Trials (The Forever Series, Book 6) (21 page)

“I know. It has been so long since it was just us,” I agree.
I Shift to Elizabeth and his eyes light up.

“I miss just us,” he says as he pulls me close. He throws
the box onto the bedside table and kisses me. “Now about those plans I had,” he
whispers. “You said to think of something suitable to my needs.” He pulls away
and the wicked glint in his eye has me piqued.

“I did say that,” I say. “What are your needs, my dear?”

“Currently, I wish to tie you up and fuck you senseless,” he
remarks as casually as if he had just said “pass the salt.”

“Hm, well, I can’t say that I am surprised,” I say as I tap
my chin thoughtfully. “Question is, will I let you?”

He laughs as he bends down to retrieve something from the
bedside drawer. “Question is, Lizzie, am I going to give you a choice?” In a
flash of Vampire speed he has clicked the handcuff around my wrist and thrown
me onto the bed. He knows he has to be quick as my speed and strength is
superior and I can overpower him without batting an eye. He also knows that
without a doubt I could get myself out of this situation as easily as a stroll
on the beach…if I wanted to. He leers at me as I let him have his fun. He cuffs
my other wrist after he loops it around a column on his headboard.

“Perfect,” he says smugly. “Do you know how beautiful you
look, cuffed to my bed?” He trails his hand over my nipples and they stand to
attention. “I am going to take my time with you.”

He undresses slowly, discarding his torn clothes in a heap
on the floor. I watch him closely as he does me. I think half of him wonders if
I will allow this to continue. I owe him, big time, so I stay exactly where he
put me and he rewards me with a soft kiss to my aching clit. “I love you,
Lizzie,” he says before he dives his tongue into me, causing me all sorts of
pleasure. He is relentless in his ardor and he has me squirming against the
silk sheets, the hard steel of the cuffs digging into me as he makes me come
again and again. “Fuck,” I breathe heavily as he comes up for air with a smug
look. He drops onto me to kiss me, gently, pushing his hands into my hair as he
pushes his tongue against mine. He slides into me with ease as I am so wet. I
am pinned in place and all I want to do is push him over and ride him until he
comes but I can’t. So I leave him to do the work. And he does it well. Making
love to me so slowly, he is relishing every second of being the dominant one
for a change. We come together and he kisses me again.

“I do like you helpless but if I don’t have your hands on me
soon I am going to wither away,” he says, shaking his head at me as I laugh.

“You had better be prepared, my darling, because as soon as
you uncuff me, you are mine,” I say.

“I expect nothing less, my sire,” he says as he uncuffs me.
“Do your worst.”

I launch myself at him, fangs and claws drawn, and proceed
to rip him to shreds, drinking from his wounds as I fuck him so hard he won’t
remember his name. He revels in it and as much as he loves taking control, I
know this is what he prefers.

“Oh yes, baby,” he moans as I make him come and I flop down
onto his chest, panting.

“We are so good together,” I murmur as I kiss his chest. “I
cherish our bond and the feelings I have for you.”

He rolls us over to stare intently into my eyes. “I do too.
Take us to the pool,” he says and I am left wondering what the abrupt change of
attitude is about.

I Astral us to the pool as requested and he sits on one of
the sun loungers. I follow suit, not bothering that we are naked due to the
shadow cover over the garden, which effectively blocks us from prying eyes.

“Want to tell me what’s on your mind?” I ask, squinting at
him as he stays silent. I call two cold beers to us from the bar fridge and
hand him one along with a pair of Ray-Bans. Impromptu-nude Astralling into the
sunny garden comes with its issues.

“Thanks,” he mutters as he takes them from me. “I have been
doing a lot of thinking over the last few days. Especially the last day, after
your trip to the past and future, and the side…” he waves his hand about to
indicate the alternate universe. “This other world you went to, it concerns
me.”

“How so?” I ask, even though it concerns me too, but
probably for different reasons. Namely all the kids that seem to be knocking
about.

“We are married there,” he says. “We have been married there
for 507 years. I don’t know what I am like there but if the other ‘you’ is any
indication, I must be a bit of a prick.”

