by Eve Newton
“Cole, when I told you that, I had not fed from a human in many months. But when I bit you the cravings started again. The need for human blood is a strong one, my love, and when I took most of yours yesterday it awoke the bloodlust, as I haven’t been used to it. I need this. I need this to stay in control,” I explain, not expecting him to understand.
He looks pained but accepts my explanation without questions.
I move back to the man and drop my fangs. I drink deeply. I feel the headache retreat instantly. Taking my fill, I pull back and retract my fangs. Cole watches from across the room, but he’s in control and that is good.
The man beats a hasty retreat now knowing there are two potentially dangerous Vampires in the room with him. He bumps into Nico on his way out.
“Thank you, Nico,” I say gratefully.
He nods and says, “I’d better get back. Mr. D’Arcangelo said he would see you around lunchtime with news.” I nod my thanks, and he leaves in a swish of his duster coat.
“Feel better?” I ask Cole.
He nods. “Good. So do I,” I say pointedly.
He is at my side immediately, a look of concern on his face. “Are you okay?” he asks.
“I am now. The headache has gone,” I reassure him. I let him pull me into a deep hug.
Soon after that, Devon pitches up. Alone.
I raise an eyebrow at him as I assumed he would turn up with his conquest in tow, to make a point.
He shrugs. “I fed, that’s all,” he mutters.
“Oh,” I say, that pang in my chest getting worse. His behavior is uncharacteristic of late.
“How’d it go, Kitten?” he asks quietly, as he moves in to hug and kiss me.
“Good. Wonderful in fact. He’s so controlled,” I say in wonder. “I thought there would be more rampaging,” I add with a smirk.
He chuckles. “It’s your age, you ancient crone,” he teases. I punch him on the arm.
“Hey, ow, no fair,” he complains good-naturedly.
“You are not too old to have me smack you down, my boy, you know,” I chuckle.
His eyes narrow as he steps closer and tilts my chin up. He leans in close and whispers against my lips, “Bring it.”
My knees go weak at his close proximity, but remembering myself, I raise a hand to his chest and gently push him away.
“Maybe next time,” I croak.
“Promises, promises,” he teases softly. We giggle together and then turn arm in arm to go to the terrace to continue with our race-watching.
Cole is watching us from the shadows. Uh-oh. I feel ‘that’ conversation coming on. I sigh.
Devon looks at me, then follows my gaze to Cole. “I’ll be outside. Holler if you need me,” he says and beats a hasty exit.
I motion for Cole to join me in the bedroom. He follows slowly, unsure.
He closes the door and turns to me. “Are you sleeping with him?” he asks suddenly, cutting to the chase. A trait I normally admire but this time, I needed time to think.
I should’ve had the balls to ‘fess up before I turned him. Before that even. Before I said yes to his proposal.
Steeling myself, I take a deep breath. “Yes,” I state.
He looks away from me. “I see,” he says quietly. “I knew it somehow, deep down, when you were talking about him the other night. All this time?” he asks.
“For five hundred and six years, my love,” I say, needing him to understand. I take his hand, he doesn’t resist, he can’t. I pull him to the bed and sit. He sits too.
“You said in the chapel that you understand what he feels for me, and I explained to you what I feel for him. It isn’t something we can push away. We have tried, both of us, in the past. He left me and I let him go, but we will always find each other again.” I pause to take a breath. “There will come a time when you will leave me, but we too will always find each other again.”
He looks at me with a lack of understanding on his sad face and shakes his head.
“Yes, my love, you will. ‘Charges always leave their sires,’” I quote my own sire’s words to him. “I left Constantine and Devon left me. You will too. A hundred years from now, two hundred years from now, who knows, but you will go, and you will come back. It’s what we do. It’s who we are. The bond between us is too strong to deny or fight or ignore.”
Silence.
