The Ties that Bind (The Forever series, Book Five) (23 page)

Lincoln follows me and we go out to the sitting room balcony
and I close the door quietly.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Drink?” he asks in return.

“Sure,” I say and sit on one of the sun loungers and eye him
up dressed in sweats and a tight fitting vest. Oh my. He pours us both a Scotch
and comes to sit next to me, handing me the glass. He takes a long sip and
turns to me. He takes my face in his hand I swallow. This isn’t going to be
good.

“Liv, I said I wouldn’t ask anything of you, but I wasn’t
being honest,” he starts. He shushes me as I open my mouth. “Wait,” he says. “I
do need something from you. It’s not sexual and it’s not any more of your
attention than you can give, but… I need you… I need you to be more of an…Alpha
to me.”

“How so?” I ask, not offended, just curious, as he has never
told me anything that he wants from me in this regard and personally I have no
clue.

He looks relieved that I am not about to take his head off
and smiles, “It’s one thing to have you as my Alpha mate but we need to start
acting like it.” He pauses.

“Is this something to do with the ‘will you’ question you
had for me?”

“Yes. But I will get to that in a minute. First thing, I
need to feel a proper connection with you. I mean, I know I can read your
thoughts when your blocks are down and you can call me and vice versa but can
you read me? Have you tried?”

I shake my head, “No. I haven’t tried.”

“Then try,” he says firmly and takes my glass from me and
puts it next to his on the floor.

“How?”

He shrugs, “Drop your blocks I guess and just try.”

Learn by doing…again. I sigh inwardly but turn fully toward
him. I get on my knees and place my hand over his heart, mostly to feel his
heartbeat but also so that I can feel his rock hard muscles under my hand. He
grins at my action as he knows my mind and places his own hand over mine.
“Close your eyes,” he whispers. “What am I thinking?”

I close my eyes and concentrate. They pop open again and I
say, scandalized, “Linc!” to which he chuckles deeply.

“I guess you got that accurately,” he says wryly.

“Can I do that? I mean the Shift?”

“I don’t see why not. You can Shift into everything else,
why not a Wolf? Try.”

I look up at the third quarter moon, “Now? Don’t I need a
full one?”

“I am sure that it won’t stop you. Just try.”

I climb off the sun lounger and disrobe. He is staring at me
now not in desire, but with interest. To see if I can do what he asks.

“How will I know what to Shift to? I don’t know what I will
look like,” I say, suddenly worried.

“Use the same principle as when you Shifted to
ValamAtrux
.
Just think Wolf and do it.”

I nod firmly, determined to succeed first time at this. I
feel myself change and suddenly I am on all fours and he is on his knees in
front of me crooning to me and stroking me. My first thought is that I actually
have coherent thoughts. I may be in the form of an animal and unable to speak
but there is nothing different about the way my brain functions.

Lincoln is speaking to me in delight, scratching behind my
ears and rubbing me under my chin, “You are beautiful, just perfect,” He says
over and over. I cast a quick look down and note my fur is a golden color. I
suppose that makes sense as Lincoln in Wolf form is black just as his hair is
black and his eyes are green-eyed like his human ones. “I love you,” he
murmurs. “Next time at the full moon, I am taking you out with me. I don’t care
who you are supposed to be with, you will be with me. With me,” he whispers and
I lick his nose to his delight. Conscious of being so close to Cole I Shift
back suddenly and am naked in Lincoln’s arms. He, being the perfect gentleman,
though, pulls my robe back over me and I tie it. I smile shyly up at him and he
beams at me adoringly. “Thank you,” he whispers as he brushes his lips just
lightly across mine before he steps back.

I grab his hand and chew on my lip. He chuckles at me and
says, “Don’t worry, I will do all the work.” And I look away embarrassed that
he caught on to my worry of what is required of me during mating.

“Hey, don’t be shy,” he says quietly. “Think of it just the
same as when you Shift to have Vamp sex, or Demon sex, or whatever.”

I nod, still not comfortable as it will be completely
different, but he takes me in his strong arms and I immediately feel comforted.
“Why did you wait so long to ask?”

“Why did it never occur to you sooner that I wanted you to?”
he asks back in all seriousness.

