Trials (The Forever Series, Book 6) (16 page)

Leaving him to his brooding over, whatever, I head back
upstairs. Time to take a shower and head back to Toronto. I hate this time
difference crap. It is so confusing. My phone starts to go berserk with
notifications and I stop on the second floor corridor, pausing at the alcove
just outside of CK’s bedroom door. Jess. Seems she is taking this job
seriously, which is good news. I have reminders, emails, messages, and the such
all popping up for my attention. I chuckle as she has added twice a day on my
reminders: “Feed, The Vampire Way!” Trying to get on a certain ancient
Vampire’s good side, no doubt. Well, I can happily tick off this morning’s and
as I do so I sit in the alcove.

I quickly send a message to my boys telling them I am fine
and will be home shortly, but decide to try something new with Lincoln. I reach
out to him, having no idea if I can over such a long distance. I call him in my
head, “Linc?”

“Liv?” comes his reply. “Christ, woman, you scared the crap
out of me! Ever heard of a phone?”

“I wanted to do it this way.”

“I am glad you did,” he says and I sense his smile.

“I will be home soon.”

“Good. And it’s Thursday.”

“Yes it is.”

“I don’t expect you to spend the whole day and night with
me, under the circumstances,” he says in my head softly.

“Oh, Linc. Have I told you how special you are?”

“Once. Maybe twice. You can say it again if you like.” He
chuckles.

“You are so special to me.”

“A guy could get used to hearing that. Erm, are you alone?”
he inquires.

“Yes, for now. Why?”

“I am getting very turned on by having a discussion with you
this way and I am thinking about all the things I can do to you later.”

My heart skips a beat. “Oh my. Now I am getting turned on,
too.”

“Are you wet?” he whispers.

“Very,” I murmur.

“I wish I could feel you,” he says in my head and sighs.

“I can’t wait to feel your hands on me. I want my hands on
you. I want to feel you rippling underneath me.”

“Uh…” he mutters desperately.

Enjoying this sexy Shifter-telepathy sex I carry on knowing
how much he loves me to talk to him. “I want to feel you tearing me open as you
enter me. Oh Linc, do you know how much I love the way that makes me feel?”

He whimpers, actually Wolf whimpers at me in my head and I
grin wickedly to myself and continue, “Do you know how much I love it when you
push yourself deep inside me?” I am actually getting highly aroused by this and
decide to try something new again. I slip my fingers down inside my robe and
rub them over my clit.

I moan in delight in my head and he says, “Are you touching
yourself?”

“Yes, baby. I am imagining that it is you bringing me this
pleasure.”

“Oh fuck, Liv,” he moans. “We should stop this.”

“Oh no, baby. Don’t stop,” I say, rubbing small circles over
myself.

He groans, “I need you.”

“Take your hand, imagine it is mine bringing you pleasure,”
I murmur.

“Oh fuck,” he whispers. “Oh fuck.”

“I’m going to come baby. I can’t help myself. You turn me on
so much.”

“Oh baby,” he breathes, “I want to feel you.”

I come then and I try desperately not to make a sound out
loud as CK would be pissed if he knew what I was doing on his time, but in my
head I am moaning with pleasure. “Oh yes, baby.”

“Oh fuck,” he says again as he grunts softly as he comes
too. “Oh, Liv. The things you do to me. I love you.”

“I want to…” I hesitate, thinking of what CK said about not
biting during sex.

He chuckles, “You can say it seeing as I already know what
you are thinking.”

I pull my face, “All right, smart arse. Can I bite you next
time?”

“Yes,” he says instantly. “I have wanted you to since the
first time.”

“Oh. Why didn’t you ask?”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I wasn’t sure of your perspective on it. But I want you, in
every way.”

“I want you to take me in every way. I tried to clue you in,
in New York, when I bit you,” he reprimands.

“Oh, Linc, you know how I am. I need things spelled out for
me.”

“Yes, you can be a bit of a ditz,” he snorts.

