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

by Eve Newton

  Err, okay. I wasn’t expecting this. He squeezes my hand and I stammer, “Of course. But, Linc next time just leave it, okay.”

  “If there is a next time, I will kill him,” he says ferociously and stands with a nod of acceptance at my clemency.

  “You know what I mean,” I mumble, and he gives me a half smile.

  He leans down to kiss my forehead and says, “Look after him and then I need to speak to you.”

  I nod, as I need to speak to him too. To all of them. No one knows yet about my trip tomorrow except Cade. I need to tell my husbands before this thing happens to me and Tiamat whisks me away. I feed Cade and then I get a basin and washcloth from the bathroom and wash his face. He is an absolute mess. He flinches as I clean his cuts and then I lift his shirt to check to see if his ribs are broken. He pushes my hands away and shoves his shirt back down.

  I hold my hands up and say, “Fine, I won’t touch you.” Man, he really has a thing about this. “Are your ribs broken?”

  “Yes,” he mumbles. “Just leave them, they’ll heal.” He passes out soon after that, so I stand up and sigh at him. Stubborn fool.

  My head goes a bit woozy and I need to feed again. I make my way down to the kitchen and find Jess there restocking the fridge with our supply. “Hey,” I say to her as she hands me one of my bottles.

  “Hey,” she says back.

  I haven’t had any chance to speak to her since I woke up, so I ask, “Everything okay?”

  “All good,” she says with a smile.

  Okay, awkward much. We were on our way to forming a friendship of sorts, but now it is just weird. I have nothing to say to her. Not even about work, because I don’t know what’s been going on. I land on the only topic we currently have in common and ask, “Where’s Devon?” I swear, if I have to ask that one more time, I am going to scream. Cade needs to get on this case and let me know what’s going on.

  Jess’s eyes frost over, and she says, “Why do you keep asking about him? He is not your concern now.”

  Come again? I blink at her and she lifts her chin up defiantly at me and it works that last nerve of mine into a ball of oh-you-are-so-dead-missy. I step forward and place the blood bottle on the counter. “Not my concern? He is my charge. He will always be my concern.”

  It lights a fire in her eyes, and she steps forward as well. She clearly isn’t afraid of me and that pisses me off even more.

  “He is my sire,” she says. “His whereabouts are nothing to do with you.”

  “So that means you have no idea yourself where he is?” I ask her cockily and I hit the nail on the head.

  “Stay away from him,” she suddenly hisses at me. “He is mine and I don’t want him anywhere near you.”

  “Yours?” I mock her, putting my hands on my hips. I have had enough of this little upstart and I am going to give her a lesson in going up against me. “He isn’t yours; he will never be yours. He has no bond to you whereas ours is a tie so fierce it would obliterate you if you felt it. He is mine. Forever. He has nothing with you. He feels sorry for you, so he pretends. He will cut you loose before the end of the year,” I sneer at her.

  “You have no idea what we have,” she screeches at me.

  I smile condescendingly at her. She knows she has nothing she can throw in my face.

  “Please,” I say. “You have no idea of the concept of forever. He would come to me in a heartbeat if I asked him to.” I am goading her into a state of madness. She looks like she would try to kill me if she could, but as CK says, I always play the advantage.

  “He wouldn’t choose you,” she says. “He knows that you are whore that puts him last. I always put him first and he will see that.”

  “Don’t count on it,” I snarl at her, pissed off at her ‘whore’ comment. Who does she think she is? My Vampire mojo is coming back from the brink and I can sense Devon a few feet away on the other side of the door.

  “Don’t count on what?” he asks as he pushes the door open and sees us going at it. I give her a triumphant smile and use every ounce of Power I can muster to Shift (actually it didn’t take that much at all) and then I am standing before him as Elizabeth. His mouth drops open and Jess gasps at me. She knows she has lost now. She was banking on me still being weak and not being able to give him his true sire, but sorry, girlie. I had this ability long before I became Queen, so it is ingrained in me as much as the Vampire is.

  “What is going on here?” he asks in confusion as he looks between the two of us.

