Broken Gates (9 page)

“You did!” Jenna exclaimed with excitement. “Did you like it? I mean was it good? I need details!”

“I think I’m gonna head out now,” I heard Jeremy mumble. “I got some—stuff to do. I’ll see you guys later.” He scuffled out of the room, his face flushed with embarrassment.

Neither Jenna or I acknowledged Jeremy’s leaving, but as soon as the door clicked shut signaling he was gone, Jenna exploded into girly excitement. “Details! I need details! EEEEEE! I can’t believe you let him do that to you! I’m so proud! Oh wait . . . did you reciprocate? Come on P.J. . . . I need details!”

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. “Yeah, it was good. Beyond good, I’ve never felt anything like it. Plus, with his magic . . . yeah . . . like I said, I’ve never felt anything like it.” I worried my bottom lip between my teeth. “And no, I didn’t reciprocate.”

“Let me get this straight.” Jenna’s eyes had widened to resemble tiny saucers. “He went down on you, and he didn’t even expect you to do it back?”

“He said he just wanted to help me take the edge off . . . You know, because of the extra hormones I’ve got going on with my pregnancy.”

Jenna flopped back onto the bed beside me with a huge sigh. “He’s got it bad for you. No joke. If that isn’t love then I don’t know what is. Plus, all the other stuff he’s always doing for you, but he’s still a guy, you know. You’re so lucky.” She exhaled a loud demonstrative sigh.

“Macon loves you, and so does Jeremy.”

“Yeah well, Macon acts like reciprocation is his God given right. I used to think it was kind of hot how he took all the control and everything, but now I mostly think it’s annoying.”

“Jeremy wouldn’t do that.” I’d always liked Jeremy and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put in a good word for him. “Jeremy really cares about you, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jenna waved her hand in the air. “I don’t wanna talk about it. I wanna talk about what you’re gonna do about everything that’s going on with you.”

I scowled in her direction. Typical Jenna. She didn’t want to talk about stuff she wasn’t ready to, but she was always forcing me to divulge information before I was ready. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Well, I’ll tell you one thing you need to do . . . Pick some new colors for your wardrobe because what you’ve got now is so going to clash with your new hair.” She paused as if thinking. “And you’re going to need some new eye makeup. Hey, if Storm from X-Men can look hot with white hair, then you can too. We’ll make it work.”

I started to giggle as I mentally pictured Jenna trying to dress me up in various superhero type costumes. “I’m not a superhero, Jenna. Just—”

She rolled to face me at the same time I rolled to face her. “A queen.” We both burst into laughter.

“Who would have ever thought our lives would have gotten so complicated?” I said, grasping at my side because I was laughing so hard. It was all so funny because it all . . . wasn’t.

“Certainly not me,” she barked out. “I used to be worried we’d miss out on all the adventures. And”—she clutched at her side too—“I used to worry you’d die a virgin. Ha! Look at you now!”

“Hey! Not funny!” But I couldn’t help but laugh harder. It felt good to just let go of some of the tension with Jenna. It made me feel like some of the weight had been lifted off of my shoulders . . . even if it was only temporary.

A prickling of power slid across my skin causing goose bumps to erupt all over my body. I sucked in a ragged breath a split second before Khol appeared a few feet in front of the bed. “That’s new,” I muttered as I locked eyes with him.

“Oh hey, Khol,” Jenna said. “We were just talking about you.” She giggled. “All good stuff, I promise. But I have a few questions for you . . .”

“Jenna, stop!” God only knew what kind of questions she had for Khol.

She turned to me with an over exaggerated pout. “Fine, then.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “I’ll just leave you two alone. Just one question first . . .”

“Get out Jenna!” I yelled. “I’ll talk to you later.” I gave her my best stern face, which actually seemed to work.

“Alright,” she said in a singsong voice. “I’ll see you two later.” She practically skipped from the room with delight.

I turned to address Khol, my face heating with embarrassment. “Sorry about that. I—”

Khol stole the words from my mouth with a blinding smile. “It makes me happy to see you smiling again, my little Queen.” He dropped down on his knees in front of me. “I only wish that I had been the one to lighten your mood.” He cupped my face in his large warm hands, his eyes flaring brighter.

The vision slammed into me, forcing the air from my lungs as I gasped to breathe. Unlike some of the visions I’ve had in the past, it was almost as if I was watching two TV screens at the same time. I could still see Khol as clear as day in front of me, but I also saw a second scene unfolding in front of me that dragged my attention toward it.

