Handlers of Dragons (Children of Ankh Book 4)

by Kim Cormack

  Reality was a buzz kill. They had to go. For various reasons...Amar had to talk to Frost. Kevin needed to speak to her about something. Frost abruptly got up and left her lying on the bed so turned on she could scream. He started getting dressed without saying a word. He didn’t have to. She knew why he was pissed. “You can’t be mad at me for having thoughts,” Kayn complained as she got out of bed and followed him to the door.

  “Thinking about him while you’re in bed with me is a bit much. I’m not mad but do me a favour... try to be more considerate of my feelings,” he aloofly replied.

  Kayn blocked his escape route and refuted, “Don’t be like this, I want you. I’m with you.”

  He gazed into her eyes as he gently caressed her cheek and said, “I know you do. I want you too. I’m not being unreasonable here. You’d react the same way if I was in bed with you and Lily crossed my mind.”

  This was true. She’d have a damn meltdown if they were in the middle of something and Lily popped into his head. She tried to justify her thoughts, “I’m sorry. Listen, you don’t know what’s going on with Amar’s son. I bumped into Kevin when Triad showed up in the hall. I just haven’t had the time to talk about any of this with you.”

  “Be flattered that I’m still here when everything inside of me is screaming for me to run before you stomp on my heart,” he retaliated.

  She countered, “You can’t just walk out every time we have a disagreement.”

  “I can this time,” Frost replied as he did just that.

  What just happened? Kayn flung herself down on the bed and groaned. Come on! Did he really think Kevin wasn’t going to cross her mind? She understood this was a touchy subject for him... but seriously? Someone knocked on the door. Maybe he’d already realised he was being ridiculous? Kayn opened the door and it was Lexy. Her sister. She stepped aside and ushered her in with a wave of her hand and a grin.

  “Your room is better than ours,” her new-found sibling remarked as she scrutinized the rich tapestries on the walls. “Did you and Frost have a fight?” Lexy added as she wandered across the room to check out the view from the balcony.

  That was fast. It had been all of five seconds since he’d stormed out.

  Lexy laughed and responded to her inner commentary, “I bumped into him in the hall.”

  “If he’s going to be pissed off every time he hears a thought he doesn’t like, we’re going to have a lot of ridiculous arguments,” Kayn exclaimed as she leaned on the shiny marble railing and gazed at the hauntingly beautiful desert scenery.

  “If it makes you feel any better, I’m fighting with Grey too,” Lexy stated as her crimson hair shifted like the flickering flames of a fire in the warm breeze.

  “You thought about Tiberius, didn’t you?” Kayn teased.

  Lexy admitted her truth, “He’s in the room next to ours. Grey wasn’t impressed.”

  “Forget about Grey for a second... How do you feel?” Kayn asked.

  “Truthfully? Excited, nervous...on edge,” her sister replied.

  Kayn grinned. She knew exactly what she was talking about. She piped in, “Mel’s having the same day. Thorne’s going to be here tonight.”

  “Where’s Zach?” Lexy enquired.

  “No idea, he was probably giving us some time alone,” Kayn responded.

  Lexy smiled as she added, “He’s also going to be in an awkward situation tonight. The four of us should stick together.”

  “Stephanie?” Kayn questioned.

  “Her too,” Lexy answered as she wandered away from the balcony.

  She was talking about Patrick. Kayn didn’t bite but found it rather peculiar that Lexy would be concerned about Zach’s love life.

  Lexy snatched a flawless red apple off the tray of fruit on the decorative table by the door as she curtly added, “Ignore Frost. He has no right to judge anyone...ever. Neither does Grey for that matter.”

  This was true. They had both been a little liberal with their bedmates.

  As Lexy grabbed for the door knob, she paused, looked back and blurted, “I deserve to have some fun too, don’t I?”

  “Of course you do,” Kayn agreed, pressing her lips together so she didn’t smile. She wanted a second opinion... permission to want who she shouldn’t.

  “Good talk,” Lexy declared as she walked out, closing the door behind her.

