After realizing that Dawn's mood was not good, George asked, "What are you thinking?"
Dawn shook her head. It's not that she didn't want to speak, but there was a lump in her throat, and she couldn't form a word.
"Hey…", George called while cupping her cheeks with his palms. "What's going on?"
"Are you… leaving me?", Dawn forced the words from her mouth.
"What!? No! Where did you get that?"
Dawn looked at him and blinked while trying to read his face. Every blink pushed another tear down her cheeks that George frantically tried to wipe with his palms. Damn it! She was crying again!
"Please, Dawn, talk to me…", his voice was raspy as her emotions were choking him. "Why would you think that I want to leave you?"
"Because…" She inhaled a shaky breath. "I am not your first mate. Your first mate is there." She gestured toward the window, but it was in the direction of the house with Marcy. "She is so much better than I am." Whatever I did, I will fix it. I will do better, I promise, just… don't leave me. Or am I simply not enough?
George looked at Dawn helplessly. Her self-doubt hit him hard.
"Look at me.", he demanded. He waited until she lifted her gaze and their eyes met. "There is no one better than you, Dawn. Marcy is in the past I don't want to remember. You are my mate now, and I won't leave you. Ever."
George cursed himself for leaving her to wake up alone. He knew that Dawn was insecure and other than sex, he didn't do much to show her that she was special.
"Before meeting you, I didn't have a family. And now, you are my family. You are my everything, Dawn. I will never leave you."
He grabbed her hand and placed it over his chest, pressing her palm with his.
"Do you feel this? It's beating for you, Dawn." And it nearly stopped, but you walked into my life and made me want to breathe again. "Did you forget my promise that I will take care of you?"
Dawn sniffled, embarrassed that she jumped to conclusions. "Then, why did you say so seriously that we need to talk? And where did you go so early in the morning?"
George let out a long exhale and steeled his resolve. Here we go. All or nothing. Please, don't hate me, and don't shrink. I will keep you safe, Dawn.
"There is something I need to tell you.", George said to Dawn and touched his chest, where letters E and C are tattooed. "You remember the letters?"
Dawn nodded. He was wearing a t-shirt, but she knew what was under it. "For your parents."
With her tears stopping, George's hands moved to hold Dawn's, and he rubbed her knuckles with his thumbs, hoping that the sparks of their bond will convey his sincerity and his need to have her by his side.
"I told you that their names were Conor and Eliana. What I didn't tell you was that my parents were Alpha Conor and Luna Eliana of the Frostcrest pack."
Dawn blinked while wondering if her ears were playing tricks with her. "What?"
"I wanted to tell you right away, but I couldn't find the timing. I went to meet with Alpha Damon this morning, and there I met Talia who reminded me that the longer I delay, the more complicated it will get so… there it is. I am an Alpha of a pack that was destroyed, and its members were absorbed by the Red Moon pack."
Dawn's brows came together as various emotions swelled within her and she did her best to keep it together and not freak out because George's expression told her that this was important. "You are Alpha? In another pack? And Alpha Edward doesn't feel threatened by your presence? How does that work?"
"They don't know I'm an Alpha.", George said. He was suppressing his nature for so long, that sometimes even he forgot he is an Alpha.
Seeing that Dawn's confusion mixed with concern, George decided to come clean completely. She needed to know, and he would tell her, it was only a matter of when, and when was now.
"Let me start from the beginning.", George said. "Will you listen to me until I'm done?" Dawn nodded, and he added, "Please, don't assume things until you hear everything."
Dawn took a moment to stabilize her emotions before responding, "OK."
"I was three years old when the previous Alpha of the Red Moon pack challenged my father to a duel. My father lost and my mother died soon after him. An Omega from the Frostcrest pack mixed me in with other children, and no one knew who I really was as I ended up in a group of kids that was taken as future warriors of the Red Moon pack. They treated us as orphans. I was in my early teens when an Omega found me and told me who I was."
George paused and wondered if this should be it or if he should tell her the rest. So far, she took it well, but that was about his past.
Don't overthink it, he told himself. Dawn is my mate, and she will accept it. Dawn is not Marcy, and she won't reject me or come up with excuses to stay away, but I need to tell her everything. She has the right to know.
"I became a Commander with the goal to get close to Alpha Edward. I want to kill him and avenge my parents. I know that he is not the one who killed them, but Alpha Edward continued his father's oppressive ruling and is ruining the lives of many so that few can live comfortably. If you come with me to the Red Moon pack, you might be in danger, especially if I fail so… think if you want to come with me or stay here. If you come with me, I will do everything I can to keep you safe, and if you want to stay, I will come to get you when I settle things there."
There. He said it all.
George observed Dawn and even without prying into her emotions, he could see that her mood was not good because the waterworks started again.
George panicked.
He really didn't know what to do. Why was she crying again? Do women cry this often?
"I'm sorry, George…", Dawn said in a shaky voice as he rubbed her cheeks with his palms. "You've been through so much. Only a person with a golden heart can be this good after carrying such a heavy burden."
George was not sure how to interpret her words. It didn't sound bad, but he needed confirmation. "Does that mean you will come with me?"
