Hidden Gates

by D T Dyllin

  My dad gritted his teeth and stared at me a few moments before responding. “We’ll discuss your punishment when we get home. It’s going to be a doozy, let me tell you. You’ve proven time and time again recently that we can’t trust you.”

  I narrowed my eyes and laughed darkly at him. “Oh, really? What are you going to do, forbid me to see the love of my life? Oh wait—you already did that. You’ve already ruined my life. Do your worst!” I screamed the last part at him, completely losing any control I had barely managed to hold on to.

  My mom chose that moment to come back into the room. “The doctor is going to be in to check you out soon, and then we’ll see about getting you home.” When neither my father nor I responded, she looked back and forth between the two of us. “Now what’s this about?”

  “I was just reminding Dad here that there wasn’t any punishment that you guys could give me that would be worse than what you’ve already done by ripping Bryn out of my life,” I growled, still glaring at my dad.

  “But I thought you and Jeremy were—”

  “Were what, Mom?” I snapped my head around and speared her with a look of utter disgust. “Did you really think I’d get over Bryn so fast?” I raised my hand to keep her from responding. “No, wait. Don’t answer that. Of course you did. But let me just tell you this. Even if Bryn were out of the picture—which he isn’t—Jeremy would be my third choice. Not that any of that really matters because I still want Bryn.”

  Shock played across my mom’s face. “Third? But who?”

  I was going for shock value at the moment, and I knew the perfect way to twist the knife. “One of my kind. You know what my real father was.”

  My mom staggered back as if I’d slapped her. “No—you can’t.”

  “Why? Tell me why I can’t be with someone of my kind if I want to be. None of the rules of duty apply anymore now that I know. So you see, you might as well let Bryn come back because he’s the lesser of the two evils now, isn’t he?”

  “How did you even meet one of them?” my mom asked, her face completely stricken.

  “He sought me out. My power called to him apparently, waking him up.” I paused to let the news sink in fully. “You don’t even know what I am.”

  My dad spoke up, my mom seemingly made speechless from my revelation. “You’re our daughter. That’s all we need to know.”

  “But I’m not your daughter, not really,” I said as I met my dad’s sad eyes. The look of anguish on his face almost made me crack, almost made me back down, but it didn’t. I know some people would kill to have a family that accepted them unconditionally whether they be blood or not, but I didn’t quite feel like that was the case. I felt like my family loved who they thought I was, or wanted me to be, not who I was in reality. They couldn’t accept who I was in love with because they deemed him not good enough for me. And yet, if they really loved me unconditionally, wouldn’t they just want me to be happy? Bryn made me happy. Case closed.

  “I have this whole other side to me that I didn’t even know existed. Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you keep me in the dark?” I blinked back tears and went back to studying my hands.

  “We wanted you to feel accepted and loved, not different. Not—”

  “Would you have ever told me? Or was this something you guys would have taken to your graves?” I brought my head up to study first my dad’s face and then my mom’s. The answer was clear in both of them. “That’s what I thought.”

  I wanted out. I needed out. And despite what had happened between Khol and me less than twenty minutes ago, he was the first person I thought of to turn to for help. I called out to him mentally, hoping my desperation was made crystal clear. I wasn’t going to do anything stupid like run away with him, but I was planning on hitching a ride home with him so I could have some much needed space between me and my parents.

  Khol appeared beside my bed in all his Dragonly beauty. Looking every bit as fierce as I knew he would. My mother gasped, and my father’s eyes widened with shock. “You called, my little Seer?”

  “I want to go home.” Khol inclined his head in question. I knew he was wondering why I’d called him for that, and why I didn’t want to go home with my parents. But he didn’t question me out loud. “Please,” I whispered.

  Khol stepped forward to scoop me up in his arms, and my mom cried out, “No! P.J., no! You don’t know what you’re doing. You—”

  “I’ll see you at home, Mom,” I said with steel in my voice.

  “Paige Joplin Stone—” my father started.

  “Stop. I need space from you two, and I’m going to get it. There’s nothing you can do. I’ll see you both at home.” Khol pulled me to his chest, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, meeting his eyes to signal him it was time to leave. As we blinked out of the hospital room, I heard my mom scream out in anguish.

  15

  I’d wanted space from my parents, and I’d gotten it in spades. They both seemed to be avoiding me since our fallout in the hospital room, and when I did see them, my mom looked at me with tears in her eyes, and my dad simply stared at me with sadness. Maybe I’d been a little hurtful, and maybe I’d taken it a step too far by calling on Khol, but I felt like they’d backed me into a corner. They were probably afraid if they didn’t let me be, I’d disappear with Khol or something. I didn’t do anything to discourage them from thinking that because a small part of me was hoping maybe then they would bring Bryn back. Bryn. I sighed loudly as I conjured up an image of him in my mind. Of course, lately with my overcharged hormones, I always pictured him as he was when we’d been in bed together that first night—the night I’d given him my virginity.

  I ran my hands through his silky, tousled hair and then down over his sweaty back. He shuddered at my touch, leaning forward to kiss me with a slow languidness that spoke of shared intimacies and unspoken promises. “I love you, Peej. More than I can even begin to explain.” His voice was so low and husky it seemed to brush things on my insides, making me shudder in turn.

