Broken Gates

We were at war. And just like in every war there were casualties. Jenna, Jeremy, Bryn, and myself were the last of our kind . . . Speaker, Gatekeeper, Guardian, and Seer . . . respectively. Only a short time ago our kind had been thriving, our numbers many, but then the alien Riders that were trying to take over our world had exterminated them . . . because of me. If not for my visions, they’d all still be alive. The revenge I yearned to mete out would one day . . . hopefully . . . help me to assuage my feelings of guilt. I just prayed that no one else would suffer because of me . . . Too bad I forgot to pray for myself.

I knew something was wrong only an instant before the bedroom door slammed open. But in life and death situations an instant can mean the difference between one and the other. “Bryn!” I gasped, sitting up in bed with a start. I barely had time to register the threatening shape outlined from the lights in the hallway before a gunshot exploded in our direction. I reacted without thinking and threw myself in the path of the bullet in a bid to save Bryn from being hit. Unfortunately for me, that meant I would be the one getting a slug buried in my flesh. A flash of white-hot searing pain ripped across my shoulder just before a blinding light erupted in my head. Everything went silent except for a ringing in my ears and the rasping sound of my own struggle to breathe. I found myself praying that Bryn was okay just as everything went dark.

“I have foreseen the outcome of both choices, and it leaves us with only one course of action. As much as it pains me, you must do what I ask of you.” I stood watching as a woman that I didn’t know spoke to a man kneeling in front of her. He seemed to be in pain, if the way he clutched at her dress was any indication. She was tall and regal, with long white hair that hung halfway down her back. Despite her hair color, her face was young and completely unlined. The man kneeling in front of her had dark auburn hair burnished brighter by the flames in the nearby fireplace. His build was massive and I found myself thinking that he could quite possibly dwarf even Khol in size.

“No, please. You’re asking me to betray you.” The man sank down further, reaching up to wrap his arms around the women’s legs as if she was the only thing keeping him anchored to this Earth.

She lifted her dainty hand as if she would stroke his hair, but let it fall back to her side before she actually made contact. “If you do not do as I ask,
that
will be a betrayal to me.” Her words were harsh, but there was no mistaking the anguish I saw in her glowing golden eyes.

“Send another,” the man said raggedly.

“It must be you. I can trust no other with this task.”

The man abruptly stood and rose up to his full height; the woman seemed almost childlike in comparison to his size. They just stood looking at each other for what seemed like an eternity to me, a battle of wills silently raging between them, until the man suddenly dropped to his knees again. “As you wish, my Queen.” And with those as his parting words, he disappeared.

She remained where he had left her, as if in shock, before she turned away and crumpled onto the nearby bed, sobbing as if she had just lost something very dear to her. And maybe she had.

I took a step toward her, drawn in by my own curiosity to know what I had just witnessed. Why was I being shown this particular scene? It didn’t have the same feel as my normal visions, and yet, I couldn’t come up with any other explanation.

The woman lifted her head and gazed into the flames of the fire, her tear-streaked face blotchy and yet still beautiful. “Paige Joplin Stone, you are our first and last hope,” she whispered.

My breath caught in my throat and I froze with surprise. Confusion about what was happening overtook me. Was this a vision after all, or something more? And if it was a vision, was it from the past, present, or future? Who was this woman and how did she know about me? She and her companion were obviously both dragons, as evidenced by his disappearing act and her glowing eyes but—but he had called her Queen, and her hair was white. I knew of no Dragon Queens, or factions of White Dragons.

“My little Seer.” Khol’s voice echoed inside of my head as I turned away from the woman and the scene I had been enthralled with.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, wondering if in fact, he was really here.

Khol’s iridescent green eyes blazed brighter than I’d ever seen them do before. He reached out his hand toward me in an offering for me to take it. “Come back to us. You can’t stay here any longer.”

I tilted my head to study him. There was desperation wound into every plane of his face. “Where’s here? Who’s she?” I nodded in the direction of the once again sobbing woman.

“Please. We can’t lose you,” he rasped as if I hadn’t said anything at all.
“I can’t lose you.”
The last part seemed to be said inside of my mind, as if I was reading Khol’s thoughts.

