by D T Dyllin
I stood leaning against the wall of the shower, letting the hot water beat down on my sore body. I was struggling to fully wrap my mind around everything I’d been told in the meeting, along with the fact that I would have to be facing all of it without Bryn. I mean it wasn’t like he wouldn’t be there fighting for our cause, but he wouldn’t be with me, and therefore it wouldn’t be the same. Nothing would be the same ever again.
With a heavy sigh I reached out and turned off the water to the shower and grabbed a towel to wrap around my middle. I wiped the steam away from the mirror and studied myself. The black dye that I had applied to my hair was completely washed away, along with any remnants of the henna I used to use, which left me with a shoulder length bob of bright strawberry blonde hair. Not only was it a horrendous shade of red, but it practically screamed baby dragon to anyone in the know. I wrapped a second towel around my offensive hair and left the bathroom, trudging slowly back to my room—the room Bryn and I used to share. He’d gathered up most of his things when I was in the meeting and moved to his own room across the compound. The better to avoid me with, apparently.
I was about two steps from my door when I felt the familiar tug of a vision overtake me, lifting me up and out of my body. I struggled to keep myself from collapsing in the hallway and attempted to make it to my room even as I felt the ground come up to meet me.
I stood in the same room I had when I was having my coma induced dream/vision, although this time around I knew with certainty that I was having a vision and not a dream. I still wasn’t sure whether it was from the past, present, or future though . . . Where were some ghosts to fill me in when I needed them? Maybe they only come out to play around Christmas time?
I focused in on the woman dragon with long shining white hair; she was sitting rigidly on the edge of the bed staring blankly into the fire burning nearby her. I got the sense she was waiting for someone, so I waited with her, so to speak. Not much time passed before directly in front of her appeared the same man as I had seen her talking with before in my last vision. I noted in the back of my mind that I still hadn’t actually seen his face.
He dropped down in front of her, his head bowed as if in shame, and his voice came out low and hoarse. “It is done. I have fulfilled the task you sent me to complete.” She remained rigid as if the man wasn’t even present in the room. He reached out to touch her, tilting his head up just enough so he could look up at her, but before he could make contact, she shirked away. The man made a strangled cry in the back of his throat. “Please . . . my love . . . Mori . . . don’t punish me for something you commanded me to do.”
Her face crumpled up briefly as if she would cry before smoothing out again completely. “My love,” she whispered while still staring into the flames of the fire, “I don’t wish to punish you, but”—a single tear slid down her cheek—“I seem to be unable to control the feelings that twist inside of me when I think of the two of you together in bed.”
“I begged for you to send another,” the man rasped as if in physical pain.
“And you know I could not,” she replied in a chilling tone. “My visions are never wrong, you know that.”
“So you will banish me from your touch, for doing something that you commanded . . . My Queen?” The man spat out the last part with complete and utter disgust. A second later his tone changed. “Please,” he begged, “don’t do this. I was never unfaithful to you in my heart. Thinking of being in your arms again was the only thing that got me through the task.”
“Did you whisper words of endearment to her? Did you tell her that you loved her?” Mori asked hollowly.
“It was the only way that I could convince her to give me—us—what we wanted. It’s what you asked of me—”
“And yet I find myself hating you for doing what I asked of you.” Mori’s voice cracked. “I wish to welcome you back into my bed and my heart—but I fear the latter has been crushed by your actions—no matter that I set them into motion.”
“No.” The man inhaled sharply. “Please don’t turn away from me.” He rose up and went to her in a blur of speed, covering her with his large body. I heard her gasp in surprise as she accepted his embrace with fervor . . . but only for a moment before she pushed at his chest and broke off his demanding kiss. “Mori, please . . .” the man rumbled as he desperately tried to hold on to her.
“Oh, Dragos,” she murmured with tenderness even as she slid out from under him. “I fear that you will be the death of me . . .”
