Betrayal (The Forever Series) (23 page)

“Oh fuck yes,” we both say as he licks one and flicks the other with his fingers. He sucks roughly and tugs and I squirm under his touch and then he is lowering his mouth back down my body, barely brushing my skin. He is driving me to the point of insanity. I need him inside me, I need to feel him. All of him.

“Patience,” he whispers as he senses my frustration. His breath on my skin sends goosebumps prickling over me.

“Oh,” I cry out as he finds my wet sex again with his mouth. I bunch my hands in the sheets and arch my back high off the bed as he sends another wave of pleasure tearing through me. As the fire subsides, he increases his urgency, but I want to play with him now. I want my hands on him.

“No,” he says when I tell him this. “I want to see to you, I need to do this, Lizzie. Let me take care of you.”

Well, this girl isn’t going to argue with that as he once again drops his mouth to me. He is being even more attentive than usual and I am loving every second. I mean who wouldn’t when one of the most gorgeous, sexiest men alive has his tongue wrapped around your clit? He pushes my legs up so my knees are bent and I luxuriate with a soft sigh, but I want him.

“Now, Dev.
Please, I need you,” I beg him and now he doesn’t refuse me. He can’t when I implore him. He stands up, his cock swollen to the point of bursting. His tip is glistening and I lick my lips, but before I can reach for him, he is inside me with a swift thrust coming almost instantly, flooding me with his seed.

“Oh god,” he moans as he kisses me with his eyes wide open. “I’ve missed you so much.” He is hard inside me already and he starts to rock his hips gently, his eyes never leaving mine. I close mine as the pleasure starts to overcome me, but he whispers, “Keep them open, I want you to see my pleasure, as I want to see yours.”

I do as he asks as he mumbles over and over how good I feel and how much he missed me. There is something definitely different going on here. Devon has never been the chatty type during sex. He prefers to have his mouth busy with other things. If I didn’t know better I’d say he felt guilty about something. But as my body starts to hum, I forget it as tomorrow’s, and Cade’s, problem.

“Fuck, yes,” he whispers as he feels me rippling around him. He rides me through my orgasm and then he lets his release wash into me, his eyes still never leaving mine.

He rolls us over so he is on his back and I am lying stretched out on top of him. He strokes my hair and I sigh in contentment.

“That thing with Jess in the kitchen,” he says. “What was that?”

Damn, I had hoped he wouldn’t ask. It makes me look petty to tell tales, even though I have no doubt she will go running to him the second I leave his side, accusing me of something or another. I am certain now, after that little display that she is out to poison him against me. Not that he will let her, but that isn’t the point.

“Sorry,” I say. “I know it might have been slightly over the top to Shift in front of her. I wasn’t sure if I could and was just trying to muster enough Power up,” I lie.

“It will have threatened her,” he says carefully. “She is jealous of you.”

Good, I think to myself, but make a small, non-committal sound out loud. But just to play devil’s advocate, I ask slyly, “Then why did you choose me?”

He snorts in amusement at my bold question. “When will I ever not choose you, Lizzie?”

I wiggle more comfortably into him, pleased with his admission.

I want to change the subject so I say, “Are you going to tell her about your afternoon’s goings-on?”

Silence and then he groans, “Oh god, Liz. If I had known you were going to proposition me as soon as I walked in the door, I’d have showered at the hotel.”

I laugh at his complete embarrassment at being caught red-handed, but it doesn’t bother me. It never has. “Would she not have figured it out?” I ask.

“Probably, but I was going to tell her anyway. I was kind of making a point to myself,” he says.

“Oh?” I ask, incredibly intrigued.

“It’s nothing,” he shrugs it off.

“Okay,” I say and drop it, as he won’t say anymore if he doesn’t want to.

“There is something that I need to speak to you about,” he says carefully. “But not here, I never know who’s listening,” he adds with a sardonic smile.

“Tell me about it,” I agree. “Um, actually there is something I need to speak with you about as well. In fact, all of you.”

“Can I go first?” he asks.

“No,” I say. “I need to say what I have to say. I am running out of time and my husbands are going to be furious with me.”

He sits up and cradles me in between his legs, “Do I need to worry?”

“Don’t think so, it’s a short and embarrassing story that I will tell to you all. Meet me in the clearing in the woods at midnight and we’ll talk,” I say.

“The clearing in the woods at midnight?
Why so clandestine?” he asks with a laugh.

“”Well
it’s 9 PM now, I have a few things to take care of and then I need sleep before I have to go tomorrow.”

“Go? I am not liking the sound of this,” he says and rubs his hand over his face, but I pull it away. I know he is getting agitated and I want to reassure him.

“One thing though. Why have you not been around much since I woke up?” I ask.

He gets that shifty look on his face again and I stare at him until he answers, “I guess I just thought it would be easier to reconnect with your husbands if I wasn’t here,” he says eventually and I can tell he is
lying his arse off.

I let him off with it because he obviously doesn’t want to tell me the real reason. It doesn’t
matter, Cade will find out, I have no doubt. “When is it ever easier for you not to be around me?” I ask with lowered lashes and he gathers me back into his strong embrace.

“It’s not,” he says. “I die inside when I am not with you.”

What? That is very dramatic coming from him at this point in our story. “Never leave me then,” I say with a soft smile.

“Never,” he says ferociously. “You are mine, Lizzie, and I love you.” He kisses me and I get a pang of nostalgia of when it was just the two of us. This is a bad road to head down so I pull away from him.

“I’m going to get showered and changed and then we can all talk,” I say as I climb off the bed.

I make my way over to the bathroom and turn on the shower. I step in and he steps in behind me, picking up the soap.

“Allow me,” he says. “I am already going to be beaten for making love to you when you should be resting.”

