Trials (The Forever Series, Book 6) (32 page)

“Huh. I guess that is the dumbed-down version of events?” It
begs the question though how the blood of the Faerie is obtained for the
protection spell for the Vampires. A few unwanted thoughts go through my head
about that and I make it a priority to find out. I am Queen after all and this
should most definitely be on my need-to-know list.

“You could say that,” he says, answering my question.

“Well, thanks. Please keep it between us that I was asking.”

“I will. I told you I like having secrets with you. It’s
kind of sexy.” He kisses me quickly but thoroughly. “God, I want to taste you
again. Please say you will come to me soon.”

I sigh. How other me keeps up with all of her lovers I have
no idea. I am exhausted just with the bunch I have without adding more to the
mix. “You should go back out now before one of them barges in.”

He chuckles, “Yes, that seems to happen a lot. Jealous
bunch.” But he stands and with a quick squeeze of my hand he takes his leave
and I flop back to the bed.

Cole wakes me a bit later. “Time to land,” he says with a
smile as I open my eyes.

“Land? I told you to wake me in an hour.”

“You were exhausted. I left you a bit longer.” He shrugs.

“Everyone behave themselves?” I ask and he laughs.

“Surprisingly, yes. I think we are all still a little
fearful you may hop into another dimension and send your awful counterpart in
your place.”

“Well, I hope that never happens again. I am still a bit unclear
why it did in the first place.”

“We have five minutes before we should be buckled up,” he
says, trailing his hand up my leg.

“Oh do we? We can do a lot in five minutes,” I say, pulling
him down on top of me and kisses me but pulls away.

“We still need to schedule another session with Devon,” he
says, much to my surprise.

“Oh? You still want to do that?”

“Yes. I told you before. I miss it.”

“Then I will sort it. I miss it too.”

“I know you do. You love having us both take you,” he says
slyly.

I stare at him, taking in his words. He has never been that
accepting about it.

“I have thought about what you said,” he says casually.
“Would you be okay with starting me off slowly?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, sitting up.

“Us two and another woman. I wouldn’t fuck her but we
could…you know…do other stuff. If you don’t mind.”

“Mind? Of course I don’t mind. Yes, we can do that,” I say
quickly, although I have something to add and I hope it doesn’t change his
mind. I pull him to me for a kiss and I say, “I will be a little bit jealous,
but it will be good for both of us.”

“Good,” he says to my surprise. “I am glad that you will be
jealous. It lets me know that you love me.”

I chuckle, “I do love you.”

“Will you arrange it?” he asks shyly then.

“Of course. Human or Vampire?”

“Human,” he says instantly as I thought he might do. “Not
Dawn,” he adds with a dirty look.

“Consider it done,” I say, laughing at him.

“Now come. We are about to land for definite now,” he says,
pulling me up and we saunter back out to the cabin happy and peaceful.

Dawn meets Cole on the tarmac and whisks him straight off to
work to my disappointment, but now the real work starts. Cade grabs me and
pulls me back to the big SUV sat idling behind the limo. “Time to get started,”
he says.

“Can it not wait until we at least get back to the hotel?” I
ask.

“No. The sooner they accept that you won’t be around much,
the better,” he says as I climb into the SUV startling Nico. He and Dawn came
down with apparently Ramon, earlier.

“Liv?”

“Hello, Nico,” I say breezily as Ramon smiles sexily at me.

“Hungry?” he asks me in Italian.

“Very,” I murmur back and quick as a shot he is out of the
front seat and in the back next to me.

“Oh no,” Cade says as he looks at us both. “No way am I
being witness to you feeding from him.”

“Sit in the front, then,” I say.

He glares at me with his most disapproving look and again I
feel bad that I am disappointing him. What is with that? But never one to let
that put me off, I climb onto Ramon’s lap to his delight and drop my fangs.
Cade hastily leaps out of the back seat and grumbling to himself joins Nico in
the front. “You should try and get used to it if you are going to stick
around,” I hear Nico say to him as I drink deeply from Ramon. I run my hands
over him and he groans and risks the chance to run his hands up my thighs and
under my skirt.

“Hands off,” Nico barks at him again in Italian. Going to
have to teach Ramon English if he is going to be around a lot, I think.

