Switch (The Forever Series, Book 7) (24 page)

“I…I’m…” I pause. “I’m fine. I just think I need to feed.”

“I can help you with that,” he says and takes my hands.

“You don’t mind? So soon after yesterday?”

“I told you, I don’t mind doing this. And time doesn’t mean
anything. I am stronger than you know. Take what you need.”

I smile my thanks and squeeze his hands, feeling the fog
lifting slightly as I take his energy and then I am all better. “You should be
careful, a girl could get used to that,” I say shyly and he grins.

“That’s what I’m counting on,” he says and I can’t gauge if
he is joking or serious. But it matters not, as our sire finds us and I light
up and run to him, throwing my arms around his neck to his surprise. He
recovers quickly and twirls me in a circle and places me gently down as I pull
his head to mine and kiss him deeply. “You’re back. I missed you. I would have
come with you,” I pout and he rubs my bottom lip with his thumb.

“It was business, you would have been bored, my sweet.”

“Never with you. I just want to spend time with you and be
with you.” I gaze up at him adoringly and he gazes back at me in confusion. He
glances at Sebastian who walks past us and slaps CK on the shoulder and a look
passes between them that I can’t place. CK relaxes instantly and smiles his
made-just-for-me smile at me, and nothing else matters.

“I like this mood you are in,” he says to me, wrapping his
arms around me. “It makes me want to take you home with me right now.”

“I want to go home with you. To our home. Take me home,” I
say and a part of me has no idea where these words are coming from.

“I’m not sure your husband would be very happy about that,”
Devon says as he joins us, to my annoyance. “How about you step away and leave
it until tomorrow,” he adds to CK who looks at him in amusement and doesn’t
move.

“Husband?” I whisper almost to myself. “What are you talking
about?”

Devon’s sharp eyes focus intently on mine. “Livvie? Are you
okay?” he asks, stepping forward.

“She’s fine,” CK says, turning to face Devon and cutting him
off from me. I stare at the back of his really expensive suit and frown. What
is going on?

“I’d like to hear that from my sire if you don’t mind,”
Devon says, stepping closer.

I loop my hand through CK’s arm and step to his side. “It’s
okay, my love,” I say up at him with a beam, all mushy inside over his defense
of me. “Devon, I’m fine. Just a little tired and nervous about later.”

“What’s happening later?” he asks. “Oh, never mind,” he adds
as he remembers.

“In fact, I should probably…” I jut my thumb out towards the
French doors.

“Sure,” he says and pulls me away from CK quite roughly.
“Just be safe, find Lincoln quickly and don’t leave him,” he whispers in my ear
as he hugs me tightly. “Then come back here and be with Cole, your husband,” he
says pointedly and I smile up at him, wondering what he is talking about. Cole
is my charge, not my husband. CK is my husband, isn’t he? My brain tries to
scramble my errant thoughts together but I just get more confused. No, not my
husband, my soon-to-be-husband?

What?

I blink at him as he peers closely at me, his grip getting
tighter on my arms. I nod at him “Yes, Cole. I should find Lincoln.” My
disjointed words do nothing to reassure him and I pull myself out of his iron
grip and turn back to CK, who is looking at me like I just fell from the moon.
I grab him by his suit lapels and plant a whopping big kiss on him that he
takes great delight in returning, before I scamper off, shedding my bikini
before I Shift, mid-run into my Wolf form.

I find Lincoln quickly, in the same clearing as before. He
is facing off with another She-Wolf who is slighter larger than me but the same
color and with bright blue eyes. I sense Lincoln’s annoyance rather than
anything else, but I growl at her nonetheless. She tilts her head at me in
question and then sniffs the air cautiously. She looks back to Lincoln who bobs
his head once. I can only assume that he is confirming me as his Alpha. I still
have no clue how they communicate properly. I mean, I have my thoughts and I
can sense Lincoln and his feelings but not his thoughts. Am I supposed to, like
I do in Dragon form?

