Enemy through the Gates

by D T Dyllin

  “Not for you to consider,” Khol cut off the new dragon’s words curtly.

  Still staring at me with an intensity that made me want to disappear, the other dragon took another step towards me. “Her power—it’s—it’s—so unique—not cold like the other female dragons I’ve felt. It calls to me with a warmth I didn’t think possible.”

  An inhuman growl erupted from Khol. “Macon, back off,” he said, before he calmed himself. “I know the will to resist is harder for one so young as yourself, but she’s not for you.”

  Macon looked at Khol with what I can only describe as pain on his face. “Then why haven’t you claimed her yet? She’ll drive us all mad until you do.”

  “She’s part human,” Khol said as if that explained everything.

  And to Macon it seemed to. “Yes, my Lord, I understand. I will try to avoid her until she’s claimed.” With that he pulled what I now had come to think of as a Khol… a disappearing act, but apparently it was all dragons who liked such dramatics.

  I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “So, that’s what you were talking about.”

  “Yes.” Khol nodded as he tugged my hand and began walking toward the castle.

  “Why didn’t you just pop us into the castle, instead of out here?” I asked as my head swiveled around trying to take in all the unfamiliar sights and sounds of this new place.

  “Because I wanted you to see my land.” There was a note of pride in Khol’s voice that I couldn’t miss and it made me wonder if the old stories of dragons and their acquisitiveness where in fact based in reality.

  As we made our way inside through a side door, probably what would be called a servants door, my senses prickled, letting me know that there were more than a handful of other dragons on the premise. My skin felt tingly like little bits of electricity were running over the expanse of my body, and I shuddered at the pleasantness of it.

  “Why we going in the side door?” Jenna asked. “I wanna tour of this place.”

  “P.J. needs to be isolated from the others here. You can have a tour after she’s settled if you wish,” Khol said with a touch of annoyance. I wanted to laugh, because Jenna had that effect on everyone it seems, but the pleasant tingling had begun to feel like my skin was burning and my vision danced suddenly as if I were drunk.

  My focus narrowed down to only Khol and as I felt my breaths coming in short little bursts, I curled myself up against the side of him as we walked. “Kiss me,” I purred, not caring who saw. I craved the taste of him, and I wanted his hands on me because surely his touch was the only cure for how I was feeling.

  “Not now. I must get you…”

  I didn’t hear the rest of what he said to me. Anger flamed inside me at him for denying me what I wanted. If he wouldn’t give me what I needed then surely someone else would. “Macon,” I called in an almost sing song voice.

  Macon immediately appeared directly in front of us, and I tugged free of Khol and stepped towards Macon. I heard Khol growl from behind me, but I didn’t care, he had his chance, now it was Macon’s. “Macon,” I purred. “You’ll kiss me, won’t you?” His eyes seemed to grow brighter in intensity as he came to me faster than I’d seen anyone ever move, well, except Khol maybe. His lips met mine in a searing kiss that had me wrapping myself around him as a moan escaped from me. Yes. I thought. This is exactly what I need. But before I could sink deeper into the kiss Macon was ripped away from me and slammed into the wall. Khol scooped me up in his arms, to which I didn’t protest, and suddenly we were in a different room. A room with a rather large bed I realized with pleasure.

  My head was swimming as I reached out and pulled Khol towards me, capturing his lips with mine. “You know what I want,” I growled. “Give it to me.” I felt possessed, like someone else had taken over my body, and I kind of liked it. I’d never felt so completely free before. Except with Bryn, my mind whispered. I screamed and clutched at the back of my neck, it was if someone was holding a hot iron there. “Bryn!” I cried out wishing he were here with me and not Khol. Bryn’s touch was always the cooling balm that soothed my heated skin, he was who I craved.

  Khol grabbed me and spun me around, prying my hand off the back of my neck to see what was causing me the pain. “No. That’s not possible.” His voice was filled with a mixture of shock and anger.

