#CHAPTER 72 Fated mate

When I opened my eyes, I remembered nothing. For a terrifying moment, I couldn't even remember who I was. But there was a warmth on my belly and chest, the weight of something reassuringly heavy and solid. Someone was resting their head on me and holding my hand. Someone I knew. Someone I wanted desperately to never leave me. And then it all flowed back like a river crashing through a broken dam, washing over me in a mighty wave. "Claudia!" I must have awoken Evan somehow even though I hadn't even moved. Eyes wide, I stared up at him, too stunned to answer. But I didn't have to. He wrapped me up in an embrace, hauling me up from the hospital bed as if I weighed no more than a feather. The way he held me was desperate, terrified, frenzied yet gentle, and before I knew it I was clutching at him too. "Evan," I whispered, lost for words. I could only say his name over and over again -- "Evan!" Because now I knew. Now I felt it. After all this time, after all I had wondere