Temper: Book One of the Taboo Series, page 25
I couldn’t help but feel like it was God’s way of telling us he approved.
We didn’t leave for a honeymoon, preferring to stay home where we felt safe and secure. At dusk Stan left to stay the evening with Anya and Dimitri before Hugh carried in the baby birds, covered and secure, to sleep in the warm house.
Hugh held me close in our bed. I wanted to die in that moment, my happiness uncontainable. It would have been the best way.
His voice cracked as he tried to speak. I didn't need him to tell me how unbelievably elated he was. I pressed a kiss to his lips to quiet him, seeing how hard he struggled, too soon. As deeply as I wanted to hear the words and his deep voice, I cared more about his need to heal in his own time.
His touch was fragile as he turned me beneath him. The glow in his eyes blinded and my blood stilled.
I recognized the want, love, and tenderness. I wanted to question him, but my body stilled to grant him complete control.
His modest kisses grew deeper as my fingers curled through his hair, careful not to jolt him with too harsh of a touch. My heart staggered as he pulled the dress shirt from his body. I wrapped my fingers around his wrist to still him and pressed a kiss to the ivy leaves.
I thought he changed his mind as he stared down at me. I tried to smile through the disappointment.
“I love you. I don’t expect anything,” I told him. We had the rest of our lives to break him from his shell of trauma.
His lips met mine with a love so fierce it splintered my soul and cleaved it to his for the rest of eternity. His fingertips left my skin singing in a trail as he lowered the zipper beneath my arm. His thick curls brushed my cheek as his head bent into the crevice of my throat as he pulled the white dress down.
I moved slowly, feeling him marvel at my body as I lifted my hips for him to lower the dress away. His cinnamon lips were sweet with adoration as they brushed mine.
His hand caressed, tormentingly slow, from my sternum to my thigh. I fought myself, trying not to let the fire consume my calm as his mouth grazed my chest.
His hands circled beneath me as my fingers itched to move along his ribs. It was agonizing, the intricate patterns his touch left on my body as his sighs became a soft song.
His slacks loosened and his fingers dipped under the band of my panties. He nipped at my neck as my thighs separated, wrapping around his hips to draw him against me. He gasped at my invitation as his fingers tightened, but not in fear. I wanted to scream with the anticipation, my heart crying with relief.
A lifetime of love flowed from him, blissful, and seductive. I gasped in elation as he slid, slow and cautious, into me.
He stilled and as his lips smiled against mine. I let the moan shake from my lungs as we became victorious. His fingers tightened in my hair as he gasped with pleasure and relief. We moved together, slow and deep, into crashing waves.
His voice escaped in breaking a whisper of my name, “Ivy.”
Chapter 51- Rest
Hugh and I welcomed Stan home in the morning. We were grateful for his safety as the storm that had formed overnight began to crackle in the air.
Hugh was taut with anxiety as the clouds swirled and growled. He wouldn’t sit still. He scrubbed the floors, dusted, washed and rewashed the same two loads of laundry.
Often he’d run out to check on the birds in the circle of pumpkins. He made sure they were covered enough, had plenty of room for their parents to swoop in for feeding, and that the water wasn’t rising around them.
Our electricity died with a burst of thunder and he pounced, rushing into the library for the crate of emergency candles. I helped him set them about and lit the flames.
His restlessness finally began to calm even as lightning struck close to the house with a deafening boom.
I looked to Cookie, sure she would react. My beautiful friend was deaf. Stan seemed bemused by our excessive use of candles, but I loved the romantic glow. He created a fire and I grinned as Hugh settled down, having exhausted himself with his anxious tizzy.
I ran my fingers through the spirals he never seemed to mind growing back. His eyes faded and slipped closed. Stan looked over his puzzle as the fire crackled peacefully beside him.
I lifted Hugh’s head, slid out from beneath him, and placed a pillow beneath his crown. I leaned close to watch his eyes move with his dreams.
I smiled as I twirled a single, thick lock of ebony and relished in my life. He would forever be a part of me. I would never lose him again. The kiss I laid on his soft, relaxed lips was a kiss of gratitude- gratitude for the moment, for him, and for our future.
