“Corrupted?” he roars at her in agitation and she flinches.
“That’s what it felt like,” she says and flexes her shoulder.
“Does it hurt now?” he asks worriedly.
“No, it doesn’t hurt, but it feels uncomfortable,” she says just as worriedly.
He spins her around and it is only now he sees that she Shifted, as her long, blonde hair swings around. He peers at the marking and it looks normal. He checks his own and it is fine. What the Hell did Xander do to her?
“Promise me you will tell me the second you feel anything change with it,” he begs her. He is beyond paranoid now about what Xander has done to her and their bond. “If you feel anything change with it,” he amends at her fearful look.
“I promise,” she says and without kissing him goodbye, she Astrals off.
“Fuck,” he roars and roughly pulls the door from its hinges as he lunges through the doorway to kick his brother’s ass. He senses Xander in his own bedroom and he kicks the door in and flattens him before he has a chance to speak.
“I am going to ask you one last time, you fucker. What did you do to her?” he yells as he bangs Xander’s head against the floor.
“I didn’t do anything,” Xander manages to get out. “Don’t blame me if your bond is weak.”
Xane stops his assault on his brother. “What is that supposed to mean?” he growls.
“Maybe she is with the wrong brother,” Xander spits out and gets a fist smashed into his face for his efforts.
“Don’t you ever threaten me again,” Xane says, lifting him up by his shirtfront. “I will kill to protect her, and if I find out that you have screwed with us, you will wish that you had never been born.”
“Xane,” his mother says from the open doorway. “What is going on in here?”
He drops Xander back to the floor and stands up. “He has been coming after my wife since the day he met her. She is mine, he has to learn that now before he gets hurt.”
“Go and calm yourself,” she says to him. “I will speak with your brother.” She sends Xander a withering glare and Xane is happy to let his mother beat the shit out of his brother for daring to go after what is his. Maybe Xander will listen to her, because he doesn’t seem to be concerned with angering him.
“I want this obsession with her gone,” he warns his mother and she nods, knowing that he has reached the point of no return with Xander. Next time he will make good on his threat.
He stalks out of the room and to his office. He needs to research what just happened to Xerxei’s mark. It wasn’t normal and it has him terrified that what Xander said is right.
Los Angeles, USA, August 2014 – Devon
He is naked and spread-eagled on his bed in the house in L.A. He fancied a change of scenery after the whole Xane incident. He enjoyed spending time with Xyla, but she just comes with drama he is not interested in right now, especially as Lizzie has made her feelings clear on their relationship. As soon as she has spoken to Constantine, he is going for it.
It is so easy to just flit off to whatever location he feels like now that he has powers. He misses the sun and he kind of misses humans. It’s weird.
He went on the prowl for one last time. He intends to be perfectly faithful to Lizzie once they are married. He will need and want only her. He knows that. All of this fucking about is because he is trying to find something that only she can give him. He learned that a long ago.
He was delighted with the woman he brought back home with him. She is currently servicing him with her mouth, and he is as relaxed as he can get at the moment. That changes, though, when out of the blue, the one woman he never wanted to see again, Astrals next to his side on the bed and peers down at him from her sparkling blue eyes.
“Hello, lover,” she drawls and the woman that was giving him a decent blow job stops what she is doing, eyes wide, and screams her head off.
“Get out of here,” Devon snarls at Other Liv and reaches for the woman to calm her down. God only knows how he is going to explain this to her, the stupid Other bitch.
“Oh no,” Other Liv says. “This looks like fun. Can I join in?”
“You can fuck off,” he tells her loudly over the screaming of the woman
in his arms. Man, she has a pair of lungs on her.
Other Liv rolls her eyes at the woman and grabs her roughly out of Devon’s arms.
“Shut the fuck up,” she growls before she drops her fangs and Devon says, “No!” right before she sinks them into the woman’s neck and starts to drink.