Page 69 of Beta Hybrid

‘I’m a hybrid,’ I say through my teeth.

The other vampire moves to lunge at me, but Callen grabs him by the back of the neck, raises him in the air and rips his head clean off with a wet sound.

The vampire in my clutches whimpers as his friend’s head rolls, bumping against his foot.

My mouth hangs open, the headless body falling to the ground. ‘Do—do I have to take his head off?’

Callen smiles, amused. ‘Best to,’ he nods encouragingly. ‘You can do it.’

I meet the vampire’s cold eyes. He’s here to kill my family. My vines wrap tightly around his throat and yank tight like barbed wire. A gasp escapes his lips right before his voice chord is severed, and his head slips off with the same, horrible wet thud. I retrieve my vines.

‘Very good,’ Callen says, like a proud dad. ‘But faster, yeah?’ He pats me on the back. ‘Come on, now we can get in there.’

As if from nowhere, Evelyn jogs up to us, her front covered in blood. ‘Hey,’ she says with a smile as though we’d chanced upon each other at the mall. ‘Nice kills. Let’s go.’

With two vampires at my side—friends, I reminded myself—we burst into the centre of chaos.

There seems to be slightly more vampires than wolves, I note with dismay. Let’s even that out. The nearest vampire looms over a younger wolf from my own pack, maybe eighteen years old. The wolf growls, on her haunches, but is already wounded, blood flowing from her neck and shoulder.

‘No, you don’t.’ With one of my vines, I shoot through the back of the vampire’s neck and pull, creating a golf-ball sized hole. He makes a gross sound I shove away. I wrap my vines around his neck and take his head for good measure. Callen and Evelyn have split off slightly, helping those closest by.

I lower my hand to the girl. ‘Are you okay?’

She yelps a little, but can stand. She nuzzles my hand with her nose, then runs off for another vampire to kill. A little pride blooms in my chest.

The ground is soaked with blood, seeping into the earth and grass of the base of the once-beautiful mountain. Rocks are wet with copper-red stains, and everywhere I look, my people, the pack that I wasn’t born into but was adopted into, are hurt and fighting for their lives.

One of the only comforts in my heart is that our witches and the young are safe. But they won’t remain so if we lose this battle. The vampires will ascend the mountain. They will find them. Reagan and his little brothers. Jana, my friends. Even with Divina protecting them, there would be losses.

I swallow the scent of blood, bile rising in my throat.

I march up behind another vamp and send a vine out, wrapping it around his throat and give a violent tug. Instead of taking his head off, he snarls and turns to face me.

‘I am older and stronger than this fodder—’ His lip curls as he juts his chin to the apparently younger and weaker vampires at his feet.

‘Oh. Okay, then.’ I loose six more vines and use all of them to tug even harder.

I smile down at his glassy eyes, unseeing as they look up at me from the ground, disconnected from his body.

Lexie calls to me over the noise of battle. She and Noah are holding their own well enough, Aidan and Will helping with spells, but it’s not enough. A dozen vampires descend on them. It seems I miscounted. They are many more vampires than wolves.

We’re losing.

I glance around. ‘Callen! Evelyn!’ I shout, unable to see them. I know they’ll come if they can, but I don’t wait. I start for the vampires attacking my cousin-pack.

I reach for Aldrich’s power, from the bangle on my wrist, needing his bloodlust. My vines grow thicker, sharper with his gift, as I reach for the vampires. Instead of taking out one, even two, at a time, my vines shoot for all twelve of them, my vines thicker than my arms now, and rip, sending a dozen sprays of blood in every direction.

For a heartbeat, everyone stops to stare at me.

I glance down at the bangle. Its colour has faded. There’s only so much power there for me to use. I give my mate’s cousin a nod, thanking them for protecting my friends, and to my surprise, Noah inclines his head in return.

I turn to see Evelyn and Callen smirking at me. ‘Thought you needed help,’ Callen murmurs. He shoulders me good-naturedly. ‘Come on, I think your mate could use a hand.’

I immediately seek the bond. Cai’s alive but stressed. He and Sarah are still on their own, Vale and Savannah working toward them, but blocked by the swarm of vampires they face.

‘Hey!’ I shout at the vamps. ‘Come and get it.’ I beckon them to me. Evelyn sniggers behind me.

About twenty vampires run toward me in the blink of an eye. Again calling on Aldrich’s power I unleash my vines at them. This time, I take out about fifteen, but my energy dips severely as their heads topple over each other to land on the ground. Callen and Evelyn take out the others.

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