Addictive (Hellish Mates #1)

Chapter 1

The trip was shorter than Rina expected. She and Gun drove for just a few minutes before they arrived at an abandoned warehouse out in the middle of nowhere. Even as they drove closer and closer to the building, Gun didn't slow down. When Rina glanced at him, he didn't even seem to be worried. In fact, he calmly continued to dig his hands into the large bag of corn chips atop the seat divider and scarf them down like a starving wolf.

Ever since Rina was young, she never failed to see Gun often munching on something—mostly junk food. Werewolves were naturally gluttonous and ate for both strength and gratification, but Uncle Gun took it to a whole different level.

His calm demeanor relaxed Rina, and she kept her eyes straight ahead to where the large warehouse stood. Just as they were about to break through the metal doors, she felt a shift in the air. A heavy pressure suddenly clung to her whole body, but just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared with a snap. One moment, they were about to crash, the next moment, they were cruising through a dark tunnel.

Rina blinked and looked at their surroundings with sharp turns of her head. Gun chuckled and she pointed her narrow gaze at him. He didn't bother to hide his amusement.

"What just happened?" she asked.

"We passed through a mystic gate. Seeing as how you've lived in the mortal realm your whole life, this was probably your first time experiencing one."

While some of Gun's tales included hunting down those who risked exposing themselves and other mythics to mortals, more stories involved combat and carnage that would've left humans even more suspicious. However, he revealed to her that the human world wasn't the only world Hellions were deployed to.

Rina still remembered the short answer he had given her when she asked if a gate led to a different reality outside of the one she had lived in her whole life.

"Not always. While gates can lead you to a whole different world, there are times it simply leads you to a shared plane of existence with the mortal realm." Gun had taken one look at her face and gave up on a more thorough explanation. "Nevermind. Yes. Just think of a gate as connecting two different worlds to each other."

He further informed there were a few gates that naturally existed and some even moved from place to place, however, most gates were mystic-made and reinforced by a gatekeeper. Witches were the usual choice for gatekeeping because of their magical capabilities. They helped make and implement the conditions required to pass through the specific gate they oversaw. Humans rarely met those conditions, so it was very unlikely that they could accidentally wander through.

If a human had tried to do what Gun just did, they would've never made it through the gate and would've just crashed their car into a warehouse.

The concept wasn't too strange. Rina, herself, was a werewolf halfing, so she knew there was always more to life than what humans believed. However, "realms" and "gates" were just the beginning of a new world she hadn't been aware of.

Gun must've heard her thoughts and said, "Don't worry. You'll learn those things along the way. What you, as a Hellion, have to focus on is your combat skills."

Rina nodded and grinned. "I'm confident in that at least."

Contrary to usual werewolf behavior, packs that lived near humans—Rina's pack included—rarely broke out into territorial wars in order to keep their existences a secret and blend with humans. Most mythics that passed through town, even vampires, never picked a fight either. The peace was welcomed, but Rina's dad made sure they never forgot what it meant to be a werewolf. He came from a previous pack full of bloodshed, and when his past followed him to their current pack, he was grateful he had never softened his werewolf nature.