“Yes!” he yells in my head all of a sudden as he turns his
head slightly and bares his teeth. “Just like we do in human form. Finally. I
was beginning to think I was on my own here.”

“All right!” I snap. “Keep your fur on. Who is this?” I ask,
gesturing to her with my head and stepping up closer to him, showing a united
front. “She does know this is private property, right?”

“I don’t think she cares about that right now. Her Alpha
mate was killed and she’s come looking for another one,” he sighs dramatically
and I chuckle.

“You? Ah no, my love. You are all mine.”

“Just what a Wolf wants to hear,” he says with a smile in
his tone.

“Am I going to have to fight her for you?” I ask, only
mildly worried.

“Before you go all feral on me, you may want to hear how her
Alpha was killed.”

“How?” I ask, now curious, as he wouldn’t mention it unless
it was something that falls into the weird-arse-things-that-just-find-me
category.

“Connect with her in your head. You can do it. Might take a
bit more effort than with me, but you should be able to reach her.”

I stare at her and concentrate. She just stares back at me
impatiently and then I have her. I can hear her grumbling about wasting time.

“First things,” I say to her and she starts as she clearly
wasn’t expecting me there so quickly, “stay the fuck away from my Alpha.”

Lincoln chokes back a laugh, but she glares at me. “I can
assure you, if I knew he was yours, Your Majesty, I wouldn’t have made an
advance on him.”

An advance? What the hell did she do to him? I glare at him
and if he could shrug, that’s what he would do back at me.

“Good. Now that is established, do tell what happened to
your own.”

Erica (I find out that is her name) hails from Nottingham
where she and her mate were attacked last month, by what she describes as the
Wolf Demon from Hell. Far as I can gather from her description it appears to be
that of a stereotypical Hollywood Werewolf, which is interesting in that they
don’t exist. Or so we all thought. Maybe someone in Tinseltown knows more than
we do? Unlikely. It must be some sort of, as she says, Demon-Wolf cross breed.

“I know of two others who have been attacked and killed in
Southern England,” Erica finishes up woefully.

“Do you think there is only the one creature?” I ask her.
“Or more?”

“No, it’s the same one. The others described it exactly. It
has claw mark scars all down its right flank.”

“I see. So were you here looking for me and just happened
upon Lincoln, or were you just out for another Alpha?”

“Both,” she says, ducking her head. “My Pack is weak without
an Alpha male. I knew the Queen was in England but didn’t know where. I followed
the mystical energy up to this place, but I didn’t know it was yours, hoping to
find some answers to your whereabouts.”

“Mystical energy?” I inquire.

“The Demon made shadow cover,” she clarifies.

“Oh.” I swish my tail awkwardly as the Demon in question who
made that was me. Not so sure she would be very receptive to that news under
the circumstances. “You can track energy?” I ask her as a diversion.

“Only that which is powerful. You must know a heavy hitter
to have created this,” she points her nose to the air and I mentally clear my
throat as Lincoln titters at me in my head. Hopefully in a secret compartment
in my head that she can’t hear.

“Do you think you can help us find this thing and destroy
it?” she asks me. “It killed the love of my life and I want it dead.” She steps
forward in her vehemence and Lincoln growls at her to step back.

“Us?”

“Me and my Pack. We are vulnerable without a new Alpha male.
We must find this thing and stop it.”

“Is your Pack with you now?”

“Yes, I didn’t want to leave them alone.”

“Very well. You can stay in these woods tonight and tomorrow
night when in Wolf form, until we can figure out what it is. I can only assume
it reverts to human form during the day and outside of the full moon, or it
would have attacked more.”

“Yes, my thoughts exactly,” she agrees with me. “Thank you,
Your Majesty, for your kind offer. We would be honored to share your land with
you.” She lowers herself to the ground in a submissive position and I huff at
her to get up.

“Just remember that land is the only thing we are sharing,”
I say as I step even closer to Lincoln.

