Choices (The Forever series, Book Four) (3 page)

Frowning at me he asks, "What is that supposed to
mean?"

"Err, duh. I have asked you about your family a million
times and you always change the subject. You won't even talk of them but yet
you get to meet mine? Seems unfair, my dear," I say using a nice patronizing
endearment and it feels good. Also, at this point, I note we have used in-laws
to describe our parents and it warms me. I wonder if he has noticed.

"Yes, I have noticed, my sweet," he says and my
heart thumps at his ability to read my mind and his own endearment. "It is
so far in my past, I just don't like to think about it."

"But how do you feel about…what happened?" I ask
the question I having been dying to ask for centuries. "Don't you ever
wonder?"

"Wonder what? What happened to them after I was made?
How they died? Where they were buried?"

"Yes! All of that.”

“Not really, do you wonder about yours?” he asks hesitantly.
“I mean your human parents.”

“Once, briefly, the first time we went back to England but I
wasn’t fond of them. I was glad to be free of them and to be with you.”

"I know what happened to them if you want to
know," he says slyly, nicely side-stepped as usual.

I pause then, my interest somewhat piqued in light of the
fact that the information is out there for me to know. "You know?"

"Of course. I have been waiting for you to ask,” he
says relieved to have the spotlight off him.

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I was waiting for you to ask. It's a touchy subject,
especially with you. I do know how you felt about them."

I sit down then, a bit overwhelmed that he did he know all
this time. Cole was right.

Calling the pack of smokes to me, I light one.

"Okay. Hit me with it."

My phone, which I had left on the piano when I arrived,
starts to buzz away at that point.

Constantine, who is leaning against the piano, throws it to
me and I catch it, checking the caller ID. I grimace. Just when things were
going better. I answer it anyway.

"Not a good time, Linc. What is it?" I say briskly
and Constantine pulls his face and turns away.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, V.A., but I have something
to tell you," he says hesitantly, using his pet name for me.

"What? I say, impatiently.

"Devon's left."

"Left? What do you mean left?"

"I mean he's packed his bag and gone back to Los
Angeles."

"What? Why? When?" I snap at him and Constantine
looks over at me, concerned.

"About five minutes ago."

Ignoring my own Astral ban, I swirl off downstairs with
Constantine hot on my heels.

"And you are just ringing me now?" I yell at
Lincoln who looks startled to see me in front of him.

"He asked me to give him a head start. He asked for ten
but I knew you would probably kill me if I left it that long. You shouldn't
have Astralled down here," he adds in a reprimand.

"What is going on?" Constantine asks.

Lincoln looks over at him as if noticing him for the first
time but ignores him as I turn to swirl off after Devon. He does a partial
Shift, letting loose his claws and teeth but remaining in human form, and grips
my arm, his claws sinking into my flesh and I scowl at him as he has
effectively cut off my ability to Astral. Much like
Gladius Infernus
stopped Gregor and Eloise from being able to Teleport, claws and fangs when
sunk into me, seem to be my only weakness.

"Get your hands off her," Constantine growls at
him, stepping closer as the blood seeps through the sleeve of my robe.

"You can't go after him, V.A. What are you going to do,
Astral into the middle of JFK and wait for him in your robe?" he says,
still ignoring Constantine. "Besides, he doesn't want you to follow
him," he adds softly.

Knowing he is right, at least about the Astralling part, I
nod grimly and he lets go of me and Shifts back.

"Did he say why?" I ask, my heart breaking as I
already know the answer.

"He needs time away. He's only in L.A. Just give him
some time, he will come back."

"He said it earlier. He said he had to go but I didn't
know what he meant. I didn't have time to go after him, I had to get upstairs,
I was already late," I say, looking at Lincoln in anguish.

He pulls me to him and whispers, "He will come back.
Just give him time."

"No! I won't let him leave me! He can't leave me, Linc.
I need him," I say and start to cry. Constantine pushes Lincoln out of the
way to hold me, stroking my hair and crooning to me.

"He won't be able to stay away," CK says,
obviously having realized that Devon has left me. Again. "You know he will
come back. It's the way it is. He will come back."

I pull away from him and bring Devon's number up on my phone
to ring him. Voicemail of course. I leave a message, hearing the desperation in
my voice, "Dev, baby. Please don't leave me. Please come back. I can't do
this without you. I can't live without you. Please my love. Please come back to
me. Please come back so I can fix this." I start crying again and Constantine
takes the phone away from me and hangs it up. I stare at him and turn away,
sitting next to the fire, leaning my head on the wall and gazing absently into
the flames. I zone out as the flames hypnotize me and I hear Constantine and
Lincoln talking. I hear what they say but don't really take much of it in.

"You're back?" Lincoln snaps at him.

"Yes," Constantine says shortly.

