24. Lucas
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
LUCAS
Beck had his arm around her… again. It seemed like either he or Adrian was touching her constantly now that they were a big happy family.
That was what kept my attention.
Not the storm gathering beyond the barn walls. Not the wind worrying at the loose tin overhead. Not the distant rumble of thunder rolling beyond the trees.
Beck’s arm… around Taryn.
She sat beside him in the hay, one knee bent, her shoulder pressed against his chest as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Adrian sat on her other side, close enough to notice when she shivered before anyone else did.
He reached behind him, grabbed his jacket out of his pack, and dropped it across her lap. “That’ll help keep you warm, baby.”
Taryn smiled at him gratefully. “Thanks.”
Beck tugged the jacket higher and handed her an energy bar he’d stashed beside him. “Eat this. It’ll help you recover from the blood loss.”
I looked away.
There was no reason the sight of either of them touching her should bother me.
None.
Which was probably why it bothered me so much.
Across the barn, Finley sat beside Harper, his back against a stall. He had insisted on taking the first watch.
No one argued.
He hadn’t taken his eyes off her since we got here, so it seemed like the logical choice.
Rory slept curled on her side a few feet away, with Max pressed against her back and Mojo trapped beneath one arm. Wren lay next to her. Colson sat between them and the door, his attention laser-focused on Wren’s chest as it rose and fell with each breath.
I leaned my head back against the wall as another flash of lightning lit the barn through the gaps in the boards.
Taryn chuckled at something Beck said, and Adrian smiled at them both.
Weren’t they cute?
I had to remind myself that I didn’t care.
Taryn wasn’t mine.
She’d never been.
She’d been a little girl who followed Adrian and me around until we escaped to whichever room she wasn’t in.
Then she became my student.
Then she became Adrian’s obsession.
Then she became the single greatest pain in my ass I’d ever had to deal with.
Somewhere along the way, she’d become something else.
Something I tried very hard not to name.
Adrian mumbled something else to her, and she looked at him with heat in her eyes.
Those eyes hit me somewhere low, and it pissed me off to no end.
I closed my eyes. Sleep was better than whatever the hell this was. But of course, it eluded me, my mind going a million miles an hour.
The rain started not long after and fell softly against the roof, then grew harder and steadier.
Thunder rolled again, close enough this time to make the old barn tremble.
I must have slept, because a short while later something cold landed on my cheek.
I frowned.
Another drop.
The roof must be leaking. Shit, just my luck.
I opened my eyes, and lightning flashed.
Harper’s face hovered inches above mine.
For one frozen second, my brain refused to process what I was seeing.
Her eyes were clouded, and her mouth hung open. Dark blood stained her lips. A strand of saliva stretched between her teeth… then she snarled.
I jerked backward, but I was too slow because of the shock I couldn’t shake off.
Her mouth gaped wider, and I knew this was it… then, out of fucking nowhere, Taryn hit Harper before the teeth could reach me. Both women crashed sideways into the hay, and the barn erupted with movement.
Beck was up, and Adrian reached for his knife. Max went from asleep to feral in less than a second.
Rory screamed. “Mommy!”
Harper twisted beneath Taryn with a strength she hadn’t possessed just a short time ago, and her hand closed around Taryn’s throat.
I lunged forward and caught Harper’s wrist. “Get off her!”
Harper snapped at me, then turned back to Taryn. Taryn shoved her forearm under Harper’s jaw. I saw fabric tear, and everything inside me froze.
“No!” I grabbed Harper by the shoulders and ripped her backward.
Beck caught her around the waist as Adrian seized her legs. Together they dragged her away.
I dropped to the ground beside Taryn, frantically checking her arm for a bite. “Did she get you?!”
“I’m fine.”
I pushed the material of her sleeve aside so I could see her arm more clearly. “Were you bitten?!”
“Lucas—”
I tore the sleeve higher.
No blood.
No broken skin.
Nothing.
Air left my lungs so hard it hurt. “You fucking idiot.”
Taryn narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me?”
“You could’ve been bitten!”
“So could you, if I hadn’t saved your ass!”
“That’s different.” I sat up and wiped the blood from my face.
Her expression became confused. “How?”
Before I could answer, Harper screamed.
Finley stood frozen beside the stall, staring at her. “No,” he whispered in a voice filled with grief.
Harper fought Beck and Adrian with everything she had.
Finley moved closer. “Harper?”
Her head snapped toward him with no recognition, just a hunger for his flesh.
Then Rory started crying again. “Mommy?”
