A Forever Series Box Set: A Paranormal Reverse Harem : Books 1-5

by Eve Newton

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-TWO

  I Astral downstairs leaving everyone to follow however they can. I find Devon hovering in a corner glaring at her as she has a complete meltdown.

  “Dev,” I snap at him.

  He turns his fierce blue eyes to me, but then they soften. With a sigh, he gives her the water and she drinks it quickly. He glances up at me and has no idea what to do, so I do it for him. My anger at this girl is dying to come out so I grab her by the throat and force her up against the wall.

  Devon says nothing.

  Jess looks terrified now and I know she is starving but she is going to listen to me first. “What you did was despicable,” I hiss at her as everyone else joins us, having apparently come via the stairs. Guess my power boost has worn off for them. “It is not how we do things. You should have more self-respect than to attempt to kill yourself so that you can be one of us.” I shake her, even though I have her undivided attention, saying, “Don’t think for a second this is happy-ever-after for you and Devon. He doesn’t want this, so you are stuck with me.” I let her go as that sinks in. It’s cruel but the truth and I am beyond pissed. I click my fingers and a glass of blood appears. I give it to her, and she downs it in one gulp. I take the glass back from her as she casts a glance at Devon, who just stares impassively back at her.

  He’s been spending too much time around CK to have perfected that look. I am surprised, though. I thought he might change his mind once she woke and he felt the bond, but clearly not.

  I grab her by the arm and march her past everyone into the sitting room and place her on the coffee table. I sit in front of her on the sofa and Devon sits to my left. Everyone else stands behind me. We must look like an intimidating bunch, so it’s no wonder she cowers underneath my baleful glare.

  “I will never forgive you for what you have done. You have forced your way into this group, and I don’t take kindly to that. You have hurt my boy and for that I will make you pay.”

  I give her another glass of blood as I am losing her, and I need her focused. I can sense the question in this, why am I giving her glasses instead of placing a Feeder in front of her? But no one questions me out loud and for that, at least, I am grateful; they realize a method to my madness and accept my authority.

  “You will be punished,” I say when she finishes that glass up. “This behavior is not fitting for our kind and I will not tolerate it.” I pause again so she has time to take all this in. “Until such a time as I see fit to allow it, you will be denied the privilege to walk in the sun.” She looks horrified as that sinks in and looks to Devon for help. This is when I swoop in and give him the chance to assert his own authority over her. “Devon, as her sire, do you feel this punishment is acceptable?”

  “Yes,” he says without hesitation. Jess looks like she is about to cry, and I don’t blame her. It is a harsh punishment to be denied sunlight, but it is a harsher punishment to be denied any leniency from your sire.

  “Very well. You will be confined to the shadows until you have remembered your manners.” I take this approach from my own sire and I may hear a very soft snickering coming from Sebastian behind me.

  I soften the blow with another glass of blood, which she accepts gratefully.

  “As this whole situation has been very poorly handled, you are likely to feel hungry all of the time for several weeks and may feel the urge to go on a rampage. I won’t allow it. Until you get yourself under control, fully under control, you will not be allowed to feed straight from humans.” I look at Devon, who is still impassive, and I offer her something, “If he allows it, you may drink from your sire, but only at his request.”

  Devon raises his brow slightly at that as Jess looks hungrily at him.

  “Do you understand everything that I have told you?” I ask her. She looks back at me. She is losing focus again, sinking into the bloodlust and I hand her another glass which she drinks. “Do you understand everything that I have told you?” I ask her again.

  She nods.

  “Speak!” I snap at her.

  “Yes,” she croaks.

  “Yes, what?” Devon asks.

  She looks back at him and then back at me. “Yes ma’am,” she says.

  I nod back at her and turn to Devon. “I think there are a lot of things you need to tell her, about everything.”

  He nods grimly.

  “Then go.” I dismiss them both and stand as he hauls her off the table and takes her into a corner, I note with interest, not back to the bedroom.

