“Well, you are going to have to learn,” I say. “I really don’t understand this thing with you men, it’s silly.” I refer to the territorial thing, which makes me always have to go via the shower. I can be territorial as much as the next girl, as are all Vampires both male and female, but not when it comes to this.
Cole is looking at me in amazement. “You don’t know?” he asks me. “You don’t feel it?”
I frown at him. “Feel what? Jealousy?” I ask.
Cole shakes his head at me and CK gets in on that. “My sweet, it is so much more than that for us men,” he says. “Male Vampires have a strong urge to protect what is theirs and even the whiff of another male being around sets off a very primal response in us.” He says this quite seriously or I would have burst out laughing. What a load of crap, I think. He is just trying to justify his actions.
Cole can see I don’t believe, and he takes my hand. “Liv, it’s true,” he says to my surprise. “The feeling is…overwhelming. The urge to kill to keep others away.”
“What?” I squeak. “How is that possible? I have been around male Vampires for a thousand years! I haven’t seen that reaction in any of them, except…” I indicate CK and then I look back at Cole and remember that I saw it in him too the first time the three of us were together. That look of pure instinct in his eyes. Is it because we are especially bound to one another? “But, with Devon?” I say at a loss. “You never…”
He sighs and says, “Because I have a special, uh, something with Devon. Not a bond really, but after the whole Power of One thing, we are connected in a way that I can’t really explain to you.”
“But why did you never mention it before?” I ask, slightly upset that he thought he couldn’t share that with me.
“Because it is between me and Devon,” he replies. “I don’t ask you to try to explain what you have with him to me, do I?”
Oh, no I guess not. I look back at CK who is just sitting there listening with interest. He finds us “lesser” Vampires an odd bunch. He doesn’t have the ties that we have to one another, except maybe in a way with Sebastian and me, and he is intrigued with Cole’s explanation. Not enough to ask more about it though, of course. That won’t do to show an interest in someone other than himself.
“Then it is simple,” I say after a beat. “You two have to bond somehow.”
I have stopped a lot of conversations in my years on this planet, but never in quite the same way as I have right now. I smirk at their complete and utter shock and horror at my suggestion.
“Bond?” CK croaks out like I had asked him to kill himself. Cole looks like he wants to die right now, but I nod my head.
“Yes, bond. It can’t be too hard. If what you say is true, then this is the only solution. We cannot keep going on the way we are. It won’t work,” I say determinedly.
“I suppose,” CK ventures with a quick look at Cole who avoids his gaze. “How?” he asks. “As I understand it, your bonds are formed at the time of turning. How are we just supposed to make one?”
“In much the same way Cole just described his bond to Devon. Through me,” I state, having figured out a great idea.
“You?” Cole asks, rejoining the conversation.
“Yes, me. We will do a ritual where we all share blood and the Power of me should,” I bring my palms together tightly, “bond you!” I finish up, elated with my plan. Not only will this be an interesting experiment to see if it works, and if it does, bond CK and Cole together, but it will be a pretty amazing experience for me as well.
“Yes, well. We’ll see,” CK says and shifts uncomfortably, still staring at my joined hands.
“No, we’ll do,” I say firmly. “Tonight, in the clearing.”
Cole nods reluctantly, knowing that there is no getting away from it. He is going to become inextricably tied to my sire and he is not happy about it. Neither is CK, but it is just tough shit. My decision has been made.
I feel an intense rush of power behind me and look over my shoulder with a big smile. I know exactly who just popped into my library and I couldn’t be more excited to see him. Them. I get to my feet and rush inside, followed closely by Cole and CK, and run straight into the waiting arms of my father.
“Daddy!” I say to him, hugging him fiercely. “I am so glad to see you again, finally.”
“My Princess,” Drake says, hugging me back just as tightly. “I know, I apologize. It has been a busy time.”
I nod in understanding. There has been a civil war going on in the Fae Kingdoms between Dark and Light since Aelfric assaulted me and Drake killed him over it. “I wanted to come and see you, but I thought under the circumstances…” I say and shrug as he lets me go.
“We don’t blame you,” he says crossly. “It was Aelfric who caused this. He deserved what he got for daring to hurt you.”
I lower my eyes and feel guilty anyway that a nation is fighting over something that I, however inadvertently, caused.
I turn my attention then to Sebastian, who is fiercely hugging Constantine. I look away as they are sharing something quite intimate. CK said that he hasn’t seen him in months and they clearly missed each other. CK lets him go and I step forward to hug him. I have missed him too, only I can’t tell anyone that, as I am not supposed to be involved with him. That doesn’t mean that we haven’t been together since I was last in the Fae Kingdoms with him several months ago, it just means it is still a secret. A big one. For all the secrets that came flooding out, this one is just ours to keep. I am still worried about the Faerie baby that is supposed to be conceived between us, so we have a strict policy of going anywhere but there. He grumbles, but it’s that or nothing. We embrace and he ruffles my hair in a familiar gesture, which has me batting his hand away.
“Nice to see you, little one,” he says with a grin. “You look good.”
“So do you,” I say and then get pulled away from him and into CK’s arms possessively. I can tell he is eager to share our recent news and he is about to do so when another ru