Switch (The Forever Series, Book 7) (14 page)

“Why are you so interested?” I ask with a smile. “Ah, wait.
I see. You are trying to find out if he fucked the girl last night.” I tilt my
head at him and he looks away.

“Well?” he asks.

“None of your business,” I say smartly and turn towards the
door as there is a knock. I assume Ramon, as Xane would just Astraport in.

He follows me quickly to the door and is hovering as I open
it to let in Ramon. I step back into him and throw him an irritated look. “A
bit of space please.”

“Sorry,” he mutters as he gives me some room.

What is with him today? He is being weirder than usual.

I sit Ramon down and feed hungrily, pausing to kiss him
softly as is our usual custom, before I straighten up. CK dismisses him as Xane
arrives, and the two of them glower at each other from several feet away. Still
no love lost there then.

“You are supposed to be playing nice,” I snap at them both
and they adjust their features to matching neutral expressions.

“Ready to go?” Xane says, unable to keep the smug out of his
tone.

“Yes,” I say. I turn to CK and pull him to me for a
lingering kiss and his own smug returns as he wraps his arms around me.

“This moment is too brief. Please come to me before
Tuesday,” he murmurs.

“I’ll try,” I murmur back and I pull away from him. I feel
as bereft as he looks, missing his touch but I smile at him as I grab Xane’s
hand. “You do the honors,” I say to him and without a look back, he Astraports
us to his home in The Underworld.

“Whoa,” he says as he looks at me and I look down at myself.

“Holy crap. How did that happen?” I ask, perplexed, as I run
my hand down my Xerxei person.

“Because you are coming home,” he says quietly. “Don’t Shift
back. Not yet.”

Well I can’t even if I wanted to. This damn form is a bitch
for impromptu appearances and for wanting to stick around.

“Xane, dear?” Xanthe’s voice makes me turn around and her
frosty eyes go to me, sweeping over me in a not-so-friendly way until she
reaches my eyes and she must recognize me, somehow.

“Your Majesty?” she asks and I nod. “I almost didn’t
recognize you. You are…” she puts her hand to her heart as Xerxes joins her.
“Breathtaking,” he says with a fatherly smile. “Just as I knew you would be.”

I simper under his praise and Xane smiles at me, taking my
hand. “That she is,” he murmurs. “Mother, Father, if you would excuse us, we
have business to attend to and I think it best to remove Xerxei from prying
eyes. Let the crowd know they can gawk at her after we have studied,” he says,
waving his hand in the direction of the growing group of, indeed, gawkers.

“Of course,” Xanthe gushes and ushers us up the stairs as
Xerxes turns and dismisses everyone. “Do let me know if you need anything,” she
says.

“We will be fine,” Xane says as he closes his bedroom door
and turns around to face me. “Alone at last,” he says with a wicked gleam and I
laugh at him.

“You are incorrigible. I need to learn,” I say, sitting at
his desk.

“And you are driving me to distraction,” he says with a sigh
as he sits too. “Fine.” He opens the Grimoire and I feel the shimmer of Power
come out of it.

“Mostly I need to learn how to read it,” I say. “I am fairly
certain once I can do that, I will be okay.”

“The reading of it is easy,” he replies and picks up a pen
and hands it to me. “This text is translated into English, it is merely the
alphabet that you need to learn.”

“That seems too easy,” I say, taking the pen.

“Well it wasn’t always the case. Thousands of years ago it
was originally written in Babylonian in Demonic text. Now that, I can assure
you, was a ball ache to learn at school.”

“You went to school?” I ask incredulously.

“Of course,” he says. “Didn’t you? Oh, well, no, I suppose you
probably didn’t, being a girl.”

“I beg your pardon?” I ask, affronted.

“Sorry, I meant as a human, you wouldn’t have gone to
school. I assume you must have, at some point since becoming a Vampire, as they
don’t just hand out Harvard MBAs to any old fool.”

“Oh,” I say, placated. “No, I didn’t go to school as a
human, but I have been to many universities over the years. I am just surprised
that there are Demonic schools,” I say, looking slightly abashed. “I suppose
that sounds incredibly dumb of me.”

“Not really. But our society runs the same way as anyone
else’s. Education is important.”