“Fight for her if you love her,” Khol growled as he stepped into the space directly in front of Bryn.

“I thought you’d be happy if I walked away,” Bryn slumped into himself, a look of defeat etched into every plane on his face. “You’re the better man . . . or rather dragon . . . You win.”

Khol grabbed Bryn by the front of his shirt, his eyes erupting into flames. “I will win this battle fair and square, not because you simply gave up,” Khol spat the last words with distain, as if giving up were the worst thing anyone could ever do.

“We’ll wait to see who the father is, like we agreed. That’s all I can promise.” Bryn wasn’t even struggling against Khol; he seemed utterly and totally broken.

“You and I both know she won’t be able to stick to that, she always has and always will follow her heart. She’ll try, but she is after all a female dragon.” Khol’s lips turned up at the corners in a cruel smile. “She’s already wavering in her decision. I plan to take advantage of any opportunity she’ll give me. I’ll claim her before the child is born, if her will slips for even a moment, I’ll claim her.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Bryn whispered, his eyes flaring dragon blue for the briefest of moments.

“Because I love her, and I know she would never forgive me a second time if I tried to rip you away from her. I need to make sure she feels you had a fair chance. But I can’t fight my instincts. I will claim her.”

“I know you love her, maybe even as much as I do. But that’s why I’m walking away, because I can’t protect her. I love her too much to see her suffer because of my selfishness.”

“This will be the only warning you get,” Khol stated with force. “Do not upset her needlessly when it’s too late for the two of you. There’s no going back this time, once she’s mine . . . she’s mine.”

Bryn pulled free of Khol’s grasp and bared his teeth at him. “Message received and noted. Now leave me the hell alone.”

The vision faded away slowly and I found myself staring into Khol’s eyes. “What did you see, my little Queen?”

“You don’t know?” I breathed.

“No. The vision was closed to me for some reason. Tell me what you saw.”

“It was just Bryn and you talking . . . about me. You told him to fight for me—you told him—”

“The Queen’s powers are beginning to show themselves in you. I know of which conversation you’re referring to because it only just occurred, before I came to see you here.” Khol pushed the hair on the left side of my face behind my ear. “But it was not meant for you to witness.”

“Yeah, I kind of got that,” I said dryly. “So you plan on seducing me away from Bryn to break our bargain?”

Khol hesitated for a moment before responding. “Yes. I’ve made no secret about my desire to claim you . . . the right way this time.”

I tried to be mad at Khol as I stared into his strong chiseled face, meeting his fire-consumed eyes. I tried to be mad at him as I ran my fingertips over his high cheekbones and brought the fingers of one of my hands to caress his firm and yet supple lips. I tried to be mad at him as he gripped my hair at the base of my neck and tugged gently as he sucked one of my fingers into his mouth, reminding me of other things his oh so talented mouth could do. And I tried to be mad at him as his free hand slipped up to pull me closer to him, eliciting a moan from me. “I can’t trust you not to cheat,” I murmured.

“No, you can’t.” He nibbled on my fingertips before letting my hand drop away so he could claim my lips. I clutched at him, unsure of whether to push him away or pull him closer, my body craving his touch, and yet my mind screaming at me to punish him for his actions.

“Let’s end this now.” He began kissing a heated path down the side of my neck and I finally decided that pulling him closer was the best course of action to take at the moment. “Let me claim you so that none of us suffer any longer. You saw for yourself, he won’t fight for you.”

“It could be Bryn’s child,” I said, trying not to lose control under Khol’s heated lips.

“He still doesn’t want to fight for you, and I don’t care who the father is. I will love it like it is mine . . . either way.”

“I know,” was all I could manage to say; my brain was short-circuiting on lust. Khol continued his way down my body, nibbling, kissing and suckling. He paused to tug at my pants and alarm bells began sounding in my head. I knew he was intending to wear me down slowly, another few rounds of what he’d done to me before and I’d be begging for him to make love to me, consequences be damned. So I decided to do whatever I could to prevent that scenario from happening. “Wait . . . stop!” I said with desperation. “Let me—” Let me what? Then my thoughts went to what Jenna had asked earlier. “Let me . . . reciprocate.” Khol stopped short, his heated gaze resting heavily upon me. “Please, I want to.” I pushed up from my prone position and dipped down on my knees in front of him. As I unzipped his pants, I felt Khol’s body thrum with tension. He seemed almost reluctant to let me repay his favor from earlier, or maybe he saw my aversion tactic for what it was.

