Trials (The Forever Series, Book 6) (10 page)

He grabs my wrists tightly, “But the two things you want are
the two things I won’t give you. I’m sorry, my love, I don’t want to deny you
anything, but you can’t ask me to hurt you and you can’t ask me to allow you to
kill.”

I howl in frustration, “I’m not asking you to hurt me.”

“But I will. I told you last year that next time you ask me
to do that I won’t be able to hold back. Is that what you really want? For me
to do to you what he did?” Again I know he is saying these things to deter me
but I am not going to let that stop me.

“Yes,” I say to his absolute horror.

“No!” he yells at me as he pushes us back over, “You are
just saying that to be defiant. Don’t be a stubborn fool, Aefre.” He pins my
hands to the ground painfully tight and I struggle out of reflex. “I love you,”
he says softly. “Please just come back to me. Whoever this is, it isn’t you.”

And again he takes me but this time hard and fast, as the
mood requires. I forget all about my unreasonable demands as I just want him.
Everywhere. I roll us back over and he is wary this time but he moans as I
swivel around so my back is facing him. He runs his hands down over my Dragon
and She flutters across my back under his touch. He pays Her special attention
and I giggle inwardly as I know it’s because he now knows that Cole does this.
Men are so competitive, it’s so silly. I feel myself coming back, the power
rush has died and I cast a quick glance over my shoulder at the terrace and the
mysterious figure has vanished. I make a mental note to ask if it was either
Cade or Nico but something tells me it wasn’t. I lean forward so that my hands
are in the wet grass and my wet hair falls into my face. It is raining. Bad
mojo always happens when it rains. Or is it the other way around? Either way I
am more convinced than ever my dream manipulator is manifesting itself into a
menacing presence. I lift my hips and he knows exactly what to do. He knows
where I want him to go and he doesn’t hesitate. They never do. He pushes
against me with a rough shove that makes me cry out. “Oh Aefre,” he growls low,
“I love it when you let me do this.”

Yeah, yeah. It does little for me but my lovers think they
are in heaven so I allow it, every now and again. He is so caught up in his own
pleasure that he has forgotten all about me so I bring my own fingers to myself
and try to play catch up to him, but to no avail. He comes quickly and I am
left wanting, but not for long as he pulls out of me with muttered apologies and
he enters me lower down and brings me to a satisfactory ending. Once again I am
grateful for Vampire constitution that he is ready so quickly to please me
after pleasing himself.

He shoves me down roughly and turns me over to face him.
“One more,” he says. “I am taking every last part of you for myself.”

“Allow me,” I say as I push on his chest to get him to lie
under me. We are soaking wet from the rain that is now bouncing off the floor.
I kiss him, running my hands into his wet hair, and smile against his lips. “So
fucking sexy,” I murmur and track little nips and kisses all the way down his
chest, his stomach, and lower, until I take him in my mouth. He sighs in
pleasure as I work my way up and down. He runs his hands into my tangled hair,
gripping me roughly as he loses control and comes in quick bursts into my
mouth. I swallow quickly and crawl over him, kissing him so he can taste
himself in my mouth. “You owe me one,” I say with a pout and I find myself
under him again. We have moved so far away from our original spot that we are
now practically rolling down the other side of the hill. He bites my bottom lip
viciously. “Don’t look at me like that, Aefre,” he says before he plunges his
tongue into my mouth. I am on fire as he repeats to me what I did to him.
Little nips and kisses all over me. He pauses to pay special attention to my
breasts. He cups the small mound of flesh, pushing it up high, causing my
nipple to stand up close to his mouth. He drops his fangs and bites me gently
and slowly and enters me at the same time as I start to throb. “So easy,” he
says, pulling back. “Always so easy.”

“You like to work for it?”

“No. I like you ready for me, all the time. Whenever I want
you, wherever I want you, however I want you, I want you wet and ready.”

“That’s just being lazy,” I tease him.

“Eager,” he corrects me. “Eager to be inside you, to feel
you so slippery. I want to slide into you with ease. I want to know that I turn
you on with just the thought of what is to come.”

Oh holy crap. I feel myself getting wetter as does he and he
smiles down at me, pleased. “Good girl,” he whispers. “I wish I could go back
to our first time in the barn. Do it all over again.”

