Chapter Nineteen

Hollis

The question came with a shuddery breath that touched the top of Hollis's hair. He kept his touch light but pressed closer, wanting to protect Taylin, though he wasn't sure what from. Whatever it was, it was powerful enough to evoke mournful sobbing so strong that it had woken him and made his heart bleed.

Grief. Heart-wrenching loss. It was the only way he could describe it. The kind that tore at one's heart. The kind that a person may possibly never recover from, or not fully.

None of the Starling brothers talked about their past, especially how Booker, Rue, Laken, Jupiter or Taylin had become a part of Lane and Derick's family.

What they had done—or what he imagined by how sore his ass was—had created a deep connection Hollis felt in every fiber of his body, and it pushed him to ask. To know this man on a level he'd feared in the past .

There was no escaping the fact Taylin was now there, inside him. Hollis could sense how Taylin's blood removed the barriers he'd erected to protect himself. What he'd denied to stop the yearning.

Hollis had heard some gossip, but who hadn't when the family was so much in the public eye.

Taylin and Booker had become part of the Starling family first. Beyond that, Hollis had minded his own business. After the last few days of getting to know Taylin, to dig beneath the exterior, Hollis felt like he used a barricade to construct the lie of the laid back and easygoing man he presented to the world. There was so much more to this man and Hollis was ready to explore what that would mean to him—to them.

"How did you meet Lane and Derick?" He kept his tone light, speaking low, matching Taylin's going with the first question that popped into his head.

The chest Hollis lay pressed against revealed how hard Taylin's heart beat. It bumped hard enough for Hollis to feel it deep inside him, like it was his own. He let the silence lengthen, unsure if he should say more. He pretended he didn't need to know, even when it wasn't the truth. It was important, more so now he and his animal had decided Taylin was theirs. That he'd bitten Taylin. Marked him, permanently. Irrevocably.

Before he could utter a word, Taylin pressed his face into Hollis's hair in a move that touched Hollis's soul with its show of vulnerability .

"I think I knew when I was about ten, maybe eleven, I was divergent. It wasn't one thing, just a lot of trivial things that made me different from my family, my siblings."

His lips brushed Hollis's hair, his breath warming Hollis's scalp as he explained, Hollis listening intently to the quiet words.

"At first, I didn't worry if I couldn't feel my animal rippling under my skin. Or I didn't have the same heightened senses my brothers had at my age. Even the lack of excess hair on my body didn't really bother me. Then one day, I came home from school and heard my brother and father discussing a divergent that worked with Father and how he'd gotten a promotion over him and considered should have been his. The hate and anger were staggering to the boy I was. I was na?ve at first, believing that he was just mad at missing out." Taylin's body rippled under Hollis, and he made a concerted effort not to tense when he sensed the inner turmoil rolling off Taylin.

Hollis's gut recoiled in apprehension at the possibility of what was coming.

"In the following months, the vitriol continued, only the target of his hate went beyond his colleague. It was anyone successful that was divergent. Then my brother came home having been involved in a fight with another boy who was like me. My father was so happy my brother had given the boy a bloody beating. Even Mom seemed to approve. The reality of what it meant to them became this weight of dread that hung around my neck as each day passed and I worried how long I could hold on to my secret. "

Hollis tried and failed to imagine how hard that must have been. His family was supportive of divergents and had met Lane and Derick at several functions. They were proud Hollis worked for a company that wanted to highlight how much it didn't matter about individual differences. For them, they encouraged others to embrace who they were without fear. The sickening dread increased at how this wasn't the case for Taylin and Hollis's heart broke for the boy who had to hide because of hate.

When Taylin lapsed into silence, Hollis waited, holding him closer, softly caressing down the skin he could reach.

When time drifted along, and Taylin's heartbeat slowed, Hollis finally murmured, "What happened?"

There was a second's pause. "Father wanted to go for a run on a full moon when I was fourteen… he expected me to be able to shift with them as I'd reached an age my brothers had all gone through their shift…"

The shudders that followed left Hollis dry mouthed when he thought about Taylin reliving that night, when his heart rate picked up like he was running from a monster. "You don't have to tell me."