  That night had been perfect with him. Every little detail from being with him that first time was forever etched into my mind.

  “Miss Stone, care to share with us what has stolen your attention from class?”

  I blinked in surprise as I snapped back to the present—Mr. Edgington’s history class. My face heated as if it were written all over me what I’d just been thinking about. “No,” I mumbled, feeling everyone’s eyes on me.

  “Then how about you at least humor me and pretend to pay attention in my class, hmm?” Mr. Edgington raised his gray bushy eyebrows at me in question. I simply nodded in response. “Right. Now where was I? No taxation without representation—” The bell signaled the end of class, and I began hastily gathering up my things. “Remember to read the next two chapters for tomorrow,” Mr. Edgington called to us, but I doubted anyone was paying attention.

  One more class . . . one more class and I’m done for the weekend, I silently repeated to myself over and over like a mantra.

  “Hey,” Jenna said as she fell into step beside me. “Wanna stay over at my place tonight?”

  “Yes,” I answered emphatically without having to think about it. The tension in my house was unbearable; I would welcome the chance of being somewhere—anywhere—else.

  “Your parents still acting all weird?”

  “Pretty much. I think I broke something with them, but the thing is I don’t know how to fix it, and I’m not sure I would if I could. They lied to me about some pretty major stuff.”

  Jenna sighed. “Yeah, not telling you about who your real father is—well, that’s pretty major.”

  I gasped and staggered against the wall. I hadn’t told Jenna any of that. I was planning to—eventually, but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. “How the hell did you find out?” I closed my eyes and shook my head.
“Please do not tell me you had a fly on the wall or something . . . literally.”

  I opened my eyes to a very pleased Jenna. “You just told me.”

  “What?” And then I realized she’d pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book. I groaned and rubbed at my face. “But how did you even suspect?”

  “Aside from the fact you don’t look anything like your dad?” I scrunched my face up at her. Lots of people don’t look like their dads. Besides, I looked enough like my mom that it was obvious whose side of the family I took after. “But what really gave it away was when your eyes started to glow that day in your backyard. It wasn’t much, but enough to make me wonder if you weren’t part whatever Khol is, and you look a ton like your mom, so I don’t think they found you in a cabbage patch.”

  My jaw dropped open. My eyes had glowed? Holy. Shit. “Why didn’t you say something before? Did Jeremy see too?” I gulped. What other freaky Dragon things were starting to develop in me that I had no clue about?

  “There really wasn’t a good time to bring it up before now. And yeah, unless Jeremy is blind, I’m pretty sure he saw, too.”

  I clutched my books to my chest tightly and concentrated on remaining calm. The thought of having to stay in school for one more minute suddenly seemed stifling. “I’m ditching last period. I need to get out of here.” I swiveled on my heel and marched towards the front door.

  Jenna scurried after me. “You just gonna walk out the front door?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  After a long pause, Jenna responded, “I’ll come with you. We can go scoop up your stuff from your house, and leave your parents a note that you’ll be at my place. We can start our girls’ night of fun early.” She smiled up at me, but I couldn’t manage to reciprocate.

  “Hey. Where you guys going?” Jeremy appeared out of nowhere and fell into step with us. I didn’t say anything and kept focused on my main goal: to get the hell out of school.

  “We’re ditching last period and going over to my house. Girls’ night tonight,” Jenna replied helpfully.

  “Girls only, huh? I don’t suppose I can tag along?”

  “I don’t know if P.J. is feeling up to it. She’s kind of on the verge of freaking out right now,” Jenna stated matter of factly.

  “About what?” Concern seeped into Jeremy’s voice.

  “The whole eyes glowing thing from the other day, you know?”

  “Oh. It’s not that big a deal. Nothing to freak out about; neither one of us look at you any different because of it, P.J.,” Jeremy said softly.

  “I’m not freaking out,” I said between clenched teeth. “I’m a little bit upset is all.”

  “About what?” Jeremy asked.

  “Seriously?” I looked at him incredulously. “Finding out that I’m not even entirely human, and that my eyes are now doing some kind of weird glowy thing like Khol’s? Yep. Nothing to be upset about at all.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jenna exclaimed. “What do you mean you’re not entirely human?”

  Really? What did she think after both meeting Khol and seeing my eyes glow? “Nothing,” I muttered as I quickened my pace and practically flew down the front stairs of my school. I was almost free and clear. As soon as my feet hit the front walkway, I broke into a full out run, unable to resist any longer.

  “Hey. P.J., wait,” Jeremy called, his feet pounding on the pavement behind me.

  “P.J., come on. I didn’t mean anything,” Jenna called from farther back. She couldn’t keep up with Jeremy and me with our much longer legs.

  I ignored them both and ran all the way to the front door of my house where Jeremy snagged my arm and turned me to face him. “I don’t care if you’re not entirely human. It doesn’t change anything for me.”

  I met his deep brown eyes briefly before looking away. “You don’t even know what I am.”

