AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good idea.” I inhaled, then let it out again, then tapped the screen to answer. "Tomas,” I greeted him coldly. “To what do I owe this unwelcome call?”
“Ah, Evan,” he sneered, his voice just as icy, though it was laced with barely concealed rage. “I should have known it was you.”
“I have no idea what you mean.” This call was being recorded, after all. I didn’t want to incriminate anyone. “What I do know is that I’ve been looking for you. You owe me a life.” The last part came out as a growl.
Tomas snarled. “You realize this is all ending very soon, don’t you? Sebastian is dead and gone, and he can't save you anymore. Give it up, boy.”
My knuckles turned white as I gripped the steering wheel tighter, fighting back the words I wanted to say. This man had murdered my mother and my father, and then had the nerve to throw it in my face so callously? I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I tried to keep my temper on a leash.
“I will have Sebastian’s land!” Tomas yelled. “I’ll have his fortune. Everything he had, everything he ever wanted will be mine. I never lose.”
I glanced at Mariah, who was trembling, her eyes wide as she breathed heavily. I could only imagine what hearing this monster’s voice and his threats must be doing to her.
“Do you have any idea how much money people will pay to turn into shifters, Evan? Honestly, I thought you were smarter than all of this. Your father was too weak, too shortsighted, but you can change your legacy. If you join with me, we can change the world.” The man really was insane. “After all, what’s a little blood between mates, right?”
Mariah tensed, inhaling and exhaling, and that was all it took for my dragon to come snarling to the surface, pressing against my consciousness. I glanced in the rearview mirror to find my eyes had turned gold. The mere idea of Tomas getting his hands on my mate again made me come undone. The fragile life growing inside Mariah’s womb would never withstand Tomas’s experiments.
“Your threats mean nothing to me, Hawthorne,” I spat, my vision turning red at the edges. Somehow my voice came out strong and firm, belying the storm surging inside. “You’ll never touch her again. You won't win, Tomas. Mark my words, I will avenge my father.”
Tomas laughed. “Despite what you may think, I never wanted to see Sebastian dead. However, what’s done is done, pity that it is. Your arrogance will be your undoing, Evan. Mark my words, I will get exactly what I want, even if I have to send you to be with your father to do it.”
The line went dead, and a flood of rage surged through me so strong that smoke billowed from my nostrils, and my claws jutted out, my dragon snarling and snapping in its cage. Part of me wanted to pull the car over and shift right now to release this fury, but Mariah's soft touch and the gentle sweep of her thumb across the back of my hand brought me back to reality.
“It’s going to be okay,” she said quietly.
“You shouldn’t be the one comforting me.” She still looked pale from the call.
“He wants to get in your head, Evan. That’s what he does, and right now that's all he has left: threats and mind games. We have a plan, a good one, that’s coming together exactly how it should.”
“I won’t let him get to you, and he sure as hell won't get to our baby.” I growled and took a deep breath, still struggling to keep my cool.
“And he won’t. He’s going to spend an exceedingly long time in prison. It’s going to be over soon.”
She was right. I couldn't let Tomas gain the upper hand by giving into my rage, but the desire for vengeance burned within me like an inferno, ready to consume everything in its path.
I didn’t just want Tomas to spend the rest of his life rotting in some prison. I might’ve gone along with the plan to lock him away, but the truth was, what I really wanted was his head.
Given the opportunity, I’d be more than happy to sever it myself.
Chapter 18
Mariah
By the time we got to the Airbnb, I was so nervous I could barely think straight. It was surreal that I'd be meeting with my mother’s killer tomorrow. I had no idea how it was going to go, what I might learn, if anything, or what impact it might have on me. Despite it all, though, I was ready to tackle this. Especially if it’d give us the insight we so desperately needed.
Evan pulled up in front of the quaint little cottage we’d booked that was only fifteen minutes from the prison. We were in an unpopulated area, and the countryside spread out all around us. Any neighbors had to be several miles away because it felt secluded and alone—something we needed right now since Evan looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel.
He’d been on edge ever since the call with Tomas. Not that I could blame him. The call had triggered me, too. Just hearing his voice brought me back to that underground clinic where Tomas had kept Jax and me in prison cells. The man was undoubtedly psychotic.
Shutting off the engine, Evan turned to me. “I need to shift. I feel like I’m coming unglued.” His jaw ticked, his fists were clenched, and that vein still pulsed in his forehead. “I can’t stop thinking about what he said. I’m afraid if I don’t let my dragon out, I might lose control completely.”
I gripped his hand, giving him a reassuring squeeze, though I needed just as much reassurance. “It’s going to be okay. He’s angry he’s been duped. He’s just lost his fortune. But we knew this would happen. Wanted it to happen. Things are going according to plan, right?”
He nodded tersely. “Right, but his reaction was different than I expected. It’s like he wasn’t even concerned about the money. At least not to the extent I thought he’d be.”
I swallowed as I recalled the conversation. “Well, he seems to think he has a veritable gold mine with my blood…”
Evan growled, his eyes flashing gold, and he climbed from the car, slamming the door a bit too hard. I jumped, on edge too. He rounded the car and opened my door for me, then collected our bags from the trunk. “Let’s go inside. Then we can find a place to shift.”