Sighing, I make a decision. “Cole, I love you. I love you so much that I wanted to turn you so I could always love you. You wanted me to turn you so you could love me forever. That will never, ever change now, but I understand if you don’t want to marry me anymore.” I take off my beautiful, precious to my heart, black diamond ring and hold it out to him.
Surprised, he looks from my eyes to the ring and back again. “Is that what you want?” he asks sadly.
“No!” I shake my head vehemently. “I want to be your wife. I want to be yours in every possible way.”
He looks at me, unconvinced and undecided and I start to feel a mild panic. He takes the ring from me and my heart sinks. He stares at it for a long time and just as I am about to give up and walk away, he says, “I gave this to you because I wanted us to be together forever. I still want that.” He pauses and my heart leaps. “You say that I will want to leave you one day, but I can’t imagine that. I don’t want that. Bond aside, I meant it when I gave this to you. Are you only accepting it because you think one day I will leave you and you will be free again?”
My mouth drops open in shock at his words, “Cole, no. The gods, no. I don’t want you to leave me. It’s just… inevitable. I want you by my side forever.” I try to reassure him.
He nods. “And what about Devon?” he asks slowly.
I hesitate and he nods again, saying, “So you can agree to be my wife, but still be happy to have sex with someone else.” It’s not a question, so I don’t answer. He snorts then as he puts two and two together. “Someone’s, really, isn’t it?” That is a question and I can’t avoid it.
“Yes,” I admit.
He stands up abruptly and starts to pace. “Of course, you are,” he mutters to himself. “How could you not be with him? It’s exactly the same. I can’t be without you and you can’t be without him.” Sighing heavily, he turns to me. “Is this how it is with all of you? All of us?” he corrects himself. “Just fucking about all over the place? If so, can I do it too?” he challenges me.
I stand up then to face him, sire to sired. “In some cases, yes, we just fuck about all over the place. In my case now, I share myself with my sire and my charge that have been by my side for centuries. Yes, I have had others, many others in fact, in the past, but not since I met you and fell in love with you. I want to be your wife and will forsake all others, with the exception of Constantine and Devon. If that is something you can accept then give me back my ring,” I demand, not one to stand around begging him to be with me. “If not, then keep it, but I will still be your sire and I will still love you as you will still love me. The decision is yours.”
Cole looks slightly dumbfounded by my speech.
“Furthermore,” I continue, “in answer to your question, if you so choose, I would not stop you. In time, you will anyway. Vampires are not faithful creatures by nature, but we are fiercely loyal to those we are bound to, to those that we love.”
He looks even more shocked at my addition. I stare him down until he looks away. Only the sounds of the cars racing past outside cuts the silence in the room. He eventually walks over to stand in front of me and looks into my eyes, his face unreadable.
“Liv, I’m so in love with you. It’s destiny. I know it in my heart. Do you love them? I mean, are you in love with them?
I nod because there is no point in denying it. Whether Devon realizes it or not, those old feelings have bubbled up for both of us. Cole is the catalyst here, I know that without a doubt. If he hadn’t come into the picture, Devon and I would still be messing about.
“Some part of me gets that,” Cole says. “I
get the bond and the love that you share with them, but there is the other part of me that doesn’t want to share you. That doesn’t even know how to begin to share you,” he says heatedly. “I will work on that part,” he adds softly after a moment. “I will accept this. I will accept this, because without question, I want to be with you in every way possible.” He holds out my ring to me and I hold up my left hand. He slides it onto my finger and pulls me to him. I hug him fiercely then, as he does me. He pulls back only enough to kiss me. I kiss him back, filled with love for this man who has been through so much the last couple of days, so much that I have put him through, and it hurts me. I hope to the old gods that I never have to hurt him again.
“I have some conditions though,” he says with that glorious half smile of his.
I raise my eyebrow, oh?
“Okay…” I say warily.
“Actually, it’s just one. Devon and Constantine are the only two I will share you with. What you do with them, separately or together is up to you. I’m not sure I can handle seeing it though…” he trails off and gives me a shrug.
