Housebound with the Blackridge Heirs novel Chapter 106

Chapter 106

Maya

The contact was sudden and grounding, a shock that cut through the chaos like lightning splitting the sky.

His mouth was warm and firm and desperate against mine, and for a moment everything else fell away.

The pull faltered.

My wolf stuttered, confused by the intimacy, by the flood of sensation that had nothing to do with running or hunting or obeying ancient calls. My breath caught, my body freezing beneath him as the world narrowed to the feel of his lips and the steady weight of him holding me there.

Holding me back.

I clung to that moment, to that fragile pause, knowing with terrifying certainty that if I let go, I would run again, and I didn’t know where I would end up this time.

So I kissed him back.

Cold and desperate, yet hot and needy, like my body had been starved of something it had only just learned it could crave. My lips moved against his without thought, without caution, driven by relief and fear and the echo of the wolf still clawing at my skin. The kiss was nothing like the one I had shared with Leo. There was no hesitation here, no careful testing of boundaries or quiet tenderness.

Tylon kissed me like he was drowning.

His mouth was demanding, unrestrained, as if he needed the contact as much as I did, as if letting go would shatter something in him he didn’t want to face. His hand came up to cradle my jaw, fingers cold from the air but burning everywhere they touched me, and the contrast made me gasp into his mouth.

The forest felt impossibly quiet around us, like it was holding its breath.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, a bitter thought surfaced, sharp and unwelcome and impossible to ignore.

Well. Caden sure as hell wasn’t coming back now.

The realization carried guilt with it, heavy and sickening, but it didn’t stop me. It didn’t pull me away or dull the urgency coiled in my chest. If anything, it made the moment feel more unreal, more secretive, like this was something happening outside the reach of everything else that controlled my life.

And that was when I realized something else.

I couldn’t feel him.

The bond to Caden, usually a constant hum beneath my skin, was barely a whisper now, drowned out by the roar of my wolf and the raw intensity of what was happening right here, right now, He didn’t know where I was. He didn’t know what I was doing. He didn’t know that my world had narrowed to the feel of Tylon’s mouth on mine and the way my body leaned into him like it recognized him on a level I didn’t fully understand yet.

It was a secret.

A terrible, fragile, dangerous secret.

And still, I didn’t stop.

Tylon broke the kiss just long enough to rest his forehead against mine, our breaths mingling in the cold air, each exhale

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Chapter 106

visible between us. His eyes searched my face, gray and dark and conflicted, like he was fighting a war inside himself and losing ground.

“You okay?” he asked quietly, his voice rough and low.

“I” My voice trembled, my chest still heaving as the last echoes of the pull faded into something manageable. “I think so. I’m not… running anymore.”

His jaw tightened, and his hand slid from my jaw down my throat, over my collarbone, slow and deliberate. Every inch of skin he touched felt too exposed, too sensitive, like my nerves were still raw from the shift.

“You scared me,” he said, not accusing, just honest.

“I scared myself,” I admitted.

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His fingers traced lower, across my shoulder, my arm, my side, the pads of them cold against my overheated skin. I shivered, and he noticed, his eyes darkening as his touch grew more possessive and more certain.

He dragged his hand down my body, not hurried, but not gentle either, as if he needed to feel that I was real… that I was still

here.

My breath stuttered when his fingers skimmed my waist, then my hip, then slid along the curve of my thigh.

The cold air kissed my skin everywhere his hand didn’t, making the contrast almost unbearable.

An image of that night i saw him with Jamille flashed across my mind, and it sent a wave of need through me.

I sucked in a sharp breath as his fingers stopped right at the edge of my thigh, close enough that my muscles tensed instinctively, my body reacting before my mind could catch up. My wolf surged, pleased and restless, pushing against my control in a way that made my vision blur for a second.

I made a sound that I never in a thousand years thought I’d make with Tylon on top of me instead of Caden.

But then he froze.

His hand stayed where it was, hovering, restrained by sheer will, and his gaze snapped up to mine, sharp and assessing. Whatever he saw there made something shift in his expression, the hunger pulling back just enough to make room for

reason.

“We need to go,” he said firmly.

“What?” I blinked, still dazed, my thoughts sluggish and tangled.

“You need to shift again,” he said, withdrawing his hand like it cost him something. “We can’t stay out here. It’s freezing, and you’re not stable yet,”

Disappointment flared through me, sharp and confusing, followed immediately by embarrassment that made my cheeks burn hotter than my skin already was.

I nodded, trying to find my footing as he helped me to my feet, his hands steady and practical now, like the moment we had just shared was already being locked away somewhere deep inside him.

I swayed, the ground tilting beneath me, and he caught me easily, one arm around my waist, the other bracing my back.

“Tylon,” I said softly, trying to meet his eyes. “Wait.”

He didn’t look at me.

His expression had gone closed-off again, the familiar wall sliding back into place with alarming speed. He stepped away,

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Chapter 106

just enough to put space between us, and the cold rushed in to fill the gap he left behind.

I frowned, frustration bubbling up through the lingering haze. “Why are you doing that?”

“Doing what?” he asked flatly.

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