.”
Kay kept her eyes glued to the window as the road ribboned its way from the flat snow covered fields to a shadow-filled canyon.
Sharp jagged rocks rose up on both sides of the truck as pine trees that began as a sprinkling on the sides of the road gave way to a dense forest. Slowly the cliffs shrunk and fell back to form rolling tree covered hills, then the thick trees grew more and more sparse until the road once again led out into a snow covered plain where a second farm stood out in the snow, smoke rising from its chimney.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Yes. Extremely beautiful.”
Hearing an unfamiliar tone in Briggs’ response Kya turned to find that he wasn’t watching the scenery at all. His eyes were fixed on her. A slight flush warmed her cheeks and she turned her eyes back to her window. “How close are we?”
It took Briggs a moment to answer. “There it is.”
Kya turned to follow Briggs’ finger as he pointed out his window.
A charming little, green roofed cabin sat at the peak of a winding road that led steeply up the side of the mountain.
Kya eyed the road nervously. “It looks really steep.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve done this a hundred times.” Briggs grabbed the handle that sat erect on the floor between them and shifted the truck into four-wheel drive.
Kya smiled weakly at him, and as he turned onto the road, she clutched the armrest tightly.