Hidden Gates

by D T Dyllin

  His fingers bit into my arms, and I wriggled against him. “I don’t understand.” My face furrowed with uncertainty, was I dead or not? Because angry Bryn wasn’t one I wanted in my own personal heaven. Maybe I should clarify. “I did it for you. Everything was for you.”

  “You tried to end your life for me? Why? Why would you think that’s something I could live with?” Bryn growled.

  Not dead then. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see his anger anymore. “I had to free you. I wasn’t going to get you either way, so I at least wanted you to get a chance at happiness. Once I was dead, you would have been free to love someone else, bond with someone else.”

  Bryn shook me, causing my eyes to snap back open. “When did you get to be so stupid? Dead or alive, I’m never going to love anyone else.” He continued shaking me until I felt sure my teeth were going to fall out, then he lifted me up and wrapped his arms around me. “Oh God, Peej, I’ll never be able to erase that image from my mind—I thought you were dead.”

  “How am I not?” I whispered into his chest. “And where is Khol? Why is he letting us be together now?” My throat constricted with panic. If I wasn’t dead, then that meant I was bonded with Khol. No, no, no, no, no.

  “He healed you. He was releasing me when he felt something was wrong with you, and he brought me with him since he was touching me and he was in a panic.”

  I stiffened and pulled far enough back from Bryn to look up at him. “So, I’m still bonded with him?” I’d tried to kill myself all for nothing. I tore my body away from Bryn’s grasp and stared down at my completely unmarred wrists. Something in me snapped, or maybe it had snapped a long time ago, and I’d never been the same. I started clawing at my wrists as I cried out in frustration. “You should have let me die!” I screeched hysterically.

  “Stop,” Bryn commanded as he grabbed my hands to keep me from hurting myself. “You’re not bonded with him anymore. You were dead for a second, or near death—I don’t really know which. But your soul left your body, breaking the Anam Cara magic. You’re not bonded with either of us.”

  I met his gaze with hope. “So we can be together? Me and you, like it’s supposed to be?” If he still wanted me after what I’d done—and I wasn’t talking about the attempted suicide, I was talking about letting Khol claim me. I’d been with someone else besides him. Maybe he wouldn’t want me anymore. “Unless . . . unless you don’t want me anymore,” I added with a shaky voice.

  Bryn looked at me like I’d sprouted two heads. “Maybe you have lost it if you think that. Why would you think that?”

  “Because I was with him—I let him—oh God—” I crumpled to the ground, unable to stop the sobs from wracking my body.

  Bryn took me in his arms, enveloping me with his warmth. “That doesn’t matter. I’ll always love you no matter what happens. You didn’t betray me on purpose. I know you never would.”

  “But I enjoyed it. It felt good,” I croaked into his chest.

  “I don’t get it. Are you trying to talk me out of wanting to be with you?”

  “You have the right to know. You need to know that you deserve someone better than a slut like me.”

  “What?” He pulled me back to look in my eyes with an incredulous expression. “You think that makes you a slut? Peej—don’t you know that I could never want anyone but you? I love you unconditionally. Always.”

  Bryn’s lips came crashing down on mine, and his tongue swept into my mouth with a mixture of his taste, and salt from my tears. My hands tangled in his hair as I struggled to get closer to him. Home, he was my home. His hands ran over my body as if he was checking to make sure I was real before his motions changed into something with more intent. I wrapped myself around him, needing to feel his skin under my hands, needing to absorb the taste of him on my tongue. I hadn’t really thought about what I was wearing, but when the cool air touched my heated skin as Bryn parted the front of my soft and fuzzy robe, I shuddered as goose bumps erupted all over me.

  “Is it too soon? Do you want this?” Bryn paused before going any farther, hesitation evident in his voice and body language.

  “Yes,” I rasped as I pushed my bare skin up against his hands. “I need this—with you.” What I left unsaid hung in the air between us. I needed Bryn, to have his touch wipe away the shameful feelings Khol’s had left behind.