  “Wow, Queen Liv. Remind me never to piss you off. You were harsh,” Lincoln chuckles.

  “No, she was not harsh. She was just,” CK comes to my defense, unnecessarily I might add as I don’t take offense to Lincoln’s words. “To force a turning is unacceptable.”

  I glare at him. If that’s what he thinks now, why did he force Devon to do it? He frowns at me. “You know he would have hated himself if she had died,” he says quietly.

  Well, this is true, I suppose. So, I concede ungracefully. I watch them from across the room, talking in hushed tones and she is weeping now but he offers her no solace. It is quite disturbing that he feels so little for her. Even his previous emotions for her, whatever they were, seem to have been switched off.

  I turn to CK to ask if he is seeing this as well or if it is just me projecting, but Cade interrupts me, pulling me off to the side.

  “You have been keeping secrets, haven’t you, Mrs. O’Dell,” he asks pointedly, looking at Cole, who tilts his head.

  I flick my eyes from Cade to Cole and back again. “What of it?”

  He shrugs. “I am surprised I never sensed it. There again, your presence does seem to take up the whole room,” he says, bringing his eyes back to me. “Is he new?” he asks with meaning.

  “He is standing right here,” Cole snaps. “It’s nothing to do with you.”

  “Just interested. You have a very strange way of life. It’s very different to see it from the inside than what we were taught.”

  “Get used to it,” I say, staring back at Devon and Jess. Sebastian has joined them and is offering his two cents worth by the looks of it. Devon is staring at him blankly and it sets off a red flag. I am about to leap forward, when Cade speaks to me.

  “You really dislike the girl, don’t you?” he asks curiously.

  “Yes. She went about this arse backwards and I’m not happy.”

  He chuckles. “You are very protective of the ones you call yours. It’s admirable.”

  “If you hurt my boys, I will make you pay, simple as that.”

  “I could always do something about it for you,” he says, taking a step towards them.

  I put my hand on his chest. “Cade. No. Threats only.”

  There is a lot of bristling going on around me and I realize it is because I’m touching him. I remove my hand and he gives a fixed stare down at me. “Jealous bunch. It is quite amusing actually.”

  “Threats only,” I repeat, ignoring his comment.

  “She is a threat though. A threat to your happiness,” he says, and I start. Since when does he care about my happiness?

  “I’m just saying, we need to define what you think of as threatening.”

  He has a good point, but Devon would never forgive me if I let Cade off his charge without good reason. Or would he?

  I cast my gaze back to him, but he is already on his way over to me, looking none the worse for wear after Sebastian’s little, whatever that was. He sighs. “I hate this. She wants comfort and I can’t give it to her. I don’t want her to think that I’m happy with what she has done.”

  “Then tell her.” I give him a suspicious look but see nothing untoward.

  “I have but she just keeps justifying it with how much she loves me and wants to be with me forever.”

  “Nico!” Cade suddenly yells, making me jump, and I turn around where, to my utter surprise, I see Nico standing in front of Jess, twirling an orb, not unsimilar to the one that Cade t
wirled at me, only she is in a daze whereas it didn’t affect me.

  I look, mouth agape, from Nico to Cade and finally to CK, who couldn’t be more obviously avoiding my gaze as if he weren’t even there.

  The room has gone silent, the only noise coming from the slow swoosh of the orb, as it spins in a quick circle followed by a slow one.

  “Don’t look at it,” I say and push Devon back into focus, then Cole.

  “What the fuck?” I say to CK. “You had better start talking right now.”

  Nico, CK, and Sebastian all turn towards me but remain quiet.

  CK sighs and fesses up. “Nico is a Hunter.”

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE

  “A n ex-Hunter,” Nico says shortly.

  “A failed Hunter,” Cade adds unnecessarily.

  “I beg your pardon?” I say, completely dumbfounded. Christ, between Gustav, the Book, Sebastian, and now Nico, this man is just full of secrets. I wonder if I actually really know him at all.

  “Of course, you do,” he says to me sadly, much to everyone else’s confusion.

