Let There Be Dragons (The Children of Ankh Book 3)

by Kim Cormack

  Frost’s silhouette in the moonlight spoke to her, “Aren’t you hungry?”

  She was starving. Kayn replied, “I’m famished.” She snapped out of her inner dialogue and followed him towards the flickering flames of the campfire. They made their way out of the bushes to the sight of the rest of them enjoying some well-deserved down time. Frost strolled over and handed one of his sharpened sticks to Lily. She grinned, thanked him and moved over to give him a place to sit beside her on the log.

  They sat around the campfire for a while talking about the weeks ahead. She devoured the best hot dog she’d ever eaten by the gentle warmth of the flickering flames. Everything within her was calm. This was her new life and these people would be her family for countless years to come. Having lost her mortal family, she found peace in the fact that they would always be together, for they could never die. Kayn tried to lean the stick she’d used to cook her wiener against the log she was sitting on and it fell into the dirt. Damn it. She wasn’t finished eating. When Kayn reached for it, her stomach cramped. Crap. Here we go again. All of the symbols on their palms lit up and flashed once. She was instantly on her feet and ready to go.

  Frost chuckled and teased, “Hey killer, sit back down. In this situation, there’s no need for us to move a muscle unless all of them go down. That just means somebody’s been wounded. Six of them are still standing.”

  Her heart constricted in her chest and the sonata of the night that she’d thought glorious only moments before now had ominous lyrics prodding her to kill something. Their palms flashed once again in unison. Kayn’s adrenaline began to surge. She couldn’t ignore this feeling. She wasn’t capable of it. Lexy was grinning at her. She could tell by the look in Lexy’s eyes that she was feeling the same thing. Grey signaled to Zach and the Handlers both shifted positions to sit within arm’s reach of their Dragons. Their palms flashed again.

  Zach grabbed her arm and in a soothing tone he whispered, “There’s still three of them left standing. It’s not time yet.”

  The urge to fight was overwhelming. Surges of adrenaline pulsed through her as her palm flashed for the fourth time. She scowled as Zach tightened his grip on her arm and calmly affirmed, “Not yet. It’s not time yet.” Her brain began to hum and the discomfort gradually increased with each second she ignored what her instincts were screaming for her to do. There was a burst of incapacitating pain. Kayn was certain her mind was about to explode as she clutched either side of her head and cried out in agony. It was her duty to protect her clan. Dragons were the first line of defence. She couldn’t take it anymore. Their palms lit up once again and this time everyone stood up and Zach released his grip on her arm and nodded. Her headache ceased and in the absence of his touch she felt a hollow sensation flow through her being silencing all sense of reason and then there was nothing but the overwhelming drive to find the wounded Ankh. Both Dragons sprinted away from the group.

  Lily hollered, “Now! Stop her!”

  Kayn was aware of the pounding of her heart and the blood racing through her veins. She could hear footsteps beside her and knew it was Lexy without looking. They kept pace with each other their feet pounding a steady rhythm in the moist earth. There were footsteps behind her. Kayn didn’t care who that was, they were inconsequential. She darted through the trails with the agility of a predator in pursuit of its prey. There was a blinding fury growing inside of her with each thud her feet made in the dirt. Violent images began to flash through her mind, fanning the flames of rage within her being. Zach’s voice began calling her name, this registered. She had a job to do. Nothing else mattered. Kayn could feel her distressed Ankh. They were close. She was almost there. Kayn sprinted towards where every cell in her body told her they would be and came upon them standing there as a group completely unharmed. What? No… She spun around in search of what had hurt them. There was nothing. An explosion of intense excruciating pain caused her to double over clutching either side of her head. Her heart began to race. She couldn’t catch her breath. She couldn’t think straight. Her pulse raced as the unreleased fury pulsed through her being. She spun around again in search of Lexy. Grey had her. What was this? She whirled around again, her mind reeling.

  Zach spoke softly, “Kayn. You need to come back to me now. This was just a test. Nobody’s been hurt. It was just a test.”

