Broken Gates (10 page)

“Get out,” Khol’s voice sounded barely human. “Get out before I throw you out!”

Alarm registered across Jenna’s face and she scurried for the door, shutting it quickly behind her. As soon as she was gone, Khol started pacing back and forth, a wild look in his eyes. He then stalked into the bathroom, halting in front of the very same bathtub where I had attempted to end my life. The tub looked clean, no trace of my blood anywhere to be seen. Khol stared at the empty tub for a few more minutes before he dropped to his knees clutching at the sides. An inhuman roar wretched from his chest just as he ripped the tub from the ground and threw it against the large mirror on the opposite wall, the sound of shattering glass echoed in my ears. He then continued his rampage, obliterating almost every square inch of the bathroom.

When he was finished, he stood surveying his work, his breathing ragged. “Drake,” he called out hoarsely.

The large dragon appeared a second later and dropped down into a deep bow. “My lord.”

“Take care of this,” Khol said with no emotion. “And speak of it to no one.”

“That, of course, is a given, my lord,” Drake responded in the same emotionless tone. He then shifted and stood facing Khol with question and worry intermingled on his face. “If I may be so bold to ask . . . why did you not merely kill him?”

Khol picked up a piece of the broken tub and studied it for a moment before answering. “She would never have forgiven me. I know that now.”

“But she would be yours.”

“Not completely. Not in the way that I truly desire her to be.” Khol’s face contorted into a mask of pain for the briefest of moments before becoming emotionless again.

“I do not understand, my lord. It is the way of the dragon.”

“But it is not the way of love.” Khol clenched and unclenched his fists. “And I fear love makes me grow weak.” He whirled around and disappeared.

Drake remained motionless staring at the spot where Khol had just been. “I fear that too, my lord,” he whispered to himself.

I looked up at Jenna and let go of her wrist. So many emotions were swirling around in me at once. The first was my shock at seeing a side of Khol that he’d never let me see before, a side of him that made me love him just a little bit more than I had a few moments ago. And the second was an irrational anger at Jenna for her attempt at trying to seduce him. I knew logically that I’d been with Bryn, and that Jenna would have seen nothing wrong by going after Khol who I had no real claims on . . . but the dragon in me roared at the horrible offense.

“You tried to seduce Khol,” I growled at her. “And you never even said anything.”

“Uhh . . . duh! Why wouldn’t I try to seduce him? He’s smoking hot, and I wasn’t serious with Macon yet, and—besides you were with Bryn!” She cried out the last part with outrage. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“If you didn’t think you did anything wrong, then why did you never say anything?” I could feel my dragon fire magic rising up from underneath the surface and I fought to keep it under control. My mind conjured up an image of what Khol and I had done together, but with Jenna in my place. I think my blood actually began to boil. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I screeched.

“You were with Bryn!” Jenna screeched back, as she moved toward the door.

Khol appeared just in the nick of time as flames shot out of my palms in the general direction of Jenna. Khol grabbed my hands and began siphoning off my energy, but I still heard Jenna scream even though I knew the flames hadn’t touched her.

I heard Macon’s voice as he entered the fray. “What the hell is going on?”

“She tried to burn me!” I heard Jenna cry out.

“That’s because you’re a slut who tried to screw Khol!” I growled between clenched teeth.

“You were with Bryn!” she screeched back at me.

“My lord?” Macon’s shaky voice said with question.

“Nothing happened,” he responded in a flat tone. “Take her out of here.” He paused and seemed to think better of what he said. “Do not punish her, it was before the two of you were seriously involved.”

“Don’t punish her my ass!” I hissed as I struggled inside the iron bars that were Khol’s arms. “If you don’t I will!” But Macon and Jenna were already gone, and the adrenaline rush that had been fueling me suddenly dissipated into wave of dizziness.

“Hush,” Khol crooned as he kissed the top of my head. “You must learn to keep your dragon temper under control. You may end up hurting someone you do not wish to one day.”

“But she tried to seduce you,” was my lame attempt at an excuse even though the rational side of me was already beginning to chastise my behavior toward Jenna. She was right; I had no right to be angry with her for what she did. I had been with Bryn at the time and had no claims on Khol. So why did I still feel so betrayed by her? “You don’t seem all that upset,” I groused at Khol. Yes, he had advised me that I would regret hurting Jenna, but he didn’t seem angry at all by my outburst . . . not really.