  “I was just asking Jess where you were because I wanted to spend some proper time with you,” I say, stepping closer to him and taking his hand. He stares at our linked fingers for a moment and then he looks back up at me and then to Jess. I think he sees what is going on here, he never was an idiot, there would be no reason in the world why I would Shift into Elizabeth in front of Jess unless it was to prove a point. But I know him better than he knows himself and he squeezes my hand and says, “I’d like that.”

  I flash a wicked smile at Jess, and she glares back at me in absolute hatred. I see now that this girl was never my friend. Keep your enemies closer, is her game. Well little girl, you have completely lost this one and now you have made a serious enemy out of me. If she thinks for one minute, I will let this go, she has another thing coming to her. I lead him away and he follows closely. She tries a last-ditch effort and says, “Devon, wait. I haven’t seen you all day. I feel lonely. I wanted to spend time with you.”

  “Yeah, I’ll come and find you later,” he says dismissively and her face falls.

  Let this be a lesson: Never, ever mess with our relationship. You won’t win.

  I take him upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms. Not so sure that Cole and CK would be very happy about me going to our bedroom. He doesn’t hesitate to pull me close and kiss me. Nipping at my lips and muttering, “God, it’s you, really you.” Over and over. I put it down to me looking like Elizabeth because it is a strange thing to say but forget about it as his hands go into my hair and his tongue completely takes over my mouth. I am beyond aroused now, even from just a few kisses. Not only because of Devon, but because it has been a lifetime, well it seems like a lifetime, since I made love. The time with Cole earlier doesn’t count. This counts in a big way and I am going to be in so much trouble with my husbands that Devon got here first, but tough. I will take it on the chin as there is no other place I want to be. He pushes me back to the bed and then falls back to look at me. There is a mixture of sadness and lust coursing through his features.

  “You are so beautiful,” he murmurs, his eyes lingering on my breasts. This vest top was already tight on me when I was Liv, so when I Shifted and my boobs tripled in size, I am practically busting out at the seams. “So beautiful,” he says again and removes the vest top from me with a brutal rip, rendering it a useless rag on the floor. My breasts tumble free and they are in his hands in the next second. I arch my back to get him closer to me and he squeezes me tightly, making me yelp with desire and a puddle to form in my knickers. He drops to his knees and undoes the button on my jeans and slowly lowers the zipper. They are like a second skin after the Shift and he carefully peels them off me, pausing to kiss me through the scanty lace of my underwear. He breathes in deeply at my arousal and that causes me to ripple with excitement. He sits me down to remove the jeans from me and then slides his hands up my thighs and into the thin straps holding my knickers together. The material bites into my flesh as he tears them from me, the sides snapping easily under the pressure. He lets out a sound of raw lust as he drops his head into my lap. I push my hands into his hair as he opens my legs wide for him. He kisses me softly at first, teasing me with his tongue. All of my pent-up, unreleased-for-three-months sexual frustration bubbles over into a rippling orgasm that catches him by surprise.

  “Oh yes,” he says as he laps away at me. “So perfect. This is so perfect.”

  Oh, it really is. I wiggle on the bed to get his mouth closer to my aching clit. I nee
d to do that again, now! He obliges me one more time and then he stands up to get rid of his own clothes. I scoot up to the middle of the bed and he crawls up me slowly, his lips barely touching my skin as he makes his way from my feet to my hips, to my nipples that are as big as grapes waiting for his attention.

  “Oh, fuck yes,” we both say as he licks one and flicks the other with his fingers. He sucks roughly and tugs and I squirm under his touch and then he is lowering his mouth back down my body, barely brushing my skin. He is driving me to the point of insanity. I need him inside me, I need to feel him. All of him.

  “Patience,” he whispers as he senses my frustration. His breath on my skin sends goosebumps prickling over me.

  “Oh,” I cry out as he finds my wet sex again with his mouth. I bunch my hands in the sheets and arch my back high off the bed as he sends another wave of pleasure tearing through me. As the fire subsides, he increases his urgency, but I want to play with him now. I want my hands on him.

