Hybrid

TWENTY

⫷ ARIA ⫸

My mind races like it usually does. I try not to be dramatic, no matter how difficult it becomes. Blood, thick and warm, rolls down my chin from the canine protruding from my gums. I shift my head, allowing rain-soaked hair to hopefully hide my changing face from Payton.

No such luck. "You lost control again," she calls over the relentless rain.

I ignore her as I try to calm the blistering storm in my heart. The ends of my fingers burn, as it the claws of my wolf are threatening to spring forward. I don't want to bleed anymore. I want to make others bleed. Preferably Payton.

I shake my head, dispelling the thoughts that are not my own. Anger wins, as it usually does. "We are wasting our time!" I scream over the storm. Dark clouds lick the sky, cascading the both of us in relentless shadow. My entire body is streaked with mud and blood.

Payton shakes her head at me. "Your wolf is becoming tired. Good."

I growl. "That's because I've shifted a million times today!"

"No; you lost control, and it was only 16 times."

Proof was in the pudding; anytime I shifted a limb, my bones cracked in protest. Everything ached down to its core. The first shift, last week, had been the most painful experience of my life. Any shift made me want to claw my own heart out to end the misery. After 16 times in a row, the skin starts to feel a little numb.

I'm not sure when, but I end up on my knees, cushioned by the mud. I hear Payton inching forward, and I growl in warning. "No more," I snarl.

Payton snaps the whip inches from my face, startling me. "Stop getting angry."

The wolf thrashes inside of me. "It's not as easy as it sounds," I say through gritted teeth.

"I don't care." Another snap; this one grazing the tip of my nose.

I'm too tired to feel pain. I just want to curl up in a ball and let the rain turn me into mush. My eyes flutter close, and I feel the rain. I let it soak into my pores. I let it wash away the pain from shifting and from Payton's constant attacks. In the background, I faintly hear her snapping the whip. No longer do I care if she's hitting me or simply teasing me. I can only feel the rain.

This state of half consciousness soothes my aching body and tampered mind. The anger sizzles, though fainter than before. The control slips from my fingers, much like how honey slips off of a spoon. I sense it leaving me, and I welcome its departure. A voice at the back of my mind rises, encouraging me to let the power soak into my skin.

Maybe this is it. Maybe this is the power source talking to me. The sizzling anger flares, and I wonder if I'm wrong. I'm not supposed to be angry when searching for my magic.

The anger explodes like a volcano on Venus. I open my eyes, and I see everything much differently. Slow motion. The fall of rain lags as though time itself forgot how to properly function. Through the rain, I see Payton readying herself to whip me again.

An enemy. I'm ready this time. My limbs are no longer tired; the power bid it so.

My brain moves as slowly as the rain, but my body is faster. In a flash, I pounce. I dispose of the whip with the canines growing in my mouth. Then, with a pumping strength of a thousand tons, I slam Payton's body to the ground. The anger, the power, it all pulses toward my hands that wrap around her throat.

"You can't hurt me," my voice rumbles in a lower tone. "You can't fucking hurt me."

I'm losing control. I can't help it. I don't want to stop.