When all of the light had been swallowed and she stood in pitch black, a sliver of light suddenly pierced the darkness and grew larger. She realized it was a door opening and stood there, debating the wisdom of going through that door. After a few moments' deliberation, she decided there really wasn’t another option unless she happened to wake up. She did pinch herself for good measure, just to see if she could draw herself out of this bizarre dream.

Jen walked slowly toward the open door, all the while trying to calm her racing heart. She didn’t want to be afraid. She had already died once, surely a second time wouldn’t be all that bad. As she crossed the threshold of the door, her eyes widened at what was before her.

It was a large room with stairs leading down from the doorway to a platform. On this platform were three beings – she didn’t really know what else to call them. They were definitely not human and they didn’t really have physical bodies, but they were very much alive. They seemed to glow and pulsate as their form changed constantly.

From what she could see, they would hold the form of featureless human and shift to strange-looking animals, then shift to something else entirely.  She felt a pull that she could not ignore and it drew her down the stairs. Almost in a trance, she walked slowly, step by step by step. Her mind was screaming out a warning, but no amount of telling her legs to stop was doing any good. So she gave into the pull and let it bring her before the three beings.

Once she was mere feet away from the three beings she came to an abrupt stop, as if she had hit a wall. And when she heard the voices in her mind she felt the blood run cold through her body.

“Jennifer Adams, daughter of Jeffrey and Michelle Adams, former resident of Coldspring, Texas, mate to Decebel Anghelesco, former Beta of the Romanian pack, now Alpha of the Serbian pack. We are the Fates and have called you to stand before us to honor your debt.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have gone through that door,” she muttered under her breath.

“Your life was to end at 18 years of age. Your time on the earth was done.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jen interrupted. “My life was – is just beginning. How can you say that at 18 my time is done? I haven’t done anything. Don’t you have to have done something in order to be done?”

“SILENCE!” All three voices reverberated in her head.

“A simple 'shut it' would have sufficed,” she grumbled.

“Perizada of the Fae interrupted your life cycle. She took your death from us. The price for that is a life. So it has always been – a life for a life. Since your death was not collected, then another’s must be.”

“Do you three always talk about yourselves in the third person? Because if you’re going for creepy, you have far surpassed itwithout adding that little weird quirk.” Jen couldn’t help the sarcasm that seeped out of her mouth.

Once again, she thought, my nerves have turned off the valve that filters the wise statements from the “going to get bitch slapped” statements.

“The life cannot be just anyone's. It has belong to someone to whom your soul calls out. The price is great for the choice you made and our decision is decided, the life has been chosen, and will be taken henceforth.”

Jen felt like the air had been knocked from her lungs. Someone to whom your soul calls out. There was only one that qualified for that and it was her mate.

“NO!” she yelled. “You will not take him – you can have me! I will accept my fate. But do not take his life for mine.”

“You misunderstand, Jennifer, mate to Decebel. Your fate was changed the moment Perizada took you from us. Your choice has consequences and you must face them.”

“But I love him. He shouldn’t suffer because of my choice,” Jen said firmly.

“The one who will fulfill this debt is not male, nor has her life begun. Your offspring has been chosen as the price. In nine months’ time the debt will be paid.”

Jen felt her legs crumble beneath her as she hit the floor. Even in her dream she felt the pain radiate through her. She tried to suck in air but her lungs wouldn’t work. Her body began to shake and she felt herself falling into a black hole. Darkness wrapped her up like a blanket. Her brain did not want to believe what they had told her – her heart was already breaking for the life that she had not, until moments ago, even known existed.

Her offspring, they had said. Decebel and she had created a life. She allowed herself to feel the joy of that revelation briefly but squelched it just as fast. How was she going to tell Decebel, the father of their baby, that she had essentially killed their baby? Not male, the Fates had said. A daughter – she had killed their daughter. How could he ever forgive her for that? And how was she going to live after losing the one they had created out of love?

She felt tears pouring down her cheeks and her body being shaken by someone. A familiar voice broke through the darkness, a voice she was not ready to hear.

“Jennifer! Wake up, baby. Please wake up.” Decebel’s voice was deep and filled with worry.

Her eyes reluctantly flicked open and she saw his tightly drawn face through her tears. He pulled her into his lap and held her close as she continued to cry and shake. She wasn’t ready to talk, she just needed to be held. She needed to have this time with the man she loved with every fiber of her being. Because once he found out that she was pregnant and that their daughter was destined to die because of her, he would never want to hold her again.