The Torn, Book One of the Holding Kate Series (10 page)

I opened my eyes, stunned. Corey’s expression mirrored mine. We turned to look at our team mates with new eyes. The dragonet that had connected Corey’s thoughts to mine trembled in fear in Corey’s arms and watched the dragon slayers with dread.

I glanced at Corey.

“
Did he see that?”
He asked silently.

I nodded.
“If you did, then he did.”

“
We need a spear!” Tara and Trip were suddenly in motion. Ash followed them out of the cave with a confused expression.

“Corey? What if he warns…”

Corey held up his hand and shook his head, cutting his eyes down to the dragon in his arms. I jumped up, a ball of nervous energy, and practically danced in place.

“What are we going to do?” I whirled around, lost my balance and fell smack into Corey. He held out a hand to steady me, and then we both cringed, waiting for the jolt of pain to hit Corey.

It didn’t come. We froze, staring at each other. He moved his hand from my arm to touch my face. I jerked back a bit, but saw the determination in his eyes, so I let him touch me. He cupped my cheek and a gentle current seemed to vibrate along his palm. It was extremely pleasant. His face broke into a huge grin and he moved in to kiss me.

It was the most satisfying kiss I had ever experienced. Gentle vibrations and a magnetic pull seemed to flow between us. Passion spiked immediately. I suddenly wanted to feel every part of Corey. His thoughts flowed into mine, both of us aroused to ecstasy. I wanted him. I wanted him more than I have ever wanted anything in my life. He ripped my jacket off and dropped the dragonet to the floor and pressed his body against mine.

The current built up in a split second and zapped him so hard it knocked him onto his rear. I stood there in my sports bra with my jacket dangling off one arm, panting and reaching out into thin air. The sense of having Corey ripped away from me so suddenly was unbearable.

I stood there shivering from delight and electricity. Corey got up, brushed his pants off, walked to the dragonet and picked him up. He stood in front of me with desire simmering through his thoughts and eyes, then pulled my jacket back on, zipped it up and kissed my neck.

“Sorry about that, my Kate.” His cheeks burned with color. His thoughts were still aroused as were mine, but he was doing a much better job of controlling them than I was. “I don’t know what got into me.”

I stood still, shivering and panting. Watching him and listening to his thoughts as they continued where we left off, I let out a huff of breath.

“
What was that?” I spoke with a grizzled voice.

“It seems he will let me touch you now, as long as I am holding him.”

“Yeah, but that was…”
Sexy!

He smiled and chuckled.
“Yeah, it was.”

I cocked my head first to the dark cavern, then to the opening of the cave. “This isn’t the right time, but we have GOT to do that again!” I grinned.

Corey’s face lit up. “So you’ve chosen? You want me over Trip?” He moved toward me.

My face fell. I didn’t know what I wanted, the Greek god, slayer of dragons or the boy who was my soul.

Corey read my hesitation, stepped back, and put the dragon down. The little critter scampered over to me and rubbed against my legs. “No Kate, I want you to choose. I won’t share your affections. Let me know when you decide.”

He turned and walked out of the cave, leaving me in a haze of pheromones and confusion.

I lay in
the dark with the dragonet nuzzled under my chin. Corey slept on my right side and Trip on my left. Tara slept across the cavern and Ash slumped against the cave wall, snoring through his turn at watch. I let him sleep. I was awake, so it was good that someone was getting rest. I was tired, but every time I drifted off to sleep, the little dragon would send me a punctuated thought and wake me. I was about ready to toss him.

So I lay silently eavesdropping on everyone’s dreams. Tara dreamed of Trip, no surprise there. She chased him around until he caught her and then surprise she threw me over a cliff! I decided I was finished listening to her dreams. Note to self: Don’t be alone on a cliff with Tara.

Trip dreamed of his little sister. She was cute, a fragile little thing. She had straight dark hair and Trip’s large soulful brown eyes. In his dream someone had taken her and he chased them through dark corridors and halls, never quite able to reach her. “Kimmy!” He cried out in such a voice of agony and despair. He got within inches of her and then she was snatched away. Then his dream changed and an enormous green dragon clamped his talons around her and she morphed into me. The dragon flew away with me in his claws while Trip chased and cried out futilely. It made me sad. I didn’t want to hear any more of his dream either.

Ash dreamed of traversing a mud flat with Jose. They sloshed and strained forward as fast as they could slog through it. As they went they gathered up heaping handfuls of black mud and smeared it all over their bodies, faces, arms, and legs. They took careful pains to make sure there was nothing exposed. Ash looked up into the sky and I saw that it was full of creatures. Angelic looking beings hovered above them with lightning bolts in hand. On the banks of the circular mud flat cavorted hideous and grotesque demons. They had dart guns and bows and attacked Ash and Jose mercilessly. Where the mud covered them, they could not be hurt by the darts, arrows, or lightning bolts. The places uncovered were vulnerable. Was this Ash’s Scriptorium experience? It seemed likely since he came back covered in mud.

I listened in to Corey’s dream and smiled. He dreamed of pink fluffy clouds and flying. Bliss. Kissing. My face. I hummed in satisfaction. Now here was a boy who knew how to dream. I curled toward him, ready to settle down into the yummy dream.

“Beauty!”

I glanced down at the dragonet.

“We must go now!”
His eyes whirled in fear and urgency.

