by Eve Newton
“If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that when you broke the curse and I changed back to my human form, you were still touching me. I think some of your energy got into me.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “That’s some guess.”
He shrugs. “It may be more than I guess.”
“How much do you know already?” I ask warily, pushing open the next door. I step into a nice bedroom and hold the door open for him to join me. I close the door and sit on the bed. He follows me.
“It has come to me in small bits so far. I have been trying not to pry. I have the whole Queen thing, which is quite impressive by the way,” he says and smiles at me. “I knew that Cole was your husband. You’d already told me about Devon. I figured that Constantine was your sire by what happened next, and when I took your hand, my fingers brushed over your very beautiful ring and I know who gave it to you and why,” he says cautiously. “I also know that it is a secret and I won’t tell. It’s none of my business,” he adds.
“No, it isn’t. But thank you. I imagine I will have to go some way to blocking your visions.”
“We can work on it together. I don’t really want to be in your head. You have some wild thoughts. They move at super speed, it’s exhausting. I think that is why I have only picked on a few things so far.” He smirks at me.
“Tell me about it. However, if you think mine go quickly, try keeping up with my sire. That is a full-time job.”
He chuckles and takes my hand. “You are quite the complicated woman, Queen Liv. But I’m glad that you came to this place. Your relationships are very complex. I never understood the way of the Vampire. We Wolves tend to mate for life,” he says.
“Have you met many Vampires?” I ask.
“A few. Before Lance, of course. Do you know many Shifters?”
“I have come across some different ones over the years, but never actually knew them, if you know what I mean. I think we Vampires are a cliquey lot,” I say in amusement.
“Well, we Shifters are not generally fans of your kind either,” he says wryly. “However, you saved me. I am your biggest fan,” he says with a shy grin.
“That’s sweet. Can I ask you how old you are? It sounds rude but it will help you find your place with…” I wave my hand about, “my lot.”
He chuckles. “I’m three hundred and thirteen years old. Still fairly young for my kind. We are not immortal as you are, but we do live long lives. How old are you?” he asks then with a sly smile.
“Can’t you just get it out of my head?” I quip, but I have already tried to throw some blocks up, not that I really know how.
He shakes his head. “You seem to have gotten the hang of that quite quickly.”
“I’m a quick study. I was turned one thousand years ago.”
“I figured as much. You have a very old soul. So, tell me more of your Shifter side. Dragon? I find that fascinating. I have never met one before.”
“Hm, that is a story for another time. Right now, I need to go and be with my men. It’s been a long day. Actually, it’s been a long month. I will leave you to get some rest,” I say.
“No, please don’t leave me alone.” His sad tone catches me off guard. “I have been alone for so long.”
I blink at him and pull him up. One more in the gigantic bed isn’t going to make much difference for one night.
We make our way in silence to the orgy room and I push open the door. Cole, Devon, and CK all turn to look at us, eyebrows raised, as we enter hand in hand.
“He’s staying the night with us,” I say, and they all look mildly uncomfortable. Especially Lincoln, who stutters, “You all share a room?”
“No, not all the time. Just here.”
“Um, Liv. Could I have a word with you? In private?” Cole growls at me. I let go of Lincoln and pull Cole into the bathroom, turning on the taps in a vain attempt to deter eavesdropping.
“Before you start, it’s not what you are thinking.” I hold up my hand and he shuts his mouth. “I have no intention of bringing him into our circle. But he is my responsibility and I will take that duty seriously. He has been stuck on this hill for fifty-seven years, Cole. He didn’t want to be alone. Okay. End of story.”
“Okay,” he says to my amazement. So much for the shit storm.
“Okay, then.”
He moves closer to me and turns the taps off. He takes my face in his hands and drops his mouth to mine. I pull him closer and lose myself in his kiss. He picks me up and places me on the sink unit. I wrap my legs around him. He increases the pressure of his kiss as he moves a hand down and under my skirt. I’m still knickerless after the dungeon incident, so he pushes his fingers into me without hesitation. I groan into his mouth and tilt my hips up towards him. He pushes my backside closer to him as I undo his belt and unzip his pants, freeing him as he shivers at my gentle touch. Pulling me forward onto him, he turns us suddenly, so my back is pressed to the door as he pushes himself into me, deeper and deeper. I cry out as he stretches me wide as he is all the way inside me and then he pulls out and in a pounding rhythm that has me slamming back and forth against the bathroom door, proceeds to bring me to an orgasm that rips through me, easing all the tension of the day. Still pounding into me, I’m vaguely aware that the three on the other side of this door will be hearing a show right now and I pull him to me for a long kiss as he carries on his relentless thrusting that is driving me into a frenzy.
“Oh, baby,” he moans loudly, “I love fucking you.” He slams me against the door harder and harder. I can feel his Vampire strength rippling through him, no sooner as the door gives way and we fall back to the floor in an amorous heap. With one last thrust, he comes inside me.
Looking up at the three astounded faces, he says mischievously, “Oops.”
I chuckle as he pulls us both to our feet, fixing our clothes into a more decent state.
