Hybrid

Chapter 17: Bastard

*Picture of Lucas*

*One mile at a time. My race. My pace.*

My legs were on fire. My muscles were burning as we ran through the woods. Up and over fallen trees, in and out of bushes that cut up our legs. It was a challenge. I was fast in my skin, much faster than an normal human but still not fast enough. The advantage of having four legs were you were more balanced. There was more traction on the dirt which meant more speed. If you tripped with one leg you had three more to right your stance.

Two legs meant you had less traction. If you tripped you were going down. Thankfully for my pride, I didn't trip but I was slow. Lucas and Emma never left my side though. Those two were happily jumping and nipping at each other while they ran.

Lucas' wolf was nearly identical to Emma's. Both were a sandy blond color, the only difference was he was slightly taller than her and had two white paws up front.

I'm not sure how long we ran. It could have been for twenty minutes and I would have felt like it was a decade. I felt weak. We felt weak. My beast and I were exhausted from today. From fighting with the vamps at the club, getting beat around by Zachary, to shifting for the first time and now running like our lives depended on it for the second time today, it's been a long day.

But we ran. And we ran. And we ran.

Until finally I caught sight of the group ahead of me. Slowing to jog, we covered the distance between us and came up on what looked to be an old abandoned campsite. There were about six blacked out suburbans waiting for us. People were standing around while a few piled into them. Knight was leaning against one waiting for us. "Not bad for two legs girl. Not good, but not bad." My beast rumbled. Cocky bastard.

Emma shifted back into human form and I quickly shoved the shirt over her head. Lucas gave us a wolfy grin and trotted of behind one of the suv's go grab some close I presumed.

"Now what?" She questioned the beta.

"Now we take an even longer drive."

My groans were mixed with some of the groups. No one wanted to be shoved in cars, no matter how big, for long hours at a time.

"Where are we going?" My voice rang out and some stopped what they were doing to stare.

His eyes lit up. "Our home."

I growled in annoyance. "And where is your home?"

"Our-" he drug out, "home isn't too far. You'll see soon enough."

Emma placed a hand on my lower back and pushed me forward whispering, "let's just get this over with. Lucas said he isn't too bad." I tilted my head at her. "We set up a a link while we were running. He was telling me about his family and the Alpha."

Links were mental bonds between wolves that we could use to speak in our other forms. It beat grunting and barking. They were easy to set up and easy to break if need be. Kinda of like a walkie talkie, but in your head.

"And before you say anything, I've never tried setting up one with you before because it was never needed. And when you did shift, I never got a chance to try." Her smile was apologetic. "Sorry."

"You two are riding with me." Knight called over to us. I huffed while Emma pulled me to his vehicle. We slid in the back seat while Knight sat behind the wheel and Lucas called shotgun. I was thankful for his presence, Emma seemed to like him so he couldn't be too bad. Plus, he would make a good buffer between Knight and I.

"Let's set up the link. You'll feel a little pressure in your head, just grab ahold of it and intertwine it with your energy. Kay?" Sounded easy enough.

No sooner than she spoke, I felt it. It was like she was gently pushing against me. Me beast rumbled at the feeling but I ignored her. Doing as she instructed, I wrapped it with my own and pulled it past the barrier. A soft pop noise was the followed by Emma's smile meant it worked.

'See, that wasn't so hard.' She was grinning ear to ear now.

I just rolled my eyes.

'If you don't mind. I would like to bring Lucas into the link. Maybe he could shed a little light on what we are about to walk into.'

'Fine.' I huffed internally.

'Okay good.' Another pop sounded.

'Hello ladies. How are we today?' Lucas asked playful earning a giggle from Emma. 

'Emma said you could tell us what we had to look forward to with your pack.' I wasn't in the mood for games. Emma elbowed me in the ribs shooting me a glare.

'Straight to the point, got it. Well first off, it's a family not a pack. Our group consists of vampires, wolves and hybrids like yourself so the term pack or clan didn't work for all of us.'

The vehicle started and we pulled out of the campsite onto an off road. Knight ignored his passengers completely and turned the radio on to a light rock station.

'As for what your headed for, I'm really not sure.' So much for helpful. 'Alpha Lance called me and the other members this afternoon and told us to haul ass to where Beta Knight was. We were needed for an extraction. I can only assume you were said extraction. Other than that, I'm not sure.'

Figures, loyal to a fault. I bit back a groan. 'You said hybrids. I thought they were supposed to be rare?' How many others were like me I wondered.

'Uhh.. kind of. Your kind is rare. And by your kind, I mean the ones that can shift. Like fully shift. It's kinda hard to explain. Not many can do what you can do. Only a few can partial shift certain parts of their bodies while others can't at all. I'm sure there is some sort of science to it but you'll have to ask the Alpha.' I could see him shift around uncomfortably in the front seat, he was nervous.

"Enough questions girl. Lance will explain everything when we get home." Spinning in his seat, his eyes locked on mine and I felt his energy serge over mine. My beast and I snarled. "Sleep girl."

We tried to fight it. He was compelling us. We showed our teeth and pushed back but our eye lids were starting to droop. A deep rumble filled the vehicle and he pushed harder. The last thing I remember is my beast pushing forward to meet his stare.

"Bastard" We snarled in unison.

*Got to love the bossy ones. On a plus note though, she isn't alone. Can't wait for y'all to meet Lance. You think Knight is bad, just you wait! 🤣*