A Forever Series Box Set: A Paranormal Reverse Harem-(Book 1-5)

I step into the suite that CK and I are sharing. He looks up at me from his newspaper. Such an ordinary activity and it makes me smile as he is anything but ordinary.

“You are back,” he says, returning my smile and standing.

I move over to kiss him deeply, catching him off guard.

He pulls back, looking suspiciously at me. “How did it go?”

“Good. Their history is incredible. I will fill you in later. Right now, I have something else to say to you. Something to ask of you.”

He doesn’t look very happy at all about this and to be honest, I have no idea how he is going to react.

He waits.

I take a deep breath.

“I need something from you. Something I don’t know if you will give me.” I pause. His face remains impassive.

“You gave me this ring and, in your way, asked me to make a promise to you and I did. I promised that one day we would be married.”

He narrows his eyes at me. He has no clue where I am going with this.

“I promised you and I meant it with all of my heart. What I have suddenly come to realize is, that I didn’t get the same back from you,” I say warily as he is staring at me and I’m not sure what he is thinking.

“Aefre. The ring is my promise to you,” he says quietly.

I shake my head. “No. It’s a symbol of my intention to you. I want more. I want your intention to me.” I open my clenched fist and hold it up before him. He peers at it closely. His eyes flick briefly to mine and back down to my palm. He makes no motion to pick it up.

“I want, no, I need, you to take this as your promise to me. I need you to promise me that you will wait for me. As long as it takes. And that one day, even if it is a thousand years from now, you will make me your wife.”

He is still staring at my hand. I know I’m asking him to move mountains here, with his unshakable lack of enthusiasm for such commitments and such gestures. I am convinced he is going to refuse.

“A thousand years from now? It had fucking well be sooner than that,” he says wryly, scooping up the ring I have conjured and peering at it.

It is made from titanium, to stand the test of time, a ‘C’ and an ‘A’ entwined together in script. He looks at the inscription on the inside, ‘Always & Forever’.

“Aefre. I told you that if you loved me and accepted the ring I gave you, I would wait for you and that I would, this time, marry you. I am at a loss as to why you need this from me again.”

He can be so dumb sometimes.

“You want me to wear this as a binding contract. I want the same. I want to know that you aren't going to back out. You have, and quite nicely I might add, placed all of the responsibility on me. I want you to take some back. Equal partners,” I say.

He thinks about it for a long time. Wow. This is actually getting to the point of insulting. Does he really have to think about it for so long? If he’s having trouble with this, how the Hell is he going to be when we finally do make it to the altar? A horrible thought enters my head. He won’t ever marry me. The whole giving-me-a-ring deal was just him getting what he wants from me now.

“No, Aefre. Don’t think that. I do want to marry you. I would right now if I could. That, however, is on you that I cannot,” he says sternly.

I cringe at his words. “Then why are you taking so long to accept it?”

“Oh, I do accept it. Have no fear about that. I am merely curious as to where you want me to put it.”

Well, I could quite happily ram it down his throat now, for making me wait and question it.

He chuckles as he sees my fury. “Well?”

“You choose,” I grouse. “You have to wear it. Oh, and never take it off,” I add as he did to me.

He slides it onto his right ring finger. “I promise,” he says quietly. “I will save the left for the real one.”

I smile then and he kisses me. “I love you,” he murmurs.