I burst out laughing and stand for a moment under the jets, enjoying the warmth of the water. He can see my bliss and says, “I envy that of you.”

I open my eyes and he is staring intently at me. “What?” I ask.

“That you can feel the heat.
I miss it,” he admits with a shrug.

“Well, I shall have to warm you up in another way,” I say with a lascivious smile and pull his mouth to mine.

He chuckles and says, “Not complaining.”

As I kiss him I suddenly go cold. Freezing cold on the inside and I pull away from him like I have been doused with Arctic water.

“What?” he asks, worried.

“Uh, I, uh,” I stammer. How can I tell him to get out? I turn my back to him and slow my rapid breathing. I am coming over in one of my showery panic attacks. I hadn’t even remembered until I kissed him that I cannot shower with anybody anymore. It just seems so natural and not at all wrong with him.

“Liv,” he says turning me around. “Are you okay?”

I nod dumbly at him because it would just hurt his feelings if I told him to leave me alone in here. He pulls me to him and holds me close and I hear his steady heartbeat and I relax. I can do this.
With him. He has never, ever hurt me and he never will. I trust him above all others to keep my heart safe. He soothes me, muttering to me that everything will be okay, and I believe him. However, the sexy mood has been ruined and I ask to speed this up a bit. He washes me head to toe and then himself and we hastily get out. I can’t say for sure if he connected the dots as I have never told him in detail, only Cole, about Aelfric’s attack on me, but somehow he gets I want out and he doesn’t push or ask about it. Once dried, I realize he ripped most of my clothes off me so, pulling on a robe, we head hand in hand to my bedroom giggling. I pause outside Cade’s door and say, “I’ll just be a minute.” He looks at me quizzically as I open the door and step inside. He follows me closely and then growls as he sees Cade lying unconscious on the bed.

“What is he doing here?” he asks and looks closer. “What happened to him?”

“This is his home, he belongs here. And Lincoln, CK, and Cole is what happened to him,” I say, still not very happy with the three of them.

“Huh,” he says, looking quite pleased.

I ignore it and go to sit next to him. He is flat out and doesn’t wake up, but he does turn towards me and it makes me smile. He can fight it all he likes while he is awake, but in slumber he is mine. I reach out and touch his cheek, shushing Devon’s protest. His face relaxes a bit. I get that this is kind of creepy, stalking him and touching him while he is sleeping, but if this is the only time I can do it then so be it. I will have to feed him again before I leave, but I decide to wait a bit longer. Give him more time to rest and less time to wait in between. I stand and pull Devon out of the room.

“So, do I get my turn when he wakes up?” Devon says slyly.

“You fucking touch him and I will beat you myself,” I warn him.

He grins wickedly and pushes me back up against the wood panelling, his lips barely touching mine, and he says, “This is the only time you will not be able to beat me, I should take full advantage.”

“You take advantage of my wife while she is in this condition and I will have your head,” CK says and we pull apart. He is standing next to us, arms crossed and looking pissed off. Mostly at me when I remember I haven’t Shifted back from Elizabeth.

“Seeing as you had the strength to Shift, I assume you can get back?” he asks and I nod and do so. “Better,” he says smugly. I hold Devon back who is about to go berserk, I don’t need the drama.

“Library, five minutes,” I say. “Everyone,” I add and disappear into my bedroom to get changed. As I close the door I hear Devon say, “She isn’t as weak as you think she is. She was perfectly able to keep up.”

I fling the door back open and hope that CK isn’t standing there with Devon’s head in his hand. The hallway is empty, I’m not sure if that is a good thing or not. I sigh and close the door again. I start to get dressed the old-fashioned way and it is really starting to stink. I will never take that Power for granted again. I grab two blood bottles out of the mini fridge and chug one on my way back downstairs. When I reach the bottom I open the other one and decide I have had enough. It’s Feeder time. I text Edward and tell him to come immediately. He messages back almost straight away that he is on his way. Yay for me, but he seems a bit eager, not so “yay” for him.

I find my four boys assembled in the library and smile at them. There is a very apparent hostility and it seems everyone has been apprised of my activities over the last hour.

“We need to talk,” CK says shortly.

“Me first,” I say, and he nods, wrongly assuming I am going to start explaining myself. I look away from them and with a flush that starts at my toes and ends on the top of my head I tell them what Tiamat told me. There is silence when I finish and I look back at them. They are all avoiding my gaze, not unexpectedly, as “lady issues” are not exactly something any of them have ever had to deal with.

Lincoln speaks first. “So that’s how it works with you?” he asks.
“Interesting.”

Interesting?
Odd choice of word. I’d use “embarrassing.”

“So, tomorrow Tiamat will come for me and take me away for a bit,” I say and get interrupted by CK.

He stands up suddenly and barks at me, “Away? Where to? For how long?”

“The Underworld, and only for about a day,” I reply.

“Why can’t you stay here?” he asks.

“She has to take me away because apparently I will let off pheromones that will drive you all wild. And while I wouldn’t say no to a mass orgy, I’m afraid I will also be highly fertile and sorry, but no babies here,” I say lightly, trying to make a joke out it.

“So She is taking you to the Underworld? Closer to that bastard while you let off all of these…” Cole waves his hand about “… sex signals. Over my dead body!” he finishes.

I huff at him, “Exactly how small do you think the Underworld is?” I ask him. He stares back at me blankly. “Do you think it is just the size of Xane’s house? I can assure you it is a vast place. Bigger than Earth and consists of many different layers. There is even a whole section built just for Dragons to fly and walk around in. Big!” I say to him, holding my hands out to make my point. “Tiamat is taking me to
Her cave there. I will be well guarded. No one will be allowed to see me. She doesn’t want this either. This time.”

“This time?”
Lincoln asks, ignoring my outburst. “What exactly does that mean?”