The Ties that Bind (The Forever series, Book Five) (18 page)

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly.

He moves closer to me and takes my right hand, lacing his
fingers through mine. He pushes me back against the counter and lifts me up. He
roughly pulls my head towards him for a kiss as he rips my knickers off me. I
wrap my legs around him, pulling him closer and he frees himself. With a hard
thrust he is inside me and I cry out as he is being unusually rough with me. He
pulls my hand up, our fingers still entwined and he lets me go and pulls my
ring off my finger clenching it in his fist tightly. “You are my wife,” he
growls as he continues his vicious onslaught, pounding into me hard, his
fingers digging into my flesh, pinching me.

“Mine,” he says again. “Say it,” he barks at me.

“Yours,” I say.

“Again,” he orders.

“Your wife. Yours.”

“Not his. You will never be his,” he says forcefully.

I am breathing heavily now as he is speeding up his
movements and I am pinned between him and the counter, his grip on me stopping
any movement from me. He is holding me in place, doing all the work and I don’t
like it. I squirm against him to get some leeway but he tightens his grip on
me, needing to dominate me completely.

“Say it,” he rasps harshly. “Say it.”

I can’t. I can’t say it. Truth be told, I will be his wife
one day.

“Say it!” he yells at me as he Shifts and his claws dig into
me.

“Not his,” I whisper.

He growls as I don’t say what he wants me to. “You will
never be his,” he repeats. “Never. You. Will. Never. Be. His.” The staccato
rhythm of his words matching his actions and he comes inside me breathlessly,
leaving me slightly shocked by his forcefulness and of course left wanting. He
leans his forehead against mine briefly and then pulls away, adjusting his
clothing and pocketing my ring in his back pocket. My ring. My hand feels bare
without it. It is a heavy adornment and it feels wrong that it isn’t there. I
just stare at him, unable to speak, not wanting to speak. My anxiety levels
must be radiating off me as CK comes back into the bathroom and asks harshly,
“Everything okay in here?” He sees me all disheveled and silent still on the
counter, my ripped knickers on the floor and Cole glaring mutinously at me. I
run my hand through my hair and try to gain some composure. His eyes flick
straight to my finger, bare of his ring, and his face hardens to stone. “Where
is it?” he asks quietly, menacingly.

“I have it,” Cole says just as quietly, turning to face
Constantine. “She isn’t wearing it anymore. She is my wife and I will not have
her engaged to you.”

Constantine steps forward, his face full of fury, “Give it
back to her now or there are going to be serious consequences.”

“No.”

I see the change go over my sire the exact microsecond he
Shifts and I am in between the two of them in a flash as he rakes his claws,
meant for Cole, down my face, right down my chest all the way to my stomach,
slashing my clothes and slicing brutally into my skin. The sting of it causes
me to recoil as the blood pours out of the deep cuts. Christ, he didn’t hold
back, he was going for serious damage and I am glad that I got it instead of
Cole. “Fuck!” I cry out as I take a deep breath as CK stares at me in absolute
horror.

“Liv!” Cole yells at me. He spins me around and his face
falls as he sees the damage done to me. “What the fuck?” he yells at CK who
just stands there mortified that he has done this to me.

“Aefre…” he whispers. “What did you do?”

Me? Me? I turn back to face him, the blood still pouring out
of the slow healing cuts. “What did you make me do?” he whispers.

“I didn’t make you do anything,” I snap at him. “I was
defending my husband. How dare you attack him! Who the fuck do you think you
are?” I am roaring at him now and I am as mad as a snake and all the commotion
has brought Sebastian in to see what’s going on.

“Fuck, Liv! What happened?” He stares at me and I must look
a right fright for all the horror being directed my way.

“Our sire is what happened,” I yell at him. “He attacked
Cole.”

“But you defended him. You defended your charge from me,” CK
whispers to me, still in shock that he has hurt me.

“I defended
my husband
from you. I love him. I am not
about to let you or anybody else for that matter, hurt him.” I am beyond pissed
now and I start to shake uncontrollably. I need to feed, badly.

