by Eve Newton
He turns me around to face Ramon, who still doesn’t quite know what to expect here and I realize that I have made a mistake. Not that I wouldn’t care for a three-way, but I can’t betray Devon and Cole in this way. Speaking of Devon, where the fuck is he when you need him?
I tense up as CK grabs my nipples and with his eyes on Ramon, he rubs them till I’m aching for his cock inside me.
“Do you want us both to please you?” he whispers harshly in my ear.
I capitulate, as I’m sure he knew I would. “Just you,” I whimper in submission. He chuckles, dismissing Ramon with a flick of his wrist. He leaves in relief as, again, CK pulls away from me.
“You can’t win that game with me, Aefre,” he murmurs. “I know you too well.”
“Perhaps. Maybe if you go and get Devon, this would go a whole lot differently,” I challenge him in delight, which increases tenfold as I actually manage to piss him off.
“Not a chance, my sweet,” he recovers quickly. “This is the first night you will be in my bed all night for the first time in a long time. I am not sharing.”
I’m glad that he is finally distracted enough from my information slip-up, so I move closer to him. “What do you want me to do?” I murmur quietly as I kneel at his feet.
He gawks in surprise at me. I haven’t been so willing to submit this way to him for a really long time. He usually has to work a lot harder to gain this kind of control over me. He steps back. “Stand up, Aefre,” he says gruffly.
“No.”
“Stand up before I make you,” he threatens.
I don’t move.
He grabs a fistful of my hair and pulls me to my feet. “I said stand up,” he hisses at me. I avoid his intense gaze on purpose as he pulls my head back to lift my eyes to his. “What are you doing?” he rasps.
“Giving you what you want, Master,” I mumble.
He closes his eyes in pain. “No. Don’t do this. Not today,” he forces himself to say as he steps back. I step forward staying in his space.
“Let me be this for you,” I say.
“No. Don’t push me. You might regret it,” he says, his eyes still closed.
“Not likely.”
“Aefre,” he enunciates my name in the strong Old English ‘Ah-vuh’ instead of his native Latin, which he usually lapses into causing him to pronounce it ‘Ai-vuh.’ This tiny thing that would mostly go unnoticed by everyone else, shows me how focused he is on this conversation.
“Constantine. I am a thousand years old, and stronger now with this new Power. You will find it difficult to hurt me. But try your best,” I coax him.
“It’s not about the physical pain. I know you can handle anything I throw at you. But I don’t want to. I don’t want to hurt you and I don’t want you to see that side of me,” he whispers.
“Do it. Or I walk,” I say. It’s an empty threat, but it has the desired effect.
He opens his eyes as he Shifts, leaning forward to sink his claws into my throat. “Do you really want this?” he whispers to me, focusing his now jet-black eyes on mine.
I nod painfully but try not to show the pain he is inflicting on me already. An Initial Vampires claws can subdue a human into paralysis, makes for easy prey. On other Vampires they don’t paralyze, but fuck, it stings like a mother. He knows that he is hurting me, but no way will I let him see. He sinks to his knees, bringing me with him. My blood dripping down my throat has him mesmerized.
“Stay,” he says as he gets to his feet, releasing me.
I breathe in deeply as I heal slowly. I want this. I know he wants this, regardless of all of his words of not wanting me to see him like this. I want to. We have played in the past, but it has all been in fun. This is serious. I want to see his depraved side in all its glory. He thinks I can’t handle it, that I won’t want him anymore. I am going to push him until he can’t do anything but show me his inner monster that he reviles but cannot get away from. I am strong and not afraid of what he will dish out. The gods know it won’t be any worse than what Lance inflicted on me.
I wait for a while. Time ticks away and I can hear my phone buzzing away on the bedside cabinet. I know it will be either Cole or Devon, but I ignore it.
“Answer it, goddammit,” CK snarls at me from across the room.
I don’t move.
“Christ, Liv. Just stand up and answer it.”
As I stay where I am, he stalks over and answers it himself with a very brusque, “Yes?”
