Hybrid

Chapter 28: The Myth, The Legend

*Treat me like a joke and I'll leave you like it's funny.*

This man ran so hot and cold it was starting to make my head spin. More often than not, he was a straight up ass. But then there were times, that I would bet my life on, that I could see compassion and worry behind his eyes. While they were few and far in between, there were just spit seconds that I could hear his voice waver from the usual coldness when he spoke to me. This however, was not one of those moments.

"Excuse me?" I half laughed and questioned. Pushing my self into a position more suitable to escape, I regarded him with my typical 'don't give a shit' look.

He just chuckled. "What? You think you can go back to your old life?" I started to disagree but he cut me off. "No, I'll give you credit. You're not that stupid." He emphasized the word 'that'.  "But I don't think you understand that you are a legend come true. The myth that has been made reality. A true female hybrid. A female hound." His hand shifted into his claws and he began picking away at the bark of the tree. Swiftly stabbing a nail into it and slowly dragging it down, tearing away its barrier.

His movements put me on edge, the sound was like nails on a chalk board to my ears. "Get to the point Knight."

Never taking his eyes off me, he continued. "Do you know what happens to myths? They are like endangered species. People hunt them down for sport, for trophies, for their own personal gain." As his words sunk in my stomach began to tighten. "You, little girl, are now the most valuable supernatural creature on the planet."

My stomach was starting to form knots. For my own safety? Sure, I could admit that to myself but mostly for Emma and the people of this pack. Would they be in danger if I stayed around? My mind instantly thought of the children that helped me today. A picture of Zachary hunting me down and hurting them to get to me formed in my head.

My beast tried to soothe me with words of encouragement. That it would never come to that but the damage has already been done. The fear of someone else getting hurt because of me was burned into my brain. "So what?" I spat, gone was my flippant attitude. "Is this your way of telling me to run?"

His hand stilled it's destruction. "That would be the easiest way, wouldn't it?" There was more, there always seems to be more with him. "You could run, spend your life on the run. Never staying in one place for too long, you could become a nomad. But they will find you eventually. No one can run forever." He began to dig his nails deeper into the tree, burying them into the core.

"Or?" I added for him.

His smile picked up tenfold. The morning sun glinted of his pearly white canines. "Or.." he added slowly. "Or you could fight." Ripping his claws from the tree, he slung chunks of bark in my direction. I bailed off the rock as fast as I could but not before I took a few splinters to the shoulder.

I screamed at him. "What the fuc-" He was on me in a matter of moments. One second I was picking myself off the ground and the next he was on top of me, shoving my back into the dirt.

"The only problem with that is your weak." He lowered his face closer to mine as I growled. "How do you expect to fight back if you can't even protect yourself?"

My beast was caught somewhere between being angry at him for trying to hurt us and caught up in his overwhelming scent so close to us. I on the other hand, was just plain pissed. With him pinning down my arms, I did the one thing I thought I would never do.

I kissed him.

Using my upper body strength, I lifted myself up just enough for my lips to press against his. My beast roared inside of me at the flare of the bond. Tiny little lightening bolts lit up inside of me and my skin burned with need. His once hesitant form quickly melted into mine as he returned the kiss with intensity. Fueled by anger and desire, the kiss was aggressive. His lips mashed against mine, tongue forcing its way into my mouth to battle with my own. He released one of my hands to cradle my head to his.

That was his mistake.

Faster than I have ever done before, I forced the change of my whole are and slammed my fist into the side of his face. I expected him to go flying or at the very least roll quite a distance away from me but he just rolled off to my side. Before he could react, I used my other hand to push off of him, angling my body sideways, feet facing him.

I smirked as I caught the surprised look on his face and kicked out hard sending me sliding away from him and him slamming into the tree he was once demolishing. The Goddess must have been on my side this morning because the impact of him to the tree caused it to snap and come toppling down into of him, holding him in place. For the moment at least.

The look on his face was priceless. Bits of pain, shock, anger and I do say embarrassment was written ever so clearly on his usual unreadable expression. Standing up and dusting myself off, I walked over and crouched next to him, careful to keep out of striking distance. "You were saying I couldn't protect myself?" I'm not usually one to act cocky but damn did it feel good to see his ass laid out.

Sobering up, he laughed. Actually laughed. And I'm not talking his typical evil chuckle, I mean full belly laugh than made my own stomach tighten for all different reasons this time. "You fight dirty little girl. That's a good start but by the time I'm done with you, you won't even have to."

*Well ladies and gents, there you have it. Her very first kiss, betcha thought it was going to be Lance. Sike! Ha!*