The Ties that Bind (The Forever series, Book Five) (3 page)

“He had his reasons,” he says again just as quietly. “I have
accepted them and as much as I hate what he did to you…he did it out of some
misguided sense of duty.”

“What?” I shout at him. “What the fuck does that mean?” Not
waiting for an answer, I continue yelling at him, “You know what he did and you
find it that easy to forgive him? You punished me for months over Lincoln and
he just walks off into the sunset with this?” I am on the verge of tears at his
betrayal. “I can’t even look at you right now,” I say, disgusted, and I Astral
off, still in my pajamas, to Lincoln’s suite. He is the only one I can bear to
be around right now.

He isn’t there but I use our Alpha bond to call him to me.
He is there within minutes.

“Clearly it didn’t go well, then?” he asks wryly as I burst
into tears.

“No, he is an arsehole. Forgave him, just like that,” I
sniffle as I step into his arms. He cuddles me to him and I feel better just
for having his massive self around me.

“He forgave him?” he asks, extremely surprised. “I thought
he would have done him in.”

“Me too. Or at the very least clobbered him a bit. But no.
Said he gave his reasons and he accepted them.”

“Oh. Interesting. What do you suppose they were?”

“How the fuck should I know?” I say, pulling back from him.
“And I can’t think of a damn good reason why our sire chose him over me.” Tears
forgotten, my anger gets the better of me again. “I don’t want to see him. If
he comes here, tell him to piss off,” I say as I climb onto the bed.

Lincoln looks at me wryly and says, “Sure, I will tell the
ancient Vampire who could beat me to death without breaking a sweat to piss
off.”

I chuckle at him, “You tell him and if he makes a move I’ll
protect you.”

He frowns at me, “I don’t like the sound of that. It sounds
wrong. I am the one who should protect you.”

“Oh, get over yourself,” I tell him. “It is the way it is in
our world.”

“Maybe so, but I still don’t like it. I want to be able to
keep you safe from everything. Even him.”

“Just shut up and come here. I want to be here with you, not
talking about him,” I say.

“Well, I’m not going to argue with that.” He jumps onto the
bed next to me and I cuddle up to him.

“How do you feel about what’s about to happen?” he asks
after a few moments of silence.

“Dreadful. As in full of dread. Worried, angry, heartbroken.
The list goes on,” I reply.

“Hmm. It’s a weird situation, indeed. I can’t believe she
forced him into this. What kind of a person would do something like that?”

“A crazy one,” I say, full of hatred for the stupid girl.
“But I can’t say I’m not going to enjoy getting her in line,” I say wickedly.
And not in the cheeky kind of way.

“You? Isn’t it Devon’s responsibility?”

“Technically yes. But he doesn’t want to do it and quite
frankly he isn’t ready or prepared for it. I will teach her, he just needs to
be around.”

“Liv, are you sure you should be doing that?” he asks
cautiously. “It’s a bit unorthodox.”

“Don’t interfere,” I tell him shortly and he glares at me
but shuts it. He has a mood on now and I sigh.

“I’m sorry. I know you are only trying to help.”

“Don’t dismiss me just because I am not one of you,” he
sulks. “It’s hurtful.”

“Oh, baby. I don’t mean to dismiss you. I’m all over the
place at the moment. Nothing is going the way it is supposed to.”

“Well, for you, maybe. I, on the other hand, have you to
myself for a few minutes due to recent events and I plan on making the most of
it,” he says and pulls me on top of him. I drop my mouth to his, the perfect
distraction. I kiss him deeply until I can feel him pushing against me and I
shiver inside, wanting him. “Take me however you want me,” I murmur to him and
he growls as he flips me onto my back. He pulls off my pajama bottoms as I get
rid of the top and his eyes laser over me with such hunger. I love that look in
his eyes. It tells me everything I need to know about how much he wants me.
Still fully clothed he crawls over me and kisses me, one hand going into my hair
and the other trailing down my side. He reaches my thigh and pulls my leg up
and I wrap it around him. I struggle to get his t-shirt off him, only breaking
our kiss to get it over his head and then his mouth is on mine again. I run my
hands down his back and he moans, “Oh, Liv. I want you so much. Do you want
me?”

“Always, baby,” I murmur against his lips. “I want you
inside me. I want you to feel how wet I am, how hot you make me.”