“I don’t know. I guess it never occurred to me because of
changing to a Wolf,” I say, confused.

“But you knew you had to change into a Dragon,” he points
out.

“That was different. I am Dragon. I didn’t realize I was
also Wolf.”

“You are all of us now, Liv,” he says lightly and I realize
he is right.

“I will be everything you need me to be,” I say to him and
he nods.

“Good. I can’t wait. We will be in London at the next full
moon. We will be American Werewolves in London!” he lets out with a loud guffaw
and I bash him to keep quiet as Cole is still sleeping.

“Well, you maybe. I shall be an English Werewolf in London,”
I say haughtily to which he snorts in amusement.

“Either way, we need to think of where we can go and also
who you are supposed to be with that night.”

I nod again, serious. “I will.”

He nods too, “Good. Well if you are sure you are good, I
will head back to bed. I’m shattered.”

“Me too,” I agree, glancing at his watch which only says
3:30 AM. I couldn’t have been asleep all that long until that horrible dream
woke me up.

“I’ll see you in a few,” he says and I kiss him quickly and
head back to bed where I immediately get pulled into Cole’s embrace in his
sleep. I want him desperately but I am also so tired. I lean forward to kiss
him but yawn instead and flop down on his chest completely worn out from the
Shift and no blood for a long time.

I am back at Ponte. Only this time I am in a different
room. One further down from mine. Just as lavish but modernized, unlike mine.
My eyes land on the three of them in the middle of the huge bed and I resist
the urge to throw up. All three naked and quite aroused, I must have missed
part of the proceedings, I think irrationally. What am I doing here? And why
can no one see me or hear me?

“Constantine,” I call out desperately as he sinks his
fangs into Vivienne’s wrist. He pauses slightly as if he has heard me but then
continues with his task. Sebastian is suckling at her other wrist and she is in
heaven.

I watch in horror as Constantine lowers his left hand to
her neck and agonizingly slowly, he rakes his claws down her throat, down her
chest, across her breasts. She cries out in a mix of pleasure and pain.
Sebastian silences her with a kiss and she writhes under the torturous touch.
He continues to drag his claws down her slowly in deep cuts that are bleeding
profusely and so slow to heal due to the depth of the wounds. Christ, she must
be in agony I think as I watch, unable to tear my eyes away. Sebastian pulls
back from his kiss and she gasps loudly as Constantine’s claws gouge into her
stomach and lower, finishing just above her pubic bone. He releases his bite
and turns to face her, clamping his mouth to hers as Sebastian pours a bottle
of Scotch over her cuts, she buckles under the searing pain, screaming into his
mouth as he holds her down. Fuck me! I know how that feels. Like acid,
remembering that he did that to me last year when I tried to force his monster
on me. I gulp then as the realization truly hits me. This is me witnessing his
inner monster. The beast he reviles and never wants me to see. I thought it was
what I wanted but I don’t. I want to unsee what I am seeing, but I can’t. I
keep looking away but every time I do I am back, faced with this horrendous
scene in front of me. Constantine pulls away from her and drop his fangs again,
claws extended as he lightly brushes the points over her barely healing cuts.
She whimpers but the look on her face tells me she is reveling in it. Sebastian
drops his mouth to her wounds and licks them, lapping at them, cleaning the
blood away and speeding up the healing process. She relaxes as she starts to
heal quicker until I see something that makes me want to die on the spot.
Constantine is playing with her. Claws out, nicking her delicate skin in wicked
little cuts as her circles her. She moves against his hand, encouraging him and
with a low, feral growl that rumbles deeply around the room as he inserts two
fingers inside her, ripping her apart. She screams. A horrible sound of
pleasure coupled with pain. I back away, still trying to look away but I can’t.
Lance truly did learn from his sire. Our sire. This was one of his more painful
sexual acts on me, but Vivienne must be beyond agony now as Lance didn’t have
the sting that Initial Vampire claws have. Constantine was right. She is
strong. She does want it and she can take it. He is pulsing in and out of her,
tearing her to shreds as she begs for more. He removes his hand and Sebastian
moves in between her legs. Kneeling in front of her, he licks her, healing her
slightly before he lifts her hips and enters her, rubbing against the cuts, in
what I know will be like salt on a wound. Constantine moves up the bed and she
inserts him, rock hard, into her mouth, moaning in delight as she is abused,
tortured by these two men. One of them that I love more than anything in this
world. He comes quickly with a loud groan filled with anguish and desperation,
not pleasure. Sebastian grabs his wrist and pulls him closer, sinking his fangs
into him as he continues his vicious onslaught to Vivienne. Again, I try to
look away but this time due to the intimacy between Sebastian and Constantine.
I have never seen it before. Sire and charge of the same gender and I have
often wondered how they express their love for each other. Clearly in this case
it is through a shared experience. It is also clear that this isn’t their first
rodeo together. And certainly not with her. Every movement is planned,
Constantine inflicts the pain and Sebastian eases it. Takes it away. I dread to
think what it is I missed at the beginning. She basks now under the final
ministrations of Sebastian, an extreme orgasm ripping through her. He comes as
well and Constantine sinks his fangs into Sebastian, feeding deeply from him.