“Yes it is. So you had to learn the original text?”

“Yes, and all the other translations that have been compiled
along the way.”

“How many?” I ask interested.

“Four.”

“Huh. I’m going to take a wild guess and say Babylonian,
Akkadian, Latin, and now English,” I say, counting them off on my fingers.

“You’d be right,” he says with a smile. He shuffles his
chair closer to mine and I can feel the heat coming from him and I want to
touch him, but keep my hands to myself as he proceeds to teach me the Demonic
alphabet. It is fairly simple and I pick it up quickly much to his delight.

“So clever, aren’t you?” he says.

“I try,” I say as I sit back. I look at the clock and see we
have been sat here for several hours.

“Break time,” he declares and stands up, pulling me up with
him.

“What do we do at break time?” I say.

“This,” he says as he pulls me to him and kisses me. I let
him for a few moments as I run my hands up his chest but then push him back.

“Stop pushing me away,” he says, frustrated. “I have tried
to be patient with you, Xerxei, but you are making it very difficult for me.”

“Xane,” I start but he shushes me.

“Don’t. Don’t go into an explanation of why we can’t be
together. We should be together and this is just bullshit. No one else should
factor into the decision. It is me and you and that is it. Just stop over
thinking it, for once just stop thinking and feel.” He kisses me again and I
stop thinking as he brushes his hands over my breasts. Encouraged when I don’t
push him away he slips his hands under the hem of my vest top, pushing it up as
his hands go around to my back. I can feel the fire start to burn deep inside
me. In that small empty space, previously unnoticed, that now starts to fill
up, making me whole once again. Try as I might, I cannot deny this bond we
have, we are two halves of the same circle and I need him, as he needs me. I
know I should stop this, but I don’t want to as he pulls back from our kiss and
removes my top, letting it drop forgotten to the floor. He gazes at me
lustfully, as his hands go to undo the button on my jeans. I have no idea where
this outfit came from, as it isn’t mine and wasn’t what I was wearing when I
left the suite as Liv. Down to the sexy underwear, bra and panties, that he is
now brushing his fingers over lightly, as he drops to his knees, tugging on the
jeans to get them to come off. He removes my shoes and discards the jeans and
then kisses me, licking me through the lacy fabric of the panties and then his
teeth come up to tug them from me and they too get discarded. He stands and
unclasps the bra and my heavy breasts fall free into his hands and he squeezes
them, rubbing his hands over my nipples.

“I love you,” he says as he drops his mouth to me, sucking
on me as my hands work to free him from his own clothes. He magicks them off as
I struggle, desperate to have our skin touching, he crushes me to him and picks
me up as he walks to the bed. He lays me down gently as he kisses me and, now
confident I am not going to reject him, he lets me go and trails his hands down
me as his mouth follows. He slowly parts my legs and thrusts his tongue into me
and I cry out, needing more of him. He adds his fingers and I come quickly. He
rises up to his knees and is inside me before I have finished throbbing. “Oh
fuck, yes,” he breathes as he pounds into me. “I love you,” he says as he
lowers himself to kiss me and I wrap my legs around him. “Please, Xerxei,
please tell me you love me,” he whispers so quietly but I can’t. Not now. Not
yet. I roll us over and placing my hands on his chest, I move over him. I feel
myself Shift back to Liv, to my relief, as I was getting very worried about my
Vampire bonds disintegrating, and I drop my fangs as I pull him up. “I want to
taste you,” I say and his eyes go black as he nods. I lower my mouth to him and
slowly sink my fangs into him. Oh, he tastes good. Like cinnamon and spice with
a fiery aftertaste.

“I wish I could bite you back,” he says as I let him go and
he heals instantly. “I want to take you from behind.”

I climb off him and turn around and he is on his knees,
quickly thrusting into me, roughly pulling on my hips as I slide over him. He
sits back pulling me with him and kisses my back as I move over him. He stills
suddenly and sighs deeply as he licks my Demon marking gently before touching
it lightly with his lips. “Oh, Xerxei,” he murmurs before he pushes my head to
the side, exposing my neck to his left. He bites down on me, simulating feeding
as he kneads my breasts harshly and with a burst of fire coursing through me, I
come right before he does.

