“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!”