He reluctantly lets me go and with a soft kiss to his lips I
climb off him, if not fully satisfied at least not hungry anymore.

“One day,” he says to me with a sidelong glance and Nico
slams on the brakes and pulls off the road causing us--of course not wearing
any seatbelts--to crash into the seats in front of us.

Nico turns around with a look of thunder that has me
wide-eyed as he snaps at Ramon, “Not on my watch. Now get back in the front.”

With a slight shrug he gets out and Cade, not having a clue
what was just said, looks surprised as he is ushered back to sit next to me.

“Either you teach me Italian, or you guys start speaking
English,” he mumbles, copying my thought from earlier as he settles next to me.

“I can teach you,” I say as Nico with a final glare at me
starts driving again. I find his reaction most amusing. So protective even
though his boss isn’t here.

“Maybe,” he says sullenly. “Just be easier if you all spoke
English.”

“For whom?” I say with a slight chuckle.

Choosing to ignore me for the rest of the trip to the Four
Seasons we sit in a fairly uncomfortable silence. I hate silences.
Uncomfortable ones especially. I fiddle with my phone, checking emails but
finding most of them dealt with by Jess or being dealt with as I sit here. She
is diligent, I’ll give her that.

Finally we arrive at the hotel and after getting everyone
settled where they should be, Cade comes to find me again.

“Over your tantrum?” I ask as he barges into my suite.

“It wasn’t a tantrum. I am just uncomfortable with certain
aspects of your lifestyle.”

“It’s not a lifestyle, Cade. It is my life. And seeing as
how you should be used to Vampires and their habits, having studied them for so
long, it quite frankly surprises me that you are squeamish.”

“It is different from this side,” he says. “Here I have to
accept it, not loathe you for being what you are.”

“Then accept it. I drink blood. I have drunk yours, even. No
biggie.” I shrug it off.

Catching me off guard he asks, “The other day when you said
you had theory to keep me alive but not turn me, what did you mean?”

“I wonder if you drank my blood without me draining you
first, would it lengthen your lifespan?”

He looks disgusted by that but interested enough to follow
up, “Why would you think that?”

“As it has been pointed out, I am no ordinary Vampire. My
blood is special.” I shrug. “It is only a theory.”

He nods and drops it, “Go and get changed and then I will
take you to the beach.”

“Beach? I am not here for sunbathing.”

“For a run,” he says as if I am stupid.

“A run? Oh, that might be fun. I haven’t been for a run in
years.” I get on board with the plan and change into suitable running attire,
pulling my hair back into a ponytail. Ray-Bans in place, we make a quick stop
at his room for him to change and, rocking the running gear look, we head out
to the beach.

“First time I have not seen you in a suit,” I comment. “You
look good all casual-like.”

“So do you,” he says back to me with a winning smile that is
mostly sarcastic. I think.

“Can you keep up?” I ask as we hit the sand. The beach is
fairly quiet being February and a Monday.

“I run every day,” he says.

“I am a Vampire,” I say as I take off.

“Ah, but you can’t use your Vampirey skills out here in
public,” he says as he runs next to me.

“Not speed, no, but I can run the entire length of the
Florida coastline without breaking a sweat. Can you?”

“Well, no, I suppose not,” he grudgingly admits. “And before
you say it, no, I don’t want you to turn me so that I can,” he adds with a
sidelong glance.

I laugh because I was indeed about to say that. It is great
being outside. I spend far too much time indoors. I should make more of an
effort to get out in the world. Especially now that I am no longer working.
Well, at my day job anyway.

We run for an hour and then after some stretches he takes me
to Tai Chi in the park and yoga back at the beach, both of which I have to run
to. Followed by another hour’s jog. Geez. I haven’t worked this hard in a long
time. And yes, the man has stamina. Christ. I thought he would have dropped
ages ago.

“How do you feel?” he says as we finally stop.

“Actually pretty damn good,” I say with a smile. “Thank you.
It was a good idea. And I am impressed. You can keep up.”

A proper smile appears that reaches his eyes and crosses his
face. Those are few and far between. “Well, it would be kind of pointless to do
this job if I couldn’t.”