  Kayn smiled as Lexy left, knowing that was probably her sister’s attempt at bonding. She’d have to save the Stephanie bombshell for later. She started giggling because that little venting visit had come out of nowhere. Kayn stood in front of the tray of fruit scrutinizing its contents. There was a tasty looking banana but she was too frustrated with Frost to eat something phallic. There was fruit she’d never seen before. She picked up a mystery fruit and sniffed it. How she was supposed to eat this? Was it supposed to be peeled? Did she have to just bite into it? She had little time to waste so she bit into it. The skin tasted nasty. She needed to spit it out but where? The bathroom. She’d put it in the garbage. Kayn wandered across the room into the washroom with the yucky fruit peel still in her mouth and spat it into some toilet paper. There was no garbage can...Weird? It was just a tiny chunk. She flushed it. She couldn’t put the fruit back on the tray with a bite out of it; that was kind of gross. She marched over to the deck and pitched it into the garden below. Someone cursed in the shrubbery beneath her balcony. Oh crap! She dove back inside with her hand clasped over her mouth to stifle her giggles. Whoops. She hadn’t thought that out. Kayn wandered back over to the fruit tray and ate a bunch of grapes to get rid of the bitter taste. She flopped down on her bed and sighed dramatically. Apparently, immortals could still be awkward and dorky. Good to know. She’d been lying there for a while when she began overthinking their little spat. Should she go and find Frost? She’d never been in a relationship before but this didn’t feel like her fault. Kayn got up to grab more grapes while continuing to beat their disagreement to death in her head. He knew how unfiltered her thoughts were. He was going to have to get used to random things and people crossing her mind. Kevin still crossed her mind a lot even though she was one hundred and ten percent committed to Frost. He was a link to her past...An immortal reminder of her mortality. A beautiful life that was no longer. Someone knocked on the door and without waiting for her to answer, they entered. It was Frost.

  He closed the door and sheepishly strolled over, stopping in front of her, he implored, “Can we just agree that I’m an idiot and move on?”

  Kayn grinned as she cocked her head and added, “A jealous idiot.”

  Frost chuckled as he inched his way closer. He took her hands and sort of repeated her words, “A ridiculously idiotic jealous fool. I was really trying to act like the idea of you two seeing each other didn’t matter to me but it does and that’s not your fault. It’s my issue. I’ll deal with it.”

  Kayn lovingly squeezed his hands as she explained, “You just gave me this big speech about our abilities and how we’re going to need to be understanding with each other because our relationship was going to need to be a little more open concept, especially if they keep separating us for long spurts of time. I should have spoken to you about what happened in Alaska with Kevin but I didn’t want to spend what little time we have together talking about him.”

  Frost led her over to the bed. He sat down and tugged her with him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  She straddled his lap as she confessed, “Nothing happened but some heartfelt apologies. We spoke for a while, shared some appetizers, drank some wine and I stole his phone. Yes, there’s a lot of emotional baggage between us but we were best friends long before we were anything else and a part of me will always care about him. If Kevin needs to speak to me about something, I’m going to honour our mortal connection and allow him to say whatever he needs to say. I’m with you though.” She used Zach’s words from earlier, “Have some faith in me.”

  As they embraced, Frost whispered against her hair, “I am trying. I’ll
do better. I’m just not used to caring. It’s messing with my mind. Feeling this way about you is way out of my comfort zone. I know what I said and I know what your job description was in Alaska. You were supposed to do whatever you had to do to keep him away from the hospital so the girls could get away. Can we start over? I promise I’ll suck up my jealousy issues as far as the Smith kid is concerned if you promise me one thing.”

  “What’s that?” Kayn asked, while affectionately nuzzling Frost’s neck.

  “Promise me you’ll be honest with me about anything that happens while we’re apart,” he whispered. “I just don’t ever want to be caught off guard. If I know about it then I can work through it in my mind and try to get past it. Logically, you have an in with Triad for various reasons. You’ll be ordered to use it.”

