Defiance: The Hybrid's Tale

Adam Wick.

My father was at it again, pissing off another group of witches. He’s never been subtle in his approach and had the tendency to rub people the wrong way. Therefore, my sister was usually present at meetings to act as a mediator; but, unfortunately, she was no longer a member of the pack. A couple of months ago, she moved in with her mate. Rick was his name. Our neighboring pack’s beta.

It’s been nearly a week since the rest of Nathan’s family arrived and I’ve been running around trying to keep the peace between my dad and the coven that took up temporary residence on the pack grounds. The Supreme sent them here to cast wards over the inner sanctum of our pack to keep the non-combative members of our pack safe. No doubt our enemy would try to harm them, a sick strategy to use. Demoralize your enemy by harming their loved ones.

I sat in the Alpha’s office signing a heap of documents my dad ‘forgot’ about, but I suspected he was slowly giving me control of the pack duties. It was his way of testing my skills as a future Alpha. Did I mind? No. But the paperwork was slowly chafing my fur.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I glared at the heaps of paperwork that colonized my desk. I wished that I had Nathan’s magic to do away with the grunt work. I was about to plunge into another fight with the admin when the office door swung open. My lips curled into a smile when Nathan, in his sexy glory, strutted over to me. To my surprise, he pushed the chair I sat in away from the desk and straddled me, jolting my groin awake. Saying nothing, he plunged in and captured my lips. As I squeezed his plump ass, he released a glutinous moan that made me growl. Our make-out session steamed along until we ran out of breath.

“What was that for?” I asked, catching my breath. “Not that I’m complaining.” I squeezed his sexy ass again, earning another moan from Nathan.

Goddess, I loved his moan.

Nathan placed his forehead against mine and said, “Just felt like it...” He dug his fingers into my hair, making my spine shudder.

I knew he was lying. I would have said he was a brilliant liar before I got to know him, but now subtle twitches made themselves known every time he lied. He usually fumbled over his words too easily and his left eyebrow quivered when he lied. I began rubbing his back. He lowered his head into the crease of my neck and snuggled into my embrace.

“Try again, Nate.”

He groaned and said, “I’m tired of all of this... What have I done for my grandfather to hate me this much?” His voice cracked while his body shook.

“Dad?” I called over the mind-link. ”Did something set Nathan off?”

I waited for a few seconds before my dad answered back. ”No, why? As far as I know, they had a family gathering where they talked about what had happened over the years. When I joined the discussion, they were talking about the assassins his grandfather had hired to track him down and kill him.”

I sighed while continuing rubbing Nathan’s back. ”Now I get it. Thanks for the info, Dad.”

“No problem, my boy. Now get back to work.” My dad pulled out of the mind-link before I could cuss him out.

“Hey,” I whispered in Nathan’s ears. “Your granddad is a fuckin’ lunatic, alright? You did nothing to deserve this.”

Nathan pulled back and shook his head. “But what if he’s right? What if I’m an abomination?” A vicious snarl boiled out of my chest. How could that racist fuck make his grandson think he was an abomination for being born a hybrid? Nathan wasn’t.

“Stop right there, juicy lips.” I lifted his chin while wiping away his tears. No matter how badass Nathan acted, he was still a gentle soul behind the mask they forced him to wear to protect himself from getting hurt. He didn’t have to do it. Luckily for me, he didn’t do it in front of me. “I never want to hear those words spilling from your mouth. The only abomination in this situation is your grandfather, whose throat I will rip out soon enough.”

Nathan sniffled and then burrowed back into the nape of my neck while sobbing his heart out.

“He trusts us... maybe even loves us,” Bane said with a hint of hope in his tone.

Even though we’ve been dating for a while now, we still haven’t professed our love for each other. I loved him with all my heart, but I didn’t want to put pressure on him. However, him trusting us enough to let go of his bottled-up emotions made the need to hear the words, ‘I love you’ moot. I knew he loved us and hearing those words slip from his lovely lips would have been the cherry on the cake at this point.

***

After the incident in my office earlier in the afternoon, Nathan disappeared. Probably ashamed that he broke down in front of us. I didn’t care one bit. He needed the cleansing session to get rid of the doubts that clouded his better judgment. Hearing about all the horrid things his grandfather and uncle did over the years weighted down on Nathan. He somehow felt responsible for all the people that died at their hands, which was utter bullshit. The old timer and his twisted son were responsible and only they.

As I closed the file in front of me, I threw the pen on the table. I silently thanked the moon goddess for the strength she lent me to complete them. Getting up to my feet, I made my way out of the office and down toward the livingroom.

“Where’s Nathan?” I asked Maisie who laid on the couch with Tyson while she played with her cellphone.

She looked up at me and said, “In the dungeons. They went there to keep your father’s latest victim company.”

I chuckled and walked out of the pack house. A soothing breeze swept through the pack grounds, kissing the back of my sweaty neck. Goddess, it was a shitty night. If it weren’t for the air conditioning in the pack house, I would have paid a witch to turn me into a fish. This would have allowed me to live in the lake to escape the humid weather. Summer was great, but it made you suffer at the same time.

