Vision of Seduction (18 page)

He had once again dropped the facade he usually wore, and his emotions

were raw and real and clearly etched in his eyes. "I've never come here

with anyone except Ryan and Stone. It's our private getaway." He seemed

almost embarrassed to admit it. "I'm not sure if Stone has even brought

Alyssandra here yet."

Katelyn's throat felt tight as shock and confusion churned inside her

stomach. She stepped close to him, and her brow furrowed as she studied

his face. "Then why bring me here?" Her words sounded harsh and

accusing, but Grayson didn't flinch, instead his gaze turned thoughtful, as

though he hadn't yet figured out that answer either.

His gaze caught hers, and she found herself unable to move or look away.

"I saw how you looked when you saw the devastated section of the planet.

Even though this isn't your home world, you grieved for its ruined state."

He paused, searching for the right words. "That's the same pain I feel every

time I look at the destruction, or think about what's going to happen if our

plans to heal the planet aren't successful. Somehow, this place calls to you

as it does to us, whether or not you want to admit it."

He sighed and finally broke eye contact, glancing around the cavern. "And

since we left, the memory of that awful sight has haunted you. It shows in

your eyes, in your expressions, and in everything you say and don't say."

He shrugged and looked back at her. "I wanted to show you something to

remove the shadow of sadness from your eyes. Something beautiful and

special." He gestured around him. "This."

A warm, liquid heat curled around Katelyn's heart along with a small

trickle of fear. No man had ever done something for her purely to make her

happy or to remove her pain. Not that she had allowed them to.

Leave it to Grayson to slip past her defenses and do something that

touched her deeper than she wanted to admit. Men could be such a pain in

the ass. "Thank you." Her voice was a mere whisper, but it was enough.

Grayson cupped her cheeks in his large palms as he had in the clearing

outside. It was a tender, loving gesture.

Katelyn wanted to be angry at him for presuming that she would want this.

But, more than that, she wanted to relax into the sensation and let it seep

into her. Almost as if she were caught in a spell, she softened in his arms.

Their eyes locked, and Katelyn saw tenderness and understanding in

Grayson's eyes—though she wasn't sure what exactly it was he

understood.

He brushed his lips against hers, and her eyes slid closed as if she had no

conscious control over them.

Grayson slipped his tongue inside her mouth—sucking, nipping, teasing,

tempting. All the while, the roughened pads of his thumbs gently stroked

her cheeks. Katelyn's skin heated, and her blood seemed to thicken inside

her veins as her body softened against him.

"What do you do to me, Katelyn?" he whispered against her lips. "You're

like a drug."

His energy buzzed against hers, and even as lost in the magic of the

moment as she was, she gathered her own energy around her like a shield.

She had never let another person inside her energy aura, and she honestly

didn't know what impact it would have on her if she did. And yet she was

tempted.

Grayson's long fingers caressed the nape of her neck, sending shivers of

awareness down her spine. His scent, masculine and spicy, surrounded

her, infusing her senses even as her heartbeat filled her ears, drowning out

the gentle gurgling of the water behind them.

Fear niggled at the edges of Katelyn's awareness. Fear of how right this felt

and of how easy it would be to lose herself and drop her emotional and

energy shields and merge with this man who made her feel things she

didn't want to name.

Her eyes flew open, and her body stiffened against him as she braced

herself to pull away.

Grayson's heavy-lidded eyes searched hers, and then another kind of

understanding lit his face. He dropped his hands to his sides and stepped

back. "My apologies, Seer. I didn't mean to frighten you." His voice was

gravelly and low.

Frighten wasn't exactly the word to describe what she had experienced, but

his withdrawal would put some distance between them long enough for

her to get her emotions under control.

She closed her eyes and took a fortifying breath, rebuilding her composure

in quick layers. When her eyes blinked back open, Grayson stood watching

her—the mask of his facade firmly in place. "Grayson, I—"

"Katie-Cat? Is that you?"

10

The husky voice sent a fission of recognition through Katelyn, and she

turned toward the opening in the rock face through which she and

Grayson had entered the cavern.

The man who stood before her was stockier than Grayson or King Stone

and built more compactly. He reminded her of a boxer. He stood only a

few inches taller than her own five-foot-nine, but he exuded enough

confidence and sensuality that no one would ever describe him as

"small"—even beside Grayson and Stone.

He shared the same olive skin and dark hair that spilled over his shoulders

as the other Klatch, but while his eyes were purplish, they were so dark

they almost appeared black, with rich, purple flecks. An angry red scar ran

from his right temple down his cheek and to the corner of his lips—a scar

he hadn't had when she'd met him as a child.

As soon as he noticed her studying the scar, he tilted his chin, using his

waterfall of dark hair to cover the worst of it. That vulnerable gesture made

her even more curious about how he'd gotten it.

"Oh, my Goddess. You can't be real." She searched his gaze, and the spark

of recognition was unmistakable. "Prince?" she ventured, her voice

uncertain as she faced an adult version of her imaginary playmate.

She'd never called him anything but "Prince," and now that he had said her

nickname, she recalled he had only used her real name once before

dubbing her "Katie-Cat" because of her green eyes.

Suddenly, her imaginary childhood world had become even more real, if

that was possible.

Grayson's hand tightened around hers, and she barely noticed as Prince's

handsome features lit with joy. The wide smile pulled at the angry scar

where it connected with the side of his mouth, but it didn't seem to cause

him any discomfort.

Prince rushed forward and pulled her into a hug, twirling her until her feet

left the ground, and she had no choice but to join in with his joyous

laughter. "I knew no one else could have that mop of red hair and that

distinct voice," he said.

