AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My mind raced with questions. What could possibly have happened? Was it Tomas making his move? Or had another threat emerged from the shadows? None of the answers could be good judging from the way Evan was hauling himself toward the trees as if his life depended on it.
I pushed myself harder, even as I felt winded, but eventually I had to stop and catch my breath. That’s when I saw it—smoke billowing up in the distance. Panic gripped me as I remembered Abi had taken Sofia out earlier that day to spend some time in the vineyard.
“Abi… Sofia!” I cried out, my stomach roiling. My legs felt like they were made of lead, but I pushed myself to keep running, willing them to move faster. Every second counted, and all I could think about was getting to my daughter and making sure she was safe.
After what felt like far too long, I reached the vineyard. Three dragons, two large and one small, stood between the trees and the grape vines. One was Evan’s black-scaled behemoth of a dragon. The smaller dragon I assumed was Abi, leaving the large green one to be…Sebastian?
I scanned the area frantically, and my eyes then landed on a small figure huddled on a blanket, crying. Relief washed over me as I rushed to Sofia, dropping to my knees beside her. She looked scared, but as far as I could tell, she was unharmed.
“Shh, baby girl, it's okay,” I whispered, cradling her to my chest. Her tiny body trembled against mine, and I rocked her gently, soothing her fears away. “Mommy's here now.”
Sofia’s hazel eyes focused on me when she looked up, her breathing uneven as her crying eased. She reached and touched my cheek with her chubby fingers.
“Mama.”
I inhaled quickly, my heart pressing against my ribcage as I was filled with overwhelming love and joy, hardly able to believe what I’d heard.
“Oh, sweet girl,” I breathed, tears welling in my eyes, spilling over as I held her even tighter. “That’s right. Mama’s here. I’ll always be here for you.”
The impact of that one word shifted something in me. She was my child, and I was her mother, and nothing in the world would ever change that.
Tears streamed down my cheeks when I caught sight of Evan racing toward us in human form.
“Is she okay?” Evan called out as he finally reached us. He fell to his knees beside me, reaching for Sofia.
“I think she’s fine, just scared,” I said. My heart pounded, fuller than it’d ever been from Sofia’s declaration—her single word that marked my soul. I wanted to revel in that joy, but the urgency of the moment demanded attention.
“What's happening, Evan? What was the smoke from, and why was Sofia lying here alone?”
“Let's get back to the house. I'll explain everything.” Evan held Sofia tightly to his chest, using another arm to help me up, wrapping it around me as we made our way back home. I kept glancing up at him as he murmured to Sofia, reassuring her everything was okay over and over again. There was real worry in his eyes.
We’d barely entered the kitchen when Abi and Sebastian joined us, both looking disheveled. Abi's clothes were singed, and Sebastian had dirt smudged across his face.
“Someone please tell me what on earth happened out there,” I said.
“Mariah, I'm so sorry,” Abi said, her face twisted with regret. “Sofia and I were sitting on a blanket in the vineyard when I had this strange feeling we were being watched. I couldn’t explain it, but out of nowhere, a masked man in camouflage attacked us.”
“Attacked you?” I echoed, reaching out to grip Evan’s arm, my other hand at Sofia’s back as I stared at Abi, horror stricken.
“Yes. I yelled for help and shifted as fast as I could, knocking him back, scenting that he was human. I don’t know if he didn’t expect me to fight back or what, but he started to run off, so I tried to trap him with a smoke ring. But he was too fast.” She looked at Sebastian. “Faster than any human should be.”
His gaze hardened, and he glanced at Evan, then at me. “First, I just want to make sure… is everyone all right?”
“Thankfully, yes,” Evan said, wrapping his arm around me protectively. “I heard Abi yelling, and I took off to see what was happening.” So that was why he’d stopped in the hallway. His dragon senses were strong enough that he could hear her from that far away. It was incredible.
“By the time I got there, he was gone,” he told me. “Sebastian arrived just a second later. This is a major problem. Who was that man, and how did he get past our security?”
“I might have an idea about that.” We all turned to see Jax standing in the doorway, holding a laptop. He looked more somber than usual, all hints of his teasing and joking demeanor replaced by something that resembled…dread?
“Jax.” Sebastian turned to him, gesturing for him to come in. “What do you know?”
He sighed, shaking his head as if he didn’t believe it himself. “I’m honestly not really sure.” He glanced around the room at each of us. “I've been working on getting my system back up and running since I got here, and I just had a major success. I was looking through some of the files, waiting for Evan to come up to the office, and I found something you need to see.”
He swallowed hard, and I had to wonder what could’ve made him this upset. Jax quickly connected the laptop to a small screen on the kitchen counter, and we all gathered around to watch. The footage was from another lab, showing a man strapped down to an exam table, his face contorted in agony as he was injected with some unknown substance.
“Turn off the sound,” I said, hardly able to bear the sight of the man's pain without hearing his screams as well. It was horrific, and my stomach twisted in knots as my heart rate jumped.
“Sorry,” Jax said quietly, muting the video. We watched as the man went limp. He stayed like that for several seconds, then his body jolted, rising up off the table as if he'd been electrocuted. In the next instant, the man was gone, vanished. In his place…
