I ’m lounging innocently on the bed when CK makes his reappearance, to my surprise, with a surprised looking Devon. Smiling, I jump up and pull him to me. He returns my hug fiercely.
CK pulls me away from him and places me at Devon’s side. Then, he stands in front of us like the headmaster and we are the naughty students. Oh, fuck, I know where this is going. My stomach drops.
Devon looks at me, “Li
zzie, what’s all this about? Why am I here?”
CK answers for me, “You are here to join us. You may please your sire, but you will not fuck her. Nor will she touch you.”
Devon and I look at each other with matching expressions of surprise and disappointment.
“Do you agree to the rules?” he snaps.
Devon, ever one to spend time with me in any way that he can, nods. “Yes,” he says quickly before CK changes his mind. I’m more reluctant as I know there is more to this than CK’s magnanimity.
“Lizzie?” Devon asks.
“Err, yes,” I say hesitantly.
CK looks pleased, but he knows I know there’s more to this. He pulls me in front of him. Then he turns me to face Devon. “One more thing,” he says conversationally. “Shift!” He barks the order at me and my heart sinks.
There it is.
The Catch.
Dread wells up in me as Devon’s eyes go wide, then harden as he realizes what Constantine wants me to do.
“No,” I say forcefully. “I promised,” I add, pleading now.
CK scoffs. “Please, it’s not like I haven’t been there before.”
Devon scowls at me. “I knew it! Versailles. You told me you didn’t fuck,” he snarls at me.
“We didn’t fuck,” CK answers blandly on my behalf. “We made love for hours and hours,” he adds wickedly.
Oh, now he calls it making love. Arse.
The hurt on Devon’s face is apparent. I know this is what Constantine wanted. Not to hurt Devon, but to hurt me. Devon’s feelings are inconsequential and that pisses me off.
“Don’t do this,” I say to him quietly.
Snaking his arms around me, he whispers in my ear, “I told you I didn’t have to physically hurt you to punish you, my sweet.”
“Punish? Lizzie? What is he talking about, punish you?”
“She is defiant, frustrating, drives me crazy and deserves to be punished,” Constantine repeats my own words to Devon, whose eyes nearly pop out of his head.
“Lizzie?” he asks desperately.
“Constantine,” I whisper, “Don’t do this. I promised him.”
“All the more reason why this works for me. I said I would owe you a new and creative form of punishment. Now, seeing as the conventional ways are no longer acceptable to me, you will do this,” he says quietly, trailing his hand down my arm. “Now Shift!” he snaps, gripping me suddenly.
I flinch.
Devon is in agony as he looks at me. He knows I’m torn between my own sire and my loyalty to him. I know he doesn’t fully understand what is going on here and why should he? This has nothing to do with him. He is just a way for Constantine to get his kicks without disturbing his newfound principles.
“Shift,” Devon whispers to me.