A Forever Series Box Set: A Paranormal Reverse Harem: Books 6-10

by Eve Newton

  I flop back to the bed feeling wonderful and unsurprisingly I fall asleep almost immediately. I feel kind of bad as my eyes close, leaving Cole with CK. It must be extremely awkward without me there, awake at least, to act as a buffer, but I just can’t keep my eyes open any longer.

  I awake, alone, sometime later to the sound of rushing water. It is dark out and I blink sleepily, adjusting my eyes to the hazy candlelight glow. I sit up as the noise stops and CK walks out of the bathroom with a smile.

  “Hi,” he says, as he leans casually on the door frame, as he does, with his arms akimbo.

  “Hi,” I say with a smile back. “What are you doing?” I add with a hint of amused suspicion.

  He walks towards me and holds out his hand to me. I rise from the bed and take it. He leads me into the bathroom, which is also aglow with numerous candles, and over to the waiting bathtub. I catch sight of the red rose petals, floating delicately on the surface of the water and squeeze his hand.

  “You did this?” I ask him unnecessarily.

  He nods and helps me into the tub. I sink gratefully into the warm water. I have no idea how he got the temperature just right, as he can’t feel it, but it is perfect, and I tell him so. He smiles almost shyly at me and says, “Soak awhile and then get dressed and meet me downstairs in the library.”

  “Okay,” I say, wondering what he is all about, as he hands me a glass of red wine mixed with AB Neg. “CK? What is going on?” I ask.

  He crouches at the side of the tub and takes my hand. “I am taking you to a special place tonight, my sweet, where we can finally be joined together as man and wife.”

  I blink at him in surprise. Wow, that was quick! I had assumed we would have a great big affair, letting the whole world (well, Underworld, anyway) know that we were tying the knot. But subtle has always been his style, so I accept it without argument, with a broad smile.

  “I have picked out the perfect dress for you and I will leave it in our bedroom,” he adds.

  “Thank you,” I say softly.

  “What for?” he asks, puzzled.

  “All of this,” I say, gesturing with my glass around the bathroom. “It’s perfect.”

  He smiles knowingly at me and then takes my hand again. “You are prefect,” he says. “You deserve nothing less than the best, and I will spend the rest of life making sure that is what you get, my wife.” He kisses my hand and I choke back the tears, as he leaves me alone to contemplate exactly what being his wife is going to be like.

  Chapter 3

  Buckinghamshire, England, June 2013 - Liv

  I finish off my wine cocktail and pluck a rose petal off my arm that has floated over and stuck to my skin. I stand and scoop up the rest of the petals, leaving them on the side. I wash myself slowly and methodically, gearing myself up mentally for what is about to happen next. I wonder where Cole is and if he knows what CK is planning. I must assume that under these circumstances, CK would not be so crass as to exclude Cole from his plans, but I know my sire. Secretive son-of-a-bitch.

  I alight from the tub and dry myself off the old-fashioned way as I go back into the bedroom. I see the dress immediately and I race over to it in delight. There is no way in Hell that CK just picked this out today. No, this has been around for a while, I’d wager. It is absolutely beautiful: cut in eighteenth century style with meters of pale pink satin with a delicate rose print design. The front panel of the skirt has roses on a vine patterned down it and the overskirt has the same in the panel across the hips and down the front. It is a low-cut, square neckline with tight sleeves to the elbow with an extravagant flair to the wrists. The bustle at the back is plain silk and I am glad to note that this is in fact a modern day dress and has a zipper instead of a corset, and as such I can put it on myself, which I do hastily, smoothing it down and twirling in the mirror. I slip into the shoes he has left out for me, pleased they are very high and Louboutin. I twist my hair into a style of the period and leave myself jewelry free. If he wanted me to wear a necklace, he would have put one out for me. I make my way downstairs, slowly and steadily, only coming to a halt in the library, where he is waiting for me. He turns as he senses me, and his eyes burn with desire as he sees me.

