The Vampire’s Hybrid / Book Four ✔️

He had failed.

He had failed his family.

He had failed Eugene and Cole.

He had failed himself.

And most importantly, he had failed Ava.

The one person his heart beat for. The reason why he breathed and ate and slept. She was his entire soul wrapped up in a bundle of kindness and warmth that he didn’t deserve.

Trust me.

Her words echoed in his mind as he watched the ship leave. The warrior that was holding was now dead at his feet. He had somehow gotten loose and ripped the asshole’s throat out but it was too late, Ava was gone and now all he could do was sit on his knees with a broken, shattered heart.

I love you.

He felt his heart clench, a sob escaping him as he regretted his shock. He regretted that he was too stunned to tell her how much he loved her. To tell her how much of a hold that she had on his heart and soul. To tell her that no words would ever be able to describe how much he loved her despite their short time together. Their time didn’t matter to him, he had loved her the moment he laid his eyes on her four years ago and that love only grew with each smile, with each look and with each touch. That love only grew when she allowed him to hold her and taste her lips, to hear her moan and her laugh. That love only grew when he was helplessly watching her be brave for him and her brothers as she was taken away with her head held high.

Lucas felt the pain of the wolfsbane, he felt her every ache and cry but she held it all in and proved that she was stronger than him, proved that he would always be weak without her and he was weak. Raph tried to make him stronger with training but Lucas was too focused on his books. He was to focus on his literacy and ethics and now that has bitten him in the ass.

“We have to go after them!”

The cry was so numb in his ears that he barely heard it. His crew members had finally been released and were rushing around him to regain their composures but he was too far gone. His world had been shattered before his very eyes and although she hadn’t died, he felt like she had. She was gone, he couldn’t save her and there was no way to send out a message fast enough to warn Zack. He had already sent out a message for Nymeria to kill Ava’s Alpha but that was a week ago however, she still had another two weeks to get here once she received the message.

I trust you.

I love you.

Her words were already haunting him. Her words had wrapped around his chest and squeezed so tightly that he didn’t know how to breathe anymore.

“Lucas! Snap out of it and look at me!” He blinked, not realising that Eugene was now in front of his face, blocking his view of the departed ship with his mate on it. “Snap out of it! She needs you!”

“I failed her.” He whispered, his voice was harsh and he didn’t recognise it but it was his. “I failed…”

“No, sitting on your ass like this is failing her!” Eugene snapped as he forced Luke to stand on his feet. “Get up, be a man and command your crew to follow that ship!”

“I’m already doing that!” Cole shouted from somewhere behind him. “These vampires are good listeners.”

He was so optimistic for a man who had burns all over his throat and body. He was barely healing and he needed a healer as soon as possible. With that knowledge, Lucas finally stood on his own and turned, he hadn’t realised that he was crying until he finally felt the tears on his face.

He quickly wiped them away before he found his healer down in the undercarriage and told her about Cole. In seconds she jumped into action and pulled Cole down into her small room so that she could heal him, Eugene was quick to follow before he came back out to stand by Lucas’s side.

Lucas made quick work of catching up with the ship. They were still too far away and as he leaned forward and looked down at the water, he suddenly found himself hating every aspect of the liquid. He was the friendly brother, the kind brother with a soft heart and an even softer smile. He was the brother who nobody would ever think would hold hate in his heart but he held it now. The pure rage and hate he had for this Alpha was boiling in his blood and he wanted to be the one to personally watch the man die by his own hands.

“What the fuck was that!” Gene gasped as he looked down at the water. “Tell me you saw that!”

Those words reminded him of Ava when she first saw the mermaids. The fascination and awe on her face had made his heart stutter and his groin ache with need but he had ignored it and pushed it down before she noticed. Thankfully she hadn’t.

“Look, there!”

He followed where Gene was pointing and widened his eyes. The mermaids were following the ship. They were going fast and before he could blink, they passed him and were heading towards Ava. “I think they’re trying to help us.”

“How do you know?”

That question he couldn’t answer. When he first saw them, he felt like he had seen them before. Like he had personally known them but he couldn’t put his finger on it. The couple was so happy and brought a kind of love that surrounded both himself and Ava and encouraged their kiss. Ava was unaware of the effects but he was and when he saw how badly Ava wanted him when they returned to his ship, he silently thanked them for the gift.

But he didn’t need to answer Gene as they heard a loud splash in the water. Lucas turned his attention towards the enemy ship. He tried to see if he could find Ava was it was too far away and his hope was just that, hope.

“Ava!”

He jumped, forgetting that Eugene was beside him as he looked down and felt his breath hitch in his throat. Her body was wrapped in the arms of the merman while the female tried to take the handcuffs off of Ava’s wrists. Lucas didn’t wait around to find out what they were doing as he suddenly moved and located the small boat that he had been in with Ava that morning and jumped into it. Eugene had followed him and knew what he was doing as he lowered the boat until it hit the water.

“She jumped.” The female said as her Emarld-coloured eyes found his brown ones. “Your female is very brave but she almost drowned instantly.”

He found that he was shaking as they neared. His arms were already out and reaching for her as the male carefully handed Ava’s unconscious body over for him to hold. “Thank you.”

“No need for thanks.” The male said as he wrapped his arm around the female. “It is our duty to protect our future child’s mother-in-law.”

He opened his mouth to ask how they knew this but they disappeared without another word. His stunned expression only enhanced as he looked down at Ava and held her closer to his chest. His lips pressed down on her wet forehead as the boat was lifted. “My love for you, my little wolf is more than I can bear.” He whispered as he tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. “I am so sorry I failed you.”

“Lucas, is my sister okay?!”

He looked up, standing as he held her against his chest before he graciously swung his leg over the edge of the ship and carried her towards the healer. “She is, we need to get these cuffs off.”

Eugene followed, his eyes racking up and down her body to make sure she had no other injuries. “Did they say why they helped us?”

He was about to ask who Gene was referring to before he shook his head. “Apparently our future children will be mates.”

Gene frowned. “How….”

“I don’t know and right now, I don’t care.” He said with a breathless sigh. He waited for Gene to open his bedroom door as his healer walked in. He placed Ava on his bed and stepped back. “We need to get these cuffs off and have her in fresh clothes before she catches a chill.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

She got to work, he refused to leave the room for a second and it seemed as if Gene and Cole had the same idea. Neither one of them wanted to leave her side and as she was pulled out of her clothes, only then did he respectfully look away as much as he didn’t want to.

Once she was freed from the cuffs and she was clothed, warm and dry under his sheets, he moved and pulled her against his chest. Lucas couldn’t her go and as he watched his healer dry and heal her blistered wrists as he held his face in Ava’s hair, he made a silent vow to kill this Alpha.

Even if it was the last thing he did.