“I’m not going anywhere. No one’s going to lose me,” I stated, even though by that point I was completely confused as to what it was he was talking about.

Khol’s lips turned up in a grim smile. “That’s where you’re wrong, my little Seer; you’re already here, which makes you lost, and you need to return to us.
To me.”
His thoughts echoed in my head again.

“But—” I started, but he didn’t let me finish my protest.

“Do you trust me?”

I eyed him warily for a moment, wondering why he would ask me such a question at a time like this. Oh well, I suppose I could at least humor him. “Yes, you know I do.”

He offered me his hand again. “Then come with me, now.”

I rolled my eyes at him, but walked toward him anyways. I reached out my hand to intertwine my fingers with his and as I met his gaze, I seemed to fall into the depths of his eyes and everything washed out into a vivid green that blinded me.

“Khol?” I mumbled, my throat feeling scratchy and raw. Why were my eyelids so heavy? It felt like both of them were weighted down with fifty pounds each. “Khol? What happened?”

I heard a loud crash as if a chair had been thrown against the wall and some scuffling noises that I couldn’t decipher. “I told you to stay the hell away from her.” I heard Bryn’s familiar voice growl with menace.

An answering growl reverberated off the walls, “I just saved her.”

“I would have—was going to save her,” Bryn snarled.

“I gave you a month,” Khol snarled back.

“Hey,” I grumbled. “No fighting.” My eyelids finally seemed to shed their excess weight and I blinked them open to a much too bright room. “Bright lights,” I muttered to myself, feeling like I imagined a Mogwai would . . . Just call me Gizmo.

“Oh, my God, you’re awake.” I barely had time to focus in on Jenna’s elated face before she was on me, crushing me with a much too tight bear hug.

“Can’t breathe,” I sputtered.

“Oh, right, sorry,” she said as she released me. “Guys—she’s awake. Not just mumbling anymore,” Jenna called out without breaking visuals with me.

Khol and Bryn seemed to just appear at my bedside, both of them wearing almost identical expressions of surprise intermingled with joy. I looked from face to face and couldn’t figure out why everyone was just staring at me. “What happened?” I couldn’t shake the feeling I was missing something pretty major.

Bryn dropped down beside me and took me in his arms, pressing his unshaved face into my hair. “Twice. I’ve almost lost you twice now.” His voice cracked about half way through belying his strong emotions.

I looked over his shoulder and met Khol’s eyes with question. “You were shot.” Khol said. His gaze flicked away from me as if he couldn’t bear to look at me when he said the rest. “I healed you the best I could. I couldn’t do it properly with you being so close to death . . . and unconscious . . . You slipped into a coma . . .”

I gasped as the memory slammed home . . .
An image of a threatening shape outlined from the lights in the hallway before a gunshot exploded in our direction. Me reacting without thinking and throwing myself into the path of the bullet in a bid to save Bryn from being hit. White-hot searing pain ripping across my shoulder just before a blinding light erupted in my head. Everything going silent except for a ringing in my ears and the rasping sound of my breathing before everything went dark.

“I remember,” I whispered in shock. “I almost died.” Yes, the words felt right when I said them out loud. Even though Khol had just said as much himself.

“I wasn’t worried,” Jenna exclaimed. “I knew these two big galoots wouldn’t let you die.” She grinned at me through long thick black bangs. I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same. Jenna hadn’t dyed her hair some outrageous color but the black let me know that it wouldn’t be long before the sticking to the shades in nature restriction to help her go incognito, was going to get thrown out like last week’s leftover’s.

“I still don’t understand why I only slipped into a coma if I was so close to death, and I couldn’t be healed properly.” I reached up around Bryn, who was still clinging to me, to feel my head and found nothing but a whole healthy scalp and hair under my fingertips. I heaved a sigh of relief . . . No bald spots.

“It took all of my strength to heal your body.” It was Khol’s turn for his voice to crack. “But even then I almost failed. A part of you went somewhere else I—”

Bryn released me abruptly and turned to square off with Khol again. “I would have found her. I—”

“
You
don’t have the power. I gave you a month.” Khol’s power snapped out and rolled off of him in angry waves. “She could have been like that for years if I would have waited for you to figure it out.”