  “Oh gods, you look magnificent,” he whispers as he gathers me in his arms to kiss me.

  “Thank you,” I say coquettishly at such a compliment. “So do you.” I return it as I take in his expensive Armani tux. “You decided not to go for the same period?” I add.

  He shakes his head. “Not as flattering,” he says with a laugh.

  I am about to ask him about Cole, when he, too, steps into the library.

  “Wow,” he says. “You look amazing.”

  “Thank you,” I say with a soft smile. He is dressed in a suit and I raise my eyebrow at him.

  He indulges me with a smile, which looks more like a grimace and says, “I told Constantine that he doesn’t get to marry you without me being there.”

  “Oh,” I say and look back to CK who isn’t looking happy about it but has to accept it because he has no choice.

  “Shall we then?” CK says, holding out his arm for me to loop mine through.

  “Yes,” I say and hold out my hand for Cole. We three are Teleported to the mystery destination by CK. It is dark where we land outside, and it takes me a second to figure out where we are. I look back at the looming, dark castle a way behind me and say, “Cassis? There is sacred land here?”

  CK points behind me to a small circle of stones. I don’t mean Stonehenge type stones, but actual small rocks placed in a circle. “Many, many centuries ago this was a Pagan place of worship. When I acquired the castle, I kept this spot sectioned off so that it would never be forgotten. I guess the L’orleau’s did the same.”

  How come I never knew that? We are in the furthest corner of the grounds, some distance away from the castle itself and I have walked here many times, I guess I just never thought to ask. I want to ask him why he never mentioned it before, but now isn’t really the time, as standing in the middle of the circle is a Druid in a flowing black cloak, hiding his face, ready to perform our ceremony. I smile hesitantly at Cole and then step into the circle with CK. He places a ring of daisies on top of my head and I giggle as I remember making hundreds of daisy chains just like this so long ago.

  He takes my hand and the Druid proceeds with the hand fast in the ancient Celtic language. I follow the gist of it, but it seems CK is fully versed, so I just go with it. The Druid ties the rope around our joined hands, binding us together. CK turns to me with my Faerie Silver wedding band and holds it up, leaving it to me to decide where to put it. I look down with a frown and in the end, remove my blue diamond ring and he slips it onto my right ring finger, replacing the blue diamond above it. He hands me the ring I gave to him to cement his commitment to me and I slip it onto his left ring finger. He grips my fingers tightly, his only show of emotion and my throat tightens in my own show and then he says quietly, “I want to do the Blood Magick ritual as well.”

  I nod, fully agreeable even though Cole is watching this. “Not the sex part,” I mutter to him and he snickers.

  “Since when did it bother you to have people watch?” he asks coyly.

  I stick my tongue out at him as he slices his claws across my palm and does the same to himself. We repeat the ritual in Latin and my magick wind swirls up around us as we grip each other’s hands tightly. A ring of fire surrounds us, causing Cole to take a giant step back from the circle. I can feel his anxiety and his pain as he bears witness to this, but he agreed and now it is done. The fire and wind die down and the Druid says, “It is done.”

  CK swoops down on me to kiss me and I kiss him back, our joy at finally being together after a thousand and one years, evident by our embrace. I take a moment to enjoy it before I step back, conscious of Cole’s eyes on us. He has been silent and stoic, and I am proud as his sire that he stood by me, but I love him even more as his wife for sacrificing as much as he has to make me ha
ppy.

  CK thanks the Druid and he flits off silently into the night, leaving only the three of us again.

  What now? I wonder, as again we all stand there in silence.

  “Home?” Cole asks, breaking the silence.

  “Yes,” I say with a look at CK. He is looking up at Cassis with a faraway look and shakes his head.

  “This home,” he says with finality.

  I have half a mind he is going to turn around and exclude Cole from this night, but to my utmost surprise and delight, he turns to face him and inclines his head in a “shall we?” gesture. Cole hesitates for only a second before he steps forward into the stone circle to take my hand. CK Teleports us out and I wonder where he is going to take us. As far as I know, he hasn’t entered these premises since he left them hundreds of years ago. However, the old lord’s bedroom is still the master suite and he lands there with an interested look about.

