by Eve Newton
CK is gaping at me as if I have lost my mind. Devon just looks uncomfortable and Cole is scowling at me clearly not liking this plan.
I snatch the forgotten Scotch out of Cole’s hand. Gulping it down, I hold it out for more. Devon obliges. “Wine this time. No more reminders,” I murmur.
“Well?” I snap as no one says a word. “In or out? I will get them both one way or another.”
“Aefre, this is not a good idea. I don’t want you going near him in that way,” CK says, sounding distressed.
“Well, I’m not mad keen on you hitting on Eloise, but it’s either you or Cole and no way am I sending my brand new charge into the lion’s den,” I say with force.
“What about me?” Devon asks affronted.
“Sweetie, I love you and you are devastatingly handsome, but there is no way she will buy it from you. You’re too close to me. Not to mention, she fancies the pants off Cole and well…” I trail off with a pointed look at CK, which he frowns at. Stupid man.
Devon is thrilled with my comments, while the other two sulk in the corners. Geez, I can do without the amateur dramatics right now. They should all know by now that I find them all eye-wateringly gorgeous and that I love them.
“Fine, but, Lizzie, this could backfire. What if he overpowers you and you know…before you can stop him?” Devon asks, concerned. “Even with your newfound Powers, he is still older and stronger.”
A look of disgust crosses my face. “Trust me, he won’t get that far.”
CK sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “Fine. I will do as you ask, just promise me you will make it quick, so I don’t have to…” He waves his hand about in distaste, being unusually coy about the situation.
Humph, I think. Sure. I narrow my eyes and say sarcastically, “Will do.”
“Okay then,” Devon says and claps his hands together. “Now that we have a plan in place, when do we go about executing it?”
“A couple of weeks. Gregor will be suspicious enough without me pouncing on him with no prior indication,” I say decisively, sitting up suddenly and find three sets of eyes staring at me and my naked breasts. A heat flares through me as I realize how easy it would be to take them all now. With a self-satisfied smirk on my face as my newfound Power surges up under the attention, I sit back again denying them the view as the bubbles froth back over my chest.
Devon clears his throat. “So how will you approach him?” he asks.
“She won’t,” CK growls suddenly, changing his mind. “I won’t let you do this.”
“Me either,” Cole says, now bold enough to stand up to me with my sire’s support.
I blink at them as they look at each other in solidarity. “Oh, look at you two. How sweet. It’s quite amusing that you think you can stop me.” I stand swiftly, the bubbles dripping from me. CK and Cole stand rapidly from the side of the bathtub where they had been perched. Devon shakes his head at me in exasperation as he knows exactly what I’m doing and hands me a towel. I accept it and wrap it around myself as I hold my hand out for Cole to help me out of the bath. Oh yes, a girl could definitely get used to this now.
“I need to wash my hair. I’ll see you back in the sitting room in a few,” I say, effectively dismissing them and to my delight they all leave as bid, even CK although he does so with bad grace which tickles me further. I step into the power shower and feel the water beating down on me. I stand there, head under the water, my hands on the wall for support for a few moments, remembering the Scottish rain falling on me not so long ago. Pushing the thoughts away, as I just can’t bear to think about it anymore, I gather my resolve with every ounce of strength that I have. I breathe in deeply and concentrate on the task at hand.
One step at a time to get over his loss.
Again.
CHAPTER FIFTY
I return to the sitting room in just my robe with my long hair still wet and loose. I hand the comb to Devon, who accepts it and starts to work the comb through my hair. I sigh in bliss and relax under his familiar touch. Cole, not to be left out, kneels at my feet and picks one up to rub. I am completely content.
“Where is CK?” I ask.
“He went back to his apartment to shower and change,” Cole says. “He said he'd come straight back. Liv?”
“Yes?”
“I’m really worried about this plan of yours. What if you don’t get him quickly enough? What then?” Cole asks worriedly.
