The Hybrid Queen Unedited

I ran through the forest as fast as I could. I knew four legs would be better and faster than two but I didn’t want to stop and take the time to shift. I raced around the side of the small dune that led up to my house, but I could hear them coming from that direction too. They were all over the grounds, all over our forest. The scene I witnessed when I made my escape from my room was filling my vision. Blood. Blood was everywhere. As was the dead smell of Vampires. Bodies had littered the grounds. People I had known. Jenna, one of my mother’s friends. Danny, in a drained heap by the stairs, who had been only ten years old, drained by the broken down doorway. That had been the door I had jumped through when a wolfs bane filled dart had struck the door frame, missing my head by inches. I could hear more people roaming the forest now as I ran. I growled and turned back the way I came, hoping that the right side of the house would be clear. I ran for only a few seconds when a beam of light glanced off of my now reflective eyes. One of the worst problems for a Shifter was that his or her eyes were visible in the dark. Reflective, like a cat, or in my case, a wolf. I turned, never stopping, never breaking my stride, and ran south. I ran as fast as I could, back the way I came, once again, hoping the Hunters would have left that area already. I could hear the river that ran behind my house. I headed for it. If I could get to the other side I would be able to make it to Vancouver and warn the Yansa Family. They had suffered loss this night as much as I did. I heard heavy boots behind me and I wondered if they had supernatural help. These footsteps were too fast to be that of a human. Once I reached the river, I turned, leaning down, arching my back inward and let a fierce growl rumble through me. I heard the clickings and static of walkie talkie radios and the sounds of voices in the distance. They were far enough away that it would be minutes before they found me, but it would only take me seconds to disappear into the night. Yet I stood there, hoping against hope that it was someone from my Pack. But the static of a radio made goosebumps chill my skin. I turned quickly and was ready to jump but there was a loud bang and I fell face first into the dirt. I groaned in pain as I reached for the dart in my leg. I could already feel the poison rushing through my blood. Wolfsbane. Our only weakness. All that crap about silver? Not true. You would think it was, but we do a good job of keeping our weaknesses from public knowledge. I heard the snapping of twigs as the man came closer and laughed at me. He was saying something but it was hard to make out. The radio stattic sounded once more and that was all I could remember from that horrible night. That had been many months ago. I was not sure how long I had been in here but it seemed like a very long time. Years perhaps? I woke up in this cell and had not left it, not even once. I was sure I would die here. It was another cold, damp night in this stone wall cell. Rain drummed against the stone walls outside, the sound oddly soothing. Thunder rolled across the sky, followed by the bright snaps of lightning. I could hear rats squeaking around outside my door. I stared through the small crack in my door and through the open window. There was a full moon out tonight. Oh how I longed to be free from here. To be dead even. Death would have been so much better than this hell hole. A sob hitched in my chest. I closed my eyes quickly, silently cursing myself. There was no point in shedding any more tears here. I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms around my skinny legs. The jeans and tshirt I had on no longer fit me properly. They were baggy, sagging around my hips and falling from my shoulder. I was wasting away, like most rouge shifters did when they were thrown in here. Only I was no rouge. I was part of a Pack. Or at least I had been. Descendants of the Native American Indians. I wondered why The Great Spirit hated me so much. Had he not blessed us with this power to shift? Had he not blessed us with immortal life? If so, why had he made us immortal but soft and easily killed like mortals? I shoved those thoughts away. I should know better than to question The Great Spirit. Perhaps that is what had gotten me here in the first place. I was disrespectful. Disobedient. A problem child. I lifted my head, suddenly aware that it was a full moon. So this was the twelfth full moon I had seen through this crack since I was thrown in here. It had officially been a year. I had been in here and no one came for me. Reid never came. My father never came. The rest of the Pack was dead. I knew that. The Pound Guards always rubbed that in my face. It amazed me how the Hunters had set up a jail system and got it funded by mortals. I thought about fighting them sometimes, but I now it was too late. I was weak and brittle and had no fight in me anymore. I had run away from the fighting that fateful night because I was scared. I had left everyone behind. I left Kat behind. My mother and father. Everyone I knew. What a miserable friend I had been. What a horrible daughter. I closed my eyes, the events of that night coming back to me now. I had already been in bed. I had greeted everyone at the meeting and had dinner with them. There was a big change coming. I was not eighteen yet so i was not permitted to be part of that meeting. I knew it was important though, because some of the elders were there. My father, Reid, was one of them, and so was Elijah Yansa’s father. I never really knew his first name. Everyone just called him Alpha Yansa, just like they called my father Alpha Tamit. Elijah I had only met once when we were young. We had greeted each other and then nothing. He stood by his father’s side and I went to go hang out with Kat. My chest contracted with pain when I thought of her. Was she even alive? Did she make it out like I did? I could only hope. I could only hope she was in a better place than I was. I felt my body become stiff when I heard the door at the end of my cell open and heavy footsteps came down the hall. I moved as quickly and quietly as I could away from the door. My ankle bracelet scrapped loudly against the stone floor despite my best efforts to keep quiet. There was a rustling of keys and my door shuddered open. The big, greasy looking man eyed me, licking his lips. I did my best to keep my face straight but the thought of him touching me again was making me sick. He grinned at me and dropped the hard piece of broken sheet plastic to the ground. My food, bread, a half chewed on steak and a half bottle of water clattered to the ground. The man laughed at me when I looked down at the discarded items. “Look at you, you filthy thing you. Starving, aren’t you?” he laughed and then slammed my door shut. “I will give you another month before you die in here!”With that being said, he walked away, slamming trays down at other prisoners. I sighed and picked up the bottle once I got close enough to the door again and sat down to look back out the window. Death could not come soon enough. It would be my only salvation.There was no coming back from this. There was no coming back from the Pound. I wondered if they would even call The Haven for me and let them take my body once they killed me. I smiled to myself. No. They wouldn’t do that. I took a deep breath through the crack in the door. Over all of the decay, shit and other unearthly things I could smell from this building, I could almost, almost smell the sweet, scent of the rich pine coming from the forest that surrounded the building. I took another long, deep breath, longing for the life I knew I would never have again.