Dylan awoke to Adelaide easing herself from his arms and diving into the lake. The way her lithe body cut into the water as she dove left his mouth dry. Rubbing his eyes he sat up and watched her swim for a moment before getting up to jump in next to her before she saw him up. He landed beside her in the water and heard her muffled shriek as he pulled her under. He quickly turned her to him and he felt her melt into his embrace when he kissed her deep before allowing her to surface.
“Jackass,” she smiled at him despite her mock annoyance.
He reached out to run the back of his fingers down her cheek and smiled. “Sleep well, Love?”
She nodded and leaned into his touch. “So well I think I will keep you around for a while,” she teased.
“Well let’s be thankful for that then, because I don’t want to go anywhere else but your arms,” he grinned to her before getting out of the water. Dylan leaned over to hold a hand out to her and wrapped her up tight after helping her out.
“You know, they are going to wonder where we are. It’s dark after all,” she half-heartedly protested.
“Let them talk, Love. I don’t care what they think.”
“Of course you wouldn’t you’re a rabbit,” she poked his side drawing a fake yelp from his chest.
“They don’t need to know that. Besides, I am the only one in my family who currently possesses the ability to fully shift. I’m not certain they even know that. It isn’t something that has come up,” he let her go to walk over and pick up her now long dry dress. The material he noticed was mended several times and nearing a threadbare state. A frown came to his lip as he helped her into it and changed into his own clothes. “Adelaide,” he started quietly.
“I know,” she cut him off, embarrassment coloring her voice. “I’ve made do with what I’ve had.”
He tipped her lips up to his to brush a kiss over them. “I was going to say the stitching on it is amazing to have held up this long. Why not let us get you some more material to make several new dresses?” Dylan knew she was quite proud of her self-sustaining abilities and was not about to take that from her.
She answered with a nod. “Where do we go from here, Dylan?”
He watched her blue-grey eyes peer into his and he could not help but smile. “I would assume home, Love.” He purposely left the statement open ended enough to see disappointment color her face. Before she could speak, he silenced her protest with his finger over her lips. “Not above the shop, Love.” He shook his head and saw the hope fill her eyes. “I would never ask you to give up your childhood home, Adelaide. Let us go to your home,” he paused momentarily and spoke again, “our home. And definitely try that love-making thing again.” He tangled his fingers in hers and dragged them up his lips. “I found it quite enjoyable.”
“Troublemaker,” she quipped and a blush colored her face.
He tucked her against him and led her out of the cavern emerging into their field. Dylan found himself instinctively scanning as something set his senses on edge. Unease shot up his spine and his ear attempted to cock behind him when he heard a faint rustle.
“What is it Dylan?” Adelaide shifted closer to him.
“I don’t know, Love. Just stay close to me.” He tightened his arm around her as they continued quickly home. He felt eyes boring into his back causing his hackles to raise. Dylan tried to get a sense of which direction behind them the stare was coming from, however even with his animal instincts it was difficult due to the large amount of brush. I don’t like this. He’s there, I know it.
He barely finished his thought when he was sent flying forward, Peregrine crashing into him from behind. Dylan shifted and was able to turn his body before he hit the ground—using his clothing for padding when he landed on the grass. He managed to free himself from the fabric and shifted back to stand naked before the man.
“So that rabbit was you,” Peregrine ground out and sank his dirty fingers into Adelaide’s hair. “I should have snapped your neck while I had the chance.”
“You wouldn’t have been able to Perry-boy,” Dylan said with an air of confidence while his heart was racing seeing Adelaide struggling against the man. The gasp of pain as Peregrine yanked on her hair was enough to send fury surging through his veins. “I was about to flay your hand open. Plus Addy broke your wrist, so you really wouldn’t have stood a chance.” He glared at the man after tearing his eyes away from his heart. “Let her go, this is between us, Peregrine.”
“Nah, I think I’ll have some fun with her first. I have been waiting a long time to get my hands on her.” Peregrine looked down to Adelaide before his fingers reached over to run over her bottom lip.
What she did next left Dylan swelling with pride. Just when Peregrine’s fingers touched her lip, Adelaide bit down hard. Get away Addy, come on. She darted away from him, offering Dylan some comfort. After he turned his attention to the now cursing man, Dylan leapt forward as Peregrine was trying to recover and tackled the man farther away from her. Rage filled his chest while his fists rained down on the man. He could not contain the anger while the sight of Peregrine touching her replayed in his head.
Peregrine struggled to grab Dylan’s wrists. When he could not stop the blows, Peregrine found the spot where the man’s leg had been broken weeks ago and grabbed hard.
Dylan howled in pain and leapt from the man only to be crashed into again. This time he was pinned to the ground and Peregrine’s fists landed blow after blow.
It was all happening so fast Adelaide barely had time to recover before they had already swapped places. She looked over and her heart broke at the site of Dylan pinned down. Shift already! The obstinate look of determination not to shift was clearly worn on his face while he shoved the man off of himself and leapt to his feet. Blood ran from his mouth and she could already see the bruising on his cheek. It made her blood boil in a way she had never expected to.
She set her jaw and ran to the edge of the field while the other two continued their fight. “Come on, where are you?? I left you here before just last winter. Don’t tell me you’ve rotted already,” she shouted while she searched for the thick branch she had dragged out of the middle of the field last fall. “Come ON!” Stamping her foot to the ground, she saw a small movement out of the corner of her eye. “There you are!”