After a pause, he says to me, “It’s Devon. He senses your…whatever it is you charges feel for your sires.”
Gritting my teeth at his dismissal of our feelings, I say, “I will call him back. Tell him I’m fine, and I will call him back.”
“Speak to him.”
“No.”
Into the phone, he says, “Your sire is a stubborn fool, but she is fine. I will make her call you back when we are done.” Abruptly he hangs up. I can only imagine Devon’s face after those words, and it makes me smile.
“Something amuses you?” CK asks, catching my mirth.
I straighten my face instantly. “No, sir.”
He moves to stand behind me. I am desperate for him to touch me. I can feel his energy vibrating just off the surface of my skin and it is driving me wild.
Ever so slowly, he wraps a silk tie around my throat. “You catch me off guard, my sweet. None of my usual tools are here to hand.”
“Take me to the dungeons,” I manage to get out, before he pulls so hard on the tie, I choke out loud to my own disgust. Bearing in mind the lack of air won’t kill me, the reality of being strangled is most unpleasant. Bringing my hands up to my throat in an automatic response, I make myself relax. I am fine. It’s all good.
“Do you really want me to take you down there?” he asks in disbelief.
Well, I said I was going to push him, so I nod stiffly.
Shock registers on his handsome face as he realizes I’m serious about this. He shakes his head to himself. “No. No! I won’t. Don’t push me, Aefre,” he says again.
He releases his hold on the tie and I stand up. Oh, I’m going to push him so fucking hard, he won’t know what hit him.
“Do you think I will compare you to him, to Lance? Compare how sadistic you can be compared to him? Is that what you are worried about?” I ask.
His face closes off entirely as he registers my words. “Will you?” he asks quietly.
“No. You are nothing like him,” I say.
“He is just like me, Aefre. Not the other way around. Don’t you see?” he pleads with me.
“No. I don’t see. Constantine, do you love me?” I ask.
“Yes,” he doesn’t hesitate to say.
I smile. “That makes you different. You can love. You love me. I love you. We have had a really hard day, the whole Gregor thing notwithstanding. Just do this. Make us both feel better.”
He doesn’t need telling twice after this. He launches himself at me, pinning me to the ground with a dagger in each palm that he pulled from who the fuck knows where.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
Y es, I’m in pain, but it’s not unbearable. In fact, I know I could get myself out of this if I wanted to. The Power is surging up, indignant to be treated in such a fashion but I ignore it. At least I know it is there if I need it. But I don’t. Not yet, at least.
With my hands attached to the floor by ancient Vampire strength, I’m seemingly pinned in place. I wriggle in discomfort, because, yes it hurts like a bitch, but I won’t let him know.
A feral grin tearing his handsome face apart, he extends his claws and rakes them down me, neck to toes in slow, searing gashes that would make a lesser Vampire wither. They are gradually healing, painfully, which makes it worse when he pours the rest of the bottle of Scotch onto each slash. It burns like acid but I still won’t give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream. Christ knows I’ve had enough practice with the methods of torture, both giving and receiving. Mostly receiving, I think
ruefully as he trails his tongue up my gashes in a slow, steady movement, which makes me want him despite the pain he is inflicting on me.
Pulling the daggers out of my hands, he flips me over quickly to my front and reinserts them with two vicious thrusts before they have healed, making me buckle.
“Had enough?” he whispers gently, almost as if he wants me to say yes.
Never.
At my silence, he rakes his claws down my back, “You are so stubborn, my sweet. You know you are no match for me.”
Hm, I think you have no idea.
Another dagger appears in his hand. He slashes at my back with little flicks, drawing blood and lapping it away. My She Power is getting pretty pissed off now and is ready for action, but I push it away.
“Why are you letting me do this?” he asks suddenly in anguish.
Heaving a sigh of frustration, I pull my hands up from their pins to his utmost surprise. “Why can’t you ever just accept a gift in the way it was intended?” I snap, rubbing my hands as they heal instantly.
