Page 27 of Beta Hybrid

Reagan doesn’t push. He just nods, accepting. Kids are better at that than adults. Slowly, our packs inch closer.

I hold a hand out to Noah. He takes it. We shake. I snake my arms around Zenna, needing her close. I bury my face into her neck.

I’m so proud of you. I kiss her soft skin. That was really something to watch, Zen.

She looks up at me with big, blue eyes, brighter under the light of the moon, and smiles.

Chapter Eleven

Zenna

The rest of the night goes surprisingly well. No fights or mauling. Sarah and Lexie make dinner, with the help of Vale and some of our witches. The kids—not just Lexie’s boys, but all of them, from both sides—sit around a campfire they made themselves, and start telling stories. About the first time they shifted, if they have, if they’ve been hunting, and how to tackle prey bigger than themselves. Reagan’s eyes keep drifting to me, and, my heart soars, always with a smile.

After a few hours, I wander a ways out into the woods. Close spaces still make it hard for me to breathe. I glance over my shoulder at Cai, deep in conversation with Vale, and shoot and a message down the bond, telling him I’ll be at the stream.

When we first arrived here, I only liked the location, not so much the people. Tonight might have changed that. No one interrogated me about my powers, or where they come from, or had a go at me for not being in control as I expected. No, that interaction, especially with Reagan, was… heart-warming. Noah let his boy decide what he wanted.

That’s probably his most redeeming quality thus far, and it makes me like him a little more.

I pad toward the stream, letting a little green light spill through my fingers so I can avoid the larger branches and sharp rocks. I’m glad Cai and I are more on the same page right now, and things here are getting a little bit better, but we still have much to do.

If Noah’s heard back from Alaric, he hasn’t said so, and Cai’s been asking daily.

Instead of the stream, my feet seem to take me off-course, toward something more productive than a midnight swim. I should discuss this with my mate first, I know, but he wouldn’t let me. Divina would tell me to take charge, so I listen to her instead, because it’s what most appeals to me.

Callen smiles when I pull the cover off his little prison of the blue truck. ‘More radiant than ever,’ he offers with a smirk.

‘Wow, you really are desperate for company.’ I perch on the roof, legs crossed. Divina’s been maintaining her black-smoke barrier spell, thankfully.

‘And a drink,’ the vampire adds hopefully.

Evelyn once compared a vampire drinking animal blood to eating feet. Blech.

‘I want to make a deal with you.’ Thoughts of Aidan and Evelyn have been going round and round in my head. I just left them there, in that hellish Tomb, to be punished by the oldest vampire ever. I don’t want to think about how she could be hurting them. But I have. ‘I want you to go back, to get my friends away from Drusilla.’

For once, Callen doesn’t look mischievous. ‘They are no doubt suffering at her hand.’ A pang of sadness. ‘Godric, too.’

‘Free them.’

‘What do I get out of it?’

‘I let you go. You go hunt whatever you want as long as it’s no one here,’ I say pointedly.

For once, he doesn’t play. Callen’s serious. ‘Fair enough. I’ll even do you one better.’

I raise my brow as Cai sends me a message. I’m headed to the stream.

Crap. ‘What is it?’ I ask quickly.

‘If I find out anything Drusilla has planned, I’ll return. And tell you.’

‘Why would you do that?’

Callen sighs. ‘Because as much fun as chaos and bloodshed are, I don’t want to get caught up in the middle of it. Or, you know, because I plan to lead you to slaughter. You don’t know.’

I roll my eyes. ‘Whatever.’ I release him of the ropes and free him of the boundary spell. I hold his gaze. ‘If you hurt anyone here, I will personally hunt you down and rip you inside out with my vines. Is that clear?’

Callen smiles, and it sends a shiver down my spine. ‘Promises, promises.’ With that, he runs off into the night faster than I can blink.

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