Biting down on her lip, he heard her soft cry. He broke the kiss and stepped back.

"Let's go again."

Her lips were red from his kiss and she looked so fuckable. All in good time, he'd have everything there was to know about her.

One day.

She was going to be by his side. He was going to make sure of it.

Y/n lowered the blade. "I'd rather fight you in hand-to-hand combat."

"Then let's go."

He waited, watching as she put the blade on the table, and moved back into position. She didn't raise her hands but the moment she sprang for the attack, he was more than ready for her.

Y/n was strong. He admired that about her. What he wanted to do was make sure she was ready for anyone who thought they could come and take her from him.

She would survive, she'd be his wife, and they would live the rest of their lives together. Y/n was born for him, and he had no interest in squashing her. All he wanted to do was see her thrive.

_

"Do I need to be worried about what happened while I was gone?" Hoseok asked the following morning at the breakfast table.

The house was already in perfect condition. The benefits of knowing the right people and paying just the right amount of money.

Y/n lowered her bruised body into the chair. After deciding on hand-to-hand combat, Taehyung didn't let anything go. He gave her his all, and she just kept on going until exhaustion won out. The last time she felt this sore and tired was not long after her father decided she needed to be strong to take over.

"No, you don't need to be worried." She winced. Taehyung had grabbed her leg last night, lifted her up, and spun her around as if she was nothing more than a rag doll. If she'd been fighting him as a kid, she'd likely be dead.

"Do I need to take Taehyung on the mat? Hurt him?"

"No. He promised not to hold back and he didn't. I liked it."

"You liked getting your ass kicked?"

She glared at him. "I didn't get it kicked a whole lot. Just enough for me to know that I've got a lot of work to do. Now enough, tell me everything is okay with them?"

Hoseok folded up the paper as she reached out to fill her breakfast plate with waffles and all the good stuff that was cooked. She was starved, and she finished her plate with lots of syrup. Yum.

"Everything is fine. They haven't had any unsuspecting visitors. You can relax."

"I can't relax. Not until we figure out who wants to kill me. I know you think it's the Boss, but I can't help but think he'd need more evidence. A show of my betrayal or something like that."

She dug into her breakfast, closing her eyes, moaning.

"You know you pose a risk in helping them," Hoseok said.

"Dad gave me the same warning before he died."

"This is who you are."

"I don't care. I'm not going to be a monster and this is the last I'm going to hear about it."

"Hear about what?" Taehyung said, entering the dining room.

He didn't limp or look tired. In fact, she didn't know how it was possible, he looked even more handsome than the last time she saw him. Stupid man.

"Nothing," she said.

"It doesn't sound like nothing and I'm to be part of this family. It will serve me to know all about it."

"It's nothing." She looked at Hoseok. "Right, it's nothing?"

"Yes, it is absolutely nothing. Now, I've actually been called to the Boss's estate. He wants an update on all the soldiers."

"But you can't go there."

"I'll be fine."

She didn't like the panic that rushed through her. Hoseok and all of the lead soldiers had to report to the Boss if he requested it, and knowing that he had, it scared her, especially after last night.

Hoseok took her hand. "It will give me the opportunity to know if some of the men have heard of a potential attack agreement. I promise I won't ever be far from your side."

It didn't offer her comfort.

He got out of his chair and kissed the top of her head before he left.

"Does he always do that?"

"What? Leave?"

"No, kiss you."

She looked at Taehyung, who no longer seemed happy. "He does kiss me. Is that a problem?" Hoseok had only ever kissed her head or her cheek. There was nothing going on between them, but she couldn't seem to help but push the issue with Taehyung.

"I don't like it and you make sure he keeps his hands to himself."

"Hoseok is my best friend and I will kiss him if I want to."

Taehyung threw his chair back, advancing toward her too fast. She didn't have time to move. She watched him.

Waiting.

"Let me be really fucking clear right now, babe. You are mine. You'll always be mine and there's no way I'm going to allow anyone else to touch what is mine."

"I'm not yours."

He gripped her head and pulled her up. She could have attacked him at any minute but as his lips crushed against hers, she didn't want him to stop. She'd been forced to know and understand sex, but no man had ever touched her. Heat spread between her thighs, traveling up her body, and as he nibbled on the corner of her mouth, she couldn't help but moan. The pleasure was instant as it worked through her entire body.

He pressed her against the table and within seconds, he had her lifted up, legs spread.

"We shouldn't be doing this," she said.

"I don't care. You're mine, Y/n." His hand dropped from her neck, going to the curve of her breast. The tips of his fingers lightly stroked over her nipple. It wasn't like she needed much assistance as pleasure rushed through her.

She couldn't help but spread her thighs a little wider, wanting him to take her. What would it be like to finally feel a man's dick between her spread thighs?

As he explored her mouth, his hands drove her crazy. They only stayed on her breasts, but it was enough. Just as she was about to beg him to do more, a sound of a throat being cleared filled the air.

In her sudden jolt of awareness of Lora, she spilled some food onto the floor.

"I think I need to take a walkout in the garden," she said.

Without looking at her fiancé or her cook, she quickly rushed outside, needing the fresh air on her skin to cool her down. Taehyung shouldn't be able to get to her like this. Small touches shouldn't make her lose herself and yet, that was exactly what they were doing.

As she made it to the gardens, she quickly removed her shoes and closed her eyes, feeling the grass beneath her feet.

The weather was set to be another scorcher and it wouldn't be long before the ground was as hot as the day. She'd enjoy the peace now, even if her body was a mess with need.

_

"You're not going to scold me?" Taehyung asked.

"Why on earth would I do that? You forget, boy, I'm a grown woman. I know lust when I see it. I have also been with Y/n since she was a little girl. For the longest time, her only responsibility was to be said girl. Then her brother died after they took her mother, and she was thrust into a world that few can survive. I've seen the cruelties of men, and to know she is still one of the sweetest people around, that takes a lot."

"Sweet?"

"You only see what Y/n wants you to see. Her training says for her to keep a great deal locked up inside, and I can't say I blame her. This is a horrible world. She deserves to have happiness and to have a man who'll help to guide her now that her father is gone."

"Do you agree with what her appa did?" he asked.

Her lips were pursed. "I know it made Y/n grow up. I will see if what he did was for the good of his daughter, or if it will kill her faster." Lora started to clean away the dishes.

His cell phone rang, giving him the perfect opportunity to leave.

"Tell me what you found out," he said.

He listened to his man detail everything little thing about Hoseok and Y/n's secrecy. After hearing what she kept secret, he was a little surprised, but Lora's words came back to him. His betrothed was sweet. With how sore his body was from last night, he'd beg to differ, but then again, she was putting on a show for him.

Disconnecting the call, he made his way into the garden, remembering Hoseok's hiding spots and indeed, found her near the rose bushes.

She stood, stroking the petal of a red rose.

"Be careful with the thorns."

She smiled. "I am. Do you like roses?"

"I don't give flowers much of a thought," he said.

"No. Killing. Maiming. That kind of thing?"

"All the time."

"Is that what you had to grow up with? I know my brother did but Dad always tried to give it a mix so he wasn't completely overwhelmed with the job and responsibility of taking over as capo."

"Considering your father was a capo and had a fierce reputation, he raised you both differently."

"He only did what he did because he loved my mom. She was his very reason for breathing some days. Not long after she died, he became ... someone else. It was a short time, but it was like he suddenly realized the monster still lived within him, and her children wouldn't want to see that side of him."

Taehyung vaguely recalled a massacre at the hands of Mr. Min. It showed that even as he was grieving, and how he didn't always follow in the Family's footsteps, he still was a force to be reckoned with.