  The pain subsided as abruptly as it had began, and left without it, I suddenly felt too weak to remain vertical. I fell over onto the bed and curled into a ball, darkness already pushing at the edge of my consciousness. “Bryn,” I heard myself mutter. “Please. I need Bryn.” And then I lost the battle with consciousness.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “My Lord, how will we track them without her aid? None of us can see them for what they really are, even you, without using her power. We can’t let them get an even stronger foot hold than they already have.” A low male voice spoke urgently.

  “I’m already aware of the problems we face, but we need to take care of her first,” Khol said in response.

  There was a pregnant pause to where I pondered why people were always talking around me when I lost consciousness. You would think people would want to let me rest and feel better instead of jabbering their jaws around me.

  “How did you not notice until now, my Lord?”

  “It must have something to do with the black dragon’s powers. He must be young, very young. Young enough to even pass for human; he might even be partially so, like her, that could explain it. He will come for her as soon as he can; he probably already feels the pull. He will know his partial claim is in threat. It will drive him mad.”

  “What will you do?”

  “Claim her before he fully does so. She will not be mated to a black dragon. She will be mine.” Khol’s words came out barely sounding human, which in fact he wasn’t. I must be dreaming. What were they talking about? I’d never met any kind of dragon before Khol had showed up to complicate my life, let alone a black one.

  “What will you do if he comes here?”

  “I’ll do what I need to do to ensure she becomes fully mine. I wanted to give her human half the time to get used to the idea, but I no longer have that option.”

  “Wha? No,” I slurred trying to wake up all the way. “I trus ou.” What I was trying to tell him very unsuccessfully was that he couldn’t claim me without my permission. I trusted him with that fact, and he said as long as I trusted him he would wait. It didn’t matter that I had never planned on giving him permission; he believed one day I would. The rest I still didn’t know what he was talking about. Why did they think someone was coming for me?

  “Shhh… my little Seer, you need to rest,” Khol said as a large warm hand smoothed hair away from my face.

  “No. I need Bryn,” I somehow managed to say and actually make it sound like English.

  “No.” Khol’s voice sounded harsh. “The only one you need is me.” I squirmed to try to get away from his touch but I didn’t have the energy. I began to feel very sleepy again, my body very heavy. I tried to respond but my mouth was too tired to move. I was holding onto awareness by a very thin thread.

  “She’ll sleep for awhile longer, and then I will return for her,” Khol said to the other dragon. I didn’t like the sound of that. “If the black dragon shows up, you know what to do.” I liked the sound of that even less.

  “What about her companions?”

  “Confine the boy to his room, but the girl is permitted entrance.”

  “Yes, my Lord.”

  That was the last thing I remembered until I sat up with a start, in a strange bed, in a strange room. “About damn time,” Jenna’s familiar voice exclaimed from beside me. I turned to see her lounging on the bed right next to me reading a magazine. “I’ve been dying to talk to you.” She ceremoniously folded the magazine and met my eyes with her deep brown ones, which were currently sparkling with delight. “Soo…” She drew out. “Me and Macon—,”

  I raised my hand to cut her of
f which caused her to frown. “Give me a second to orient myself before you hit me with what is sure to be another tale about how you got the latest notch in your belt.” Jenna thrummed her fingers against the folded magazine impatiently. I inhaled a couple of times deeply while I allowed my gaze to sweep my new surroundings. Fancy, I thought, if not a little gaudy. The room looked like it had been transported right out of Marie Antoinette’s time, everything was marble and encrusted with gold. “Let them eat cake,” I mumbled. Yep… if the outside of the castle hadn’t answered my questions about a dragon’s acquisitiveness nature then this room definitely did. I wondered if there was a big pile of treasure in a vault downstairs somewhere.

  “Can I please tell you what happened between me and Macon now?” Jenna’s whine cut into my inner musings.

  “Fine,” I said punctuating it with an eye roll. I knew she was about to tell me anyways but I figured I might as well feign control of the situation.

  “Well… you’ve probably already guessed that we did it.” I nodded unable to keep from doing another eye roll. “But what you can’t guess, since you’ve only been with Bryn is just how absolutely amazing and different it is to be with a dragon. They’re just so—well they’re just so—,” she started fanning herself as she searched for the right word, “—amazing.” She finally settled on. Maybe it was time I bought the girl a thesaurus.

