by Eve Newton
“Don’t you feel that?” he asks.
“Feel what?”
“It’s like a cloying, stifling feeling. Don’t you feel it?” he asks again.
I shake my head. I put my hand on his shoulder and he relaxes. I get an awful prickling feeling down my arm, but it’s gone almost as quickly as it came.
“It’s gone. It was the strangest thing. I have never felt anything like it before.”
“It wasn’t The Thirteen, was it?” I ask, a bit terrified to be caught by it in the middle of the woods with my pants down – literally.
“No, something new, different. Powerful.” He shakes his head to clear it. “It’s gone. Come, we should get back,” he says, getting to his feet and pulling me up quickly. He looks down at himself and says, “Oh, yeah. My impromptu Shift kind of lost me my clothes.”
I chuckle and touch him, bringing a new set of jeans and t-shirt to him. “Thanks,” he says. “It’s such a neat trick, that. What will you wear?”
“Hm, something a little different, I think,” I say and twirl. His eyes light up at my long, black flowing dress with long sleeves and low-cut neckline.
“Very nice. You look like the Moon Goddess.” He snaps his fingers. “Hey, maybe you are? Another feather to your cap.”
“My cap is so full of feathers it looks like a peacock’s tail. I’ll pass if that’s okay.”
We trundle along, me preferring to be barefoot, enjoying the feel of the woods under my feet. We make it back to the tree where my phone is, as it is getting dark, and I pick it up, checking it. Nothing. Now that is bizarre. I shrug and we walk slowly hand in hand back to the house, climbing the steps to the terrace.
“One last kiss before we go inside?” he says as he turns me to face him and I tilt my head up, raising up to my tiptoes and bringing my hands around the back of his neck as he kisses me passionately. Trailing his hand over my breasts, he pops one out of the stretchy fabric of the dress and lowers his mouth to my nipple for a quick suck. He tugs sharply, nipping me. I make a small mewling sound, which has him tugging harder and then sucking me until I am breathless.
He raises his head with a wicked grin. “I maybe shouldn’t have done that, I am all turned on again now,” he says as he pops me back into my dress with a quick kiss. “I had better go take a cold shower.”
“Mm, me too,” I murmur as we turn back to the house. “Oh, can we go by the front? I want to see if the cars are back. The boys all seem to have left earlier and there has been no contact since.” I hold up my phone.
“Sure.”
We circle around and see that three cars are parked up in a haphazard manner, signifying the return of the errant errand-runners and Cade and Nico.
Lincoln disappears to get a drink, while I take the stairs two at a time to my bedroom. I am desperate for a bath after the Shift and the roll around the woodland floor. I find Cole waiting for me, bath already run with a drink in his hand.
“Have fun?” he asks as he shoves the drink at me, slopping it all over my hand.
“Cole? What’s wrong? You told me to go to him,” I say calmly, putting the drink down and wiping my hand on a towel.
“Yes, in private, while I was out. Not to be cavorting around on the terrace with his mouth all over you while everyone watches.”
I blink at him, surprised at this jealousy that has overcome him. “Err, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that everyone was watching. It was only a few kisses.”
“Only a few kisses?” he repeats. “Only a few kisses? Well, that makes it all right then, doesn’t it?”
“Cole,” I say, holding onto my patience at his attitude. “We were in the woods. He had to get out and run. We walked back and he kissed me in, what we thought, was still a private moment. I can’t help it if you all were gawking at us from inside the house. What has got you really pissed? Errand not go well?” I ask, just this side of nasty.
His face goes pale and I know I have hit a nerve. The whole Lincoln thing is a distraction from the real issue at hand. “That was fine. I just did not expect to find my wife on display to all and sundry when I got home.”
“I have already apologized. I will take better care next time. Make sure that there is no one watching,” I say, unable to keep the tinge of sarcasm out of my voice.