I knew he was up to something.
“Well,” CK says, looking less than impressed. “I’m sure that our guest has seen and heard quite enough of that for tonight, Aefre. A word, please.”
With a quick grin back at Cole, who winks at me in response, I saunter over to CK and pull him into the corner.
“Are you okay?” I ask him seriously.
“Yes, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. I am concerned for you. What you did today… there has been too much killing for you lately. You should have let me take this burden.” He embraces me tightly and I return it.
“No, I had to do it. I wanted to do it. Especially after what he said.” I lower my voice to less than a whisper as I say in his ear, “You are worth saving. I will never believe otherwise.”
“You are too good to me, my sweet. I don’t deserve to have you love me. You do still love me, don’t you?” he asks worriedly, just as quietly.
“Of course. I could never stop. You would still be knocked unconscious if I didn’t,” I say, smirking at him.
He peers at me curiously. “What do you mean?”
I say quietly, “This place is like some kind of ridiculous fairytale with all of its curses and what not. Let’s just say we had a Sleeping Beauty role reversal.”
“The kiss of true love?” He smiles. “I thought I wasn’t yours?” he asks almost hopefully.
“Well, it turns out even the smartest woman on the planet can be wrong sometimes.”
He swoops down to kiss me, claiming me, everyone else be damned.
Christ, poor Lincoln must be wondering what the Hell is going on here.
“Say the word and I will break our agreement,” he growls at me. “I want you. I want you now, to be mine, Aefre. Just say the word.”
I shake my head. “No. The agreement stands. I want you too, my love, but my priority is to all of you right now.”
He looks pained and then angry. “I will be watching you closely, Aefre, you and Cole. If either of you give me a reason to break our terms, I won’t hesitate,” he warns and again, I marvel how he goes from hot to cold in the blin
k of an eye.
“Calm yourself,” I snap at him then. He narrows his eyes at me in amusement – again with the mood shift. “Things will be changing for sure, but that is not one of them.”
“We’ll see,” he says mutinously and with an abrupt change of subject, he says, “What about this Wolf Shifter? You have claimed him?”
“Yes.”
“As a fifth?” he asks curiously and not at all pleasantly.
“A fifth?” I ask confused. “Oh, a fifth.” The penny drops. “No! I already told Cole he is not joining our little circle. I have no intention of making him a lover,” I say, not entirely convincingly, even I have to admit, and he pounces on it as I knew he would.
“Oh, please, Aefre. You may be able to fool your husband, but you can’t fool me. He is exactly your type and I know you won’t resist him if he tries it,” he says nastily.
Huffing at him and his stupid ability, I say, “He won’t try it. He says Wolves mate for life, and he doesn’t understand our ways. He isn’t likely to stick his oar into this lake with all its complications.”
“It’s not his oar I’m worried about,” he pouts. “So, you’ve discussed it, then?”
“No, it came up in conversation. He’s not a fool, he saw what happened between us in the dungeon.”
“Humph, indeed he did,” he grumbles.
“Complain all you like now, I didn’t see you objecting then,” I say smartly.
“I will never object to touching you, Aefre,” he says softly.
“Hello, you two in the corner? We are still here, you know,” Devon says dryly from over by the sofa. “We would appreciate it if you either rejoined us, or at least spoke loud enough so that five hundred year old Vampire ears can hear you.”
“I can hear them perfectly,” Lincoln says with an air of superiority that has everyone gaping at him. “And just so we are clear,” he adds with a sly wink at me, “I never said this lake wasn’t for me.”
CK rounds on him. “Watch yourself. That wasn’t meant for your ears.”
“But you were talking about me, behind my back, I might add,” he says as he stands up and moves closer to the two of us. “I think my oar will fit in quite nicely.” He is standing at my side now, glaring down at CK from his extra two inches. I have never seen anyone do that before! He reaches out to me and pulls me in front of him. He does a partial Shift, which must be a Werewolf, or general Shifter thing, claws and teeth at the ready. He proceeds to sink his teeth into my neck, raking his claws down my arms as he does so.
I don’t react out of shock for a second that he is biting me and nor do the other three, great protectors that they are. But then in the next second, everything seems to move in slow motion as CK, Devon and Cole lunge forward. Lincoln releases the bite and pulls me backwards, slitting his own wrist with his claws and holding it up to my mouth. I grab hold of him as my fangs drop at the scent of his blood and somewhere deep down, I know this is going to have far reaching consequences, but I clamp down on him and drink as he hisses.
Stopping at my actions, my three boys stare in disbelief as I drink deeply from him. I pull away eventually and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.
“What the fuck?” Constantine snarls at him. “Do that again and I will…”
“CK, stop. It’s okay,” I interrupt him.
He glares at me. “He bit you without your consent. That is not okay.”
“His ways are different to ours.” I pull out of Lincoln’s strong embrace and round on him myself, glaring into his clear green eyes, that are glinting with amusement. “You might have given me time to think about it,” I mutter to him.
“Would you have said yes?” he asks, raising his eyebrow at me.