  She knew that much...This was going be complicated. If he wanted honesty, she’d give it to him, “Just so we’re clear, I was friends with him before all of this and if there’s a way to continue to be friends with him, I’d want that.” Frost showed her he understood her logic by silently nodding. She was going to need more than a nod after this drama. She clarified, “I promise I’ll tell you if anything ever happens but I want the same thing from you.”

  He chuckled and teased, “If unforeseen circumstances cause me to sleep with your ex-boyfriend, I’ll let you know.”

  Someone barged into the room, pushing along a rack full of dresses. A second person followed with a rack full of suits. They abruptly left. Kayn hadn’t bothered jumping off Frost’s lap. She was still sitting there with her arms around his neck. Curiosity got the best of her and she dashed over to check out the selection. She scoped out the suits and said, “I’ll pick for you if you chose for me?” While grinning, he got up and wandered over to check out the garment choices for the banquet that evening. He placed a hand seductively on her waist as he used the other to move each dress aside until he found a few for her to try on. As he removed his hand from the small off her waist, she felt the heat it was creating within her. He passed a dress to her. Funny... The dress had complete and total coverage. She passed him a classy suit and teased him about his selection, “It’s too hot here to wear that.”

  “It was worth a try,” he chuckled. “Give me a second.” He pensively searched through the dresses and passed her a rather revealing green silky spaghetti strapped one. “This one will bring out your eyes.”

  Loving his choice, Kayn slipped out of the dress she had on and allowed it to drop down her legs into a pile of lavender material on the marble floor.

  His eyes appreciatively travelled her nearly nude curves as he hung his suit back up and said, “First things first.”

  Kayn smiled as she walked into his open arms. Being with him felt so right. With his hands possessively clutching her rear, he carried her back to the bed while whispering his naughty intentions. She gasped as she felt his hands warming her backside. That stinker was going to use his ability to end their disagreement. Her response was undeniably raw as the aching turned to waves of intoxicating pleasure. Bliss washed through her being as she over exuberantly cried out, “Frost.” Euphoria exploded within her as he triggered her mirrored ability and intoxicating pheromones exploded into the air, causing his to become more potent. The desire they felt changed to instinct driven urgency. There were no more sentimental declarations just deep throaty lustful promises as he aggressively pinned her to the bed and took her as she’d been pleading with him too. They rode the rhythmic tumultuous sea of passion until a tidal wave of agonizing pleasure washed their inhibitions away. He took her with volatile urgency, crying out her name long before he intended to. Never for a second intending on leaving her longing for anything, Frost continued feverishly stroking her until she released a throaty cry. Before she was done quivering from the sensory overload, he began feathering kisses down her abdomen.

  “Tell me what you want,” Frost whispered as he placed his palms against her stomach. As they heated against her abdomen, she felt his ability light a fuse within her. The flames devoured the wick of resistance until she was uncontrollably whimpering his name.

  After another hour of lustful abandon, Frost collapsed and sighed, “You’re so going to destroy me Brighton.”

  “For all other women. That’s always been the plan,” Kayn teased as her lips met his. There were no rules and no filters as they ordered each other to do whatever naughty things crossed their minds. Eventually, they exhausted each other and fell asleep.

  She awoke in his arms and for a moment she just remained still as her heart swelled with adoration. He made her insanely happy. Nothing else mattered when they were together. Oh crap! What time was it? When were they supposed to be at this banquet? Kayn winced as she shifted around in his embrace so he’d know she was awake.

  His sleepy seductive voice whispered, “I think we outdid ourselves.”

  “What time is it?” Kayn asked as she noticed for the first time that the sun had taken its leave. It was dark outside. It was then that they heard the music.

  “Oh, shit!” Frost stammered as he jumped up, tossed her the dress he’d picked out and announced, “Time to get up beautiful. We’re late.” He quickly put on the suit she’d selected and helped her do up her dress.

  She exclaimed, “I need to have a shower! I don’t have any makeup!”

  With admiration in his voice, he stated the obvious, “You look sexy as hell right now, with your messy hair and kiss swollen lips. Just go with it.”

  “It’ll be obvious,” she mumbled.

