The P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy (#1-3) (87 page)

Afterwards Khol rolled off of me and tucked me into his side. Suddenly completely exhausted I cuddled into his chest and wrapped my arm around his waist as his arm came to hang loosely around my hip. Khol’s heart thrummed under my ear, and I inhaled his scent that was stronger from his recent exertion. Neither one of us said anything. There was no need for words at the moment, what we’d needed to say to each other had been fully expressed with our bodies, each word communicated artfully with the touch of our fingertips and the slide of our skin against one another’s—so for the moment—we were all talked out.

Sometime during my fitful sleep, Khol had come to cuddle up behind me, acting as the big spoon to my little one. His large body held me in a cocoon of warmth, with one of his arms draped possessively over my stomach, and one of his legs thrown over mine. His face was pressed up against the back of my neck, and as I stirred, he nipped at the spot where I was sure I wore his
Anam Cara
mark.

“How long have you been awake?” I asked blinking blurry eyes into the dim lighting.

He moved his hand over my stomach and splayed his fingers out over my ever-growing baby bump. “I want him to be mine.” Khol murmured with a wistful tone to his voice.

I disentangled my legs from Khol’s and rolled onto my back. He settled himself on his elbow so that he was looking down at me, as his other hand came to rest on my belly once more. “You’ll be his father regardless of the genetics. So he’ll be yours, just like I am.” I smiled up at him.

Khol studied me with tenderness in his face, and contentment in his eyes. “I knew you were meant to be mine from the moment I awakened from my sleep and saw you. Although you put my patience to the test.”

My smile widened. “I had to test you to make absolutely sure before I just gave myself to you.”

Khol brushed his lips against mine and murmured against them. “And to have you be absolutely sure made it almost worth the wait.”

All uncertainty about being with Khol had been completely washed away. It felt like my heart had been healed, and although I missed Bryn, just like I was sure that I always would, I no longer felt the agony of his loss deep inside my soul. Maybe Khol had been right about the
Anam Cara
bond’s magic helping me to move on. Or maybe when I’d made my choice something inside of me had finally accepted Khol into my heart completely, and his love for me served as the glue to put it back together. I reached up and intertwined my fingers in Khol’s loose auburn hair. “Spend the day with me—in bed—naked—so that I can start making up to you for all the time I wasted making you wait while I made up my mind.”

A growl rumbled in Khol’s chest that I felt more than heard his answer as his hands slid down my body with intent. His voice came out low, raspy and barely human. “You are well and truly
my
little Queen now, and I intend to make sure that you and everyone else is well aware of that fact.”

“And how are you going to do that?” I practically purred as I arched up to give him better access to my exposed skin.

He licked and nibbled in an extremely sensitive area causing me to moan his name. “Just like that, although I intend to make you scream my name so loud that no one will doubt ever again who you belong to.”

“Aren’t you being a little full of yourself? I mean … scream … really?” I knew he’d figure out exactly what I was doing. I wanted him to make me scream. I was burning with the heightened lust of being a newly bonded
Anam Cara
, and I was goading him on.

Khol chuckled as he set to work and I arched up with a scream already on my lips. Oh yes, I had a feeling that anyone in a five mile radius, if not farther, would know exactly who owned me in and out of the bedroom … Lord Kholkikos, ruler of the
Rua Arach
, and
mo Anam Cara
.”

“No, I’m not ready yet.” I grumbled as Khol tugged the sheet off me. I reached blindly for him, the fatigue of our day in bed together still weighing heavily on me.

Khol’s heated chest pressed up against my back and I shivered as he whispered in my ear. “We can at least shower together, my little Queen.” He ran his fingertips down my spine lightly. “Because as much as I wish I could stay in bed with you indefinitely, we still have a world to save—Riders to banish.”

I blinked my eyes open and stared up into Khol’s burning ones. I smiled at him. “Well, why didn’t you say we’d be taking a shower … together?” I bit my lower lip and let my eyes slide down his magnificently naked body as I imagined it wet and slick from the shower as he—

Khol laughed as he scooped me up in his arms. “Female dragons, completely insatiable.”

“Like I hear you complaining.” I replied as I nuzzled my face into his neck and inhaled. His scent had changed slightly to me somehow, it was stronger, fresher … and it was home. I’d always thought that about Bryn, but since bonding with Khol as his
Anam Cara
I was beginning to think that my dragon senses combined with Bryn and my fledgling bond was what was responsible for me feeling that way. There was so much about being a dragon that I still didn’t understand, but I was sure that Khol would be a very willing teacher to make sure I understood everything about my race.

Khol and I took a longer shower than necessary, for obvious reasons, and when we were finally dried off I was very pruney, but I couldn’t be bothered to care. I wanted more Khol … more of his kisses, more of his touches; more of his scent intermingled with mine … just more. He’d been right from the beginning. When I came to crave more he would be the only one who could give me what I truly needed.

