The Ties that Bind (The Forever series, Book Five) (14 page)

He looks pained as he sees the change, but again steps
closer to me. He cups my face in both of his hands and drops his mouth to mine.
He kisses me slowly and deeply, his tongue moving against mine in the same
slow, steady rhythm that he was using against another part of me yesterday. He
pulls back and murmurs, “I want to tongue fuck you again. I want to taste you.”
I gasp into his mouth at his words as he kisses me again. He runs his tongue
along my top teeth, teasing me and my fangs that have been aching to drop for
hours--now able--descend, slicing into his tongue and drawing blood. He hisses
as his blood fills my mouth and I lap at his tongue in desperation. I am hungry
for blood now and he tastes like nectar from the Gods. I pull his head closer
to me, my sharp fangs scratching his tongue, his lips, and he moans in ecstasy.
He moves his hand under my skirt and brushes his fingers lightly over me and I
shiver. But it jolts me back to the present and I push him away. Kisses and
feeding are one thing. Touching falls into a whole different bag.

“I must go. Cole will be worried.” I step back from him and
Astral out, leaving him looking mournfully after me.

“Liv.” Cole throws himself at me as he sees me back in
normal form. “Thank God.”

I smile at him and raise my hand to his cheek and this time
he reacts. He turns his face into my palm and kisses me there before pulling me
so close and kissing my lips. I am quite conscious that I must now not only
have Devon’s scent all over me but also Xane’s blood in my mouth. If he notices
he doesn’t say anything so I kiss him back desperately.

“I need you,” he says as he pushes his hands up my skirt. He
inhales deeply and hesitates. “I can’t wait. Just this once,” he mumbles to
himself as he pushes me back to the bedroom, shedding me of my top and skirt in
the process. He picks me up and pushes me against the wall and I free him and
push him inside me, needing him as much as he needs me. I pull his head to my
neck and tilt away and his fangs drop straight into my flesh as he feeds,
needing this intimacy to restore our bond, to restore his strength. He pounds
into me and I come quickly. He releases the bite and turns us to face the bed.
He throws me down in the middle as he strips off his clothes and then he is on
me, kissing me, nipping me, licking me, driving me to the point of distraction.
He moves to sit up and pulls me onto his lap. “Feed,” he orders and I don’t need
asking twice. I suckle, slowly and deeply, lost in the taste of his blood, lost
in his touch and I can feel our bond stronger than ever, an almost glowing gold
ribbon tying us together. He must have thrust inside me again at some point as
I suddenly feel the rush again, “Together,” I say to him as I release him.
“Tell me when.”

“Now,” he growls and I am ready for him. We come together in
perfect sync and everyone is happy.

That is, everyone except Constantine, who clears his throat
from the doorway. “Nice to see you back, Aefre, but did you have to do this on
our bed?”

Our bed? We have a bed? Well, I suppose you could call this
hotel room bed “our bed” as we are temporarily sharing it but Cole is not going
to like that in the slightest. I chance a quick peek up at him and no, he isn’t
impressed.

“There was nowhere else,” I say in a huff. “Unless you would
have preferred we go to Sebastian’s bed?” I say, knowing he will like that
option even less.

He grunts at me and changes the subject, “How did you find
yourself again?”

Pulling the covers over me and Cole in a show of false
modesty--more for Cole’s benefit than mine--I tell him the story of the wards
and he seems surprised but thrilled. “So you are weaker when you are not a
Vampire?” he says as he sits on the bed.

“Seems so,” I say.

“Tiamat is not going to like that.”

“Tough shit. Even She can’t deny now that without the
Vampire, I wouldn’t be who I am. I suppose it makes sense actually,” I muse.
“After all, the prophecy was about a Vampire. Not a Demon.”

“Why do you think you Shifted to Xerxei in the first place?”
Cole asks, quite enjoying this naked cuddling in front of my sire.

“I don’t know. She seems quite forceful. Although the
strangest thing was the Dragon was at peace. She was sleeping.” Both of them
look surprised at that as they both know the Dragon is quite active but even
when She is still She is awake and alert. “What is She doing now?” I ask Cole.

