Project Hybrid

Version 2 | Chapter 2: For Love

As rain pattered against the town starting at midnight, there was a howl growing closer and closer to the cottage. 

As thunder cracked, the loud, piercing wail trampled the fields. The sound that once carried such beauty was now ridden in a rush of urgency. Beatriz! Then, silence fell outside the door. And then there was the roar of nature's fury again. 

I scrambled to the door, my bare feet squeaking against the floorboards. The frame of the door grew bigger and bigger until the varnished oak painted the wall beside it. Huddled outside the threshold was a trembling mess. Silk, raven tresses drooled over her eyes and down her cheeks. A drenched, oversized tee-shirt stretched over her knees which were against her stomach. Her lips quivered. 

A wave of heat lashed my forehead, and I staggered back an inch. I glanced over my shoulder for a second. My wavering gaze took in Rylan: he was still on his back. His loud snores consumed the cottage every few seconds. Quickly, I returned to the wreck in the rain. "Keanna, what are you doing here?"

"No." At first, it was a whimper. She slowly rose to her feet. The drenched garb swallowed her frame. Her moans grew shorter and shorter until they disappeared. Silence throbbed between us. My mouth finally was open; there was a gentle click from my tongue against the roof of my mouth. It was then that Keanna lashed at the atmosphere. "No!" 

"Keanna—" 

"Shut the hell up!" 

My heart hammered against my chest as the loud snoring came to screeching halt. Tepid heaving replaced the droning. My eyes lingered over Rylan's face. Those cognac eyes twitched furiously. "Zoido." His lips grasped the surname like a pair of fingers clenching a squeeze ball. He shook vehemently as he slowly rose from the sofa. His nostrils flared, and his lips pulled back to bare his teeth. Each word that left his mouth came out like a steady blast of a shotgun. "What. Did. You. Say. To. My. Mate?" 

I stretched my hand out to Rylan's arm and touched the warm skin of his wrist. "Babe, calm down—" my eyes flickered to Keanna who heaved to the rhythm of her likely pounding heart "—Keanna's merely drunk for some unknown reason." My fingers intertwined with his. "Babe—" 

Raucous laughter beat at the air. When I glanced at Keanna, she was hunched over her stomach, which she held with a tender touch. "Oh, how long have you been fucking?"  

My teeth pressed together tightly. There was no way in hell that I would explode at Keanna's derision. She was my friend. My best friend. There was no way she meant any of it. 

However, Rylan yanked his fingers out of mine. "You know nothing!" My heart stilled for a harsh second. When I blinked, my fiancé was flooding across the floor in a flash of muddy gray. Keanna was on the floor. Her scream pierced the cottage. 

"Rylan Castilla!" I lunged forward to rip my fiancé from Keanna's body, but his hard, cognac eyes burned through my soul. My heart throbbed against my chest, and I stumbled another inch backward. I felt my insides shrivel. I might as well have cheered him on. 

My eyes pressed together gently. Over the exchange of huffs and yelps, I found my inner wolf and the thought shuddered out and inundated the city. Kyran, where are you? 

For prolonging moments, I kept my eyes pressed together. I needed to hear my brother's voice before I could find the gumption to watch my fiancé leave bruises against my best friend. A minute passed. My heart sank. 

Silence seeped through the cottage for a moment before a harsh screech whipped the air. "Hey!" 

My eyes flung open. Holding Keanna up from the ground by the shoulders was my brother. Blood oozed out of a gash down the middle of her lower lip. She was barely conscious. "Leave her alone." There was a husky undertone to Kyran's voice. The bulging muscles of his biceps twitched. He then called out over his shoulder, "Eliana, do you think you can patch her up?"