Khol caught my head in both of his hands and he forced me to look up at him. “Are you sure you want to do this?” His voice came out sounding strained, and broke an octave lower about halfway through.

I searched my feelings, asking myself if I really wanted to do for Khol, something that I’d only ever done for Bryn, and only a handful of times at that. But the answering clench of my stomach followed by a rush of heat to my middle let me know that I did indeed want to give Khol this particular gift. “I’m sure,” I rasped. I was surprised at my feelings, but I didn’t doubt them. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of me taking control of Khol, of me having power over him in that kind of intimate way. “Now just sit back and relax,” I commanded.

And Khol obeyed.

9

“No. Just stop. I let you curl my hair but you’re not attacking me with hairspray again. The last time I let you at me with that stuff I had to deep condition . . . twice . . . before I could even get a brush through it.” I scowled at Jenna, who was currently brandishing the biggest can of hairspray I’d ever seen.

Her brows furrowed together with annoyance. “Just a little bit, or your hair’s gonna fall.”

I stood abruptly and scrambled away from her, waving my hands around my head to keep her from spraying at me on the run. “I said no!”

“Come on, P.J., I don’t see what the big deal is!” She vaulted after me and pushed down the aerosol button on the top of the can and let loose a stream of spray in my direction.

“The big deal is that my hair is already white, if you spray it until it could withstand a tsunami then I’m going to look like a little old lady!” I crouched as Jenna shot another stream of hairspray at me.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re almost nineteen not ninety, and without make-up you still look like you’re twelve, so just let me make you look pretty for this stupid announcement thing!”

“No means no Jenna!” I screeched as I whirled around and grabbed the can from her, but still managed to get shot in the face. “Oh come on!” I coughed.

A prickling of power across my skin signaling Khol’s emanate arrival made me stop and straighten up. I still hadn’t figured out what was going on with me being able to sense Khol’s arrival before he actually appeared, or how I could tell it was him, but I had a feeling it had something to do with my still new to me powers. I hadn’t had the opportunity to test out if I could sense it with anybody but him yet, but I was sure I wouldn’t have to wait long.

“Khol,” I breathed as he appeared a few feet in front of me. The smile he gave me made me weak in the knees, and I knew the answering one I wore probably made me look like I was a little drunk. And maybe in some ways I was. “I’m not ready yet,” I murmured trying to ignore the little flip-flop that my stomach did as memories of what we’d done together, of how he had let me explore him with my mouth with leisure, and of just how he tasted, rose unbidden to my mind.

“My little Queen,” he practically purred, and I had to fight the urge to fan myself.

“Jenna, hey . . . um . . . can you give us a couple minutes?” I said without breaking eye contact with Khol. I wanted a few minutes alone with him after what happened between us. We hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk; in fact, right after I’d finished . . . my job . . . Drake had called him away on some sort of dragon business. At the time I was kind of relieved because I was pretty sure I was about five seconds away from doing something stupid with him, but now I was regretting the lost intimacy that being with him afterwards would have surely offered me.

“Yeah, I guess,” Jenna pouted. “But don’t do anything to mess up your hair.” She left the room grumbling under her breath about not being appreciated enough.

“I brought you something,” Khol said with a twinkle in his eyes. He then produced a small rectangular shaped box from behind him.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You’ll just have to open it to find out.”

“Yeah, okay.” I made my way over to him and hesitantly took the box from his outstretched hand. I wasn’t used to getting gifts from men, especially men who’d seen me naked.
Except for Bryn
, my mind protested, but I quickly pushed the thought aside, and ignored the weird pressure in my earlobes from the small sapphire studs that Bryn had given me for my birthday almost a year ago. The black velvet box creaked its protest as I opened it, and I inhaled sharply at what was inside. Nestled on more black velvet was an enormous red stone surrounded by a dragon with outstretched wings. The dragon itself was intricately made, every small detail etched into the shiny silver metal with care. It was a pendant that I’d never seen the like of, and I was pretty sure I never would again.
Fire and Water
, I thought numbly,
ruby and sapphire
. Khol was a Fire dragon, and Bryn a Water dragon. The symbolism was too obvious to be ignored, but I decided to do just that. “That isn’t real, is it?”

Khol snorted. “As if I would gift you with a fake ruby. And that’s not silver, but white gold.” I didn’t miss the pride in Khol’s voice as he informed me of the very expensive gift I was clutching in my hands. “I thought the Queen of us all should have some suitable jewelry to adorn herself with. You will wear it, won’t you?”