  “No,” he says when I tell him this. “I want to see to you, I need to do this, Lizzie. Let me take care of you.”

  Well, this girl isn’t going to argue with that as he once again drops his mouth to me. He is being even more attentive than usual, and I am loving every second. I mean who wouldn’t when one of the most gorgeous, sexiest men alive has his tongue wrapped around your clit? He pushes my legs up so my knees are bent, and I luxuriate with a soft sigh, but I want him.

  “Now, Dev. Please, I need you,” I beg him and now he doesn’t refuse me. He can’t when I implore him. He stands up, his cock swollen to the point of bursting. His tip is glistening, and I lick my lips, but before I can reach for him, he is inside me with a swift thrust coming almost instantly, flooding me with his seed.

  “Oh, fuck,” he moans as he kisses me with his eyes wide open. “I’ve missed you so much.” He is hard inside me already and he starts to rock his hips gently, his eyes never leaving mine. I close mine as the pleasure starts to overcome me, but he whispers, “Keep them open, I want you to see my pleasure, as I want to see yours.”

  I do as he asks as he mumbles over and over how good I feel and how much he missed me. There is something different going on here. Devon has never been the chatty type during sex. He prefers to have his mouth busy with other things. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he felt guilty about something. But as my body starts to hum, I forget it as tomorrow’s, and Cade’s, problem.

  “Fuck, yes,” he whispers as he feels me rippling around him. He rides me through my orgasm and then he lets his release wash into me, his eyes still never leaving mine.

  He rolls us over, so he is on his back and I am lying stretched out on top of him. He strokes my hair and I sigh in contentment.

  “That thing with Jess in the kitchen,” he says, ruining the moment. “What was that?”

  Damn, I had hoped he wouldn’t ask. It makes me look petty to tell tales, even though I have no doubt she will go running to him the second I leave his side, accusing me of something or another. I am certain now, after that little display that she is out to poison him against me. Not that he will let her, but that isn’t the point.

  “Sorry,” I say. “I know it might have been slightly over the top to Shift in front of her. I wasn’t sure if I could and was just trying to muster enough Power up,” I lie.

  “You don’t need to be threatened by her, Lizzie. She means nothing to me. Even after whatever Sebastian has told me to do with her, it isn’t a personal relationship.”

  I bite my lip. “I’m not threatened by her,” I scoff. “It’s the other way around. Although, why she thinks she has the right to be is something you need to nip in the bud. She is either delusional or thinks there is more to your relationship than you do. Either way, I won’t have her calling me a whore in my own home.”

  He sits up. “She said that? Little bitch,” he mutters. “I’ll have words.”

  I want to change the subject, so I say, “So are you going to tell me about your afternoon’s goings-on?”

  Silence and then he groans, “Oh gods, Liz. If I had known you were going to proposition me as soon as I walked in the door, I’d have showered at the hotel.”

  I laugh at his complete embarrassment at being caught red-handed, but it doesn’t bother me. It never has. “Want to talk about it?” I ask, knowing he has secrets he isn’t sharing.

  “Not really. I was just kind of making a point to myself,” he says.

  “Oh?” I ask, incredibly intrigued.

  “It’s nothing,” he shrugs it off.

  “Okay,” I say and drop it, as he won’t say anymore if he doesn’t want to.

  “There is something that I need to speak to you about,” he says carefully. “But not here, I never know who’s listening,” he adds with a sardonic smile.

  “Tell me about it,” I agree. “Um, actually there is something I need to speak with you about as well. In fact, all of you.”

  “Can I go first?” he asks.

  “No,” I say. “I need to say what I have to say. I am running out of time and my husbands are going to be furious with me.”

  He cradles me in between his legs. “Do I need to worry?”

  “Don’t think so, it’s a short and embarrassing story that I will tell you all. Meet me in the clearing in the woods at midnight and we’ll talk,” I say.

  “The clearing in the woods at midnight? Why so clandestine?” he asks with a laugh.

  “Well, it’s 9 PM now, I have a few things to take care of and then I need sleep before I have to go tomorrow.”

