“It’s me, Gabriel!”Isaid.
“Gabriel!?”
I turned to the familiar voice. Jared stood opposite me, still clutching the old swordfiercely.
“Jared! Look, I’m still alive!” I raisedmyarms.
But he didn’t look so happy to see me. “What happened? How are you stillalive?”
“Yeah, we heard your screams!” someone else added callously. “The raidershadyou!”
“Okay, well, I obviously got away from them. Look, I’m alive and well.” I turned around theatrically. Didn’t anyone care that Iwasn’tdead?
“Explain yourself!” Jared growled, jabbing the sword towards me. I heard Lorenzo growl cautiously. Jared’s wide eyes darted to Lorenzo. “And what the hell is that -demon!?”
“He’s not a demon!” I snapped. “He’s adragon.”
Shock ran through the crowd. People started muttering. Grunting, someone pushed his way out from the crowd. I recognized him as one of the alpha elders who had tried to talk me into mating before my escape. I narrowedmyeyes.
“Everyone quiet!” the elder commanded angrily. The noisedieddown.
Finally, I thought. If anyone knew what a dragon was, it was probably theelders.
“You!” the elder spat, pointing a narrow finger at me. “Why have you brought this cursed creature toourpack?”
“What?” I said,shocked.
“Oh, dear,” Lorenzo murmured behind me. “Gabriel, becareful.”
“It’s talking to Gabriel!” Jared shouted. “They’re working together, we can’ttrusthim!”
Everyone’s eyes snapped to me. People who were my packmates - people I lived with - stared at me like I was a monster. What the hell was wrongwiththem?
“Everyone, calm down!” I yelled. “Please, just let meexplain.”
Nobody lowered their weapons, or stopped glaringatus.
“We’re waiting,” the alpha elder growledunpleasantly.
Cold dread snaked down my spine. I cleared my throat and stepped forward, only able to pray that they would hear me out. “The night I left the pack, Iwascaught by human raiders. But a dragon saved me - not this dragon. Adifferentone.”
Nobody spoke, not even a whisper. The mob was silent and hung on to my every word. I shuffled my feet uncomfortably. I didn’t like all the attention, especially with all the weapons still pointingatme.
“Anyway, um… I ended up mating with thatdragon,and- “
Outrage exploded among the mob. The noise was almost deafening. Shouts of anger and disgust, rage and horror. It assaulted my ears. Everyone seemed to take a collective step backwards, as if trying to get away from me and mypoisonousaura.
“Traitor!”
“He mated with adragon!”
“He’s carrying a demon’sspawn!”
At the last comment, I became furious. My hands curled into fists and I snapped, “Shut up! Don’t talk about my babylikethat!”
Lorenzo tensed, ready to spring into action if things took a worse turn. But I held out my hand for himtowait.
“Please,” I murmured. “I know they’re being awful, but this is the only chance I have to try and get throughtothem.”