“Get in the bath, clean yourself up, and then get downstairs,” he orders me, and I do a double take, as I am sure that was just CK speaking to me through Cole. “Act dutiful and wifely and put that dress back on. You look demure and pretty in it.” And he stomps off, leaving me gawking at him in disbelief. Fuck me if I haven’t just been told. Had it not been for the fact that I am his sire, and his Queen, and he should be beat down for his insubordination, I would have gone over all mushy. I wonder what the real problem is that bit him on the bum. I know it’s not the Lincoln thing, so it must be something bad for him to treat me in the way that he has. I climb into the fragrant bath–too fragrant bath–and I choke on the overpowering fumes of lavender and something else he seems to have thrown in that doesn’t go. Regardless, I sink under the water and hover for a few minutes and then surface and run my hands through my hair. Finding a couple of twigs and a leaf or two. Christ. I must have looked a fright. My temper firing up even more at Cole, I climb out of the bath and sort myself into a decent state, putting the dress back on, but coiling my hair into a tight, tight bun that I know he isn’t partial to, and the highest heels I can find, as I also know he prefers to tower over me in my bare feet. It’s a power thing. One I don’t usually mind him exerting over me. The gods know he doesn’t have much else, but now I am all kinds of mad at his attitude.
I head back downstairs and find everyone in the billiards room. There is a slight pause as I enter but at my narrowed eyes, the conversation returns. I gaze adoringly at Lincoln, just to poke the new Vampire, as I make my way to Cole and stand coldly next to him.
He gives me a slightly apologetic look, knowing he has pissed me off. He bends to kiss me, so I turn my head and his lips land on my cheek. He catches his breath and wraps his arms around me.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way.”
I ignore him but let him hold me anyway.
Devon hands me a drink. I give him a big beam, and pull away from Cole to hug him fiercely, turning my face up to him so that he can kiss me on the mouth.
I catch Cole’s eyes and he sighs. “All right. I get it. You are pissed at me and so you should be. I was a complete dick. I humbly apologize within earshot of everyone and it won’t happen again.”
“Accepted,” I say and now allow him to give me a proper kiss.
But I still abandon him and plop myself down on the sofa next to Jess.
“Hey,” she says.
“Hey.”
“You okay?”
“Fine. Tired. You?”
“Good.”
I nod and turn to her. “How are you really doing now?”
“I’m really good,” she says, her eyes sparkling. “It helps to be able to feed on humans.”
“I’m sorry that we didn’t manage to spend any time together this last week. As usual things went a little crazy.” I pull my face and she laughs.
“Don’t worry about it. There is something I have been meaning to tell you, but can we go and speak in private?”
“Sure, what’s it about?”
“A work thing,” she says vaguely.
I stand and go back to Cole, murmuring that I am going to speak to Jess in the other room. He nods and kisses me and watches me walk away.
We go into the library, close the door, and I say, “What’s up?”
“I wanted to tell you on the jet but wasn’t sure who would be listening. Jenn contacted me a few days ago.” At my quizzical look she adds, “Scott’s new assistant. She said that there has been several phone calls and a couple of visits to the offices by someone looking for you. He seems very insistent and has been asking where he can contact you.”
&nb
sp; “Who is it?” I ask, less worried, more intrigued.
“Some guy called Finn. Do you know him?”
“Ah, yes. Sort of. A new acquaintance.”
“Acquaintance?” she asks with a raised brow and I purse my lips at her.
“I have met him once, in The Underworld. A few hundred feet off the ground.”
She stares at me as she takes that in. She flaps her hands like wings and says loudly, “Another Dragon?”
“Hush,” I say to her. “I don’t want the others to know just yet. They will get all freaky and possessive and there is enough of that going around lately.”
She nods her agreement. “Yes, I see your point. Another Dragon sniffing around will most definitely send them all into a tizz.”
“Thank you. I will tell eventually, but until then, this stays between us.”
“Of course,” she says. “So, what does he look like?”
“As a person, I have no idea. As a Dragon, he is a Blue Dragon, bigger than me, and very pretty.”
“Blue Dragon. Where is that on the hierarchical scale?”
My turn to raise my brows and she shrugs.
“Hm, he is the next tier down from me.”