  “Go? I am not liking the sound of this,” he says and rubs his hand over his face, but I pull it away. I know he is getting agitated and I want to reassure him.

  “One thing though. Why have you not been around much since I woke up?” I ask.

  He gets that shifty look on his face again and I stare at him until he answers, “I guess I just thought it would be easier to reconnect with your husbands if I wasn’t here,” he says eventually and I can tell he is lying his arse off.

  I let him off with it because he obviously doesn’t want to tell me the real reason. It doesn’t matter, Cade will find out, I have no doubt. “When is it ever easier for you not to be around me?” I ask with lowered lashes and he gathers me back into his strong embrace.

  “It’s not,” he says. “I die inside when I am not with you.”

  What? That is very dramatic coming from him at this point in our story. “Never leave me then,” I say with a soft smile.

  “Never,” he says ferociously. “You are mine, Lizzie, and I love you.” He kisses me and I get a pang of nostalgia of when it was just the two of us. This is a bad road to head down, so I pull away from him.

  “I’m going to get showered and changed and then we can all talk,” I say as I climb off the bed.

  I make my way over to the bathroom and turn on the shower. I step in and he steps in behind me, picking up the soap.

  “Allow me,” he says. “I am already going to be beaten for making love to you when you should be resting.”

  I burst out laughing and stand for a moment under the jets, enjoying the warmth of the water. He can see my bliss and says, “I envy that of you.”

  I open my eyes and he is staring intently at me. “What?” I ask.

  “That you can feel the heat. I miss it,” he admits with a shrug.

  “Well, I shall have to warm you up in another way,” I say with a lascivious smile and pull his mouth to mine.

  He chuckles and says, “Not complaining.”

  As I kiss him, I suddenly go cold. Freezing cold on the inside and I pull away from him like I have been doused with Arctic water.

  “What?” he asks, worried.

  “Uh, I, uh,” I stammer. How can I tell him to get out? I turn my back to him and slow my rapid breathing. I am coming over in one of my showery panic attacks. I hadn’t even remembered until I kissed him that I cannot shower with anybody anymore. It just seems so natural and not at all wrong
with him.

  “Liz,” he says turning me around. “Are you okay?”

  I nod dumbly at him because it would just hurt his feelings if I told him to leave me alone in here. He pulls me to him and holds me close and I hear his steady heartbeat and I relax. I can do this. With him. He has never, ever hurt me and he never will. I trust him above all others to keep my heart safe. He soothes me, muttering to me that everything will be okay, and I believe him. However, the sexy mood has been ruined and I ask to speed this up a bit. He washes me head to toe and then himself and we hastily get out. I can’t say for sure if he connected the dots as I have never told him in detail, only Cole, about Aelfric’s attack on me, but somehow, he gets I want out and he doesn’t push or ask about it. Once dried, I realize he ripped most of my clothes off me so, pulling on a robe, we head hand in hand to my bedroom giggling. I pause outside Cade’s door and say, “I’ll just be a minute.” He looks at me quizzically as I open the door and step inside. He follows me closely and then growls as he sees Cade lying unconscious on the bed.

  “What is he doing here?” he asks and looks closer. “What happened to him?”

  “This is his home, he belongs here. And Lincoln, CK, and Cole is what happened to him,” I say, still not very happy with the three of them.

  “Huh,” he says, looking quite pleased.

  I ignore it and go to sit next to him. He is flat out and doesn’t wake up, but he does turn towards me and it makes me smile. He can fight it all he likes while he is awake, but in slumber he is mine. I reach out and touch his cheek, shushing Devon’s protest. His face relaxes a bit. I get that this is kind of creepy, stalking him and touching him while he is sleeping, but if this is the only time I can do it then so be it. I will have to feed him again before I leave, but I decide to wait a bit longer. Give him more time to rest and less time to wait in between. I stand and pull Devon out of the room.

  “So, do I get my turn when he wakes up?” Devon says slyly.

  “You fucking touch him and I will beat you myself,” I warn him.