Choices (The Forever series, Book Four) (20 page)

“Yes, while she won’t admit it, Aefre can be the world’s
biggest hypocrite,” CK says smartly and I want to punch him.

“I think a bit of jealousy isn’t unfounded here. I am well
aware of the effect you have on women, Constantine. I have no doubt that you
drop your fangs and they drop their knickers. At least I don’t fuck my Feeders,
nor do I intend to sire them.” My anger is firing on all cylinders, and I am
being completely irrational.

He looks at me, surprised, “And I do? For your information,
it has been many years since I sired someone.”

“Many years? Many years?” I yell at him and stand up. “You
know what? I am a hypocrite. I am a big, fat hypocrite and I am wildly jealous.
Jealous of everyone you feed from and everyone you’ve sired. Especially those
that you sired after me,” I snarl at him and all three of them look at me like
I have taken leave of my senses--which, to be fair, I think I may have. I have
shown him my card. Not just him, but all of them. I can’t think of a single
reason why I would do that. Through my haze of pure rage, I have but one
coherent thought: Hunter blood. I can feel the burn of it coursing through me
and I want to rip out my veins to get rid of the fire, to get rid of the rage
and to take back everything I just said. I turn on my heel and seeing Phil and
Ty gaping at me. I curse myself and that damn Cade and stomp off to the bedroom
slamming the door behind me, humiliated beyond belief.

Sebastian is the one who finds me. I am curled up in the
corner, bloody from the gashes I am inflicting upon myself, trying to get rid
of the feeling Cade’s blood is causing.

“Liv, sweetie. Stop that.” He pulls my hands away and the
wounds heal but the blood remains, staining my arms and legs. “Is everything
okay?” he asks, somewhat unnecessarily as clearly everything is not okay.

I shake my head, “No. Why would I say that to him? In front
of all of you? Fuck. He must think I am some sort of freak.” I drop my head
into my hands.

“Quite the opposite. He’s trying not to show it but he
couldn’t be more pleased if you told him you were leaving Cole and running away
with him,” he says wryly.

I look up at him, “He’s not upset with me?”

“Christ, no. He’s thrilled. Between you and me, I know
exactly how you feel,” he says casually.

“Oh?” I ask, interested.

“I too get jealous. Especially of you,” he says shyly.

“Me?”

He nods, “Yes, you. You have something with him that I will
never have. He is in love with only you and he only wants you. No, not wants.
Needs. The rest of us were a means to an end, but you he needs to be complete.
You are his whole reason for being. He sees you as the only reason he was
chosen to be what he is.” He pauses and says, “I know most of his charges, I can
assure you: you have nothing to be jealous of.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“I know him better than he knows himself sometimes. Don’t be
worried. You have no need. I was only teasing about what I said about his
Feeders. He bites, they go. He doesn’t even speak to them. They deal with Nico.
As far as he is concerned they are food and that is it.”

Sensing an opportunity that will probably never come up
again as long as I live I hesitantly ask, “What of his other needs?”

Sebastian eyes me warily, “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.”

“That is something you should ask him.”

“He won’t tell me. Please, Sebastian, if you know something
tell me.”

He sighs and says, “He doesn’t have other lovers. He isn’t
interested. He has never been short of admirers but he rebuffs them all now.”

“That isn’t what I asked,” I say, but it’s nice to know he
was telling me the truth about that.

“I know what you are asking and I am telling you that he
doesn’t have anyone else in his life except you.”

“But what of his…need?” I press, wanting a direct answer.

“Liv. Please stop with the questions. I have told you
everything you need to know.” He stands and pulls me up with him. “Are you
calmer now?”

“Yes. It’s Cade’s blood making me crazy.”

“Cade? The Hunter?” he snaps.

I nod, “CK knows I drank from him but he doesn’t know the
side effects. Well, I suppose he does now. How else am I going to explain my
outburst?”

“Outrage, more like. Is it something we should be concerned
about?” he asks. I smile at his use of “we.”

“No. I will get the rage under control – just like
everything else.”

“Are you sure? You look a bit of a mess.”

I look down at myself. That I do. I sigh, back to the shower
then.

“I am finding it quite distracting. You smell divine,” he
leers at me. “Just one quick bite. No one will know,” he says seriously,
quietly.

“Ahem,” CK says pushing the door open. “I will know.”

Sebastian sighs, “Why won’t you share with me?”

“It’s not my rule,” he says and shrugs as it lets him off
the hook.

“It’s not Cole’s either,” I say, not wanting to let him off
that easily after his fiddle comment before.

