I kept reading, dread growing in my body until it was rooted there permanently.
The last couple of entries were the most chilling of all.
We must find the Chimera if we are to save our fertility and our way of life. A normal shifter won’t introduce the power we need to survive into our bloodline. There’s a woman in Joy Springs who looks strangely like the one our brother swan spotted in Scotland, but she shows no signs of the Chimera curse. Her presence could be a coincidence, but it is unlikely.
We will monitor the situation. If we cannot find the male, the woman is an even better choice. We’re testing the blood for traces of the Chimera curse.
And the last entry.
Evie Quinn is the last living Chimera. Approach with extreme caution.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
The notebook slid from my fingers. I stared blankly at nothing, my mind whirring with the knowledge that there was an entire faction of shifters who knew exactly what I was.
Numbness set in. I couldn’t speak or move, but I was desperate to speak or move or cry, something other than this horrible maw of a pit opening inside of me.
Caelan came to his knees beside me. “We’ll fix it. We’ll figure out who knows and take them out.”
“It’s possible the knowledge is only with a small number of people,” Garrett said. “And one of them is dead.”
“How?” I croaked. “How did this happen?”
Caelan brought me into the circle of his arms. “Terrible luck, Evie. They weren’t after you. They were after Finn. Perhaps that’s what drew him here.”
“That must be how he found me.” I raised a trembling hand to my cheek. “Why he and Rhona killed Gianna. Maybe they weren’t trying to stab me in the back after all. Maybe…”
I shook my head just as a thought occurred to me. I’d forgotten about him. “Barrett. He’s here. Maybe he can tell me. Maybe he’s here to help.”
“You cannot trust any of the other Chimeras, Evie. Not now. Not when you don’t know who they’re working with or what their goals are.”
“I can’t trust the shifters, either.”
Caelan stilled. “You can trust me. Always.” But there was an odd tremble in his voice. Maybe he would keep my secret. Maybe he would even protect me when others might try to take me. But I knew in my heart that he was keeping a secret that somehow involved me. Had I been the biggest fool of all by trusting him? Even after everything, would trusting him finally lead to my downfall?
Garrett stood a few feet away, his eyes trained on Caelan. A gold ring outlined his eyes, and his jaw was taut with tension.
“You’re hiding something from me,” I said when the silence became unbearable. “Both of you.”
Garrett looked away. Caelan’s arms tightened. “No,” he said quietly. “I’d never hide anything like this from you.”
“But youarehiding something.”
Caelan sighed, and I waited for him to come clean, but he shook his head. “No, Evie. I’m not hiding anything.”
A frigid wind swept through the area, the same temperature as my heart. He was lying. I knew it as sure as I knew that my heart was breaking. It had taken me years to trust someone again, and just when I had opened my heart and finally let Caelan in, let myself love again, he lied right to my face.
I swallowed my pride down, forced my emotions into the same box I used that night while I lay dying in that field of heather, and forced a smile. “Right. Of course. I’m sorry for doubting you. It’s just…that notebook. Others know about me now, and I’m not sure how to handle that, or what I should do about it.”
Garrett’s glowing gaze rested on my face, but I saw no judgment in his eyes. Only resignation. He and I both knew thatI knew, but he would not call me out on it. At least not right now. I would get up, dust myself off, take this notebook with me and call Moira. Then we would call Barrett and feel him out. Regardless, Moira and I would come up with a plan.
I was a survivor. If the shifters came for me, I would respond in kind.
It was time to take the gloves off and show them what a Chimera could do.
Caelan wanted to stay,but I pled a headache.
