Finding the Jewel Read online

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chloe lay quivering on the side of the sunken hot-tub pool and tried to catch her breath. She was still somewhat in shock.

  Chris, the boyfriend she’d had in college who had claimed he was, so into going down, (he’d called himself a “cunning linguist” ha-ha) had absolutely nothing on the big Kindred.

  Chris had made a big deal about what an oral artist he was but when it came time to do the deed, he didn’t seem to have any idea what he was doing. He would get between her thighs and take a few licks, looking up every now and again, as though he expected Chloe to be in the throes of ecstasy just from the fact that his tongue was in contact with her pussy.

  He always seemed disappointed that she wasn’t thrashing and moaning and begging for more. But Chloe had too much self respect to put on such a huge fake production—although she would moan so as not to hurt his self esteem.

  The few times her ex had managed to hit on something that felt really good, Chloe had begged him to keep going and stay in that spot. Which, of course, he’d taken as a sign to try something completely different…which meant that any momentum he’d built was immediately lost.

  Ultimately, Chloe had found that letting Chris demonstrate his “devastating oral skill” on her was an exercise in frustration and futility. Eventually she had started making excuses why they couldn’t do it and just as quickly, he had stopped offering. And that had been the extent of her experience with letting a man go down on her.

  Until now.

  Her experience with her college boy friend wasn’t at all like what Tark had given her. The big Kindred lapped and sucked her pussy like he was a starving man and she was his only sustenance. It was clear he loved what he was doing—there was nothing tentative about it. And the way he had known exactly when she needed penetration to help push her over the edge…how had he known that, anyway?

  Chloe couldn’t figure it out. She only knew it was the most intense sexual experience of her life and she’d had it with a man she had known less than a week. Less than two days, in fact. God, what did that say about her? For that matter, what did it say about Tark that he was the most giving and talented lover she’d ever had when he barely knew her?

  That’s not true and you know it, whispered a little voice in her head. You know him and he knows you. You click perfectly. It’s almost like you were meant to be together.

  She had a flash of bright golden eyes—the memory of a dream maybe?—and then it was gone, almost before she could register it.

  But the idea that they belonged together…that was crazy, right? True, they had a lot more in common than she’d previously imagined. They had both felt the sting of rejection although Chloe had to admit it sounded like Tark’s childhood had been considerably worse than her own. Her mother, who was thin, wasn’t above dropping a hint that she worried about Chloe and “just wanted her to be healthy” but it sounded like Tark’s father had absolutely hated him—and hadn’t been shy about letting him know it either.

  Chloe’s heart went out to the big Kindred again. She felt incredibly close to him right now, and not only because of the intense physical pleasure he’d given her. He’d seemed so big and strong and invulnerable before…now he had shown her his weaknesses and she loved him for it.

  Wait a minute, who said anything about love? asked a nervous little voice in her brain. What are you talking about, Chloe? Remember you’ve only known him a few days…

  Suddenly the stone door of the chamber slid open. It opened so soundlessly, that Chloe wouldn’t even have noticed it if she hadn’t been looking in that direction just then. The junior monk from the night before was standing there and for a moment they locked eyes—then his slid away to crawl over her naked body, glowing avidly with lust.

  Chloe sat up with a gasp, reaching for a towel since her robe still showed no signs of reforming. Before she could fumble it into place, the junior monk came barging in with another floating cart.

  “Oh, sorry,” he said, his eyes still fixed on Chloe’s half-naked body as he spoke. “But it’s lunch time so I brought your meal.”

  Tark sprang out of the hot pool angrily, putting himself between Chloe and the junior monk.

  “Y-you little shit! M-monk Taroni t-told us we weren’t going to be b-bothered,” he growled.

  The junior monk paled a little but held his ground.

  “My apologies,” he said, in a tone that made it clear how insincere he was. His eyes kept flicking greedily back to Chloe, who had finally managed to wrap a towel around herself. “I’ll just leave the food and go.”

