A Forever Series Box Set: A Paranormal Reverse Harem: Books 6-10

by Eve Newton

  I wrap the towel around my waist as I grab another to squeeze the water out of my hair. I exit the bathroom and stop short as there is a stranger in our bedroom. CK has disappeared, still in a temper no doubt, but has left me with a Feeder it would seem. He turns to look at me and his eyes widen as he takes in my naked top half, which I quickly cover up with the hair towel.

  “Sorry,” he says in English. “I was told to wait here; I didn’t realize you were in there.” He points to the bathroom.

  “No worries,” I say, as I turn my back to him and loosen the towel to pull up to cover my breasts. “I am fairly certain that information was left out on purpose,” I mutter more to myself as I turn back around.

  He looks relieved that I am now covered up, as it were, and sits down at the dresser. Feeling very awkward and vulnerable, I make my way over to him and quickly drink from him and step back. “Thank you,” I murmur. He nods and stands.

  “My pleasure,” he murmurs back, his eyes briefly dropping back to my tits, before he turns on his heel to leave. He looks back over his shoulder as he reaches the door. “I’m Edward,” he says. “You’ll be seeing me again.” He leers jokingly at me and I smile at him. Seems that my sire, in his uncanny way, has already hired someone to relieve Ramon of his twice-a-day duty. Saves us a conversation, but it irritates me that he didn’t consult me first. Still, he is AB Neg, which is a must and he seems affable. Nothing worse than an uptight Feeder.

  I turn to the closet and see for the first time a dress hung up on the door. “I took the liberty; I hope you don’t mind?” CK says from behind me.

  I turn with a small, pleased smile. “Not at all. I like it when you help dress me.”

  “I sincerely hope that you prefer it when I help undress you,” he says, his eyes hooded with lust as he steps closer when I drop my towel.

  “It’s high on my list of favorite things,” I say.

  “Mine too,” he says against my lips before he kisses me deeply, holding me tightly to him for the first time since I got back from seeing Sebastian. Twice bathed, I must now be in an acceptable state for him. I press myself against him and he moans softly in my mouth. I can feel him hard and ready for me and I brush my hand lightly over him, but he steps back, hands on my shoulders. “Not yet,” he chides me.

  I make a noise of frustration and turn from him. “You are driving me crazy. You are a very frustrating creature. How can you stand it?”

  “I keep thinking about how amazing it will be when I finally do give in and take you,” he says, wrapping his arms around me. He nuzzles my neck and I feel a tremble go through me.

  “Bite me,” I say to him, tilting my head so he has easier access to my jugular.

  “I want to,” he nips me with his regular teeth. “But I want to do something to you while I do.”

  Ooh, a bit of play. I am up for that. “Anything,” I whisper back.

  “No,” he says stepping slightly away from me. “You won’t want me to do this.”

  I turn a bit in his arms. “What is it?” I ask.

  He closes his eyes as he decides whether to tell me, and I feel just the tiniest bit of fear slide down my back. He senses it and his eyes fly open. “No,” he says. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Obviously, it does, or you wouldn’t have mentioned it.”

  “I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I spoke without thinking.” He closes off his entire face and moves away from me.

  “CK, just tell me what it is. If I don’t want you to do it, I will say no. It’s as simple as that.”

  He breathes in and turns away from me. “Since the first time I bit you, I have wanted to do this, choosing one over the other is difficult, but I can’t do it. Not with you. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Oh,” I say as it hits me what he wants to do.

  He stares at me for the longest time. “Did…did he ever do that to you?” I have to lean forward to catch his words as he utters them so silently.

  “Yes, but only to hurt me.” Might as well be honest about it. “I know that isn’t your motivation.”

  “No, but I will anyway,” he shakes his head sadly. “I want to feel you in that way as I take your blood. I wish there was a way I could partial Shift.”

  “I want to feel you that way too, but I don’t think I want you to do that to me. I’m sorry,” I say and look down away from the hurt in his eyes.

  “I understand,” he says.