As he got dressed I stood behind him and ran my hands wantonly over the expanse of his rock hard chest and abs. I idly wondered what he would say if I asked to eat ice cream off of his mouth wateringly perfectly sculpted six-pack. My mind conjured up an image of me doing just that, but uh-oh the ice cream was melting, and some of it had dripped … down, down, down his body … and I wouldn’t want him to get all sticky. It was probably a good idea if I licked up every last drop, even if it took me hours.

“My little Queen,” Khol hissed as if in pain. “Our bond is even deeper now that we’re
Anam Caras
—I can almost pick the images out of you mind.” He whirled around and pushed me up against the wall, capturing my wrists with his hands and pushing them over my head. “Please—” His voice broke off as I stared up into his eyes and kept on imagining what I had been thinking of doing to him.

I quirked an eyebrow at him playfully. “Please what? Stop … or do it for real?”

“We must—”

“We must what?” I asked cutting him off. “I’m just thinking about how delicious you’d be with a side of ice cream.” I licked my lips provocatively. “Or without.” I slipped out of Khol’s hold as he groaned and I managed to reverse our positions with him ending up leaning against the wall. I dropped down to my knees and undid the pants that he’d just put on. I gazed up the line of his body to meet his blazing eyes as I began to kiss him intimately. I felt so confident and powerful as his fingers delved into my hair with abandon. Even though I was on my knees before him, there was no doubt in my mind that I was the one in complete control as I demanded pleasure from him with my mouth. Yep … Khol had most definitely created a monster. Lucky for him I was in fact his monster.

Khol had finally managed to get me dressed and out of his room, although I was currently pouting like a thirteen-year-old boy being denied his gaming system. “I only wanted like five more minutes alone with you.” I grumbled as Khol led me by my hand to one of the common rooms.

I could hear the smile in his voice even though I couldn’t see his face since he was in front of me, which was fine with me by the way, because the man had one fine behind. “You’ve been saying that for the past five hours.” But Khol wasn’t really complaining. I’d never seen him so happy before. He was exuding some kind of content aura I could practically see, and I was quite satisfied myself, not just physically, but emotionally. I liked feeling so close to Khol, so … intimate. Although I wished I had a much better word to describe what was happening between us.

He tugged me forward and into his side, so that as we entered the room I was held snuggly against him. I wrapped my arms around his middle and leaned into him, happy to let him hold me any way he wanted, as long as he held me. My skin felt bereft and incomplete when not in contact with his, and it was positively alive with energy just being able to touch him.

As Khol took a seat and situated me in his lap, I looked around the room to see that we were the last ones to arrive in our little group. Jenna sat with Jeremy, the two of them smiling and whispering to each other. Morag sat across the room with Macon, although Macon was ignoring her and glaring at Jenna and Jeremy. In that tiny room were all the faces in the world that I totally trusted, I realized. There was no one else left. They were my inner sanctum, or my closest advisors, whatever you wanted to call them, but above all they were my friends and I knew they had my back.

“Ahem.” Khol cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“I see you guys finally came up for some air.” Jenna winked and then smirked at me. She then got up and rushed over to basically accost me. I’m not really sure how I ended up bent forward at an odd angle with my hair flung in my face so she could see the back of my neck. “Niiice.”

“Hey,” I grated as I sat up and waved my hands behind me to get her to give me some space. “You could have just asked to see it. No need to get all shovey.”

“Sorry.” Jenna said cheerily. Sounding anything but sorry. “I just wanted to see what it looked like. I mean it’s red like I knew it would be, but I wanted to see what shape it would be in. Yours and Bryn’s were different but I didn’t know if that was a Black and Red Dragon thing or if—”

“Okay, I get.” I settled myself back into Khol’s lap comfortably, who was now running his fingers over the back of my neck. Of course when he touched my
Anam Cara
mark I shivered with delight. “Now you’ve seen it. Back off.”

Jenna rolled her eyes as I leaned more into Khol’s touch. If I was a cat I’d be purring. “Am I going to have to separate you two with a crowbar or something? Seriously … ” She grinned then. “You know, Khol’s mark almost looks like a
K
. A very loose interpretation of a
K
, but—”

I groaned and looked up into Khol’s amused dragon green eyes. “See I told you that I wouldn’t be the only one to think that. It looks like you branded me or something.” I pouted although at the same time what was really bothering me was that my mark on Khol wasn’t a big P. In fact I wouldn’t have minded if it said
P.J.’s Property
right across the back of his neck in glowing letters.

“I rather like it.” Khol said as he leaned forward and nipped at the mark causing goose bumps to erupt all over my skin.

“Of course you do.” I complained. “How would you feel if you had a big old
P
on your neck?”

“I’d wear it with pride because no matter the shape of your
Anam Cara
mark on me it doesn’t matter as long as it’s there.” Khol’s tongue snaked out and traced the shape of the design, my gut suddenly clenched with need.