  She couldn’t. She didn’t want to. Her chest felt like it was on fire. The headache was excruciating. The unspent energy felt like it was devouring her from the inside out. She grabbed her temples and began shrieking as she dropped to all fours in the dirt. Zach edged closer to where she was doubled over in agony.

  He spoke softly, “I’m sorry I’m such a lousy Handler. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing. We’ll figure this stuff out together. When my abilities kick in, you can help me. You know how much I care about you, don’t you? You have to know that by now.” She stopped pressing on her temples, looked up at him. He inched a little bit closer and held out his hand. This was the moment it all made sense. His hand was her lifeline. Zach could save her from the rage that was consuming her. Kayn took his outstretched hand. Her headache ceased on contact with his skin, her pulse stopped racing and she felt peace. Zach guided her onto his lap and began to gently stroke her hair. Her heart stopped pounding and the fire within her ceased to be an inferno. Kayn closed her eyes, for only a moment.

  She woke up in the motorhome on her bunk with Zach still stroking her hair. For a second she was confused but then she remembered.

  He whispered, “Don’t be angry. We needed to bring you back, set you off and bring you back again, under controlled circumstances. Markus wanted to see if I could bring you back before they sent us on a job alone.”

  Kayn felt empty, completely and totally numb inside. Zach stayed with her for a while. She understood why they did it but it didn’t help the hollow feeling that submerged her soul in icy nothingness.

  Zach kissed the side of her head and tried to explain, “They cut themselves to trigger you and test your ability. It had to be done before they could send us out on a job. I’ll be back in two seconds. Frost got you something.”

  She stayed there, unmoving and emotionless until Zach returned with something covered by a dishtowel.

  “Melody, turn off the lights,” he requested.

  The lights in the motorhome went out and there was complete darkness. Something was glowing under the dishtowel. Zach yanked it off and inside of the jar was a couple of fireflies.

  She felt her emotions spring back to life. The moisture from her tears blurred her vision and she took a deep shuddering breath as she whispered, “Let’s go outside and set them free.” She could see Zach’s smile by the light of the fireflies as she followed him to the door and then down the steps to where everyone else was sitting with their sticks dangling over the fire. Her Handler took off the lid and released the fireflies into the night. Kayn wasn’t watching the fireflies though, she was staring into Frost’s eyes through the flickering flames of the fire. He’d done this. She knew it was him. Kayn walked over, bent down and kissed his cheek. He was a little bit shocked that she’d done it in front of everyone. She grabbed a stick, placed a wiener on the end of it and went to go sit down beside Zach, across the fire from Frost.

  The old version of Kayn never wanted to burn her hotdog. The new version dangled her stick directly into the flames and watched it scorch until it was blackened in various places. Zach was sitting right beside her, cooking his wiener over the embers. She took hers out, blew on it and tried to remove it with her fingers but it was still far too hot to touch. Lily handed her a napkin and she used it to shield her finger tips from the heat.

  Orin shouted, “Heads up!” A bun came soaring through the air in her direction.

  She caught it in midair, feeling quite proud of herself because cool moves were few and far between in her world. Too bad he hadn’t thrown the squeeze bottle of mustard too. A second later the mustard bottle came flying at her. This ti
me without warning. Kayn caught it a second before it smoked her. She sat there staring at it for a second, truly amazed it hadn’t hit her in the face. She held it up and stated, “How did I catch this? I wasn’t even looking.”

  Markus chimed in, “It’s heightened sensory awareness. You will find that your eye sight is better. Your sense of hearing is amazing but it’s about so much more than that. You guys already know we can sense danger coming. You’ll often have an upset stomach and know it’s something more. See, we’re using a larger portion of our brains. Well, some of us use a larger portion.” Markus winked at Frost and added, “You’ll find it handy to be able to hear each other’s thoughts, when you’re on a job. Most of the time it takes both parties being receptive to non-verbal communication. Only Oracles can hear your thoughts even when you don’t want them to be heard. We’ll teach you how to close your thoughts off, when you want them to be private. Can you imagine the drama we’d have around here if everyone heard everything you thought?”