  My words set Bryn’s lips and hands into motion again, and I moaned with satisfaction. “I’ll never let anyone else touch you again, I promise. You’re mine.” Bryn’s vow seemed to wrap around me with his power in a cool caress, claiming what rightfully belonged to him. And then he made love to me, softly and slowly at first, and then faster as we were both swept away in our passions.

  I scored my nails down his back and cried out his name before a feeling of ultimate possessiveness washed over me. I looked up at him, capturing in my sights his cerulean eyes that were currently glowing an electric blue, and made my claim. “You’re my Anam Cara. No one will ever tear me away from you again.” I knew it was the Dragon part of me jockeying for control, but I didn’t care because all of me wanted him, and all of me would have him.

  “Yes,” Bryn rumbled as his pupils dilated, and he bowed his head to claim my lips again. Our powers rose up and twined around each other, becoming one. It’s perfect, all so perfect, I thought as Bryn and I cried out our releases together and collapsed into each other’s arms. We were one, as we were always meant to be, and nothing short of death could change that.

  Bryn cradled me to his chest as he wrapped one arm around my waist while the other smoothed my hair back from my sweaty face. I had so many questions floating around in my head now that we were done getting reacquainted. Like where was Khol now, and why had he let Bryn claim me for his Anam Cara after all? Where were we for that matter? “Why did he let this happen now? After he fought so hard to have me himself?” I mused out loud.

  “Maybe it would be better if I answered that for myself,” Khol said with a sharp edge to his voice. I would think later about the fact that he still seemed to be able to read my mind somehow.

  I rose quickly, refastening my robe, and Bryn wrapped his arms around my waist so I could face Khol with him at my back. “What are you doing here?” I asked nervously.

  A bitter smile turned his lips up ever so slightly. “This is my land. I am free to go wherever I wish on my property.”

  “Why? Tell me why you let him claim me?” I figured it was time to cut right to the chase.

  “I miscalculated how human your emotions are. I never thought you’d do”—he closed his eyes for a moment before looking at me again, his eyes dropping to my wrists—“what you did. And when you did, I realized I would never be able to have you for my own.” The rest passed from him to me silently. It didn’t need to be said out loud. In his way, he’d done exactly what I’d done for Bryn. He’d sacrificed himself for the happiness of the one he loved—me. My heart broke just a little for him.

  “Thank you,” I murmured, not knowing what else to say.

  “I will protect you. You will stay here as planned, out of reach of the aliens.”

  “And Bryn?”

  “He is your Anam Cara now. I can’t expect you to stay and for him to not. We must regroup and gather our strength so that we can make our move against those creatures soon. The time for action is nearing. We can no longer wait on the sidelines.” He turned as if to go and then looked back at me with sorrow in his glowing eyes. “I never meant—I never thought—please forgive me.” His voice cracked, revealing some of the pain he was feeling about what I had tried to do.

  “I forgive you.” And I did. I wasn’t sorry that I’d done what I’d done. It had led me back to Bryn after all, but I wasn’t going to hold a grudge against Khol. Maybe he was too Dragon to fully understand what he was doing before, but at least he had righted the wrong.
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  “Thank you,” he whispered just before he disappeared.

  “Well, I don’t forgive him,” Bryn muttered under his breath.

  “Bryn,” I chastised, swatting him with my hand playfully. “He’s not human.”

  “Yeah, and neither are we apparently.” Bryn’s face settled into hard planes as he no doubt thought of the betrayal from his parents that represented.

  “At least we have each other, for real now.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and stood on my tiptoes so I could reach his lips with mine.

  Bryn scooped me up and settled on the ground with me in his lap. “This is all just a little surreal. I didn’t even know Dragons existed.”

  “Yeah, me neither,” I rasped against the skin of his neck as I darted my tongue out to taste him. Would I ever get enough of him? My whole body seemed to buzz in anticipation of his touch. I nibbled on his ear next, causing Bryn to fist my hair to hold me close.

  “Oh God, Peej. Is it just my imagination or does everything feel better than before? Because I didn’t think that was possible.”