“Hey!” I snap at him and I feel the frown on my face.

“I’m only kidding. You are the smartest, most beautiful,
sexiest woman on the planet,” he appeases me smugly.

“Humph,” I say, but good-naturedly.

“I am getting turned on again by that thought. You probably
should go now.”

“Okay, baby. I will come and find you as soon as I can. I
love you, Lincoln,” I say and shut down communications abruptly.

“Want to tell me what that was about?” I ask out loud as I
sense CK’s presence.

“You shouldn’t have gone up there,” he says, coming to sit
on the opposite side of the alcove, his toes touching mine in a familiar
gesture.

“A great leader has no fears,” I state to him, still looking
out the window. “I wanted to conquer mine, and what better place to do it than
my own home?”

His eyes snap to mine at my words “my own home” and he says,
“Oh, my love. Is that what you were doing?”

I look at him then, “Yes. It is the only reason I went up
there.”

“But why that one?”

“It was the closest one to where I was standing when I made
the decision,” I say, shaking my head. “What is the problem?”

He looks at me warily and then closes his features down
completely as I glare at him.

Liv. He called me Liv in there and went all desperate on me.
The thought is forming in my head and I shake it to get rid of it. No. No. It
can’t be. Can it?

“That’s where you kept them, isn’t it? The substitutes?” I
ask in disdain.

Chapter 8

“Speak to me Constantine!” I snap at him as he remains
silent. “That’s where you kept them, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” he says eventually, looking away from me.

I inhale sharply and stand. I can’t deal with this. There is
just too much drama, too much heartache, too many secrets and surprises.

“I can’t live here,” I whisper to him and he jumps to his
feet.

“No, don’t say that. You have to,” he implores me, grabbing
my arm as I back away. “Please Aefre, please.”

“You called me ‘Liv.’ In there. You called me ‘Liv,’” I say,
pulling my arm out of his tight grip. “You didn’t want to call me ‘Aefre’ in
there. Why? Is it because you called them that? You called them by MY NAME?” I
am yelling at the top of my voice at him. I am sure the entire castle can hear
me but I don’t give two shits at the moment. I am so angry with him. But as I
look at his beautiful, perfect face, his expression turns from one of torment
to one of horror.

“NO!” he roars at me and I step back from the sheer volume
of it. Christ, he has a pair of lungs on him. I thought I was being loud. “How
dare you even suggest that!”

How dare I? Oh, you are in for it now, pal.

“How dare I? Who the fuck do you think you are talking to?
How dare YOU! How dare you bring those…women,” I spit the word out at him,
“…here and then expect me to live here.”

“Where the fuck did you think I took them?” he asks nastily
and for the second time in these few short weeks I bring my hand back to hit
him, only this time I bunch my hand into a fist and I knock him flying with a
good old dose of Dragon Power behind my Vampire strength.

My breathing is ragged as I try to calm myself. He is going
to fucking kill me but I don’t give three shits by now.

“Fuck!” he exclaims, getting up off the floor a few feet
away and rubbing his jaw. “Christ, woman, you might want to give a bit of
warning next time.”

And just like that his mood has altered like flicking a
switch and I can’t stay mad at him. I laugh, not an amused laugh, but one of
sheer nerves and relief that he isn’t going to counter attack. I may be as
strong as he is now, but he knows how to harness his strength and fighting
prowess better than anyone else I know. Certainly better than me, and I am not
so sure I want to find out firsthand just how “Roman Warrior” he can go on me.

He peers at me warily as he comes closer, “I’m sorry. That
was a stupid thing to say.”

“No, you are right. Of course you would bring them here,” I
say quietly.

“Aefre, don’t ever think that I wanted them to be you. Not
really you. I would never have called them by your name. Not ever. Please
believe me.”

I nod stiffly.