  “Explain.”

  “By birthright, Nico is a Hunter. When he left the Academy in Rome at sixteen, it was his unfortunate task to kill a Master Vampire. As are all Hunter tasks, fail at it, and you fail to be a Hunter.”

  I turn to Nico as CK stops speaking but before I can accuse him of killing a Master Vampire, CK continues, “It was his misfortune, you see, as they had picked out you for him to kill, when you came to visit me in Rome that week of the…” he trails off and I nod, knowing which week he means.

  “Me? You were meant to kill me?” I say to Nico, who just stands there looking as unapologetic and stony-faced as usual.

  “Of course, I was never going to let that happen, so when Alessandro brought it to my attention there was a young boy following you, I looked into it further. Luckily for you, or perhaps I overestimated his skill,” he clears his throat as Nico grunts, “he saw you Shift from Lexie to Aefre, as I had asked you to and he hesitated, assuming you weren’t a Vampire after all. Alessandro took him anyway to Ponte for, erm… discussions…”

  “And Mr. D’Arcangelo persuaded me it would be better to use my skills for protection instead of destruction,” Nico picks up the story.

  It all makes sense now, CK’s change in attitude when I said I wanted Cade to be my Nico. He knew exactly what I meant.

  “And you trusted him?” I say, despite myself.

  CK looks pointedly at Cade and, well, fair enough.

  “Hm, you are just full of secrets aren’t you, my love,” I say with an inadvertent look at Sebastian. He goes on the alert, as does CK, as there must be something on my cursed face to give them warning.

  I turn to Cade. “You are not a failed Hunter. Who was it you killed to get your merit badge?”

  “Not your concern,” he says. “And before you start judging me, I suggest you look at your own kill sheet first.”

  He is not wrong. I have probably killed more of his kind then he has of mine.

  “One of Gregor’s,” Nico says, much to Cade’s annoyance.

  I turn back to Nico. I wish they were all standing in a line next to each other as I am getting a bit dizzy now. “So, when I came to you at Ponte to find him. You knew exactly who I was talking about. As soon as I said his name, you knew.”

  He looks down. “Yes.”

  “You wanted to find me?” Cade asks cheerfully.

  More spinning. “Yes, after JFK. You had me… intrigued.”

  “Ah, the AB Negative thing. You mentioned that.”

  “Not just that,” I mutter to myself, remembering how crazy good-looking I thought he was.

  To which everyone hears me anyway and there is a lot of glowering going on in my direction, with the exception of Cade, who doesn’t know whether to be pleased or disgusted that I find him attractive.

  “How can you do magick then? If you failed, how do you still have the ability?”

  “I didn’t fail,” Nico says grimly. This is clearly a sticking point with him, but I don’t bother to point out that I am still alive. “But the magick isn’t ours. It’s the backers.”

  “The backers?” I ask and then connect the dots. “A magick bearer that allows you to wield their power through you? Let me guess, Romani?” I refer to a group of very powerful Paranormal creatures that we have had dealings with before. I rescued many of them from Lance’s castle and CK took them under his wing to do… well, I guess, this, with.

  “Clever girl,” CK mutters and I preen under his praise.

  “You have a backer. I assume you always had one but am guessing now you are putting to use one of Lance’s?” I don’t wait for an answer as I ask Cade, “And you? How come you still have one now that you have crossed sides?” I click my fingers. “You lost yours and now you also have one of Lance’s, courtesy of my secretive sire and his Hunter buddy. I knew you two were looking like you had worked together for years. Clearly, you know each other’s moves.”

  “I am nothing like him,” Nico snaps. “I do not kill for sport.”

  “Neither do I. Anymore,” Cade replies blandly.

  “This has been interesting. However, I now need to have words with Constantine and Sebastian. Shall we?” I say, holding out my hands to Astral them upstairs. My sire looks worried as I have called him by his full name and Sebastian just looks plain uncomfortable.

  “Sure,” they both reply, unable to deny me.