  I had moved so that I was now straddling him, my ankles locked behind his back. “Khol said Dragons are insatiable, especially the females. He said we haven’t even begun to experience the full scope of what it means to be Dragon yet, and now we’re Anam Caras.” I slid my hands over the hard expanse of his back. “And because we’re Anam Caras.” I nipped at his bottom lip, and his large hands dropped from my hair to cradle my bottom. “You’re the only one who can give me what I need.”

  Bryn chuckled low in his chest. “I swear I’ve had dreams about you that began like this.”

  I stopped kissing him and raised my eyebrows. “Oh yeah, and how’d those dreams end up?”

  He chuckled again, tugging at my robe. “I’m a guy, how do you think they ended up?”

  It was my turn to laugh. “That’s what I thought.” I sobered as I studied his beautiful face, a face I’d known practically all of my life, and now a face I would know intimately for the rest of it. “I love you more than I can ever explain to you.” My words were similar to ones Bryn had said to me the first night we had ever been together. “I would die for you.”

  I felt rather than heard a low growl erupt from his chest. “You almost did.” He laid me back down on the pallet, and pulled my robe wide open to expose my naked skin to the warm afternoon, and yet I still shivered under his rapt gaze. “How the hell did I get to be so lucky?”

  Warm liquid heat pooled in my middle, and despite having just been with him, it felt like it’d been an eternity since I’d felt his intimate touch. I met his illuminated cerulean eyes, which were still a slight shock to see, and reached out to him. “I need you,” I rasped low. And he welcomed the invitation that my arms offered, staying in my embrace for the rest of the afternoon until the sun began to dip low behind the horizon.

  “P.J.!” I heard Jenna yell excitedly, setting me in frenzied motion to cover Bryn and myself up. I so didn’t want her to get a look at Bryn’s goodies. They were for my eyes only.

  “No. Not yet. I don’t wanna deal with her yet.” Bryn’s grip around my waist tightened as he sleepily protested Jenna’s arrival. “Let’s pretend she’s not here, and maybe she’ll just go away.” I harrumphed, knowing that wasn’t likely to happen.

  I stood in time to see Jenna and Jeremy running towards me. Bryn remained where he was, but with his hands propped under his head. He looked so relaxed and snuggly that I pouted at him, wishing I could just ignore Jenna and remain with him just awhile longer.

  Jenna jumped up and threw her arms around me in a much too tight bear hug. “Oh my God! I was so worried! Macon told us what happened!” Her eyes flicked down to Bryn, and she tackled him next. “Bryn! I missed you!” A low growl rang out around us, and Jenna paused to look at me with horror. “Was that you, P.J.?”

  “Just don’t touch him right now, okay?” I didn’t know why I was feeling so possessive and jealous. It really wasn’t like me, and I knew Jenna didn’t mean anything by what she’d just done. Maybe it was the Anam Cara thing, or maybe it was my Dragon side, or a combination of the two; but regardless, Bryn and I were going to have to find out what else being Dragon mates was going to mean for us.

  Jenna stood and raised her hands into the air in mock surrender. “Touchy, touchy.”

  “So you’re Bryn,” Jeremy said with an undercurrent of hostility that made me grimace. Bryn didn’t know yet that I’d been hanging out with him, or that he’d kissed me. Maybe he wouldn’t care now that we were mated—yeah, right. He’d probably want to beat Jeremy into a bloody pulp. How could I forget how he’d reacted when Jeremy and I had our first date? He was crazy with jealousy when I’d gone to see Jeremy that night, and he had barely begun to come into his Dragon powers. Or maybe his Dragon side is what drove him to be so jealous in the first place? I hadn’t thought about that before.

  Bryn stood abruptly, gaze locked onto Jeremy, his nostrils flaring as his eyes lit up again. The blanket that I had thrown over his middle to cover him up fell to the ground as he pulled on his pants.

  “Damn,” Jenna breathed as her eyes focused on Bryn’s nether region. “No wonder you’re in love with him. What, Khol didn’t stack up? And he’s part Dragon? You are so lucky.”