“Yes, ma’am,” she says quietly.

“Call me Liv, please. I really don’t go in for all this
formal crap.”

She stifles a surprised laugh and says, “Yes, of course,
Liv. Thank you.”

She runs off deeper into the woods, leaving Lincoln and me
alone. He lies down at my feet and I curl up next to him. He swishes his tail
over me protectively and I ask him, “Have you ever heard of anything like this
before?”

“No. It doesn’t sound natural to me.”

“Me either. I’m thinking…” I gulp and he finishes my
sentence, “Man-made.”

“Exactly,” I sigh. “Just another thing to add to my ‘to
kill’ list.”

“Don’t worry about it. I will do all the legwork. You will
probably only have to show up and kill it,” he says, snuffling at me, teasing.
“You have enough to deal with.”

We stand up and run then. He takes me all over the woods and
I feel like we have covered miles. He shows me places I never knew existed and
I take it all in, in wonder. He leads us back to the clearing and we flop down.
I put my head on his paws and he sighs. “I like this. Just the two of us, like
this. It’s special.”

“You are special,” I say to him and wiggle closer.

“Do you think you might be ready yet?” he asks shyly.

Uh-oh. I had been afraid he’d ask me that. “I’d rather we
Shift and then I could kiss you and touch you,” I say with my own shyness.

He Shifts abruptly and says, “Well, I don’t need
convincing.” And I Shift myself and he throws himself at me, his mouth on mine,
flattening me to the cold, damp ground. Again I can feel the chill and it
bothers me momentarily, until I heat up all over as Lincoln drives into me
without preamble, ripping me wide open and I scratch my nails down his back in
response to his urgency. He yelps as I draw blood and breaks our kiss to rasp,
“Turn around.”

I flip underneath him and he kneels up, bringing my hips
with him, and again he is inside me, pounding away until I start to vibrate all
over. My fingers buried deep in the damp soil clench further and the ground
begins to rumble underneath us like a tremor as I explode in ecstasy. “Oh fuck,
Linc,” I cry out as I push back with my hips until he is sitting on his heels
and I am on his lap facing outward. His hands come straight up to my breasts
and he tugs sharply on my nipples before he drops one hand to play with me. I
tilt my head back to his shoulder and he lets me go to pull my head back
further so he can kiss me, nipping at my lips with his sharp teeth before he
pushes my head to the right and slowly, sharply sinks his teeth into me. I grab
his arm and lower my fangs against the sensitive skin of his wrist, grazing him
in question. He grunts his acceptance and I bite into him, sucking slowly,
savoring the taste of him. We come together and let go of each other at the
same time, panting heavily.

“Wow,” he says in my ear. “That was definitely worth
Shifting for.”

I giggle and turn on his lap to face him. He shuffles
underneath me and lies back and I flop forward onto his broad chest, caressing
him gently. “I love you, Linc. You make me feel so cared for and safe, without
being all overbearing.”

“Oh, I can be overbearing,” he says with a laugh. “I just
don’t think it is necessary in your case.”

“Exactly my point,” I say as I sit up. “You know that I can
take care of myself. I wish everyone else did.”

“I’m glad you brought it up as it leads into something I
have to say quite nicely,” he says, also sitting up. “What the hell do you
think you are playing at with The Thirteen? You call him by a name and have tea
and conversation? I dunno, Liv. Something strikes me as very off about that.”

“I know it does. And I want to thank you for staying out of
it before. He has changed, something has shifted in him. When he came to me on
Saturday, it was…different. He told me a bit of his past, who he is. His name.
You heard what he said about having a change of heart. I want to know what this
bigger picture is.”

“You still plan on killing him though?” he asks and then
says, “Right?” forcefully when I don’t answer.

