The P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy (#1-3) (55 page)

“What?” Cliff’s slight southern drawl answered me in confusion.

My eyes popped open in alarm and I looked up into Cliff’s face, who still had a Rider staring back at me from inside of him. It was time for me to be confused myself. I saw the Rider leave his body. I saw it disappear. What did it mean that it was back? Why was I shown the vision if it didn’t mean anything? “I have low blood sugar. I’m fine. You can put me down,” I said managing to sound much more stable.

“You’re not fine. You passed out cold back there. I’m taking you to the nurse. She might need to call—”

“I said to put me down!” I demanded shrilly at the same time that I attempted to extradite myself from his arms. And for my effort I ended up back on the ground, on my ass.
Lovely
. My breath left me with a soft
oof
before I scrambled to my feet. I narrowed my eyes and glared at my would-be savior, and host to the Rider, Cliff, who was staring at me with surprise.

“How did you do that? You’re stronger than you look.”

Shit. Not good
. “Adrenaline?” I said unsurely. “Yeah, adrenaline.” I repeated with more confidence. “I don’t like to be carried around like that, okay?” My mind skittered through the many times that both Bryn and Khol had both carried me in such a manner over the last year. A wave of homesickness washed over me as I longed for nothing more than to be back with them . . . where I belonged. And then a wave of nausea crashed over me and stole away any sentimental feelings I had been carrying as I proceeded to throw up right on Cliff’s shoes. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and met his blue eyes with horror. “I’m so sorry I—” I what? Apparently my morning sickness was back with a vengeance now that Khol wasn’t nearby to do his magic mojo to help me out. Any hope I had at blending in lay splattered all over Cliff’s ruined kicks. But surely my birth mother would have seen this and taken it into consideration. I mean . . . she’d been ready for everything else. Right?

“There you are.” A vaguely familiar female voice said with saccharine sweetness. Long feminine pale fingers, and yet strangely strong in their grip, wrapped around the bicep of my left arm and tugged me to a full upright position. I whirled my head around as fast as I could and met the dark eyes of probably the last person in the world I expected to see coming to my rescue . . . Nala. My lips opened and closed like a guppy . . . and a very surprised guppy at that. Nala and I had effectively been avoiding each other since . . . well, since we first met. She wanted Bryn, and Bryn was mine. At least he used to be. And wanting the same guy didn’t exactly produce warm and fuzzy friendship feelings between two people.
What the hell?

“What are you doing here?” I said while trying to cover both my surprise and animosity towards her.

She gave me what best could be described as a patronizing older sister look. Loving, but with a touch of exasperation. “Your mom sent me over because she realized you forgot your medication. She was worried something like—well, exactly like—this would happen.”

I turned my head away from Cliff, who was now shaking his feet in attempt to dislodge my less than thoughtful gift from him. “Medication?” I mouthed.

Nala gave me a sharp look that was obviously telling me to go along with her story. Normally, just because of our mutual dislike for each other in our past, I wouldn’t have trusted her, but I had a sneaking suspicion because of her choice of words that my birth mother had been meddling from beyond the grave again. “Oh, right, I forgot.”

“What kind of medication?” Cliff asked with concern. “I mean—”

“Oh, she’ll be fine,” Nala interjected. “She just has an ear infection that causes her to get dizzy and if she’s not careful, well . . .” She then motioned at the second viewing of my lunch.

Ear infection. Now why hadn’t I thought of that? “I’m sorry.” I mumbled in Cliff’s general direction not wanting to see his face, or rather the Rider that was hiding behind his face. “And I didn’t mean to snap at you either.”

“It’s alright,” Cliff reassured me. “It just means you’re going to have to make it up to me.”

Not a chance in hell, buddy. “Oh, um . . . sure.”

“Great,” he said with cheer, as if he didn’t have my puke all over his shoes. “I’ll be seeing you then.”

“Not if I can help it,” I mumbled.

“What?” he said with a hitch in his voice.

