The P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy (#1-3) (88 page)

“Khol,” I rasped. “I’m not the one who insisted we come here. You need to stop.”

He gave me one last lick before he placed my hair back over my neck to cover up the area of his focus. “Right you are, my little Queen.” And I knew I was because, well, after all I could tell how much he wanted me because I was sitting in his lap. I rubbed my bottom against him and his hands came to rest on my hips to keep me from moving. “None of that.” He murmured so that only I could hear.

Khol turned to address everyone. “As you all know, P.J. has been working with the dragon pendant in removing the Riders from their human hosts. She has now successfully done so, numerous times. The next step is to plan the best form of attack to take full advantage of this.”

Macon stood. “My Lord, can she remove more than one at a time?”

“First question out of the box and you ask exactly what we still need to find out.” Morag said with an amorous smile on her face directed at Macon. Clearly my dear Auntie really did have a thing for younger dragons. Could you still call a dragon a cougar?

“Then we need to find that part out before we make any more plans.” Jenna stated. “We should get a bunch of test subjects.”

“What I was thinking precisely.” Morag nodded her head in agreement at Jenna. “P.J. I’m going to need you to come with me to show me which humans have Riders in them.”

I groaned but luckily Jenna came to my aid. “You know, I could have one of my friends go with you to show you. They can see the Riders in people too, and then P.J. can … rest a little while longer before we see if she can remove more than one at a time.” Jenna not so subtly winked at me. Of course having some more alone time with Khol before we went after the Riders sounded like a brilliant idea if I ever heard one. Jenna bent to scoop up a large white and black rat. She extended her arms towards Morag. “Here you go, he’ll help you out.”

Morag smiled with delight, much to my surprise. “Why, this is wonderful.” She stroked the rat like he was a cat, and he leaped from her hand to her shoulder, obviously expressing his mutual adoration for her. “I will be back with some test subjects shortly then.” She glanced over at Macon with longing before disappearing.

“When Morag has the—” Khol began just as Zen strode into the room.

I immediately jumped from Khol’s lap, my fire magic shooting up my arms. “What the hell are you doing here?” I hissed.

Zen dropped to her knees in front of me and bowed her head, much to my complete and utter shock. “Please, have pity you majesty, although I won’t deny the fact I wanted Khol for myself, I know that he is now completely out of my reach. Even when he thought you were dead he wouldn’t take the comfort I offered him with my body. What Lorik did—” She gulped loudly. “—what Lorik did, he did on his own. I had no knowledge of it.”

When she finished speaking, Zen remained before me with her head bowed. I looked to Khol for help but he was glaring at her with anger of his own. “What do you want? My forgiveness?” If what she said was true, no matter how much I wanted to hate her, I knew that it wouldn’t be right. A person can’t help who they fall in love with. I of all people know that first hand.

“For starters.” She replied.

“Don’t push it.” Khol grated through clenched teeth. “She has every right to kill you, and I wouldn’t stop her.”

I saw Zen’s head jerk to the side as if Khol had slapped her. “I want to help.” She said, her voice thick with emotion. And because of what Khol had just said I almost felt sorry for her.

“Help with what?” I asked softly as my flames went out.

“Don’t trust her!” Jenna exclaimed. “She’s gonna try and do you like Nala did! She’ll try and kill you in your sleep or something just so she can have your man!”

“I would never!” Zen protested indignantly.

“Whatever, you can save it for someone who believes you!” Jenna retorted.

Seeing Zen’s shoulders slump inward and knowing how I felt when I thought I had lost Khol forever did kind of pull at my sympathy strings. Zen had loved Khol almost all of her life, what if Bryn had wanted someone else the way Khol desired me? I would at least have tried to entice him away. “I forgive you.” I said.

“No! Are you out of your mind!” Jenna protested. “P.J. I thought you were smarter than this!”

I glared at Jenna. “I said I would forgive her, but not forget. It’s not like I’m going to be trusting you anytime soon, Zen. You’re going to have to prove yourself.” Zen turned a hopeful face up at me. “But don’t think I’m gonna let you near Khol anytime soon.” I thought for a second. “Okay—ever. If you really want to help then you can help. But there’s a five foot rule with Khol if I’m not in the same room.” I paused and bit my lower lip as the image of the two of them kissing popped into my head. “Make that a twenty foot rule. And if you try anything, say anything—so much as breath in his direction—I’ll burn you to a crisp.”

I then slid my hand into Khol’s large one and pulled him after me out of the common’s room. “Now nobody bother us until Morag comes back with the Riders. I need some alone time with
my Anam Cara
.” I not so subtly flipped my hair over to the side so Khol’s mark was exposed.

I heard Jenna burst out into laughter as we left the room, and I smiled to myself. I would forgive Zen, but there was no way in hell I would keep from flaunting my relationship with Khol in her face. Maybe I would have been more considerate if she hadn’t tried to steal him away, and made sure I was well aware of their past together. For that reason alone I was going to make damn sure she was well aware of my and Khol’s future together.

“What you did back there with Zen—” Khol said softly. “—showed the kind of compassion of a true dragon Queen. I’m proud to call you
mo Anam Cara
.”

While I hadn’t done it to make Khol proud, his words colored my cheeks with delight anyways. “I love you, Khol.” My chest bloomed with warmth as I confessed my feeling for him again. “I want to show you how much again.” God, I was like a friggin’ cat in heat. I couldn’t decide if I was worse with Khol than I had been with Bryn, or maybe my pregnancy hormones were factoring in.