I didn’t hear the rest of what she said to him, nor did I hear what he said in turn, because a buzzing sound had begun in both of my ears. I stumbled back in shock . . . I knew that name . . . Red hair . . . Red Dragon . . . Dragos . . . The man standing before me was none other than my biological father. Holy shit!
The vision began to fade out and I felt myself being pulled back toward my body but not before I heard Mori’s voice as if it were in my head, “Paige Joplin Stone . . . you must come to me.”
“Why? Who are you? Where are you?” I asked the woman who apparently my biological father was in love with, but I got no answer as everything went dark.
“Wake up, my little Seer.” Khol’s voice pushed at my pounding head.
Still in utter shock from what my vision had shown me, I blinked open my eyes to meet Khol’s illuminated green ones. “My father . . .” I started, unsure of what else to say. I never really had a desire to meet or find out more about my biological father; he had abandoned my mom when she found out she was pregnant with me, and my dad, the only father I had ever known my entire life, had swooped in to take care of us. But then again, maybe I wouldn’t have to say all that much, since Khol had probably viewed my vision right along with me through our link. I hated that I didn’t mind the link when it was convenient for me. It made me feel very hypocritical—probably because I was.
Khol sat down beside me and pushed my damp hair out of my face that had obviously fallen out of my towel. “Yes, I did share the vision along with you.” He studied my face as if searching for something. “Are you over being angry with me? Or do you still incorrectly blame me for what happened with Bryn?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” I stated as I raised my chin obstinantly at him.
Khol’s lips quirked up slightly at the corners, his eyes sparkling with amusement. I had forgotten how attractive he actually is since most of the time I only have eyes for Bryn. Or maybe since I was no longer even partially bonded to Bryn, I was right back to where I started with my body craving Khol’s again, just like when I had first met him. I found myself, much to my chagrin, suddenly very aware that I was wearing a towel . . . and nothing more. “Well until you do,” he said with a slight chuckle, “we will still need to work together on the task at hand.”
“Which one?” After all, there were so many with the Riders working overtime to take over our world.
“The task you have been charged with from your vision, of course,” he stated matter of factly.
“Oh, so what . . . I’m supposed to just find this Mori? Why is she so important?” Besides the fact that she seemed to have some kind of tumultuous relationship with my biological father. Hmmm . . . those must run in the family.
Khol’s face turned serious, his eyes blazing brighter. “This Mori is the queen to us all, and she has been lost to us for many years now. No one is exactly sure what happened to her. Some say she slumbers, some say she journeyed to another world . . . and some say she was killed by Dragos in a fit of jealous rage.”
“My father . . . I mean my biological father, could have killed the friggin’ Dragon Queen?” I felt all the color drain from my face. “But I thought there weren’t any dragon kings or queens? And if she’s dead, then how the hell am I supposed to find her?” I remembered asking Khol once why he thought I should be impressed that he was a Dragon Lord because a king would be better. He had then promptly informed me that there were no dragon kings. Didn’t it stand to reason that meant there weren’t an
y queens either?
Picking up on my emotions, or maybe my thoughts, because sometimes I still wondered if he could actually read my mind and he just wasn’t telling me, Khol answered, “There has ever only been one queen, and she ruled us all . . . the Red . . . the Black, the Gold, and the Silver. She was all seeing and all knowing, at least that’s what we all believed.” He turned away from me and bowed his head as if in mourning.
My gut twisted. “Did—did you love her?” Because he could have—if she had died, that would have freed him to love another one day—me.
“We all did in a sense, we all worshipped her,” Khol murmured. He turned back to face me and ran one of his long heated fingers down the side of my neck, eliciting a shiver from me. “But I’ve never loved another like I love you.” Flames erupted in the depths of his irises. “I never knew it was even possible to love someone the way that I do you.”
