“You are wrong!” Constantine yells. “Without me, she wouldn’t have lived long enough to be anybody’s. Three Worlds, Sebastian, and the same thing happened again and again. I met her and I turned her. I am the original one and this time we will get this right.”
Sebastian just shrugs as if that means nothing to him. “She was destined as my Faerie mate, so it would have happened without you. In fact, there is probably another World out there where we have been together all this time. None of you will win her. She is mine.”
“Wrong,” Constantine says in a tone that is deathly quiet. “She will choose me in the end.”
Lincoln remains quiet as he watches this standoff between the two of them. Devon joins them after a few silent moments and takes in the scenario in front of him with a raised eyebrow followed by a sigh.
“I wish you would all stop fighting over her,” he grumbles. “Can’t you see what it’s doing to her?”
“You would fight too if you thought you had a chance,” Lincoln says. He didn’t mean it to hurt his friend, but it’s the truth. Devon gives him such a death stare; it makes him think that maybe Devon does have a chance with her, and he knows it.
“None of you have a chance,” Sebastian says again. “Aeval and I are married, and we will be joining her father in the Fae Kingdoms as soon as our child is born.”
Aeval? Lincoln grasps onto the only thing left he can fight with. “You call her Aeval. When she Shifts, she becomes someone else. She will resent you for that eventually and she will want to Shift back.”
“It’s true,” Devon says woefully. “I know that better than most.”
“It doesn’t matter to me who she is,” Sebastian says. “I see past the Shifts. I don’t see Aefre or Aeval or Elizabeth. I just see her. My essence sees hers as she sees mine and we are in love, bound. I would sacrifice everything for her as she would for me.”
Devon sets his mouth into a tight line and looks at Constantine. “Are you just going to stand there and let him say these things?”
Good question. Lincoln also turns to look at Constantine expectantly, at the same time wondering how Devon has the balls to cause so much trouble with so few words.
Constantine takes in a deep breath and smiles. A self-confident, satisfied, smug smile that only he can achieve. “He can say whatever he likes,” he says. “Aefre and I have already spoken, and I know she will choose me.”
So, where does that leave me? Lincoln knows he doesn’t stand a chance now. She has already given up on him and these two seem confident in their words. Both want her and neither one is going to give up. It leaves him only once choice. He has to give up. If it was meant to be, she will come back to him, but in the meantime, there is only one thing he can do. He looks to Devon as the only person he can trust in the room and says quietly. “Please tell Liv I need to speak to her as soon as she gets back. Tell her I get it, but I need to see her.”
Devon nods stoically and Lincoln slopes off back outside, devastated, but he knows he must move on now. He can’t leave his Pack in limbo anymore. He is an Alpha and he has to start acting like one. He has lost his one true love, but that doesn’t mean life doesn’t go on.
He squares his shoulders and shoves the door to his house open. He doesn’t have far to go until he sees Chrissy waiting for him in the sitting room. She is pacing and looking anxious. She stops when she sees him and she must see the resolve on his face, as she smiles and comes closer to him. She opens her mouth to say something, but he doesn’t want to talk. He just wants to do this and then it’s over. He grabs her and spins her around, pulling her hair over her shoulder. He does a partial Shift, letting loose his sharp teeth and claws. He lowers his mouth to her neck and bites down swiftly. She gasps and brings his wrist up to her mouth. She sinks her own teeth into the soft skin and with the exchange of blood they are Paired. He can feel it. He wasn’t sure what would happen as Liv is still very much alive, but maybe she is right. She isn’t really one of them. She is no longer in his head. The space that used to house their Telepathic connection is gone. He releases his new Alpha mate and she turns around to face him. She keeps her mouth shut as she takes her top off and throws it onto the floor. He rakes his eyes down her body, needing a release for all these feelings coursing through him. He goes hard as she strips off her pants and he reaches for her, but she steps back. She Shifts to her Wolf form and he lets out a howl. She knows exactly what he needs. He strips off his own clothes and with another howl that reverberates through the house, he Shifts to his true form to take his new Alpha mate as nature intended.
Chapter 18
The Underworld, March 2014 – Cade
Cade showers again. It is the sixth time he has done this since he disgraced himself and he can’t seem to get himself clean. His soul, no, that’s not what he has anymore, his essence–that’s what they call it, is smudged. He di
d the one thing he vowed he would never do and that is touch her in that way. He wishes that he hadn’t, and he knows he will never do it again. He has no idea how he will face her again after what he did. He used her. Used her. All to make himself feel better.
And he does.
He feels a hundred times better than he did before he took her, but there is no way he will do it again. He somehow has to find a way to keep getting stronger without going near her again. He doesn’t even think he can feed from her again. His stomach goes queasy as he thinks about it. He closes his eyes as the only solution comes to mind. He has to start feeding on human blood. It is the only other option. He doesn’t want to, but he wants to feed from her even less. With that decision made, he gets dressed and peeks out into the corridor. He doesn’t want to run into anyone on his way down to the kitchen. They will probably see the guilt and revulsion on his face and he just doesn’t want to have to explain to anyone why he is suddenly embarking on a human blood hunt after he has refused it, even when he was at death’s door. He won’t bite anyone. He doesn’t want a Feeder, but he knows there are blood bottles stored in the kitchen refrigerator and he will go and get one of those and then drink it in the privacy of his bedroom, where he can throw it up if he has to until he gets used to it. He makes it to the kitchen without incident. The house is deathly quiet. He thought there would be more activity after the almighty rumblings that happened earlier. He stayed out of it as it surely had nothing to do with him, and he doesn’t even want to know what drama that woman has caused this time. She is the world’s biggest troublemaker and not for the first time he wishes he had stayed away. Life would be so much easier on the other side. Sure, he would probably have been taken out by the über Vamp Hunter-hunters that belong to Constantine, and are run efficiently and effectively by Nico, but he sometimes thinks he would prefer that over this life he has ended up with. He was quite happy to be Liv’s go-to guy. He had a good thing going. He loved his work but being turned has just blown it all to crap. Not the least because he has been flat on his back for most of the time due to his sire’s absence. He’d always thought that was a load of shit. A myth taught to newbie Vamps so that they stayed close where their sire could keep a watchful eye on them. But oh, no, it’s no myth. Too bad he had to find out firsthand.
He reaches into the refrigerator and grabs one of the bottles. He knows Liv doses her own up with Scotch and he hopes that the taste of a good 30-year will dull the revulsion. He turns to sneak back upstairs with his booty when Jess comes flying into the kitchen, her face stained with tears and a terrified look on her face.
“Cade,” she shouts as she sees him. “You have to help me.” She grabs his arms and he stumbles slightly under the force of her grip.
“What is it?” he asks, although he really isn’t in the mood for female Vampire dramatics. The guys, while hotheaded, just get on with shit. These birds are something else altogether.
“You have to help me,” she says again, more desperately this time.
“How?” he asks with a frown.
“Devon is going to get rid of me,” she shrieks. “I can’t be without him; I need to be near him. Don’t let him throw me out.”
“What?” he asks, totally confused. “He’s not going to throw you out.”
“He is,” she insists. “I made him so mad.”