Vision of Seduction (20 page)

describe as a wolfish grin. "I have seen many such toys on Earth, and some

do find their way here. However, because sex is so freely offered here, not

many people have need of contenting themselves on their own."

"How's your shoulder?" Katelyn chastised herself for not asking earlier.

He'd just been injured a few days ago, he should still be in pain.

Grayson rotated his shoulder and winced only a little. "The dream vision

from yesterday gave me quite a bit of healing, as did our stint on the

balcony, so it should be fine for a while yet. Maybe you'll give me another

chance at setting up a romantic rendezvous a bit later? I'm sure we would

both benefit." Grayson's gaze seared into hers, and she found she couldn't

look away. His eyes darkened, and a wall of passion and attraction sizzled

between them, stealing her breath and making her clit and nipples tingle

with anticipation.

"Perhaps you would let me bring you back here this evening, and we can

try for a more ... private encounter?" He smiled, and his gaze slid toward

the pool and its five occupants. "Unless you would prefer a more public

outing?"

Her cheeks heated, but she only smiled. "I think private is good to start."

The thought of having sex with a group or in the midst of a group sent

another surge of molten arousal straight to her clit and nearly made her

gasp. But for some reason, she didn't want to share Grayson just yet. She

had been very glad to see Ryan, even though she was still wrapping her

mind around finding her imaginary childhood playmate here. Yet she

wanted time alone with Grayson.

Not at all like her to want time alone purely to be with a man, sex or no, but

this feeling was something she wanted to explore.

Grayson raised her hand to his lips. "Tonight it is, then. Right after dinner.

The ride out here is beautiful in the moonlight."

The skin of her forehead and neck grew clammy, and she swayed as her

vision grayed around the edges. "Damn! Not now."

She heard Grayson call her name, but then the vision sucked her under,

and she found herself inside a large chamber with a thousand flickering

candles painting moving designs on the walls.

Her wrists hurt, and when she tried to move them, she found out why. She

was tied to an altar on her back, her hands bound tightly over her head.

Her knees were bent, and her feet were placed flat against the cold stone of

the altar, her thighs spread—and she was entirely naked. Fear burned

bright inside her, blossoming into full-blown panic. Her heart galloped,

and her breathing grew frantic.

Voices sounded all around her, but they were garbled and made no sense.

When she blinked, it took her eyes a minute to adjust—almost as though

she had been drugged. When her eyes did focus, she noticed a large

triangle painted on the far wall in red.

Her eyes riveted toward the design as something niggled at her memory.

She couldn't place it, but she thought she had seen something similar at

one time—but this drawing seemed wrong somehow.

The top point had a crude crown painted next to it; the lower right had an

eye with a large blade sticking out of it and small drops of blood dripping

from the bottom. The lower left had a crudely drawn symbol that

resembled a fat teardrop, but where the top point usually ended, both lines

continued outward for several inches. Between the two outward lines sat a

single blood-red dot. She had no idea what the symbols meant, but when

cold dread flowed through her veins, she knew it wasn't good.

The burst of fear and adrenaline had cleared her mind enough so she could

look at the rest of her surroundings. She turned her head and, after several

tries, lifted it enough to see over her arm and around the room. Dozens of

pale blond men and women milled about the room. They were entirely

naked, their tight, athletic bodies gleaming softly in the candlelight. Their

expressions were hard, their eyes cold and ... evil was the only way she

could describe them.

Another altar sat about ten feet away from her with a naked woman

strapped to it. Her dark hair seemed familiar somehow, but Katelyn's fuzzy

thoughts refused to make sense of them. Then the woman turned her head,

her dark eyes boring into Katelyn's.

Katelyn's breath caught inside her throat. Rita...

The betrayal shining inside her friend's gaze cut through Katelyn's heart as

if someone stabbed her.

Pain and panic clawed up her throat until they emerged in a strangled

scream. She screwed her eyes shut as the strangled cry of pain echoed

inside her ears.

"Katelyn? Katelyn!"

Strong arms encircled her and rocked her gently back and forth. Warm lips

kissed the top of her head as reality slowly returned.

She blinked her eyes open to see a group of concerned Klatch faces. Most of

them were nude or dripping wet—she even recognized a few of the five

people she had seen in the pool earlier.

Grayson must have felt her stir because he loosened his grip and turned

her chin to face him. "Are you all right?"

She nodded and burrowed against his chest, the dozen eyes of the

bystanders making her feel exposed and vulnerable.

Grayson's deep voice rang out through the caverns as he said, "She just had

a vision, and they weaken her. She'll be fine." He lifted her, and she kept

her face buried against his tunic, one hand fisted into the soft cloth.

"Please, take me back to the castle." The words came out nearly a sob, and

she realized that hot tears already coursed down her cheeks, and her throat

felt raw.

Grayson cuddled her closer as if comforting a small child and again kissed

her hair as he carried her out into the sunlight.

Grayson gently laid Katelyn on the bed inside the room she had woken in

earlier that morning. She curled into a ball, cold from the loss of Grayson's

body warmth. She sighed gratefully when someone settled a fluffy blanket

over her, but she kept her eyes shut tight. Her eyes were puffy and red

from the steady stream of tears that had flowed the entire ride back, and

her throat was still scratchy and raw.

No vision had ever affected her the way this one had, but she was too worn

out to question why.

"Holly, bring some light lunch and let Alyssandra know the Seer and I are

back from our morning excursion." Grayson's voice flowed over Katelyn in

a comforting cadence, and she wished he would lie beside her. The wish

for comfort from a man should have shocked her, but she pushed it aside

to think about when her energy returned.