He pushes me forward away from him and peers at my back.
“She’s doing that thing where She wants me to stroke Her,” he giggles in
delight and I shiver as he runs his hand over my back.

I look back to Constantine who looks like he wants to commit
murder and I realize it is because he has never really seen me this intimate
with Cole before and he certainly wasn’t aware that he has a personal
relationship with my Dragon. I smile uncertainly at him and he puts his
shutters back in place. “You need to rest, Aefre,” he says quietly.

“I know. I’m exhausted.”

“I’ll bring you some blood and then you should sleep. The
girl is probably going to wake later and you need to be focused.”

I nod my thanks and he leaves silently.

“Our bed, eh?” Cole says slyly. “I thought he preferred his
own space.”

“Not lately,” I say lightly, but nothing more as he returns
with blood. I down it hungrily and put the glass on the bedside cabinet. I
snuggle further down the bed and gratefully lower my head to the pillow. “Can
he stay, please?” I ask my sire in a tone I know he can’t refuse.

He smiles softly, sadly, “Of course, my love.” He bends down
to kiss my forehead and nods at Cole and leaves again. I look at the clock and
it is 2:30 AM. I close my eyes and don’t open them again until it is light out
and I am looking straight into the sleeping face of my sire. My breath catches
as I watch him.

I feel Cole’s arm tighten around me as he senses my movement
and I turn to him. He is still fast asleep. I lie back down quietly, enjoying
being sandwiched between the two. Pity nothing will ever come from this. Devon
is one thing; CK is something else entirely in Cole’s mind. After Sibiu, I
think it will be a long, long time before he considers it. But that is okay for
now. One day he will come around.

“Having wicked thoughts, my sweet,” CK says softly to me and
I turn to him with a smile.

“How can you tell?” I say just as softly.

“I know you,” he says simply and leans over to give me a
quick kiss on the mouth.

He takes my hand and holds it lightly and I take comfort in
his touch, slight as it is.

“I’m glad you are back Aefre. I thought I had lost you.”

“I thought I had lost myself. When I realized that I had no
connection to Devon I understood what it was you were trying to say to me. I’m
sorry for being a stubborn fool.” I turn my head towards him as he does to me
and we are nose to nose.

“I expect nothing less from you, my sweet,” he says with a
soft chuckle. “But I am glad that you see now that without your Vampire self,
we all have something to lose.”

I nod.

“I will leave you to your husband. He won’t be best pleased
to find me here when he wakes up.” Again with the generosity, I think. “I can
afford to be generous,” he says again, reading my thoughts. “After what you
have offered me, I will do anything for you.” And he is gone in a flash of
Vampire speed as Cole stirs next to me. I turn to him, “Hey baby.”

“Hey,” he says, rubbing his face with his hand. “God, I feel
like I have slept for months. I always sleep better when you are next to me.”

“As do I.” I kiss him and climb on top of him but he pushes
me away.

“As much as I want you, I can still smell Devon all over you
and it is getting my hackles up,” he says with a grimace.

“I will go shower,” I say and climb off him and head to the
bathroom.

No sooner have I stepped in the shower he joins me with a
small smile and says, “Who am I kidding? I can’t resist you when you throw
yourself at me.”

“Throw myself at you? I like the sound of that,” I say with
a chuckle.

“Here, let me,” he takes the soap out of my hand and gives
me a very thorough cleaning and I am reveling at his gentle touch. He finishes
up and kisses me and then ruins all of his good work with a hard and fast fuck
against the wall of the shower, the water beating down on us.

“I’ve come to some decisions,” I say to him as we are
getting dry and dressed.

“Oh, what about?” he asks, a bit warily.

I tell him and he looks stunned, “Is that what you want?”

“Yes. I have called Scott up here with Lincoln, Devon, Nico,
and Cade. We are going to have a meeting about it now. Is there anything you
want to say before I speak to them?”

“Cade?” he asks, confused and I remember that he doesn’t
know. I fill him in and he looks concerned but I brush it off.

“Don’t worry about it, my love. It’s handled.”

“Sure,” he says, unconvinced. “When did you call Scott and
Lincoln?”

I tap my head.

“Oh. No, I have nothing to say. It is your decision. I will
support whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want?” I say slyly.

