“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 know I’m 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. 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, 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.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE
Sebastian is the one who finds me. I am curled up in the corner, bloody from the gashes I’m inflicting upon myself, trying to get rid of the feeling that 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’m 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, “Besides, 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 about 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.