She hugged him back as snippets of thousands of happy childhood

memories flooded through her mind. For a fleeting instance she braced

herself, in case the hot stab of arousal occurred as it had with Grayson and

Alyssa. But Prince was warm and solid, and she felt safe and comfortable

within his arms—nothing more.

When he finally set her on her feet, he pulled back to look at her but kept

his hands loosely at her waist. "Damn, but you've grown up to be a

temptress." Prince glanced at Grayson, and Prince's grin widened even as a

wave of surprise flowed across his features. He dropped his hands from

her waist and pinned her with an affectionate gaze. "You're the Seer? I'll be

damned."

Grayson stepped forward, slipping a proprietary arm around Katelyn's

waist. He radiated so much jealousy she thought he might whip out his

cock and mark his territory on Prince's shoes at any moment.

"Ryan, when did you meet the Seer?" Grayson's voice was stiff and formal,

and he was irritating Katelyn with his possessive caveman routine.

Ryan—so he does have a name besides "Prince." Now that Katelyn thought

about it, she had never asked his name; she had just dubbed him "Prince"

since every imaginary castle had one. She wondered if he was even part of

the royal family here.

She pulled away and glared at Grayson. "I'm not a toy to be yanked back

and forth, gentlemen."

"Stand down, Gray." Ryan held his hands in front of him as though

warding off an attack, but his amusement only seemed to increase at

Grayson's protective attitude. "Do you remember when you and Stone

began formal schooling before me, and I told you I had a playmate who

would meet me in the castle turret?"

Grayson's brow furrowed, and he glanced between Katelyn and Ryan. "We

thought you made her up because you weren't old enough to start spell

training with us."

Ryan laughed and grabbed Katelyn's hand. "I didn't share her with either

of you, because I was mad at you both for leaving and going off to training

without me. After all, it wasn't my choice to be born a year later than you

two, was it?"

"Wait a minute." Katelyn's head spun with unanswered questions that had

no logical answers. "You were my imaginary friend, and I made up the

entire castle. I don't understand any of this!" She rubbed her now throbbing

temples with her fingertips and wished for a nice strong rum and Diet

Coke.

Grayson huffed out a laugh, amused with himself. "That's how you knew

what the nurse maid's room looked like." He shook his head, all trace of the

Neanderthal protector gone. Why didn't you tell me it wasn't from a

vision?"

She threw up her hands in frustration. "I'm already half convinced I've lost

my mind. I didn't want anyone else buying that theory, too." A wave of

hair fell into her face, and she brushed it back with an impatient shove.

"Katie-Cat, you're a Seer—you know better than most humans that visions,

magic, and everything else are just energy, which can take on any form."

The calm matter-of-factness of Ryan's voice reminded her of how he had

often spoken to her as a child, and she nearly smiled. "You had to live in a

human world that wasn't very accepting of you, if my memory is correct,

so you came to visit me and the castle when you needed somewhere that

would accept you as you are."

Katelyn closed her eyes and tried to absorb Ryan's words. Her entire life

would make much more sense if she could just stop comparing everything

to Earth norms, but those norms had been ingrained into her over a

lifetime. She sighed. "Great, so because I can't handle Earth intolerance as

an adult, I've jetted off to imaginary lands, developed a sudden craving for

women, and started having visions about bumping off the royal family." A

bitter laugh escaped her lips, and she opened her eyes to see both Grayson

and Ryan staring at her.

Grayson's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'bumping off the royal

family'? Was that the vision from this morning you didn't tell me about?"

Katelyn sighed and paced away, the scuff of the fine, white sand under her

boots loud in the intimate cavern. "It was just a vision. It doesn't mean it

will happen, just that it could." She paced back, using her arms to make

wide hand gestures for emphasis. "And sometimes visions happen exactly

the way I saw them, but they don't mean what I originally thought."

Grayson's hands settled over her shoulders, warming her and chasing

away her fears that she would see revulsion in his eyes for both her gift

and their content. "Tell us what you saw, Seer."

Katelyn turned, trying to ignore her frustration that he'd called her "Seer"

in a cold, professional tone rather than as the term of endearment he

usually used. She glanced between Grayson and Ryan before taking a deep

breath and describing the vision about poisoning the queen.

When she was finished, they both nodded as though taking her words in

stride.

Grayson stepped forward and cupped her cheek in his hand, the contact

sending sizzling awareness over her skin despite the concern in his tone.

"As for your attraction to women—I didn't realize the pull of the planet

was affecting you so quickly."

Katelyn winced at Grayson's words. She had hoped they had forgotten

about that part of her confession and would stay focused on the vision.

No such luck!

He dropped his hand from her face. "From your words, I assume you have

previously never been attracted to women, but since coming here, you

are?" Grayson's manner seemed interested and yet relaxed.

Not at all what Katelyn had expected, though heat did burn up her neck

and into her cheeks. It wasn't every day she had a calm discussion with

two hot men about her sudden bisexual tendencies. This was starting to

remind her of the seedy online-dating chats advertised on late-night TV.

She huffed out a breath of frustration that also blew her bangs out of her

face. "That's a little embarrassing, you know. Talk about intrusive, not to

mention rude." She crossed her arms and glared up at Grayson, hoping he

would take the hint.

A sound somewhere between a laugh and a cough came from Ryan, and he

grinned when she sent her glare toward him. "Here on Tador, attraction is

a perfectly natural thing. Grayson's question wasn't meant to be insensitive

... for once." His last words, spoken under his breath, earned him a dirty

look from Grayson. "That just helps ascertain how the planet is affecting