I wake up and heave over the side of the bed. Nothing comes
up, though, as I haven’t eaten in I can’t remember how long and it has been
hours since I drank blood.

The sound of my dry retching wakes Cole and he holds back my
hair in an oddly human reaction which calms me somewhat.

“Liv, baby. What is it?” he asks, concerned.

I pant and wipe my hand over my mouth, reaching for the
water on the bedside cabinet, noting it is a little before six in the morning.
I drink the whole bottle as Cole strokes my hair and I relax a bit.

“Liv?” he presses when I finish.

“A bad dream,” I say. “A very, very bad dream.” The thought
of it makes me want to start heaving again but I push it down. What the fuck?
Why would I dream of them? And them doing something so disgusting? And why
would it follow on from the one I had before? Wait? Did it? I can’t remember
exactly.

“What was it about?” Cole asks.

I think about it for a moment. “Erm…” It is starting to fade
to a black hole of nothing. “I can’t remember,” I say finally.

“Liv, you can tell me,” Cole says quietly. “There isn’t
anything you can’t share with me.”

“I know, baby. Really, I can’t remember.” The harder I try
the less I come up with. Something to do with
Ponte
is all I have. I
sigh and push Cole down to the bed, snuggling against him. Finding comfort in
him. I soon forget all about the dreams I can’t remember as he strokes my back
and my Dragon flits across from side to side, following his hand. I giggle as
it tickles. “Turn around,” he says. I do as he asks and he pulls slightly away
so that he can stroke Her and I feel the glow coming from Her as She luxuriates
under his touch. “I love you so much,” he whispers.

I turn in his arms and kiss him, “I love you. Make love to
me.”

He doesn’t need asking twice as he kisses me, leaving me, as
promised, breathless and wanting more.

The arrival of dawn has brought with it the arrival of,
well…Dawn. She and Scott are sitting outside on the terrace drinking coffee. He
is ignoring her in favor of Devon’s
Financial Times
and she is mooning
at him over the top of her coffee cup, her blue eyes all doey. That, however,
changes as we step out on the terrace and her attentions go straight to my
husband as she gushes, “Hi Cole,” with a bright smile.

I just stand there until she remembers me and says, “Hi
Liv.” Right…so much for being friends.

“Hi, Dawn,” Cole says and I smile at her. “You made it,
then.”

“Well the Studio didn’t leave me much choice. I am to drag
you back Sunday night,” she laughs and blushes as she is no doubt thinking of
dragging him off to bed.

“Humph,” he says rudely and sits with a mood on now that he
is reminded he has to go and CK will be staying.

“Don’t worry, baby,” I remind him. “Remember, we are coming
to Toronto with you. I no longer have to go back to New York.”

His face brightens as he remembers. “That’s right. You
don’t. That is Scott’s job now,” he says, happy now that he knows I won’t be
leaving him. Well, until Tuesday, that is, but I don’t say anything about that.

Scott looks up from his
FT
, “Yep. You are free as a
bird to be wherever you like.”

Dawn isn’t looking best pleased that she will no longer have
Cole to herself so I throw her a bone. “Cole. You should feed, baby,” I murmur.