Sacred Bond: Secrets of Stone Ridge Read online

  Taryn’s eyes grow wide as she seeks me out once more. A fear, one I’ve never seen before, is written all over her face.

  I know without a doubt her head is spinning.

  Backing away, she reaches out to brace herself on the frame of the large open doorway. I see how unsteady she has become. Almost as though the floor beneath her shifts and wobbles, Taryn sways and I race toward her. My hands-on her waist I walk her backward toward the couch. After helping her sit, I kneel before her and watch as she takes in one deep breath after another. Her eyes appear glazed, as she remains lost in thought.

  “I should’ve told you,” I say, my palms rubbing soothingly over her thighs. With panic racing through me, I lean in and hope she can see the devotion I have for her. Our eyes lock on one another I silently beg for her to hear my words clearly. “I understand if this is all too much.” Not that I want to let her go, but I could never bring myself to force her to stay, to become completely mine if she doesn’t want to.

  “I…” the words are lost to her. Like she can’t register what she has heard. “Me…” again she attempts to speak. Being pissed at Rowan did not even begin to explain how I felt. This is not how I wanted to tell Taryn. I did not want to bombard her, I wanted to slowly ease her into my world.

  “I never wanted you to feel responsible, or make you feel forced.”

  “So you were simply going to lead me to believe that this thing between us was two people that were meant to be. Let me believe that you wanted me, and not what I could give you.” Taryn’s eyes filled with tears and I felt as though I had been stabbed in the chest. “You don’t want me, you want the gift I can give you.”

  “What?”

  Taryn stands so fast that I have no time to prepare. I stumble back and land on my ass as she rounds the couch and heads straight for the door. “

  Wait!” I reach out for her and she jerks her arm away so I hold my own up in surrender. I won’t touch her, I just need her to stay.

  “Please, stay.”

  She pauses with her hand on the door handle, her back still to me.

  “I thought this was something,” her words are nothing more than a whisper. “I thought I was what you wanted, who you needed.”

  “You are,” I’ve never felt fear like I do now.

  “No,” Taryn looks back at me, her cheeks now stained with tears and my chest tightens. The need to reach out and take her in my arms has never felt stronger than right now. “You need what I can give you, it has nothing to do with me alone. I’m an incubator for the rebirth of your world.” And with that, the door opens and she disappears off the porch, down the steps and into the forest a few hundred feet away.

  “Maybe she needs time,” Rowan’s voice echoes behind me but I can’t move away from the door. My world was lost years and years ago, but even then, the loss I felt doesn’t compare to what I feel now.

  She ran, she left me.

  Taryn

  The moment I disappear into the trees I close my eyes, letting the tears I kept at bay roll down my cheeks. The frigid temperature causes them to freeze in the process. I look down and realize I don’t have my coat or decent clothes on. I wrap my arms around myself but that does nothing to warm the chill.

  I begin to walk in the direction I think I need to be going in. Every step I take further away from Merick I feel a pain in my chest, but I ignore it and keep walking. I ignore the tears that spill down my cheeks. He didn’t want me—I was a means to an end, and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

  Once I spot the cabin up ahead I run as fast as I can. The moment I’m inside I slam the door shut, locking it behind me. It’s freezing inside, first things first I start a fire. Feeling slightly shaky I find a banana, scarfing it down quickly.

  With a warm cup of tea in hand, I sit down on my pallet of blankets in front of the fire. Staring at the flames as the tears begin to flow down my cheeks again I allow everything to sink it. I set my tea down and curl up, letting the heat from the fire warm me, but not the same way Merick’s body heat does.

  Did I make a mistake walking away? A part of me feels like he wouldn’t even want me without this thing that is bigger than the both of us pushing us together. Our destiny planned out, a mission we are meant to complete. I’m confused, lost, so unsure of the right and wrong.

