“True,” Cole admits. “Man, I
hate him more than I have ever hated anyone.”
“Agreed,” Devon says. “Although it is a toss-up between him, Lance, and Remiel.”
Cole snorts with mirth. “Not from where I am sitting,” he says.
“No, I suppose you had it pretty rough,” Devon says.
“You could say that,” Cole says. “So, tell me more about Xyla,” he adds, eager to change the subject again. “I am guessing some relation to Xane?”
“Yeah, his niece,” Devon says with a wicked smile. “But it’s over. Lizzie asked me to end it.”
“Good,” Cole says and slaps Devon on the shoulder. “You can still fill me in while I carry on packing.”
Cole turns back to the closet and Devon sits on the bed and regales him with tales of their wild ex-sex life and how she is teaching him to harness his power. Cole is slightly jealous of his friend/half-brother. Sex with Carolyn is very vanilla, almost to the point of boring after all he has experienced over the last couple of years. He knows that it will become an issue for him, but for now he goes along with what she wants, because she has his son and that is what he wants most in this world now. Carolyn is part of that package and he has to accept that. He thought that he loved her once, so he can pretend now for Michael’s sake until he thinks it again.
Liv is just a memory to him now. One he hopes that he will be able to forget after enough time has passed.
Los Angeles, USA, August 2014 – Aefre
I look from Chrissy to Lincoln and he turns on his heel and heads out of the room. I follow him closely and reach for him as he starts down the stairs.
“You knew this would happen, didn’t you?” I hiss at him quietly.
He pulls out of my grasp gently and slowly makes his way down the stairs. “I thought it might,” he says as he reaches the bottom.
“Linc!” I say, aghast. “Why would you do this to her?” I am complicit in this murder, albeit unwittingly, and it makes me feel ill.
“I only care about you and me,” he says, walking into the kitchen and making himself some coffee. “I did what I had to.”
“There had to be another way,” I say.
“I can only have one Alpha mate,” he says.
“And you knew this when you Paired with her,” I say cynically, only thinking that if he knew the other one would die, he put my life at risk. Well, not really, but still.
“I knew you would be fine. You are you,” he says with an adoring gaze.
“But death? Linc, I don’t get it,” I say, sitting on the table.
“Death is the only thing that can sever a link between mates,” he explains. “That is what I was saying before, Liv. You weren’t dead so to me you were still my mate, despite Pairing with Chrissy.”
“Fuck,” I breathe out and he comes to stand in front of me. He already looks a hundred times better than he did a few minutes ago. His color has returned and his eyes, while still a darker shade of green than normal, are no longer black. He places his cup on the table next to me and bends to kiss me.
“We are together again. She was just collateral damage,” he says.
“I never knew you to be so callous,” I sulk at him. “You should have told me what would happen.”
“I did,” he says in frustration. “I told you only death can sever a link.”
“You should have made it clearer when you asked to Pair with me again,” I accuse him.
“The only thing that mattered to me in that moment was that you agreed,” he said and pushes my legs open for him to stand in between.
“Not good enough,” I murmur to him before he shoves his tongue in my mouth and his hands up my skirt. He brushes his fingers over me and then pulls my panties to the side. He gets himself free and is inside me in under a second, not even bothering with removing our clothes properly. He pushes us back on the table and pounds into me and I let him.
I am still upset over this Chrissy thing, but refusing him this would only make things worse for him. He finishes quickly and pulls out of me, adjusting his clothing and not even noticing that I didn’t come. He picks up his coffee and finishes it before he pours himself another. He turns back to me with a big smile and his glowing, green eyes.