“Of course, but now I am going to feel bad about it. But I
want to know what his end game is. If he wanted to kill me, I have no doubt
that he could have done it by now. Or certainly at least tried again. I just…I
don’t know,” I say, slapping my hands lightly on his chest and copping a good
feel while I’m at it. It doesn’t go unnoticed and he grins at me before the
scowl returns. “Don’t tell the others,” I say. “They will just go all crazy on
me. I can’t deal with it.”

“You know I won’t if you ask me not to. But be careful, Liv.
He is not to be trusted. You know that, right?” he says reluctantly and I kiss
him sweetly.

“I do know, my special secret-keeper.”

“There are just so many stacking up now, Liv. I’m getting a
bit worried about you.”

“I am fine. You don’t have to worry about me. I should go,
it’s getting late and Cole will be needing to see me before I leave tomorrow.”

“Be careful around Sebastian,” he says as I get up to leave.

“Sebastian? Why do you say that?” I ask as I twirl in a
circle and end up dressed in sweats and a vest top.

“There is something off about him. I can’t put my finger on
it.”

“Look, I know you don’t like him because of what happened in
Vegas, but I have forgiven him and we are moving on. We are friends now,” I say
in the hopes of diverting the attention away from this topic of conversation.

“What happened in Vegas?” he asks, confused.

“You know…” I say waving my hand around and he still looks
none the wiser.

Oh, crap. He has no idea what I am talking about. I thought
the three of them had been awfully good about not saying anything about what
they overheard about Sebastian spelling me. I mean, I know I ordered them to
keep it to themselves, but there has been no peep of it since. Sebastian has
clearly meddled here. But how? He claims he can’t make people forget, but I was
never sure of that in the first place and even less so now.

“Liv? What happened in Vegas?” he says, now worried.

I scramble for an answer. “Err, you know, the fight I had
with CK and I slapped him and then Sebastian slapped me…”

“And then you flattened him,” he finishes for me. “See,
clear proof that you don’t need any of us to look out for you.”

I smile cautiously and he says, “Just watch yourself around
him. I don’t trust him.”

“I do,” I say, only half meaning it. “We have developed a
relationship. There is nothing for you to worry about.”

“Do I want to know what kind of relationship?”

“Just a friendship. We have some common ground. It’s a good
foundation.” That is all I am willing to say and he drops it.

“Fine, you know what you are doing.” He kisses me for a few
minutes then says, “I’m going to stay out for a bit longer.”

“Okay, baby, just don’t be sniffing around Erica, I don’t
like to share.” I give him a sassy wink and he laughs.

“So jealous,” he says. “But I like it.” And with that he
Shifts and is off without a look back.

Chapter 13

I watch him go and then Astral off to shower and change and
then to find the others. I land in the library to various arguments going on,
which all stop as they see me. Interesting. I am of half a mind to set up
cameras to spy on them when I am not here. See what it is they talk, or argue,
about.

My eyes find Cole and I go to him immediately and pull him
to me for a kiss, “Hey. Care to share?”

“Hey,” he says back with a small smile. “Enjoy your full moon?”
he adds, dodging the question.

“It was interesting. We have a guest in the woods.”

“Oh?” he says, now concerned. “Welcome or unwelcome?”

“Unwelcome at first but now she and her Pack are going to be
staying here tonight and tomorrow night.”

“Her Pack?” CK asks and I eventually look at him, thoroughly
embarrassed over the gushing I did before. He looks less than impressed that I
have my arms around Cole and Sebastian next to him looks furious. Geez. What
did I do to piss him off?

“Yes, her Pack. She is an Alpha, whose mate was killed by
some weird kind of Demon-Wolf cross breed thing.”

“I beg your pardon?” Xane says from the sofa. “A Demon-Wolf
cross breed?”

“That’s what it sounded like. It has attacked two other
Packs and we need to find out what it is and stop it. Xane, have you heard of
anything similar? She described it as one of those ridiculous movie
Werewolf-type things.”

“Please tell me you are joking?” Devon says, his arm slung
around Jess’s shoulders. “Are we expected to believe that?”

