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“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. We all miss him. Every day.”
A shadow crossed her face, and the pleading in her eyes froze me in place when she said, “Evan, please promise me you'll protect Mariah at all costs. No matter what, keep her safe. Losing your mate...it's a pain like no other. One I never want you to know firsthand.”
I nodded wordlessly, not trusting myself to speak. I couldn’t begin to imagine. Abi knew what it was like now to lose the one person who meant the entire world, who owned you, heart and soul.
Mariah, fiercely independent and stubbornly resilient, now carrying our child within her. To imagine a world without her by my side was a darkness I couldn’t begin to contemplate, and one I refused to abide.
“I will lay down my life for Mariah and our unborn child if it comes to it.” My voice was firm with steely conviction. “That, I promise you.”
She offered me a small smile. “Let’s just be sure it doesn’t come to that.”
Chapter 14
Mariah
My heart pounded as I stood close to Evan, my fingers laced tightly with his as he made small talk with the people making their way into the large clearing. The barrage of sensations bombarding me at being around so many people at once, shifters at that, set my nerves on edge.
My dragon stirred restlessly within, and I could feel her strong curiosity. All at once, the air felt electric with anticipation, and heavy with anxiety. I could barely focus on what those greeting Evan and me were saying as I picked up snippets of conversations all around me. I could feel the weight of the other shifters’ stares, as if they were scrutinizing my every move.
“We’ll get started soon,” Evan said, raising his voice to be heard over the growing crowd. His tone was kind, yet strong and authoritative.
The murmurings quieted down, but I could still hear a few whispers rippling through the crowd. They spoke words like “impossible” and “unheard of”, referring to my dragon, no doubt, or maybe my pregnancy. I clenched and unclenched my fists over and over to calm the churning within me, but I had no idea how this was going to go. After the incident at the grocery store, I wasn’t sure I could stand any more rejection.
“I thought Mariah was human,” more than one person had said tonight. “Why can I sense a dragon?”
Evan stepped closer to me as his hand squeezed mine. The warmth of his touch made my heart skip a beat, and I felt a surge of gratitude. His steady presence was the anchor I needed right now.
He led me to a small dais in the middle of the clearing toward a large rock serving as a platform. He helped me up beside him, then lifted his free hand high in the air, calling for everyone’s attention.
The crowd quieted swiftly, and Evan lowered our hands, giving me an encouraging smile before, for the first time, he addressed the clan with me at his side.
“Thank you all for coming tonight. I would like you all to listen carefully,” Evan said, his voice resonating with authority. “What I’m about to disclose may come as quite a shock, but I believe my clan is strong enough to handle the truth. This concerns my mate and has an impact on the entire shifter world.”
I watched as many exchanged glances, the energy swelling as their anxiety peaked. Evan dove into an abbreviated account of what’d transpired when Tomas kidnapped me back in the summer. Of the experiments he was doing before, of what he’d planned to do. The gasps in the crowd made my knees weak when Evan stated that I’d been transformed into a dragon shifter by a serum that activated a long-dormant gene. The stares were too much to take.
“But there's more at stake here than just Mariah's transformation and the impact that has on our lives at home and as a clan. Tomas is cunning and ruthless,” Evan continued. “He's been plotting against our clan for some time now, and we must be prepared for whatever he throws our way.”
Silence fell over the gathered shifters while they absorbed this information. I watched their faces morph from shock and disbelief to confusion and concern, some of them radiating an added layer of fear.
“What is Tomas planning?” a man near the front questioned, his eyes narrowed. “We need to know what we're dealing with.”
“Absolutely. I will keep you all informed as much as I can. But due to the sensitivity of the situation, some things must remain unsaid for security purposes. Jax, the newest member of our clan, is working on gathering intelligence and tracking Tomas and his movements. We’ll be taking a strategic approach to deal with him and ensure the safety of our clan.”
The crowd looked at Jax, standing toward the front with Abi and Lucas.
“Can we really trust her?” I wasn’t able to see who’d spoken. “If she has ties to Tomas Hawthorne, how do we know she won't betray us?”
Evan’s jaw ticked, his fingers tightening on mine.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “They have every right to ask that.”
But Evan shook his head and replied with an icier tone. “Mariah doesn’t need to prove her loyalty to this clan. She is my bonded mate—a part of the very essence of who I am now.” He turned to me, his gaze full of love, admiration, and awe. “And she chose me and our family. She’s risked her life to protect Sofia, and her transformation into a dragon shifter only serves to strengthen our bond. You will accept her as one of our own because that is what she is.”
No one else dared question that again.
“Was Sebastian aware of this before he died?” asked another.
