Page 38 of Beta Hybrid

After a few hours, we break for lunch. Mostly because Jana and Reagan are whining that they’re hungry.

‘I want to hunt something!’ Reagan says for the tenth time.

‘You shift,’ Cai nods to Vale.

He understands immediately. If Cai shifts, he will not be thinking about hunting. It’s the final night of the full moon. He’s still aching for me, but I don’t really want to have sex near a kid with super-hearing. Not cool.

Vale smirks at us and shifts. It takes Reagan a few seconds of his little face screwing up in concentration until he shifts. Then he bounds all over Vale, on top of him, under him, around him. Just like a pup.

Jana smiles, her eyes shining.

I nudge her. ‘Look at that, he’s good with kids.’ I wink.

‘Shut up.’ She still smiles, nudging me back.

We all make ourselves comfortable in a little clearing as the two wolves find something for us to eat. The little wolf has gone through much of our food supplies.

‘Little monster,’ Divina says, rifling through her pack.

‘Little wolves eat like human teenage boys,’ Cai says. ‘Growing pups need their food.’

Jana holds her backpack upside down with a frown. ‘I have no food left.’

Cai hides a smile. ‘I’m sure they’ll find something.’

I take a sip of water, letting my head hang, rolling my shoulders. I’m so not used to this much exercise. I’m exhausted.

‘When we get to Aldrich, we should ask him what brought him back,’ Jana says suddenly.

‘What?’ I ask.

‘Well, they were dead, right?’ Jana says. ‘The Origins. They were killed. Then, somehow, they came back. Also, whose to say he won’t still want revenge on the bloodlines of those who killed them initially?’ She levels a warning look at Cai and me.

Yep. We’re the bloodlines.

I wish I could say she’s wrong. That thought had briefly fallen through the cracks.

‘I doubt Aldrich would care to be questioned,’ Divina muses.

‘Maybe,’ I say. ‘But he called me. It’s worth a shot.’

‘Well, what happens when we get there?’ Jana presses. ‘Do we just say, ‘so, your sister, Drusilla, is bat-shit crazy, and probably wants to kill you or end the world, and we were kind of hoping you would stop her?’

I hide a smirk. So blunt. ‘Pretty much.’

Jana nods. ‘What if the idea of murdering his sister doesn’t sit well?’

‘Um.’ I drum my fingers on my arm. ‘You glitter him.’

Jana bursts out laughing. ‘Solid plan.’

Chapter Sixteen

Mordecai

The closer we get to the Fae Origin, the sharper my wolf senses become. The hair rises at the back of my neck. My ears strain so much my neck twitches. Listening, sensing, watching, for any sign of an attack.

Zenna tosses me glances, her blonde brows arched, as though she thinks I’m overdoing it. She tells me as much through the bond. But I know that Vale and Divina are doing the same.

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