Finding the Jewel Read online

  “Oh,” Chloe whispered. Suddenly she felt lost, drowning in the depths of his golden eyes. “Tark—” she began but just then the door to the suite slapped open and a very angry Monk Taroni stomped in.

  “What’s this I hear about the two of you sneaking around last night instead of feeding the Skin Hunger as I told you to?” he demanded, glaring down at them.

  Tark rose up at once and pushed Chloe protectively behind him. She gathered the furs to her and peered out from behind him.

  “Fuck…off,” Tark growled, glaring at the monk. “I d-don’t c-care who you a-are. You d-don’t come into my r-room with my f-female without knocking!” Even standing down in the bed pit, he towered over the other man and his rage was terrible to see.

  Taroni shrunk back. Apparently the sight of a half-naked, seven-foot-tall Beast Kindred warrior with glowing gold eyes and an angry snarl on his face was more than he had bargained for.

  “Well…you were wrong to disobey orders,” he huffed, still frowning. “Only the fact that our founder, Monk Aaroni has taken a liking to you keeps me from kicking you out this instant.”

  “I’ll t-tell you who’s going to get k-kicked out,” Tark growled.

  If blue skin could go pale then Monk Taroni’s did. But somehow he stood his ground.

  “Tell me this,” he demanded, “did the two of you feed the Skin Hunger as I told you to last night?”

  “We, uh…we slept together,” Chloe said, joining the conversation because she didn’t think she ought to keep hiding behind the big Kindred.

  “Slept together?” The monk frowned threateningly at them. And he had seemed so nice the day before, Chloe thought. Why was he being so stern and awful now?

  “Well…yes,” she said and gestured aimlessly at the bed pit where she and Tark were still standing.

  “I see I must be blunt,” Taroni said, his orange eyes flashing. He pointed at Chloe. “Did you or did you not open your thighs for your mate last night and take his shaft deep inside you?”

  “Um…” Chloe didn’t like to lie but she didn’t want them to get kicked out before they could get the jewel for Tark either. “Yes,” she said, trying to make her voice as firm as she could. “Yes, I did.”

  “Liar!” the monk exclaimed.

  “What? How can you say that?” Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t know what we did or didn’t do last night!”

  “Look at the hem of your robe! See how black it is!” Taroni pointed at her hem and edging of her robe-dress which was indeed black. “The resonite tells on you,” he told Chloe. “It is white when you tell the truth and turns black when you tell a falsehood. That is how I know you are lying!”

  “What?” Chloe looked down at her dress, feeling betrayed. “Why didn’t you tell us that before? This is entrapment!”

  “I wanted to know if you were lying or not—to me or to yourselves.” Taroni looked both triumphant and smug—not exactly a winning combination in Chloe’s opinion.

  “Well…well it’s none of your business, anyway,” she snapped.

  “Yes, it is. You say you came here for Oneness—how are you ever going to achieve it if you refuse to follow my guidance and feed the Skin Hunger?”

  “I don’t believe the ‘Skin Hunger’ is even a thing,” Chloe countered. “How can you tell if someone is, uh, hungry for someone else, anyway?”

  “I told you—the resonite tells on you. Here!” He shoved a clear crystal towards her and Chloe took it without thinking. At once the chunk began to glow blue and get cooler. Soon it was deep azure and so cold she had to drop it.

  “Ouch!” she exclaimed as the crystal clattered to the floor.

  “Y-you okay?” Tark took her hand quickly in his much larger one, looking anxiously at her palm.

  “I’m okay.” Chloe flexed her fingers. “It just got freezing cold for some reason.”

  “It became bitterly cold because that particular crystal measures the amount of Skin Hunger you are experiencing,” Monk Taroni remarked, frowning at both of them. “Clearly you are still very hungry. And I am certain if your mate were to hold the crystal, the results would be the same.”

  In answer, Tark reached down and picked up the lump of crystal, which had gone clear again. Chloe knew he was trying to prove the monk wrong but unfortunately, the crystal turned blue even faster for him than it had for her. And while his face remained impassive, she could tell that it was getting cold as well. His hand was turning blue and frost started forming around his big knuckles.

  “Stop it, Tark!” she exclaimed, knocking the burning-cold crystal out of his hand. “You’ll give yourself frostbite!”

  “You see my point, pilgrims,” Taroni remarked, frowning. He looked at Tark. “If you had pleasured your mate with your fingers and mouth as I instructed you yesterday, you would not be so hungry right now. As it is, you are nearly starving to death, you need her so badly!”

  Tark said nothing but his golden eyes burned as he glared at the monk.

  Chloe found herself unaccountably shaken. Could it be that Monk Taroni was right, somehow? Could it be that the big Kindred really was hungry for her touch? Or hungry to touch her?

  She remembered the look in his eyes when he’d sucked her fingers into his mouth, cleaning away her juices with his tongue. Why had he done that? Was he just proving a point? Or was he trying to tell her something?

  Well, he had said he wanted her. But for what? Just for sex? Chloe didn’t consider herself a one-night-stand kind of girl. And even if she had been, the equipment she’d seen between his legs when he jerked off was pretty scary. It was huge for one thing, but that extra ridge of flesh around the base was what really scared the hell out of her. How could any girl accommodate something that big?

  Still, maybe she ought to do something for him if he really was in such dire need…

  “I understand the two of you have signed up for the advanced Couples Oneness course later on today,” Taroni said, breaking her train of thought. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to tell our founder, Monk Aaroni, that you are not ready for it and will be unable to attend.”

  “What? No!” Chloe exclaimed. If they were denied access to the Cavern of Precious Treasures, Tark would never get his hands on the jewel. “No, please—don’t do that! We really want to take his class. It’s the main reason we came here.”

  “Well…” Taroni frowned thoughtfully. “I suppose I can give you one last chance. But only if you do exactly as I say.”

  “Yes, please—anything,” Chloe promised recklessly. “Just tell us what to do, really.”

  “Good.” The monk nodded. “I will give the two of you until noon today when I will come to check on you. At that time I will ask you if you have fed the Skin Hunger. If the hems of your robes turn black and I know you are lying, the two of you will be cast out of the Resort. If, however, they turn white, you can attend the class with Master Aaroni tonight.”

  “Thank you,” Chloe said. “We’ll feed it—honestly we will!” After all, how hard could it really be? All they needed was some skin-to-skin contact. They could get naked and just kind of rub up against each other. It might be kind of embarrassing but it wouldn’t be the end of the world…

  Then the monk turned and pointed his finger at Tark.

  “You will pleasure your mate with your hands and mouth,” he said, frowning sternly. “This will feed the Skin Hunger for you both—your need to touch and her need to be touched will be at least in part, satiated. I will give you the resonite crystal to hold and ask you for the truth when next I see you. If I am not satisfied by your answers and the crystal’s reaction, I’m afraid the two of you will have to leave.”

  “What?” Tark and Chloe said at the same time.

  “You heard me.” Taroni frowned at them. “You have until noon. And I will give instructions that you are not to be bothered. I understand that the intrusion of my apprentice last night was unwelcome.”

  “But…but…” Chloe didn’t know what else to s