“Don’t worry, baby, he won’t get away from me. I don’t need to chop his head off right away, although that is my preference. G.I. will wound him enough with just the slightest touch,” I reassure him.
“G.I.?”
“Gladius Infernus. The sword,” I clarify.
CK pops back into the room then, all clean and gorgeous. I smile at him and take in his masculine beauty. He is causal now, well, the most casual I have seen him in a good long while. He is still dressed in pants, but not suit pants, and a tight, black short-sleeved shirt that clings to him, buttons undone at the collar. I inhale sharply and cover up the sound of my desire by blaming Devon for pulling on my hair too hard. Looking chagrined, he apologizes, and I feel bad. I don’t have to hide my feelings anymore.
“You’re not doing this alone,” CK states clearly.
I open my mouth to speak, but he interrupts. “I have another plan. Unfortunately, I have to agree the best way to get Gregor’s guard down is to…seduce him,” he chokes out the words, “but I will be there with you. I am not going to let you face him alone and besides which, I want to be there when you finish him. It’s not up for discussion, Aefre, so don’t even try,” he pre-empts my strike. I stare at him, going all mushy. I love it when he goes all commandery.
“But what about Eloise? I need her distracted enough so as not to pay much attention to the pull she will feel when he dies. I can’t have her Teleporting out, never to be seen again before I get to her,” I complain. In my eyes, CK is the only one who will have her undivided attention.
“Cole will do it,” he says.
“Oh, Hell no!” I snap and jump up, knocking Cole back on his arse, to his annoyance, and getting the comb all tangled in my hair in the process. “Not a chance. I told you before, no way. She will eat him alive.”
Cole, insulted by my comment, pipes up as he stands with as much dignity as he can, “I think I can take care of myself, Liv.”
I look at him apologetically as Devon tries to untangle the comb. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to suggest that you couldn’t, but she is…I don’t want her touching you. She can overpower you and make you do things I don’t want you doing,” I add.
Cole chuckles at me. “Oh really? And what of the ‘if you so choose, I would not stop you’ speech?” he inquires wickedly and I glare at him, caught by my own actions and words.
I sense Devon’s grin behind me as he gets the comb free and even CK is trying to hide his smile but fails.
I huff, knowing when to pick my battles. “Fine. Go and be her sex slave. See if I care,” I pout and he bursts out laughing, as do the other two Judases.
He pulls me into a tight embrace. “Oh, Liv, I do love you. There is no way I could ever do that to you. Especially with her,” he whispers and kisses me. “But I will help,” he says in normal tones. “I would much prefer that if you do this, you have Constantine with you.” He grimaces as the thought crosses his mind. “I’m not thrilled that you have to pretend to engage in…you know…” He falters, because this is the one thing he asked of me, but he doesn’t want to remind me in front of the other two.
“Neither am I,” says CK. “Well, at least not with him.” Cole gives him an approving nod, which he ignores and continues, “But he did, after all, mention sharing yesterday. Although, I think he meant just you, he might not object to joining us as a twosome.”
“Okay, well that thought just grosses me out now,” I say with distaste, but then inspiration hits me, and I turn to Devon. “Hey, maybe you could tag team Eloise with Cole with a bit
of prep work. That way, I, at least, know he’ll stand a fighting chance of resisting her.”
Devon sputters as does Cole at the thought, but I am resolute. “It’s this way or we go back to the original plan. Cole is not to be left alone with that woman.”
Devon shrugs and agrees, as I knew he would anyway, and in light of that, Cole agrees too. CK just shrugs – as long as he is with me, he isn’t too concerned about anyone else.
“Now that is settled, there is the other matter we discussed to attend to, Aefre?” he says.
I stare at him blankly. “What matter?”
“Of you being here in Milan two days of the week,” he prompts me, and I cringe. This isn’t something I particularly wanted to discuss right now. “I suggest we start with Tuesday and Wednesday next week. We can get you settled into work and you can start your cozying up to Gregor.”
“Can we discuss this another time?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“Why? Now is as good a time as any,” he says mildly.
