Vision of Seduction (8 page)

neatly arranged on what Katelyn's untrained eye took to be fine china

edged in gold.

She had sampled almost everything, rationalizing that someone recovering

from any type of hangover needed something in their stomach. Besides,

maybe the calories wouldn't count on Tador, or wherever the hell she was.

A soft knock sounded against the frame of the open balcony door.

Katelyn glanced over to see a stunning woman with dark hair that flowed

nearly to her ass. Thin braids were scattered throughout her hair, and small

lavender beads peppered the braids. Skimpy cotton boy shorts clung to

shapely hips, and a half top of the same material allowed the bottom

curves of the woman's full breasts to peek out from the underside of the

top. Lavender eyes a few shades lighter than Grayson's studied Katelyn

with warm curiosity.

Hard, hot arousal hit Katelyn like a sucker punch to the stomach. Slick

moisture rushed to dampen her slit, and her nipples hardened into tight

points, surprising her.

She had never been attracted to a woman before, and she wasn't sure how

to feel about these foreign sensations. Thoughts of how those full lips

would feel against hers spilled through her mind. Her heart galloped with

a combination of shock and forbidden desire.

The woman's bewitching energy buzzed against Katelyn's, causing

Katelyn's lips to curve into a smile.

"Hi, Katelyn. I'm Queen Alyssandra."

Queen? "I guess, because Holly called Grayson 'Prince,' that makes him

your brother or something?"

The woman laughed. "No—actually, he's from a different royal family

that's no relation."

Katelyn stood, glad the action no longer caused the room to tilt. "It's nice to

meet you ... uh ... Queen."

Alyssandra laughed and waved Katelyn back to her seat. "Please, call me

Alyssa. I've only been on Tador for a few months. I'm not used to the full

formalities of my office yet." Alyssa eyed some sticky pastries on the table

in front of Katelyn. "Do you mind if I share some of your breakfast?"

"Help yourself." Katelyn watched as Alyssa gently bit her lower lip, the

pink flesh pillowed around even white teeth. A sudden urge to soothe the

skin with her tongue stabbed through Katelyn, and she bit back a gasp as

her body reacted.

Oh, my Goddess! I'm losing my mind.

Katelyn wrestled her mind back to the conversation at hand. "If you're the

queen, I should be thanking you for all your hospitality."

Alyssa plopped into the chair across from Katelyn and snatched a baked

pastry with blue filling and powdered sugar scattered over the top. She

broke off a piece and slipped it between her lips and then leaned back in

the chair and closed her eyes. As she chewed, she moaned in almost

orgasmic ecstasy.

A vivid flash of bringing this woman to orgasm strobed inside Katelyn's

mind. Her nipples hardened into tight, painful buds, and she winced

against the intense sensation.

Not a vision—just her own overactive imagination.

Katelyn swallowed hard and forced herself to speak. "They're pretty good."

Alyssa opened her eyes. "You have no idea. Now that I'm pregnant with

the future queen, my lady's maid and my husband watch every morsel of

sweets I eat."

Great, I'm having sexual fantasies not only about a woman, but about a pregnant

queen.

Katelyn shoved aside her reactions and focused on the woman before her,

who was not exactly what she would expect a queen to be like. Yet, Katelyn

couldn't help but like this easygoing woman instantly. And talk about a

relaxed dress code for royalty!

"So, you're a queen. Is there a king hiding around here, too?" Katelyn chose

what looked like a tart and took a bite. Some type of green fruit oozed from

the top. Flavor burst across her tongue, and she gave her own sigh of

ecstatic bliss. She waited for another bout of physical reactions, but none

came, so she relaxed.

If everyone ate like this here, why weren't they all three hundred poundsplus?

"If he's smart, King Stone will stay out of my way until I finish this pastry

and maybe several others." Alyssa took another healthy bite and chewed.

When she swallowed, she fixed Katelyn with an expectant gaze. "Are you

going to ask me if this is all real? I'm not sure if I'd handle waking up on a

new planet as well as you have."