“Oh,” I whispered as his hand pushed up under my head to support my neck. A feeling of liquid desire ignited in my middle, and I found myself wondering what if would be like if I let him kiss me again after all this time. So much had happened since the last time his lips had touched mine—and we’d already slept together once. It could be nice . . . more than nice . . . to give myself over to Khol and the feelings of lust he was currently igniting inside me. I didn’t resist him when he brought his lips down to mine and swept his tongue in to take full possession of my mouth. I even wound my hands around the back of his neck to helpfully pull him closer to me.
Wait—what was I thinking? Or maybe that was the problem . . . I wasn’t thinking. The one time I had slept with him . . . or, more aptly, let him have sex with me to save Bryn’s life, I had felt like my heart had frozen inside of my chest. Even though my body seemed to be all right with being a free agent again, my heart would always belong to Bryn. But what if he never wants you again? my mind whispered. Khol would never walk away from you the way Bryn did. No . . . I couldn’t let Bryn’s temporary rejection spur me on to do something stupid and rash. Because when Bryn changed his mind—emphasis on the when and not if—I couldn’t have done something irreparable . . . like have sex with Khol and end up mated with him. Damn these dragon hormones! Now that I had fully tasted all the intimacies of being part of a mated dragon pair, the craving to have that again was almost irresistible. My body craved . . . and I wanted . . . but I couldn’t let myself give into it.
“No, stop,” I gasped into Khol’s mouth as I struggled to push him away.
He pulled away from me but only briefly so that he shifted and wrapped his arms around me, pressing his face into my hair. “But you’re right, my little Seer,” his breath tickled my neck and I yearned to tangle my hands in his hair to pull him closer, but I remained perfectly still instead. “A dragon’s love is eternal, and I would never—could never walk away from you—because I already would have by now. Maybe Bryn is too human to love you the way you desire . . . the way you deserve.”
“But what if I am dragon enough to love Bryn forever?” I hadn’t thought about that before. What if Bryn wasn’t dragon enough to love me forever? And what if I am? Was I doomed to love Bryn for the rest of my life and to maybe have him move on to love someone else? Maybe more than one someone else?
“I’ve explained this before,” Khol massaged my back slowly, which felt much more sensual than relaxing, but maybe that’s what he was going for. “It’s different for female dragons, that part of you isn’t triggered until you’ve mated.”
“But I was mated!” I exclaimed.
“To both myself and Bryn. Even if some part of your prior matings linger . . . it still . . .” His voice trailed off as he pulled away far enough to look into my eyes again from mere inches away. I gulped nervously at the intensity in his green depths. “It still means I have a chance with you too. And I’m not going to miss any opportunity I might be presented by Bryn’s stupidity.” He brought his lips back down to mine and kissed away any retort I may have had at the time. I moaned into his mouth as he pressed himself down into me on the bed. I felt him tugging at the towel that offered me little protection from his roving hands. I had absolutely no idea what to do. Thoughts of doubt about Bryn kept circling in my head, and yet they looped back around to the fact that I couldn’t give myself to Khol for fear of losing Bryn forever . . . But what if I already had?
A sharp intake of breath acted as a small dose of sanity for me and I pushed Khol away—only to meet the dark blue eyes of none other than Bryn. It was as if my thoughts alone had conjured him up to witness my betrayal of him. You can’t betray someone if they left you at the curb like yesterday’s trash, my mind offered in my defense. A split second before Bryn’s face clouded over into an unreadable mask, I saw the hurt that my actions had placed in his eyes. “Bryn!” I gasped. Khol stood and walked out of the room without another word, but I didn’t miss the smug look on his face, and I’m sure Bryn didn’t either.
Bryn’s cool assessing gaze met mine, and my face heated with shame as he spoke. “I see that it’s not going to take you long before you’re mated with him then. Good.”
He might as well have slapped me. “Good? You can’t mean that!” I struggled to breathe. “He kissed me, I want you—I love you! You know that! Bryn please!” I began to feel lightheaded from lack of oxygen, if only I could manage a couple normal deep breaths.
“We’re not going to have this discussion. I want you to move on, just like I’m going to . . . with Nala.”