I shrug and say, “I’m only going off what she said. Xane?”

“Well, of course there are cross breeds. I mean Demons and
Dragons,” he pauses to let that one sink in, “Demons and Shifters, Shifters and
Dragons, but the product of those are all normal as far as I know, taking after
the father…”

“Except in the case of female Dragons,” I finish his
sentence.

“Yes,” he says. “Been doing some research?” he asks with a
look that speaks volumes.

“Corinne mentioned it,” I glance quickly at Sebastian who is
looking a bit less furious and a bit more wary.

“So, what you describe sounds something more. Something…”

“Man-made,” I say as he says the same and we grin at each
other while everyone else glares at us.

“Genetically enhanced,” we both add and laugh.

“It’s like one brain,” he says and Cole’s grip tightens on
my arm painfully.

I clear my throat and say, “I have sifted through the
Council archives and there is nothing recorded with those specs. CK?”

His cold eyes meet mine and I almost flinch at the hostility
there, but it softens instantly and I know his resentment was towards Xane, not
me. “No, I can’t say that I have ever heard of something like that, outside of
the cinematic experience.”

“So do you think someone is making these things because
that’s what they think Werewolves should be?” asks Cade, who has joined the
party.

“About time you showed up,” I say to him. “Where have you
been?”

“Out and about,” he says vaguely. “Doing my job.”

I scowl at him as he is cutting me out of the loop on his
job activities, and it seems that he and Nico now have a buddy system going on.
So much for consensual alliances.

“What?” he says as he catches my look. “You are safe, are
you not? You haven’t left the property so I have been directing my attention
elsewhere.”

“Indeed, be sure to have a bag packed for the morning as I
will be leaving the country, never mind just the property,” I grouse at him and
then sort of regret having said that in front of Cole, who gets his mood on and
the opposite to be said of CK who gets his happy on. I won’t even look at
Sebastian because, well, I just don’t want to know.

“Yes, I am aware of your arrangements. Jess and I are in
close contact.” He smiles genially down at the girl who simpers slightly under
his attention and I raise my eyebrow at that new development. I really should
pay more attention to what is going on in my own house.

“Back to my question?” he prompts me.

“I really couldn’t say. Lincoln is going to poke around, see
what he can find out for me. Xane, could you do that same on the Demon side?
See if it is maybe something paranormally real.”

“Of course,” he says. “By the way, there is still that
conversation we need to have.”

“What conversation?” I ask.

“That one we started outside and then you had Wolf issues to
deal with.” His innocent look makes me roll my eyes at him.

“It can wait,” I say, lacing my fingers through Cole’s and
looking up at him. “Bedtime,” I whisper to him and he jumps on it.

“Later,” he calls out to everyone as he rushes me, giggling,
out of the room with Vampire speed. Up the stairs and to our bedroom, where he
doesn’t bother with shutting the door before he pulls my top over my head and
he walks me back to the bed. I flick my wrist and the door closes with a
magickal bang and with a twist, I lock it. No interruptions.

After several hours of intense goodbye lovemaking, Cole and
I fall asleep. Well, me first, as usual. I know I must be dreaming as I am
falling, slowly down the inside of this very long, very round well. I’m not
afraid of it even though it is circular. Suddenly my dress balloons out like a
parachute to carry me the rest of the way down.

Hey, wait…

I look down and it is a light blue dress with a white apron.
Wiggling my feet, I see white socks and flat, black Mary Janes. Oh, for
heaven's sake. I’m Alice.

Expecting to land on the floor of the well, I am surprised
when I have fast forwarded to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. I land in a seat next
to the Hatter who peers at me with familiar blue eyes from underneath his
extravagant top hat.

“Oh for fuck's sake,” I grumble and he looks at me severely.

“Is that any way for a young lady to speak?” comes his very
clipped, very British accent, even more pronounced under the circumstances.
“Have some tea,” he pushes a China cup much like my own towards me.