“Interesting.” She nods, taking that in. “Devon has asked that you look at and sign these.” She pushes some papers towards me.
“What are they?”
“This is my contract, and these are the signatory forms.”
“Oh, well these I can sign now,” which I do and hand them back to her. “The contract I want to look at.”
“Sure,” she says. “Oh, and also,” she adds excitedly now, “by the time we get to Paris next week, Château Cassis will be all yours.”
I grin at her and jump up and down as CK chuckles from the doorway. “Glad to see you are so excited. I can’t wait to see the old place myself,” he says.
“You are going with her to see it?” Cole asks from behind him.
He turns and says, “Of course. It was our first home together.” He has a wicked air about him tonight, and although he seems more relaxed, he is playful. I love playful CK, but why the sudden change?
“You said you didn’t think of it as your home,” Cole accuses him.
“Only when Aefre was there. She made it a home,” he answers as he sidles closer to me.
“Shall we go back to the others?” I ask brightly as I take Cole’s hand in mine and lead him out. We sit on the sofa and pick up my discarded drink. He pulls me onto his lap to make room for Devon and Jess and I cuddle him, putting my head on his shoulder. He leans his cheek against my forehead, and we are happy again.
The rest of the night goes by in a happy, relaxed bubble. There is no more tension between anybody, and we are all chilled and relaxed. That has to be a first, I think as I stifle a yawn.
“Tired, my love?” Cole whispers to me.
I nod. “I’m going to go to bed. You can stay up a bit longer if you like. It’s still early,” I say, it being only midnight.
“I will come up with you. Just give me ten minutes, you go on ahead.”
I wish everyone good night and Astral upstairs, not being bothered to walk up. I pull the dress over my head and put on a long satin navy nightgown for modesty’s sake and walk over to leave the door open. Lincoln may have had some Alpha time earlier, but he is still going to need to be close. I climb into bed and I am asleep before Cole comes up. I hear him sigh briefly before I drift back off.
Chapter 16
I awake around 4 AM to dead silence. Seems the whole house has crashed now, and I am wide awake. Sounds about right.
I take this opportunity to sneak off to see CK. It is bad of me, especially after the way Cole reacted to the terrace thing yesterday, but a girl needs her sire and it feels like years since I was in his bed.
I creep out of bed and down the corridor to the room that CK said he was going to occupy. I wonder briefly if he did end up staying or going back home, but I sense him as I open the door and close it quietly, locking it, which is kind of useless, but still.
I climb onto the bed and watch him sleep. The sheet barely covering his naked body, I am itching to touch him. He truly is the finest specimen the gods ever created. I trail a long, ebony nail down his pale chest, and he smiles. “I wondered how long it would take for you to touch me. That was too long,” he says.
“Sorry to wake you,” I whisper.
“Don’t be. I was dreaming of you and now here you are.”
“What were you dreaming?” I ask, lowering my hand under the thin sheet and stroking his silky-smooth shaft that stirs under my hand instantly.
“This,” he says, eyes still closed. “You must have read my mind.”
“That is your trick, my love. Maybe I was dreaming of this and you read my mind.”
He chuckles, then gasps as I take his balls in my hand and move my mouth over him. “Oh, Aefre, I want you to see to me, like you haven’t done in a while.”
“You want me to do all the work?” I ask, coming up for air. “I thought you wanted me completely at your mercy?”
“I do, next time. This time, I want to be at yours.”
Oh, my, I do like to hear those words. I start my arduous torture of him bringing him to a quick climax in my mouth as he cries out softly.
“Fuck, yes,” he says as I come up to kiss him. “More,” he rasps as I run my tongue around his lips and all the way down his neck, pausing briefly to nip him with my regular teeth, which sends him wild with lust.
“Do you want me to fuck you?” I ask as I kiss him all the way down his chest.
“Yes,” he breathes. “Right now. I need to feel you tight and wet, sliding over me.”
I crawl onto him, pulling the nightgown up over my hips. He slides it the rest of the way up my body and throws it on the floor. “I want to see you, all of you,” he says before he dives onto my nipples, sucking each in turn before I push him back to the bed and slip him inside me.