I stepped out into the rain with a plastic box close to my chest. I lifted the calm, quiet bird first before holding onto the one who shrieked and flapped his naked wings with fury.
I covered them and hurried into the house. I slipped off my muddy shoes at the door and lifted a candle to carry the babies up the stairs. I set the baby birds on the dresser and tucked the cloth over the box to keep them in darkness to help them rest.
Pulling the saturated dress from my body I turned to the closet, reaching for a nightgown. Cookie curled on the floor beside the dresser to protect the birds. I grinned as I slipped into the bathroom.
The shower was cold and quick enough to simply rinse the mud and rain away before dropping a nightgown over my head. It felt as though I floated as I pulled back the sheets on the bed. I sighed contentedly, reliving the night before- his touch, the intimacy, and the fleeting life of his voice.
The muffled sound of low snarls and pained barks made me turn. Cookie had wandered from her place of watch.
I grabbed a fat, dripping candle and followed her cries. The light threw itself down the hall to the door that was barely opened.
A flickering thought flashed through my mind as I rushed- I kept my parents’ door locked.
I crashed through and stood in the barren room, drawn to the sounds of her struggle beyond in the bathroom. I faltered. The bathroom door was closed tight. I didn’t know how. All I knew was to get to Cookie.
I threw open the door to a man taller than Hugh and broader than Stan. I recognized the uniform of a butler and a grin of evil.
He clutched Cookie by the scruff. She growled as fierce as her small stature would allow. The menace in his smile reeked of danger.
I had no words as I reached, desperate. I wasn’t confused. She sent him, but I wouldn’t be daunted. Cookie was mine.
I stilled as Cookie’s screeches grew louder. My heart thundered in fear. She howled in warning as the door to the bedroom closet creaked open behind me.
I turned as the adrenaline caved in my vision. My muscles twitched as the instinct to grab Cookie conflicted with my instinct to run.
I couldn’t run. I couldn’t allow the giant out of my vision as Beau crept across the hardwood floor. He moved slow and confident. A sly grin of his own seeped across his features. He stalked to the bedroom door to block our escape.
“Hello, mouse,” he taunted. Bile surged in my throat.
The whisper of fur and death cloaking Elizabeth made my blood solidify. She swayed into the room with poise as though she hadn't been cowering in the closet with Beau.
I hesitated, my eyes unable to focus on all three intruders. I lunged for Cookie and the man danced away, a disquieting laugh rumbling from his chest.
I swallowed a gasp and opened my mouth to scream. The large man moved fast, clamping his free hand across my face.
“Scream and I’ll turn this bitch into a hat.” I bit down on my tongue as he gave Cookie a shake. Her whine of pain rattled.
I stilled beneath the weight of his heavy hand. He took it for obedience and retreated. I looked to Cookie, her eyes wide and rolling as she snapped her teeth.
I straightened as Elizabeth centered herself in the room, head lifted and regal. Her eyes were glued to the closet. I knew what held her attention. It seemed to fuel her vile emotions. I could see the slow dance of a dim flame from a candle left to illuminate the portrait.
When her gaze met mine, I could sense all of her intentions. She would make me beg and plead. She would see me suffer. The previous years of my life in her hands were simply practice. I glanced at Beau, aware of why she considered him capable of assisting in my demise.
My mind spurred as I tried to grasp any possibility of survival. I set the candle on the ground and stepped in front of it, Anya’s voice in my head with her advice on self-defense. I spread my feet and squared my shoulders as I met Elizabeth’s glare with defiance.
Her voice was sickeningly satisfied. She knew she held every ounce of power.
“I’ve waited long enough for him to return to me. I’ve come to collect what is mine.”
I shook my head, disbelieving that after all this time she still thought he belonged to her- had ever belonged to her. My mind reeled back to the day Earnest died and the scent of her blood.
The rage I felt then seemed childish as she stood in my home, threatening my husband. My life.
In the light of the candle, her skin sagged. Her hair was thinned but her brows lifted in a threat as she waited for my answer.
“He’s not property,” I growled through clenched teeth.