“Whatever you want,” he repeats. “With one exception.”

I don’t even need to ask what that is so I just smile and
say, “You don’t have to worry about that,” conveniently ignoring the last two
days of indiscretions. I am glad he said that as there is something else that
needs deciding but that won’t be up to me to discuss without permission, so I
say nothing for now.

CK comes into the bedroom and announces our visitors. “Good.
Get Sebastian as well and if Vivienne is here please ask her to leave,” I
order. He nods, wondering what is going on but goes anyway.

“Nice to have you back,” Devon says, coming over to hug me
tightly. “I was worried,” he adds quietly.

“So was I,” I agree and again I repeat the wards story so
everyone is up to speed.

“So what is this meeting about?” Scott asks.

“Please sit.” I motion Devon, Scott, and Lincoln to the
sofa. Nico stands in the far corner behind me and Cade in the opposite corner
in front of me, already clearly in sync with one another and I find it quite
sweet. CK stands to next to Sebastian who is lounging in the doorway of his
bedroom and Cole is standing next to me by the coffee table, but a little bit
away, so I have the attention of the whole room on me. I sit on the coffee
table and begin. “I have come to some decisions about this life I am leading.
My life. It is getting confusing and distracting and between running the
company, my Queenly duties, and allocating you all onto days of the week, it is
getting ridiculous. Something has to give.” I pause and I sense the mounting
concern that I am going to turn around and sack everyone off.

I look at Devon and his face drops but I smile reassuringly
at him, “With your agreement I am stepping down as CEO at Saxon. I just can’t
give it any more attention and to be fair, I am done. I will remain your
partner with my shares but I will no longer have anything to do with the
running of the company. It is yours, my love.”

Devon stares at me like I have grown another head or two.
“No,” he says. “We do it together or not at all.”

“Devon…” I start.

“Let me finish,” he snaps at me to the amusement of everyone
in the room except me.

“We built that place together. It is ours. If you go, I go.
The last year has been so hectic and everything has changed, everyone has
changed. I refuse your offer of CEO as I no longer want to be CFO. All or
nothing, Kitten.”

“Dev. You don’t have to resign just because I am.”

“I’m not. I will also keep my shares, we will just have to
appoint new management.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” he says with finality.

“Right, then. I had assumed as much but wanted to make sure.
We’re out. Now I do hope that you will agree with my next decision.” I turn to
look at Scott who isn’t looking best pleased that we have bowed out. “Scott.
You have been the best assistant that I could ever have hoped for. You have
done your job far better than I could have anticipated and to be frank, I think
that you have single-handedly run the company in my stead for nearly six months
now. I cannot think of anyone else better suited to take over than you.”

“Agreed,” says Devon straightaway, having already known my
intention.

“I beg your pardon?” he says in shock. “I am not qualified
to run a billion-dollar empire.”

“What do you think you have been doing the last six months?
Even before that I only turned up after you had done most of the work. You are
more than qualified and I trust you to carry on doing a great job. You are one
of us now. One of mine and I want to keep it in the family and there is no one
better to hand it to. You can think it over, but I hope that you say yes.”

He thinks it over. He knows everything I have said is true.
His false modesty is touching but he knows he could do this standing on his
head, seeing as he has been. “You really want to do this?”

“Yes.”

“Then I agree. I will look after it like it’s my own, I can
assure you I will go above and beyond,” he says.

“I know you will.” I smile at him.

“Thank you, Liv. Mr. Savant. It is a great honor that you
have given me this opportunity to…”

“Oh can it, Scott. And it’s Devon, please,” Devon says. “We
are family now.”

He looks pleased as punch and says, “I will get the
contracts drawn up. Oh wait, no, I suppose a third party should be involved.”

“I’ll do it,” Sebastian says. “I know a thing or two about
ironclad agreements.”

“Thank you, Sebastian.” I turn now to Lincoln who looks back
at me as if he can’t quite fathom what I am going to say to him.

“Linc. I haven’t forgotten you,” I say with a smile. “If
Devon agrees, I am going to give you fifteen percent of my shares in Saxon and
fifteen percent of Accounts.”