Breathing heavily, he falls back to the bed and I suddenly
remember that I had gotten rid of the curse to do the ritual with CK. I keep my
fingers crossed that nothing happens here. This is just getting too difficult.
I climb off him and snuggle with him, still needing to touch him, to feel our
heat. As soon as I stop touching him it disappears and I don’t like the
feeling, which is not good news either.

“You can’t make me wait as long next time,” he whispers as
he runs his hand through my hair. “I felt like I was dying.”

“I know,” I say quietly and he looks at me, startled.

“You do?”

“I feel it,” I say, kissing his chest. “I don’t want to and
it is
all
kinds of wrong, but at the same time it is so right,” I sigh
deeply and he does too.

“I get that it is difficult for you. Your situation is
complicated. But Liv, you just cannot deny me anymore. I won’t allow it. It is
making me weak when I should be strong. When we should be strong together.”

“I don’t know what to do,” I say, unsure.

“Be with me,” he says simply. “And stop taking this off.” He
holds up my fireball necklace.

I smile sheepishly, “I’m sorry. It hurts…”

“Your Vampires. I know. But I want you to keep it on. They
get everything else from you. Just give me this.”

I nod and sit up, curling my hair over my shoulder as he
puts it back on me, again his fingers brushing my DX Marking. “This makes you
mine,” he says. “It makes me yours. You claimed me and I accepted. Don’t fight
it now.”

I turn back to face him and he can see I am caving, but I
still have my doubts.

“Just for us, Liv. Just let it be for us. No one else has to
know or be a part of it. I already told you, I don’t like my personal life
being public. I will be happy, if you just say we can be together.”

“What about your family?” I ask, concerned.

“None of their business,” he says quickly.

I nod and then snuggle back into him, needing his arms
around me, warming me. He sighs again, but content this time. I twiddle the
ring I gave to him and he clasps my hand in his. I know he wants to say
something but hesitates.

“You want to know about the kids other you has with other
her, don’t you?” I ask with a big smile and he clears his throat.

“Maybe,” he says. “Do you know?”

“Yes. Do you want to know?”

“Yes,” he says softly.

“Two sons,” I say. “I don’t know their names.”

“I like that,” he says happily. “I can sense you have
something to say about The Thirteen,” he says, changing the subject abruptly.

“I do. I was going to wait until tonight to tell everyone
but seeing as you ask…she told me how to get rid of it.” I tell him what she
told me.

“Oh, good. Can I come with you?”

“Err, I have no idea. I suppose you could piggy back as
well, but I think this is something I have to do alone.”

“No, I get that, but I don’t like the idea of you going
alone with no one to watch you. I won’t interfere but I would feel happier if
you had someone there. Preferably me.”

“Okay, if you can make the journey, then I will be happy to
have you there. But you do it on your own, I can’t be responsible for helping
you when I have to concentrate.”

“Good,” he says, a bit relieved I didn’t argue about it.
Truth be told, I am glad he offered to come. He is probably the only one who is
capable of making the trip and getting back in one non-fried piece.

“I should probably be heading back,” I say to his
disappointment. “Can I take a shower?”

“Can I join you?”

“Of course. It’s your shower. I wouldn’t dream of kicking
you out of it,” I say with a giggle and he stands, pulling me up with him and
leading me to his bathroom. It’s very much like my one at home, black marble
and low lighting.

He turns the jets on and we step into the massive shower and
I just stand for a moment, eyes closed, feeling the water cascade over me
before I feel him touch me again, and I lose myself to him.

“I love you,” he whispers over and over as he gives me a
very slow, very thorough seeing to under this waterfall of a shower.

“I love you,” I murmur back completely under his spell
(figuratively speaking, not a literal spell…I don’t think, anyway).

He hisses as he hears my words and lets me go, rubbing his
left inside wrist.

“What?” I ask him, pushing my wet hair out of my face. “What
is it?”

He is staring at his wrist for the longest time before he
shows me: an exact replica of my Demon marking, only smaller.

“Holy crap,” I say as I grab his arm.

“Truly yours now,” he says, the love filling his eyes as he
picks me up and starts all over again right from the beginning with little
kisses, and ending with a joint orgasm that leaves me weak in the knees and my
heart pounding.