“Of course I will.” I usually wasn’t much of a jewelry girl, but for some reason the necklace just seemed to call to me, and the thought of not wearing such a beautiful thing suddenly seemed ridiculous.

“Then let me put it on you.” Khol took the necklace from my hands and stood behind me. I lifted my hair so he could have better access, and he placed the cool metal against my skin and fastened it. He then kissed the back of my neck before I dropped my hair back into place. I shivered belatedly from the combination.

I reached up to caress the pendant that was already heating from the contact with my skin. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“My father gave it to me.” I sucked in a breath as his words tickled my bare shoulder. “He told me to give it one day to the one I love . . . my
Anam Cara
.”

“Oh. Khol, no—”

“I know you’re not my
Anam Cara
 . . . but no matter what happens, you will always be the one that I love.” His voice had grown ragged and he pulled me back into him, wrapping his arms around me. “Wear it for me . . . please.”

What could I say to that, really? “Okay.”

His hand skimmed up the side of my body and came to rest over the pendant, which was resting conveniently close to my cleavage. “I have more gifts for you, my little Queen.” His voice dipped to a low intimate growl. I merely nodded as my eyes slid shut and his enticing scent spiraled around me. It wasn’t as familiar and comforting as Bryn’s had become to me, but it was on the fast track to being its rival. “Drake,” Khol called, and a feeling of power, definitely with a different feel than Khol’s, ran over my skin. Drake appeared a moment later in front of us holding a large clothing box and a smaller shoebox.

Khol took the boxes from Drake, who shot me a smug smile before dipping down in a low bow before me. “My Queen. It warms the cockles of my heart to see you have decided to cast the baby dragon aside to be with my lord. A wise decision indeed.”

I opened my mouth to protest but Khol beat me to the punchline. “That’s enough Drake. No one asked for your commentary. Leave us.”

Drake dipped lower, his voice almost a whisper, “My apologies, my lord, it won’t happen again.” And with that he took his leave.

Khol met my eyes and held them with his intense gaze. “Don’t read too much into what Drake says, he of course sees things the way he wants them to be.”

I bit my lip and swallowed down the angry words I was about to say. “Yeah, I know. Just as long as all of us are on the same page.” But I wasn’t really sure
any
of us were on the same page.

“Now open your gifts,” Khol said as he set them on the bed.

I obligingly took the lid off the clothing box first and gasped my surprise. “It’s beautiful.” I giggled with delight. Inside was the most amazing crimson silk dress I’d ever seen. It matched the ruby in my new necklace perfectly. I didn’t bother asking Khol if he’d planned it that way because I knew he did. I pulled the dress out and ran my hands over the luxurious material. “I guess this is for tonight too?”

“Yes. I wanted you to look your new role, and you deserve to be dressed in nothing less than the best silks and jewelry in the world, whether you were a queen or not. Try it on, I want to make sure it fits.”

“Okay,” I said with excitement. I knew it was kind of shallow, especially with everything else that was going on, but I’d never owned such a beautiful dress. Maybe I could blame it on the dragon acquisitiveness that had to be part of my nature since I was in fact one hundred percent dragon. “You’re really putting the hardcore press on me, aren’t you?” I asked with a touch of humor.

But Khol’s eyes were completely serious when he answered, “Yes. I’ve made no secret about the fact that I want you for my own. Now that I know you’re fully dragon, I also know what buttons to push to help grow your affections toward me. My tactics were different when I thought you to be half human.”

Choosing to ignore his mini confession session, I simply wanted to put the dress on so I could feel the soft material against my skin. “Turn around,” I commanded. “So I can—”

“But I have already seen you naked,” Khol protested.

My voice went up an octave. “That’s different. You’re a guy—you don’t understand. Just turn around.” He grumbled under his breath but did what I asked of him. As soon as I double-checked to make sure he wasn’t peaking, I slipped out of my jeans and sweater and into the crimson dream. I realized that it wasn’t the type of dress that I could wear a bra with, or my normal boy cut panties, so I made quick work of removing those garments as well. If the skirt on the dress hadn’t have been so long and flowy I might have felt odd, but in the dress with nothing underneath I felt like some siren from the 40s or 50s. All I needed was one of those long cigarette holders . . . or was that the 20s?

“You look absolutely stunning,” Khol’s voice was warm and seductive. I couldn’t even be bothered by the fact that I hadn’t told him he could turn around yet.