I stare at him, wondering what the shrug was for. Mistaking my hesitation as non-compliance, he says softly, “If you can’t promise me that you will only be with those that you have bonds with, then I don’t think I can do this.”
“Cole, my love. I do promise. I promise you I will abide. I’m just surprised at how easily you accepted this,” I say.
He snorts in derision. “Easy? You think this is easy for me? It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. All to be with you, Liv. I want to be with you, but I won’t be made a fool of,” he says. “The bonds, I accept. I get it. But if you went with anyone else, it would be for the sake of it, and that’s not okay.”
I nod seriously, although I’m a little bit put out that he thinks I’m some raging slut that fucks anything that moves. “I’m sorry, Cole. I didn’t mean to imply this wasn’t difficult for you. I know how hard it is, believe me, I do,” I say.
“Yeah? How could you possibly know what this feels like?” he asks.
I look at him with a sigh and he sees it all in my eyes. I have been through this with my own sire. I had to accept the same circumstances only much, much worse. Not to mention, I’m certain that CK never gave me as much consideration as I’m giving to Cole.
He has the grace to look abashed and says, “I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about that.”
I shrug. “It’s okay. It’s just something all charges have to go through at some point,” I say matter-of-factly.
Ever competitive, he quickly asks, “How did Devon take it?”
“Oh, I’d rather not go there,” I say, shaking my head.
“That bad, huh?” he asks sympathetically.
“Nooo, not exactly,” I say, remembering that day. “He was the one who did it first. It’s a long story. You can ask him,” I say hastily at his raised eyebrow.
As if he knew we were talking about him, Devon knocks and enters without waiting for an answer.
Cole looks annoyed. “Do you mind?” he asks, but not nastily. “We could have been fucking.”
I hide my smile and lace my fingers through his as we both turn to look at Devon.
“What?” he asks. “What’d I miss?”
“A lot and most of it none of your business,” I retort.
“Okay, so just tell me the bits that are my business,” he smiles, frustratingly glib as usual.
To my surprise, Cole speaks up. “I know about you and Liv. And Constantine and Liv,” he adds.
Devon looks at Cole, at me and back again, bracing himself for a punch to the face.
“It’s okay,” I say. “We are okay. All of us. Cole and I have talked and come to an agreement. He accepts that I with you. Both of you.”
“Hm,” Devon murmurs. “I suppose you had planned on asking me if I accept him at some point in the near future?”
I balk at his question, my cheeks flaming with anger. He is about to provoke Cole out of the door if he carries on with shit like that. Devon doesn’t need that kind of reassurance. He is being a dickhead because he can.
“Kidding,” he drawls, as he sees my rise in temper. “But it would have been nice to be included in a discussion about my sex life.”
Oh, for the love of all things unholy. He is killing me here.
“You get to fuck her. What more do you want?” Cole challenges him.
Devon squares up to him, but there is no threat there. Even though Devon could wipe the floor with Cole if he chose it.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he murmurs, giving Cole a raking once-over that has my heart thumping in my chest.
Cole’s cheeks go pink, but at Devon’s laugh, he relaxes. “This is gonna take some getting used to,” he sighs.
“I know, but thank you,” I say to him earnestly. “I know I thrust this upon you, and I do know that I should have discussed it with you before I turned you. I was scared…”
“Hey,” Cole says, squeezing my hand. “I said I accept it. Just take the win, okay.” He says it lightly, but I can see it takes an enormous effort on his part.
“I love you,” I say, pulling him to me. “I love you so much. I can’t wait to be your wife.”
He squeezes me tight. “Me either,” he says.
Now that the dreaded conversation is over with and has reached an outcome that I didn’t really expect, I say, “I want to get out on the track. We have all missed far too much of this Grand Prix weekend!”
“Agreed!” Cole and Devon say in unison. Then glare at each other while I snicker.