I stifle my laugh as he is being serious so I say instead,
“Well, you weren’t you. Not the ‘you’ I know and love. You were different. Harder,
less patient, and definitely not fun.”

“Hm,” he says pensively. “Is that what us being married did
to us? Turned me into an unfun douche and you into a slutty power hungry
harpy?”

Harpy? I think, a bit offended, but then give in: other me
is a complete cow. Note that I can’t argue with the slutty power hungry part.

“Dev. They aren’t us. We don’t know how they started off.”

“Maybe. It has opened my eyes, though. If you had asked me,
three days ago, to run off with you and marry you I would have gone without a
second thought for anyone else. Whatever Constantine had to say in Vegas, I get
it. But I do love you, Liz. I am in love with you, I always have been, but now,
after knowing what us being together does to us? I don’t want that anymore.”

I stare at him silently, unclear on what he is saying. “Are
you trying to say you are leaving me again?” I ask hesitantly as the terrifying
thought enters my head.

“What? No, Liz. Nothing like that.” He brushes it aside and
I am filled with relief. “What I am trying to say, quite badly I add, is that I
don’t want you anymore. Not in that way.”

“Not in that way?” I repeat. “What do you mean, Dev?”

“I mean that as much as I love you, I am letting you go. I
am letting go of any hope that we might somehow be together again because I
don’t want that for us. I don’t want us ending up like those two.”

“Dev…” I start but he interrupts me.

“Lizzie, I know that it is probably just a dream on my part
that I thought we might be together in the future. But I hoped we would be. I
hoped that you would ultimately choose me because you always do. What you said
to me in Vegas, that had we gotten married back then, that if I had asked you
again, we would still be together now? I wanted that. More than anything. But
not after seeing her and seeing what our marriage must be like.”

I don’t know what to say to that. I take a sip of my now
warm beer and try to sort through everything he has just said.

“I guess, I am growing up,” he says with a sad laugh.
“Finally. This whole Jess thing has forced me to take a long hard look at
myself and the other you was the tipping point.”

“So what do you want from me?” I ask, as I am still not
really sure what the crux of this conversation is.

He looks at me then, his eyes shielded by the sunglasses so
I can’t see what he thinking. He turns to the side to face me and I copy him,
doing the same. He takes my hands and says, “Just the same as you have been
giving me. I just wanted you to know that things have changed on my side. I am
going to try and make this work with Jess. I know I don’t have a bond with her
but she has one to me and I can only imagine how hard that is for her.”

I blink at him, debating with myself whether to tell him
about the future we saw where Jess was Sebastian’s wife. I choose not to. No good
will come from it and it may set a course that will change the path to the
future.

“Say something,” he says.

“Oh Dev. I wish things were different but you know that I
love you. You do right with trying to make things work with Jess. She needs
you, your full attention, at least for now,” I add, still thinking about
Sebastian. “Just take it slow, don’t give her anything you aren’t prepared to
see through. As for us. We aren’t them, we will never be like them. I promise
you that but I need you and I don’t want you to leave me. Please just promise
me that you won’t leave me.” I am being really selfish here but I need him to
know that he can’t ever leave me.

He smiles softly at me. “I won’t. You know I can’t last very
long without you. Although I am madly curious what you will do with me once you
and Constantine are married,” he says with a glint in his eye. “And btw, not
cool on leaving me out of the loop on your future plans.”

I chuckle, “Sorry, baby. It was supposed to be need-to-know
until he decided to blurt it out to the whole world.”

“Does Cole know everything though?” he asks seriously.

“Yes,” I state.

“Hm, well I think Constantine might be in for a long wait. I
can’t see Cole going very far anytime soon.”

“I hope that he doesn’t. I love him.”

“I know you do,” he says quietly. “I can see it when you
look at him.”

“As for what I will do with you, it has already been
discussed and is non-negotiable that you will come to
Ponte
with me.
Both of you.”

He lets out a loud guffaw, “Oh, sure, just up sticks and move
us all to Italy. I can only imagine the look on Constantine’s face when you
told him that.”

