The Hybrid Legacy (Sequel to the Baile Series)

Chapter 19 Rebirth

Cullen

I had never felt more alive in my Shapeshifter, Werewolf hybrid form. Colours seemed incredibly vibrant, such as the blue of the sky and green of the earth. I could hear the wind rustling in the trees and between every fibre of grass and smell the faint scents of smoke and salt.

"I'm back." Leander returned, though I hadn't even noticed him leave my side. "I'm sorry I had to leave, but your cousins are having trouble with their shifts."

"Trouble?" I accepted Leander's hand to help me to my feet.

"Yes, but how are you doing?"

I noticed him studying me. "I feel good. Do I look different?" I asked.

"Take a look for yourself." He handed me a small oval shaped mirror.

I held the mirror up to my face and was instantly taken by my bright sapphire eyes that were rimmed with molten gold. I looked upward to my mused hair, a becoming navy shade of blue. I raked my fingers through it and found my nails had elongated, a telltale sign that I was yet to shift into my Werewolf form. A Shapeshifter was constantly evolving; I had plenty of time to get accommodated with my new body.

"Somebody's looking fresh."

I was surprised to find Jade amongst my family and friends. "Thank you, I feel it. How are they?" I peered around her to see my unconscious cousins lying on the ground.

"Dead apparently." Her voice cracked.

"What?"

"They aren't breathing and they've been like this since they resurfaced."

I rushed to Fillan's side first.

"I don't know what else to do." April was struggling to hide her strong emotions from everyone.

I pressed my ear to his chest and true to Jade's word he wasn't breathing. But a part of me knew he wasn't gone.

"Donn." I whispered under my breath in Fillan's ear. "I know you can hear me, bring them back. Bring them back, please."

'They will wake if they have the will to live. You are too hasty, not everyone is an early riser like yourself.' Donn replied in my mind.

Kenzie suddenly gasped from my right, her back arched as she breathed deep gulps of air, as if she were dying of thirst. Sharp canines burst forth from her gums and her limbs bent and snapped before realigning themselves.

"Give her space." Alick pulled Jade and I away.

Fillan was next to reawaken, his eyes gold rimmed with a bloody shade of red. Erina was last to join in the pain stricken roars and tattoo of bones cracking and flesh moving beneath skin.

It was hard to watch, even harder when I found my own body becoming rather unsettled. My skin itched as hair sprouted from my arms and hands. I also tasted blood on my tongue from shifting teeth.

"Are you alright?" Jade noticed my discomfort.

"This is just hard to watch." I turned away but I could still hear their rapidly beating hearts in my ears and the tearing of muscle and snapping of veins. It made my skin crawl with revulsion.

Eventually roars morphed to howls and I returned my eyes forward to see three large wolves, about twice the size of an ordinary wolf. Neither of them was at a mega wolf's size, certainly not their father's...yet.

"Hold on to your mind, don't let your wolf consume you." Alick embraced his children, shifting his own eyes gold and ruffling their shaggy pelts. Kenzie's pelt was dark ebony, whereas Fillan and Erina had near identical grey pelts with a few darker splotches. The only difference was that Fillan's tail had a black tip, as did his left ear.