  I need to call home, obviously, I can’t tell them everything, but I know I’ll feel better if I hear my Mom or Dad’s voice. I grab my phone and see that it’s dead, which makes sense since it was here for days when I was not.

  I quickly plug it in and as soon as it powers back on I see I have missed calls from Mom, Dad, and Lily.

  Dad is probably the safer bet to call first, the most rational at least of the three. I take some deep breaths and press the call button.

  “Taryn we were starting to worry. It’s not like you not to answer when we call. Is everything okay?” That’s a loaded question. “John said he saw you walking through town with a man and you were holding hands.”

  My eyes burn and my throat feels tight thinking about the day before, and how much I loved it, feeling like I belonged. “It was n-nothing. Just someone being friendly, and showing me around.” Why does that hurt to say? “I promise everything is fine. I have been enjoying the solitude and not meaning to I accidently let my phone die.”

  His sigh is loud and causes me to shake my head, feeling disappointment in myself. “I want you to at least check in every couple of days.”

  “I promise I will.”

  We hang up a few minutes later and I move through the cabin, making sure every door and window is locked before I go into the master bath. I brush my hair up into a topknot on my head. While the bathtub begins to fill I pour in some bubble bath. I strip out of my clothes and gingerly lower myself into the tub.

  Leaning back, I close my eyes and I try to block out what went down this morning—ignoring the pain I feel radiating off of him even though I’m not near him.

  Once the water is covering my body I reach out to shut it off, accepting the comfort the warm water provides. When I open my eyes I jump and scream in surprise and maybe even a little fear. “What are you doing here?”

  “We have to talk.” Rowan steps out of my bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her and leaving me alone in shock.

  I step out into the hallway and walk slowly toward the living room. Rowan is standing by the fireplace in her black skinny jeans, fitted green sweater, and black high heeled boots. Her beauty is intimidating. “Why are you here Rowan? How did you even get in?”

  She picks up the picture frame that holds an old photo of my mom and me sitting on the steps outside. It was from an hour before I walked into the forest and everything changed. “You were beautiful even as a child.” She’s quiet for a moment. “You know I remember the day that Merick found you in the forest.”

  I step further into the room, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “I remember I’d come over to play and he was sitting in his room staring out the window. Merick didn’t even look at me when I came in. He whispered, ‘I met the girl I’m gonna marry. She wants to have lots of babies and I’m going to give them to her.’ Don’t you see it? Prophecy or not you’ve always been his one, his mate.”

  My heart beats rapidly in my chest. I imagine Merick as a young man, sharing his dreams with Rowan. The same determination I’ve seen in his eyes over the last few days lingering even then. He wanted me then, after only a short time he knew, he was so sure.

  I knew right then and there that I wanted this man, more than my next breath. Throwing on my boots and my coat, I race toward the door, then stop and turn to Rowan. “You can stay here tonight.” Her laughter follows me as I slam the door shut behind me.

  I race down the stairs and across the yard into the forest. The snow keeps me from running as fast as I want but I force myself to move. I stop to catch my breath and then start running again. My legs are burning, but I keep going. Up ahead I spot something moving through the trees
. I freeze, but then I realize it’s Merick.

  “Merick!” I shout.

  He looks up and starts running toward me. As soon as he’s close enough, I launch myself at him. Merick catches me effortlessly and I grab his face, slamming my lips down on his. Our kiss is urgent, rough, and everything I could want. I hang onto him as we start moving blindly through the trees until we come out of them.

  We continue to kiss as we move to the inside of his house. My back is against the front door as he grinds his cock against me. I moan into his mouth as he grips my ass hard. We begin moving again, going up the stairs.

  When we’re back in Merick’s bedroom he makes quick work of removing his clothes before removing mine just as fast. His body is a work of art when he’s clothed, but naked, he’s beautiful. I swear his body is every girl's fantasy. Etched to perfection, flawless.

  He grabs me from the back of my thighs, lifting me before crawling onto the bed. Merick kisses my lips before trailing them down my chin, up my neck, and stopping to nip my earlobe. I moan, lifting my hips trying to come in contact with some part of his lower body.