He groans as he feels how much I want him and I move up and down slowly, the only sound, the slurping of our desire. I steady myself with my hands on his chest and he puts his over mine and closes his eyes in bliss. “I love you,” he murmurs, a faint smile touching his blood red lips. His blood red lips that have me mesmerized. A darker red than of late and it feels like a bucket of cold water has been thrown on me. I stop dead and his eyes fly open at the sudden brakes on his pleasure.
“He is a killer,” is the only thought that flashes through my mind, followed shortly by: “We all are.”
My brain scrambles, and every single piece locks into place like a super-glued jigsaw. His unnatural calm, especially after his edginess of the last few weeks. His languorous attitude, letting me take control of him and his playfulness last night. My mind flicks to Devon. The argument on the driveway yesterday and then his return to top form last night. My witty, clever, smart arse boy that has been so serious and introvert of late. Cole…his excitement over the “errand” he had to run, his request that I go to Lincoln, now a clear tactic for distraction and his unusually terse attitude when he came home, which was layering a thin film of anxiety and tension, and finally Sebastian…fun-loving, easy to please, relaxed and content instead of brooding and serious since the last week’s events, it all makes sense: they went Hunting. The four of them cut me out of the decision to take Cole out Hunting. They all fed and killed. The horror fills me up and CK can see it in my eyes now and shakes his head, gripping my hips to stop me from climbing off him. “Aefre,” he says. “Don’t blow this out of proportion.”
I remove his hands from me and scrabble off the bed, holding a hand up to stop him from following me. I grab my nightgown and hold it up to me like some sort of defense against him.
“Don’t be like that,” he says to me, his voice dark and low. “You know it was the right thing to do.”
“The right thing to do? It couldn’t have been the more wrong thing to do.” My voice wavers as I hold back the tears. I turn my back and pull the
nightgown over my head, edging towards the door.
“Aefre,” he says. “Don’t overreact.” He stealthily climbs out of bed and pulls on a pair of sweats, approaching me cautiously as he would a dangerous predator. Only I am not the dangerous one. He is. “We can explain. Just let us explain,” he says, holding his hand up.
“I will be in the library,” I say with as much strength as I can muster. “Get your band of brothers and meet me in there in five minutes.” I turn from him to open the door and then look back. “And you had damn well better have a fucking good reason,” I add and march out of the room and downstairs, quickly changing into something a little less revealing. I can’t very well have a confrontation with four well-fed Vampires in a satin nightie.
Exactly five minutes later, they all troop in, in various stages of undress and I am glad to be the only one with the ability to change with the click of my fingers.
They all stare at me in my unbridled fury, each one unwilling to start, so I do. “Whose idea was it to go?”
“Mine,” Cole says, stepping forward. “You know that I wanted to, especially after the other night. I told you,” he says quietly. “You told me to speak to Devon and I did.” My eyes flick to Devon who just stares back at me.
“And I told you, I would take him if you refused,” he says.
“And you two?” I bark at CK and Sebastian.
“Sorted out the details,” CK says.
“I see,” I say, moving around to stand behind my desk, putting the big block of wood in between them and me. “And no one thought to tell me of your plans, because…?”
“Because you are a hypocrite,” Devon suddenly snaps at me, to my utter shock.
“How dare you,” I hiss back at him. “How dare you take my husband and turn him into a killer.”
“I didn’t turn him into a killer, Liv. You did, when you turned him,” he retorts, and it is like a smack in the face. “You stand there on your soapbox, preaching piety when you are one of the most vicious creatures I have ever come across. We are Vampires, we Hunt, we drink, we kill. It’s what we do. You taught me that. You, Queen of the Vampires, of The Underworld. The only Vampire in the history of Vampires that absolutely has to feed on humans twice a day and even that you rebuff. All of a sudden you decided to become all moral and that everyone else should fall in line. That we should suppress ourselves because it’s what you want. What you want. It always comes back to what you want.”