Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
ADRIAN
Taryn was smiling.
Not the version I usually got—a real one, softer, almost hesitant, as if she weren’t sure it would be welcome.
“Taryn…”
Her name on my lips felt different. Easier. Like it belonged there.
She stepped closer to me, or maybe I moved. At that point, it didn’t matter.
Her fingers brushed mine, light and uncertain, like she was testing the space between us, as if she wasn’t sure what I would do.
Silly girl, it’s not like I haven't been waiting for this to happen for the past few years.
I lifted my hand slowly, giving her more than enough time to stop me.
She didn’t. Nor did she look away. Her gray eyes heated as my thumb brushed her cheek, and her hand came up to catch my wrist—not to pull me away, just to hold me there.
I don’t remember deciding to pull her into my lap.
One second she was standing there, close enough to touch, and the next she was on me—my hand locked around her waist like it was the only thing keeping her there.
“Taryn…”
Her name came out rough, lower than I intended.
Her hands hit my shoulder as if she might push off, but instead her fingers curled into my shirt, gripping tight. And that’s all it took…
I pulled her closer—just as hard as I’ve always wanted—and whatever small space was left between us disappeared.
It still wasn’t enough.
I didn’t give either of us time to think—
—My lips met hers roughly.
No hesitation or warning; my control completely gone—finally, after all the years of holding back.
She gasped against me, and I felt her nipples harden through her shirt. I tightened my grip, pressing her into my hard dick, angling deeper, rubbing her where she needed it most.
Taryn moaned and kissed me back just as hard, with no hesitation and no pulling away. It was as if she’d waited for this moment as long as I had and was just as far gone as I was.
She shifted in my lap, even closer. Rubbing her pussy more roughly against my hard dick, and I felt it everywhere, sharp and immediate, dragging something darker up from my chest.
Something I’d had to suppress until she was older.
Taryn broke the kiss and pulled away, sliding out of my lap before I could stop her.
The words I was about to say dried up in my throat as she knelt and her hand went to my zipper.
I looked down, and my eyes could hardly believe what they were seeing.
My Taryn, her beautiful dark hair streaming down her back, those gray eyes soft, both dimples peeking out with a shy smile. “Can I?”
I ran my hand down her soft hair and wrapped it around my finger. “Yes, my sweet girl. You can touch me any way you want.”
Taryn slowly pulled my zipper down, and my cock sprang free, pre-cum beading from the tip. She leaned down and lapped at it, and I jerked at the feeling of her tongue touching my heated flesh.
She took me into her mouth, and my head fell back at the pleasure.
“Don’t stop.” I moaned. “I’ve been waiting for years to feel your mouth wrapped around my cock.”
I heard a strange growl and lifted my head to see where it came from.
Taryn was looking up at me and her eyes—
What the fuck? They were clouded over and wrong.
My eyes suddenly opened to darkness and an unfamiliar ceiling, my heart pounding from the dream.
As everything started to come back to me, my chest rose quickly, heat burning under my skin, and my head pulsed, making it hard to focus.
Suddenly, I heard voices from the porch, as if they were standing in the room with me.
“…put her down.”
Ben.
“…move.”
Another voice answered, low and controlled, and I knew I’d never heard it before.
Who the fuck was this?
I pushed myself upright, the room tilting hard enough that I had to brace against the wall just to stay on my feet.
My body didn’t want to cooperate. My legs felt heavy, slow, like they belonged to someone else.
As I stood there, breathing through it, something shifted. Not all at once, but one painful second at a time. The weight in my limbs eased, as if whatever was dragging me down had loosened its grip.
I heard a sound and turned. Lucas was lying on the bed as still as the dead.
I took a step.
Still unsteady.
Then another.
Much better.
Walking closer, I leaned down to touch his head and found that he was burning up.
“Hang in there, Luc.” I pulled the blanket at the end of the bed over him. “I told you this was different, and I was right.”
Before I was aware, the door stood in front of me, solid and locked.
Of course, Ben wanted to make sure that if we changed, he’d have time to take us out before we could pose a threat to him.
I didn’t blame him for the move, but I needed out.
The scent of Taryn was drifting into the room through the open front door, and I had to get to her.
My jaw tightened as I stepped back and drove my shoulder into it. The wood rattled, pain flaring through my arm, but I barely felt it. I hit it again, harder this time, and the frame creaked under the impact.