  Merick kisses down my chest, stopping at one nipple to suck it into his mouth. I grip his hair as he sucks and nips at my turgid flesh. He switches to the other nipple giving it the same treatment. After going back and forth between them, he begins traveling down, kissing and nipping at my overheated flesh. The very place I need him most. I’m so wet and so close to coming right now.

  Merick reaches the apex of my thighs and inhales deeply. “You smell like heaven. I’m going lick up every drop of your arousal.”

  He holds my eyes as he drags his tongue from the bottom to the top of my pussy. Merick moans as he begins to devour my flesh. He pins my hips to the bed with his arm. My neck arches as he sucks my clit into his mouth. “Oh god. I’m so close,” I moan.

  Merick increases his suction on my clit and eases one finger inside me, pumping it in and out before removing it and then pushing two fingers inside me. I jerk my hips when he begins rubbing that magical spot inside of me.

  My orgasm builds and builds fast. “Merick you’re going to make me come.”

  He pulls his mouth away from my overheated flesh. “Let me hear you let go. Give it to me.”

  Merick goes back to sucking my clit and rubbing the spot inside of me he knows sets me on fire. I grab his hair in my fists as my orgasm detonates, causing me to cry out over and over. As the sensation ebbs, I pant, trying to get my heart rate to slow.

  He kisses his way up my body until we’re face to face. Merick’s lips and chin are wet with my arousal. I pull him down, licking his lips. When I pull away, I give him a shy smile. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” I love the deep richness of his voice. “Why did you come back?”

  I stroke his cheek with my thumb. “Rowan came over. She told me that you told her that after you found me all those years ago that you were convinced you were going to marry me and give me babies. That it was before you learned what our destiny fully was.”

  “What does this mean Taryn?” He looks at me with those gorgeous eyes that mesmerize me every time.

  “It means I’m yours.”

  Merick

  Mine.

  She is all mine.

  Pressing my lips to hers I take a moment to savor her. Take a few lasting minutes to accept that she is here, in my arms, in my bed.

  “I’ve meant every single word I’ve spoken since the very second I found you in the forest. From the first whisper of your name to the fact that you are everything I have ever hoped for. Taryn, I would take you and you alone even if it meant that we’d never conceive, I need you. It has only ever been you.

  The way she is looking at me, that deep haziness that fills her eyes. A deep connection I know we both feel that doesn’t require words surrounding us. “Kiss me,” she arches her neck bringing her lips closer to mine, “please.”

  My heart beats rapidly, my body on high alert of every single sensation. Excitement, desire and fear. They are all coursing through me at once, but one thing I know without a doubt is that I will do anything for Taryn. Anything!

  “I love you,” I whisper as I trace her jaw with the tip of my finger. Watching her reaction to my touch before I softly kiss her. “I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you, hearing your laughter, seeing you run through the trees so content. You’re so beautiful.”

  She closes her eyes tightly and a single tear falls, gliding down her cheek in a silvery trail.

  She fists her hands in my hair and tugs, bringing my lips closer to hers. I do nothing to stop her. I vow right here and now to give her everything she needs, she doesn’t need words. She needs me.

  The words she spoke earlier collide in my mind making me falter. She seems to notice and pulls back, breaking our kiss. The look in her eyes, and uncertainty, one that weighs heavily on both of us.

  “I came back not because I had to, but because I wanted to.”

  I nod, words had escaped me. I had never felt so raw and so vulnerable. I am a man with an extraordinary gift, one that makes me almost invincible. Very little scared me, but Taryn, she terrified me. If there is one thing that can make me weak, one thing that could destroy me, it's her.

  “I understand,” assuring me she cups my jaw and I lean into her touch. “I trust you.”

  Opening my eyes I stare at her feeling slightly shocked by her words. She trusts me.

  “And I love you too.”