“I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you why.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

No, he didn’t have to explain why he was so pleased, not really. He was completely digging the fact that I had gotten all crazy jealous over him. “Why didn’t you hook up with her? It’s not like you didn’t know I was with Bryn.”

Khol turned me in his arms and brushed his warm lips over mine. “Let’s not talk about it.”

“But I wanna know.” I fought the feelings of lust that his soft kisses where inflaming in me. He didn’t answer and pulled me closer to him in his arms. “I said I wanna know.” And just like that another vision slammed into me.

Khol was sprawled out on his bed, a tortured pensive expression on his face when a soft knock on his door caught his attention. “Yes,” he growled.

The door opened slowly and a tall beautiful woman, with long curly red hair stepped through the door hesitantly. I’d never laid eyes on her, but the minute she spoke, I knew who she was. “My lord.” She curtsied low. “Drake has sent me to you.” It was Shannon
—
the female dragon that Khol had once used to try and forget me. The memory of him kicking her out of his room so he could heal me played across my mind briefly.

Khol stood and glowered at her. “I didn’t ask for him to send you.”

She smiled at him in a flirtatious way. “But maybe you should give me a chance before sending me away.”

“I don’t want what you’re offering me . . . at least not from you.” Khol’s green illuminated eyes sparked with anger.

Shannon approached him with more confidence. “No, but I can help ease your pain. Help you forget her, for I am dragon after all.” She came to stand in front of him and dropped the dress that she had been wearing, showing that she had nothing on underneath. When Khol didn’t say anything, she obviously took it as a step in the right direction, so she sat on the edge of the bed and leaned back in a blatant offering.

In a blur of motion, Khol snatched her up by the arms and pinned her to the wall. “Not on the bed,” he commanded, his voice dipping to sound inhuman. She stood up on her tiptoes and tried to kiss him, his response was to flip her around and push her face first into the wall.

“Yes, you don’t have to be gentle with me—”

“Don’t speak,” Khol snarled. He unbuckled his pants with one hand while still holding Shannon up against the wall with the other. He closed his eyes and slid into her. She moaned her delight, which only seemed to annoy Khol more. “I said not to speak—not even a sound.” I was completely and utterly taken aback. I’d known the aftermath of Shannon and Khol’s coupling, but I’d at least thought he’d been somewhat decent to her while they were together. Boy was I wrong. With his eyes firmly shut he moved in and out of her sensually. He even let go of her wrists to wrap her hair around his fist. Things from that point on seemed to go pretty smoothly until Khol broke his silence with a moaned profession of love . . . for me.

I was suddenly staring into Khol’s illuminated green eyes, the live version, the vision fading as fast as it had come. My heart clenched at the realization of what I had just witnessed. I’d asked to know why Khol hadn’t hooked up with Jenna, and my new powers, in a roundabout way, had shown me. He had used Shannon, and apparently even pretended she was me, or at least tried. He didn’t want to do that to Jenna, my friend.

“Khol—” I started.

“I wish you wouldn’t have seen that,” Khol’s voice was somber. “I was not at my best then . . . right after it happened.”

“I had no idea.” Apparently about a lot of things. One of which was how deeply Khol had loved me even then. Would it have made a difference then? No. But now was a whole different story. I reached around him and pulled at the gumband that was holding his hair back and then entangled my hands in his long auburn hair that spilled around his shoulders. I studied him as he studied me. He was so otherworldly in his dragon beauty. He could have been the inspiration for romance novel covers everywhere, but he was the real thing . . . and mine . . . if I really wanted him for keeps. He’d never forsaken me, not truly, not even when he thought I was mated to Bryn for good. “I love you,” I said just before I brought my lips up to take control of his. I thought about giving myself to him right then and there, to ending the dilemma of who I would be mated to once and for all, but then uncertainty began to snake its way up my spine and into my system. I loved Bryn too. He’d been the most important person in my life since the age of five. Was I really willing to throw that all away for someone I hadn’t even known for an entire year yet?
Bryn threw you away, not the other way around.
A very helpful, or not so helpful voice, depending on how I looked at it, whispered in my head.

