Secrets (The Forever series, Book 8) (18 page)

Remiel smiles genially at him and ignores the rest. “You
see, I knew I liked you, Wolf. You know respect. I will be happy to help, just
call me.” He steps closer to him and repeats, “Just you. I will not take orders
from these heathens who could use a lesson or two in manners.” And with that he
disappears. Once again the arguing starts and his headache turns into a
migraine. He grabs a bottle of water and heads back outside. This is the
problem with living in the same house with a bunch of Paranormal creatures, way
too much supernatural vibe. Wolves he can take, even Shifters in general, but
add Vampires, Demons, and whatever the Hell Remiel is, and his head feels like
it is going to explode. He sits and opens the water, taking a big gulp with his
eyes closed against the sun.

“Erica,” he says, sensing her hovering. “What can I do for
you?”

“Sorry for interrupting, I heard all the shouting from the
front door. I wasn’t sure if I should knock or investigate,” she says with a
smile and sits down next to him.

“Probably best to run in the other direction,” he says,
returning her smile.

“That bad, huh?”

“Worse. It’s tough when Liv isn’t here to act as a buffer.”
He rubs the back of his neck.

“She’s not here?” she frowns. “I thought she was supposed to
be back from her business on Thursday?”

“She got held up,” he says evasively, not wanting to give
details away. You never know exactly who you can trust with the Queen’s
business.

“Oh. What about the thing?”

“I’m looking into it. I have a few leads. Just let me get rid
of this migraine and I’ll get back on it.”

“You have a migraine?” she asks, surprised, as Shifters
don’t get sick. Well, Paranormal creatures in general don’t get sick.

Lincoln nods back to the house where the arguing is still
going on.

“Oh,” she says. “Here, let me.” She kneels behind him and
kneads the back of his neck and massages his shoulders and it feels better
almost straight away. “Wow, you are tense,” she says as she digs her thumbs in
and he lets out a small groan of pleasure. She continues her ministrations for
a few minutes and then she breaks the silence. “Um, I have been thinking about
something. I wonder if you might hear me out?”

“What is it?” he asks. He keeps his eyes closed as she works
her hands down his back.

“Just let me finish before you jump in, okay?” she says.

“Okaaaay,” he draws it out, now getting a bit concerned.

“I know that Liv is your Alpha mate. You have been through
the Pairing and you have your bond and your Pack in place, but…” she hesitates,
and he has a sinking feeling he knows where this is going. “Have you thought
about, or talked with her about what you are going to do when you want to have
kids?”

“I don’t want kids,” he tells her and she pauses.

“You don’t?” He can sense her frown. “Is that because Liv
can’t give them to you?”

“No, I just don’t want them,” he says and frowns himself
now, as this is none of her business.

“Oh, because I have come up with a solution,” she says
cautiously.

“There is no problem,” Lincoln says to her now, turning
around to glare at her.

She takes her hands off him. “Sorry, I know that came out
wrong. I had this whole speech rehearsed and I wasn’t expecting you to say that
you didn’t want to have children.” She chews her lip. “Can I still say what I
came here to say?” she asks after a minute.

“If you must,” he says with a sigh.

“I think we should integrate our Packs,” she says. “You and
Liv can be the Alphas, but when the time comes that you want to breed, you use
me. I will be like your Substitute Alpha.”

His eyes widen at her words. Liv would throw a shit fit if
she heard this. The word “Substitute” has strong implications and causes a very
bad and violent reaction. “If you ever use that word again it will be your
last,” he says to her with meaning, and she blanches.

“Okay, call it whatever you want, but don’t you see that it
is a good idea? You can still be with your chosen one, but she is unable to
bear children. I am capable.”

“So is she,” he says to her astonishment.

“But she is a Vampire by nature,” Erica says, confused.

“No, she is a Dragon by nature,” Lincoln points out.

“But…”

“But, nothing. Should I change my mind, I will discuss it
with my Alpha and she will be the one bearing my children. As it stands, I am
not in a place where I want that.”

“Oh,” she says. “Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize she
was…I’m sorry.”

You should be, he thinks in annoyance.

“I should go. Let me know if you find anything on that
creature,” she says, standing up.

Before he can answer her, she is gone and he sighs and flops
back to the ground. Seems to be his favorite position at the moment.