  Suddenly my chest feels hollow. Like every ounce of strength and power is sucked from me in one quick pull. My arms grow weak and I allow my body to cover hers.

  Covering her mouth with my own, it’s all I can do to keep my emotions at bay. Having her trust and her love was an exceptional gift, one I’m not yet sure I deserve but will treasure until my last breath.

  “Make love to me,” her words are nothing more than a whisper, one that tickles my lips. Positioning myself between her parted thighs I feel how wet she still remains and use that to glide my cock over her. A whimper falls from her lips as I hit her sensitive clit.

  “Are you sure?” I’d wait for her, I need her to know that. At this point having her is all I want, the rest, it would have to wait. Her love, it meant more to me than any legend or expectations others had for us.

  “Yes,” Taryn moves her own hips silently begging for more.

  Pulling back I rest the head of my cock at her entrance and tease her with the tip. I’m met with resistance and realize that my size in comparison to her slim figure may be too much.

  “Please,” hearing her beg is my undoing and I push further inside of her. In and out I work myself deeper inside of her. Taryn’s snug channel engulfs me. The wet heat of her pussy is almost too much to bear. “Ahh,” she gasps and I pause. Only Taryn shifts and takes more of me. Crying out against my lips.

  “More?”

  “Yes,” her breathy whisper fills my ear. “All of you.”

  Shifting my hips forward I bury myself to the hilt while Taryn grips the sheets tight on either side of her. She is so tight, so warm, like nothing I have ever felt before. I hear a growl echo through the room and it takes me a second to realize it came from me. Turning my head, I press my lips to her neck, nibbling her tender flesh.

  Taryn turns her head granting me access needed to solidify the bond. My fangs lengthen and that primal urge to mate hits me like a mack truck. I howl into the night before sinking my teeth into her flesh. Her cry immediately turns to a whimper. The moment I taste her blood I release my hold and glide my tongue over the broken skin—it soothes and heals her.

  I pull back and find her staring up at me. She feels it, I know she does, it's in her eyes, we are now one, we are connected for life.

  Pausing, the both of us takes a few seconds to regain our composure before we start to move. So in sync with one another.

  Taryn wraps her legs around me, using the heels of her feet to dig into my ass. Spurring me on, she meets me thrust for thrust and continues to
grow wetter, her cries becoming more urgent.

  Reaching beneath her I lift her ass and speed up, filling her so deeply that there isn’t an inch between us. This was not only a physical connection being shared but our bond being formed. An emotional connection that made the two of us one.

  We come together—our mingled moans and cries bouncing off the walls. This was the beginning of our sacred bond, one that will never be broken.

  Finding my father sitting in my office in the middle of the night infuriates me. A glass of scotch in one hand and a cigar in the other. Had the woman I love not been sleeping peacefully upstairs in my room I would have done very little to control that anger.

  But instead I stand in the doorway staring at him as I fist my hands at my sides.

  “The bond has been formed,” he seems pleased with himself. “You’ve pleased the ancestors and—”

  “Enough,” I interrupt through gritted teeth and snarl as I move deeper into my room. “I didn’t do this for you or for them. What I have with Taryn, what I’ve had since the moment I first saw her, runs deeper than any expectations you or anyone else have for me. This is not about you, this is not for you, this, the connection I have with her, that is for us. It will always be for us, you or anyone else have no say so in the choices we make, the path we take.”

  I don’t miss the arrogance in his facial expression.

  “If you want to come here, you come during the day, you knock on the door, you call. You don’t show up in the middle of the night. This life, the one I am building with Taryn that is not on display for you or anyone else. You will all respect her and you will respect our privacy. Taryn is my mate, she isn’t and never will be treated any differently.”

  My father stares at me without saying a word. My fear is that his vengeance for my mother's death and those of our people may outweigh his loyalty to me. I too want the blood of those who took my mother, but I will never jeopardize the safety of Taryn to gain it.