“We’ll see. Just let me think about it. It’s been a long day. I’m exhausted. Can we discuss it later?” I plead. I had wanted to broach the subject with Cole first, alone, before anything was decided. He is not going to be amused and I will need to use all of my womanly charms to sway him.
CK is not happy about it, but he agrees. “Fine, I will leave you be, but I will be back later to see you before you go, and we will discuss it then.” He pulls me to him in a gentle hug and whispers, “Make it happen or there will be consequences, Aefre. I promise you.”
Startled and baffled by his threat, I just nod.
“Good,” he says and Teleports out.
“Well, I guess that’s my cue to beat it as well,” Devon says, cuddling me. “I’m so proud of you, my beautiful Lizzie,” he whispers. “You have been through the shittest day and yet you are still standing.” He kisses me and whispers, “If you need me, I will be here.” Bidding Cole goodnight, he leaves us as well, albeit via the door. I want to call him back but I feel that Cole needs me more after this Hellish day, than I need Devon.
“Come and sit,” Cole says and takes my hand. “You look exhausted.”
“I am. Fuck, quite the day, eh?” I say as he sits, and I sit on his lap straddling him. He pushes my robe apart and admires me. I bend to kiss him deeply and he tenses.
Pulling away, he asks sadly, “Are you sure you want to, after, uhm, what happened before?”
“Yes, my love. I want to. I should apologize for what you saw and heard. It wasn’t fair on you,” I say as I stroke his face gently.
“You really loved him, didn’t you?” he asks quietly.
“Enough to want to marry him,” I say, simply rubbing my thumb over his bottom lip, my eyes gazing intently into his cloudy blue ones. His face relaxes as he gets my meaning and pulls me to him in a bone crushing kiss, his hands sliding up to push my robe off my shoulders. My hands go up his chest, feeling his muscles rippling. He stops kissing me just long enough to take his t-shirt off and I drop my fangs to feed from him, as my craving still hasn’t been fulfilled. He pulls my head down. I bite hard and he moans in pleasure. I can feel him stirring against me and it makes me bite him even harder. Tearing myself away from him, I snap my fangs back before plunging my tongue into his mouth. He groans and pulls my backside forward, so that I can rub against him. He stands abruptly with me still in his arms and carries me to the bedroom, dropping me not so gently to the bed. He gets rid of the rest of his clothes and crawls over me.
“Let me fuck you,” he pleads as he trails kisses up the length of my body. “Please, baby, let me fuck you.” With only a slight reluctance, as I could do with some TLC right about now, I agree to his request and without further hesitation, he gets straight to the job at hand and shoves himself inside me with a quick thrust.
I cry out as he pins me to the bed by my hips and I wrap my legs around his waist pushing him further into me. I’m getting on board with a hard and fast fuck as he pounds into me.
“Oh, yes,” he moans into my mouth as he feels the rush of my desire coat him. “Turn around,” he rasps. I quickly flip myself over . He kneels behind me and pulls on my hips as he enters me. He hits the right spot first time.
I gasp in pleasure. “That’s it. Right there,” I say, bunching my fingers into the cover on the bed to stop myself from coming just yet. I want this to last as long as possible.
“I’m close,” Cole whispers, but I don’t want to let him come, not yet. I pull away and he grunts in frustration. I turn around and launch myself at him, devouring his mouth with mine. He pulls me down onto him in a move I would normally object to, and grabs my legs, wrapping them around him as he holds me in place.