  “We will try to work on partial Shifts. I have already done it so I know you can too,” I say desperately.

  “Ah, yes. Your Dragon talons. That was quite…disturbing,” he says.

  “Well, yes, but I have also done a partial Vampire Shift. Although it was claws that came out and not fangs.”

  “Really?” he asks interested. “When? Before or after you became Queen?”

  “Err, with Cole. Before I became Queen, before he knew about me. I bit him with my regular teeth, but my claws came out inadvertently and pierced him.” I am uncomfortable discussing this with him.

  He looks uncomfortable that I am discussing it with him, so I turn from him.

  “Then you can teach me,” he says as he comes up behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders. “I want to be able to feel you come with my fingers, with my fangs in your neck.”

  The thought of it has me going damp and I reach up and pull his head down to my neck. “Bite me,” I murmur again, and he doesn’t need asking twice after that.

  “Oh, Aefre,” he says sadly as he breaks away. “I love you. Come, time to get dressed.” He whisks the dress off the hanger and holds it out for me to step into. I am slightly thrown by the sudden change in atmosphere. I grab the lacy panties that he has laid out and put them on first before I do as he asks. He pulls it up and I turn for him to do up the zipper.

  “You look beautiful,” he says now all genial again. “I knew the color would match your eyes perfectly.”

  I cast a glance at myself in the mirror and I have to say, the color is most flattering. I wouldn’t have ever thought that green would suit me, but it seems that it does. The soft filmy material skims the tops of my breasts just barely and with a tight waist it drops elegantly to the floor. The man has exceptional taste, I’ll give him that. I step into my shoes as he holds onto my elbow to steady me and then he turns me in a circle. “Perfect,” he says.

  “What about you?” I gesture to his casual jeans and t-shirt.

  “I thought you could take the liberty. If you don’t mind?” He gestures to his side of the closet and I clap my hands in delight.

  “I get to play dress up?” I ask him and, not waiting for an answer, I open the doors with a flourish and examine the contents. His entire collection probably costs about as much as mine does, if not more. He definitely doesn’t do things by half. I sift through all of his suits and land on the one that I love more than all the others. But then I turn to him. “I don’t want you to wear a suit,” I say, and his eyebrows go up.

  “What do you want me to wear?”

  “Nothing,” I say wickedly, and he laughs in delight.

  “Well, I have no problem with that, but if I am to wear nothing then surely you should also be disrobed. It’s only fair.”

  I frown at that. “No, I love this dress. I would like to wear it for a bit longer, but I see your point. Fine, then you shall wear this one,” I declare as I whip out the dark gray, one button Armani suit that caught my eye. “With this shirt,” I throw him the crisp white shirt with starched collar and cuffs. “And this tie,” I chuck the light gray silk tie at him.

  “A fine choice,” he says as he places them carefully on the bed and takes off his t-shirt. “You do know how to dress a man up to look his best.”

  “Oh please, every item of clothing you have in here makes you look your best. I just happen to like that suit.”

  “Do you think so?” he asks. “Even this?” He holds up his t-shirt.

  It takes me a minute to register what he said, as I am too busy sta
ring at his washboard abs and trying not to drool. “Yes, even that,” I stammer as he waves it at me to get my attention. His shrewd look flusters me as he knows where my thoughts were, but I boldly look him in the eye. “I do enjoy the casual look on you, it is very sexy.”

  “So, what does that make this?” he asks as he dons his shirt and leaves it open as he loses his jeans to pull on his suit pants.

  He knows what he is doing to me and is loving every second of it. “It makes that the sexiest suit I have ever seen on a man. You may go downstairs dressed precisely as you are.”

  He looks down at his bare chest and titters. “For you? Anything.” He puts his jacket on and then his shoes and holds his arm out for me to take.

  “Really?” I ask as I take it. “You are going to make me stare at you like that all through dinner?”

  “Yes,” he says as he opens the door.

  “You do realize that I will be the wanton slut ravaging you before the entrées now?”