I laugh too, “He wasn’t over the moon but he will agree to
it. He has no choice. The three of us are a package. Plain and simple.”

“You seriously think Cole will come too?”

I sigh, “I hope that in time he would. I wouldn’t expect him
to straight away obviously.”

“You seem quite sure that he will leave you, though.”

“Charges always leave their sires. Even you, you stubborn
fool.”

“Hm, well, we’ll see. I won’t be placing any bets anytime
soon.” He lets go of my hands. “Thank you for easing up on Jess. She isn’t a
bad girl, just a bit misguided.”

I snicker into my hand and he frowns at me until he realizes
what he just said. “Christ, now even I am starting to sound like him.”

“He is very affecting,” I point out.

“Indeed. Anyway, it means a lot to me that you have given
her the chance to join the rest of us in the sun.”

“No worries,” I say and shrug. “I knew you cared about her
more than you were letting on.”

“Easy where you go with that,” he says. “It’s not something
I care to discuss.”

“Not even with me?” I ask, a bit upset.

“Especially not with you. It’s weird.”

“Weird?”

“I have never been with anyone long enough to have a
discussion about it, except you of course. It is strange.”

“I know it is. But everything is changing now. All of us are
different.”

“You can say that again,” he says as he flops back to the
sun lounger, the serious mood from before gone now. “Now get over here and fuck
me. You still owe me,” he orders me with a wicked smile.

“Yes, sir,” I say and he laughs in glee as I climb onto him
and proceed to do exactly as he asked.

Sometime later after a proper day of giving him my undivided
attention, swimming, talking, and making love, Devon leaves me to make a quick
trip in Dragon form to The Underworld. I try to make a portal, but it doesn’t
appear and that annoys me. Maybe my magick is more powerful in The Underworld?
Well actually that makes a lot of sense now that I think about it. I Astral
there in human form, landing in the Draconis’s garden, much to Xanthe’s
surprise.

“Your Majesty,” she says, her hand over her heart. “What an
unexpected surprise.”

“Hello, Xanthe. I am sorry to barge into your gardens, but I
didn’t really know where else to go,” I say apologetically.

“Is something amiss?” she asks in concern coming closer to
me.

“Oh no, no,” I reassure her. “I just wanted to Shift and do
a fly over. You know keep my presence alive down here.”

She laughs and says, “Oh what a wonderful idea. I did see you
the other day with To’kah.”

“You did?” I ask and she nods.

“He will be a powerful ally of yours one day. It is nice
that you have made his acquaintance.”

Really? I want to ask her how she knows that, but she is
interrupted by one of the many children running around and I let her go with a
wave. I make my way over to the big landing area that my mother used a few
weeks ago and Shift. It is a little easier this time, I suppose it will get
easier the more I do it, and I take off. Finn was right, I do feel better when
I do this. Less agitated and a lot calmer. I cause quite the stir as expected,
and after a lengthy flight I decide to test my theory and try to rip open a
portal from this side. It works just like it did last time, and I fly through
landing in my back garden swiftly, where I promptly Shift back. That has been
informative and it starts a whole bunch of ideas racing through my already over
active brain.

I go and find Devon who is back in his bedroom, dressed and
ready to head back to Toronto. He is gripping the box he acquired in a death
grip and I wonder if he is nervous.

“Did you tell her?” I ask as I Astral us back into my suite.

“No. I didn’t want to raise her hopes in case I failed.”

“Baby, when will you learn? You never fail.” He smiles at me
and I ask curiously, “What was it like for you?”

“Harsh,” he says. “I don’t know what yours were like but
fuck me. That is not something I ever intend to do again.”

“They are called trials for a reason. But I can’t say that I
would be all that keen to do it again unless I had to. You should have asked
for two…just in case.”

He glares at me. “No. Never again. Next time I leave them to
die,” he says as he stalks off back to his suite with me gaping after him and
his cold statement.

I call a meeting for 8 PM in our suite. Everyone needs to
know about this Thirteen business and it’s just easier if everyone comes to me.
I order food for the eaters of the bunch and drinks for the rest of us
non-eaters and start to pace.