“Go where little one?”
I stroked his soft hide.

“The Mother comes for you.”

Cold dread settled into the pit of my stomach and I slowly sat up and held the dragon away from my body. I glanced at the pile of spears that had been divided between Trip, Tara, and Ash. Corey had refused to even think of killing the mother of intelligent beings until we tried all means of communication first. I was proud of his integrity, but I was also very thankful for the numerous spears that Trip and Tara had carved.

“We have to go to her!”

“What? You want to feed me to The Mother?”

“NO! We must go now! The stinky one will wake soon.”
It was true. I could see Trip’s thoughts, and his dreams had stopped.

I leaned over to wake him up.

“NO! The Mother will eat him! We must go to her and stop her!”

The urgency of the little one’s thoughts startled me. He thought he could talk to The Mother and get her to change her mind about eating us?

“Yes, Beauty! We must go!”

If I could find a peaceful solution to this mess, then it was worth it. Maybe I could talk to The Mother and save my friends. I slowly pushed myself up from the cave floor, laced on my boots, and stole down into the dark recesses of the cave corridor.

The dragonet climbed onto my shoulder, wrapped his tail around my neck and peered out of my hair.

I stumbled along blindly and banged my shins on the jutting rocks.

“Can’t you see in the dark, Beauty?”

“NO! I cannot!”

“Here, borrow my eyes.”
He touched my cheek with his tiny claw and suddenly the cavern illuminated. No, the cavern was still dark, but I could see exactly where to place my feet.

“Cool! Do you have a name, little one?”

“Dagan.”

“Dagan? I like it.”
I reached up and scratched his back and he purred a contented sound. I giggled at his obvious pleasure, mostly to hide the fact that I was scared to death.

“Turn here.”
He showed me the corridor to the left and I slowly entered it.

“Beauty, why do you like the Dragon Murderer?”

“He is my friend. Why do you think he is stinky?”

“He smells of death.”

I sucked in a shocked breath and stumbled. How did Dagan know that Trip had killed his step father?

“Not father. Many, many have died at his hands. He has killed so much that it has become his only way to deal with obstacles. The Mother hears his thoughts and comes to destroy him and those who side with him.”

“Dagan! NO! She can’t! I love them. They are my family.”

“What is this—family?”

“The people who I love the most, my closest kin. My eggs.”

“Yes, I chose you. You are Mine. We will let her taste.”

“What? No! We won’t!”

“She will taste and know that you are for the good. If she likes you, then she may leave your eggs alone.”

“She is going to eat me?”
I was about to turn around and run back screaming for Trip and Tara.

“You are Mine. She will not eat you.”

I settled down a bit. I was still worried. What could this little thing do to stop a full grown dragon?

“You are Mine.”

“Yeah, you keep saying that, Dagan, but I don’t know what it means.”

“You are Mine. I chose you.”

“Like a cocker spaniel?”

“I picked you to be the landwalker.”

“Landwalker?”

“Yes. We are bonded.”

I sighed in exasperation. This was getting nowhere. The little one just didn’t have enough words. Though the words he did have were quite startling. If you would have told me three days ago that I would be on a journey to be eaten by an angry momma dragon, falling in love with two gorgeous boys, and have Xena Warrior Princess as a mortal enemy, I would have called for the men with the little white jacket. But here I was in that very position taking orders from a clairvoyant, electrostatic, baby dragon.

“Beauty, why is he your friend?”

He seemed intent on understanding my attraction to Trip. So, I decided to open up to the Drago-therapy session. Maybe it would help me gain some insight.

“Well, he is everything I am not. Strong, sure, confident. I have none of those qualities and it seemed like what I needed.”

“He thinks you are his. You are not his. You are Mine.”

“Well why do you like Corey? Doesn’t he feel the same way?”

“Oh no, the funny one thinks he is yours.”

I slid to a stop. That was quite a distinction. Trip wanted to possess me, but Corey felt he belonged to me? I knew it to be true, the moment I heard it. It just fit their personalities.

So if I chose Trip, I would always belong to him. He would be the protector and I would be the frail object of his protection. Part of that sounded really good to me. I was frail. I needed protection. The other part of me did not want to trade my freedom for protection.

If I chose Corey, then what? He wasn’t strong like Trip, at least not in the physical sense. Stronger than me, of course, everyone was stronger than me. It wasn’t as if he were a frail little thing. He was in good shape and he had above average strength for a boy his age. Mentally, though, there was something unwavering in Corey, steadfast and true. His strength was in his intelligence, integrity, honor, and ability to love unconditionally.

Why did I have to choose? I respected them both for different reasons. I wanted them both to be my friend. I needed Corey’s calm soothing strength of character, but that wasn’t going to do me any good if I didn’t survive this mess. Trip was the one I needed to stay alive.

It occurred to me that they both offered those things without strings. The only thing that had strings attached was the boyfriend card. Did I need a boyfriend? Couldn’t I just have them both as friends? They would both care for me and nurture me. They would both hold me and love me in their own way. Was it wrong to want that? We could be friends. Good friends. Just friends.

The thought of never kissing Corey again made me want to cry
.
GAH! I hate this!
I needed strong arms to hold me. Whose arms? Was there a stronger source of security than just a boyfriend?

“Beauty?”

“Yes, Dagan.”

“The Mother sees you.”