  “Probably,” he says with a smile so wide, I can’t help but laugh.

  “Well, in that case,” I say, stopping dead in the middle of the corridor. Hoping that we are alone, I let go of his arm and he turns to me expectantly, waiting to see what I will do. It sends a thrill through him as I hike up my dress and wiggle out of my panties, letting them drop around my ankles as I let go of the dress. I step to the side and bend my leg to retrieve the knickers, which I bunch up and shove in his suit pocket. “Now you get to go all through dinner knowing that I am unencumbered and ready for you.”

  “How is it that you can turn me on so much with just a simple action that doesn’t even put yourself on display?”

  “Because I know it is all you will be thinking about until you get to see it again,” I say breezily, and he chortles as he takes my hand and leads me downstairs.

  “You know me so well,” he says and steers me towards the magnificent dining hall, where two place settings have been set up at the head of the enormous twenty-two seat table swathed in candlelight and my favorite red roses.

  Chapter 23

  By unsaid agreement we race through dinner. I can’t keep my eyes off him, and he can’t keep his hand off my leg, inching it higher and higher as the minutes tick by. When he finally declares dinner to be over, I jump up and grab him, Astralling us straight into the library.

  “The library?” he asks.

  “Yes, I’m freezing. I want a nice big fire.” I click my fingers and one roars up in the massive fireplace, warming me instantly. I take a moment to light the candles as well, happy to see that they are set in threes.

  “You’re cold?” he asks curiously.

  “Yes. I know it’s weird, right? Whatever happened to the fireplace in your bedroom?”

  “Our bedroom,” he corrects me sternly. “It was where the bathroom is now.”

  “I know, but you should have moved it.”

  “I didn’t need it.”

  “Humph.” I turn my back to the fire to warm that up. My Dragon flaps Her wings lazily and I can almost hear Her sigh as the heat spreads over my back. It seems that Dragons feel the cold. I never knew that. Poor devil, She must have been freezing Her tail off all these months.

  “Well, I hope you are warm enough now because there is no way that this dress is staying on you a second longer.” He reaches up to unzip it, letting it fall gracefully to the floor.

  “Put your arms around me,” I say to him over my shoulder. “That always sets a fire blazing inside me.”

  “Happy to oblige. I am unable to keep my hands off you. Especially when you are naked by firelight.”

  “Whatever happened to your willpower?” I tease and he snorts.

  “Who am I kidding? I have none when it comes to you.”

  I giggle and turn in his arms. “Same here and not ashamed to admit it.”

  “Me either,” he says before he kisses me thoroughly, warming me through from the top of my head to my toes. I shed him of his jacket and shirt and hook my fingers into the waistband of his pants.

  “Please say yes,” I murmur.

  “Yes,” he says straightaway. “Oh yes.”

  I don’t hesitate as I get rid of his pants with just a touch and drop to my knees to take him in my mouth. He pulls me back up after a few seconds and kisses me. “As much as I love your wanton mouth, my sweet. I need to be inside you. I need to be the one now.” He lowers us both to the rug in front of the fireplace and I hold my hand out to him. He looks blankly at it for a moment until I remind him that he has to slash my palm. He hesitates, not wanting to hurt me, but I tell him it’s all right and he quickly slices a gash and does the same to himself. We press our hands together.

  “You remember the words?” I ask and he nods.

  We start the chant together as we lace our fingers and he pushes me right back and enters me slowly, wrapping his free arm around me and pushing our linked hands above my head. We mutter the words against each other’s lips, desperate to kiss and when the candles and the fire roar up in response to the magick and we say the final words, he plunges his tongue against mine, crushing my hand even tighter as we both come together in shuddering waves of pleasure.

  “I love you. I don’t ever want to let you go. Be with me, Aefre. I know that you want to. We can work something out. You can still be with him, just come to me. Please. I can’t bear to be apart from you.”

  “I do want to be with you, but I can’t leave him,” I say sorrowfully.