“I’m sure I could take us back there,” I say.

“No, I don’t want to see it, I want to feel it. To feel you,
so innocent, so cautious. I want my first time with you again.”

“I don’t,” I say. “It was so embarrassing. I was so naïve,
it was ridiculous.”

“No, it was beautiful. You made me feel something again.”

He locks his arms around me tightly as we both give into the
pleasure and we lie breathless and completely satisfied in each other’s arms.

“Will you still love me when I am fat?” I ask him.

“I beg your pardon?” he asks. “When will you be fat?”

“When I am pregnant. I will be fat and ugly,” I say and pull
my face, remembering the feeling from my dreams.

“Oh, Aefre,” he laughs at me. “You won’t be fat and you
could never be ugly. You will be with child, our child. You will be perfect.
More than perfect.”

“Say more things like that,” I tell him as he stops.

“You will be the most beautiful creature in all the Realms.
And the sexiest. I will worship you and adore you. I will tell you every day
how much I love you and how much I desire you.”

“I will hold you to that. In my dreams I feel slow and fat
and very unsexy.”

“Your dreams are lies,” he says, sitting up suddenly.
“Everything about them is a lie. Pay them no mind.”

I can see he is upset about my dreams. Can’t say that I
blame him, I am dreading going back to sleep in case there is another one. But
we can’t ignore them. Not anymore.

“Come. You are soaking, let’s get you inside and dry.” He
stands and pulls me up.

“So are you,” I point out. “And you have no clothes.”

He looks at the pile of shredded clothes several feet from
where we are standing and chuckles, “Well it’s a good thing that I can do
this…” he wraps his arms around me and Teleports us back into his bedroom. “So
that we don’t run the risk of bumping into anyone on the way back.”

“Isn’t it just? I want a bath. Will you run me one?”

“Anything for you,” he says but then hesitates.

“Don’t worry, I am not about to go all murderous on you
again. You were right and thank you for saying no.”

He nods and disappears into the bathroom. I check my phone,
which I left on the bedside cabinet hours ago. A dozen missed calls and about
as many messages. I check the messages, a couple from each of my boys but
nothing that can’t wait so I ignore them and turn to the bathroom.

“They just can’t live without you, can they?” he says from
the doorway.

“Can you?” I ask vainly.

“Think quite highly of yourself, don’t you? But no, I
cannot.”

“I trust that today has appeased your need to erase our time
together in the elevator?”

“Oh most definitely,” he says as he helps me into the huge
bathtub before he climbs in himself. “I have been thinking about something
quite a bit this last day or so,” he says conversationally.

“Oh, what is that then?” I ask as I lean back against him
comfortably.

“When we get married, what will our surname be?”

I turn to face him, “You have thought about that?”

“Of course. It won’t be D’Arcangelo, so what will it be?”

“Aquila,” I say straight away.

He starts, “What?”

“It seems obvious to me. That is your name. That is what I
want my name to be.”

“You want my name? My original name?”

“Yes.”

He blinks at me. “Oh fuck, Aefre. I honestly don’t think I
could love you any more right now if I tried.”

I am touched by his sincerity. He clearly loves the idea of
us taking his first name, as do I. I snuggle into his chest suddenly very, very
tired.

“Don’t go to sleep,” I hear him say before I doze off.

“Aefre! Aefre!” I hear my name being shouted but it is
the Old English version, not the Latin version that Constantine uses. “Wake
up!”

I blink and I am staring straight into the cold black
eyes of Lance. “There, that’s better,” he says as he strokes my face. “I was
too ambitious to start you off with something so different. You are too strong
and too clever. How about we try this instead…”

“Emily! Emily!” I hear my name being shouted and I wake
up. “Sweetheart, the baby is crying,” Fraser says and bursts into the room as I
sit up in shock.

“Baby? Fraser?” I say at a loss.

“Yes, my love. Are you still tired? I should try to do
more to help you, but I am a bit useless.” He leans over the crib and plucks up
a tiny squirming bundle draped in a white blanket. “There, there,” he croons
and comes closer. “She’s hungry.”

“What?” I say as he hands me the tiny child. “What am I
supposed to do?”

