by Eve Newton
“You’ll succeed,” he says, full of confidence in me, and I smile and kiss him.
“I hope you are right,” I say. “I am more worried that she won’t help me. I am asking a lot of her.”
“She will help you. She knows what it is to live without him,” he reassures me.
I chuckle at him. “You have no idea how to process this, do you?” I ask him and he laughs back.
“Not a clue,” he admits. “But I love you and I want what you want, so if you need to find this Other Liv to help you get that, then I am all for it.” He pauses and I wait for what is coming next. “You won’t love me any less, will you? You know, after?”
“Oh, Cole,” I say, taking his face in my hands. “I could never love you any less. In fact, I will probably love you more.”
“Good,” he says. “I will hold you to that. You had better get going, if you expect to do all of this and make it back in time to meet your husband…”
I squeeze his hand tightly. I know he is still unhappy about learning about Constantine and Sebastian and our baby. But he is strong, and I do love him. He is every bit as loving and attentive as the Other Cole was and I know deep down that all of this is our destiny. It is fate that spans across universes. And speaking of universes, I had better get going. I kiss him again and stand and get dressed. I close my eyes and with a deep breath I think of her. She that is me in another world. The only one that can help me in my quest for completion.
The End
Read on with Secrets: The Forever Series, Book 8, where you will finally get into everyone’s lives!
Secrets
The Forever Series, Book 8
By Eve Newton
Copyright © Eve Newton, 2014
Copyright © Eve Newton, 2017
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Author’s Note
The first seven books of the Forever Series are seen through the perspective of Liv. However, as the title of this book Secrets suggests, a whole bunch of them are about to come out! This means getting into the heads of all the main characters.
Please note that the character changes are done by chapter, so be sure to note at the beginning of the chapter whose perspective you are reading.
“A wise man is he who keeps his own secrets.” – William Scott Downey
Prologue
Los Angeles, USA, August 2012 – Jess
Jess had long since stopped listening to her friend speak. All she was capable of doing was staring at the gorgeous man, sitting in the sun, reading a newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee.
“Earth to Jess,” Feenyx said to her, snapping her fingers in Jess’s face.
Jess pushed her hand away with a frown. Feenyx dropped her hand and followed where she was looking. “Wow,” she said. “With a capital ‘W’. He is hot.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Jess mumbled. She scanned her eyes over him. He was tall, she could tell that even though he was sitting down. His dark brown hair flopped over his forehead in a really cute way. His face was worthy of gracing every magazine cover and his hot bod was rocking his expensive suit in a way that practically made Jess drool. She turned to her friend. “How do I look?” She smoothed down her tight-fitting top over her double-D breasts and inched her tiny skirt up her longs legs to make it even shorter.
“Gorgeous, as usual,” Feenyx said. “But you can’t go over there. He is way too old for you.”
“Oh, please,” Jess scoffed. “He is like twenty-six, tops.”
“And you are seventeen,” Feenyx reminded her.
“An experienced seventeen,” Jess said and preened her long dark hair, proud of her lack of innocence. For a fleeting moment, she panicked when she remembered what her mother’s boyfriend did to her, but it didn’t last long. She didn’t let it. She shoved it back in the black hole it belonged in and focused on the gorgeous man. He was rich, she could tell that. Perhaps if she played this right, he could take her away from her life
“Well, then he is pervert if he takes an interest,” Feenyx insisted, but Jess ignored her.
She squared her shoulders and sauntered over to the table where the man was sitting. She stopped and he looked up at her. His eyebrow rose over his dark sunglasses and he pulled them down his nose to get a better look at her. His eyes nearly took her breath away, the clearest blue she had ever seen. “Hi,” she said softly. “I’m Jess.”
“Devon,” he said as he placed his newspaper on the table and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose. “What can I do for you, Jess?”
“I was about to ask you the same question,” she said as she licked her lips and cocked her hip slightly.
He laughed gently at her and she narrowed her eyes at him. How dare he laugh at her? Guys begged to be with her. Okay, so this guy was definitely something so far beyond her normal scope, but still. It made her want him even more now.
“Brazen, aren’t you?” he said as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “How do you know I won’t take you back to my lair and kill you?” He flashed her a toe-curling smile and she faltered a tiny bit, but her confidence returned when he gave her a top-to-toe appraisal and obviously liked what he saw. She sat down and crossed her legs, flashing a large amount of thigh at him, which he definitely appreciated. “You don’t look the type to have a lair and you definitely don’t look like a killer,” she said, and he laughed again.
“Looks can be deceiving,” he said, and his tone sent a chill down her spine, but at the same time excited her. She did love a bad boy.
“I’ll take my chances,” she said seductively.
“Daring as well as beautiful and brazen,” he said admiringly, and she glowed at the compliment. She had him hooked, now all she had to do was reel him in.
“And so much more,” she said. “Care to buy me a cup of coffee and find out?”