“She’s
my Anam Cara
,” Bryn grated through clenched teeth.

“Are you even sure about that anymore?” Khol’s words felt like a slap to my face and my heart doubled in time. What did he mean by that exactly?

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bryn said, mirroring my inner thoughts.

“Your bond was shaky at best out here, and with her near death experience—”

“Holy shit!” Jenna interjected. “It could have null and voided your
Anam Cara
bond Bryn, just like it did to Khol’s before!” I had been bonded to Khol as his
Anam Cara
for what felt like five minutes before I’d attempted to take my own life. Being so close to death had broken the bond, and Khol being so filled with guilt, had finally let Bryn bond with me. Could all of that have been for nothing? Could my and Bryn’s
Anam Cara
bond be broken now as well?

“Exactly,” Khol confirmed.

Bryn’s whole body seemed to deflate with the revelation and he turned to look at me with a torrent of dark emotions swirling around in his sea storm eyes. I awkwardly pulled myself from the bed and lurched into him still feeling weak. “Bryn. It doesn’t matter, we’ll fix it.”

He stared down at me for a dozen heartbeats as if he was searching for an answer to something in my face before he spoke. “Maybe it happened for a reason.”

It suddenly felt like there was a boa constrictor wrapped around my chest as I struggled to breathe. “What—what are you saying?”

“Just what it sounds like.” He looked away from me not wanting to meet my eyes. “Maybe being mated to Khol would be the best thing for you.”
This isn’t really happening. I must be dreaming, or still in a coma. That’s what it is—I’m having a horrible coma induced nightmare. None of this is real.
“He has the power to protect you when I can’t.”

“No, listen to me, none of that matters! I love
you.
I want
you
. Bryn—”

“No,
you
listen to
me
. It does matter. We can’t even bond all the way, and having you walk around without a full bond is like painting a sign on your back asking other male dragons to force themselves on you. And—and—” Bryn stammered as he took me by the shoulders, his eyes burning a bright dragon blue. “What if Khol hadn’t been there when you were shot? You’d be dead.”

I felt my face crumple up and huge fat tears began to run down my cheeks as I gulped for air. “Please—I love you.” It was a miracle I managed to get even those words out.

Bryn’s face softened as he cupped mine in his huge warm hands, his thumbs wiping at my tears. “I’m only doing this because of how much I love you, Peej. You tried to sacrifice your life for me once, now it’s my turn to do it for you.”

“No, I won’t let you,” I squeaked.
No
. . .
no
. . .
no
. . .
no
. . .
no . . .
The one word began to bounce around in my brain as I struggled not to panic. Bryn was just upset; he wouldn’t really leave me. He’d told me he would fight for me as long as I wanted him. He’d promised. He’d told me
always.
I’d trusted him . . . in him.

“You don’t get a say in this choice.” Bryn then dipped his head and took quick possession of my mouth, sliding his tongue in to intertwine with mine. I clutched at his shoulders trying to pull him closer to me, and he let me for a brief moment before he broke all contact completely.

I stepped into him to try and hold on but he just disappeared. “No!” I screamed, knowing there was no way for me to follow him. My skin felt ice cold without his touch and I dropped to the ground as my vision blurred like watercolors running off the page. “No!” I screamed again. Khol’s warm strong arms wrapped around me in an effort to comfort me but instead I decided to direct my hysteria at him. I wrenched around to face him and began pounding at his chest. “This is your fault! You did this on purpose! All of it! You never meant to let him have me, did you?” I just kept pounding at his chest. “Did you?” I screeched. He didn’t answer, and it was probably just as well because nothing he could have said would have made me feel any differently in that moment. I blamed him for Bryn walking away from me and I wanted to hurt him like he had wounded me. I reached out and clawed my nails down his face, then his chest, and then I started ripping at his shirt as if once that was out of my way, I could rip his heart out with my bare hands like it felt like he had done to me. Khol remained still and took everything I had to give with barely a flinch . . . which only angered me more.

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