Fraser chuckles at me, “You really are tired, aren’t you,
my love? She had you up all night. I will be better for you. I will be a better
husband, a better father.” He reaches over and undoes the lacing on my gown.
“Feed her now, Emmie. She will quieten down.”

I look down in horror as he pulls out my breast and
pushes the baby towards me. The baby latches onto me like it’s never been fed
and I feel, complete. “Oh,” I say in wonder but then think how is this
possible. But I feel different, I feel slow and calm. I feel human. Am I human?
I know I am Emily, I can see that by my long curling hair and the size of my
breasts, so how is this possible? Any of it?

“Perfect,” Fraser says to me with a big smile. “You are
just perfect. But it has been a few days now. She needs a name.”

A name? “Aefre,” I say at once.

“Ah-vuh?” he repeats with a frown.

“Yes, where I come from it means ’forever.’”

“Where you come from? Emily, you come from England.” He
chucks me under the chin, “Where they speak English.”

“No, the Old language, of my ancestors,” I insist.

“Well it is pretty, and I like the meaning. Forever.
Forever ours.”

“Ours,” I say. “I love you, Fraser.”

“I love you Emmie. You have made me the happiest man on
earth. Have I given you everything you ever wanted?”

“Yes,” I reply.

“Aefre! Aefre! Wake up.” This time it is Constantine that is
calling to me.

“What?” I say groggily.

“You were dreaming again. You were dreaming of…”

“Fraser,” I say as I turn away from him, noticing that I am
in his bed.

“Was it the same?” he chokes out. “Except with him?”

“Yes. Better. No, I mean, worse.” As I turn back to him and
see his pained expression. “I know it isn’t real,” I say sadly. “It hurts.” I
brush back the tears not wanting to cry over it in front of him.

“I know, my love. Whatever this is, is trying to hurt you.
We will get to the bottom of it. I promise you.”

I nod and get up out of his bed. “I just want a few minutes
to myself,” I say as I pull on a robe. He nods stiffly as I grab my phone and
leave his bedroom for mine. I ring Cole.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hey, baby,” I say back and sit on my old bed.

“What are you doing?” he asks cautiously.

“Sitting on my old bed, ready to go to sleep,” I tell him
with a small smile.

“Oh?” he says in surprise. “Hang on.”

He switches our call to FaceTime and I smile at him as he
sees me, indeed sitting on my old bed in my robe.

“Thank you,” he says quietly.

“Don’t,” I say, feeling guilty. “You shouldn’t have to.”

“But still, it means a lot to me.”

“Cole, I have been having more dreams.”

“Oh, so you have been sleeping?”

“Yes. It’s getting serious. I think I have seen Lance, twice
now.”

His annoyance over me sleeping is surpassed by the
seriousness of my words, “What do you mean, ‘seen’ him?”

“Not him, obviously. He is dead. But a manifestation of him
and whatever it is causing me to have unnatural reactions.”

“What do you mean?” he asks again.

“I wanted to feed before, enough to kill. That isn’t
something that I want but I needed it. We were being watched and I just felt
all of these insane urges.”

“Watched how?” he asks.

“We were outside walking and I saw a figure watching us from
the terrace.” I leave out the sex bits, he doesn’t need to hear that.

“And you wanted to kill someone?”

“Yes. As soon as he disappeared the feeling did as well.
Cole I…I am worried,” I admit.

“Oh baby. You are the strongest person I know. You will
figure out what it is and kick its ass.”

“I hope you are right.”

“I love you, Liv. But you look exhausted. Get some sleep. I
will talk to you again in the morning. Well, your morning.”

I glance at the clock and see it is 1 AM here, which means
it is 7 PM there. “Okay, baby. I love you too. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.” He hangs up first probably so I won’t see
his pain and I drop my phone onto the table at the bedside. This room still has
no electricity so I conjure up some candles and light them. I start as I
remember how this whole candle thing got started, but try to just push it aside
as I crawl under the ancient bed covers, free from dust, I am glad to say. He
really does look after this place. I smooth down the dark green velvet coverlet
and, staring into the flames, I drop back off to sleep. Alone in my old room
with my sire down the hall, as I did for so many nights, so many years ago.