A twitch of movement to my right as the giant shifted, trying to gain control of Cookie, made my knees bend in response. Beau’s cold chuckle sunk into me as he watched the dance of survival.
I threw silent threats of my own in his direction. I prayed for Hugh’s mind to hear my own as I cursed Beau and his mouth. Our marriage was announced, and it had incensed Elizabeth. If I could, I would make sure to punish him first.
My lungs shook as I inhaled, ready to scream while fighting not to for the sake of Cookie.
Elizabeth’s lips twitched in response. She had hoped I would say no. My vision focused too sharply on the glint of metal in her hand. A small revolver hid in her palm.
“I will have what’s mine,” she hissed, pleasure dripping from her voice.
As I opened my mouth to retort, a fist shot out. I fell into the wall with a heavy thud and a crack of plaster.
I spun, vitriol spitting from my lips as I backed away. Taunting laughs echoed around the room as I fought to find my balance and clear my vision.
Footsteps drummed up the stairs. I wanted to cry for them to run away and for them to save me.
Elizabeth's eyes shot to the doorway. I caught a hint of her thoughts in her expression. She’d been waiting for them to come. Excitement glinted in her eyes as she raised the gun.
She wasn’t set out to punish me. Her eyes darted to the door as she waited, wanting them to see my blood run freely on the same floor that had absorbed Ruth’s. She came to punish Hugh for denying her the dream of a happy ending.
Stan shot into view as he rammed through Beau with a shoulder.
Beau didn’t have time to stumble. Pale hands gripped him from behind to snake around his shoulders as a knife pressed to his throat. His eyes widened as satisfaction flooded my veins.
“You thought you were the cat?” I taunted with a smile. His eyes rolled, wild with fear.
Hugh was glorious, pale with rage and tense with strength. The chains Elizabeth had wrapped around his mind and his soul tightened at the sight of her. The blade in his hands pressed harder against Beau until a thin streak of red blossomed.
Elizabeth followed my gaze to the doorway. She gasped in horror, “What have you done to him?”
Hugh’s scars were exaggerated in the dancing glow of fire. He towered over his prey, fierce and otherworldly.
Beau’s gasping, “please,” was almost inaudible. I wanted to hear it again. I wanted the terror to consume him for the evil he welcomed into my home.
Stan widened his stance with his gun in hand. Hugh’s eyes never left my face. His serenity strengthened and enveloped me.
He had always known this was what it would come to. We weren’t destined to end peacefully.
I tasted her blame as she hunched forward. “You destroyed my William,” she hissed. Her rage made her weak as her hand trembled.
Hugh flinched beneath the weight of the title. I stared down the barrel of her gun, baring my teeth as her finger steadied on the trigger.
The words roared, powerful from my chest.
“His name is Hugh.”
Metal slid as Stan threw a bullet into his chamber.
Hugh’s rage burned, uncontrolled and unyielding, as I freed him with the simple words. A flash of light reflected off the blade as it swept across Beau’s throat. He crumbled, choking.
Elizabeth pulled back the hammer of her gun with a rabid snarl. The giant released Cookie as he lunged towards me.
She yelped with a scurry of paws as she fled. Beau’s life spilled across the floor and I laughed in victory. My hands lifted, reaching as Hugh rushed towards me.
The giant's hand wrapped around my throat but didn't have time to grip. Hugh's fist rocked him and the man fell with a crash. Elizabeth's gasp filled my mind with pleasure as Hugh lifted a foot. Warmth sprayed my face as Hugh's weight slammed into the giant's skull.
Stan lifted his gun to her as she steadied her aim on me. Hugh crushed me against his chest. I wrapped myself around his body to protect what I could reach of him.
I lifted my face to meet his eyes. They smiled down into my own. His lips pressed to mine as we surrendered to fate.
Death lingered above us, salivating with anticipation, as the song of a gunshot filled the air.
About the Author
Brittany Chapman was born in Paducah, Kentucky. She now lives in Memphis, Tennessee with her dog. She often finds inspiration through music and bases characters on their zodiac traits.
Brittany Chapman, Temper: Book One of the Taboo Series