“Yes, that is true.” I nod.

We head back to the hotel for showers and for me a nap.

“Do you want me to sit with you?” he asks. “You aren’t
supposed to be alone.”

“No, I will be fine. I will call you if I need you.”

He hesitates but accepts it and I close the door to the
suite and go for my shower, which I stand under for too long and then crawl
into bed. This is a nice bed, but I miss my own. I sigh as I snuggle further
into the pillows, dreaming of my sumptuous custom-made bed back in L.A.

Sometime later I stir. I wiggle a little as I am in a
strange bed. No, not a strange bed. My bed. I can feel the silk of the sheets
and I open my eyes. Huh? That’s weird. I turn to look at the person next to me
and stare into the beautiful face of my sleeping sire.

“Too early,” he mumbles to me in Italian as he pulls me
towards him. “Wait until they come for you.”

Come for me? Who is coming for me? I take in my surroundings
and although I am in my bed, I am not in L.A. I am at
Ponte
in CK’s
bedroom. Well, our bedroom, I suppose it is now. I look at the clock and it
says 5:45 AM. How the hell did I get here and why am I with CK? I sit up,
pulling the sheet up with me and notice two odd things. First, my rings. The blue
diamond and Faerie Silver wedding ring are on my left hand. I don’t have a
Faerie Silver ring on my thumb and secondly my arms and hands are covered with
markings. Swirls connected to more swirls connecting hundreds of tiny--I squint
at them--thorns? What the hell is this? Wherever I am, I have to get back.
Pronto. I close my eyes and concentrate. I wish myself back to the bed in Miami
and open my eyes only to find I am still in Italy. Crap. I try again and again.
And then I try again and again. I can’t get back. I am stuck. Fuck.

“CK,” I shake him. “Wake up.”

“Who is CK?” he asks me, opening his eyes. “And why are you
speaking English?”

Last year I could have understood why he would ask me that.
The majority of our conversations were conducted in Italian but as we spent
more and more time together and then when Cole and I got married we mostly
speak now in English, so I find his question odd. Well, actually everything
about this is odd. I think I have somehow come to the future again as clearly I
am married to my sire. Blast. That is just a pain in the arse that I can now do
this in my sleep.

“Aefre?” he asks me, sitting up now with a worried look on
his face as I just stare at him. “What’s wrong?”

I shake my head, “No. I don’t belong here.”

“What?” he says. “What do you mean you don’t belong here?
This is our home.”

“No, it’s not mine. I am not supposed to be here.” I get up
and pull on the robe that is draped over the end of the bed.

“Aefre. Where are you going?” he calls after me as I run
from the room. Oh, this is weird, I think, as I slow down, as a variety of
different species stop speaking in the hallway and turn to stare at me as I
walk past. Vampires, Shifters, Demons, Dragons, some I don’t even recognize.
They all bow their heads, making space for me to walk. My whole demeanor feels
different. I feel far more graceful and poised than I usually do as I make my
way down the stairs silently. Future me has it good. I like this show of
respect. About bloody time. I descend the stairs in a steady Queen-like manner,
quite enjoying this for a moment and almost crash into Ramon who is hurtling up
the staircase like a bat out of hell. Ramon? Is he a Vampire now? I sniff but
no, he is still human. I frown at him as he apologizes profusely for not being
on time. On time for what? I push past him, something far beyond weird is going
on around here. Am I in the future? I spot a newspaper folded neatly on the
massive table in the Entrance Hall and cross quickly over to it. A newspaper a
hundred years in the future? This doesn’t bode well and I pick it up carefully
and see the date: February 11
^th
, 2013.

Come again. That is indeed today’s date.

“Ma’am,” Marguerite rushes up behind me. “I am so sorry for
not being on time.” She holds out a cup of coffee with a slight curtsey. What
was she late for? I wonder.

“Marguerite,” I say, ignoring the coffee. “What is the
date?” I ask, needing confirmation as I start to realize where I am.

“Ma’am?” she asks me.

“The date,” I snap at her.

“The date?” she repeats in English to me, “It is 11
^th
February, Your Majesty.”

“The year?” I press. That’s what I need to know, silly
woman.