I opened and closed my mouth, unable to find my voice, the shock of what he was saying almost too much for me to handle. “Bryn, no,” I rasped when I finally found my voice. “Don’t do this. I’ve known you since we were both five years old. I know you think by pushing my buttons, by using Nala, I’ll get angry and mate with Khol . . . Just please . . . stop.”
“So maybe I don’t have any real feelings for her, and maybe what I said to you before was true.” When he finally met my eyes again, there were so many dark emotions swimming in his sea storm eyes that I couldn’t see the old Bryn—my Bryn—in them at all. “But I want you to mate with him, and if giving myself to Nala is the only way I can make that happen”—he bared his teeth at me in a mock smile—“then I’ll do it. Make no mistake about that.”
“Bryn.” His name rolled over my tongue and out of my mouth in a hushed whisper, carrying with it a silent plea that I could somehow make him see what a huge mistake he was making.
“I was born to be your Guardian, and I swore to myself once that I would do whatever it took to protect you, even if it meant protecting you from myself.” He turned and took a step toward the door. “I’m just not strong enough—not powerful enough—not good enough to be with you. I just wish I had accepted that from day one. It would have saved us both a lot of pain.” Khol chose that moment to return and he stepped into my room, pausing near Bryn. The two of them shared a very male look before Bryn left without so much as another word to me. I stared after him, hating Khol freshly in that moment.
“We must make plans for your journey,” he said coolly, in an all business tone. He was a very wise dragon to not push me any more in that moment. He knew I’d talk to him about the task I was assigned by the missing Dragon Queen from my vision, but little else.
“And where exactly am I going?” I grated.
“She will let us know where and when it’s time.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked with a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“It means we have a lot to talk about,” Khol said as he closed my bedroom door behind him.
4
“Knock, knock,” Jenna said as she walked right into my room and flopped onto my bed.
“You know saying knock, knock and then walking right into someone’s room is not the same thing as actually knocking and waiting for a reply.” I feigned annoyance at her, even though the truth was I missed her . . . a lot. It felt like we hadn’t had any real girl time in a long while and I had a feeling that wasn’t going to
change anytime soon.
“Your door was open,” she retorted.
“No,” I said as I stuffed the last of my clean laundry into my dresser, “It just wasn’t locked.”
“Same thing.”
“Not really,” I grumbled.
“So . . . you and Bryn are really over, huh?” I froze with my back to her, my heart tripling in time.
“Why, what do you know?” Had Bryn already mated with Nala? Wouldn’t I somehow just know? It couldn’t all be over like that . . . could it?
“Well, he did move out of your room, didn’t he? And I’ve seen him skulking around all moody and broody. So—yeah—I connected the dots. You’re not the only one that’s known him forever.”
My knees buckled with relief, and I slid to the ground. He hadn’t mated with Nala, at least not yet. “Oh thank God,” I gasped on a sharp intake of breath. Until he did, I still had a chance, and I wouldn’t believe otherwise. I scooted around so I could face Jenna, my back resting against my dresser. “Have you seen him hanging around with any female dragons . . . like Nala maybe?” I couldn’t seem to control my morbid curiosity.
Jenna’s laugh came out sounding like a sharp bark, and she eyed me with amusement from under her black fringe of bangs. “No, he’s been avoiding all female dragons like the plague. Especially Nala. Is that what he told you? That he was going to mate with someone else?”
I averted my eyes sheepishly. “Yeah, that’s exactly what he told me. Right after he told me that he wanted me to mate with Khol.”
Jenna groaned and slapped her hand against her forehead. “Men, I swear. If they weren’t so useful in the bedroom, I don’t think we would keep them around at all.”
I couldn’t help the smile that cracked my face. “Yeah, I guess.” In an effort to think about something else—anything else—I was about to do the unthinkable: I was actually about to ask Jenna about her sex life. “How are you and Macon doing?” And that was all it took to send Jenna off on a male bashing tirade. She went on and on for no less than fifteen minutes . . . For most of it I tuned her out until the end, when something caught my attention.
