“Just tell me when,” he murmurs and turns away.
“Wait.” I hold him back. He looks at me inquisitively. “I really want to thank you for what you did. It means the world to me. I will show you the proper appreciation when the time is right,” I say quietly.
“I know,” he says just as quietly. “I look forward to going back there with you when the paperwork is finalized.”
“I would like that. Very much,” I say seriously. “But why? What made you decide to drop that much money on it?”
“You wanted it. I told you that I’m done waiting for you, Aefre. I am now going to fight for you, and I will give you everything your heart desires. I don’t care if it costs nothing or cleans me out of my fortune completely. If you want it, it is yours. You will see that I will do anything for you, that I will do anything to be with you.” He touches my cheek as Cole strides over with a low growl.
“You know,” he says conversationally, “now that Constantine has broken the terms of our agreement it means you don’t have to go to him for two days anymore.” A cruel sneer, if I ever saw one, crosses his handsome face and I gape at him.
Is he trying to get himself killed?
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-NINE
C K turns his head slowly to issue Cole with a dark look that makes me shiver. I can see his whole body is coiled, ready to pounce, and I carefully place myself in front of Cole, hoping I won’t end up on the business end of his claws again.
Everyone else, while having a working knowledge of the agreement but doesn’t know the exact terms (except Sebastian), nor the reason for this threat level that just shot into the red zone, all stop talking and turn towards the three of us.
“What did you just say?” CK asks Cole, ignoring me and gazing at him straight over the top of my head. Bloody short shit that I am.
“You heard me,” Cole says boldly, and I inwardly cringe.
“You are pushing it, boy. I won’t tolerate any more of your disrespect. And don’t look to your sire for protection this time. I will get to you around her.” In a flash, he has Teleported behind Cole and with a hand around his throat, slams him into the ground, smashing the brickwork into bits in the process.
“Constantine, no!” I bark at him, but he ignores me as I grab his wrist to pull him off. He is strong but I discover I am stronger, probably only in defense of my charge. He growls aggressively at Cole as I remove his hand. “You should ask her the real reasons she comes to me. It has nothing to do with the agreement,” CK snarls.
Oh, crap. Clearly what I said to CK in the Veyron and at the hotel when we got to Vegas is not about to stay in Vegas. If he spills the beans on the baby thing, I will kill him myself.
I glower at him. He just looks mildly at me. He will keep the bit about the baby making to himself, but the rest is about to come out. “She confirmed that she comes to me because she is in love with me and will be my wife, not because I force her to with our arrangement. That is strictly for your benefit, to keep you in line.”
He lets that sink in and several sets of eyes land on me, although I am unsure as to why everyone finds this such a surprise. I mean it is clear that I’m in love with my sire and have been for a thousand years, but I suppose now that everyone is putting two and two together and coming up with my ring, the facts are becoming a bit clearer.
I chew my lip, cursing my sire for blurting that out to everybody. It’s one thing having Cole know, or least suspect it as I have never outright said it to him, but it’s another thing entirely to have it announced so casually in front of everyone.
“Constantine,” I berate him quietly, “you are telling secrets, my love. This is our business, not for everyone to know about.”
He shrugs, unconcerned. Cole look like he wants to die, or possibly kill.
“You set this in motion by taking it off. By disrespecting the arrangement,” CK continues.
“It wasn’t part of the arrangement,” Cole snarls at him. ‘I
t’ being my ring, obviously. “At least not the part I agreed to. You two came up with that all on your own. You think you tell me anything I don’t already know? You think that Liv and I don’t talk?” Emphasis on the Liv there. “Do you think that we have no relationship? That this is just some fling that means nothing to her?” He is firing these questions out but apparently not expecting any answers, so Constantine doesn’t give him any. “We are married. She is my wife and whatever delusions you might have to the contrary, we are staying that way. I told you before, I am not going anywhere.” He sends a scathing look at Constantine which he follows up with the same to me, most definitely unhappy with me and my role in all of this.
There is a very awkward silence where no one even moves. Everyone, except the three of us, are trying to act like they aren’t even there, hardly daring to breathe as this is very, very personal and very, very something they would love not to know. I realize that Sebastian knows about this and even Lincoln has some clue but Devon is floored and furious for being that way, Jess is appalled and Scott has that look where he wants the ground to swallow him up and Xane…well, Xane is looking so furious, I’m almost certain he is going to add to this drama with secrets of our own.
I step forward to try and diffuse this situation before it gets any worse.
“Cole, baby. Please go and wait for me in our bedroom. I need a word with my sire. I will be up shortly.”
He nods at me briefly, still stony-faced, but a glimmer of smug underneath at the use of my words ‘our bedroom.’
“I will go and wait for you in our bedroom,” he says. He steps closer to me and whispers low enough for everyone else not to hear, with the exception of Constantine who is standing close enough, “And I will make love to you all night, in that way that you love, that leaves you breathless and wanting more.” He kisses me as I inhale sharply and part my lips. He pulls away and with a last baleful glare at CK, strides back into the house.
I round on CK, who gives me in that mildly infuriating look of his.
“I warned you that I wasn’t putting up with any more shit from him,” he says. “Get him in line or it will get worse than this.”