Adelaide grabbed the branch and ran back to the two men then waited for her opening. She simply wanted to get Peregrine off of Dylan. It was obvious Dylan’s leg was on fire. White lines creased his beautiful face while he struggled with the much larger man above him. Dylan managed to get back to his feet, however instantly Peregrine had pinned Dylan to the ground again with a lucky blow to the back of his head. Her heart broke when she saw those stunning chocolate eyes close and his body go limp. NO! Shit. Do it now Addy.
Adelaide ran behind Peregrine and brought the thick branch down over the back of his head with a sickening crack. The branch shattered leaving her cursing herself. Better his attention on me at the moment. The thought ran unbidden through her head. A scowl came across her face as Peregrine rose to his feet and towered over her.
“Now that we are alone,” he muttered while panting and grabbed her by the back of the head. His fingers yanked her hair hard when he pulled her tight against him.
Adelaide nearly vomited at the smell of him. “Have you not showered in weeks, Perry?” She glared up at him as he yanked her hair again in an effort to draw a yelp of agony from her.
“Of course I have, Pet. But now that I’ve won, you might just get to shower while I watch—if I decide to let you,” he smirked down to her through the blood and cuts covered his face. Peregrine yanked her hair as he jerked her face to his.
She refused to give in to the pain and simply glared at him while her fingers reached for her pocket. After the last time Peregrine had shown up, she had went out and bought a knife for protection at Dylan’s insistence. Be strong, Addy. Anxiety at what she was about to do sat high in her chest—however she knew her aim had to be precise. If you don’t, he’ll kill Dylan and you’ll be a slave, raped every day the rest of her life.
Dylan’s soft moan when he began to came to melted away any fear she had. She wrapped her hand around the handle of the knife as she anticipated Peregrine kissing her. Seconds seemed to turn into minutes while she waited for him to become enthralled with her apparent acceptance of his touch. Truth be told she wanted to expel everything in her body right there. His touch made her skin crawl in a way she had never expected.
She made sure Peregrine’s eyes were closed and she returned his kiss with counterfeit gusto before removing the knife from her pocket. Ensuring it did not touch him, she ran her hands up the large man’s chest. When she reached his neck, she paused, a brief moment of uncertainty filled her and panic rode her hard—until the sight of his hand around Dylan’s neck flashed in her mind.
Adelaide set her jaw and shoved the knife deep into Peregrine’s neck twisting it after the hilt touched his skin. A gasp of pain left her throat when his fingers tightened in her hair just before he reached up in shock to pull the knife from his throat. The second he removed it from his body, Adelaide became covered in his blood. It spurted over her face and down her dress as he stood over her, his shock filled eyes staring into hers while the life drained from them.
“You will never have me, Peregrine,” she growled. She shoved the man back away from her and watched him fall to the ground before his blood stained the grass around him. Doubling over the second the life flickered from Peregrine’s eyes, Adelaide heaved until there was nothing left.
Dylan opened his eyes to complete silence. He sat up with a groan and held his head. The last thing he remembered was Peregrine catching the back of his head before everything went black. Dylan looked to his right and the sight was one he was not prepared for. Peregrine’s body lay there with a knife between it and a doubled over, blood soaked Adelaide. He only watched her for a moment—tears streaming down her face and gasping for breath—before he leapt to his feet and ran over to her.
“Addy,” he whispered before he scrambled to her and wrapped her in his arms. She did not speak and simply turned to him burying her face in his chest sobbing. He knew she loathed violence and Dylan did everything he could to shield her from it. Yet as she released the emotion he knew consumed her, he found himself proud of her for defending herself. “Shhh, Love. It’s over now,” he murmured and pressed a kiss to her hair. He did not know how long he sat holding her, however the tears eventually subsided. Gently tipping her face to his, he smiled down to her. “You did good, Addy girl.”
“I couldn’t let him hurt you—or me—anymore. I just couldn’t,” she choked out between gasps of breath before several more tears cleaned the majority of Peregrine’s blood from her face.
Dylan smiled sadly. “I know, Addy. You did what you had to do to defend yourself, defend me.” He reached over, grabbed his shirt to clean the remaining blood from her face, and kept her wrapped against him. “It’s over, Adelaide. It’s okay now.”
“But what happens now? Won’t I be thrown in jail? Or worse you? What happens to your shop? What happens to us?” Panic filled her voice as the coil wound again.
He could feel her mind racing and kissed her deeply, interrupting the spiral instantly feeling her relax in his arms. Dylan smiled against her lips and broke the kiss but kept her lips against his. “Adelaide, trust me when I say nothing is going to happen. Dad knows full well what he’s been doing to you, I’ve told him about all I’m aware of. He won’t let anything happen to either of us. And if someone has to pay for Peregrine, then I am not letting you do it. We will tell them I did it.”
“But—“
“No buts, Addy girl. If there’s even a remote chance you are carrying our child, I refuse to stand by and watch you go through that from outside the bars,” he brushed another kiss across her lips and squeezed her to him. Dylan had to smile because he could feel the deep blush against his chest. “C’mon, we need to let Dad know what happened.” He released her long enough to get his pants and shoes on before scooping her up in his arms. She nestled against his chest as he turned to head to his father’s house.