“No,” I say. “I guess my body just needs some fuel after everything I’ve been through. I’m sure it’s just a one-off. But take advantage while you can,” I add with a smirk.
“Oh, I sure will,” he says. “Watching you eat something would make me the happiest Wolf in the land.” He circles my tiny waist with his big hands to make his point. “Way too skinny.”
“Then why do you love me?” I pout at him in jest.
“Because to not love you would be to die,” he says dramatically with a fake swoon. I bash him playfully and he grins at me.
“Bedroom,” he says to me and off we
Astral, intent just on each other.
Two hours later we Astral off back home after trying to regain Pack morale. Chrissie was still out, probably will be for a while yet. Faerie magick isn’t to be taken lightly and quite frankly, I shouldn’t have used it. I am not schooled enough in it to be throwing it about. But it re-established my position and everyone just seemed happy that I was showing my face. Baby steps.
I tell CK and Cole of my planned date and neither are very happy.
“You can’t go out on a date, what will people think?” Cole asks.
“They will wonder who the gorgeous black-haired girl is he is with,” I say smartly and Shift to my Dark Fae persona, Aeval.
Much arguing later, I am starting to get a headache, and nothing has been resolved yet. They accept I need time with Lincoln, but they don’t see why we have to go out. I try yet again to explain to them I promised him, and the arguments start again.
Chapter 17
Buckinghamshire, England, September 2013 - Jess
Jess sits on the terrace as it is getting dark. She stares at the vial full of blackened marigolds that she took off Liv the other day. She kept them. She has no idea why or what to do with them, but it is quite clear they are full of poison as they shriveled up and died in this blackened state. She taps it on the table and stands to go back inside, gripping it tightly in her hand. Maybe if she crushed them up and put them in Liv’s blood it would make her ill again. Or better yet, kill her.
Unfortunately, the woman is nearly indestructible. She stops outside the library doors and peers inside. She is in there arguing with her husbands and Lincoln. She has three of the sexiest, most gorgeous men on the planet at her beck and call so why does she still need Devon? Why can’t she just let him go? The whore.
Jess sees she has Shifted, but thankfully not to Elizabeth. It is just too painful. Jess wanted to kill her the other day for doing it right in front of her. She wishes she hadn’t followed them upstairs, but she wanted to know what they speak about when they are alone together. She was unnoticed as Liv was still ill and Devon has no bond to her. She sat outside the door and listened to them fucking. No, that’s wrong, they weren’t fucking. They were making love. He was making love to her, seeing to her completely and he was in Heaven. She heard it in his voice. It had ripped through her like a red-hot knife, but she sat and waited. She was burning with curiosity about what they would speak of. Their words are etched into her brain for eternity. She will never forget what he said to his sire. She had listened to them making plans to meet in the clearing and she had gone herself to confront them. However, she had forgotten about both her sire’s and his sire’s tendency to turn up early. She had been on time, but they had already started, and she hadn’t heard a word of what they said. Devon had sent her away and it had been a long time later when he came to find her.
She sighs and turns from the doors. She will find another way in. She comes face to face with Liv as she spins on her heel. No, not Liv. Other Liv. Her hair is longer and lighter, her eyes are a brighter green and her boobs are much, much bigger. She is smiling at Jess, so she smiles back as she places the vial of marigolds between her breasts for safekeeping.
“Those are mine,” Other Liv says as she reaches forward and plucks the vial out of Jess’s cleavage.
Jess grabs her hand, but she snatches it away quickly. “No, they are mine,” Jess says. If Other Liv wants them, they must have something about them that she wants to keep hold of.
“Uh, no,” Other Liv says firmly. “I didn’t make the suggestion she use them out of the goodness of my cold, dead heart.” She places them in her own cleavage and while Jess has never delved around another woman’s boobs before, the prize will be worth it. She steps forward boldly to take them back, but Other Liv grabs her hand quickly. “Brave, aren’t you?” she asks. “You don’t even know what to do with them.”
Jess just shrugs. No, she doesn’t, but she will find out. “Care to share?” she asks.
Other Liv laughs in delight. “Oh no, little girl. That’s way above your Power-grade. This however, not so much.” She pulls out a clear vial, a bit bigger than the one currently nestled between her breasts and hands it to Jess. Jess takes it curiously and peers into it. There is a clear liquid in it, slightly gloopier than water. “What is it?” she asks.
Other Liv shrugs and says, “A type of poison. Put it in her blood and it will get her out of your way for a bit.”
Jess licks her lips cautiously. How does this woman know she wants Liv gone? “It will kill her?” she asks hopefully.
“No, she, like me, is a true immortal. It will subdue her for a while though,” Other Liv says.
“I don’t want her subdued!” Jess says. “I want her dead.” She realizes that at this point she should probably shut her big mouth. She doesn’t know this woman, and she sure as shit doesn’t trust her.
“Now, now,” she says. “If she were dead, your sire would mourn her for eternity. A little time out will make him yours for a while.”
Jess thinks about that. As much as she doesn’t want to admit it, Other Liv is right. Devon would mourn her forever and she might as well just walk away forgotten. “What’s in it for you?”
“Ah, now, that isn’t your concern. I have my plans and for them to succeed I need her out of the way,” she says.
Jess is crazy curious, but she knows better than to ask. “Why come to me?” she asks instead. “How did you know I wouldn’t go running straight to her?”