  “One second,” he said. Frost dashed into the bathroom and called out, “There’s makeup, a brush and some hair product in here. There’s even perfume. I prefer the scent you were wearing earlier though.”

  A pheromone joke...Cute. She panicked, “Wait! We’ve set ourselves off!”

  “It’s been a few hours. We’re only potent enough to loosen inhibitions,” he explained. He remained in the doorway, leaning against the frame, watching her frantically put product in her hair and opt to leave it as a mane of sexy curls. She’d might as well leave it loose. Tiberius would undoubtedly spend all evening trying to take out her bobby pins. Kayn spritzed herself with perfume and wandered out. Frost opened the door, appreciatively taking her in as she strutted past him.

  He confessed, “I wish we didn’t have to go.”

  “Ditto,” she whispered as she laced her fingers behind his neck and planted a kiss on his lips. He scooped her into his arms, lifting her feet off the marble floor.

  He placed her down and prompted, “We’d better run. Markus is going to be pissed.”

  The couple raced down the hall to the tune of her clicking heels and through the maze-like compound in the direction of the music. As they entered the banquet hall, Markus, Thorne, Tiberius, and Amar were greeting what appeared to be the end of the line up of immortals. Oh, they might really be in trouble. They gave each other another quick peck on the lips as they parted. Frost took his place with his brothers and a visibly frustrated Markus. Kayn started to walk away.

  Frost called after her, “Save me a seat!”

  She smiled as thoughts of their afternoon rendezvous replayed in her mind. She was so happy he was here. Now, she had something to look forward too at the end of an evening that promised to be full of drama.

  As Kayn entered the luxurious banquet hall all eyes turned to her. Crap. It was like showing up late for class. She took a step and the heel snapped off her shoe. Oh, you’ve got to be frigging kidding me! She removed her shoes while everyone watched, versus staggering with one on to the table and slinked into one of the few open seats, thankful Zach had managed to save a few chairs.

  Zach leaned over and whispered, “Kick your shoes under the table and forget about it.”

  Kayn sheepishly grinned as she booted her heels further under the table with her bare feet.

  Zach touched her leg under the table as he assured, “I know the centre of attention thing is a touchy subject but you look like a go
rgeous Cinderella who lost her shoe.”

  She truly appreciated Zach. She’d neglected the hell out of her Handler today. She didn’t even know how he was dealing with seeing Stephanie or ...Patrick. Where was Triad sitting? She hadn’t seen them as she came in. Damn it! She’d missed the fun exchanges between the Brothers of Prophecy. She should have gotten into the line up. Kayn searched out Melody and gave her an apologetic look. She was supposed to have her back while she bumped into Thorne.

  With a sneaky smile, Zach mischievously nudged her and whispered, “Obviously you two made up?”

  Everyone knew about their fight. She apologized, “Sorry I wasn’t here for you earlier. I’m here now though, all night. I’m your back up, distraction, whatever you need me to be.” She met Melody’s eyes across the table and mouthed the words, “You too.”

  Lexy placed her hand on Kayn’s shoulder and handed her a drink, “Do try to catch up.”

  She accepted the glass of red wine and casually took a sip as she scanned the room. The clans were completely segregated at this banquet and the dance floor was enormous. Her eyes searched for Kevin as per usual. Triad was sitting clear across the room. Trinity was seated closest to Ankh. Kayn glanced back at her Handler. Zach was gapped out, staring at Triad’s table. She had the ammo to snuff out a hook up with Stephanie. As Kayn followed her Handler’s line of sight, she wasn’t entirely certain it was Stephanie catching his attention. She nudged Zach and whispered, “Why don’t you just go over there and say hi?”

  Zach abruptly got up and asked Haley to dance. She watched him leading Haley to the dance floor and smiled as she looked over to where Triad was seated and noted that Patrick was watching him too. The whole situation was fascinating. If she ever found herself attracted to another woman, she was fairly certain she’d be able to own it. Kayn snagged a piece of rye bread from a wicker bowl on the table and buttered it. Zach had Haley in his arms but his eyes kept travelling over to Triad’s table as though they were being drawn by an unseen force. He’d figure it out.