Vision of Seduction (4 page)

especially with the ripped muscle and torn tendons.

As a Klatch witch, sexual energy was as much a needed sustenance as food

or water. His race could survive for a while on only food and water, but

they needed sexual energy to thrive and even to survive.

In fact, the reigning queen's job was to maintain a symbiotic relationship

with the planet of Tador—the home world of the Klatch. The king helped

her build her sexual energy, and she in turn healed the planet, which

sustained the Klatch people.

Grayson acknowledged he'd pushed himself too far, but it wasn't like he'd

had much choice. The Cunts would have taken the Seer if Grayson hadn't

acted.

The thought of replenishing his energy with some random Klatch maid

when his future mate had finally been found didn't appeal to him. In fact, it

felt like a betrayal to her. That left Grayson with something of a dilemma.

"Guards." Stone's stern voice filled the clearing. "Pick up Prince Grayson,

deliver him to the baths and have several of the maids attend him."

Grayson tried and failed to push himself off the grass to tell Stone he'd

have no maids attending him, but his friend spoke again.

"Because Grayson's mate has finally been found, I don't think she'd

appreciate him receiving sexual sustenance from anyone but her." Stone

smiled down at Grayson, his expression amused. "Clean him up, renew his

energy as best you can, and put him to bed. I'll deliver the Seer to the

queen. I'm sure Alyssandra will find some lady's maids to attend her."

Grayson opened his mouth to thank Stone, but gave up when no sound

emerged other than a croak.

Stone's chuckle filtered down to Grayson through his exhaustion.

"Consider it a returned favor for everything you've done for myself and for

Alyssandra. I'm looking forward to watching you settle down with just one

woman."

***

Grayson pushed himself up in bed so he could lean against the headboard.

Pain stabbed through his shoulder and down his back and arm. He cursed

and tried to shift again for a more comfortable position, while his valet

shoved pillows behind him.

"I still think you're being unreasonable, Grayson." Queen Alyssandra

waved away his valet and arranged the pillows herself. "You need to heal,

and you haven't even kissed the Seer yet, so how can that be considered

cheating?" Sunlight streamed through the open balcony window of his

bedroom to glint off Alyssandra's tumble of mahogany hair and the

lavender beads decorating her scattered braids.

Grayson relaxed back against the pillows and flashed her a grateful smile

before he turned his thoughts to putting into words something he couldn't

explain even to himself.

"Leave him be, Alyssandra," King Stone added from a nearby chair.

The queen rounded on her husband, her hands fisted on her hips. "Are you

telling me that from the time you understood we were betrothed until a

few months ago, when you found me on Earth, that you didn't find sexual

sustenance with anyone?"

Heavy silence suddenly filled the chamber, and Grayson almost felt sorry

for Stone for walking into such a self-made verbal trap. Almost.

"Well, no...." Stone admitted.

Over the past few months, Grayson had become used to their familiar

banter. Even the kind they did only through telepathy, which left everyone

else in the room feeling like they were watching an Earth television show

with the sound off.

Stone had definitely changed when he'd finally found Alyssandra, but the

changes were for the better. He was happier and more content somehow.

Grayson envied him that.

"What have I missed?" Prince Ryan, the third leg of the Trio of Disaster,

burst into the room and immediately made himself at home. He plopped

onto the overstuffed ottoman and snatched the goblet of ale from Grayson's

untouched dinner tray.

Grayson smiled. "Alyssandra was winning another argument with Stone."

"It wasn't an argument," the king and queen said together and then

laughed.

Ryan downed the ale and then pantomimed a large yawn. "So, in other

words, I haven't missed a thing."

Alyssandra shot Ryan a mock caustic glare, and he grinned at her,

obviously unrepentant. "I was trying to convince Grayson to let one of the

maids help him heal his shoulder before the Seer wakes up."

"Are we going to talk about what to tell her, or are we going to argue over

my health and welfare?"

The queen gave him a meaningful look, clearly communicating that she

would drop the subject... for now. However, Grayson had no illusions that

she would give up permanently. She was one of the most tenacious people

he'd ever met.

Alyssandra poured a new goblet of ale for Grayson and laid the dinner tray

on his lap. "If you refuse to find sexual sustenance, then you need food, so

eat." Her voice was firm and told him this was the price for her dropping

the earlier subject.

He smiled, picked up a piece of bread, and bit off a corner.

Ryan refilled his borrowed goblet of ale. "From what you've said, Gray, the

Seer is an independent and very stubborn woman. She has her own

business and a life back on Earth. We can't just huddle around her bed and

when she wakes up tell her she's been chosen to give up her entire life,

move to a different planet, and participate in a triangle that resembles

Earth's Roman orgies so we can save our planet."

A dull throb started behind Grayson's temples and slowly radiated

outward until the pain in his shoulder throbbed with the same rhythm. All

his energy had been focused on finding the Seer. He hadn't given much

thought to breaking the news to her about what they hoped she would give

up, and do, for a planet she knew nothing about.

A quick glance around the room assured Grayson he wasn't the only one

who had put off that particular line of thinking. Everyone's faces darkened

with concern.

The queen sat on the foot of Grayson's bed, careful not to jostle his food

tray. "We've found her—we can't just give up now. There have obviously

been women in the past who were willing to do this—from what I can tell

from the queen's archives, the triangle has been instituted at least three

times in our history."

Alyssandra had been kidnapped when she was an infant and taken to live

on Earth with the losing faction of a quarter of a century old civil war. The

kidnappers had raised her ignorant of her true heritage, and Alyssandra's

mother, Annalecia, had slowly weakened on Tador from grief and strain.

