“…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.”