  I look around the room too, seeing what he is seeing in his mind’s eye of a bygone time and squeeze his hand.

  “It’s so different,” he says quietly. “Gaudy French nobility.”

  I snort delicately into my hand at his comment. If I recall, the Italian nobles were just as extravagant, if not more so, himself included.

  Cole, eager to draw our attention away from the room and our memories, pulls down the zipper on my dress and CK catches it as it falls to my feet. I am mildly surprised, and impressed, that Cole took the lead on this one. Probably to reinforce his position as still my husband and the one I married first. I find it just a little bit irksome that they are still competing and make a mental note to try and remember to speak to them about it. I have no doubt I will forget, as currently I am struggling to remember my own name as they both proceed to give me a night that I will never forget as long as I live.

  I awake in our bed back in England, alone. I am tired of waking up alone. Just once I wish at least one of them had stayed with me. However, I take the opportunity of my solitude to admire my new, well ancient, ring as I lie in the sun-dappled room and grin happily to myself. Everything is just perfect. After so much pain and uncertainty, everything has come right. A dark cloud passes overhead, momentarily blocking out the sun, which brings me back to reality. Something is going to crop up and shoot all of this to Hell. Something always does. I sigh at my negative, yet realistic, attitude and get out of bed. I shower, change, and head down to find my husbands.

  Yikes!

  Husbands, plural.

  It’s quite surreal.

  I find them both on the terrace sipping coffee at opposite ends of the terrace table, ignoring each other. Oh, geez, I think, but it reminds me of the discussion we clearly need to have about this.

  “Morning,” I say to them both and I have no idea which one I should lean down to kiss first. I choose Cole and he is smug. CK doesn’t let it go though as he kisses me deeply and thoroughly, leaving me very aroused and flustered.

  “Please sit,” CK says, pulling my chair out for me. I do and Cole hands me a coffee. Now this bit, I don’t mind. I am used to looking after myself, but this taking-care-of-me business is definitely a plus side to having them both vying for my attention. I scold myself, as I am only encouraging their competitiveness.

  CK sits again and pulls out a stack of his ubiquitous royal blue, monogrammed folders.

  Oh, no, I know exactly where this is going. I place my coffee cup down and wait for him to start on his presentation.

  He smiles at me and hands me one. I open it and, as expected, it is the exact same one from a few months ago that he wanted to me sign, giving me half of everything he owns, only now the balance has gone up.

  “We are married now,” he says at my silence. “You will sign this.”

  “CK,” I start, but he holds his hand up.

  “No, Aefre. There will be no arguments this time. No wife of mine sits around in squalor,” he says imperiously.

  I let out a loud guffaw and Cole joins in as we both look back at the extensive, sprawling manor behind us.

  Squalor, indeed!

  After my hysterics, which CK takes with amused grace, I sigh and hold my hand out for the pen. He can sign it all over, but I won’t be dipping into his funds. I have no need to. He knows me too well though and holds up my purse.

  “I have taken the liberty of changing all of your cards to my accounts,” he says with a pointed look.

  I huff at him and his overbearingness but accept it because to fight him would be pointless, but I make a note to tell Jess to tell the banks to re-issue my cards to me at their earliest convenience.

  “Now sign,” he commands me. I take the pen and am about to scrawl “Liv O’Dell” across the dotted line, but stop suddenly, the pen hovering over the paper.

  “What is it?” Cole asks, taking this scenario in with interest.

  “Uh…” I chew my lip, not sure where to start.

  They both look at me expectantly, so I blurt out with a flush, “I don’t know what to call myself!”

  They both look startled, but then CK chuckles at me. “Indeed,” he says. “This does raise the question.”

  One he clearly has an answer for as he slides another blue folder across the table at me. I peek in it and find it is the “Terms & Conditions” for our marriage, only this is an amended version, for our current situation. How in Hell he manages to get things done so quickly is, and always will be, a complete mystery to me.

