Broken Gates

careful, you really will end up the slut you’re afraid you already are. All sluts aren’t created equal you know. Some are just afraid to be alone. Some are just looking for unconditional love.”

“But he doesn’t want me!” I practically screeched, choosing to ignore what else I’d just said to myself. “And I wouldn’t be a slut if I mated with Khol I’d—”

“Be settling and you know it.” I quirked an eyebrow at myself. “And are you so sure Bryn doesn’t want you? Or is something else going on?”

“What do you mean?” My mind flashed to how bad Bryn had looked in the vision I’d had just before I’d drunk the herbs Nala had given me to knock me out. “Tell me.”

“Well, the problem with me being you is that I only know what you know. But we both know that something isn’t right. Bryn would never walk away from you the way that he has without some outside force coming into play—especially with the possibility that you’re carrying his child. We’ve known Bryn since we were both were five years old; you know he isn’t acting like himself. ”

And if that was true then maybe I’d been the one to betray Bryn and not the other way around. I was an immature hypocrite. Maybe I didn’t deserve Bryn. The truth really did hurt. “So what do we—I mean I do?”

“How should I know? I’m just your subconscious,” the old me said with annoyance. “By the way . . . happy nineteenth birthday to us.”

I really did wake up after that. I lay in the cool dark room listening to myself breathing over the roar of my heart beating in my ears. This would be the first birthday I’d ever been apart from Bryn since we were five years old. No wonder it was also the first time I’d almost forgotten about it. Yep . . . happy birthday to me.

12

Terrance’s whole body shook with thinly veiled fear as he approached the office door where his master was currently working on business. He was always working on some kind of business. And he would not be pleased with the news that Terrance was bringing him this day.

“Come in,” his master’s voice boomed through the thick oak, before Terrance had even raised his hand to knock. He only hesitated for a moment before entering. There was only so long he could delay the inevitable. “Tell me,” his master growled as he scuttled into the lush room with eyes averted toward the ground.

“She’s not dead.”

“And what of our operative inside the human girl?”

“No news. She is either dead or being held captive. Either way she is currently beyond our reach.”

“I see.” His master’s voice was much too calm. “You do realize this was your last chance, Terrance. I don’t tolerate incompetence . . . at least not for very long.”

Terrance dropped to the ground onto his knees. “No, please, my liege. I won’t fail you again. I—”

“No, you won’t fail me again.” It was the last words Terrance heard before he was ripped from his host’s body and pulled into the bright red stone where he would now make his home.

13

I’m different, no doubt about that, I thought as I tried to blend the rainbow clip-in extensions into my white hair. But maybe that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing like I had originally thought. I had acted like a hypocrite toward Bryn, and like a child in general. A part of me had always known it, but didn’t want to admit it to myself. Now was the time to ensure that my change would be for the better and not the worse. It was time for me to take responsibility for my own actions and choices and to stop hiding behind my fears and insecurities. How many times now had I declared that I would become the person I desired to be but only to backslide soon after? How many times had I blamed the actions of others for the bad choices I made? Too many. And the worst part was that I clearly knew better. “No more,” I muttered to my scowling reflection. I let my emotions flow from chastising to hopeful in a slow trickle as I completed my morning routine and headed downstairs for some breakfast.

“You really should buy some better breakfast food,” Nala complained as I entered the kitchen.

“I don’t like breakfast food,” I retorted. “Breakfast cookies and pastries I can tolerate though.”

“The baby needs healthier stuff than sugar and carbs. It needs protein and—”

“I’ll eat whatever I can keep down,” I snapped. Who the hell did Nala think she was just coming in here and trying to tell me what’s best for me and my unborn baby? She certainly had a lot of nerve.

“Well, that shouldn’t be a problem anymore, should it?”

“It’s probably a pretty good idea if you don’t remind me of the little bitchy move you pulled last night,” I said between clenched teeth.

Nala heaved a huge sigh. “Okay fine. I’m sorry. I just couldn’t resist. I don’t want you for an enemy, but I’m still not exactly your biggest fan.”

I eyed her wearily before slumping down into a chair across the table from her. “Yeah, I get it. I guess I can kinda respect the honesty.” She passed me a glass of orange juice and a breakfast cookie. “Today’s my nineteenth birthday,” I mumbled around a mouthful of oatmeal and raisins. I choked back a sob as I thought again how it’d be the first one without Bryn. And I wasn’t about to think about the fact that it would also be the first one without my parents. I was still in big time denial about their deaths.

“Happy birthday . . . I guess,” Nala said automatically.

“Yeah, there’s nothing happy about it.” Time to think about more important things I mentally chastised myself. “I had a vision about Cliff, that guy you met at my school, yesterday.” She nodded her head in confirmation that she was following me. “. . . And in it he pushed one of the Riders out of his body.” I paused to scowl down at my half-eaten cookie. “And yet he still has one inside of him. I don’t know what it could mean.”

She leaned toward me, her eyes gleaming a bright dragon blue. “How did he do it? How did he push it out of him?”

“I don’t know really. He was having some kind of battle of wills while he stood looking in the mirror, and then . . . bam . . . out the little bugger came. Of course, Cliff passed out cold afterwards, and my vision ended.”

Nala slumped back in her chair looking puzzled. “That doesn’t really tell us much.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” I said as I picked up my glass of orange juice and drank it down with a crinkled nose. Orange juice wasn’t one of my favorite drinks, but I was trying to get something healthy in my system for the baby. Maybe I should take double the dose of the prenatal vitamins I’d picked up at the grocery store. Or maybe dragons didn’t need that kind of stuff. How was I supposed to know? I’d grown up thinking I was completely human. “I guess I'll just have to continue my fake schooling and deal with whatever it is my birth mother sent me here to figure out.” I set my empty glass back down on the table and stood. “What about you? I guess you’re going to be heading out soon?”

Nala shifted uncomfortably in her seat and flicked her gaze away from mine. “I think I’m just going to hang around here for awhile . . . if you don’t mind.”

A sudden bark of laughter escaped from my chest. “Afraid to face Khol, huh? You’re not fooling me.”

Her cheeks heated in embarrassment, which caused me to laugh again. “He’s kind of scary if you haven’t noticed. He might very well burn me to a crisp if I return without any real news of you . . . or with you.”

“I wouldn’t worry, his bark is much worse than his bite. I don’t think he would actually kill you, for this anyways. I mean he let you go, didn’t he?” Of course, when I had first met Khol he had scared me a little too, but that hadn’t lasted long. And underneath it all he’s just as human as I am . . . or thought I was . . . whatever.

She gave me a humorless laugh. “With you his bark might be worse than his bite, because he’s a male dragon in love, but with me . . .” Her voice trailed off as she obviously pondered her demise at Khol’s hands. “No thanks, I’ll stay here.”

“Suit yourself. Even if it is . . . well . . . you . . . I won’t lie that having someone else here with me in the