“Oh, nothing,” I said louder. “I just said thanks for helping.”

The brightness in his voice returned. “No problem. I hope you feel better soon, Paige.” And with that the hot boy known as Cliff exited stage left with the alien that had rode in on him.

I exhaled a huge sigh of relief and refocused my attention on Nala. Her long black hair was pulled back in a loose French braid and her blue eyes met mine as a smirk began to tilt the corners of his full lips up. I really hated how pretty she was. “So, care to share with me the real reason why you’re here?” A sudden excited thought made fresh adrenaline course through my system. “Bryn and Khol—”

“Aren’t here.”

“Oh,” I said, trying not to sound too crestfallen. I just hate feeling so alone and vulnerable, I told myself. It was
not
because I needed either one of them to make me feel safe. I was an adult woman, and I could stand on my own two feet completely on my own.
Right.

“I’ll explain everything, but not here.” Her bright blue eyes scanned the empty hallway as if she thought someone might jump out of a locker at any moment. And I thought I could be paranoid.

“Yeah, okay.” I was pretty eager to get the hell out of this place and end my first day as a pretend student, even if it meant leaving with Nala.

Once we were safely back at my humble abode . . . a.k.a. the huge old creepy house that my birth mother had instructed me to take up residence in. Apparently staying in a place where it looked like probably multiple murders had taken place in was a lot safer than say . . . … a cozy apartment or something. I hadn’t slept well since I’d been staying here. I was half convinced the ghost of some victim past would attack me in my sleep. I hated to admit it but I was kind of glad to have company, even if that company was Nala. “Alright . . . …we’re safe from prying ears now. Care to explain why you’re here?” I huffed, wondering if we were indeed safe from
all
varieties of prying ears. Well, at least any spirits that might be hanging around didn’t frequent any gossip circles that might report pack to the Riders. I hoped.

“I brought you some tea, it’s made up of some herbs that will help with your morning sickness,” Nala said as if I hadn’t said anything.

“How do I know you’re not trying to poison me?”

She heaved a huge sigh and met my eyes with what reminded me a little bit of Khol’s exasperated face that he reserved especially for me. “So use your powers to see where I got it from.” She then lifted her arm up in an invitation for me to touch her.

I worried my bottom lip between my teeth. So far I hadn’t received a vision on purpose . . . ever. Sure, I’d asked questions and gotten the answers in the form of a vision, but even then, I hadn’t done anything but muse about the subject of interest. Like when I had wanted to know why Khol hadn’t used Jenna to try and forget me when I had been mated to Bryn. But what would it hurt to try? Besides my fragile ego, that is. “I will then,” I retorted with false bravado as I reached out and grasped her wrist. I closed my eyes tightly and silently pleaded with my powers.
Show me where Nala got these herbs for my tea from . . . please.
I felt myself sliding into a vision much more smoothly than I’d ever experienced before. It was actually working! I mentally did a happy little jig.

“You know where she went.” Khol’s beautifully sculpted face was twisted with a mix of anger and desperation. “Tell me,” he growled low in his throat as he reached out and grabbed Nala by her shoulders. “I’ll burn you to a crisp where you stand if you don’t!”

Her eyes widened slightly with fear. “I was instructed not to tell anyone—you specifically. I was told that you would know why you can’t know this information, that you wouldn’t be happy but would understand.”

Khol abruptly released his tight grip on her shoulders and turned away from her, his dragon green eyes glowing brighter. “Yes, I was . . . informed.” His voice was low and inhuman. “And no, I’m not happy.”

“So—” Nala started but Khol didn’t let her finish.

“Drake,” he bellowed. Barely a second passed before Drake appeared in a low crouch before Khol. He didn’t speak and appeared to be waiting for whatever Khol would say next. “These herbs will help her?” I’m not sure if anyone else was picking up on the slight tremble in his voice, but it made me want to go to him and to take him in my arms.

“Yes, they will help her, I swear it,” Drake rumbled low without lifting his face to meet Khol’s penetrating gaze.