  I elbowed her in the side, causing her to grunt. “Keep your eyes to yourself. He’s mine,” I hissed. Yeah, I really had to get my jealously under control or we’d never be able to go into public again. And the problem with that is? A small voice inside me whispered.

  “Yeah. I am Bryn. Who are you?” Bryn’s menacing voice brought me back to the bigger problem at hand.

  “Jeremy.”

  Bryn’s gaze snapped to meet mine. “What the hell is he doing here?”

  “I came to help protect P.J. We’ve gotten pretty close since you’ve been gone. Or hasn’t she told you?” Jeremy said with a smile.

  “She’s mine,” Bryn growled, and I stepped into his side, placing my hands on him. I could sense his Dragon moving closer to the surface, and I wasn’t going to let him do something he’d regret, like kill Jeremy. Although with the current look on his face, I wasn’t so sure he would ever come to regret it. Geez—Bryn and I both had gone our entire lives without knowing Dragons existed, let alone that we were half-bloods, and now we were both acting more Dragon than human. What was going on?

  “Bryn,” I whispered as I grabbed him by the side of his face and tugged him down so I could capture his mouth with mine. I pushed my tongue forcefully past his full lips, and it only took him a second to respond by pulling me into his body and fisting my hair. I couldn’t help the moan that escaped from me as he tugged my neck back by my hair so his mouth could latch onto my throat. He nipped lightly as if to leave his mark, then he lifted me up so I could wrap my legs around his waist. His lips reclaimed mine ferociously. I forgot where we were and who we were with as I let my fresh lust for Bryn consume me completely.

  I suddenly found myself back on the pallet with Bryn’s body weight pinning me down. I spread my legs for him so he could settle into the cradle of my body I offered. He ground himself against my hot core, jean against bare skin, and I moaned at the delicious friction.

  “Ahem,” Jenna said demonstratively. “Don’t mind us or anything.”

  Bryn and I both froze, our heads snapping in the direction of Jenna’s voice. “Shit. I forgot they were here. How could I forget they were here?” Bryn’s face flushed with embarrassment as he sat up slowly, carefully making sure everything of ours that should be covered actually was.

  “You guys look seriously freaky with those glowing eyes,” Jenna laughed.

  I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. If Jenna hadn’t said something, would Bryn and I have gotten down to business right in front of them? Well, not that they would have stuck around—hopeful
ly—but if they would have, for the sake of argument, would we have? My face heated as I realized the answer. “I-I’m so s-sorry,” I stammered, unable to meet Jenna or Jeremy’s eyes. “I just meant to distract him, and then—well, I guess we got a little carried away.”

  “Well, you definitely distracted everyone,” Jeremy muttered bitterly.

  “No one asked you,” Bryn growled.

  I placed my hand on his arm and met his eyes. “Bryn. I’m yours. Stop.”

  He shook his head as if trying to dislodge some random thought. “Yeah, I know, it’s just I feel so possessive. I don’t know what’s going on with me.”

  “You’re newly bonded Anam Caras,” Macon, who appeared from nowhere causing Jenna’s face to light up, stated dryly. As if that explained everything.

  I raised my eyebrows questioningly at him. “And that’s supposed to mean something to us?”

  Macon shrugged. “Newly bonded Anam Caras act as if crazed for each other. But don’t worry, it doesn’t last forever, just a couple of decades.”

  My jaw dropped. “A couple of decades?” I squeaked with alarm. “So what you’re saying is we shouldn’t be allowed in public for a couple of decades, and then what? Do the feelings just go away?” The feelings of jealous possession could go away yesterday as far as I was concerned, but a little pang of sadness swept through me at the thought of losing some of the intensity between Bryn and me.

  “No, from what I understand, the feelings never go away. You’ll just get better at controlling them,” Macon said with an amused smile. Maybe he could read what I was thinking from my face.

  “Oh.” I slipped my hand into Bryn’s large warm one. I sighed in contentment as my body hummed in pleasure at the mere touch of him. It felt like we were completing a circuit.