Secrets (The Forever series, Book 8) (29 page)

“Devon said, if you didn’t agree, then it was out of the
question regardless,” he says. “But, honestly, Liv, it was just something that
came out. I don’t want her, or anyone. I just want you.”

His phone goes off for a message and he looks at it with a
frown, but pockets it again.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Nothing,” he mumbles, but he isn’t fooling me. I step
forward and pull his phone out of his pocket. He tries to stop me, but I snatch
it away and read the message. I spin back to him. “You are being blackmailed by
that woman?” I ask in astonishment.

He shrugs and looks uncomfortable.

“What does she want?” I demand.

“Me,” he sighs, running his hand through his hair in
agitation.

“You?” I all but shriek. “Does she have any idea who you are
married to?”

“I am sure she does,” he says patiently, and I throw him an
apologetic look for jumping straight to me--as usual.

“What exactly is she threatening to do? She can’t oust you
as a Vampire as she is one herself,” I ask slightly confused.

“Basic tabloid sex scandal. I’ve just been ignoring her.”

“But if it gets out, your reputation will be shot,” I say.

“Does it matter?” he asks in frustration. “A few months from
now I’m quitting and disappearing.”

“Of course it matters, Cole. You can’t let her get away with
this,” I insist.

“So what am I supposed to do about it? Give her what she
wants?” he challenges me and I roll my eyes at him.

“Don’t be daft. You tell your wife, who happens to be Queen
of the Underworld, and she goes to kick her arse,” I say, hands on my hips.

“I don’t like that plan,” he says, chewing his lip. “I don’t
want you anywhere near her.”

“Why? Worried we will compare notes?” I ask smartly and
brace myself for the scathing look that he does, indeed, send my way.

“No, Liv, because I love you and that is something I am
ashamed of. I don’t want it rubbed in your face.”

“Oh, but having it splashed all over the tabloids is a
better plan?” I ask smartly.

He flushes as he takes that in. “Fine, we will both go and
talk to her. Maybe if we offer her some money she will go away?” he asks
hopefully.

I shrug. Maybe. I am thinking more along the lines of an
arse kicking to make her go away. He inches closer to me and I can see he wants
reassurance I am not mad at him, so I take him in my arms. He leans down to
give me a tentative kiss, and when I respond to him he pulls me closer. I can
feel his erection pushing against me and I jump back like a scalded cat. He
looks absolutely distraught and I say, “I’m sorry, Cole. I can’t. Not yet. I
can’t. I’m sorry.”

“No!” he says forcefully. “I am sorry, I know you aren’t. I
didn’t want anything from you, that just, ah, happens to me when I hold you and
kiss you, I can’t help it.”

I feel awful for having denied him, but I am not ready to go
there yet. I curse Aelfric and his bloody prophecy, and I hope that Drake, or
Sebastian, is giving him a good beating right about now. I don’t really want
his head on a platter.
Or do I
? A small voice in the back of my head
asks wickedly, and I shake my head to clear it.

“We will go now to see this woman. Nip this in the bud,” I
say to change the subject and give myself an excuse to move to the bathroom to
get freshened up and changed. “Message her, tell her you are on your way.
Alone,” I add.

He is disappointed that I don’t pursue the conversation. I
know he wanted me to say something about when I will be ready or at the very
least that it won’t be long. It must be ripping him up inside not being able to
be with me, but I just can’t think about that right now. I slink off as he
messages that Vampire bitch and I stare at myself in the mirror. I pull all my
clothes off, the natural way, and stare at the burns. They are fading now,
thankfully. I have long since healed where he tore me and broke my hand, but
these for some reason are lingering. A very clear reminder of what happened.
Unfortunately, even after they go, I still don’t know when I will be ready.
It’s a crazy notion for me. Me, who loves sex and wants it as often as I can
get it.

Just not right now.

I turn from my reflection and magick up some clothes. I go
for a badass look with a sassy edge. Black leather pants, a black vest top,
with a black leather blazer, and sparkly silver Carvela by Kurt Geiger shoes.
Yeah, I look hot. I exit the bathroom and Cole’s eyes widen in desire. “Wow,”
he says. “You look amazing.”

“Thanks,” I say with a soft smile.

“Before we go, I want to ask you something,” he says and
takes my hand. He pulls me to the bed and sits me down.