CHAPTER THIRTY
T hings are quiet, to say the least, on the way down to the track. It’s just us three and an awkward silence. I want to break it and have everything be easy again. I have to say, Devon’s reaction was unprecedented. I thought he would be over the moon that it is all out in the open and even try to push his luck by cozying up to me or suggesting a three-way right out of the gate. But he has barely even looked at me since we stepped into the elevator. In the words of Lewis Carroll: Curiouser and Curiouser.
However, once we are on the track though, things get less quiet as we all pick up on the excitement. We are greeted enthusiastically by the team, introductions are made, and the boys go off together with them to check out the cars. I stand back and watch them. Their shared love for the sport puts any awkwardness aside for the time being. I’m glad, maybe this will help them get over the weirdness. Well, for Cole. Devon is an old hat when it comes to things like this. I think he is just taking his cues from Cole, for which I adore him even more.
Leaving them to it, I answer my phone that is buzzing away in my jeans pocket. It’s CK.
“Where are you?” he asks before I can even say hello.
“On the track, and ‘hello’ to you too,” I say sarcastically.
“How long will you be?” he responds, ignoring my sarcasm.
“Another hour or so. Why?” I ask.
“Fine. I will wait for you in your suite,” he says shortly.
“CK, I need to tell you…” I trail off as I’m now talking to the dial tone. He fucking hung up on me!
Fine, then. I’ll just message him.
Arse.
“Cole knows about us.” Short and to the point.
I count back, knowing he will call: Three, two, one...and right on cue, my phone rings. CK. I grin and leave it to ring. Knowing that I will pay for ignoring him, I pocket my phone as it continues to buzz. I have to answer eventually as he doesn’t give up and my backside is done with all the vibrating.
“Liv,” comes CK’s steely voice. I know that I’m in for it.
I sigh and try to make it right. “I’m sorry, my love. I had something important to tell you and you know how much I hate it when you hang up on me,” I say petulantly.
I hear his world-weary sigh. “Your defiance won’t be tolerated, my sweet,” he says quietly, adding, “I shall have to think of a new way to punish you.” I feel a thrill
go down my spine and my knees buckle.
Dropping onto a nearby stool, I whisper, “Mm, it’s been a while since you punished me, my sire. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.” I know when I hear him inhale sharply that he can’t stay mad at me.
“So do I,” he whispers back, then clears his throat. “What did you tell him?”
The abrupt change of subject spins my already dazed brain.
“Uh, well, he actually asked about Devon and connected the dots,” I say, recovering.
“I see. And?”
“And nothing. He knows and he’s accepted that I’m not giving you up, ever. Either of you,” I add for clarification.
“Like he would have a choice in taking you away from me,” he mutters in a very un-CK like way. This trip is throwing up all kinds of interesting things.
“Yes, well. I needed you to know before you see each other again. He won’t challenge you, obviously, he has said that he knows how I feel about you, but don’t provoke him, okay? Please. He is new to this and I don’t want anything to scare him off when he has been so accommodating. Also, this doesn’t mean that we are all one big ménage à quatre waiting to happen.”
Silence.
“I don’t expect it will,” he says smoothly.
“Good. Now go back to whatever was so important that it made you hang up on me,” I say.
He chuckles, his humor restored. “As frustrating as you are, I love your fire,” he says and again, he hangs up on me, but this time I am glowing from the praise.
Thinking back to what he said, “I don’t expect it will”, I believe him. He wouldn’t expect all of us to jump into bed together and bang ourselves into oblivion. Devon would, of course, in fact, he has probably already thought of a dozen different ways we can get it on, but not CK. In all the years since I turned Devon, CK has never once asked him into our bed. The time in my office was me, daring to be so bold because CK was already fucking me and Devon happened to walk in on us for the first time ever, would you believe. But my sire is awfully coy about Devon. Strangers, yes. Acquaintances, friends, yes. Men and women, even several of each, but never my beloved boy. I have often wondered if it is in fact some sort of jealousy; that he would see our bond and how fantastic we are together. I have never dared to ask, and I probably never will.