“You defended your husband, from me,” he says and the
realization seems to truly hit him hard that I am in fact in love with my
husband and I intend to stay with him until he leaves me. The denial he has
been in is slipping away as he sees the facts and mutters, “You chose him over
me.”

Oh for fuck's sake. Of course he would see it that way. It
isn’t about choosing a side. We are all on the same side. Or at least we are
supposed to be. He backs out of the room with a look of sorrow that breaks my
heart. I take a step towards him but he puts his hand up and Cole grabs my arm
in a tight grip.

“I’ll go,” Sebastian says quietly and I nod my thanks.

I drop my head into my hands smearing the blood all over my
face. The wounds have almost fully healed now but I am still a right mess. I
pull away from Cole and step into the shower, losing my clothes in the process.
I ignore him as he says, “Liv.”

“Please baby, I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he pleads with me.

“What are you sorry for? You aren’t the one who raked me,” I
say absently.

“I’m sorry for treating you harshly before,” he says. “I’m
sorry for putting you in harm’s way. You shouldn’t have jumped in front of me
like that.” He leans his forehead against the shower door and I turn the taps
off. He steps back as I open it and he hands me a towel.

“Cole…” I start but heave a deep sigh instead. “This is all
so fucked up,” I mutter to myself.

“He won’t stop until he has you,” Cole says quietly. “I see
it now. You are going to be in the middle of this until one of us lets you go.
I won’t have you hurt like that again.” His sad blue eyes change color as they
meet mine. “I will let you go,” he whispers.

“NO!” I shout at him. “NO!” I step towards him but he puts
his hands up to stop me.

“Liv. I’m letting you go. We can still be together, like you
and Devon are. But we can’t be married anymore. It’s too hard and too painful.”

“Cole, no. I am not letting you do this. I want you. I want
to be with you. I want to be married to you, to be your wife. Please stop
this,” I beg him and he lets me take his hands. “I need you. Please don’t leave
me.”

He closes his eyes, “Liv, I won’t let you get hurt like that
again. It made me sick to my stomach to see what he did to you. What he did
because you were defending me.”

“He won’t do it again. He really sees now that I am in love
with you and that I will protect you from anything, even from him.”

He opens his eyes at my words, “I don’t want to let you go.”

“Then don’t. Please, Cole. I want to be with you. You have
given me an out but I choose to stay. I choose to be with you. Please stay with
me.”

He leans down and kisses me, cupping my face with his hands,
“I love you. I’m sorry for what he did to you.”

“Hey, you don’t need to apologize for his actions. I love
you Cole. Will you stay with me?”

“He loves you,” is all he says.

I wait in silence.

“He loves you,” he says again. “But I love you. I won’t let
you go. I take it back,” he says with a small smile.

“Good. Or I would have had to kick your arse to make you see
sense.” I pause and my face goes serious, “I know it’s hard and painful and for
that I am sorry.”

He sighs. “I wish it were different, but I know this is how
it has to be. If I want to be with you, I have to share you with him. I hate
it. But I know he will never let you go. He will just have to wait,” he says
with that half-smile I love. “But you had better tell him it’ll be a fucking
long wait as I plan on never leaving you. Ever.”

“I’ll be sure to pass the message along,” I say and he kisses
me deeply.

He leaves me while I get dressed and I hear a hushed yet
firm conversation coming from the sitting room. I use my advanced listening
capabilities to eavesdrop from the bedroom.

“I know that she loves you and I accept it, but she is my
wife and you will respect that,” Cole says to Constantine who I can see is at
his usual pensive spot by the fireplace as I peek through the crack in the
door.

My sire just glares at him so Cole continues. He pulls out
my ring from his back pocket and holds it up, “She wants it back so give it to
her. I won’t. I don’t want anything to do with it. I told her I would let her
go,” he pauses as CK’s eyes flick to his, wide and expectant. “I told her I
would walk away so you could have her. She chose to stay with me. She is mine
and she will always choose me. But know this, I will never give her an out
again, not ever, so you may have your fantasy, pretend that she will be yours
one day, play house together, but I am not going anywhere.”