I walked over to the bed to open what I was already sure were a matching pair of shoes, and I wasn’t disappointed. They were a low-heeled set of elegant slippers that actually appeared to exude comfort. I slipped them on and turned to deliver Khol a dazzling smile. “Thank you. It’s all so amazing.” Nothing like a little retail pick-me-up to brighten a girl’s mood.

Khol came to me in a blur of speed, wrapping his arms around me and tipping my face up toward his. “Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.” He brushed his lips against mine at first softly before he deepened our kiss, and I was suddenly
very
aware that I had nothing on underneath my dress.

“You’re just lucky I didn’t do her make-up yet,” Jenna’s petulant voice cut into my Khol induced fog.

He reluctantly pulled away from me, but his heated gaze caused me to flush under its intensity. “I’ll leave the two of you, for now. Call for me when you’re ready.” The question was would I ever be ready? For Khol that is? I was so out of my league with him, and he was playing by a set of rules that I’d barely been introduced to.

“Wow,” Jenna said as she surveyed my new look, compliments of Khol. “Who would have thought any straight man could dress a woman so well.” She nodded her head in approval. “The man knows what he’s doing.” A wicked grin spread across her face. “In more ways than one.”

“Shut up and finish helping me get ready. I don’t need your running commentary,” I said with a small smile threatening to outbreak on my face, I was feeling more than giddy. Khol had really stepped up his game lately, in and out of the bedroom. I went to stand in front of the bathroom mirror again and was surprised by the image that was reflected back at me. I hardly recognized myself. The red of the dress combined with my white hair, and large dragon pendant, made me look completely non-human, but then again I guess I wasn’t . . . human that is. My hair had mostly grown out of the long angled bob it had been cut into and it hung in loose curls just past my shoulders. The gold of my eyes picked up the red of my dress and made them seem more of an amber shade. I would definitely be believable as a dragon Queen if I did say so myself, and the new look was even starting to grow on me . . . a little.

“That’s one hell of a rock. I’m guessing it’s real?” Jenna eyed the ruby centerpiece of my dragon pendant. “Does it mean something special? I mean is it like royal jewelry or something?”

I ran my hand over the necklace idly as Jenna began applying my make-up. “No, it’s just a gift from Khol. But I do think it’s appropriate, with the dragon and all.”

“
Just
a gift.” She snorted. “I wish someone would give me something like that. But yeah, it seems to fit you perfectly.”

Her words suddenly made me want to tear the pendant from my neck. Everything about it seemed to declare me changed and different, because the fact that it fit me perfectly now . . . well I knew something like it would never have been me before. I inhaled and exhaled a few times to keep me from doing something stupid.
I was different
. No point in trying to deny that anymore, it was time I just accepted that fact and stopped fighting it. “You almost done?” I asked, fidgeting impatiently.

“Almost, now keep still before I poke you in the eye or something.”

After a few more applications of this and that, Jenna announced my transformation complete. As I stood I caught the hem of my dress on the heel of my shoe and to keep myself from falling, I grabbed Jenna’s wrist . . . and was rewarded with being thrown into another vision.

“Hey Khol,” Jenna said as she sashayed through the open door of his bedroom. In the back of my mind I noted that Jenna’s hair was rainbow colored, so this had to be another vision from the past. And from the look of Khol’s bedroom, it seemed like this vision took place when we had been in the dragon realm in Khol’s lair.

“What is it that you require, little Speaker?” Khol didn’t even turn to look at her as she walked further into the room.

“Well, it’s not really just what I require, but maybe what you require too.” She ran her fingertips down his back and around him, then down his chest when she came to stand in front of him. There was no question what she wanted. She stood on her tiptoes and attempted to wrap her arms around his neck, but Khol was too tall for her, so she settled her hands back on his chest. “So what do you say?” She batted her eyelashes up at him and smiled.

“I’m in love with another, which you already know.” Khol locked her wrists in his hands and took a step back from her.

Jenna rolled her eyes. “Who is currently doing the nasty with her new mate, and that isn’t you in case you haven’t noticed.” She wriggled one hand free from him and ran it down his front. “I just thought I could comfort you is all.”

A low growl escaped from Khol’s throat. “I will never seek comfort from you.”

Jenna frowned and dropped her hand away from him. “It’s not like she’s going to care. She’s with Bryn. She loves Bryn. In fact, she tried to off herself after you were with her. I’m thinking that pretty much means you don’t have a shot in hell with her.”