The muscles in Khol’s jaw contracted as he studied the top of Drake’s head for a moment before responding. “Fine then. Go, before I change my mind.”

I snapped back into my body and the present where I was still gripping Nala’s wrist. I felt a single tear slide down my cheek and I let go of her so I could wipe at it with the back of my hand. Just seeing Khol, even if it was in a vision, made my homesickness that much more acute. And what about Bryn? How was he handling the news of my disappearance? Another vision ripped me suddenly from my body.

Bryn lay on his back, the dark sheets that covered his bed twisted around his legs. His pale muscled chest glistened with sweat and his chest heaved in and out as he slept restlessly. “Peej—” My name slipped from his sleep-encrusted lips. He looked bad. Or what I mean is not well somehow. Even with his eyes shut, I could almost see the torment that lurked in his unseen gaze. Dark circles marred his otherwise perfect face, and his skin wasn’t just pale but almost sickly looking. “Peej—” He repeated my name again as his face furrowed with worry, and then he sat up suddenly and gasped for air. He ran his hand through his sweaty black hair and blinked in confusion as he looked down at the empty spot beside him where I wasn’t. I saw a moment of regret play across his face before it turned into cold hard determination. He reached over for a glass that had been resting on the table beside his bed and drank the contents before sliding back down in between his sheets. “I’ll make sure you’re safe Peej, no matter the cost.”

“Something’s wrong with Bryn!” I exclaimed as I slammed back into the present for the second time within minutes. Maybe whatever was wrong with him was making him act the way that he was towards me. What if there was more than meets the eye with him and me feeling bitter that he’d turned away from me was completely unfair. I loved both Bryn and Khol, I’d come to terms with that truth, but no matter how much I tried to deny it there was nothing Bryn could truly do to turn me away from him. He was my first love, my best friend . . . my home. What if—

“Here,” Nala said interrupting my inner turmoil over Bryn and Khol. “Drink it while it’s still hot so it doesn’t taste as bad.”

I crinkled my nose at the pungent smell that was wafting at me from the mug that Nala was pushing in my direction. “No way that stuff is going to make me
stop
throwing up.”

“Just drink it already. It’ll fix things.”

“I’m not going to drink it if I don’t want to,” I groused. I knew I sounded like a petulant child but I still wasn’t a Nala fan, even if she seemed to be trying to help me.

Nala heaved a huge sigh. “Look, I know you don’t like me, or trust me, and I can’t really blame you. But let me lay it out for you. You’re the Queen of us all now . . . do you really think I want to make you my enemy?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Too late.” She wanted Bryn, and had tried to take him from me. That point fast tracked her to the top of my enemy list as far as I was concerned.

“I didn’t know you. And it’s the way of the dragon. Besides, if Bryn could have been swayed that easily, I would have been doing you a favor.”

“Are you kidding? I mean . . . are you serious right now?” I could feel my dragon magic pushing up from inside of me. If Nala weren’t careful,
I’d
end up burning her to crisp where she stood without a second thought.

She raised her hands up defensively as if she sensed the danger she was in. “Look, he doesn’t want me. He’s made that crystal clear.”

“But you still want him.” My voice came out as a low inhuman growl and I would have put money down that my eyes were glowing too.

“Yes, but it doesn’t matter. I have pride, you know. I’m not going to chase after Bryn when he’s clearly made his choice.”

My anger suddenly left me as quickly as it had come, and I felt my face crumple up involuntarily. “Yeah, he has. He thinks I should mate with Khol.” Much to my chagrin, huge fat tears began to roll down my cheeks.
Damn pregnancy hormones!

Nala rolled her eyes. “Young male dragons are the worst. They haven’t fully come into their powers yet but they’ve already got the alpha male ego thing down pat.” She shook her head and frowned. “He doesn’t really want you to mate with Khol. He just has this idea that he should be able to protect you completely, unfortunately he doesn’t have the power yet—”