Constantine’s face is like granite as he hears Cole’s final
words and he grabs my ring from him. Without a word he stalks to the door and
pockets it. My ring. He is walking away with my ring. I step into the sitting
room as he slams the suite door closed behind him and look at Cole. “Go,” he
says. “I am sure he has something he wants to say to you.”

I beat a hasty retreat lest he change his mind and catch up
with my sire waiting impatiently for the elevators. It makes me smile to see
him stabbing at the button, trying to make it come quicker. It must be
difficult for him to not be able to Teleport. I stand beside him and he ignores
me. We stand like that, in silence, until the elevator arrives with a ding and
the doors open thankfully to an empty space. We both step forward at the same
time to enter and he pushes the button for the ground floor.

“What do you want, Liv?” he asks me as I just stand there
looking at him. I flinch at his use of Liv.

“An apology would be a nice start, Constantine,” I say and
he glares at me briefly before turning away again.

“I have nothing to apologize for. It was your own misguided
actions that got you hurt,” he says coldly.

Ouch. Not the reaction I was looking for.

The doors ding open a few floors down and a couple are
waiting to step on. We both glare at them and they back away mumbling that they
will get the next one.

I pull the emergency stop button and the elevator grinds to
a halt.

“What are you doing?” he asks me.

“No more interruptions,” I say briskly and lean back against
the handrail. “I am not expecting an apology for you shredding me to ribbons. I
expect an apology for the fact that you were going to do it to Cole.”

He flinches at my words. “It was a long time coming,” he
says. “I have let him get away with too much disrespect because of who he is.”

I raise my eyebrow at him and his pompous attitude. “Try it
again and I will beat you down,” I say mildly and he finally looks at me. “Yes,
my Queen,” he says sarcastically.

I ignore his tone and say, “Give me back my ring.”

He cocks his head at me, “I don’t have it. Ask your husband
for it if you want it back.”

Liar. “I know you have it. Give it to me.”

“Why?” he asks.

“It’s mine. You gave it to me and I want it back. I could
just take it but I want you to give it to me,” I say boldly.

“Hm, it is a remarkable piece of jewelry. I can see why you
would want it back,” he says, just this side of insulting.

“I want it back because of what it means to me. Not because
of what it looks like. You could have given me a cheap, plastic gumball machine
ring and I would still want it,” I say huffily.

“Noted. However, I gave you a very expensive, very rare blue
diamond that I know takes your breath away. I see it in your eyes when you look
at it. When you think no one is watching. I am fairly certain that what it looks
like has something to do with your wanting it back so badly.” He pauses as I
gape at him. Does he think I am that shallow? “After all, it isn’t like you
want it back because you want us to be together,” he sneers at me.

“What? Of course I do,” I say to him, surprised he would
think that.

He moves quickly to stand in front of me, the anger on his
face clearly showing, “Then why didn’t you leave him? He gave you an out and
you stayed.”

“Because I love him. I am in love with him. You know this,”
I say softly. “I told you I want to be with him, that I want to stay married to
him. I asked you to wait, to wait until he leaves me. You know that he will
eventually,” I add, even softer.

“He said that he told you he would let you go, so that we
could be together. Did he not?”

“He did. But I am not ready to let him go.”

The pain that flashes across his face hurts me and I start
to say something, anything to him to ease the pain but he swoops down on me,
kissing me with such force he bangs my head back against the mirrored elevator
walls. His hand goes to my throat to hold me in place as he pushes himself
closer to me. He lifts my leg around his waist and fumbles to free himself. He
impales me, pinning me to the wall as he rams inside me. He lets go of my
throat and pushes my left hand up. He shoves my ring onto my ring finger above
my wedding rings and crushes my hand in his too strong grip. I open my mouth to
protest but he silences me with a kiss that leaves me breathless and throbbing
around him as he comes inside me and lets go of my hand. Staring into my wide
eyes he pulls off the ring I gave him and places it roughly onto his left ring
finger. “I am done waiting,” he says as he pulls out of me and adjusts his
clothing. “Consider this me throwing my hat into the ring.”

He slams the emergency stop button and the doors ding open
and off he stalks, leaving me staring open-mouthed after him in my just-fucked
state.