“What is it?”

“I just want you to listen for now. You don’t have to answer
me today…”

“But…” I say as he stops speaking.

“As your husband, I am asking you to give me some time, just
for me, for us. I want you to tell me that you will be with me every night for
the next month. Thirty days, just for us.”

I look at him in silence, wondering where to start.

“I know your sire is going to go ballistic, but I am past
caring about him and what he will do. I know you love me and that you don’t
want to leave me. So just give me this, please,” he says.

Well, CK would go ballistic if I told him I wouldn’t be with
him for a month,
if
he wasn’t in the doghouse. He said he would give me
time and this is perfect.

“Yes,” I say to Cole, to his amazement. “I will give you a
month. You need me and I need you.”

“But what about Constantine?” he asks, even though he said
he didn’t care.

“Cole, we had a fight before I went off to find my father. A
big one. He owes me and he knows it. Don’t worry about it.”

“What did you fight about?” he asks.

“The Fae thing and Sebastian. He said some pretty hurtful
things.” No way am I telling him about the spelling. It will send him on a
suicide mission.

“Oh,” he says flatly. “Yes, I can imagine he wasn’t very
pleased with that news.”

Understatement of the year. “Let’s go,” I say brightly,
wanting to change the subject.

He knows I don’t want to talk about it so he stands up and
takes my hand. “Thank you,” he says. “You have no idea how much this means to
me.”

“I do, my love, and don’t thank me. It’s not a favor.”

“I know,” he says, “but I am grateful anyway.”

Chapter 12

We make our way down to the garage and I ask, “You driving?”

He nods eagerly and grabs the keys to the McLaren. I slide
in and he follows, roaring the engine to life. We are silent for a few moments
and then he says, “I like going on an adventure with you.”

“What, even though it’s to get your one-nighter to keep her
trap shut?” I ask with a slight smirk.

“Well, not that part specifically. More that it is just the
two of us,” he admits with a shy look.

“Yeah, I like it too,” I say, and run my hand up and down
his thigh. We fall back into a silence and I am staring out of the window
wondering what I am going to say to this woman, when Cole blurts out, “Liv,
please stop touching me.”

I look back at him and snatch my hand away, holding it to my
mouth.

“No, don’t stop touching me,” he says taking my hand back
and placing it on his thigh. “Just please stop
touching
me,” he adds
knowingly.

Oh, I hadn’t realized my hand had drifted so far up.
“Sorry,” I mumble and feel bad. This is after all, my embargo, I can’t go
around teasing him. It’s not fair to him.

He changes the subject and we chit-chat the rest of the way
about my Power boost and Finn’s new role. He is not happy about just how close
Finn and I are going to become, but he tries to accept it as best he can. When
we pull up to the hotel where she is staying, he changes his mind. “Let’s just
go home,” he pleads.

“No, we are here now and she needs dealing with, Cole. Come
on.” I get out and he follows after a minute. I wait for him to take my hand
and lead me to the bank of elevators and he anxiously punches the button.
Moments later we are facing Tanya’s door and he looks at me. “I have no idea…”
he says.

“Allow me,” I say and bang loudly on the door. I know only
three things about this woman: that she is a Vampire, that she is named Tanya,
and that she is around three hundred years old. Still a baby compared to me,
even without my Power increase. We wait and she opens the door with a big
smile, which freezes in place when she sees me. I have no doubt now that she
does know who I am, as she grips the folds of her skimpy satin robe closer
together to hide her nudity. She clearly assumed nookie was on the agenda when
Cole messaged her earlier.

“Cole,” she says in a confused tone. “I thought you were
coming to agree to my request?”

“Your blackmail, you mean?” I say to her and put my hand up
to her chest to push her back. She goes flying across the room, crashing
painfully into the opposite wall and sliding down in a dazed heap. Cole and I
look at each other in astonishment. I had only meant to give her a gentle nudge
so we could enter the room and close the door on this unsavory discussion. I
think Cole knows I barely touched her, which explains his wide-eyed awe. I
recover quickly though and march over to her, dragging her up by her robe until
she is facing me. Her terrified look pleases the Dragon in me, and before I
have said a word a stake pops into my hand out of the armory. Her eyes start to
pool with tears and I hear Cole say my name, gently.

