“I’ll call Grayson. Ask her if she knows,” he says, staring at me curiously.
He takes out his phone and calls Grayson. I have no idea who that is.
He speaks into the phone and says to me, “She doesn’t know but Scott might. She will get him to call you.”
I nod. And Scott would be?
I answer it on the first ring, and he says “Liv? You don’t remember your passcode?”
“It’s not working,” I amend.
“Try it again…2233. Should work,” he says, confused.
2233? What is that?
“Oh, very good. I’ll try again. So sorry to bother you,” I say, trying to sound apologetic.
“No worries. I have to go; I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Of course.” And I hang up and punch it in. It opens, hm. Now I can do some digging.
“All good?” the husband asks.
“Yes, thank you,” I say dismissively and open up messages. I hope to find out what his name is by something in here.
I see messages from Devon, Lincoln, Xane, and two people called CK and Cole. Both of those are loving and hard to determine. CK? I am going to go with Constantine with that one, seeing as he isn’t listed anywhere here under his full name and those would be his first two initials. A bit familiar, this one, isn’t she? It surprises me that he lets her be so. So, the husband must be Cole.
“Cole?” I ask.
“Yes, my love?” he asks and looks up at me from his own phone.
I just smile at him, at least now having a name to his face. He smiles back. He is incredibly handsome. Those eyes. I feel a swell of lust go up in me, but I push it down. No, I can’t. He isn’t my husband. My husband is in another world with another me. Oh, gods. I hope she isn’t trying it on with my Constantine. I know we aren’t in the best place right now, but surely, he will see that she isn’t me? And what about Sebastian? He will go after her. It’s the day, today is the day and we must be together. I feel a bit sick to my stomach but grab onto the fact that at least she is in my body. If anything happens, when we switch back at least it will still be me. I will just have to overlook any encounters as Sebastian isn’t going to let anything deter him and she won’t be able to resist him in my body. They may not have our relationship here yet, but she is still Drake’s daughter and he is still Aelfric’s son and our child is destined to bridge the gap between the Fae. Crap. I flinch myself as I use this invective. An Empress doesn’t cuss, but this is just bad, bad timing.
Cole stands up and comes behind me. He kisses my shoulder and whispers to me, “Come to bed.”
Oh, I want to. I am on such a short leash. My only two lovers are my husband and Sebastian. Constantine doesn’t tolerate unfaithfulness except in Sebastian’s case. But he is special. The girls don’t count, as he doesn’t see them as a threat. Although, I do have a pleasing arrangement with Ramon, we never have sex. I daren’t risk Constantine finding out and killing him. Judging by the messages on this phone, Liv openly has at least four regular lovers on the go. How does she get away with that? I let him lead me towards the bed, intending to put a stop to this as I just cannot, but then he kisses me, and I forget all about being good. I forget about everything except his mouth on mine. He pushes the straps of my nightgown over my shoulders and it drops to the floor. I lose all reason as he trails his hands down over me. Oh…this is her body and her husband. I will just go with it. I am sure she is doing the same with Sebastian as I stand here in her husband’s arms. Well, technically, she is standing here. I find complete justification in that argument as he pushes me back towards the bed and lowers me gently, kissing me intently. “I want to make love to you, slowly,” he says, and I have no argument with that. In fact, I am quite looking forward to it. Sebastian and I can’t keep our hands off each other and even though things with Constantine are not the best right now when we do occasionally make love–it is hard not to when we sleep in the same bed next to each other every night–it is us ripping at each other. This is something else entirely. I could stay here forever just to feel this. This love. I feel a bond with him. Her bond with her charge. It is strong and beautiful. They are so much in love. I had always thought that bonds were two essences connecting with each other. Seems it is more basic than that. Two bodies: their blood, maybe?
He kisses me all the way down her body, nipping at me here and there and generally just driving me into a frenzy. He dives his tongue into me, and I buckle under the pleasure of him licking me. Oh, he is good at that. I feel momentarily bad that I am enjoying her husband, but I push it aside as all I want now is him inside me.
“Cole,” I say. “Please.”
And he doesn’t need asking twice. He thrusts himself inside me and I am in heaven. He kisses me softly and I run my hands down his back. “Take over,” he murmurs.
I do as I am bid and roll us over. Oh, I want to feed from him. I pull him up and drop her fangs. His gray eyes darken to a really deep blue and I stare at him in wonder. I lower my mouth and take my fill of him as I move over him and he can’t get enough.
“Fuck,” he says. “I want to taste you.” He drops his own fangs and takes a bite out of her, which sends me over the edge. “Oh yes,” he groans as he pulls back. “You are addictive,” he mutters as he comes inside me. Yes, this is me. I plan on staying here. If I can feel this every day, I want to stay. I will face The Thirteen again and defeat him easily and anything else he
r life throws up. She can have mine; Empire be damned. She already has her sire where she wants him so the only thing, I need from this life now is my sweet Sebastian. Everything else doesn’t matter.
Chapter 2
I awake in this strange bed with these god-awful sheets, alone. I peer at the clock and it is only 4:45 AM.
“Cole?” I call for him. I want him to make love to me again like he did the five times last night.
He comes in from the bathroom, wet and sexy, and I want him right now. “What is it, baby? Did you have another dream?”
What is this dream thing all about? “No, I want you. Come back to bed,” I say to him.