  “N-not good enough.” In two steps, Tark was looming over the monk and then he had the other male by the throat. He lifted him easily, one-handed and glared at him. “Keep your eyes off my female,” he growled clearly, without a single stutter.

  “S-sorry,” the junior monk sputtered. “Didn’t…mean to…”

  “Don’t let it happen again.” Tark dropped him and jerked his head at the door.

  The monk understood and practically ran out of the sliding stone door, banging it closed behind him.

  “Little b-bastard,” Tark growled, staring at the stone panel balefully. He looked at Chloe. “S-sorry he s-saw you.”

  “I am too. But it wasn’t your fault. He’s a peeping tom.”

  “A peeping wh-what?” Tark frowned. “S-sorry, I’ve never h-h-heard that phrase b-before.”

  “Well, you just learned English yesterday,” Chloe pointed out. “So I wouldn’t expect you to know all our idioms and expressions. A peeping tom is a guy—a male—who gets off on watching women naked when they don’t know it or aren’t expecting it.” She shivered with disgust. “I guess maybe he has the same view on, uh, ‘Elites’ as you do. Or more likely he’s looking at every naked woman he can get a glimpse of around here.”

  “Sh-should have wrung his neck,” Tark growled, his eyes flashing angrily. “How d-dare he look at you?”

  Chloe sighed. “Well, it’s over now and I bet after the scare you gave him, he’ll never try anything like that again. At least, not with us.” Being seen naked and in such a vulnerable position, made her feel violated and upset but there was nothing she could do to take it back. “We’ll tell Monk Taroni about it when we see him,” she told Tark. “In the meantime, I wonder what’s for lunch. Are you hungry?”

  His eyes flashed again.

  “Always hungry for you, baby.”

  Chloe felt the heat rise to her cheeks when she remembered the hungry way he had tasted her pussy. The memory made butterflies take off in her stomach and she knew if she let herself, she could easily get lost in letting the big Kindred explore her body and exploring his. But they needed to reign it in some, she told herself. It felt dangerous to go so fast…dangerous and a little frightening.

  “I meant hungry for food, silly,” she said lightly, going over to the floating cart and looking at the oval silver dome over the tray. “I wonder what’s for lunch?”

  But when she lifted the lid of the tray, it was completely empty.

  “Hey, what’s this?” Chloe exclaimed. “That little jerk didn’t even bring us any food!”

  “It m-must have been a pretense,” Tark rumbled. “He intended to use the cart as a-an excuse to b-barge in and l-look at you.”

  His face was dark with anger, clearly he was still pissed off at the junior monk.

  Chloe was pretty upset herself, especially since she was actually quite hungry for real now. They hadn’t had any breakfast and the weird cakin they’d eaten the night before had been a long time ago now.

  “Yup, nothing here,” she said, reaching down to tap the bottom of the silver tray to illustrate her point. But strangely enough, something soft and spongy stopped her before she could reach the bottom. “What the…?” Chloe patted around the tray and felt more things on it—some soft and some hard and brittle feeling.

  “Wh-what is it?” Tark asked, coming over with a frown. His robe had reformed into full length trousers again,
Chloe saw distractedly. Her own robe was back to being a dress too—which was nice. But what the hell was going on with the tray?

  “I don’t know what it is,” she said, frowning. “There seems to be something on the tray but I can’t see it.”

  “Hmmm…” Tark reached down to touch too and then lifted something in his hand. Since whatever he was holding was invisible, he looked like a mime. He brought the thing—whatever it was—to his nose and sniffed. “Sm-smells okay,” he said, shrugging at Chloe.

  “Invisible lunch?” She reached for something too and got one of the soft, spongy things between her fingers. She looked at Tark. “Should we try it?”

  He shrugged and took a bite, then chewed thoughtfully.

  “Not bad,” he said at last after swallowing. “S-salty and m-meaty. The center is r-runny.”

  Chloe took a bite herself and chewed.