He carries on when I don’t say anything. “Seeing you in
there. In that room, was a shock to me. So many nights I wanted you in that
room. I wanted
you
there with me,” he whispers so quietly I barely hear
him. He risks bringing his hand up to my face to stroke me gently and I just
lose all the anger and fight. I can’t honestly say for sure why I am so mad. I
already knew about the substitutes and have forgiven him and it makes sense
that he would bring them here.

“Sorry for hitting you,” I mumble and he looks amused.

“No you aren’t,” he says.

“No, I’m not,” I agree. “I am glad that Sebastian wasn’t
here though. I am fairly sure you would be cleaning me off the carpet for weeks
if he had been.”

He snorts in amusement. “You underestimate your strength, my
sweet. Trust me,” he says rubbing his jaw again.

“Yeah, I seem to be hearing that a lot lately.” I sigh and
take his hand. “Can we just take a shower and head back? I meant it when I said
I can’t bear any more drama.”

“Of course. Allow me.” He wraps his arms around me and
Teleports us into his luxurious bathroom. He turns on the shower and disrobes
me, helping me in.

“Aren’t you joining me?” I ask as he just stands there
watching me. “You know how I feel about wet you,” I add with a small smile.

He looks relieved. “I wasn’t sure you wanted me to, after…you
know…before,” he stammers and I resist the urge to laugh at him standing there
like an uncomfortable teenager.

“Just shut up and get in here,” I say and shake my head at
him.

He doesn’t need telling twice and is naked and wet and in my
arms in seconds, kissing me as if he had lost me and then found me again.

I am just getting very into the moment when he pulls back
and looks at me with an expression so serious it douses any arousal I felt from
his kisses. “Everything is okay, with us?” he asks tentatively.

“Yes. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I have shocked you and disappointed you and hurt you badly
so many times over the centuries. I have kept too many secrets from you that
have come out anyway. Never have I seen that look on your face that you had
before when you said you can’t live here.”

I just stand there with the water pounding down on me as I
look at him. I too have never seen this look on his face before. He looks like
he is going to cry if I tell him anything other than what he wants to hear. I’m
sure that he wouldn’t, but it still frightens me, that depth of emotion coming
from him.

“We are perfect,” I say to him. “And I have waited a
thousand and one years to be given the opportunity to legally share this castle
with you. If you think that I am about to give that up now you can go and fuck
yourself, right now,” I say, trying to make light so he will get that look off
his face.

He smiles then and I breathe in, in relief. “I would much
rather fuck you,” he says as he picks me up and pushes me against the wall and
proceeds to do exactly that.

Several intense orgasms later we stumble out of the shower
and he wraps me up in a fluffy black towel. Wait, this is my fluffy black
towel. He hands me another smaller one, and with a swirling motion to turban my
hair up, I look around the bathroom, turning in a big circle. All of my things
from New York are in here. I cast a glance back at him and he shrugs. “You said
nothing of yours was in here. I said I’d fix that.”

I back out into the bedroom and it is nothing like it was
when I walked out of it last night. It is no longer his bedroom, but ours. He
has brought everything from my New York bedroom (except the bed) and placed it
carefully around this room. Even the bedding has been changed from his black
silk sheets to my preference of red silk ones.

“I figured you wouldn’t miss any of it there as we aren’t
going back,” he says in an attempt to prompt a verbal response from me.

“Holy crap! How, when?” I ask him.

“When you went off on your reading slash conquering
adventure. Marguerite came with me and helped bring everything back. She worked
quickly to get it ready for you.”

Wow. That woman is amazing.

“It’s perfect,” I say, pulling him to me for a kiss. “It is
ours.”

“I do like the sound of that,” he says, smiling his
made-for-me smile. I pull away and spin around again. I notice something on the
bed and go over to investigate. It looks very much like a property transfer
document from where I am standing, being familiar with such things due to the
nature of my job. Well, ex-job now. Yes it is, I note, as I pick it up and
stare at it like it might suddenly disappear, taking my dreams along with it.

“I had Sebastian just throw it together. It’s fairly
standard,” he says.