“Another decision based in compassion, my little Queen.” Khol responded, his voice rough with arousal.

“Compassion?” I questioned.

“Yes, for what you were doing to me when you were grinding against my lap when I was powerless to do anything about it bordered on cruelty. Now you’ve decided to show your compassion by easing my pain.” Khol grinned mischievously at me, an expression that was new for him, but I found I was really starting to enjoy what came after when he gave it to me.

I slapped at his shoulder playfully. “Just hurry up and take us to—” And Khol shifted us to his room where I showed him exactly how compassionate I could be with him.

“A young Seers’ mind will never show her something she’s not ready to handle.” The words echoed in my head as a fog-like scene took shape before my eyes.

I strode forward knowing that what I’d just heard was a bad omen of what I might see. The lightness I felt in my limbs let me know that I was having a vision but it was different, in a way. I somehow knew that it was being fueled by my new ‘Queenly’ dragon powers. As I tried to push through the fog it was like a solid wall. I reached up to touch the fog and it felt smooth, soft and slimy, but with a definite solid mass not typical of normal fog. I began to circle the fog like wall, searching for an opening, but I found none. That’s when I heard a scream. “Khol! No!” I stopped short when I realized that the voice was mine. A loud inhuman roar then met my ears causing a chill to run up the length of my spine. With a renewed urgency I began circling the wall of fog again looking for a way in. And that’s when I heard the words again. “A young Seers’ mind will never show her something she’s not ready to handle.” I turned to find the source of the familiar voice but then the entire scene suddenly went to black.

My eyes shot open, my heart pounding in my ears as I tried to make sense of what I’d just seen. It was a vision … of sorts. But the fact that I hadn’t been shown what was inside the fog, and couple that with the words … well  … it felt more like a portent of doom than a vision. Great. Like I needed another one of those. And then my mind started to race. Was that why I hadn’t received any new visions lately? Was there too much I wouldn’t be able to handle seeing? But if everything in the future is changeable depending on the choices made in the present then what could it all possibly mean?

Khol pulled me to him and I cuddled into his embrace, inhaling his comforting scent. I wanted nothing more in that moment than to lose myself in him. “My little Queen,” He murmured. “I’m here if you wish to talk.”

I heaved out a huge overly dramatic sigh. I didn’t really want to talk, but I knew it was probably healthier for my psyche. “You saw my vision?” I knew he had, but I was stalling.

Khol ran his hand down my naked back and settled it in the curve just above my butt. It was both comforting and yet provocative.
Damn hormones
. “You know I did.”

“It just scares me. What could it mean?” I ran the fingertips of my left hand in small circles around on his smooth muscular chest.

“It could mean many, many things.” His voice dropped an octave letting me know that he too would rather be doing something other than talking.

An idol thought crossed my mind as I continued to run my fingertips over the expanse of his chest. “What’s your skin like, when you’re in dragon form?” Most of the time I tried not to think about it at all. Knowing that Khol had another form, and that apparently I did too, freaked me out most of the time. Although as time went on and the more I thought about it, it was less and less anxiety provoking and instead curiosity piquing.

Khol caught me by the wrist and pulled me up on his chest so we were face to face. “I could show you.” There was an excitement in his eyes that was hard to miss. Was this a part of himself that he has been wanting to share with me?  Have I been denying him of it?

I wasn’t sure if I was quite ready for the dragon quite yet so I decided to ask him some more questions first. “Can you fly?”

“We could fly together.” Khol smiled at me, his excitement crackling in the air. “I used to see my parents flying together as a child, and many other
Anam Cara
pairs since then … I’ve long since desired to share the experience with my own mate.

“Do only
Anam Caras
fly together? Don’t you fly around with, I don’t know, friends and family?”

“It’s different, I am told with your
Anam Cara
… everything is different with them.” He tugged me to him, closing the last little bit of distance between us, and he kissed me softly, and yet very passionately.

Just then a knock sounded at his door and in strode Morag. “Hey!” I exclaimed, trying to cover Khol’s naughty bits from her sight. Strange how I was more worried about covering him up than myself. She may be my aunt but only I got to see Khol naked.

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, child.” She said flippantly. “If I left the two of you—two newly mated
Anam Caras
to your own devices—then we’d be lucky to see you within the next few months—no matter your good intentions.”

“You have secured the Riders to start testing?” Khol asked, his voice becoming all business.

“Yes.” Morag replied in the same tone.

“We will find you shortly then.” Looking satisfied with Khol’s response, Morag turned and left, pulling the door shut behind her.

Khol pulled the two of us from bed, faint disappointment scrolling across his face briefly. “We will continue our conversation about our other forms later.”

“Yeah okay.” I said with relief. I wanted to make Khol happy, and although I was less nervous about the topic, I wasn’t really sure if I was ready to do anything but talk yet.
Baby steps people, baby steps
.

A few months ago I might have felt a slight twinge of guilt towards the small group of people who were going to be my guinea pigs. Of course now all I saw were the Riders inside of them, and not their host bodies. It had been different with Jenna because I’d known her practically as long as I’d known Bryn. But the group of random people Morag had gathered for me, despite the fact that they quivered and shook with fear, invoked nothing but hatred from me. I hated the Riders and what they’d done to my world. I blamed them for the fear that shimmered in the eyes of the people who served as their puppets.