  “Then don’t leave him, bring him here,” he says, sitting up. “I don’t care anymore. If you will be here with me, sleep with me in our bedroom, I will share you with him. We will find a way to make it work, just say you will do it.” He takes my hands and I don’t know what to say. “You wanted a solution,” he adds as I remain silent. “I’m offering one.”

  “One that doesn’t benefit him,” I say quietly.

  “How do you know?” he asks almost childishly. “Ask him. No, tell him. Tell him this is what you want and if he doesn’t like it, he knows what to do.”

  “Constantine, don’t, my love. Don’t pressure me. You said you wouldn’t.”

  “But you want to be with me. I know you do. Just ask him.” He turns his back to me to stare into the fire. “I said I would listen to anything he had to say. He should do me the same courtesy.”

  “But what will it achieve?”

  “Us spending more time together, for a start.”

  “And what about everyone else?” I must ask because he evidently hasn’t thought of that.

  He turns his head to glare at me. “They aren’t my concern. My only concern is getting you here, with me.” He turns back to the fire while I chew my lip in consternation. He is being unreasonable. “I am losing patience, Aefre. We are perfect together. Why can’t you see that?”

  “I do.”

  “Then do something about it. Or I will.”

  “What does that mean?” I ask with dread.

  “Nothing.” He turns back to me after several long seconds. “It means nothing. You have me painted neatly into a little corner. You hold all the power and I can’t do a damn thing about it.” He sighs and continues, “You want to talk about being a master manipulator? I think you win hands down.”

  “You think I am manipulating you? All of you?” I ask, shocked that he would say that to my face. Although in all fairness, I can’t argue with it, as yes, I do sometimes manipulate others to get what I want. Who doesn’t around here? But I do try to be subtle about it.

  “Maybe you don’t mean to on some level but, yes. You use us against each other to get what you want.”

  “You are wrong,” I insist, not prepared to admit it to him.

  “I wish I was,” he says sadly. “Look, I don’t want to argue with you. I’m sorry I said anything. I just love you so much. I want every night to be like tonight. Us together here. Is that too much to ask?”

  “No,” I admit. “It isn’t. I wish you had said all of this a year ago.”


  “Me too.”

  We hold each other for a few moments, and I resolve to fix this, however I can. “I will speak to him. We will find a way, okay?”

  He nods and doesn’t speak again until he has taken me several times over, the fire crackling in the fireplace, the wind howling outside as the rain lashes down. I fall into a doze on the hearth with his arms wrapped tightly around me, and he whispers, “I love you,” before I fall fast asleep.

  I wake up the next morning in our bed, alone, except for the single perfect red rose on his pillow with the note underneath it that reads, “So sweet”. I pick it up, inhale deeply and sigh. It is already light out, but the weather is still atrocious. I have never known it to be this bad here. The clouds are rumbling overhead, and a steady stream of rain is falling. I am cold, even though CK has found a blanket from somewhere and thrown it over me. If I am going to live here, this damn place needs some heating. I put the rose back down and climb out of bed to run a nice hot bath, wrapping the blanket around me. My feet are like two blocks of ice and I wish for a nice pair of thick socks, which appear on my feet. That’s better, I think, as I make my way to the bathroom. It reminds me of when I woke up in her world. The servants had put slippers on her, on me. She must have also felt the cold, although I don’t remember feeling cold there. Maybe they had sorted out heating for her? I sink gratefully into the hot bubbly water right under the surface and relax. After a few minutes, I come back up feeling hungry. I decide to go in search of Edward and hastily dry myself off and get dressed. Nice warm clothes. I put the thick socks back on, pulling on a long pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt, my old Harvard sweatshirt that is a couple of sizes too big, and a hoodie. I feel highly ridiculous but at least I am warm. I tie my hair up into a high ponytail and forego make-up today, I really can’t be bothered. Catching a glimpse of myself in the bureau mirror, I blanch. I couldn’t look more like my sixteen years if I tried. Christ, CK will throw a shit fit when he sees me. I pull open the door, to find Edward standing there about to knock.