Khol broke our kiss and pulled away. “Not now—not like this—not until you’re sure.”

“But I thought you told Bryn you would take advantage if my will slipped, even for a second.
It’s slipping
.” I looked at him with meaning, partly wondering if the dropping my dress trick that Shannon had employed would work for me.

“I meant it when I said it.” He placed his hands on the straps of my dress, obviously guessing what I was thinking. “But now that I might actually be able to have you the way I want you, with no doubts”—he cupped my face in both of his large warm hands and stared into my eyes with flames igniting in his irises—“I want that. More than you can imagine.” I just stared at him and swallowed, not knowing what to say, and trying to
not
listen to what my body was telling me to do. Which pretty much entailed destroying all clothes that were keeping us apart at the moment. “I’ll let Drake know you’re ready for the announcement to be made. Do any last minute things . . . You have five minutes.” And then he pulled a Khol and popped out of existence.

Great.
Things just kept getting more and more complicated. What other kinds of drama would my new powers bring to me? It was probably better not to ask.

10

I shifted nervously as I stood next to Khol waiting to be announced. We had traveled to his lair, a place we hadn’t been to for some time, because apparently we didn’t have any rooms that were big enough or appropriate for the proclamation that I was the next dragon Queen back at the compound. Of course, the actual journey had been almost instantaneous since Khol had just transported me there with his dragon powers. Again I found myself wondering why I didn’t seem to have the ability to transport myself. I thought it was the coolest dragon power I’d seen so far and I wanted it, damn it! I made a mental note to ask Khol about it later.

“Is this all really necessary?” I whispered to Khol. “It all feels beyond ridiculous.”

He delivered me a patronizing smile that made me want to swipe it off his face. “Yes, it’s important to make yourself known. To gain the loyalty of all the factions. This is the easiest way to go about it.”

“But who says they’re all just going to bow down to me? Not much has changed except for my hair and eye color. And the last time I checked, I wasn’t getting much respect around here.”

“Your hair and eye color is undeniable proof of your powers, none can dispute them. And with your powers comes the mantel of Queen.” He took my hand and laced it with his. “I know you don’t feel it yet, but you will one day be what your true mother was to all of us before, and you will be adored beyond all measure.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t feel very all knowing and adored beyond measure right now,” I grumbled.

Khol dipped his head to skim his soft supple lips against my temple. “I already adore you beyond all measure.” His voice broke an octave lower and my stomach did a little flip flop. I was going to have to have a chat with my traitorous body a little bit later.

Khol suddenly straightened up and placed my hand over his arm and began to move toward the huge oak door in front of us. “It’s time,” he said.

“But I didn’t hear anything. How do you know?” In fact, it had just occurred to me that I hadn’t heard anything, not even people, or I guess dragons talking.

“There’s a sound proofing spell on this room. Drake informed me through telepathy that it was time,” Khol stated matter-of-factly, as he continued moving me forward.

“Oh,” I mumbled as my witty response.

I gripped his arm tighter and followed close beside him, my nerves beginning to ratchet up. At least I didn’t have to worry about my morning sickness deciding to make an appearance, so I could also announce that I was pregnant in front of a bunch of dragons I didn’t know. Khol paused and looked down at me, his eyes trying to assure me that everything would be okay, and then he pulled the door open. The noise of the room hit me like a physical force and I had to concentrate not to stagger back. Khol wasn’t kidding about the soundproofing spell. But as soon as I stepped into the room with Khol, all talking and noise abruptly stopped, as if the spell had fallen back around everyone again. I swear if someone had dropped a pin I would have heard it. I kept my eyes straightforward and tried not to look at anyone because I had the distinct feeling everyone in the room was staring. I could feel their eyes burning into me.

“Look at her hair!” some unknown voice called out. And then the room erupted into chaos.

“I thought you said I was gonna be announced,” I grated through clenched teeth at Khol.