  I couldn’t seem to keep the snide tone out of my voice, “Because you’ve been with so many dragons before. How do you know Macon wasn’t an anomaly?”

  “Hmm.” Jenna turned pensive. “You’re right. I think I should conduct a study while I’m here.”

  “For God’s sake girl, there are more important things on our plates than your sex life.” Like mine, I silently added sheepishly.

  “I think you should do it with Khol.”

  “Jenna!” I exclaimed.

  “No, I mean it. At least for comparison purposes, you’ve only been with Bryn, and—,”

  Holy crap! Bryn. Was it possible? Everything that Khol and the other dragon had said while I was barely conscious came flooding back. No, it couldn’t be, but then again I was half dragon myself after all. “I think Bryn may be part black dragon.” The words seemed even more ludicrous when I said them aloud.

  “Did you hit your head?” Jenna asked with a laugh. “You’ll do anything to change the subject, won’t you?”

  “No, Jenna! I’m being serious. I heard Khol and some other dragon talking when I wasn’t fully awake about how some young black dragon, or at least partial black dragon has the beginnings of a mate claim on me. I know from talking to Khol that the only way to claim a dragon mate is to do it during sex.” Jenna’s eyes widened slightly as I continued on with my crazy theory. “Well, I’ve only been with Bryn, and Khol said all red dragons have red hair in human form, even ones like me who can’t change forms, and well, wouldn’t it make sense for black dragons to have black hair in human form? And who do we know that I’ve slept with that has black hair?” When I put all the clues together that way, maybe it didn’t seem that implausible that Bryn was part black dragon. I didn’t think he was full blooded because he looked too much like his dad, and he did have all the usual Guardian abilities. Which meant—“Holy crap! That means Bryn’s dad had an affair with a female dragon; that’s the only way it would make sense.” Was that why Bryn and I had always felt so drawn to each other starting at a very young age? Had we started some kind of bonding process between dragon mates without even realizing it?

  Jenna stared at me in what seemed to be complete shock. “Well, say something,” I chuckled nervously. “I don’t think in all the years we’ve been friends have I ever seen you go speechless.”

  “I—well—I—damn it when you explain it the way you just did, it almost seems possible.” She shook her head in amazement. “First you, and now maybe Bryn. Maybe it’s true that Speakers can’t be friends with our kind because if you’re right that means neither of you are one hundred percent Seer or Guardian.”

  I reached up and scratched at the back of my neck; it was beginning to burn, nothing like before, but it was definitely uncomfortable. “Hey, will you see what’s going on with the back of my neck? It was burning like crazy before and now it’s more burning slash itching, but it’s annoying as all hell.” I lifted my hair up off of my neck and Jenna scooted behind me to take a look.

  “Umm… when did you get a tattoo and decide not to tell me?” Jenna said with annoyance. “Didn’t they tell you that A & D ointment is the best thing for it while it’s healing? It kind of looks raw.”

  “What?” I pulled away with alarm. “I didn’t get a tattoo. What the hell are you talking about?” Jumping out of bed, I clamored over to a large mirror that was hanging on the wall and contorted the best that I could to try and see the back of my neck, but I couldn’t see a thing.

  “Hang on,” Jenna said, reaching down to the floor and into her purse to produce a small compact. She then came over to join me in front of the larger mirror while holding the compact so I could see the offending area that was hiding from me.

  I gasped at the image reflected back at me in the tiny mirror. Sure enough, there was what looked like a raw and chaffing black circular tattoo right below my hair line on the back of my neck. “That’s impossible,” I muttered while still staring in the mirror.

  “Can’t be impossible since there it is.” I could feel Jenna studying me. “You really didn’t know? How can you not know you got a tattoo?”

  “I wish I knew,” I said as I headed back for the bed, my head reeling. Time and time again I kept thinking my life couldn’t get any weirder. I really had to stop jinxing myself.

  A loud knock on the door preceded Khol entering the room; he gave me a tight smile as he met my eyes. “It’s the black dragon’s mate mark.”