“Oh, fuck yes. I want to feel you too,” he says. he plunges
his fingers inside me and I cry out as he rubs them in and over me. “So wet, so
hot,” he murmurs.

“I need you, Linc. Please, I need you to fuck me. Please
baby, fuck me,” I beg him and it is his undoing. He loves it when I beg and
within seconds he has his pants off and is spreading my legs wide. He enters me
slowly and I gasp as he splits me open. He eases himself all the way inside me
with a low growl and starts to move, pinning me to the bed with his weight.
Almost straight away I can feel the pleasure starting to build. “Oh yes, baby.
I love what you do to me. That’s it, baby. Fuck me. Fuck me harder,” I pant as
he pounds into me with ease now that I am used to his size.

“Oh, Liv. You feel so good. I don’t want to ever stop,” he
breathes as he grips my hands with his on either side of my head.

“Don’t stop,” I tell him. “I’m so close.”

“Oh god, Liv, I want to feel you. Let go, baby, so I can
feel you,” he says as he kisses me again and I do let go. I let go of a
mind-blowing orgasm that rips through me, causing me to buckle under him,
pushing my breasts into his chest as he groans, “Fuck yes. I love that I make
you do that.”

Having enough of being submissive, I force us over so I am
riding him now. The change in position pushes him further inside me and I can
feel the pressure deep inside. He pulls on my hips as I settle and move. I put
my small hands on his broad chest, loving the feel of his muscles rippling
underneath me. “God, Linc, you are so sexy,” I whisper to him, trailing my
hands over his solid abs. “I can’t keep my hands off you.”

He sits up suddenly and I cry out as he gets pushed even
deeper inside me and there is nowhere left for him to go. His clear green eyes
are full of desire as he pulls my head to his to kiss me. “Say it again,” he
says huskily.

“You are so hot, so sexy. I can’t keep my hands off you,” I
murmur obligingly as I run my hands down his back and his eyes light up with
lust and, uh oh…I’ve seen that look a million times before. I put my hand to
his mouth to stop him from saying it. “I love you,” he mumbles into my hand. I
shake my head at him. He takes my hand away, still pulling on me to ride him
with his other. “I love you,” he says again. “You are so beautiful and so sexy.
I wish you were mine. Just mine,” he whispers and I cry out again as he makes
me come around him and he too lets go.

I stare into his gorgeous eyes, pushing my hands into his
short spiky hair. He doesn’t say anything and neither do I, for a few minutes.

“I don’t expect you to say it back,” he says slowly. “But I
wanted you to know.”

“I do love you,” I say to him to his surprise. “I do love
you, Linc, but you can’t love me. You shouldn’t. I can’t give you any more of
myself than I have. It isn’t fair to you.”

“I told you before that I don’t ask anything of you, and I
won’t. I just want to be able to say it. To tell you how I feel.”

“Oh, Linc. You are so special to me. I couldn’t bear it if I
hurt you,” I whisper.

“You won’t,” he says. “I accept you as you are. I understand
and I accept it.” He pauses as if he has more to say but doesn’t want to.

“But what?” I say.

“Not a ‘but’ so much as a ‘will you?’”

“Will I what?” I ask warily.

I feel the tingle go up the back of my neck before I hear
Constantine say, “If you ask her to marry you, you will have to get in line.”

I spin my head around as Lincoln peers over my shoulder.
“What the fuck?” I ask Constantine.

“I came looking for you. I can’t help it that my ability
brings me exactly to wherever you are, and whoever you are with,” he says,
casually leaning against the door jamb.

“Do you mind?” Lincoln snaps at him. “This is private.”

Constantine just looks at him mildly. “I need to talk to
you,” he says to me.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” I sulk at him.

“In fact, she asked me to tell you to ‘piss off’ if you came
here looking for her,” Lincoln says boldly, probably due to the fact that I am
still sitting on his lap, firmly in between the two of them.

“Did she, now?” Constantine asks.

“How long exactly have you been lurking?” I ask suddenly.

“A few minutes,” he says with a shrug. “I didn’t want to
interrupt. Seems like you were having a good time.”

I gape at him. He was here the whole time? The Peeping Tom.

“Not the
whole
time,” he says, affronted, apparently
reading my expression-filled face that he finds so endearing. “I am not a
complete pervert.”