He glares at me. I glare back. “The rule is ‘no fucking.’
Not ‘no feeding,’” I say.

Sebastian looks at me with glee and takes a step forward as
does CK. “One will lead to another,” he says angrily. “It is impossible to
resist you.”

I smile inwardly at his admission.

“I am finding her impossible to resist covered in her blood
as she is,” Sebastian says as his fangs drop and he moves behind me in a flash
of Vampire speed. “I promise, no fucking,” he murmurs before he sinks his fangs
into my neck with a groan of pleasure. He suckles slowly for the maximum
benefit and I gasp as I reach up to hold the back of his head. Encouraged, he
snakes his arms around me and drinks deeper. I am about to lose myself in him
when CK takes my hand and, lacing his fingers through mine, brings my wrist to
his mouth.

Holy crap! I feel a rush go through me, an almost physical
bond pulling us closer together. They must feel it too as they both step even
closer to me.

Stop! My brain is yelling at me. For fuck's sake, stop! But
I can’t. I can’t and I don’t want to.

“Step back,” Lincoln growls from the doorway and I am both
grateful and resentful of his interference.

Sebastian releases me first. “Shit,” he says. “Another couple
of seconds and I would have sacked off the ‘no fucking’ rule.”

CK releases me then, the hunger in his eyes palpable. “Leave
us,” he says huskily as he draws me closer and without waiting for them to
leave, plunges his tongue into my mouth, coating my tongue with my own blood.

Sebastian hesitates but Lincoln pulls him from the room and
shuts the door.

He pushes me back against the wall. “You are intoxicating,”
he murmurs. “Tell me later why you did this to yourself.” He kisses me again
and lifts me up, pushing his hands under my dress. Ripping my knickers from me
with a quick yank, he pushes his thumb into me.

Oh God, I have missed his touch. I cry out as he moves his
fingers into me. I fumble to get him free and as soon as I do he pushes himself
into me. Careful not to use too much strength against the sides of the
jet--wouldn’t do us well to create a gaping hole--he pounds into me and it
doesn’t take me long to thud against him and he follows quickly.

“Christ, Aefre. I never want to let you go,” he says quietly
in my ear.

“Then don’t,” I whisper back and everyone else is forgotten
except for him.

Several hours later we are called to land in Vegas and we
grudgingly get out of bed. With a heated exchange over the reason for the
smeared blood on my limbs and my irrational jealousy and rage we jump in the
shower and are dressed and ready.

Loved up in our smug love bubble we seem to have adopted, we
buckle up and await landing. No one really says much as we land at McCarran and
I, as ever, am the first to get off the jet once we hit the tarmac, followed
closely by CK and Lincoln.  My eyes land on the car in front of us.

“My Veyron,” I say excitedly and move towards it.

Lincoln holds me back as Devon climbs out. “He’s here to
have your back, that’s it,” he says quietly.

I glance longingly at Devon as he ignores me and throws the
keys to Lincoln. He helps a girl out of the passenger side.

My face goes cold as I realize this must be that Jess
person. He drove her up here in my car. My pride and joy is now tainted by her
presence.

I am furious with him and he knows it. I can feel his pain
radiating off him in waves and all I want to do is run to him but Lincoln stops
me before I can. “Leave it,” he says and hands me the keys.

I glower at the pair of them as they make their way to the
waiting limo. She fucking looks like me! Or at least, she looks like Elizabeth.
I could fucking kill her, and then him for substituting me. I step forward but
it’s CK who pulls me back now. “Leave it,” he also says. “You know you can’t force
him.”

I look at him with such sadness but I feel his own pain at
the memories of me leaving him and I do leave it. For now.

Feigning nonchalance I say, “Can I drive you?”

“Sure.” We are both acutely aware that in the hundred plus
years since cars were invented I have never driven him anywhere. I am thrilled
to have my Veyron back. Walking and being driven has its perks but nothing
beats the thrill of driving a machine like this one. I try my best to ignore
Devon as I climb in. Lincoln gives me a quick kiss. “See you at the hotel.”

I nod and fire up the engine as CK climbs in. Phil and Ty
jump into the massive black SUV behind us and I relax a tiny bit, glad that my
car only has two seats.

“I like this,” I smirk at him and he chuckles.

“Considering the amount of years we’ve known each other,
it’s surprising the little things we haven’t ever done together,” I comment.

His eyes flash, “Hm, indeed.” He smiles my smile at me. He
is happy and relaxed and now is as good a time as any to poke the bear.