“Ben…” My voice came out rough. “Open the damn door.”
No response.
The voices outside carried again, much closer now.
I could almost feel the warmth of her body.
Taryn.
I stepped back just enough to get space, then drove forward with everything I had.
The impact cracked through the door, the lock tearing loose as the wood splintered around it.
The door burst open.
I staggered into the hallway but didn’t fall.
Every step felt stronger than the last, the weakness burning off and turning into something else entirely—something sharper, faster, and more controlled.
Ben’s voice carried through the house again, low and guarded, threatening.
“I’ll only say it once more, son, put her down.”
At the end of the hall, I stopped just inside the doorway, close enough to see without putting myself fully into the situation. From here, I could take in everything.
Ben stood on the porch with his gun raised, his stance steady and unmoving, as if he’d already decided exactly where the line was and had no intention of giving an inch of it.
A man stood a few yards away in the grass, facing him.
With my Taryn in his arms.
He had the build of a fighter, and the way he held her told me Taryn wasn’t just anyone to him. She was something special.
I narrowed my eyes. He was going to find out soon that she was everything to me.
Taryn was mine first.
A dog stood in front of him.
His body was low to the ground, angled forward, his weight balanced as if he was ready to move in any direction without warning, the red-and white pit mix built solid through the chest and shoulders, its scarred skin pulled tight over muscle that had been used more than once.
One ear hung torn, the damage old but not forgotten, and the look in his eyes made it clear that whatever had done that probably hadn’t survived the fight.
It wasn’t letting the man take another step.
My eyes zeroed in on Taryn. She hung against him, completely unconscious, her head tipped slightly back, her skin flushed with fever, and her breathing uneven but steady enough that I knew she wasn’t gone.
Taryn was in the process of changing. Only time would reveal which path she would be presented with.
If things didn't go well, I’d end our suffering and hope that, if given another chance, life would be kinder to us.
I wouldn’t live in a world she wasn’t part of.
The man’s hold on her was tight. It looked like he’d already decided that no one was taking her from him without a fight.
That really didn’t sit right with me.
Another man stood off to the side near the truck, his posture loose but not careless, his attention shifting between Ben, the man holding her, and the house itself, as if he were tracking every angle at once.
The dog adjusted slightly.
It was holding the line between the man and Ben.
Protecting Taryn.
Ben saw it too. His focus sharpened, even though the rest of his stance didn’t change at all.
“I have no problem shooting you or that dog.” Ben shifted the gun slightly. “Place my daughter on the ground and step back.”
The man didn’t flinch or show the least bit of intimidation.
“Don’t be an old fool. We both know you won’t risk hitting her.” He smirked. “And I won’t risk her well-being on a man who drops his only daughter in the woods to find her way back alone.”
Ben growled. “The hell you say, boy! I’ve trained that girl to survive. That was an exercise she’s done a hundred times. And I don’t owe a punk like you an explanation.”
“That might be so, but she’s in my arms now, burning up with fever, and all you’ve done is delay us from getting her help.” The man scowled. “Maybe we should leave here and find another safe place.”
The dog’s growl deepened at that, low and steady, like it backed the decision without question.
That wasn’t happening.
I stepped forward just enough to make my presence known, not crossing the threshold but not staying hidden either.
The man’s eyes shifted to me.
Calm. Taking me in piece by piece and already deciding where I fit in all of this.
“Who are you?” My voice was steady despite the heat of temper building under my skin. “And how did Taryn come to be in your company?”
“Who the hell are you?”
The big bastard wasn’t giving an inch.
“You’re holding something that isn’t yours,” I said, my voice even as I stepped fully into view, letting him see me clearly now instead of just the outline in the doorway.
I crossed my arms slowly, not for comfort, but because I wanted him to understand I wasn’t rushing this—wasn’t the slightest bit unsure.
“So go ahead,” I added, meeting his gaze without blinking. “Tell me why you think I’m going to let you keep her?”
Out of the corner of my eye, the second man adjusted near the truck, his stance tightening just enough to show he was ready if this went bad, though he still hadn’t stepped in.
Ben didn’t interrupt. Though I knew he wanted to.
The dog barked once, sharp and controlled, the sound cutting through everything else and reinforcing the line it had already drawn.
No one crossed it yet, but if he didn’t hand her over soon, that was going to change.