Harper stopped, and the barn fell silent except for the rain. Her eyes found Rory, and something flickered across her face. Not enough to make her human again, but a recognition of her child. Her mouth trembled, and her body went rigid in Beck’s grip.
Finley took one careful step toward her. “Baby?”
A lone tear slid down her cheek, and my stomach dropped. She was still in there. Some part of her recognized her baby and the man who loved her.
Rory tried to move closer, but Wren caught her around the waist. “No, child.”
“But she knows me,” Rory cried as she struggled against her hold.
Harper made a broken sound, then her lips moved. At first, nothing legible came out. Then one word. “Run.”
Rory sobbed as Harper lunged.
Beck barely got her turned before her teeth snapped at empty air.
Finley staggered backward as if she’d struck him. “It slowed it.”
Adrian looked at him. “What?”
“The treatment.” Finley’s voice cracked. “It slowed the neurological progression.”
“This is not the fucking time,” Beck growled, struggling with Harper.
But Finley wasn’t listening. “She still has consciousness.”
Lightning split the sky, and thunder hit almost immediately.
Something crashed against the barn, and everyone froze except Harper.
Max’s attention turned from Harper to the door, and he gave a low growl.
Another impact.
Then another.
Wren looked at the door as Colson pulled her and Rory closer. “That’s not good.”
A board splintered inward, and gray fingers pushed through the gap. The damn rotters had followed the noise Harper was making, and the barn wasn’t going to hold.
“Move!” Adrian shouted.
Colson grabbed Rory and lifted her as if she weighed nothing. Wren snatched Mojo from the ground and ran with them.
Finley moved toward Harper. “I’m not leaving her.”
“You can’t stay.” Adrian snapped. “She’s gone.”
Beck still had Harper restrained, but she thrashed hard enough to throw him sideways.
A section of the roof groaned overhead. I looked up, but it was too late.
Lightning flashed, and wood cracked.
“Taryn!”
The beam fell between us, and I struck her with enough force to push us both into the side wall. Dust and hay flew everywhere as the barn filled with rain.
Rotters poured through the front, and everyone was shouting as Max barked ferociously.
“Taryn!” Beck roared over the rain and thunder.
I saw Colson as he tightened his grip on Rory and shoved Wren toward the side opening with the other. “Go.”
Wren didn’t argue, even though I could see her turning her head, desperately searching for Taryn.
Beck had pinned Harper again near the stalls, trying to keep her snapping teeth away from everyone, while Finley stood beside him, looking as if his entire world had just cracked open.
“She’s gone!” Adrian looked frantically at Finley.
Finley flinched. “No.”
“Finley—”
“She recognized Rory. I know I can fix this!”
Another impact shook the barn, knocking a board loose overhead and sending it crashing into the hay. Rain poured through the opening.
Lightning flashed.
For half a second, everything turned white, illuminating Harper as she snarled and twisted hard enough to nearly break Beck’s hold.
“Get Rory out!” Beck roared.
Colson disappeared through the opening with her, Wren, and Max close behind.
Adrian grabbed Finley by the back of his shirt and dragged him toward the opposite side. “We have to leave her.”
Finley fought him. “No!”
“You stay, you die. Those are your choices,” Adrian said, letting go of his shirt. “But remember, Rory is the most precious thing in Harper’s world, and Harper would want you to take care of her.”
Finley started openly sobbing even as Harper snapped at Beck’s forearm. He jerked back just in time. “Finley, man, what do you want me to do?”
I didn’t envy Finley. We’d all grown fond of him and Harper. I couldn’t imagine what I’d do if it were Taryn.
That realization stopped me cold. Taryn—a girl who had accused me of something terrible yet had grown into a woman who had saved me more times than I could remember.
Was I prepared to abandon everything I felt for her forever?
Was my anger worth sacrificing the love I knew, deep down, would never fade?
“Finley!”
Beck’s yell pulled me out of my thoughts, and I saw the look on Finley’s face as he realized that his choice really wasn’t a choice at all.
He gave Beck a slight nod as tears rolled down his face, and he followed Adrian out of the barn.
Taryn was beside me, bat in her hands, wet hair stuck to her pale face.
She looked toward Beck. “Beck!”
He shoved Harper backward into the stall and kicked the gate shut between them. He should have killed her, but I didn’t blame him for not doing it.
The wood wouldn’t hold for long, so he turned and motioned for Taryn to come to him. Just as she took a step, we heard the roof crack over the thunder.
I looked up just as another beam came down between Beck and us. It hit the floor hard enough to further reduce visibility.
Taryn tried to climb over it to reach Beck, but I caught her around the waist. “No. We’ve got to get out of here.”