I wasn’t taking the chance, so I walked toward them. I opened my mouth to call out to Jade, but then I saw the mansmile more fully. He had sharp fangs that poked out clear as day, and as he moved his hands out of his pockets, I saw the sharpness of his nails. He was a vampire.
But I see the way that his hands start to flex and his fingers start to shift. He’s not just a vampire but a hybrid.
“Jade! Nora! Move back to the training ground!” I yelled as I bolted forward, shifting into my wolf form. The man shifted and swiped his hands. The girls moved, the bench gave back, and they flipped backward. They both tried to get to their feet, but I was already ahead of them. I slammed into the man, and we both tumbled into the grass ahead of the bench. I shoved him away and took in his form. The hybrids looked like monsters from a story. They were twice as large as wolves were, but their fur was thin, almost see-through. You could see their veins popping underneath, and how pale their skin was. They might have been bigger, but they moved more slowly. Their limbs were long, giving them a gaunty look.
He lunged at me, snapping his mouth directly at my throat. I moved, missing him, and quickly jumped on him, shoving him hard into the ground. A growl fell from his throat, and he shoved, moving me off him.
I fumbled back a few feet and tried to shake the hit off me. He ran at me, and our bodies collided hard. We smacked into a tree, and I heard the crack sound as it gave way. We both lost our footing, tumbling even further back into the woods.
He continued to snap at me, shoving me further and further into the trees. I hated it, yet I understood why he was doing it. He was shoving me further and further from my pack, just like how wolves hunted in the wild.
We collided again, and the sounds of teeth chomping and fur ripping filled the air. I could hear yelling, but kept myattention on the hybrid. As long as Nora and Jade ran back to the pack, they were going to be okay.
I heard steps behind me, and I turned my head, expecting another hybrid to jump at me. But before I could react, the hybrid lunged, slamming me hard into the ground. My body was pinned, and his mouth hovered over my face. The hybrid roared, and I tried to move, but he was using his muscles to hold me down.
I felt his teeth sink into my shoulder, and I howled out in pain as it radiated through my entire body. I hooked my hind legs between us, and I shoved myself free, feeling the bite was going to leave a mark. It stung, and I turned to check my surroundings, knowing I had heard footsteps.
“Hey!” A voice broke through the silence, and I snapped my head in the direction it came from, finding Jade standing there. She held a rock in her hand, and I looked back toward the hybrid to see that she’d already thrown a rock. She was trying to get its attention.
Why was she here? I told her to go back to the training ground! He wouldn’t go there because there were so many people. He wouldn’t stand a chance by himself.
I watched as he started to charge after Jade, and fear coursed through me quickly. Jade couldn’t shift. She had no real way of protecting herself. Not against him.
I moved quickly, putting all my power into my muscles as I collided with him. I sent him flying into a tree. The ground shook, and Jade stood utterly frozen, white as a ghost, as dust kicked up in front of her. The hybrid had gotten just a foot in front of her before I hit it.
I had a minute. That was it. I shifted back into my human form, grabbed her hand, and pulled hard on her. “Move!” Isnapped, yanking her with me. If we ran for it, maybe just maybe we could make it back to the training ground.
Chapter 14 - Jade
Questions filled my head. What the hell was that thing? One moment, we were talking to a man who seemed nice, and the next, Nora and I were fumbling out of the bench as he shifted into what he was. He wasn’t a wolf. He was too large, and his fur wasn’t right. But I saw the fang that made him a vampire, but how could he shift? How was he able to do two things? It didn’t make sense.
Brandon’s hand was tight on mine as he pulled me alongside him. He was pulling me, and I felt like I was utterly lost as I followed him. “Brandon, what was that!?” I felt like I’d asked the question ten times already.
Brandon paused us for a moment, and I heard it. The sound of us being followed. I could hear the rustling of leaves and the snapping of branches. It was close, and my heart raced loudly.
“Shit.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“We can’t go the way I wanted. He’s blocking it now.” Brandon pulled me to the right. I followed, my fingers tight against his as I felt fear like no other.
I thought of what would happen if we didn’t get out of this. What would happen with Ilsa? I didn’t set up a plan. I didn’t have a will or make any arrangements for her. Where would she go? Who would she go to?
That thought made me sick. My little girl was growing up, unaware of what had happened. One moment, she had everything, and in the next, we were gone.
So many questions filled my head, I thought I was going to lose my mind. I knew I needed to stay focused, but it was hard.
I looked at Brandon, taking in a large bite mark on his shoulder and blood trailing down his arm. He was slumped slightly on that side, and I could see pain in his face. If that creature came back, Brandon might not be able to hold it off, not in this condition.
We stumbled to a stop, and I could hear the sound of footsteps crunching closer. Whatever it was, it was still following us.
“Brandon, what is your plan?”
“The plan was to make it back to the training ground, but he keeps changing directions and cutting me off.” He ran a hand over his face, his eyes searching the woods.
I shook my head, confused at him. “Why would you bring it back to the training ground? Isn’t that the last thing we should do?”
He looked at me. “Because it wouldn’t follow. It knows that there are more people there, and it wouldn’t be able to win in a fight. It’s purposely doing this. It’s keeping us cut off from the group.”