  “So tell me.” He tipped my face up towards him with his fingertips, forcing me to meet his gaze again.

  “Rua Arach,” I muttered while trying not to count the golden flecks in Jeremy’s eyes. He raised his eyebrows in question. “Red Dragon. I’m half Red Dragon.”

  His brows furrowed together. “So Khol is a—”

  “Full-blooded Red Dragon,” I finished for him. “And he wants me for his Anam Cara—his mate.”

  Jeremy’s hands balled into fists, and his jaw ground together. “No,” he said between clenched teeth.

  “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop it.” I sagged with relief at finally being able to say my fears out loud. “Something about him calls to that part in me.”

  Jeremy studied my face and stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. “Do you want that? To be his Anam—whatever—mate?”

  “No,” I whispered. “At least I don’t think so.” He leaned forward to kiss me, and I turned to give him my cheek. “But that doesn’t mean I want to be with you either. I love Bryn. I still want him and only him.”

  He pulled away and exhaled loudly. “I know. So you keep telling me. It’s just when I’m with you I feel this, I don’t know, connection. And I don’t see how something so strong can be one-sided.”

  “I feel a connection, too. But it’s to your power, and to you as a friend. I know it’s not what you wanna hear, but it’s the truth.”

  “Ahem. Why do I feel like I’m invisible lately?” Jenna grumbled from a couple feet away.

  “Isn’t that a good thing for spies?” I snarked.

  She narrowed her eyes at me and flipped her rainbow hair. “I don’t do the spying, my friends do.”

  “I know you feel something when I kiss you, more than a friend kind of thing,” Jeremy said, as if Jenna was indeed invisible or not present at all.

  I rolled my eyes at Jeremy. Guys and their egos are completely insufferable. “What do you want me to say, Jeremy? You’re hot, and you’re good kisser. But I’m in love with Bryn. End of story.”

  A smile spread across his face, the gold flecks in his eyes dancing. “So I’m still in the game.”

  I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation. “This isn’t a game—it’s my life!” With that I unlocked the door and stalked into the house with Jenna and Jeremy close on my heels. Funny, I didn’t remember inviting either one of them to come in. Guess what I wanted didn’t matter anymore.

  I internally bitched out my friends all the way up to my room where I stopped short. Someone had been here, and I wasn’t talking about my parents. It looked like everything I owned had been pulled out of place and strewn around my room. It was if someone had been searching for something and got angry when they didn’t find it. As it sunk in, I gasped and slapped my hand over my mouth, stopping abruptly where I was so that Jenna slammed into my back, knocking me forward. “What’s wrong?” she asked before her eyes took in what I’d already seen. “What—what happened?” she stammered.

  “I don’t know,” I whispered.

  Khol appeared suddenly in front of me, his eyes glowing intensely. “Get whatever you need together quickly. It’s not safe for you here anymore.”

  Jeremy pushed his way in front of Jenna and me to square off with Khol. “And how do we know you’re not the one who did all of this”—he motioned to the mess that used to be my room—“so you had an excuse to take her out of here?”

  Khol barely spared Jeremy a glance, and instead, looked to me. “We don’t have time to deal with any mistrust your friends may have for me. I need to get you out of here.”

  Did I trust Khol with my safety? Yes. Did I think that he’d use any excuse to get me alone so he could try to coax me into being his Anam Cara? Yes. So the question was which one was his motivator for the current situation? I couldn’t afford to make mistakes anymore. They could cost me Bryn, or my life, or both. “What happened? Why isn’t it safe here anymore?”
I asked hesitantly.

  “The aliens somehow know who you are. They came looking for you.” He ground his teeth together as if it was taking everything in him not to just grab me and disappear.

  I shifted nervously, still not quite sure what to think. “How do you even know that?”

  “I saw the one that shot at you leaving your house—”

  “Why didn’t you stop him from doing this? Why didn’t you, I don’t know, get him or something?” I asked incredulously as I waved my hands frantically at my trashed room. “And what were you doing lurking around my house?”

  “I was in the area; let’s leave it at that.” Khol sniffed as if indignant. “And instead of getting him, as you put it, I decided to follow him to see if I could find out anything.”

  “And did you?” Jenna piped up.

  “Yes, I did,” Khol said gruffly. “They somehow know who P.J. is, and they want to remove her as a threat.”

  “Remove me?” I staggered back into Jenna who stepped out of the way for Jeremy to steady me. “You mean—” I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

  “How do we know we can trust anything he’s saying?” Jeremy asked while glaring at Khol.

  “I trust him,” I said without hesitation. Jeremy made a sound almost like a growl in the back of his throat, and his grip on my arm tightened. “So where are you going to take me?”

  “To my lair,” Khol said. “I wish I could keep you away, at least until—” He stopped short and shook his head as if dislodging some thought from his mind. “But your life will be protected there, even if it isn’t the safest place for you right now.”

  “I don’t understand. How isn’t it safe for me there, but my life is protected?” Khol crossed his arms over his chest and made a face that somehow I understood. Dragons—other Dragons—would be at his lair, and he was afraid they’d try to lay claim to me. “How will you keep that from happening?” I croaked.