He frowned over her shoulder and his demeanor changed rapidly. He stiffened and shifted his eyes back to hers quickly and said, “Actually, yes I would like to find out. Give me your number.”
Jess was slightly taken aback. She had expected a bit more flirting and maybe that cup of coffee before she handed her number over to him under her own terms. He had demanded it of her, and she wondered if perhaps Feenyx had been right. She hesitated, but then when she thought about all the things, she wanted him to do to her, she handed it over. She was either stupid or crazy. Probably a bit of both.
“Thanks,” Devon said. “I’ll call you.” He stood hastily and dismissed her as he practically ran off. Jess watched him go with a frown. He met up with a beautiful, small, blonde woman in expensive killer heels and a suit that probably cost more than Jess’s mom’s house. He kissed her on the cheek, and she smiled up at him and took his arm through hers.
“Probably his wife,” Feenyx said, sitting down in the seat he had vacated.
“Yeah, maybe,” Jess said, but then smiled at her friend. “But who cares? He said he was interested and that he’d call.”
“Jess!” Feenyx admonished her. “You can’t go after him if he is married.”
“He wasn’t wearing a ring,” Jess said and shrugged. At least not a wedding ring. He did have a very pretty, silver ring on his thumb. “And he asked for my number, so he wants me too.”
“You gave him your number?” Feenyx yelled at her. “Are you crazy?”
Jess shrugged again. Maybe she was, crazy for him. Devon. What a perfect name, for a perfect guy. Jess was going to make it
happen for them, she didn’t care if he was a married psycho killer. She wanted him and she was going to get him. She didn’t care how; she didn’t care what it took or what she had to do. She was going to get Devon and God help anyone who got in her way.
Seven months later
Jess stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, halfway across the world from where she met Devon. She loved him more than she ever thought possible. She wasn’t stupid, she knew a lot of her feelings were the bond she had with him, but she had loved him before he had saved her.
She frowned as she remembered that feeling of utter desperation before she had taken the razor to her wrists. She had gone to find Devon; she knew he had gone to see that bitch he called his sire. How Jess had hated her. She hated everything about her, most especially the hold she had on Devon. She had lingered at the door to the hotel suite she knew he was in, doing God knows what. He had only told her the very basics of Vampire life. He had told her enough that she knew she wanted to be one, but not enough that she really knew how hard it would be. Jess had pressed her ear against the door and heard him say the words that had driven her over the edge.
They still swirl around in her head now all these months later: “Oh, Christ, Liz. I have missed fucking you.”
The thought that he was in there fucking her was too much to bear and she had run. She had never had an easy life, and it had made her strong and resilient, but the absolute desolation had swept over her, overwhelmed her, and she knew without a doubt what she had to do. It was almost like the thought had been there all along, worming its way closer to the surface, needing a trigger to set it off. She swallowed loudly, not wanting to think of that moment. It was the worst moment of her life, followed closely by the time she had found out that she was almost identical to Elizabeth. It had coiled around her gut like a snake, squeezing so tight. She had never hated anyone so much in her entire life as she did in that moment when she saw them together in Devon’s bed. She clenched her fist and forced herself to relax. Jess knew he didn’t want her to be Elizabeth. He had told her he wasn’t into Substitutes, and she had believed him. Maybe only because he didn’t want a Substitute, he wanted the real thing. She was also grateful that Elizabeth was just a Shift. If Liv looked like that every day, she wouldn’t be able to bear it.
But she had secrets that would make him hate her. He just about acknowledged her as his charge now, if he ever found out about her plotting it would disappear in a heartbeat. Secrets she held that he would consider huge betrayals. But she did it for him. Everything she did, she did it for him. He was her life and she did it so they could be together, just the two of them.
Chapter 1
Tuscany, Italy, March 2013 – Liv
“Liv? Liv? Livvie? Fuck, where is she?”
I hear my name being called; I think. It might just be a dream. I open my eyes to find myself in semi darkness. They adjust quickly to the gloom and it all comes crashing back to me: The fight with CK, him hurling me out of the windows, the tower collapsing, and him leaving me here. He left me here. Alone and broken. The tears prick my eyes and I bring my hand up to wipe them away. I can move. At least I have healed now. I rearrange myself so that I am lying flat on my back instead of in a crumpled heap and breathe in deeply. Dust and bits of stone, blood, and rain. I can smell it all.
“Liv?”
“Livvie?”
I can hear the shouts again. Two voices. Neither one of them my sire.
I sit up suddenly, pushing the debris from me. At least it has stopped raining, even though the clouds are still dark and menacing overhead. I put my hand to my now healed stomach, remembering what he did to me, and I whimper despite myself. I have never seen such violence or hate on him directed at me. I know that I hurt him over this whole Fae/Sebastian business, but he just flipped. It was probably - no, definitely - one of the scariest things I have ever seen. Because I never thought that I would see it.