Annalecia's symbiotic relationship with their home planet had deteriorated

until Tador had slowly begun to sicken and die.

Luckily, Alyssandra had been recovered and was able to ascend the throne

in her mother's place, but now the planet was too far gone for only the

queen and king to repair through their generation of sexual energy. Their

only hope seemed to lie in some obscure references in the queen's

archives—something called the triangle.

Unfortunately, time was extremely short. The Seer had to be taken through

the Klatch coming-of-age ceremony on her twenty-fourth birthday, which

was just a handful of days away. Only then could the triangle ritual be

completed.

Alyssandra chewed her bottom lip and shook her head, the beads in her

scattered braids clinking together softly. "I think we need to convince her to

stay for a while and get to know the planet, the Klatch, and Grayson, and

hope she falls in love with all three enough so she will want to stay here

with us and perform the triangle."

Grayson let the idea roll around in his mind for a minute. "She'll be angry

when she finds out we lied to her." A large fist closed around his heart at

the thought of starting a relationship on omissions and lies. But even if the

civil war hadn't happened, he would've been slated to marry another fullblooded Klatch and produce heirs, regardless of his personal feelings. How

was this different, except that he had found the woman himself?

Ryan leaned forward, setting his goblet of ale on a nearby table. "True, but

once she calms down, she'll understand why we had to omit a few facts up

front."

"I'm not so sure about that." King Stone's expression showed nothing but

doubt.

"It's not like we have much of a choice. Otherwise, we've lost before we've

started." Ryan stood and gazed around the room. "We said we were willing

to do whatever it took to save the planet and institute the triangle. Are we,

or aren't we?"

Stone scrubbed a hand over his face, his appearance suddenly tired and

sad. "It's up to you, Grayson. She's slated to be your mate. Do we tell her

outright, or go with Alyssandra's plan?"

The weight of three heavy gazes pressed down on Grayson, and he looked

away. They were right, this was his decision, and he would bear

responsibility for whatever he chose.

His thoughts strayed to Katelyn as he'd seen her fighting off the Cunts in

her shop.

Her fiery red hair had billowed around her, and she hadn't cowered or

screamed. She had somehow attacked the Cunts with some type of energy

from a handheld weapon. The sound of her scream of rage when the Cunt's

beam had sizzled against her chest reverberated through his memories,

and he smiled. "My Seer is a warrior, even if she doesn't yet realize it. If we

tell her up front, she will try to keep the control of the situation firmly in

her own hands." He glanced up, and his smile turned grim. "I agree that we

don't tell her until the time is right."

3

Misty fog drifted around Katelyn's ankles, even as she recognized the

vision for what it was. Twenty-three years of experience made it almost

impossible for her to mistake a vision for anything else.

Yet, this one was more vivid than usual—less déjà vu and more current

somehow. She couldn't pinpoint the differences, but she knew.

The air was heavy with water and ripe with the scents of plants and earth.

Katelyn couldn't see anything past the mist even though the sun warmed

her and shined off the soft green grass under her bare toes. From the

smells, this place reminded her of the beautiful, grassy meadow in her last

vision.

"Good morning, Katelyn."

The deep bass rumble that made her name sound like an exotic delicacy

startled her, and she turned toward the voice.

Grayson emerged out of the mist, looking much as he had when she'd first

seen him walk into her shop. A plain black T-shirt stretched over broad

shoulders and down to a tapered waist.

Tight jeans molded over muscular thighs before covering the tops of wellworn black cowboy boots.

His dark hair gleamed with amber highlights in the sunlight. He'd pulled it

back into a simple ponytail. It looked soft and satiny, and Katelyn's fingers

literally itched to reach out and touch.

Grayson's chiseled jaw and sensual lips would be enough to make him

handsome, but those eyes the color of deep melted amethysts made him

breathtaking.

Unease skittered along Katelyn's spine as images of the battle inside her

shop flooded back.

Shit! Did that actually happen?

It must've been another vision. Yet, it hadn't felt like a vision, but rather

like something that had actually occurred. And why would she have a

vision of something so bizarre when all her visions usually came true in

some form?

A sinking sensation churned deep inside her belly, and she concentrated,

attempting to crystallize the images inside her mind's eye.

Try as she might, she couldn't remember anything past the blue beam that

had slammed into her chest like a sledgehammer. When the vivid memory

of the searing pain made her wince, she knew she hadn't imagined the

attack.

Katelyn squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the memory. Somehow,

when the sizzling beam had struck her, she had known if the beam hadn't

stopped draining her energy, she would have died. She brought her hand

to her chest, wincing again as she touched the sore spot left by the beam.

"Am I dead?" Even in her vision, her voice sounded hoarse and unused.

Grayson's deep chuckle vibrated through her. She longed to press her body

flush against his and ask him to laugh or even speak so she could see what

those wonderful, low rumbles would do to her in close proximity.

"No. Far from dead, my beautiful Seer. Unconscious, or maybe even asleep

but not dead." He stepped close, and Katelyn's breath caught in her throat.

Heat and energy pulsed between them, and every coherent thought fled

from her mind as she gave herself up to this vision.

"I'm glad you are all right. I have come to help you heal—to help heal us

both, actually." Grayson captured a strand of her hair and rubbed it

between his thumb and first two fingers.

The innocent caress sent gooseflesh marching over Katelyn's entire body,

followed by a tingling wave of heat just under her skin. A low moan

escaped before she could stop it.

She nearly let her head fall back in surrender, but then his words and not

his actions filtered to the front of her awareness. "Are you a healer?" she