“I don’t want to hurt you. This is killing me. Don’t make me carry on,” he says, dropping his head into my lap, making me falter.
“Make you? Since when could I make you do anything?” I ask in bewilderment.
“Always,” he replies honestly, and we are back to vulnerable sire time. I don’t like it.
“Fine. If you can’t do it to me then take me downstairs and let me watch you do it to someone else.”
“Excuse me?” he asks warily.
“Your Pets in the dungeons,” I snarl at him in frustration.
“Aefre, there is no one in the dungeons.”
“Oh, really? I have a Power of One sense that tells me otherwise.”
He looks a bit alarmed at my faux admission, but whatever.
“Liv, there is no one in the dungeons,” he says, using my current name to impress his earnest.
Getting fed up of this game now, I pull his mouth to mine and kiss him. He responds, pulling me up onto his lap. “Don’t ever ask me to hurt you, never again. Please,” he murmurs.
“Just fuck me,” I whisper back now, all other thoughts abandoned under his kiss.
He stands, with me still in his arms, and carries me to his bed. Stripping off his own clothes now he watches me watch him.
“I love you,” he says again. “Don’t ever ask me to do this again. Please. I can’t bear to hurt you.”
He sounds so sincere I nod, feeling bad that I asked him to in the first place. Even though he needs to know that I’m not the same innocent wallflower he was reluctant to tell his secret to. He needs to know that he can trust me to love him, no matter what.
He rises above me, pinning my hands either side of my head and impales me on his cock with such force, I cry out. Oh, the gods, I want him so much. We have fucked around all day wasting time with secrets and games. I just want this. Always and forever. He brings me to a mind-shattering orgasm quickly then I take over. Straddling him, forcefully riding him until he can’t bear it anymore, he pours himself inside me and I’m happy. She is happy. I feel myself back in the massive canyon from my dream for a split second before it’s gone.
“I love you,” I murmur against his perfect lips.
He grips my hand and murmurs the same with the added, “I can’t wait to make you mine.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
T he rest of the night goes by in wonderful slow lovemaking, the kind that makes me forget about everything. I forget to call Devon back and I don’t answer when Cole calls me. After the day we have had with Gregor, the revelations, confessions and history, it has been exhausting. I fall asleep around 5 AM in a dead-to-the-world sleep knowing I will still wake at 6 AM, exhausted.
I do wake at six but oddly feeling okay. CK is asleep next to me. My beautiful sire. So vicious, but so loving. I lose several minutes just staring at him, until my phone goes off again. I cringe when I look at how many missed calls and messages I have from both Cole and Devon. Answering quietly, I creep out of bed. Not bothering with a robe, I go and sit in the alcove from yesterday.
“Hey,” I say quietly.
“Hey,” Cole answers, just as quietly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you back yesterday. It was a difficult day,” I say by way of explanation.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
I smile gently. “Yes, I’m fine. CK and I got into it yesterday. It was… trying.”
“You fought?”
“Not exactly. It’s complicated.”
“You are okay, though?”
“Yes, my love, I am. Even better now for talking to you.”
He chuckles. “Always know the right thing to say to a guy.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too. I miss you already.”
“Are you okay?” I ask, suddenly concerned as I’m so far away from him.
“Yes, I suppose so. I do feel overly lonely. Is that normal?”
“Yes, my love. I’m sorry. I should be there with you.”
He sighs and says, “I’ll live. You need your own sire time.”
“Are you getting on with Devon without me there?” I ask with a smile.
He laughs. “Yes, don’t worry about us. There is a slight problem though,” he says hesitantly.
“What?” I ask, alarmed. I feel my face do that overly concerned thing that CK’s does and I straighten it with an inward huff.
“It’s my mother,” he sighs. “She’s contacted me.”
Having told me that he doesn’t know his father and he hasn’t spoken to his mother since he left home at seventeen, I know this must be a bolt out of the blue for him. I also know that his circumstances are one of the reasons that he made this decision, for me to turn him. No family means no explanations.
“She called you or came to visit?” I ask.