“There!” I hear Sebastian shout, as I force myself to my feet. “Liv? What the fuck happened?” He grabs my hand as he clambers over the chunks of stone and shards of glass. I grip it tightly to steady myself. I meet his eyes and then wish I hadn’t. The horror shown there, no doubt at my ghastly appearance, makes me cringe. I try to Shift, to change, but I can’t. I am too weak, or disorientated, or something. “Livvie, say something. Are you okay?”
Xane appears at my other side, grabbing my elbow as my knees buckle.
“I’m alive. That’s about it right now. Can you get me out of this mess?”
Xane picks me up, cradling me in his arms, and carries me away from the destruction to sit propped up against the low wall leading to the main gardens. “What the fuck happened here, Liv? And where the Hell is Constantine?”
“Good question,” Sebastian says as he sits on my other side. “Where did he go?”
“Beats the shit out of me,” I mumble and then add, “Ironic, really, seeing as he did beat the shit out of me.”
“What?” Xane and Sebastian ask in unison.
“He did this to you?” Xane gestures at my shredded and bloody clothes and then at the fallen tower.
“No,” Sebastian says. “He would never do that. Not to you. Liv?” He questions me, now unsure.
“You know how mad he was at us. After you left, I went to find him. I know I shouldn’t have,” I say before he can yell at me. “Believe me, next time I will leave well enough alone. I found him in the tower, and he was so angry. The things he said…” I trail off, the tears threatening to flow again. “It was worse than what he did,” I whisper, and Sebastian pulls me to him to comfort me.
“What did he do?” he croaks.
“He ripped me to shreds before he threw me out of the windows,” I say into his chest and then pull back. The last thing I need is to be cuddling Sebastian if CK makes another appearance.
“No,” Sebastian says weakly. “He wouldn’t…” But then he looks at me and again at the tower and asks, “He threw you out of the window?”
I nod and my neck cracks painfully. I wince as it is still newly healed, and I don’t particularly feel like having it snap again. “And then he just disappeared. Teleported out of here like it meant nothing to him.”
“Liv, sweetie. There must be a reason he did it. He wouldn’t just do that and then leave you. He wouldn’t.”
“Well, if you find him you can ask him, because I can think of no good reason why he would.”
“I can’t find him. I can’t even sense him,” he says worriedly.
Find him? Sense him? He can find and sense our sire when he is not here? I knew he had more honed skills with that than me, but I didn’t realize it went as far as all that.
“Screw him,” Xane says fiercely. “He can stay away as far as I am concerned. I won’t let him near you again, never again,” he almost yells and I shy away from him and the sudden rush of power that sweeps off him.
“Why are you here?” I ask him then, finding it odd that he would be.
He looks at me sadly and then at Sebastian. He finally says, “I knew it the second you hit the ground. I felt your fear and your pain. I came straight away.”
“Same here,” Sebastian says quietly.
“Oh,” I say awkwardly. Well, I couldn’t have been out for very long then if they came straight away. I suppose that’s something that I managed to heal quickly enough while unconscious.
“Who brought the tower down?” Xane asks.
“Me, mostly. Both by being slammed into it, but also by my Power.” I shrug, brushing it off. “Seb, you had better go and do damage control. And get Marguerite to hire someone to get this mess cleaned up and fixed.”
He pauses and clears his throat.
“I am still the lady of this house, whether he likes it or not. Now go,” I say with as much authority as I can, and he jumps to his feet. He scampers off and I sink back against the wall and close my eyes.
“You need to feed,” Xane says, taking my hands he pulls me forward. I open my eyes as his l
ips touch mine and he whispers, “Take what you need,” before he pushes his tongue into my mouth and kisses me. His hands gripping mine tightly, I pull on his energy, but instead of coming out of his hands, it is coming out of his mouth and into mine. I am taking his very essence with no watering down and it is a fair boost. I let go of his hands and take his face, pulling him even closer to me as I feed from him, absorbing as much of him as I dare. I push him away before I get carried away and he grins at me. “Feel better?”
“Much,” I say. “Wow. How come we have never done that before?”
“Because you weren’t ready. You can only share pure essence when you are truly bound. I have always known we were, but it has taken you a bit longer to accept.”
I want to say something to him, to tell him that I do accept our bond, but Sebastian returns, and the moment is lost.
“All sorted. I told them you were in the tower and it collapsed. Marguerite is outraged on your behalf and I can only imagine that Georges is going to get an earful and a half.”
“Georges? The weasley glasses guy? Who is he?” I ask, remembering him suddenly.
“The architect in charge of making sure this place stays standing and seeing to any renovations, and whatever else that needs doing.”
“Oh no. As much as I dislike that man, he doesn’t deserve to be blasted for something that isn’t his fault.”
“You said do damage control. I did. Just forget about that now and concentrate on getting stronger. You need to feed.”
“She already did,” Xane says smugly and Sebastian glares at him.