"Good. You've punished her enough. She needs you.
Especially now."

"Mind your own business, Wolf,” he snarls but then asks
quietly, “Why did he go? Do you know?"

Lincoln sighs and says, "Things have been different
since we moved here. With you punishing her and Cole on location in Toronto, he
became the center of her world again. He is in love with her but he wants…more
than she can give him, I guess. He needed to get away to clear his head."

"It's all my fault," I say miserably. "I made
him love me again and then didn't give him myself in return. I am a terrible
sire and a terrible person. I don't deserve him, I don't deserve anyone."

"Aefre, don't say that," Constantine says,
kneeling at my feet. "You are the sweetest, most wonderful person I have
ever met and that's saying something. And you are a wonderful sire. Better than
any I've ever seen. Including myself," he says wryly and I manage a small
smile at his self-recrimination. "You treat your boys fairly and as
equals, which is more than any of the rest of us do. This situation--our
situation--is unusual. Your attentions are divided and we all want more from
you that you can realistically give. Don't blame yourself, my sweet. It is a
testament to your relationship that for over five hundred years you have only
been apart once, for half a century. Do you know how special that is? Not even
you and I have managed that and we are pretty special." He smiles gently
and tilts my chin so I am looking at him while he says, "He will come
back. How can he not?"

I take his face in my hands, needing everything to be all
right with us again. "Tell me you forgive me. Tell me that you love me. I
need you. I need things to be right with us again," I whisper to him.

"There is nothing to forgive, my sweet. You were right
about before, I was just being a stubborn fool. I love you. I need you. I'm
sorry," he says and kisses me tenderly and I feel better. My heart is
still breaking over Devon but at least I have my sire back.

"Ahem," Lincoln clears his throat and we break
apart. "So you just get to waltz back in here and act like nothing
happened? Christ, I still don't understand you Vampires. Weird ass race."

I chuckle in spite of myself. Despite being stuck in a
forest for fifty-seven years, Lincoln has taken to 21
^st
century life
like a duck to water. From technology to the changes in vernacular, you would
never know he had been away.

Constantine turns to him with a smug look, "You will
never understand our bond as you aren't one of us."

"CK," I admonish him, "don't be rude."
And he looks delighted that I have nicknamed him again.

"You two have a lot of catching up to do. In fact, we
all do," Lincoln says.

"Yes, so it would seem," CK says, narrowing his
eyes at Lincoln. "You seem to have made yourself at home."

"It is his home," I say.

"Humph. I meant with you, Aefre," he says slyly.

Lincoln now looks smug and I roll my eyes. "It's new.
Don't poke at it."

"New? How new?"

"Nothing to do with you," I remark blandly.

"Everything to do with you is to do with me," he
remarks back just as blandly.

"Not this," I say through gritted teeth, while
Lincoln just sits there casually as if we aren't discussing our sex life.
Enjoying having my half-naked sire sat in front of me at my feet, having a
banter I lean forward and wrap my arms around him bringing my hands to rest on
his chest as I lean my chin on his shoulder. "I missed you," I
whisper, needing to tell him but also to distract him.

He looks pleased as punch at my actions and words and says,
"I missed you too," as he tilts his head to the side so I can kiss
him. "But you won't distract me that easily, Aefre," he adds. He
glimpses at me and I sigh. "What does Cole make of this addition?" He
asks, not nastily, just interested.

Lincoln laughs, "He wasn't best pleased." I snort,
remembering my husband's furious face when I broached the subject. "He
came around though, in the end."

"I'm sure it didn't take much doing once Aefre turned
on her charm," CK says with a laugh of his own.

I marvel that he is so relaxed and discussing this so
casually when not a couple of hours ago he was so angry with me about this.
Shifting uncomfortably I remember the collar and pull away from him.

"Take it off," he says to me without turning
around.

Pissed that he once again knows my issue without me saying
anything I say, "No." He turns to me, surprised.

"Take what off?" Lincoln asks.

"Take it off," he demands and I shake my head.

"Aefre," he warns me and I smile serenely at him,
now having the power back, knowing it upsets him that I have it on knowing how
it makes me feel. Complex Vampire mind games. I have missed this with him.

"V.A.? What are you talking about?" Lincoln asks
suspiciously now.

"Why do you keep calling her V.A.?" CK now asks,
suspicious himself and also nicely dodging the question.

"
ValamAtrux
," he says as if it's obvious.

"And that would be?" he asks, annoyed to be out of
the loop.

"He doesn't know," I say to Lincoln.

"Oh," Lincoln says and looks away.

"Aefre. What secrets are you keeping now?"

"It's not a secret. You just weren't, you know…" I
shrug.

"Wasn't what?"

"In the mood for us to fill you in," I say
pleasantly and he hisses at me.