“And you are.” He led me up to the front of the room where I was then forced to face the crowd. I dug my nails into Khol’s arm, pretty sure I was going to draw blood, but he didn’t make any protests. There were so many dragons in the room, more than I thought still existed by the way Khol had talked in the past. And all the factions were represented . . . Red, Black, Silver, and Gold. “Behold . . . our new queen,” Khol’s voice washed over the crowd and one by one, they began to drop down on their knees to show deference to me. Once it seemed like everyone had taken the plunge, even Khol himself dropped to one knee in front of me, clasping my hand to his forehead. I began to tremble, not knowing what to do. My eyes skimmed over the crowd—most of the dragons’ eyes were facing the floor, but I immediately caught the gaze of one dragon in particular who was not studying the marble, or maybe I should say half dragon . . . Bryn. He was staring at me, a look of anguish swirling in his sea storm eyes. When he realized I was looking back, he flicked his eyes to the floor as well. My chest constricted, and I fought to keep my composure. It shouldn’t be this way, Bryn should be standing beside me, like he always has, not kneeling down before me like everyone else in the crowd. And Jenna? Where was Jenna? I didn’t see her anywhere. I know we’d had a little bit of a falling out, but I wanted her beside me too. It suddenly felt like I was losing everyone I held dear to me.

“Tell them they can rise,” Khol whispered under his breath.

“Oh,” I said. “Right.” I was in so over my head. “You may all rise.” Everyone began slowly lumbering to their feet and Khol repositioned himself beside me and intertwined my fingers with his again. I tightened my grip on his hand as if he were my only lifeline. And maybe he was. “What should I do now?” I whispered to Khol under my breath, while still staring straight ahead.

“If you wish, I will speak for you. It is not unheard of to have a trusted advisor to do so,” he whispered back.

“Yeah, do that.” I sighed with relief.

Khol stepped forward and dropped my hand and I had to fight the urge to reach for it.
Ugh. Pathetic.
“Our queen wishes me to speak on her behalf.” Khol delivered the crowd a charming smile. “She is a little overwhelmed by all of this. As I’m sure you all can understand.” A few chuckles were heard in response and a low buzz of conversation resumed in the room. I took that as a good sign. “I’m sure all of you are wondering how this all came about, and I will tell you . . .”

A little while later I found myself back in my own room, much to Khol’s dismay, and sprawled out on my bed. I couldn’t help but feel small in it since it still hadn’t been that long since I had shared it with Bryn. Here I was . . . a friggin’ Dragon Queen . . . and I’d never felt so tiny and alone in all of my life. But I didn’t want to begin relying on Khol the way that I had relied on Bryn. I would take a mate, and in him I wanted a partner, not someone that had to constantly take care of me. Why did it always seem like the men in my life wanted to take care of me? Or maybe because they were both at least part dragon, it was in their nature? And if that were the case, then would I constantly have to fight my own nature to not let them?

A knock on my door made me scramble up into a sitting position. “Come in,” I called, hoping it was either Khol or Bryn. Or maybe even Jenna. I really needed to fix things with her. I just didn’t have the energy to make the first move at the moment. I heaved a sigh of disappointment when a small female dragon with short-cropped silver hair stepped into view. I inclined my head inquisitively at her and she bowed down in front of me, which was pretty low because I was sitting.

“My queen,” she greeted.

I studied the top of her head for a moment, and jealously that she got to have silver hair, which was so pretty, while I got stuck with white, spiked through my system. Why the hell did I have to be stuck with white hair? “Yes,” I responded, not outwardly showing any of my inner angst.
Go me!

She raised her face to look at me with violet eyes.
And she gets violet eyes
? I inwardly groaned.
So not fair!
“My name is Tatiana, my queen, and I belong to the Silver Dragon faction.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that,” I said with annoyance as I motioned to her hair.

Her lips turned up in a slight smile. “Yes, well I know you are relatively new to our world. I just wanted to clarify.”

“Look, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but could you please get to the point?” I was doing my best not to sound like a petulant child. I didn’t think it was working out for me too well.

“No need to apologize, my queen, you are still young, patience will come to you in time.”

I barked a harsh laugh at her. “Doubtful, but please continue.”

She produced a white envelope about the size and shape as the one I had received from the old queen, my biological mother, when I had been in the Smokey Mountains. A feeling of foreboding washed over me. “My clan has been holding onto this for a very long time. Our instructions were to give it to you today, after the announcement.”