Taylin moved and Hollis lifted his head off his chest to see dark, glistening eyes that held pain. Pain that cut deep at Hollis's soul.

"No, I do." Taylin didn't look away, but the way he stared at Hollis suggested he wasn't seeing him, but the past. He licked his lips. "I knew it would happen, that they'd find out the truth. A part of me hoped that because I was family, they'd see past the difference." He blinked so slowly it was as if he was going in slow motion. "I was wrong."

The air in the room disappeared at the despair that came in those three words. Taylin rubbed absently at his side where there were scars that looked like claw marks, and Hollis's blood ran cold at how they'd possibly gotten there. "The beating they gave me was bad enough I couldn't stand straight for days afterwards. It was bad…"

Hollis sucked in a sharp breath at how flat the words came out.

"It was bad," Taylin repeated with more force. "But not as bad as being clawed, spat on, pissed and shit on before they left me in the middle of a wooded area with nothing but the clothes they'd defecated on and told not to bother coming back. That I no longer existed to them."

Tears burned and blurred Hollis's vision as the sobs tore from his throat at how a child would have felt to be violated in such a way. Contempt left a taste so bitter in Hollis's mouth he wasn't sure he'd ever get rid of it. Contempt for Taylin's family—though that term didn't fit what they were to this beautiful man—and the degradation they put him through.

"I'm so sorry," Hollis said through his tears as he shifted to straddle Taylin's lap and cup his pale cheeks.

The man's vacant expression scared Hollis as he came forward and pressed their mouths together, desperate to bring Taylin back to him and away from his past. Hollis tasted the saltiness of their tears as he murmured, "Hold on to me. I'm here, see me. Feel me. "

At first, the choked words didn't seem to penetrate, then tension slowly released from Taylin's large body. His mouth went pliant, and his lips parted as hands slid around Hollis's middle, tugging him closer.

Going with it, needing the contact as much as Taylin, Hollis swallowed the sigh Taylin released as he trembled against him. Hollis kissed him softly. The urgency of his heat was long gone and now he wanted to show Taylin the affection he would have lacked.

Hollis took his time to explore the contours of Taylin's mouth. To convey how much he wanted to treasure the moment between them. Honor the gift of trust Taylin had bestowed by sharing something so painful. So personal. Hollis, on so many levels, wasn't able to fully comprehend how one survived such a betrayal, yet Taylin had.

Soft pants brushed against his skin as his mouth trailed down Taylin's stubbly skin, down his throat to where Hollis had laid claim to this man. He teased the healed flesh, running his tongues over the skin that tasted of not only Taylin, but of himself, too.

Ours.

Yes.

The reply, this time, was done with full cognizance as Taylin trembled, his cock hardening under Hollis, but he ignored it. This wasn't about sex, this was all about appreciating his mate.

"Kiss me," Taylin murmured, a hand gently stroking Hollis's cheek. "I need you to kiss me again to stop… to stop the thoughts. "

Happy to do just that, Hollis moved, his gaze lingering on Taylin as he inched closer, their lips barely touching. He knew that Taylin had stared once or twice at his mouth when his tongues both came out. He brought them both out and licked at both corners of Taylin's lips in a tiny caress.

Taylin's lips parted on a moan that sent a shiver of longing through Hollis. Taylin's eyes hooded with desire and a heady feeling came at seeing the sadness and pain fade. He teased the upper and lower lip at the same time, getting rewarded with a body shudder.

"Like that?" Hollis asked, knowing the answer from the cock spreading his ass cheeks as it grew harder.

"I never knew you were such a tease." The rasped reply sent Hollis's blood pressure to sore when it came with a wicked glint in pools of decadent chocolate. The hands at his waist slipped down, fingers sliding sensuously over his buttocks as they roamed freely, eliciting a moan of delight. "I've imagined you using those tongues…"

How had the tables turned on him so fast? "Where?" he asked breathlessly.

"On every inch of my skin." Taylin tapped his lips. "Starting here." The sexy grin that fried Hollis's brain cells appeared. "So, what are you waiting for?"