The main thing I know about hybrids is that they are executed on sight.
“What are you talking about?” My words come out strangled. I look at my mother, desperate for her to deny it. To tell Zionhe’s insane.
Her arm wraps around me, pulling me closer. The contact is foreign. Strange. She hasn’t touched me like this in years. When she speaks, her voice is steady. Controlled. “You’ve lost your mind, Zion. We are not hybrids.”
“I’m not sure about you, Lillian.” Zion’s gaze slides to me, and an evil glint enters his eyes. “But Violet certainly is. I can smell it all over her.” He inhales deeply, theatrically. “I’ve smelled enough hybrids to know what their scent is like.”
No. This can’t be happening. He can’t be saying what I think he’s saying.
My mother’s grip on me tightens, her body tense as a bowstring.
A cold, satisfied smile spreads across Zion’s face. “Capture them.”
Bodies surge forward from the darkness beyond the lights.
“Run!” my mother screams. She shoves me hard, sending me stumbling away from her. “I’ll hold them off!”
Her body explodes outward. Bones crack and reform. Dark fur ripples across her skin. Within seconds, a massive wolf stands where my mother was, teeth bared and snarling.
She launches herself at the nearest soldier.
But I’m like a statue. Rooted to the spot. My backpack slides off my shoulder, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
Run, some rational part of my brain screams. She told you to run.
But I won’t leave her to fight alone. Won’t abandon her after all this. Even if our relationship is broken. Even if she has hurt me more times than I can count. Even if this is the first time in years she has actually protected me. She’s still my mother. And she’s fighting for me now when she could have run. When she could have saved herself.
My wolf surges to the surface, desperate to shift. To help. But I don’t know how. Don’t know how to make the change happen. My body trembles with the effort, caught between human and wolf, unable to complete the transformation.
A soldier rushes toward me.
I dodge instinctively, faster than I’ve ever moved before. My fist connects with his jaw, and the impact sends him sprawling.
What the hell?
The strength coursing through me isn’t normal. Isn’t human. This is what hybrids can do? The realization barely has time to register before another soldier charges.
My mother’s wolf tears through him, her movements fluid and deadly. She’s powerful. More powerful than I ever knew. Faster. Stronger.
It takes three warriors at once just to slow her down.
Another one comes at me from the side. I spin, grabbing his arm and using his momentum to throw him to the ground. My wolf is feeding me strength, guiding my movements even if I can’t fully shift.
But there are too many of them.
For every soldier we take down, two more appear. They’re organized. Coordinated.
This wasn’t a random ambush. Zion planned this.
Fingers grip my hair and yank my head to the side. A cry rips out of me as I claw at the hand. Someone else grabs my arms, wrenching them behind my back.
“Mom!” The scream tears from my throat.
She’s surrounded. She’s still fighting, still snarling, but they’re overpowering her through sheer numbers. Five soldiers pin her down and wrap chains around her wolf form.
The silver burns her skin. The acrid scent of burning flesh rises. Whimpers of pain cut through her snarls.
I thrash against the grip holding me, but it’s useless. Someone kicks the back of my knees, and I go down hard, the impact reverberating through my bones.