"Fill me in about what?"

"She Shifted at Christmas. Went to go and see her
mother," Lincoln says, getting fed up with this to-ing and fro-ing.
"Turns out she is a spectacular creature just like her mother and goes by
the name of
ValamAtrux
."

"You Shifted? To your Dragon form? Aefre, why didn't
you tell me?"

"You weren't exactly talking to me," I say dryly
and he huffs at me.

"You still should have told me.
ValamAtrux
? I
like it. Suits you," he says. "Tell me about it."

"I will. But can you give me my phone back? I want to
ring Devon again."

"He'll be in the air now, his phone will be switched
off. Just leave him for tonight," Lincoln says quietly.

"I will ring the jet phone. I assume he took the G6 and
didn't hang around waiting for a flight to LAX."

"Liv. Don't. He needs time."

"Tough shit. I can accept, just about, that he needed
to go and get some space but he fucking could have told me in person and said
goodbye. Now give it to me."

CK hands it to me and I go to my bedroom to ring the jet.

He answers on the first ring. "Yes?" he snaps.

"You fucking left me? You arsehole. You don't get to
walk away from me."

"Shit, Liv. Why are you ringing? You are just supposed
to accept it and move on."

"Move on? Move on?" I yell at him. "I can't
just move on!"

He sighs, "I just need to get away for a bit. Away from
you. You are taking over my life again, Lizzie, and I just can't do it again. I
can't just be a quick fuck whenever you have time to fit it in."

"That's what you think?" I croak out.

"Yes. You go off to Toronto for three days to be with
Cole, you come back and the first thing you do is go to Lincoln and then I get
twenty minutes before you have to get upstairs to that fucking bastard that has
been treating you like shit for the last few months. I would never treat you
like that, Lizzie. So why do I lose out to him?"

"Fuck, Dev. I'm sorry. I know I have been so busy with
everything lately, but it's no excuse. Please just come home so I can fix
it."

"I am going home. Back to L.A. Just for a bit. I'll be
at home and I'll hold down the fort at work but if you need anything from me
with regard to business ask Lincoln to ring me. You'd better get back to him.
I'm sure you will pay for taking this much time out to speak to me," he
says derisively.

"We're okay," I say shortly.

"Good. That's good," he says softly and he means
it. "At least you will have him now."

"It's not a trade-off, Dev. I need you."

"And I want you. One hundred percent. We don't always
get what we want. I'll get over this. Just let me. Okay?" and he hangs up.

My shoulders sag as I realize he isn't going to come back
anytime soon. I go back into the sitting room to find CK on his phone and
Lincoln flicking through his.

"You okay?" Lincoln asks as CK hangs up.

I shake my head. "Not really. He's going home though.
To our home. That's a good sign right? That he isn't going to be gone
long?"

"Absolutely," CK says and Lincoln says,
"Sure." And whether they said it to humor me or not, I feel better.

Lincoln stands and comes to give me a tight hug.
"Everything will be okay. We'll get through this. I promise," he says
and drops his mouth to mine to kiss me and I let him, needing a distraction.

CK clears his throat behind us and I pull away.
"Aefre," he grumbles, "time to go."

Lincoln gets a wicked glint in his eye as he pulls on the
belt of my robe and it falls open. He turns me around to face my sire whose
face is a picture of fury as Lincoln squeezes my nipples and nuzzles my neck.

"Aww, come on now. What's a family reunion without a
bit of sharing?" he says seductively.

"No sharing tonight. This is my time," CK says
sternly.

Lincoln ignores him as he moves his hands further down,
lightly brushing over me. He pulls us back towards the sofa and sits, pulling
me onto his lap. I lean back against his chest, enjoying the attention and
wiggle in delight as he pushes his fingers inside me.

"Oh baby," he whispers to me, eyes on CK's furious
reaction. Unable to help myself I come against his fingers as he rubs them over
me and he says to CK, "You're right. There really isn't anything like it
in the world." I writhe against him, relaxing, completely at his mercy.

"Ah," he breathes as I move against him. "You
wouldn't let her rile me up like this and leave me hanging would you? At least
let me watch."

CK narrows his eyes and moves closer, observing Lincoln
still playing with me and my reaction to it. For all his time spent away,
Lincoln has more than made up for it with me. I delight in his desire to please
me and to learn new ways in which to do so. Devon has been most instructive and
we have had many a pleasing night, the three of us.

"Or would you prefer to watch me? What would you like
to see me do to her?" he asks slyly.

CK crouches in front of us with a hunger in his eyes that I
haven't seen for a while. "Oh, the things I would like to see you do to
her," he says softly and a frisson of uneasiness goes through me. Lincoln,
surprised by the whiff of fear coming from me, flicks his eyes to CK's.