“I’ll pass, thanks. If I recall, the March Hare offered wine
first. Now that, I’ll take,” I say, pushing the cup delicately away from me.

“Hm, there isn’t any,” he says and I pull my face at him.
“And your hair wants cutting,” he adds softly, and that makes me snort in
amusement.

“You like the book, then? I’d like it back. In exactly the
same condition as when you stole it.”

“Borrowed it,” he corrects me with a rap on my knuckles with
his pocket watch.

“Hey,” I say, rubbing them.

“Why is a raven like a writing-desk?” he says instead.

“Seriously?” I ask and he tilts his head to the side and I
indulge him just out of something to do, but skipping ahead a few pages. “I
think you might do something better with the time, than wasting it in asking
riddles that have no answers,” I quote.

Delighted, he replies, “If you knew Time as well as I do,
you wouldn’t talk about wasting
it
. It’s
him
.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” I carry on the conversation
directly from the book.

“Of course you don’t!” he says as contemptuously as, no
doubt, the Hatter would have. “I dare say you never even spoke to Time.” He
bangs his fist on the table and all the cups jump.

The Dormouse starts to sing, “Twinkle, Twinkle, little bat;
How I wonder what you’re at…” and I stand. I am so out of here.

“Where are you going?” Remiel asks me.

“Anywhere but here. This is the stupidest tea party I was
ever at in all my life!” I huff at him as I stamp my foot and he cackles.

“Oh, Alice. You are a joy to play with. Don’t you see how
much fun we could have? Every day could be a new adventure, every night a new
experience.”

I stare at him now, unable to answer him. My voice has gone
and all I can hear now is the Dormouse singing: Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle,
twinkle… as I spiral up and out of the dream, sitting up in bed with a start. It
is still dark outside, the rain falling softly, the slight breeze blowing the
curtain through the partially cracked window. Cole is already up and in the
bathroom and I catch my breath and then, I lose my temper. The bed starts to
rumble underneath me as the ground did last night and I can hear the rattling
of the ornaments. I open my mouth and shriek at the top of my voice,
“RRRRRRRRRREMIEL!” The window panes threaten to splinter and Cole rushes out of
the bathroom, steadying himself against the tremor I am causing. The door
bursts open and everyone else rushes in to see what the problem is, in various
states of awake.

“Liv, what the fuck?” Cole shouts above the roar of the wind
that has blown the French doors wide open, letting in the rain that is now lashing
down. I am standing in that stupid Alice dress, with my hair whipping up around
me as I call G.I. to my hand. I am finishing him once and for all. He has
violated my dreams for the last time.

“Show yourself!” I yell at thin air and I think everyone thinks
my marbles have scattered, as I stand there in all my blazing glory,
brandishing the sword with an ethereal finesse I wouldn’t claim to have, had
you asked me before this moment. It is quite possible that I have gone loopy,
as this is one of those Power rushes that has come out of nowhere and for no
real reason. Yes, he was in my dream, trying to coax me into staying, but I
know better now. It was a silly Wonderland dream, no harm, no foul…and yet. Why
am I so angry? The prickle down my shoulder and arm distracts me enough to lose
the rush as it is bordering on too painful to bear and I let the sword go, to
the relief of every creature in the room. Gripping my right shoulder, I hiss
and see that everyone is staring at me in horror. It takes me a moment to
understand why, but it hits me as the claws I had been raking down my own arm
reaches my fingertips and I run out of flesh to gouge.

“Shit,” I mumble, expecting my fangs to have dropped as
well, but they haven’t. I am not all Vamped out. Only my left hand has a set of
claws, that actually aren’t even Vampire claws now that I look at them. More
like five, black, razor sharp claws. Actually talons, rather than claws. Oh
crap. Am I turning into some sort of Bird freak now? I turn hastily to the
mirror and to my relief, I look like me, but my Dragon eyes have made an
appearance. Oh, not so much a Bird freak then, as a partial Dragon Shift. My
bad.