Katelyn sighed and sat back against her wooden chair. "I've tried to avoid

thinking too much about it until I could ensure the room wouldn't spin

every time I move. I remember the attack at my shop, and I'm not sure

what to make of that. Either I'm insane, this is an extremely vivid vision,

complete with breakfast, or I'm truly on another planet talking to a queen."

She shook her head at the absurdity of the situation. "At this point, I'm not

even sure which to hope for."

Katelyn thought the queen would laugh, but instead, she steepled her

fingers against her full lips. "Let me put it this way. My reality growing up

on Earth was much different from my current reality as queen on Tador.

But I would gladly hand over my sanity or anything else to stay here."

Alyssa laughed, a short, humorless sound. "You're welcome here as long as

you like, Katelyn."

Something told her the queen had left something unsaid, but she wasn't

exactly in a position to ask outright. Unsure how to respond, Katelyn

reverted to her comfortable, sarcastic humor. "Not a bad offer if all the men

look anything remotely like Grayson."

Alyssa laughed again—a genuine sound of mirth this time— and her eyes

danced with mischief. "Let's just say you'll be pleasantly surprised in that

regard. Although I have a feeling Grayson won't like your appreciation of

any of the other men's good looks, or even the women, for that matter."

Katelyn bristled at any discussion of Grayson becoming possessive or

proprietary over her. Katelyn had always prided herself on being

independent and her own woman. If Grayson had a problem with that,

they needed to resolve that misconception first thing.

Her brain suddenly caught up with her indignation, and she processed the

last half of Alyssa's sentence.

Katelyn's cheeks burned, and a lead ball of mortification settled inside her

stomach. Was Alyssa psychic? Had she picked up on Katelyn's strong

attraction to her?

A crease formed between Alyssa's dark brows, and she leaned forward and

rested her elbows on the table. "Oh, I didn't mean to embarrass you. I guess

I thought, because you are partly human, Tador wouldn't affect you the

same way it does the natives." She reached out for the pitcher of tea and

poured it into a tall glass. "I assume from your reaction that you're

experiencing strong sexual urges. Don't be embarrassed—sexual energy

here on Tador is just as important as food or water. It most likely means

you need sexual sustenance to fully recover."

Katelyn's temples throbbed. Grayson had said as much in their dream

vision, but he hadn't mentioned that she would suddenly be attracted to

women, too. "I'm not sure what's happening to me. I've always had a

healthy libido, but oh, my Goddess. Does the planet also make you

attracted to people you weren't attracted to before?"

Alyssa took a drink and set her glass on the table. "You can rest easy on

that subject—you're not crazy. Tador is a world of sexual energy, and there

are very few things forbidden here. The planet will pull you strongly

toward what you need to ensure you retain enough energy." She brushed a

braid over her shoulder. "When you see Grayson you should have him give

you a tour so you can see for yourself." The queen leaned back in her chair

and studied Katelyn. "I like you already. If Grayson had to bring someone

back through the between, I'm glad he found someone with a sense of

humor."

Confusion flitted through Katelyn's brain. She set the pastry on the plate in

front of her and wiped her fingers on a pillowy soft napkin. "Between?"

The queen nodded and then swallowed. "I'm sorry, let me back up. The

between is a portal between our world and Earth. It's a dark void, and I've

never met anyone who likes using it, but it's an easy way to travel, once

you learn how to open the portal."

"Is it hard to learn?" It would be a relief to know Katelyn didn't have to rely

on the Klatch to decide to let her leave.

"It took me a while. However, I think only Klatch or Cunts are able to open

one." Alyssa's brow furrowed, and she seemed about to say something

more when she stopped and shook her head. "Anyway, I haven't had much

of a chance to talk to Grayson yet this morning, and he's been busy

recovering from the injuries he received the other night. But he should be

down in a few minutes."