“She called my agent. Who then passed the message on.”
“Do you know why? Why now?”
“I have a pretty good idea,” he snarls. I flinch at his hostility. I stay quiet, wanting him to carry on as I haven’t connected the dots as he has.
“Peter, my agent, said that she wanted to get in touch with me as she saw that I was newly married and wanted to reconnect now that I was making a family of my own. Personally, I think all she saw were the billions of dollar signs above your head,” he sneers in disgust.
“Oh, baby. This isn’t the best news, but it isn’t the worst. Just ignore her. I don’t need to remind you that our secret doesn’t sit well with outsiders. It’ll all blow over if you don’t respond.”
“I hope you’re right. It’s a problem I could do without.”
“Indeed. But all problems have a solution. We’ll face it together.” I sense CK before I see him. He sits down opposite me in the alcove as I did with him yesterday, placing his bare toes on mine. I smile as he watches me impassively.
“I should go now. We have to get this thing with Gregor rolling as quickly as possible.”
He grunts at Gregor’s name. “Be safe. Don’t let him touch you anymore than you have to,” he growls at me.
I giggle. “Yes, sir,” I say quietly.
He chuckles, as CK glowers at me.
“I like that. You can call me that from now on,” he says cheekily.
I snort in amusement. “Cocky, aren’t you? Do I need to punish you for your brazen remark?” I ask with a massive grin on my face.
“Anytime,” he whispers.
I feel CK’s eyes on me. I know he can hear our entire conversation, but he shouldn’t be eavesdropping. Says me. “Sit on that till I get back.”
“Oh, I will. Oh, and before I forget, call Devon. He’s getting pissy.” And with that he hangs up on me, deliberately to rile me. I shake my head at the phone.
“What problem?” CK asks.
Bringing my attention back to him, I say, “It’s nothing. At least not yet.”
“Nico will help you fix it,” he offers.
I smile my t
hanks. “That might not be such a bad idea. Thank you,” I say.
He shrugs. He is shirtless, just in sweats, and again, I’m amazed at how wonderful he looks. And how young. I forget that technically he is still twenty, just like I will forever be sixteen. Two thousand plus years under his belt doesn’t change that.
“What?” he asks as I continue to peer closely at him.
“I forget sometimes, how young you are. I mean human-age wise,” I add as his eyebrows shoot upward.
He laughs. “Oh, my sweet. You do have the capacity to still surprise me. I haven’t been called young since I was a boy.”
I move towards him. He drops his legs flat and like yesterday, I crawl up onto his lap, my hands stroking his face.
I’m itching to ask him about his childhood, but it’s off limits. I can delve into the highlights with my new and improved magick brain, but I wish he would tell me.
As ever, he reads my thoughts. “Isn’t it all in your head already?”
“Just some hard facts. No feelings, my love. Just once I wish you would tell me,” I whisper.
“Maybe another time. Right now, we have other things to do.” With that said, the subject is closed as always. He claims my mouth in a soft kiss, running his hands down my back. Always so good with the distraction, I lose myself in him as I free him and slide down his length until he is filling my pussy right up. I move over his engorged cock, pushing him as far into me as possible.
He groans as feels my slick pussy sheathing him. Dropping his fangs, he holds the back of my head as he bites down on my neck. I slowly move my hips over him. Releasing his bite, he plunges his tongue into my mouth fangs still bared, scraping at my skin. I feel myself respond and, as I Shift, I drag my claws down his perfect chest drawing blood. Careful not to touch me with his, he lets me mark him, which is an unusual act for him. Growing bold and knowing he won’t be pleased, I bring my thumbs up together on his chest and draw them out and down slowly, deliberately to opposite ends, finishing with a quick slash through the middle. He stares down at the massive blood red ‘A’ I have drawn on him, growling softly, pulling my mouth to his as it heals. The fire burning inside me erupts. He moans into my mouth as he feels me throbbing around him. Pushing my hips further down, he spurts his load into me. We both stay there, not moving for a while.