“I’m sorry,” she stammers.

“Sorry?” I snarl at her. “Sorry for blackmailing my husband
into coming back to you when he doesn’t want you? Sorry for threatening his
reputation?”

“He does want me,” she says boldly. “He was here fucking me
the other night instead of you.”

She has balls, I’ll give her that. She probably knows that I
won’t stake her. Or at least, had we been in this situation a couple of days
ago, she would be right in assuming that. Right now though, the Dragon Queen
has come to the forefront and She is pissed.

“Want you?” I sneer, “He doesn’t want you. He can’t stand
the sight of you.” I slam her back into the wall and her eyes go to Cole’s. I
know he isn’t looking back at her, as I can feel his eyes on me. I can sense
his disgust at her and himself for being with her and also his worry over what
I am going to do, but he makes no move whatsoever to stop me. Not only because
he couldn’t even if he wanted to, but he is leaving me to do this my way.

“I promise, I won’t say anything,” she says when she sees I
am right. “I love him, I just wanted us to be together.”

“Not going to happen,” I growl at her and she nods her head
quickly.

“I swear, I won’t say anything,” she says again and relaxes
as I let go of her. However, the only reason I had let her go was to get my own
arm out of the way. I bring the left one back with the stake still gripped in
my hand and say to her, “Unfortunately, there is only one way I can ensure this
stays a secret.” I stake her, right in the heart, shoving it so far into her
chest that it buries itself into the wall behind her. Her wide eyes go dead
before she drops to the floor as a pile of ash at my feet.

“Liv!” Cole exclaims, grabbing my arm as I let go of the
stake, which is still sticking out of the wall. “What the fuck?” he asks me
desperately, spinning me around.

“What?” I shrug and dust off my hands and then my pants.

“Was that really necessary?” he cries. “How the Hell are we
going to explain this?”

“Explain this to whom exactly?” I ask with my hands on my
hips. “I report to no one.”

“Liv,” he says, taking me by the arms and shaking me
slightly, “You just killed her.”

“I know,” I say calmly. Does he think I am a dimwit? I am
perfectly aware of my actions. “No one hurts my family and gets away with it.”
I step back from him and regard him closely. I feel no remorse for the girl. No
regret, no sorrow, no doubts about whether I did the right thing. Before the
Power boost, if (and that is a mighty big “if”) I had done something like this,
I would be in hysterical fits over it. Now, I just feel calm, controlled, and
completely Powerful. The Dragon has taken over, and I understand fully now what
my mother expected of me when She said I had to let the Dragon rule. She is the
exact opposite of my wilful, flighty, overly emotional Vampire self and I am
liking it. Cole is still staring at me so I say, “Look, Cole, I have to protect
you and this was the only way. As the old saying goes, with a slight twist…two
can keep a secret…”

“If one of them is dead,” he finishes and sighs. “I still
think you went a bit far.”

“Paying off a blackmailer never works. They always get
greedy and come back for more. She would have been a thorn in our side. Now, it
is over with.”

“Are you feeling all right?” he asks in concern.

“Never better,” I say and try to explain it to him.
Fortunately he gets it, or maybe he is just pretending because he doesn’t want
to end up on the receiving end of the stake, either way, he drops it, cuddles
me, and then pulls the stake out of the wall. “What do we do about this?” he
asks as he indicates the ash with distaste. I sweep my hand over it and it
disappears.

“Wow, you are handy, aren’t you?” he says with a shaky smile
and takes my hand. “But we are going to have to explain her absence.”

“Very well, she attacked you and I defended you. Simple,” I
say and open up the dresser drawer to poke around. No point going through all
of this if there is evidence lying around. I find her journal and pull it out.
I flick through it and determine this is going to have to come with us. There’s
a laptop and her phone and those are coming with as well. I hand them to Cole
and he puts them under his arm. It looks kind of suspicious, but I’m not too
worried. We leave the hotel room and I remember that I haven’t fed since those
bottles I downed when I got back from the Underworld. Strange thing is, I don’t
feel hungry. Not for blood anyway. I worry slightly as I drop my fangs and poke
them with my index finger to make sure they are still there and haven’t
disappeared as they do when Xerxei turns up. Cole eyes me weirdly. “What are
you doing?” he asks, as I am still poking at my fangs.