“I think you need to leave,” Lincoln growls at him, not
happy to learn we have been peeped on.

“I’m not going anywhere without Aefre. This is, after all,
my time. You are the one who is encroaching and should leave,” Constantine corrects.
He pushes off from the door jamb and goes into defensive mode. Oh for fuck’s
sake! Men are so pathetic.

“This is my hotel suite. I am not going anywhere. And
speaking of encroaching, shouldn’t you be going all Roman Warrior on someone
else’s ass right about now? I, at least, am allowed,” Linc says, using Devon’s
term to piss Constantine off even further.

“He has been dealt with,” Constantine says shortly. “Aefre.
Can we please speak?”

Dealt with? How? A tiny slap on the wrist followed by a
friendly fist bump? Okay, not that my sire does fist bumps, but you get the
point.

“Well, however you dealt with him clearly wasn’t to the
satisfaction of Liv. She was in tears when she came down here before,” Lincoln
says, coming to my defense and wrapping his arms tighter around me,
protectively.

A flash of pain goes across Constantine’s face at those
words and he again asks, “Aefre. Please, can we go and talk?”

“Fine,” I say briefly. I look back at Lincoln and breathe in
deeply. “Hold that thought and we will talk more later.” He nods and I give him
a lingering kiss much to his delight and Constantine’s annoyance. I climb off
him and make a show of putting my pajamas back on the old-fashioned way, just
to make him wait a bit longer. “Bye, Linc,” I say before I Astral off back
upstairs, ignoring Constantine’s furious look.

He is a second behind me and I plop myself on the sofa,
waiting. “Well?” I snap when he doesn’t say anything. I know he is keeping his
distance for a variety of reasons, but one of them is obviously that I am
covered in Lincoln’s scent and that has his knickers in a twist–and even more
so because Lincoln is a Shifter. Under normal circumstances, I would have had
this discussion after a shower, but I am so pissed off with him right now, I
sit basking in his discomfort and anger.

“Would you prefer to shower first?” he asks bluntly.

“No,” I say, just as bluntly.

“Fine,” he says and clears his throat. “I know how angry you
are with me. I want to explain.”

Angry doesn’t quite cover it, but go on.

He blinks as I say nothing and continues. “I will start with
I didn’t let him walk off into the sunset, as you put it. He has suffered,
trust me,” he says quietly.

I gulp at that and wonder how, but have the good sense not
to ask. The silence starts to grow uncomfortably as we both just sit there not
looking at each other.

“Constantine,” I say, getting a bit sick of the lack of
conversation, “I don’t understand. You will have to explain it to me how you
forgave him and what his reasons were for doing what he did. You used the word
‘misguided’ earlier. You use that term to describe charges’ stupidity when
protecting their sires. What was he trying to protect you from? Me?” My voice
wavers slightly and he looks up, pain in his eyes caused by my pain.

“In short, yes,” he says, knowing there is no point in lying
to me.

“I see. He doesn’t think I am good enough for you. He
clearly has a very bad opinion of me,” I say, remembering the “wanton little
whore” comment.

“He doesn’t think that. He only said it to rile you up and
hurt you. And no, that is not the reason.” He pauses and runs his hand through
his hair in a clear sign of agitation.

“Then what?” I press.

“He was trying to orchestrate a plan whereby you left Cole
and you then belonged to me,” he says with a sigh of magnitude.

I just stare at him because I have no words.

“Part of his gift, Aefre, is the power of suggestion. He
used it on you to get what he wanted you to do and then planted the guilt there
as well. I’m not saying that you don’t feel guilty,” he adds hastily as he sees
my expression turn thunderous, “but the volume of it, the self-loathing. That
was Sebastian. Unfortunately for him, you are strong and it didn’t work exactly
according to plan.”

“Meaning?” I snap.

“When he uses his ability, you aren’t supposed to know what
is happening. You said before that you didn’t want to do it but had no choice?
You weren’t supposed to feel that way. You were supposed to want it and then
feel guilty about it afterwards. Bit by bit he was going to use you and plant
the idea in your head that you wanted to leave Cole and be with me. It is a
stupid plan. But sadly one that works. I have seen him play this game with
couples for his own amusement too many times,” he adds. “I’m sorry, Aefre. It
is all my fault. But I wish you had told me. I told you secrets come out and
they hurt twice as much when they do.”