Desire To Love (#2 in The Hybrid Wars series)

Chapter 16 ~ Doors

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Chapter 16 ~ Doors

       What scared me the most was that my inner animal had never felt more at home the moment we had arrived the Royal house. It was somewhere that had always intimidated me growing up, a constant reminder of the impending role I was bound to have.

  It was a beautiful mansion, and any onlooker who didn't know better would've seen the place as a homely commune.  In many ways, it was. There was a long field of perfectly maintained bushes and had a large fountain with some children playing around it in the centre. The house itself was similar to a school's, large and grand to perfectly hold the Royals who were living there.

Beyond the building, I knew lay the grave of my father, and my stomach twisted at the thought. I hadn't been here since my father's funeral where I was a guest, and being there as a prisoner in my own home was almost laughable.

As we stepped out of the car I felt a dozen pair of eyes on me, from the people I should've felt were my family. The Royal house usually homed Elder bloodlines or their guests, I smiled inwardly at the memory of Charlotte and I playing by that very fountain.

Now the children and their parents, most of whom I was acquainted with, stared at me with shock and fear. That sent a pang in my stomach, as I saw a mother pull her child closer to her and others make their way back inside. I was a threat to them, an enemy now.

My eyes clouded at the sight of people who adored my father, who praised their Emperor and his family for serving them. Now I was looked at as a foreigner, a disgusting excuse of a shifter. It was ironic that this was the first time I had fully developed into a shifter and was now accompanied by my inner animal, and now I was an outcast.

"Don't fret about them," Chris said as he held my arm firmly while another shifter had Eli behind us. The shifters were protecting Chris around us, but I knew his blue blood could fend for himself, much like mine. "There have been many whispers about your betrayal, but they will soon see how you were deceived and taken advantage of by the parasites."

 "Those parasites are my friends," I hissed, causing some of the brainless guards around us to suck in a breath. "And I care about them, there's nothing you can do about that. I wasn't taken against my will, I joined them freely. In fact, I led them. Together, we're going to beat idiots like you who think being separate makes us any stronger. Trust me, you'll see how wrong you are."

I didn't know what came over me, but I felt a sudden surge of confidence. I was in quite the predicament, but if I was going to be killed it would've happened already. We were planning on a way to stop hybrids from killing each other for no reason, and this could've very well been my opportunity.

"You sound like a child," my uncle muttered. "We empathise with what you've been through, but those things are not your friends. They're monsters who will stop at nothing to kill us all in order to get what they want, no matter what the cost."

"And what do they want?" Eli questioned from behind us, and I felt a heat of comfort from his presence.

"Blood," Chris said as if it was obvious as he let go of me and faced us all on the steps of the door. "Our blood, human blood, witches blood. They need it in order to survive, and their unnatural existence is an everlasting attack against the innocent. The both of you should be the most threatened than any of us, as your warlock blood is known to be the hardest for them to resist."

"Peter seemed to resist it just fine with me," I clearly replied. I didn't care if it seemed petty, and sure Peter had kind of attacked me a couple of times, I knew if he wanted to I would've already been bitten. Of course, there were exceptions like Kevin who had bitten my best friend, but I had learned better than to hate them all because of the actions of a few now. Quite frankly, I was sick of Chris' whole mightier-than-thou attitude. It felt so fake, a facade put on for our people. He was using me as a scare-tactic, and I wasn't accepting it.