  I smile at Cole and tell him I’ll only be a few minutes.

  They take my hands and off we go. This is quite fun being the only one able to do so. Chauffeuring the older Vamps around is quite liberating. I let go of them as soon as we are upstairs and step back.

  “What do you know?” Sebastian asks warily.

  “Quite a lot actually,” I say.

  “Specifically, Aefre,” CK says.

  “Hm,” I say, stalling. “For starters, stay away from my charge,” I tell Sebastian. Who knows what influence anything he says to Devon might have? He gives me a wary look as I step closer to him and take his hands in mine. I hold them up, palm to palm. I push him into a patch of sunlight and pull off the ring he wears on his left thumb. He flinches but under my steely gaze, he just shrugs.

  “You know,” he says, resigned.

  “I know,” I say, giving him back his ring. “It’s a nice replica but I know the difference.”

  “How do you know?” he asks in wonder, putting his fake Faerie ring back on.

  “I figured it out,” I say, taking undue credit for Corinne’s revelation.

  “Aefre. You understand the danger of revealing this secret?” CK says to me.

  Danger? I think about it. Well, yes, I suppose Sebastian would become a very rare commodity and one that those who do not have the privilege would covet more than anything else.

  “I do,” I say to his and Sebastian’s relief. “I expect you would become most sought after if they knew.”

  “You have no idea,” he says. “You will keep this secret?”

  “Yes.”

  “Even from your husband?” he presses.

  “Of course. On one condition,” I say.

  “What?” he asks warily.

  “That you do not ever, either of you, tell him what happened between us. The others know to keep it to themselves and I expect the same of you two.”

  “Done,” he says without hesitation. His secret is far more valuable than mine and therefore he has nothing to lose by agreeing with me.

  “How come you managed to keep your gifts?” I ask the question that has been playing on my mind.

  “We don’t know,” CK answers for him.

  “Did you know what he was when you turned him?”

  “Yes.”

  Interesting, but I see I am getting nothing more from these two tight-lipped creatures. But now I am curious. Madly curious and even though I know all about the cat, I cross over to Sebastian, who has plonked himself down on the coffee table. I
Shift and placing my hand on his cheek, I slice a narrow cut with my claw, swiping up his blood with my thumb before the cut heals. I bring it to my lips and whoa, baby. That is some rush.

  “Aefre,” CK warns me as he sees what I am about to do.

  I ignore him as I climb onto Sebastian’s lap and lower my fangs to his neck. He doesn’t protest, so I sink them into him. He groans and pulls me closer. I drink slowly from him, trying to gain as much from this experience as is possible. He tastes like honey mixed with strawberries and cream and warm apple pie. Christ on a bike, I just want to drink from him forever. I feel his erection pushing against me. I grind myself down onto him and he grabs my hips.

  “Aefre. Mind yourself,” CK snaps at me, grabbing the back of my head and pulling me from Sebastian’s lap, ripping my fangs forcefully out of his neck. He will heal but, gee, that had to hurt.

  I retract my fangs and my sire lets go of my hair. “I see now why you insisted on a fuck-and-feed. You knew that I never would fuck you, willingly,” I add for extra benefit, “and you never really wanted me to feed from you. You don’t let anyone feed from you.” It also explains CK’s words back in New York, when he used the word ‘pretense’.

  “Just a smart cookie today, aren’t you?” he grouses.

  “Never?” I ask.

  “No.” But he looks at CK briefly.

  “Oh, Sebastian,” I say, now wondering what I have done to him. “I apologize. You should have said no. I wouldn’t have forced myself on you.” I know how ridiculous that sounds, but I don’t ever take blood now without permission.

  “I didn’t want to say no. It has been so long. I wanted to feel it again. Willingly, with a woman,” he adds shyly.

  I look at CK. I see Sebastian does feed from him to give the intimacy and feelings that it invokes in our kind. I have to wonder now if his punishment to Sebastian for spelling me is by not feeding from him. I look back to Sebastian at a loss.