  Kayn knew she was easy to read. She’d had quite a few responses to her inner commentary over the years. Sometimes she heard random thoughts, but not often. She’d heard Kevin’s thoughts a few times, shortly after they’d first come in contact with the Ankh. She didn’t hear Frost’s thoughts but she knew he’d heard hers at least a few times.

  She heard Frost’s voice in her head, “That’s because you have endless inner commentary.” She slowly drew her eyes up to meet his. Shit. He started to laugh. She shook her head and tried speaking back to him using only her mind. Even the naughty thoughts? I’ve been thinking about that incident in the bathroom for days.

  Frost began to choke on his hotdog.

  Lily started smacking Frost on the back. She laughed, “Are you alright?”

  He nodded as he replied, “Thanks, I must have inhaled that last bite of my hotdog.”

  Kayn bit her lip. Now, that she was consciously trying not to think naughty thoughts about him it was all her mind wanted to do. She could still feel his hands on her hips… Stop it. Stop thinking about it. She felt someone staring at her. It was Zach.

  “I say just go for it. Live a little,” he said.

  Kayn whispered back, “You heard what I was thinking?”

  Zach chuckled as he draped his arm over her shoulder and teased, “I didn’t need to. Some things are just painfully obvious.”

  Was it really that obvious? She glanced at Frost and he was grinning and shaking his head while staring into the flickering flames of the fire.

  Markus announced, “Get some sleep. There’s a long drive ahead of us.” He stood up and Jenna, Orin, Arrianna and Lily followed him into the second RV. It felt strange to have both groups travelling together. They usually split up, didn’t they? Melody was still sitting with Zach, Grey, Lexy, Haley and Astrid.

  Frost disappeared. Was he inside the motorhome…alone? A part of her wanted to go back to bed but a much larger part wanted to find an excuse to be alone with Frost. Kayn stood up and announced, “Well, I’m going to bed. Goodnight guys.” She climbed the steps. She heard Zach say, “Sweet Dreams.” She paused and everyone started to laugh. They totally knew she was following Frost. She didn’t have to be stalking him. Maybe, she was just tired? They didn’t know. Kayn grinned as she clutched the door’s handle. She shoved it open and let it swing shut behind her. He wasn’t sitting at the table. She wandered over to the bunks, grabbed her toothbrush out of her backpack and made her way to the bathroom. She could hear noise from the TV in the back room but decided to brush her teeth before venturing in there. After brushing her teeth, she popped her head in to see what he was watching. He wasn’t alone anymore. The whole group of them were watching a movie on Netflix. She’d been in the bathroom all of five seconds. Mel smiled at her and patted the carpet next to her.

  Kayn looked at her and said, “I’m going to bed. Enjoy the movie.” She climbed onto her bunk, laid her head on her pillow and closed her eyes to the humming of the television and the sound of muffled laughter. Maybe she was missing out? She heard the door open and closed her eyes, knowing exactly who it was. She felt the pressure of someone sitting down on the mattress and her stomach flip flopped.

  He slipped under the covers, stretched out beside her and whispered, “I know you’re awake. You just left the room.”

  Kayn grinned and bit her lip as she opened her eyes. She’d known it was him. She also knew she’d been pushing his buttons and he was quite obviously here to call her bluff. She whispered, “I just wanted to thank you for catching those fireflies.”

  He shifted so he was flat on his back, looked up at the bottom of the bunk above and confessed, “I thought it might help.” She rolled over to lay on her back as he added, “I know some of those little things have always meant a lot to you.”

  They had… he’d always known that even before they’d had the opportunity to really get to know each other.

  He made himself comfortable under the covers as he probed, “I bet you lost the ring I gave you.”

  She innocently teased, “The one from the bubble gum machine?”

  “I thought it might be a little bit too soon for a real one,” he flirtatiously sparred.

