Here is the spicy chapter as promised! Thank you again for your patience. Life has really been "lifing" lately and as I mentioned before it is a busy time of year for me at work as I have paperwork that must be completed before we take our winter break. I will still aim for 3 updates next week, but they may not be my normal MWF schedule. Thank you for understanding! Lots of love, Allie.
REID POV Faint light pokes at the edge of my consciousness. A lean but muscular body stretches along the length of mine, smooth skin beneath my hands and held within my arms. The scent of peaches, strawberries, and peonies fills my nostrils and I smile to myself, burying my nose into the base of Taryn’s neck, placing a tiny kiss there that sends a shudder through her still sleeping body. That’s my girl. Even in her sleep, her body responds to my touch. Even in sleep, she reacts to my possessiveness, to my claim on her heart. Our once tenuous bond is stronger than I’d ever thought it would be, ready to weather whatever life throws our way. My hand moves to her stomach, just below her belly button. Her belly is still flat, not yet showing even a hint of a curve, but I know our pup is in there, growing and thriving. A pup. Our pup. My pup. My daughter. If anyone asked me three weeks ago if I thought a pup would be in my future, I’d have laughed in their face. But now, she’s all I can
TARYN POV We’re quiet for most of the drive from Crescent Lake to Silver Ridge, my hand in Reid’s as he navigates the roads and switchbacks that bring us higher into the mountains. He squeezes my hand every once in a while, sending comfort and love to me through the bond. We’ve spent the last few days in a bubble, existing in a world filled with only the two of us as we built up our trust in each other and strengthened our bond before ultimately marking each other. The storm may have put a damper on everything else — the rest of the wedding, Haven and Wes’s honeymoon, and getting to the bottom of everything to do with my old pack — but it gave us what we needed. It gave us time. Time to bond and accept each other, to forgive and mark each other. But now it’s time to face the real world. And something in me tells me we’re in for a bumpy ride. Even Blake isn’t her normal chatty self. Instead, she is quiet in the backseat of our SUV, picking up on the solemnity of the situation. “What
REID POV I react to Dominic’s presence on instinct, shoving my mate behind me and positioning my body between the threat and her. All around me, the others do the same with their mates, growls and snarls bouncing off the mountainside, claws extending and bodies getting into protective stances. King Malachi joins Wesley in guarding Haven, the only one of us incapable of defending herself, and Aunt Gigi stands with me, guarding Taryn and Sour Patch. But instead of attacking, he falls to his knees, his eyes closing. Blood drips down his arms, stomach, neck, and thighs, falling into the pure snow and marring it with its deep red stain, expanding and growing by the second. His clothing hangs off his body in tatters, soaked through with the blood from his unhealing wounds. “Oh, Goddess, he’s hurt,” Taryn says, pushing me out of the way and running towards him. “Taryn, no!” I take off after her and grab her hand, pulling her against my chest and wrapping my other arm around her to pin her
TARYN POV “Hell fucking no,” Reid growls, his grip on me tightening. “She is not speaking to him. You are not speaking to him,” he repeats, his body vibrating from the intensity of his hold on me and the possessiveness radiating from him. Wesley says nothing, but his eyes are on me, a wordless question held within them. Reid’s hold on me is unwavering, his hand moving to cover my stomach, his nose pressing into my shoulder as he tries to calm himself. “Please, Taryn,” he says, almost in a whisper. I shake my head and cover his hand with mine. “I don’t want to talk to him,” I say, looking at Wesley. Reid’s entire body relaxes against mine, a sigh of relief passing through his lips before he kisses my shoulder blade. “But I do want to hear what he has to say when King Malachi questions him. If that’s all right.” “Of course,” Wesley says, standing from his desk chair. “You are the pack’s beta female, and you have every right to be involved in these situations. Not to mention you are
REID POV I lower my lips to Taryn’s as my hand slides to the waistband of her leggings, her body quivering in anticipation. But I don’t kiss her. I just hover there, right above her mouth, my breath tickling her lips. Her throat bobs, her pretty neck still stretched and exposed, a feast for my eyes. Her complete submission to me in this moment awakens the primal instinct in me, the one I held back for too long after I met her. It prowls beneath my skin, demanding I claim her again and again, to make up for denying and fighting it. She shrieks as I rip her leggings from her body and toss the ruined garment aside, then reach for her boots to pull them from her feet. My claws slice down the middle of her sweater, and I push the halves aside to reveal her bare breasts, nipples already peaked and pointing straight to the ceiling atop her round tits. “Where’s your bra?” I growl, my eyes darkening. I don’t mind if she wants to free the titties, but the thought of another male seeing her
TARYN POV Reid tugs me away from the bed and stands between Dominic and me, taking a protective stance, his claws out and his growl echoing through the hospital cell. “What the hell? I thought you said he would stay unconscious?!” Dr. Russo rushes to the IV stand, checking the drip line and preparing another dose of sedative from the cart nearby, his movements rushed but precise. “I underestimated how much of it would filter from his system as Taryn healed him. I can prepare another dose, but it will take some time and I’ll need to focus.” Dominic’s eyes bore into me, cold and unfeeling, harsher and more distant than I’ve ever seen them. Gone is the male I knew, the male who was a friend before he was ever anything more. The male I thought would still be my friend even after I told him I wouldn’t remain at his beck and call. Maybe he was never that male. Maybe it was all an act. I’d like to believe that’s not the case, but the proof is staring right back at me, his lip curled and h
REID POV “What the fuck just happened?” I ask, holding Taryn against my body. She trembles and her skin is colder than ice, her teeth chattering and her eyes squeezed shut. She presses herself closer to me, her hands gripping my sweatshirt, her face burying into the fabric as she takes in deep breaths. I keep one arm around her waist and cup her cheek with the other, my eyes scanning her face, my heart pounding like a drum in my chest, worry and fear rushing through me like a jolt of lightning in my veins. Her beautiful skin has a gray tinge to it, and her eyelids flutter in time with her shivering body. Her heart beats even faster than mine, and rapid breaths force her chest and shoulders up and down at an unnatural pace. I clutch the back of her head and hug her to my chest again, swaying side to side, hoping the calming movement will help settle her nerves. “I was hoping Taryn could tell us,” King Malachi says, letting go of Dominic and stepping away from the bed. “Not here, tho
TARYN POV Large hands roam my body, one skating over my ribs and up to my chest and the other traveling down, caressing the tops of my thighs. Warmth spreads through me from where Reid’s hands touch, snaking through my veins like tendrils of smoky incense, sensual and soothing, and just as intoxicating. His hand comes back to my hip, and he presses a little kiss to my mark, his thumb stroking in circles on my abdomen. I whimper and sigh and push back against him, closing the already nonexistent distance between our two bodies. My ass rubs against his groin, and his hard as a rock dick twitches, a groan falling from his lips as he pinches my nipple and slides his hand down between my legs. “Maya said we needed to sleep,” I say, even as I tilt my hips up, seeking his expert touch. “Maya isn’t part of our mate bond,” Reid says, brushing his fingers over my entrance. “And we did sleep. All night. And now I want to have my way with you.” His digit slips between my lower lips, not enter