  “Tastes kind of like a fried egg sandwich, but meatier,” she said at last. “The yolk is kind of runny. Not the best thing I ever ate, but not horrible either. What are the other things, I wonder?” She reached down with her other hand and picked up something that felt crispy and light in her fingers. “A potato chip?” she wondered aloud and took a bite.

  Whatever it was, it tasted salty and sharp—almost like a salt and vinegar chip—although it was more cylindrical than flat.

  “Not bad,” Chloe remarked and took another bite and then another, finishing it off. Whatever kind of chip it was, it was considerably bigger and crunchier than potato chips back home.

  They went on eating and both had finished their first invisible sandwiches and several invisible chips when there came a rapping at the sliding stone door.

  “Come in,” Chloe called. At least whoever it was had knocked this time.

  “Hello, my children.” It was Monk Taroni, standing in the doorway. He looked at them closely. “Are you ready to receive me?”

  “Oh, um—yes, I guess so.” Chloe nodded, thinking that at least she was dressed. Thank goodness the robe had reappeared and turned into a dress again!

  She stood up quickly and Tark stood beside her and a little in front, protectively. Clearly he wasn’t about to let the monk anywhere near her—which was fine with Chloe. In her opinion, the staff here at the Resort of Resonant Oneness were bossy and rude…not to mention perverted if you included the peeping tom junior monk.

  “Now then.” Monk Taroni looked at them sternly. “Have you obeyed my orders from this morning?” He frowned at Tark. “Have you pleasured your mate with your tongue and fingers and brought her to completion?”

  Tark scowled as though he thought this was none of Taroni’s business but he nodded briefly and said, “Yes.”

  The monk looked closely at the hem and edges of the big Kindred’s robe-trousers and seemed pleased when they remained white.

  “Well, well…” He nodded approvingly and turned to Chloe. “And did you enjoy allowing your male to taste you and pleasure you with his mouth?”

  “I…um…” Chloe felt herself blushing scarlet and her robe-dress turned the same color. For the first time, she wondered if the color of the resonite robes might have something to do with their emotions?

  “Y-you don’t have to ask h-her such a personal question,” Tark growled at the monk angrily. “Isn’t it e-e-enough that we f-followed your orders?”

  “Personal for her…or for you?” Taroni raised one flame-red eyebrow at the big Kindred. “Are you afraid that maybe you didn’t please her? That you left her hungry and the truth will come out if she answers my question?”

  “Of course he pleased me,” Chloe said quickly. She didn’t want Tark getting the wrong idea just because she was embarrassed. “Tark is an extremely skilled and giving lover,” she added, though her cheeks were burning. “He pleased me very much!”

  As the hem and edges of her robe-dress remained white, she knew that both men knew she was telling the truth.

  Monk Taroni looked pleased.

  “Very good, my children!” he exclaimed. “At last you’re beginning to work on your relationship. Here.”

  He handed Chloe the same chunk of crystal he’d used to test their “Skin Hunger” before. She took it gingerly, remembering how it had gotten burning-cold the last time she’d touched it. But to her surprise, it only got faintly chilly and the blue color was so light it could hardly be detected.

  This seemed to please Monk Taroni even more.

  “Excellent!” he exclaimed, taking the crystal back from her. “Well, you two really are making progress! All right—now you.”

  He handed the rock to Tark. Almost at once, it turned a deep, icy blue. At least frost didn’t form around the big Kindred’s knuckles but it wasn’t much of an improvement.

  Taroni took the crystal back, frowning.

  “What’s this? You’re still near to starving!” He turned to Chloe. “Why didn’t you satisfy his need as he satisfied yours?”

  “I…um…” Chloe didn’t know what to say. It occurred to her that she had been completely on the receiving end and hadn’t even offered to reciprocate. How selfish of her!

  But Tark didn’t look upset—at least, not at her. He was glaring at the monk.

  “I h-have been h-hungry all my life,” he said quietly, his deep voice a rumbling echo in the stone cavern. “Tasting my mate—I m-mean Chloe, once—c-cannot feed my h-hunger entirely.”