“You’re not going to do that again,” he growls, and I shiver at his assertiveness. He knows I could take him if I wanted to, but I let him have this one, knowing he needs it after everything he witnessed with Fraser earlier. He needs to know he is mine. He grabs my hips and pushes me further and further onto him and I start to move. He grabs the back of my head with a handful of hair and forces my mouth to his. “Mine,” he says after he kisses me roughly, before dropping his fangs and feeding from me viciously. I delight in his roughness and squirm on his lap. He responds with a low feral growl deep in his throat. The vibration goes through me, neck to toes and I come around him, slowly. It builds up and goes on and on and then it happens again. I’m in pure ecstasy. Releasing me from his bite, he whispers, “My wife,” before he comes inside me, pouring himself and his insecurities and doubts into me to accept and cherish him forever.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
We both crash soon after. I have vivid dreams of Fraser, of Cole and, disturbingly, also of Gregor. I awake suddenly with sweat dripping off me. The clock says 6 AM. I have only had an hour’s sleep. I feel groggy and my eyes are really sensitive. I know I am going to have to make this thing with Gregor look authentic. It makes me shudder and want to vomit. Despite my reassurances to Devon earlier, I’m concerned that he will be able to get away from me. He is still quicker and stronger, and I’m certain that I will only get one chance at this. I need him defenseless and unsuspecting of my true motives. I’m secretly glad that Constantine insists on being with me, at least if all else fails, he should be able to hold him down long enough for me to finish him.
I creep out of bed and go in search of my robe that was discarded in the sitting room. I think of CK’s penthouse and I Astral out, boldly into his bedroom.
He is sleeping.
Surprisingly, he doesn’t wake as I move closer to him. I admire his bare chest, the black silk sheet pulled low over his hips. Christ, he is beautiful. Even more so in his sleep, as he is totally relaxed. It has been centuries since I watched him sleep. I again feel that pang of what we used to have. I lay down gently on the bed itching to touch him.
“Like what you see?” he murmurs, not opening his eyes.
I breathe in and giggle. “You know I do.”
“What are you doing here, Aefre? You should still be in bed,” he reprimands me.
“I am in bed,” I point out and he chuckles.
“Come here,” he says gruffly and pulls me to him.
I place my head on his shoulder and trace light circles on his pale chest, in stark contrast to my black lacquered nails.
“I can’t remember the last time I saw you sleep,” I comment.
“It’s been a while, my love. Did you come to tell me you will be here next week? Alone,” he asks.
“I will be here. Somehow, I will be here,” I tell him, and he smiles a smug grin. “Wasn’t sure if I would find you in bed alone,” I add, innocently fishing.
His eyes pop open in surprise. “And what would you have done had you found me in flagrante?” he asks curiously.
“Joined in,” I say, much to his delight. “Seriously, though. You know everything about me and mine. I know nothing of yours.”
He looks at me with interest. “You’re asking if I’m screwing other
women?” he asks, almost in disbelief.
“Not really,” I say quietly, hating the jealousy it invokes in me. “But it’s a morbid kind of curiosity.”
“Can you not just delve into that magick mind of yours to find out?” he queries.
I huff annoyed. “It doesn’t work in that way.”
“What do you want to know?” he asks. “How many? Who? How long ago? If I’ve fucked anyone since we got close again?”
“Uhm…” I falter. Pressing my lips together, I look away.
“Ask,” he demands.
“Have you?” I squeak.
“No,” he says to my utter shock and utmost relief.
I wasn’t expecting it. I figured he was taking other women left and right like he always used to. I do the only thing that I can under these abnormal circumstances.
I change the subject.
Needing to know that one thing though, that will not leave me alone, I take a deep breath and ask, “Why have you never asked Devon into our bed?”
He looks surprised by the question and ponders it awhile. “Did you want me to?” he finally asks in somewhat of an anticlimax.
“Yes, of course,” I say at once.
“Hm, I suppose it’s different seeing you with someone you aren’t connected to. I can handle that. It was odd for me to see you respond to him in your office the other week,” he says, sounding unsure of himself. I’m rattled by his tone. Even though my suspicions are confirmed, I’m not sure I want to pursue this line of questioning after all, so I remain silent.
“It would make you happy, wouldn’t it, Aefre, to have all of us in your bed,” he states, pushing it further. “I saw it on your face in the bathroom last night.”
Of course he did. He can read every micro expression on my face never mind the big, glaring, obvious ones.