“How long have you been holding on to this?” I whispered.

“Since before your birth,” Tatiana responded.

“Oh. Well then, I already know who it’s from. Thank you.” I reached out and took the envelope from her and stared down at it wishing it would simply disappear.

“It was our pleasure to serve both the old and new queen,” she said as she rose and headed for the door.

“Thank you again,” I said without looking up at her. My attention was riveted on the small white envelope resting in the palm of my hand. I had no doubt who it was from. Guess my birth mother thought she could still shake up my life even from beyond the grave. I tore the envelope open, kind of wondering in the back of my mind, how the Silver Dragon faction had resisted the temptation to open it themselves. I personally would never have been able to withstand the temptation. Inside was a letter written in the same scrawling handwriting that had adorned my previous message from my birth mother.

My Dear Child,

It is imperative that you understand that what I am about to ask of you, if you deviate from it and think that you can find a better way, it will result in your death. And therefore also the deaths of the ones you love. I have foreseen it. Please trust in my powers, which are now your own, for one day you will need to rely on them. But for now they are still growing and changing within you. You, for the moment, lack the skill to control them the way that’s it’s taken me many decades to learn how to do so myself.

This evening there will be an attempt on your life by someone you thought you could trust. She has let a Rider slip into her, for all humans carry some darkness in them, and it will convince her you have caused all of her problems. She will try to end your life by poisoning you, so do not accept any nourishment from anyone this evening. It will save your life. But do not fear; eventually, if you follow the path I have laid out for you, you will be able to save her. That should offer you some small comfort.

Once the commotion steals everyone’s attention, you are to strike out on your own; I’ve had a trusted subject place a care package hidden in the back of your closet behind a loose panel with everything that you will need, including a way to keep Khol from tracking you. You must do this on your own, and I’m sorry for that my daughter. But I will help you whenever I can. Find the strength that already exists in you.

~M

My hands were shaking as I struggled to process what I had just read in the letter. Jenna was going to try and kill me; there were no other female humans that I trusted—it had to be her. But I could save her if I followed the path my birth mother had laid out for me . . . That was indeed a comfort. And it looked like it was time for me to stand on my own, something that I had been wanting for awhile, so why did it suddenly have the feel of “be careful what you wish for”?

“I hope you have good news for me this time,” his master snapped as Terrance entered the room.

“Yes. One of our most trusted is in place. The girl will be dead by week’s end, as promised.”

A smile slowly spread across his master’s face. “Excellent. Most excellent indeed. Let me know when it is done.” He flicked his hand in a dismissive motion. “You may go now.”

Terrance breathed a sigh of relief as he exited his master’s office. By the end of the week the girl would be dead and all would be well once more.

I found the care package hidden in the back of my closet, although I wish my birth mother would have had the forethought to warn me about the huge icky spider that had been laying in wait for me. I almost knocked myself unconscious when it crawled over my hand, and I slammed the side of my head into the closet door in an attempt to escape my creepy tormentor. But besides that, everything else had gone smoothly. My birth mother had thought of everything . . . wigs, colored contacts, fake ID, credit cards . . . and even some sort of magic bracelet to dampen Khol’s connection to me. She left more instructions, which informed me I was not to put it on until after, when Khol was distracted, or he would notice something was wrong before I could make a break for it. The plan was for me to enroll myself under the false name she had given me at a specific high school to which I had been given directions. She said from there I would figure out what to do. She had even left a letter for Khol, which I was not to open, that had directions inside for him to follow. I won’t lie; the not opening the letter to Khol was proving to be the most difficult part of the plan. I sighed and pushed my duffle bag full of everything I was taking with me into the back of my closet. I didn’t want to risk anyone seeing it and therefore cause them to ask questions. At this point, questions were bad. The fact was, it seemed like I was running away, and in some ways that felt easier than anything I’d done in a long time. I just hoped I wasn’t in high school too long because my baby bump would eventually show up. The thought made me bring my hand up to my stomach protectively. My birth mother wouldn’t put my baby in danger, would she? I doubted it, but I couldn’t seem to push the worry aside completely.