He wasn’t entirely honest with Liv the other week about it
not happening for them. He knew of her plans with her sire, which pains him,
but if it is what she wants then he won’t interfere, and her concerns about the
Other her and Other him having children. He wanted to reassure her that it was
not going to happen with them. It could very well happen if he ever lifts the
curse he put on himself when they first started their sexual relationship. He
knew he didn’t want kids. He had been trapped in a forest for half a century,
it was the last thing on his mind. Tatiana was very helpful in getting him the
right curse and so far it has worked. Liv doesn’t know. He thought he probably
should tell her at some point, but it never seemed the right time and now it
seems a bit too late. If she ever said to him that she wanted to do that he
would take it off in an instant now, but he knows she was horrified, as he was,
when they found out about the Others’ offspring. He wonders if she knows that
for Shifters to breed they have to be in their natural form at conception? She
probably does, as the same is said for Dragons. Maybe that’s why she is so
hesitant to mate with him as a Wolf. Maybe he should tell her about the curse,
as his Inner Wolf is dying to get his Alpha in a furry tussle. He grins at that
pleasing thought, but it fades as he concludes that even if she did want it and
it did happen, the second she Shifted to something other than her Wolf or human
form it would probably be over. How sure could they be that it would never
happen? Consciously, sure, but Xerxei tends to turn up unannounced and that
chick is all Demon, and if she is fighting off her Dragon form now, who’s to
say in the future she would win that battle? Lincoln sighs and sits up. Erica’s
right, they do need to talk about this. He has been brushing it under the
carpet. Fortunately though, he has time. He is only just over a third of the
way through his natural life. As an Alpha, he will live until about nine
hundred. Not many have been recorded much past that, although Liv’s blood is
going to change that for him. He doesn’t know if she is aware that he is
drinking it when he bites her and that her blood is making him stronger,
faster, and more powerful. It is also slowing down the aging process. He can
feel it almost as if it is a physical thing. It is probably best to keep that
as much under wraps as possible, who knows what freaks would come out of the
woodwork to bleed her for their own gain if they ever found out.

He hauls himself to his feet and heads back inside. The long
way. He likes to avoid the others as much as possible. It is definitely better
for his head. He has loads of work to do so he settles at his desk and gets
started. Things are a lot easier now that he has designated delegates that deal
with the everyday stuff. He tends to just handle any major problems or any
inter-species deals that arise. He knows most of the Vampire delegates that Liv
appointed have their own set of delegates to do their grunt work. Devon has
three that he knows of. In fact, he hardly does anything for the Regency
anymore. His focus has shifted quite considerably, and seeing as he doesn’t
have an actual job anymore, he is busier than ever. His knack for numbers is astonishing,
so it is no surprise their entire group, with its net worth of what must be
about a trillion dollars if not more, appointed him in charge of their
portfolios. Lincoln’s included. Everything Devon touches comes up trumps. He
has quadrupled what he started out with inside a few months. He thinks it is an
actual magickal gift. In fact, it has to be, because he has never won at poker
with Devon and he racked up tens of thousands of dollars in Vegas at roulette.
A fact that Xane was less than impressed with, especially in light of the wards
he has up to prevent magick users from cheating. His gift must be innate. He
wonders if he even knows or just thinks he is a lucky son-of-a-bitch. He likes
Devon. He considers him a friend. Probably the only one he has here. Devon
helped him a lot after Liv rescued him, and their time spent together in New
York made them closer. That was around the time that he and Liv started
sleeping together. That first time with her, he thought he would never be able
to keep up with her or please her. Lincoln had never been with a Vampire before
and it was an eye-opener. Holy Hell, but they have stamina. Geez. She wore him
out completely. He got up the nerve to ask Devon about it one night after a few
drinks, and after he got over his hysterics, which he promised Lincoln that he
wasn’t laughing
at
him, he gave him a few pointers on how to please her.
He found it quite unsettling at first, but after Devon was proved right with
Liv begging him for more, he went back for more advice. Devon suggested a
three-way which made him uncomfortable at first as he had never done that
before, but Devon seems to be an old hat at things like that and he didn’t feel
uncomfortable once during that night. In fact, quite the opposite, although he
wasn’t too happy to find that male Vampires can be ready in a second,
literally, but he thinks maybe that was part of Devon’s plan, to take over when
he needed a minute and Devon took it in his stride and gave him the time he
needed, which as it turns out, when you are with someone like Liv, doesn’t take
too long at all. She started to whisper words to him, really sexy talk and it
is amazing the effect it has on him. He loves it when she tells him how he
makes her feel. He knows she loves being with him. She wouldn’t say it if she
didn’t. It makes him happy that he can please her and even happier that her
sire is jealous of them. Lincoln saw his face as he interrupted them in Vegas,
before he caught him looking and altered his expression. But he saw it and it
was one of pure rage and jealousy and it made Lincoln feel pretty good. Why?
Because he hates him. It comes as no surprise to him that Lance turned out the
way he did with his sire as a role model. It just shows the strength of
character that Liv has to have turned out the way she did. After the way he
treated her, reducing her to a fuck toy to please him as he saw fit, was sick.
And it hurt her so much. Lincoln knew more than most how much he hurt her. As
she sleeps, her mental blocks are down and he can read her thoughts. He really
does try not to. It is a massive invasion of privacy and he can’t say that he
would like someone to do that to him, especially as he slept, but through their
bond they pull him in, calling to him, and he finds it happening before he can
pull away, and those few seconds are all it takes to glean a lifetime of
information from her. Her thoughts are rapid and erratic and he doesn’t know
how she copes with it. He feels nauseous after reading her. It is any wonder
she stays on her feet long enough to function as she does. She is truly one of
the smartest people he has ever come across. Quick as a whip, but it doesn’t
surprise him that she can be a bit of a ditz at times. The little things escape
her because their lack of importance reduces them to a nanosecond in her
thoughts and then it’s gone and she’s moved onto a dozen other things. Scott
did a brilliant job of keeping up with her. He made all of their jobs a lot
easier to deal with him. Lincoln had his doubts as to whether Jess would keep
up, but she is holding her own in a job that is a killer to start off with,
never mind adding to the fact that she is still a weeks’-old Vampire. She is
strong, he has to give her that.