The glow of the moon filtered through the treetops, illuminating the walkway. The dungeons were near the barracks, where most of the unmated warriors lived. As I neared the barracks, I took a right turn toward a sunken set of steps that dove into the earth. Soon, I walked up to a massive stone door. My ancestors chiseled twelve wolves into the surface of the door. Not at the same time, though. I was the thirteenth generation Alpha. Nearly 300 years ago, when my first forebear created the pack, only one wolf decorated the stone door. When an old alpha passed his title over to their offspring, they added a new wolf to the door.

The eyes of the wolves lit up as I growled. The door screeched as it swung open, revealing a lone corridor descending deeper into the earth. Only those given authorization could enter the dungeons and it made me wonder who allowed Nathan access. I wasn’t worried about him betraying the pack and releasing the prisoners we detained here, but it wasn’t a tourist attraction either.

As I made my way through three security rooms filled with six guards each, I entered a narrowed corridor. There, I saw Alex, Joshua, and Nathan sitting in front of one of the cells, accompanied by Riley, of all people. Why would Riley have given his brother access to the prison? They still had a shaky relationship drizzled with snarky comebacks and a lot of teasing.

“What’s going on here?” I asked as I came to a halt in front of Denis’ prison cell.

The four glanced up at me. But it was Joshua who spoke first with a mouth laced with venom. “We came here to keep Denis company since your father still has a stick shoved up his ass over letting Denis free.”

I groaned and said, “He’s just being cautious, that’s all.”

“I’d call it paranoid. There are other ways that Nathan’s grandfather can sniff them out. Using a spy is so human.”

“It doesn’t matter. We have a crazy dick out there trying to kill us all. Taking precautions is a must,” I said, coming up for my dad. Yeah, he was a dick most of the time, but he always had the safety of the pack at heart. Many people depended on him, and for the last couple of weeks walking in his shoes opened my eyes to what it really took to run a pack.

Joshua scoffed and pointed at Denis, who sat on the bunk bed with his back leaning up against the back wall of the cell. “Does he look like a freakin’ spy? Really?”

I gave Denis a once over. He looked harmless enough, with his curly red hair and innocent brown eyes. Hell, I didn’t even sense an ounce of deception from him, but one could never be too cautious with newcomers. We knew that Nathan’s family posed no threat, but Denis still posed a risk to the security of the pack. The craftsmen laced the cell Denis sat in with nullification runes, which prevented the warlock from using magic. So we were certain he couldn’t use magic to inform Nathan’s grandfather of his whereabouts.

I replied, “No, he doesn’t.”

“Then why keep him here if he’s done nothing—”

A stomach-churning scream ripped from Alex’s mouth as he fell backward onto his back. He tore his red t-shirt open and dug his nails into his skin, trying to dig out his heart.

“Alex!” Nathan shouted, grabbing both of Alex’s hands. Blood coated Alex’s fingers and the left side of his chest oozed blood that slowly dripped onto the floor. “Alex, talk to me! What’s wrong?”

“M-My heart,” Alex wheezed out as his lips started turning blue and the white parts of his eyes turned blood red.

Then we saw it. The skin over Alex’s heart turned black and spread further over his chest. In an instant, Nathan slammed his hand over the affected area and chanted ancient words that would have tied my tongue into knots. A luminous green circle surrounded the infected area. Alex gasped and started coughing up blood.

“Go and get my mom!” Nathan shouted at me. “Now, Adam!”

I stood rooted on the spot. While reaching out to Nathan’s father. It was much faster than running around chasing after people.

“Nathaniel! It’s Adam. Get here with Victoria and Alex’s mother as soon as possible! There’s something wrong with Alex.”

“What happened?” Nathaniel asked while he spoke with Victoria at the same time.

How should I know? This was crazy magic shit, and I was a werewolf. ”He collapsed and started grabbing his heart, then his skin started turning black.” I hoped my explanation was serious enough to get the old geezer’s attention.

“Hey! He’s going to be our father-in-law one day, so play nicely.” Bane jumped into the conversation. I rolled my eyes, returning my focus to Nathan as he hoisted his cousin off the dungeon’s floor and ran off to the nearest security chamber. I ran after them, even though I had no clue what I could do to help.

“Just be there for him.”

Nathan yelled to the three guards who sat at the wooden table at the center of the chamber, “Give me some space, will ya?”

The guard’s eyes found mine, and I nodded. ”Do as your future Luna says.”

“Hopeful much?” Bane snickered.

“Always...” I replied with a smirk.

The guards complied and scrambled away from the table. The chairs and all the folders on the desk blasted off the counter, earning a yelp or two as the guards dodged the incoming projectiles.

“Careful, Nathan. Don’t hurt anyone with your magic,” I said in a stern tone of voice.

Nathan huffed as he lowered his cousin onto the table. “Sorry... But I don’t have the luxury of time to worry about a couple of bruises from a flying folder hitting someone in the chest. My cousin could die any second. Fuck! That lame piece of shit!”

Joshua came running into the chamber with Riley and Denis on his heels. “What’s causing that?” He pointed to the infected skin.

“Blood magic,” Nathan said. “Courtesy of my grandfather.”