  Chloe felt the big Kindred’s words like a blow to the heart.

  I have been hungry all my life.

  She thought of the things he’d told her about his childhood…and his time with the Dark Kindred. His loneliness had been so overwhelming, he had even thought about shutting off his emotions forever, just so he wouldn’t have to feel the pain…the ache of it anymore.

  A wish to heal him—to heal him in every way possible, physically…emotionally…and sexually filled her. She wanted to help him…wanted to touch him. Quietly, she slipped her hand into his and squeezed. Tark looked down at her, his golden eyes filled with emotion. He squeezed back.

  “Yes, well…” Monk Taroni frowned. “I did say you had built up quite a deficit. It will take some time together to pay off that debt. So I suppose this negative reading on the crystal is a reflection of that.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” Chloe said, nodding.

  “So…” The monk clapped his hands together. “We’ll just have to work extra hard on that in the future.”

  Chloe felt a spasm of panic. True, letting Tark go down on her had been the most intense sexual experience of her life but she really didn’t enjoy being told to get busy on command. And what “homework” might the monk devise for them next?

  “I understand you want us to work on our relationship but how can we, uh, get down to business knowing your apprentice can come bursting in on us anytime?” she demanded, hoping to change the subject before Taroni ordered her to do a strip tease or give Tark a lap dance or something.

  “What?” Taroni frowned. “But I gave strict instructions that you were not to be bothered!”

  “Well, he must not have listened,” Chloe said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Because he came in without even knocking and caught us in a, uh, very compromising position. Me, anyway.” Her cheeks got hot when she remembered how extremely naked she had been when the junior monk had opened their door.

  “It’s t-true,” Tark growled. “He c-came in and was staring at my female. My mate.” The low, possessive note in his voice sent a shiver down Chloe’s spine. Somehow it didn’t sound like he was playing a part—it sounded like the big Kindred was really claiming her. And his stutter had gotten much better—she wondered if he had noticed.

  “But I told him to leave you be!” Monk Taroni looked more and more upset.

  “Well, he didn’t listen,” Chloe snapped. “How else would we have gotten this lunch tray with the invisible sandwiches and chips?”

  She and Tark stood aside and pointed to the floating lunch cart, which had been hidden by their bodie
s up until now.

  “Invisible what?” The monk frowned and looked at the seemingly empty tray. “What the…” He stepped forward and prodded at the contents of the tray with one finger, frowning. “Oh, I see—you were given the hashesh meal that was meant for the Raz-puts who are occupying the guest cavern down the corridor from yours.”

  “I don’t think he intended to give it to us,” Chloe remarked, frowning. “He opened the door really quietly—I think he was trying to spy on us without us knowing. But when we caught him, he gave us the lunch cart as an excuse.”

  “This is terrible.” The monk frowned and shook his head. “Zaroni has been warned about such things in the past. I simply cannot understand why he is so badly behaved—maybe because he is the clone of a clone instead of a clone of our original master, who is too old, now to undergo the rigorous cloning process again himself.”

  “What? He pulled this kind of thing before?” Chloe demanded. “And you’re still letting him stay? You know, this kind of behavior can escalate to much worse things.”

  “I am aware.” The monk was still staring at the seemingly empty lunch tray distractedly. He shook his head sadly. “He did not even bother to activate the sighted spectrum of the hashesh.”

  “The w-what?” Tark asked, frowning.

  “Here.” Taroni reached under the tray and seemed to fiddle with something. There was a sound like someone snapping their fingers and a rainbow glow appeared briefly over the wide, oval silver tray. Suddenly the food became visible.

  What Chloe saw nearly made her gag.

  The “sandwiches” did indeed appear to be something between two pieces of soft, dark brown bread. But when she opened one of them she saw not a fried egg, but an eyeball as big as an egg staring back at her. The iris was bright purple and about the size of an egg yolk.

  The one in my sandwich must have popped when I bit into it—that was the runny part, Chloe thought, feeling her stomach heave. But if anything, the “chips” were even worse than the “sandwich.”