Page 14 of Captive Bride

Adriana's lips parted slightly, vulnerability flickering across her features before she masked it with a nod. She didn't need to say anything; I felt her loneliness cling to her like a second shadow. It was a void I couldn't fill, but damn if I wasn't going to try.

"I miss them, too," I admitted, my voice barely a whisper. Kieran and Liam - my brothers, my clan, my blood. In the dark, stripped of the pretenses that came with the light of day, I could admit it.

Kieran wasn't just a brother to me. He was my right hand, my confidante, my partner in crime. And Adriana was right.

I was angry at Kieran, but he had saved my life.

And Liam…Liam, who was still so young and yet burdened with a legacy he never asked for. The guilt and worry gnawed at me every day. "I worry for them," I confessed, the words raw and heavy on my tongue.

Adriana's gaze softened, her grip on my hand tightening as if to root me to reality. "Tristan," she started, her voice tender with understanding, "You can't bear this alone."

I looked at her then, really looked at her. Her dark eyes held a world of pain and empathy—a mirror to my own heartache. Her short hair framed her face in soft shadows while the dim light highlighted the strength etched into her features.

"I can't pretend to know how you're feeling,” I admitted candidly. “I've never had a sister like Carmen... but I do know what it's like to miss someone so much that it feels like a piece of you is missing."

"I know," Adriana whispered, her free hand reaching up to trace the line of my jaw. The touch was soft, almost fragile, but it harbored a strength that was unmistakably hers. "We can mourn them together.”

The chill of the early night seeped through the windows, but the cold had nothing on the fear that clung to my bones. Silence filled the room, dense as the winter's frost outside our safe haven in Delaware. I lay there beside Adriana, the bedsheet a meager barrier between her turmoil and my own.

"Ade," I started, my voice no more than a hushed confession in the darkness. "I'm scared." The words tasted like defeat, but they needed to be said. I was not a man given to admitting weakness, yet with her, it felt like the only truth worth telling.

"Scared?" Her voice was a soft whisper, laced with surprise. I never showed this side to anyone, the side that doubted, that feared. But she wasn't just anyone.

"Being in this wheelchair," I told her, "it's like being stripped of armor in enemy territory. I'm used to having control, but now..." A heavy sigh escaped me before I could cage it. "Now, I feel as ifI'm facing down a future where every shadow could be a threat I can't see coming."

She turned to face me, her proximity a balm to my unease. In the dim light, her eyes were oceans of empathy, her presence an anchor in the uncertainty that our lives had become.

"Tristan, you're not alone in this," she said, her voice firm, though I could hear the undercurrent of her own fears mingling with mine.

"Neither are you," I replied, shifting closer, undeterred by the limitations of my body. "Let me take your mind off things for a while." My tone was a blend of confidence and tenderness, a promise of distraction from the world's weight. "Trust me, Ade, when I say I want nothing more than to make you forget all your worries, even if just for a moment."

My lips sought the delicate skin of her neck, tasting the salt of her skin, feeling the warmth beneath as if it were a treasure I was sworn to protect. My touch, though gentle, carried the full heat of my longing.

I wanted her.

I always wanted her.

Her reaction was immediate and visceral. I watched, transfixed, as a shudder ran through her. Her breath caught, hitching in her throat, a sound that spoke volumes of anticipation and need. It was a subtle intake of air, yet it echoed thunderously in the silence of our room. Her body, always so poised and controlled, seemed to sway toward me, gravitating to the source of warmth, to the promise of escape I offered.

"Tristan," she breathed out, the word laced with an emotion that clenched deep in my chest. Her response was an aphrodisiac, heightening my senses, sharpening my focus on her and her alone.

I traced a path down her abdomen, my fingers savoring the warmth of her skin. "Let me take care of you," I murmured into her ear, hot breath stirring the little hairs on her nape.

I slid my hand down to her leggings, slowly pulling them down to her ankles, as my other hand traced gentle, soothing patterns on her belly. The swell of our unborn children beneath my palm was a physical reminder of the life we had chosen together, of the future we were both fighting for. A loving smile ghosted my lips as I pressed a soft kiss to her stomach, feeling her hands thread through my hair in response.

“You smell so good,” I said.

As I my lips moved lower, my hand traced the curve of her hip, my fingers trembling with a mix of anticipation and reverence. Her breath hitched in her throat again, a sound that sent waves of desire coursing through my veins.

My hand glided teasingly along the inner part of her thigh, coaxing another breathy moan from Adriana as her fingers tightened on my shoulder. The sound echoed in my ears, mixing with the rhythm of our shared heartbeat which seemed to beat louder and louder as I moved painstakingly slow.

Then, inch by agonizing inch, I moved lower. I could feel the heat of her longing, an invisible flame beckoning me closer. Her fingers clutched onto my hair in a silent plea and a promise of pleasure.

"Tristan," she gasped, her voice strained with anticipation. That was all the affirmation I needed.

With one focused lick, I tasted her sweetness. Her body bowed off the bed, a strangled moan ripping from her throat that filled the room and echoed off the marble walls of our sanctuary. It was like my name had been carved into every exposed brick and whispered back to me in a thousand different ways.

I continued my exploration, pressing soft kisses across her inner thigh while my fingers busied themselves with drawing small circles on her sensitive flesh. Each touch, each flicker of tongue against her clit sent shockwaves through her body. Her breathy moans and sighs served as my compass, guiding me deeper into the maze of our shared pleasure.

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