"Yes, Prince Grayson. Right away."

The bed dipped beside her, and then Grayson's hard body settled next to

her, and he pulled her tight against him. His large hand gently caressed her

cheek and stroked her hair back from her forehead. "Katelyn." A gentle kiss

was pressed to her forehead, and she curled into the comfort he offered.

"What did you see in your vision?"

She let out a shaky breath and opened her eyes.

Grayson's handsome face filled her line of sight. Concern darkened his

eyes, and the beginnings of dark growth shadowed his jaw. A tendril of

dark hair had escaped from its tie and hung across his forehead. Her hands

were wrapped tight around Grayson's body, or she would've reached out

and brushed back the loose hair.

His gaze searched her face, and one roughened thumb traced over her

bottom lip in a tender gesture that reminded her of what had happened

between them in the cavern before Ryan had shown up.

She licked her dry lips before trying to speak. "I'm not sure why this vision

has affected me so badly. I'm sorry."

"You can't help your visions, Katelyn. That's part and parcel of being a

Seer, is it not?"

The way he said her name—almost reverently—startled her, but she

chalked it up to the mood and her overactive imagination. "I suppose it is.

But you carrying me in front of you on your horse the entire way back to

the castle with an injured shoulder—all because I have a mental

meltdown—isn't part of being a Seer."

He laughed, the sound nothing more than a low rumble she felt more than

heard through their close contact. "That's because you aren't used to

leaning on anyone or relying on anyone besides your friend, Rita. It's time

you understood that there are others out there who could care about you if

you let them."

At the mention of Rita's name, all the overwhelming emotions from the

vision flooded back, but this time she was ready for them. She wasn't sure

she totally agreed with Grayson's theory, but right now she didn't have

much of a choice. Naked women tied to altars sounded much more of this

world than of Earth. Maybe Grayson could help.

She took a deep breath for courage and then described the entire vision—

the emotions, reactions, and all. When she was finished, her body felt like

an empty shell, but the pain, the pressure, and the roiling emotions were

also gone.

"What you're describing—at least the layout of the room— sounds like a

Cunt version of one of our ascension rituals. However, the symbols you

described sound like something mentioned in our queen's archives."

A heavy silence hung between them as Grayson seemed to debate his next

words. When he finally spoke, his words were soft, as though he was

unsure he should tell her. "In fact, it sounds like one of the options we had

considered for regenerating the planet."

Katelyn's mind churned over his words as the picture of herself and Rita

tied to altars formed clearly in her memory.

"Don't get me wrong, we don't force anyone to do anything, and the only

time anyone is tied up here ... it's very voluntary and very pleasurable."

Katelyn shivered as the possibilities of his words chased away the previous

memory and replaced it with something that made her body ache and

want. Too much had happened today, yesterday, and even the other day at

her shop. Her emotions were stretched thin, and she only wanted to feel.

Without thinking, she rolled forward, pressing her lips against Grayson's.

His lips were warm and firm, and he threaded his fingers through her hair

as he cupped the back of her head.

Her lips parted, and she met his seeking tongue with her own, deepening

the kiss as she enjoyed the slow heat that spread through her. He tasted of

sweat and spicy man—a taste uniquely Grayson.

She pushed at the comforter until he freed it from under him, also freeing

her arms so she could pull him closer and trace the strong muscles of his

shoulders and then his jaw.

Prickly stubble scraped her fingertips, and she sighed into Grayson's

mouth at the erotic texture.

Her hands found their way under his tunic, tracing the taut muscles and

threading through the coarse hairs on his chest that continued down in an

enticing line to disappear inside his pants. She followed the line of hair

with her fingertips until she traced the waist of his breeches and dipped

her fingers inside to find the silky head of his erection already slick with

pre-come.

Grayson groaned into her mouth and rolled her over until she lay flat on

her back, with him straddling her hips. He pulled off his tunic, baring his

golden chest and shoulders, and leaned forward to loom over her, braced

on the best set of forearms she had ever seen.

She barely resisted the urge to run her tongue over a bulging vein that ran

just next to the muscle all the way down to his wrists.

"You're driving me insane, my little Seer." He helped her up to a sitting

position long enough to strip off her top and bra and then crushed her

against him to nibble a path down her cheek and lower to her neck.

A wave of erotic shivers flowed through her from his lips all the way to the

tips of her toes. Her skin grew sensitive and achy, and the familiar low

throbbing began between her thighs.

"Mmmm, you smell of lavender, and you taste like heaven."

He leaned forward slowly until she fell back against the pillows as he

continued his way nibbling down her collarbone and to the upper swells of

her breasts.

Her head lolled against the pillow as the sensations of his hot mouth on her

skin and his hard thighs pressed tight to hers flowed through her. She let

her eyes drift closed as she threaded her fingers through his silky hair and

his mouth found her breast.

He laved a hot line over one nipple, making her gasp, and then sucked the

sensitive tip between his lips as he gently kneaded the round swell of her

breast. Each pull of his mouth sent liquid arousal straight to her aching

pussy, which was already slick in anticipation.

Grayson leaned back, and she groaned as cool air assaulted her wet breast,

pebbling the nipple even further.

Katelyn's hands slipped from Grayson's hair down to his muscled

shoulders. When Grayson's mouth closed over her other breast with the

same intensity, her nails dug into his flesh. A smug sound deep in his

throat reverberated through her breast and into her body, making her

squirm with need.

Her hips began to buck but didn't have much room since he still straddled