  I read the first line and it still says I shall revert officially to Aefre, but with the double-barreled surname of Aquila-O’Dell. Somehow, I knew he’d get his own name in there first.

  I hand it off to Cole and say to CK, “It’s official? You changed it?”

  “Yes, when we discussed what our name would be,” he says.

  Cole takes the file gingerly from me, almost as if he doesn’t want to read it and glances quickly at it. His eyebrows skyrocket as he reads the title of the document and then he frowns as he reads on.

  “Why do you get yours in first?” he asks. “She married me first. My name should be first.”

  Not an unreasonable request, but of course CK has an answer for everything.

  “It’s alphabetical. It means nothing,” he says and dismisses it with a wave of his hand.

  “Humph,” Cole says rudely. “Liv?” he asks me.

  “Uh,” I say, again at a loss. To be honest, I very rarely use my last name anymore. Everyone just knows me as Liv, or Aefre, or Your Majesty, or the billion other names I have been given. In fact, once we move on, it will become all but redundant.

  “Oh, fine,” Cole throws the file back at me. “Just sign it.”

  I smile at him and he throws me a half smile back. He knows the score.

  I sign the document and hand it back to CK. He then hands another folder to Cole who looks surprised to be included in these transactions.

  “I need you to sign that,” CK says.

  Cole opens it and snorts in amusement. “I can assure you; I didn’t suggest this arrangement to get in on your money train,” he says with derision.

  “I know that, but I have to take precautions. When you and Aefre divorce, you will not be entitled to a penny of the money I have shared with her today. It will be up to Aefre to offer you a settlement from her own funds that she had accrued when you got married.”

  Cole takes great offense to that remark and I don’t blame him. “You use the word ‘when,’” he sneers at CK. “If you think for a second that now that you are also married to her you are going to push me out of this arrangement, you have another thing coming.”

  “That is not my intention,” CK says mildly. “But I do know a thing or two about sire/charge relationships.”

  Cole looks like he is about to commit murder, so I step in to placate him. “Cole,” I say to him. “I love you and I have no intention of divorcing you,” I add with a firm look at CK and he shrugs, unaffected by my words and slides a pen across to Cole anyway. Cole signs it and throws the folder back to CK, who l
ooks pleased he is getting his own way all over the place this morning.

  “Have a look at the ‘T & Cs,’ my sweet, and be sure to let me have a copy of your own,” CK says, now relaxing back in his chair with his coffee.

  I nod briskly and take another peek. There was something in the old ones that now that I am CK’s wife, I will protest against if it is still in here. I turn the page and halfway down I see it has been removed. I flick quickly through the rest and see that it isn’t there. I look up at him, slightly amused and he grins at me.

  “To your satisfaction, I assume?” he asks.

  “Definitely,” I say. “What changed your mind?” I always have to poke the ancient Vampire, but I want to know.

  “The curse,” he says, and I nod. Seems he is accepting of my relationship with Lincoln now that there is no chance of a child between us. I wonder where that leaves his opinion on Sebastian and me? Of course, the thought must pass across my face and he frowns.

  “Something we need to discuss,” he says quietly.

  I nod and smile at Cole who is looking furiously lost as usual throughout our private exchange. He grimaces at me, so I take his hand.

  Seeing as I wasn’t expecting this arrangement, I have no “T & Cs” to give CK. I am going to have to get on that. I wonder if Jess would help me. I can hardly ask Cole to sit with me and help think of things that I want CK to do, or not do, as the case may be.

  “I have something to say,” I declare then and get their full attention. “As you will be aware, the three-month deadline has come and gone for us to meet and decide what we plan on doing when we move on.”

  By the blank stares it is quite clear to me that, no, they weren’t aware of that, so obviously, no input of where and what to do from them then.

  I shake my head at them and continue, “When everyone has returned later today, I plan on making an announcement, which I will share with you now as you are now both my husbands and deserve to know of my plans before the others.”