Katelyn's palms grew clammy as unease trickled along her spine. "Other

night? How long was I out?"

"Two days." Alyssa bit her bottom lip, choosing her words. "Well, I assume

you mean in Earth terms. When it's night there, it's day here. So, when

Grayson brought you back through the between, it was two nights ago,

Earth time, or two days ago, Tador time."

Sick dread pooled inside Katelyn's stomach. Rita had probably reported

her missing by now. Crap! "I have to get back. Rita will be freaking out."

Alyssa placed a hand over Katelyn's. The queen's hand was soft and warm,

and Katelyn had a sudden urge to graze her thumb over the back of it the

way Grayson had done to Katelyn's after her vision at her store.

Unaware of Katelyn's thoughts, or maybe in spite of them, Alyssa

continued. "I figured you'd be worried about your store, so I had one of the

guards write a note to your co-owner. They also cleaned up as best they

could and brought your purse—it's in the bottom drawer of the nightstand

in the room where you woke. Rita will think you and Grayson have run off

for a week-long cruise." Alyssa cocked her head to the side to study

Katelyn's reaction. "We've also left discreet guards in place around the

neighborhood, and some inside the shop, to ensure the Cunts don't harm

Rita to try to get to you."

Katelyn caught her breath. She'd been so busy coming to terms with her

own situation, she hadn't stopped to consider Rita might be in danger.

Hell, she still wasn't sure why she was in danger. "Thanks. I wouldn't want

anything to happen to her." The comforting balm of relief slid through

Katelyn, and she sighed. At least Rita wouldn't worry about her.

She took a breath to ask Alyssa why either she or Rita were in danger, but

then Alyssa squeezed Katelyn's hand and let go to relax against her chair.

The breath backed up in Katelyn's lungs, and she swallowed hard as

another thick surge of arousal surged through her. Her labia throbbed, and

her nipples were suddenly sensitive, her breasts heavy and aching.

A gentle breeze teased the queen's hair, and the beads in her braids tinkled

against each other like fairy song.

Katelyn dropped her hands into her lap to keep from reaching back out for

Alyssa's hand. Whether this planet affected her or not, she found it

disconcerting to react to a woman almost as much as she'd reacted to

Grayson.

"It amazes me that men don't think of these things." Alyssa continued,

hopefully unaware of Katelyn's discomfiting reaction. "But, then, they're

men. They think we'll just blindly follow whatever they dictate without

question."

Katelyn nodded. A subject change would be good—anything to get away

from this sudden sexual attraction to the queen. She cleared her throat,

hoping her voice would work. "So, do you know what this is all about?

Why those pale guys showed up at my store?"

Pain, followed quickly by anger, etched across Alyssa's face, surprising

Katelyn. "Yes, I know only too well who they are and what they want."

Alyssa dropped the remains of her pastry onto the plate in front of her.

"About twenty-four years ago, there was a civil war here on Tador. The

Klatch all look pretty much like Grayson and myself—dark hair, lavender

eyes, the men muscular, the women curvy. The other race we warred with

are called the Cunts."

Katelyn cringed at the term. "Yikes. What a horrible name for a race."

Alyssa laughed. "You have no idea." She topped off her glass of tea from

the pitcher. "Most of the Cunts are products of a mating between two halfKlatch, half-human parents. Once the Klatch blood is diluted to that

degree, their physical characteristics change, and their children are pale

blond, with tight, athletic bodies and clear blue eyes. Over time, the Cunts

decided they were superior to the Klatch and tried to overthrow the king

and queen—my parents."

Katelyn sipped at her own tea, still trying to breathe through the physical

reactions surging through her. "You said 'tried'—I assume the ... the Cunts

were unsuccessful?"

The queen nodded, but her lips thinned, and her eyes narrowed. "They

may not have been entirely successful, but they did a lot of damage. When

they lost, they fled to Earth to hide, but not before they kidnapped me and

my nanny."

Alyssa's energy snapped and sizzled in the air around them and caused