I look at him in amazement, “You really did this? You
really, really did this?”

“You thought that I wouldn’t?” He purses his lips.

“I thought I would have to work a lot harder to get you to
really, really do this. And you got my name right!” I exclaim as I notice “Liv
O’Dell.”

“Humph,” he frowns, “as much as it pains me, it has to be
official.”

I snicker at him but then sober at the word official. “But I
won’t have this name for much longer. Once we move on I will have to change
it.”

“There is a clause for that. Several, in fact.” He takes the
document from me and flicks through, his eyes scanning the pages quickly. There
are several of them, in fact, it is more like a book than a document. If
Sebastian “just threw this together” then I am a monkey’s uncle. He folds the
pages over and shows me. I take it from him with a knowing look and glance
down. My eyes widen as I read. It fills nearly a whole page with legalese,
heretofore’s and notwithstanding’s, but basically it says that the property
will be mine officially under every name that I take between now and when CK
and I get married, at which point we will sign an amendment under the name
Aefre Allington nee Coortan Aquila. Right, so this document has been hanging
around for a while now I would say, and yet we only decided on our future
surname yesterday. He must have rung Sebastian straight away after I fell
asleep to add that in.

“You want me to revert officially to Aefre once we are
married?”

“Yes,” he says shortly. He takes the document off me and
again scans through the pages until he finds what he is looking for.

I take it from him with suspicion now and with good cause.
“Terms & Conditions for the marriage of Aefre & Constantine” jumps out
at me. I struggle to keep the smile off my face.

“Really?” I ask him sarcastically.

“It was your idea,” he says huffily.

“And you ran with it,” I say, flicking through the many
pages of T & C’s.

He takes it off me and points to number one, where it states
that I shall revert to my original name. I raise my eyebrow. Interesting. I
read on and a lot of it is easy to comply with but I stop halfway down the
second page and frown. My eyes flick to his and he is staring at me innocently.

“You want me to cease sexual relations with Lincoln?” I ask
in disbelief. I had thought we were over this snit but apparently not.
“Explain,” I snap at him.

He steels himself and says as mildly as he can, although I
can tell he is reining it in, “I will not be a stepfather to a litter of
Shifter pups.”

I open my mouth but no words come out because I don’t have
any.

He stares at me, waiting for me to start yelling or hitting him
or something. I remain silent for a few more moments and then regain my
composure. Err, sort of.

“There are ways to prevent that nowadays,” I say lamely.

“Not one hundred percent accurate ones,” he says, turning
the ring I gave him slowly.

I fall onto an idea and state it without really thinking it
through, “The future me didn’t have children.”

“In the parallel universe you had plenty. With everybody,”
he says back.

Everybody? Well that’s a bit insulting. Eh, who am I
kidding--seems it was everybody.

“What I mean is this,” I hold up the document, “will only
come into effect once we are married. I intend to carry on my ‘sexual
relations’ with Lincoln, if it doesn’t happen in the next hundred years, why
would it at all?”

He grimaces at me, “There is nothing I can do about what you
do before we are married but once you are my wife and we are trying for a baby
of our own, you will not be permitted sex with anyone who can get you
pregnant.”

I gape at him. “Well, same to you then,” I round on him.

He looks taken aback, “What do you mean ‘same to me then?’”

“The idea is to get
you
up to scratch, not me,” I say
and he flinches at the insult. “I will not be a stepmother to any half Vampire,
half whatevers, should you knock someone else up.”

He takes a moment to process that and then he laughs at me.
I mean actually laughs in my face. “Oh, my sweet. You do not ever have to worry
about that. I am yours, completely.”

“You said that before and then did…stuff with Vivienne,” I
point out. Yeah, that stopped you from laughing at me. Jerk.

He clears his throat, “I never fucked her. I had no
intention of fucking her. I will not ever fuck another woman besides you. And I
know this isn’t the point and I will incur your wrath but just for accuracy's
sake I must point out that she is a Vampire, and therefore incapable.”