“Maybe, if you had let me think about it for a minute,” I yell at him.
“A minute, a second. It makes no difference, I marked you, you accepted it and now it is done,” he says mildly.
“Oh, you are just… infuriating. No bloody wonder I found you. Seems to be my lot in life to be surrounded by tall, gorgeous, exasperatingly maddening beasts.” I am riled up now and even more so as he just smirks at me.
“You think I’m gorgeous?” he asks.
I clench my fist and pull back to punch him squarely in the face.
Admittedly, I didn’t use much of my Vampire strength, but clearly, I should have, the man is built like a brick shithouse.
“Fuck!” I yell at him, shaking out my hand as he rubs his jaw in mirth.
“Is that all you’ve got? I’d have pegged you for a much a harder hit than that.”
“Oh, let me try again and you won’t even see me, you’ll be so far into that forest,” I snarl and he laughs at me. I step forward, while he steps to the side, turning us in a circle away from the windows almost as if he is goading me. My three, now silent boys, back up as they see the change go over me and none of them particularly wants to intervene. Flexing my fist again, I advance on him and using all of my Vampire strength, I punch him again in his face and this time, to my satisfaction, he goes flying into the door behind him. Well, through it, into the main corridor. We are just busting doors all over the place tonight. Not bad going, really. Okay, maybe I used a bit of my Dragon Power as well. Shaking it off as I step through the gaping hole, I find him still conscious, barely, slumped up against the opposite wall.
“Better?” I say to him as I help him up.
“Much,” he says as he stands shakily. “You are truly worthy.”
“Humph, I should think so. You won’t find anyone better,” I say, with no false modesty here.
“No, I won’t. I chose well.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Chose what?” CK snaps at us as he, too, steps through the gaping hole. Although he is furious with me, I see the pride as well for the damage I caused.
Aww crap, I think, as Lincoln beams at me adoringly. “I marked her. We are Paired. She is now my Alpha mate.”
EPILOGUE
Tuscany, Italy, 1277 - Aefre
T hree. It had to be three. I didn’t know why. It was how I liked it. He knew as he came in to find me lying on the floor in the last patch of sunlight before it disappeared, leaving me in the dark again. I didn’t have much energy to move, so I just stayed there. He placed the candles on the side by the bed and quietly came over to pick me up, cradling me in his arms and whispering to me. I relaxed as his voice washed over me, pulling me under his spell. He placed me gently on the bed and I turned away from him. He sighed and lit the other two candles from the one already burning. Three. It had to be three. He crawled onto the bed behind me and held me close. He loosely draped his arm around me, careful not to hold too tight, in our nightly ritual. He waited with me until I fell asleep and stayed with me to comfort me as I cried in my sleep.
“Please, come back to me, Aefre,” he whispered as he did every night. “I am sorry I left you there. If I had known, I would have come for you.”
I didn’t say anything. I never said anything to him or anyone anymore. I knew he wanted me to be well again, but I didn’t think I could do it. I knew at least a dozen years, more even, had passed since I was held in capture, but I was broken. I was so tired because I didn’t drink enough. Having been starved of blood for twelve years, I drank so much when I was rescued that I killed the human. I drained him dry and it made me physically ill. I didn’t drink from humans anymore and barely partook of Vampire blood and then, only his.
“Aefre, please drink.” He picked up on my weak thoughts and placed his wrist to my mouth. I wanted to. I wanted to make him happy. I was doing nothing to please him and I was afraid he was going to leave me. Take me somewhere and just leave me there to be rid of this burden I was for him. That thought scared me so much, I dropped my fangs and pulled his wrist into my mouth. He hissed as I bit down on him and he whispered, “Good girl. Drink. Take your fill.”
I did as he asked, now desperate to keep him happy with me. I could feel the power of his blood giving me strength and I
took more as my thoughts became clearer. As the haze started to fade, I pulled back and I knew I had to respond to him. I didn’t want him to leave me. I turned in his arms to his surprise and I looked into his beautiful dark eyes that went darker as he saw signs of life in mine. I closed them as he stroked my face.
“Oh, Aefre. Are you coming back to me? I have waited for this day for so long. Please speak to me. Tell me you are coming back to me.”
I tried to speak, but no sound came out. I tried again, but it only came out as a whisper, “I love you, Constantine. Please don’t leave me.”
His eyes lit up at my words. “I love you, Aefre. I will not leave you. Not ever again. Not ever again. I will be by your side forever,” he said fiercely, and I knew I would be well again.
The End
Carry on with the story in Choices: The Forever Series, Book 4
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CHOICES: THE FOREVER SERIES, BOOK 4
Choices
The Forever Series, Book 4
BY EVE NEWTON
THIRD EDITION
Copyright © Eve Newton, 2012
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.
PROLOGUE
Los Angeles, USA, August 2012 - Liv
L ooking out over the ocean from my balcony, it felt good to be home. We had been back for a couple of months now and things had settled down. We were heading to New York soon, around the end of October when Cole has to go to Canada to start shooting his film.