“Erm,” I start. “After the whole Gustav situation I have to
say I am most unhappy with your threat against Cole,” I say as I slam the
accelerator down and roar past the limo and out of the airport, taking great
delight in leaving the SUV in my dust. He glances at me, “Yes, I can see why.”
But that is all he says.

“Fine. Well, I want another revision. I think it is quite
clear that I love you and I will carry on with our two days a week. But I want
you to lift the threat off Cole. He is my husband and I love him. I think you
know by now I will do anything to keep him safe, but in reality you don’t need
to threaten me into being with you. I will come to you because I want to. I
don’t want you to think that you are somehow forcing me into this.”

Silence.

I wait for him to speak, which he doesn’t for a long time.

“I see why you would think that. But I don’t see it that
way.”

“No?”

“No. I would never intentionally force you into anything,
Aefre. I want you and I will do anything to ensure that. Maybe my methods of
late have been crass, but it is only so you know I am serious. So you know that
I want you and that I would do anything to be with you.”

“I get that,” I say quietly, “But there will be no more
threats against Cole. I will not have you scaring him into thinking he is going
to end up in a dungeon, separated from me for an eternity.” I am beyond
forceful as I say that and he has the grace to look abashed.

“I would never do that to you, Aefre.”

“No, but you would make me think you would and it’s not
acceptable.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I realize after seeing you the other
day…it was wrong of me, I won’t make the threat again. I…we…have so many
charges. We aren’t emotionally attached. It was a necessity, something we had
to do to thrive as a race. I have sired so many Vampires, Aefre, I can’t even
keep count. You wonder why it was so easy for me to dismiss Polly? It’s because
I had no feelings for her, or any of them. You say you are jealous but there is
no need.” He sighs and even though he’s trying to make me feel better, he
really isn’t. “I see it’s different for you. I understand it. You do it out of
love, or at least for the most part,” he adds with a sidelong glance at me. “I
didn’t have a choice.”

“You don’t love your charges?” I ask somewhat hesitantly.

“You. I love you. I love Sebastian. He’s the first. I loved
Lance. A long time ago, before he took you, I loved him. I hold a deep
affection for Dmitri, for everything he did for you but I don’t feel much for
the others,” he says quietly.

“What? Not any of the others?” I ask.

He shakes his head, face stone cold.

Wow, this is pretty shocking. I mean I know I have been
heartless in turning in the past during my “evil” years but since Lance took me
I have never sired without love, or at least something akin to love.

“I think Devon wants to sire that girl he is with,” I say,
eyes on the road.

“You don’t want him to?”

“No. I don’t want his first to be out of spite to me.”

“Oh? And yours wasn’t out of spite to me?” he says wryly.

“It wasn’t,” I say sadly. “Maybe the second, but it’s not
the same.” I add, “After five hundred and seven years it’s different.”

“I will talk to him,” he says shortly.

I glance at him but his eyes are forward. I smile, as I know
he will do it to stop me feeling unnecessary pain. I feel a stab of selfishness
but push it away. I am too old and have too much history, too much pain under
my belt to feel such an emotion. I live to my own ends. Come and see me when
you have lived a thousand years of my life to judge.

We hit the strip in silence and I pull up to the hotel and
casino that we learned that Xane owns and runs, the SUV hot on our heels,
unfortunately having caught us up. We are a few minutes in front of the others
so take our time getting out. The valets all rush forward to be the first to
get to the car and the lucky winner grins in delight.

“Nice ride,” Xane says from behind me and I turn with a
winning smile. “Liv, it’s wonderful to see you again so soon,” he says.

I turn back to glare at the valet and snarl, “Look after
it,” and he gulps with a nod.

Turning back to Xane, he looks faintly amused as he says,
“You look fantastic. Much more in line with how I thought you would.” He leans
over and kisses both of my cheeks and holds his hand out to CK. “Constantine.
Good to see you again. I trust you finished off your evening without incident?”

“Of sorts,” he says shortly.

Just then the limo pulls up and everyone piles out. Devon is
still avoiding me like the plague and wraps his arm around his girl in a
possessive move. I have to say it’s pretty bold of him to have brought her
here, being surrounded by Vampires, Shifters, and Demons. She looks nervous and
so she should be, I think nastily.

“Come,” Xane takes my arm and I grab CK’s hand. He leads us
through the casino and up a flight of stairs. He stops and turns around,
looking at everyone in question.

“They are with me,” I say. “Except her. She isn’t one of
us,” I add, rudely gesturing to Jess. I keep my eyes off Devon but I can sense
his fury. Well, the choice is his now whether he picks her or me.

He leans down to whisper in her ear, “It’s okay. Go and
check in. I’ll come up when we are done.”