  “Huh?” Jenna and I said in perfect unison.

  Khol motioned at the back of his neck. “What you think is a tattoo is the black dragon’s mate mark, or at least the beginning of one.”

  “What do you mean?” Jenna asked.

  Khol answered while still holding my gaze. “Because it’s black I know it was made by a black dragon. All dragon pairs mark each other.”

  “So…”

  He picked up on my question before I could ask it. “Yes. He will bare a red mark on the back of his neck from you.” Khol paused, turmoil rolling off of him in waves. “This Bryn. Your Bryn.” He practically growled the words. “I can no longer wait for you to be done with him before I claim you. This changes everything.”

  Fear shot up my spine and caused goose bumps to erupt on my skin. “I trust you,” I whispered, even though I already sensed the words were little good to me anymore.

  For the first time since I’d met Khol, genuine sadness filled his eyes. “And I had hoped to keep that trust with you, but I won’t lose you, especially to a black dragon.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What I think you’re trying to say there bucko is completely unacceptable. You better back off of P.J.,” Jenna said angrily. “Nobody forces my best friend to anything she doesn’t wanna do.”

  A small part of me, the part that was slightly hysterical wanted to laugh because Jenna had just said bucko, that was something she’d definitely picked up from her mom. A larger part of me had already taken a mental vacation. I just couldn’t seem to grasp what was going on. “Khol, please,” I attempted. Please, what? Please don’t force yourself on me and claim me for your mate when I want someone else?

  “The mark isn’t complete, that’s why it’s bothering you. His is doing the same, I can guarantee you. But once it’s complete, there will be no going back, you would be his for the rest of your lives. And that I can’t allow,” Khol snarled. “Especially not a damn black dragon.” He began stalking towards me and I shrank back until I hit the wall. I wanted away from him. I wanted to go home. I was in way over my head with him. “Drake,” Khol called with menace. A moment later I saw in my peripheral vision someone male appear, bu
t I didn’t dare look away from Khol. “Take Jenna to her room and make sure she stays there.”

  “Yes, my Lord.” The same voice that I had heard from when I wasn’t fully conscious answered.

  “No!” Jenna screamed. “You can’t! She trusted you! We trusted you!” But her screams were silenced as the other dragon disappeared with Jenna in his arms kicking and screaming, leaving me alone with Khol.

  “Please,” I whispered, my whole body beginning to tremble. “Don’t do this to me.”

  “I’m sorry I don’t have a choice anymore.”

  “It’ll be rape. Are you telling you have no choice but to rape me? I don’t believe that.” My words came out shaky as I tried to withhold the onslaught of tears that were pooling in my eyes.

  He came to stand mere inches away from me, his voice barely a whisper. “You’ll enjoy it, I promise. I know your body craves mine. That isn’t rape, coercion maybe, but not rape.”

  He leaned forward to kiss me and I ducked down so he missed and got the side of my face. “But my heart and soul still crave Bryn. You’ll deny me that for the rest of my life? Because once you claim me for your mate, I won’t want him anymore, will I? At least not physically?”

  “No, you won’t. And it’s better that way.” He grabbed my wrists and pushed them up over my head, causing my heart to triple in time.

  “I’ll never forgive you for this,” I hissed.

  A sad smile turned Khol’s lips up ever so slightly at the corners. “But you will because only I will be able to give you what you crave when I’m your mate. And dragon’s are quite insatiable, especially the females; you haven’t even begun to experience the full scope of your dragon side.”

  Bryn’s image flooded my mind, and just like that time in the woods when I was almost raped all I wished for was for him to come to my rescue. “Bryn!” I mentally screamed. “Please, somehow don’t let this happen to me—to us!” I struggled in Khol’s grasp, but he was much too strong for me. He managed to keep me pinned with just one hand holding both my wrists as he tore at my clothes. I screamed with fury. I couldn’t—wouldn’t let him do this. When he dipped his head to kiss me, I bit his lip, causing him to growl low in his chest, his eyes glowing brighter. I tasted the tangy copper flavor of his blood as he persisted, delving his tongue into my mouth.