“Linc,” I bark at him with my hands on my hips.
“Liv?” he looks at me again more closely. “Oh, fuck, Liv.” He falls out of bed and at my feet, weeping like his heart is breaking.
I pause in my decision to kick his arse.
He is broken. Even under the circumstances, I won’t kick him while he is down. But I can’t forgive just like that either. Not with this. I just stand there while he clutches at my skirt and kisses my knees, sobbing all over my Louboutins.
“Lincoln,” I say to him quietly and he looks up at me. “What is going on?”
He pulls me down to my knees and takes my face in his hands. He kisses me before he spills the whole sordid tale, including nausea-inducing details about what he was doing with that bitch, down to Chrissy’s fall and her lie about being pregnant.
I sit back on my heels and he drops his face into my lap, apologizing profusely. I put my hand on his shoulder and he whimpers and snuggles further into me.
“Forgive me, Liv, please,” he begs me, but I stay silent. I am trying to get my head around this. It appears that because I am still alive after we broke our Pairing that he is still mourning me. Chrissy was just a Band-Aid that has been ripped off suddenly with our “reconnection” a few weeks ago and now he is…well…like this. I knew it was a bad idea at the time, but now I know it was a really stupid thing to do.
“Why didn’t you come and tell me this before?” I ask eventually.
“I couldn’t get to you,” he says desperately. “I am stuck here without a way to get back to the Underworld. When you came to me a few weeks ago, I thought you would come back, and when you didn’t, I fell apart.” He leaps up suddenly and takes my hands, helping me up. “You are here now. You can fix this. Liv, please, I need you. I am nothing without you in my life, please, help me.”
Oh, the gods, what the fuck do I do now? If I bring him home with me, CK will go ballistic. Not to mention that I still can’t ever choose him. Lincoln never was a part of my ultimate destiny and that is why I let him go.
“Please,” he whispers. “I love you. Please Pair with me again.”
“What about Chrissy and the Pack?” I ask, just to buy some time while I think.
“I don’t want them,” he says. “I only want you. I lived without a Pack before and it suits me better. This,” he says and indicates the house with his hand, “is complicated and messy and too much responsibility. I thought it was what I wanted with you, to solidify our commitment to each other, but I know now that all I want is you.”
Oh fuck. He is making this very difficult. I still love him. I never stopped, but it isn’t about me anymore. I have a baby growing inside me, a daughter I am desperate to get to, three husbands waiting around for me to pick one of them for good, and a war that is going to reign down merry Hell on everyone. This is just going to complicate things even further.
But when I look at him…
“Yes,” I croak out. “Yes.”
He doesn’t even hesitate to Partial Shift, releasing his claws and sharp teeth, he spins me around and bites me, slicing his own wrist open so that I can drink from him as well.
And just like that we are Paired again.
I can feel his thoughts once again pushing into mine and I throw up my blocks, feeling the tension in my neck as I do so.
He kisses me fervently and I can feel his strength returning as he crushes me to him. We pull apart suddenly as a blood-curdling scream reverberates around the house. It doesn’t stop, it only gets louder, and I run to the door with him close behind me.
I find the source of the noise, it is Chrissy.
She is sitting up in bed screaming as she clutches at her head as if in agony. The rest of the Pack has gathered to see what is going on and I look in panic at Lincoln, who is staring blankly at Chrissy as if he doesn’t even know her.
The screams finally abate and then Chrissy’s eyes roll back up in her head and she collapses back to the bed. Zoey rushes to her side and takes her hand, feeling for a pulse and she looks up in horror as she says, “She’s dead.”
Chapter 14
Los Angeles, USA, August 2014 - Cole
Cole carefully folds up his clothes and places them in the brand-new suitcase. It is a far cry from the hasty way he shoved as many of his clothes into the old duffle bag as he could when he left his marriage. He can’t even think of her name without going into a depression. He knows it is the best thing for him, he was drowning, and he had to get out before he did something he would regret. But he can’t help but still love her and he misses her every second of every day.
He turns around as he senses a presence behind him, and he smiles. “Hey,” he says to Devon. “Wondered if you’d come back.”
“Wanted to make sure you were doing okay,” Devon replies, shoving his hands in his pocket
s. He looks a bit out of it but plasters a smile on his face when Cole peers at him curiously.