the Darkest Edge Of Dawn (2010) by Kelly Gay Page A

with the brown and matched my eyes. My lips pursed, taking the natural fullness out of them as I examined my reflection. My skin was paler. Hips a little thinner. But otherwise, I looked like the same old Charlie. Only exhausted.
    A long exhale breezed through my lips, as my reflection dimmed.
    What the--
    My image completely disappeared along with the mirror, until I was looking at the wall beyond. I blinked hard, seeing strange linked patterns behind my eyelids. Damn. I must be more tired than I thought. I shook my head, knowing it wasn't possible to see through the mirror; it was just my mind playing tricks. When I chanced a look again, the mirror was there and my reflection scowled back at me.
    The back door slammed, echoing through the house. I stepped to the right, leaning toward the window to see Rex's shadowy form in the yard below, leading Brimstone to the kennel. Emma's door down the hall slammed, too, this one rattling the walls and making me flinch. Terrific. Now everyone was pissed.
    I rubbed my hands down my face, hearing Rex return from the kennel. I thought about going downstairs to reinforce my argument. But it was pointless. I was right, he was wrong. And we'd do nothing but go around in circles. I was the parent. Emma might hate me for it, but my job was to protect her.
    Trying to get through to Rex might be pointless, but my kid was another matter.
    My need to have her understand propelled me down the hallway to her room. I knocked softly, wondering what had happened to the old days when she thought I could do no wrong and sought me out for the smallest comfort. She didn't answer. I pushed the door open to find her lying on her stomach across her bed, using the large, brown, stuffed bunny Will had given to her last Easter as a pillow.
    I sat on the bed. "Emma, you have to think rationally about this."
    She rolled onto her side, raising up on one elbow and looking down the length of her thin body to where I sat. Her finger twined around the bunny's ear. "Mom, you don't know Brim. You can't say that unless you spend some time with him." She sat up, cross-legged, pulling the bunny into her lap. "You're the only one of us who hasn't and that's why he doesn't trust you yet."
    "Can you hear what you're saying? That thing has to trust me ? You're talking about a hellhound, Emma. Trust doesn't exist with them."
    Her full lips went thin and her chin lifted, the stubborn expression reminding me of Bryn from earlier. She cocked her head as her eyes took on a challenging copper gleam. "Well how about trusting me, then? I'll be twelve next month. I'm not stupid. I wouldn't put myself in danger."
    "Not on purpose, no."
    Her mouth dipped. "He's calm around me. I've been reading about hellhounds and they're loyal to their packs, so loyal they'd die for them, and--"
    "But we're not his pack, kiddo."
    "We are, " she stressed, growing upset that she couldn't break through to me. "He's probably never even had a pack before. Daddy said they probably got him as a puppy and just kept him chained up all alone."
    "That's even more reason to be wary of him. If he's never been around a pack before, he doesn't even know the rules, how to act, the boundaries ... He's a dangerous animal and should go back to Charbydon."
    I tried to soften the reality of what I was saying with my tone, but she just shook her head, tears shining in her round eyes, her cheeks flushing. "He wouldn't know how to survive in the wild! Can't you just try? For once, just try something someone else's way? How about my way? I'm part of this family, too. I should have a say like everyone else."
    "Emma."
    "We'll vote on it."
    "No, we won't vote on it. This is my house, and my money that's paying for Brim's food, which he isn't even eating by the way."
    "He doesn't like dry dog food. Daddy even told you, but you don't even listen to him."
    "Yeah, well, Daddy doesn't know everything. Maybe you should start listening to your mom once in a while. I know some things