He spends the next couple of hours doing research. He comes
across a few good leads and others that may or may not need looking into. It
appears Werewolf sightings (of the Hollywood style) are common, especially
around the full moon, so who can be sure. He emails all the details to Cliff
who is a Werewolf of the regular kind and one of his designated sleuths. There
isn’t much he can’t get to the bottom of. He has given him a day to get back to
him and he will no doubt have something concrete by then. They need to find
this creature before it attacks again. Alpha-less Packs are just asking for
trouble. For the most part, Alphas are born into it. All males, females only
gain their title by going through the Pairing and all but lose it if they lose
their mate. Lincoln’s father was an Alpha as was his, and his…but every so often,
such as in the case of an untimely death of an Alpha with no male heirs, they
can gain the title the old school way: a fight to the death of any other
contenders. He can already tell this is what is shaping up in Erica’s Pack, but
her idea is not the best. Integrating Packs is tricky and she, as an Alpha
mate, or former Alpha mate, will be demoted in a big way. In fact, her entire
Pack will be. His and Liv’s situation is unique in that they got to pick their
Pack. They got to handpick the best and brightest and there isn’t a weak one
among them. Normally they just inherit the one from the former Alpha, but
Lincoln didn’t have one. Not after they were slaughtered along with his
parents, brother, and sister in the early 1930s. They lived in Vancouver then,
and after their deaths he headed to Chicago a Pack-less Alpha with an
aggressive streak that was on the rise due to having no mate and no Pack. Added
to his degenerating mind was the booze and he got hauled in numerous times for
brawling. He thought briefly about signing up and getting himself shipped off
to Europe to fight the war, but he never could have Shifted at the full moon
with a platoon surrounding him every second of every day. That’s when he caught
the attention of the gangsters. They needed a hit man and he needed a release.
It worked out well for a while. He was good at the job, too good actually, as
he felt nothing. He was cold and hard and it wasn’t even living. It was just
existing. That is when he met Lou. She was a Feline Shifter and so pretty and
sweet. She tried to fix him, but he was too broken. He thinks somewhere deep
down he had real feelings for her, but he didn’t show them, he couldn’t. She
eventually got fed up with him, not that he blames her, and her parting gift
was a trace of Wolves in Romania. Biggest mistake of his life. Or was it? Yes,
the cursed time was awful. Lonely and gut-wrenching and all he had time to do
was think. But then there was Liv. Astralling into the forest to face her fears
and she knew him. She fixed him, in every way. She made him whole again. His
heart broke for her as she shed her tears as she sat on the muddy wet ground
stroking him. He knew then that they were meant to be together. She told him
all of her thoughts and what she had just witnessed and heard about what her
sire had done. The first secrets she ever told him. He doesn’t know how she can
forgive Constantine. Every time, just like that. He tells her he’s sorry and
that he loves her and she crumbles into a million pieces around him, taking him
back and telling him how much she loves him and that he isn’t a monster.
Vampires: Weird. Ass. Race. He hates how her sire manipulates her. All the tiny
little things that he does, subtler than subtle, barely imperceptible, but
Lincoln sees them. Constantine has his tells. No, that’s not quite right,
he
has his features perfectly under control at all times, it is
her
. She
has her tells when it comes to him. He knows exactly what to do or say to get
her to respond to him. He uses the knowledge he has of her to twist her.
Lincoln has no doubt that he loves her, but he does wonder about the sincerity.
It seems more of an obsession, a complete fixation on her. She once accused him
of only wanting her because he suddenly couldn’t after she married Cole.
Constantine denied it, but he thinks it is true. He jumps as a crash on the
other side of the wall jolts him out of his errant thoughts. He turns towards
it as another crash sound is heard. Devon and Jess share that room. He doesn’t
even want to know. Unfortunately, his overly sensitive hearing can’t help but
hear the cries of Jess yelling at Devon for being “an insensitive jerk” and
asking him if this was the reason he asked her to marry him. Huh, he didn’t
know that Devon had asked Jess to marry him. Lincoln eavesdrops for a bit
longer, only because he can’t help but overhear them, but then clears his
throat and decides that somehow trying to switch off his hearing is better than
listening to the two of them fucking. Man alive. Vampires run blazing hot, but
as hot as it burns, it dies within minutes. They are a bipolar bunch if he ever
came across any.