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“Evan…” Sebastian managed to say, his eyes fluttering open for a moment to meet mine before falling closed again.
“Stay with me, Sebastian,” I said even as my words cracked. I shoved my hands in my hair, feeling desperate, like I might crack into two. “Please. We need you. I need you.”
Sebastian's eyes opened, and he lifted a hand, trembling and slick with blood, and brought it to my face. “Everything…is yours now,” he gasped. “The clan…the land…all of it. Everything belongs to you…it's your birthright.”
Hot tears spilled down my cheeks. My hands shook as I held onto him, clutching his arms as the metallic scent of blood filled the air. “No, Sebastian,” I said. “You can't die.”
“Listen to me, Evan,” he urged, his eyes locking onto mine, shining with clarity through his pain. “This is important. You are my firstborn son…the rightful alpha to our clan.”
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I knew what he was doing, but I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t accept that this was it. I’d only just gotten him back, gotten to know him as a man, as a father. We hadn’t had enough time together. This couldn’t be happening.
“Sebastian, please,” I begged, tears coursing down my face as I clung to his weakening form. “Hang in there. We’re going to get you a medic. You’re going to be okay.”
He shook his head. “Take care of the clan, son. You’re the alpha now.” His body was growing limper by the second. I could barely hear him when he said, “Take care…of our family.”
“Sebastian…Dad…” I managed to choke out. There was so much more I wanted to say, so many things that’d never been spoken, things I’d never get to tell him now.
His eyes fluttered open again, a soft smile curving his lips. “Dad. Never forget how proud of you I am. I love you, Evan.”
“I love you, Dad.”
His eyes filled with such intense love and pride that my chest ached like there was a hole in it that could never be filled. “Don't let Tomas win.”
But all I could do was nod through my tears, promising him that I’d do as he said while the light in his eyes faded away completely. The weight of his hand on my cheek disappeared as his arm fell, and I knew he was gone.
I pounded my fists on the floor, then felt a surge of power, raw and primal, course through my veins, in what I could only assume was a shifting of the mantle as Sebastian ceased to be the alpha of the Carey clan and passed his power on to me. My dragon roared inside, demanding retribution for the loss of my true father.
The room seemed to close in, the air thick as I rose and stood over Sebastian's lifeless body. Then I lifted my gaze to Tomas. He took a step back, his eyes wide, fear and shock replacing any performative menace.
“This wasn't how it was supposed to go,” he said, staring down at Sebastian before quickly averting his eyes.
I didn't give a shit about Tomas’s intentions or regrets. The man who’d raised me as his own, who’d only just revealed himself as my true father, lay dead because of him. My dragon mourned deep within me, its primal grief echoing through my entire being.
“Count your days, Tomas,” I said with inhuman fury.
Tomas trembled under the weight of the anger filling the room like an inferno. Fire burned within me, and I ached to let my dragon free, to burn Tomas to a crisp in this very room, but first, I had to get Mariah out of here.
I shoved away my pain, thrust it into the recesses of my mind. There would be time to grieve later, but my main priority was to save Mariah.
Tomas dared to smirk even while keeping the syringe at Mariah’s throat. “This is only the beginning, Evan. You have no idea what's coming.”
It was then that I saw him slip. He thought I wouldn’t risk making a move, not when he still held Mariah against his chest, but his grip on her loosened, the syringe moving slightly. The second I saw the opportunity, I moved.
Charging toward Tomas, I flung myself forward, ready to knock him from his feet. But he grinned as if he’d planned the entire thing, and with a cry of satisfaction, plunged the syringe into Mariah’s neck.
“No!” My hand was already partially shifting, my talons jutting out to swipe that sick grin right off his face.
Tomas swiftly darted to the left, releasing Mariah as he raced for the door. Her body had gone limp, her eyes slipping closed as she fell to the floor, and I managed to catch her before she hit the ground, cradling her to my chest as I sank back to my knees.
Tomas was escaping, with more syringes clutched in his hands, but nothing else mattered as I stared at my mate. Her breathing was ragged, labored, and her body was twitching.
I threw my head back and roared in agony, my control slipping as my dragon demanded to be set free. My chest felt as if it were going to split in two.
“No, Mariah,” I said, gasping. I couldn’t lose her, too. Sebastian was bad enough. But not my mate.
Please don’t take her from this world. Please don’t take her from me, I prayed, begging fate to intervene. Spare her.
Tears poured down my cheeks. “Don’t leave me.”
