Page 36 of Hybrid Moon Rising

White shone through on her knuckles tight on the steering wheel, but that was the only indication Flora gave that she’d heard him.

“Pull over,” he demanded.

Flora didn’t react. She kept driving her foot firmly on the gas pedal.

“I said pull over.” His voice came out layered as he used his vampiric abilities to control her.

Her jaw dropped momentarily, but then she bit her lip and tried to fight through his compulsion, but it was no use.

When she’d pulled all the way off the road and regained her ability to move on her own, she whipped her deadly gaze in his direction. “What the hell, Draven? You compelled me?”

“You wouldn’t answer me,” he shouted back, willing her to understand the gravity of her silence.

“Which is my right. I don’t owe you a damn thing.”

A loud thud sounded through the car when his fist met the dash. “That’s where you’re wrong, Flora. You don’t have any rights. Not now, and not so long as you live under the thumb of any supernatural being. And right now, that’s me. I will always protect what’s mine, and that means knowing what I’m walking into. I need to know if the secrets surrounding your home town are the kind that kill. I need to know that those tears are the reaction to that song reminding you of a broken heart and not something that will put my men in danger. Because, so help me Flora, with the Goddess as my witness, if I lose either of my brothers, whatever haunts you in Lune will be the least of your worries.”

Flora studied him, her fiery gaze a mirror image of his own. A soft scoff fell from her lips, and she turned her eyes toward the sunset ahead of them. “You don’t need to worry Draven. It’s not you he wants…”

Her words were a punch to the gut.

“It’s you,” he finished.

The tears she had been holding back fell freely, and her head moved up and down in a slight nod.

“Who?” he growled.

Her silence was deafening, and for a moment Draven didn't think she would answer.

He knew the moment the fight left her. Flora’s shoulders dropped forward, and her gaze fell to her lap. “My father. He…let’s just say he’s not a good man. If he finds out I’m back in Lune, I have no doubts he’ll come for me.”

“Why?”

“He had plans for me. I was his insurance policy. My mom did her best to keep him from me, but he made sure that I knew it was me who was keeping the two of us alive. He ran drugs and small arms, but mostly he made sure all his friends knew that when I came of age they’d have the right to claim my virginity. They all promised to pay top dollar, and a few times they held bidding wars over how much they’d pay. I was worth a pretty penny, they’d say. I didn’t understand what that meant then, but I do now. My mother never told him her family was one of the families who were expected to send their first born to the Culling. August’s need for a bride is the only reason I avoided that fate, but as you can imagine, my father wasn’t happy about losing his most prized possession.”

Draven was chewing the inside of his cheek so hard he’d started to bleed. His fists were balled at his sides, and his wolf was calling for the blood of the man who’d sired her. “How old were you?”

“Four.”

His growl shook the car, and Flora shrank back into the door away from him.

“Fucking hell, Flora. I’m…I'm so sorry.”

Bile coated his mouth. Four. She’d been fucking four years old. A helpless child. Practically still a baby, and she was forced to endure things no human should.

“I told you I don’t want your pity,” Flora snapped.

No, she wouldn’t want that. She was stronger than that. A lightbulb went off in Draven’s mind, and suddenly everything she’d ever said made sense.

He lowered his voice. “That’s why you want me to change you.”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. He was sure that was her driving factor, and it was one he could understand. Flora might tell the world she wanted to be changed to continue the life she started at the Culling, but the truth was, it was because monsters didn’t have to fear the things that went bump in the night or the fathers that took advantage of their daughters. They could protect themselves.

Without thinking Draven reached across and pulled her hand into his.

Tears streamed down her face, and Flora choked back a sob. “The Culling saved my life. It brought me the family I deserved.”

“What happened to your mom?”

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