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.