  Kayn met his eyes as she whispered her reply, “I haven’t lost it. It’s in the front pocket of my backpack.” All she could think about was how badly she wanted him to touch her. Anything…the slightest graze of his fingertip. The covers shifted with each breath he took.

  He stared into her eyes as he whispered back, “It’s been a long time since someone’s randomly kissed me on the cheek.”

  He had the thickest eyelashes. She bit her bottom lip as their gazes locked. His eyes were magnetic. There was something so intensely intimate about unbroken eye contact. Breathless with anticipation, she felt the covers shift as he slid his hand closer and rested one of his palms intimately on her hip.

  He whispered, “I’ve been thinking about what Zach walked in on for days too.”

  She was still embarrassed about the whole vomiting on him thing even though he’d acted like it wasn’t a big deal. Kayn grinned and teased, “Even after I puked on you?”

  Frost’s face cracked into an enormous grin and he teased, “That was definitely not one of your sexiest moments.”

  The urge to test her boundaries was so enticing she couldn’t help herself as she asked, “What was my sexiest moment?”

  He squeezed her hip gently and whispered, “I could watch you eat Twinkies for hours.”

  She felt his hand slip from her hip. He’d remembered what she did to him right after that. She’d given him the, I’m not over my ex speech. Kayn grabbed for his arm to stop him from leaving and missed. Boy, did she miss. He froze and his eyes widened. She yanked her hand away and giggled as she stammered, “I didn’t mean to do that.”

  Frost smirked, moved closer to her, slid his hand confidently onto her hip and tugged her aggressively against him. She shivered as he nibbled on her earlobe and groaned, “If we were somewhere with a little more privacy you’d be in big trouble young lady.”

  She felt him straining against her and the urge to do dangerous things was now a part of her being. He was a dangerous thing. Frost sensually hooked one of his fingers around the strap of her tank top and naughtily followed the material until the palm of his hand grazed the thin cotton close to the peak of her breast. She shuddered. His eyes penetrated hers as he observed her blissful reaction to his touch. His lips were slightly parted. Kiss me, damn it! His finger moved beneath the thin material of her top. She arched against him and breathily pleaded, “Don’t Stop!”

  He grinned as he whispered, “Now’s not the best time for this.”

  She stared into his eyes cupped the back of his head and in a hushed voice she promised, “I’ll be quiet…don’t stop.”

  Frost knit his brow, groaned her name under his breath, with his hand on the button of her shorts. She willingly tried to help him take them off. She wanted him and didn’t care where they were.


  Frost stiffened, grabbing his ears, with his face contorted in pain. He gasped, “Damn it Kayn. We’re not allowed to do this here.” He scrambled out from under the covers and left her there, aching for him.

  Oh, Come on! Every inch of her was vibrating with need and she knew he couldn’t possibly walk back into that backroom in his current state. She heard the bathroom door close. She smiled, rolled over, pressed her face in her pillow and screamed into it. She rolled over and started to giggle. What in the hell? Did they expect her to stay a virgin forever? Seriously! She’d bloody well died a virgin! Wasn’t this the time to enjoy the life she’d been granted? She wanted to do this, before someone tried to take it from her by force again. Her body was still tingling everywhere he’d touched her. She fought the urge to lure him out into the woods and remained on her bunk dying inside with frustration.

  No Rest for the Wicked

  After spending the night reliving each of her twin’s steamy X-rated experiences with Frost, Kayn was even more frustrated as she awoke. She felt the pressure of someone sitting on the bunk beside her and opened her eyes. It was Melody.

  Mel leaned over and whispered in her ear, “That was not an inconspicuous dream you were having last night. I bet you moaned Frost’s name fifty times. Don’t worry they all crashed in the back room. Well, everyone except for Frost and me.”

  Of course he’d heard her moaning his name. Why wouldn’t her life continue to play the all humiliation Kayn channel on repeat? It had been stuck on the same damn station for years. Kayn covered her face with both hands and sighed, “Oh, the joys of merging souls with my dead twin sister.”