Escaping the Beasts (The Hybrid Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  Akir pulled his boots off before he went over to turn off the lamp. It was dark, and I couldn't see him but I felt his body as he slid into the sleeping bag next to me. My body was tense, and he seemed to notice. He pulled me into the circle of his arms and I curved my back into his chest. His warm breath was against the top of my head, steady and calming.

  "Goodnight, lass," he murmured.

  And within moments, I was asleep.

  Chapter Nine

  Akir knew something had happened but he was silent about it.

  I mean, the signs were all but obvious. There had been gunshots last night and Lex, though strong and showing no signs of having been wounded the night before, had been covered in blood. I'd taken the gauze from my cheek, as it bothered me more than helped, and the graze there was like a sign pointing out my guilt.

  And Braxtyn's face looked like hell.

  The next morning as we were packing up camp to leave and eating breakfast, Braxtyn walked slowly over to the campfire alone. His eye was blackened, his nose crooked and he had scrapes and dried blood on his face.

  The bastard didn't look at me once.

  Akir, however, did.

  His eyes were heavy on me throughout the morning. And when I caught him staring, he wouldn't even look away. His eyes just flickered to the wound on my cheek before going over to Lex, to the split skin at his knuckles and then to his brother's messed up face.

  The fact that he knew and said nothing about it made me nervous.

  Finally, he came up to me and asked darkly, "Where's your gun, lass?"

  Shit. I'd dropped it in the grass last night after I'd been shot. What could I tell him? What lies could I make up that he'd believe? My crossbow I still had, at least. I was better with it, anyway. I fidgeted with it a moment before answering. "I seem to have misplaced it."

  He frowned. "Misplaced it?"

  "Misplaced. Lost. Don't have it anymore." I was standing beside our own tent. River was helping put supplies away, all the while his gaze kept following Braxtyn distrustfully. I was sure Akir didn't miss that, either. Kael was next to River, placing his medical kit inside the van and Lex...Lex was sauntering over to Braxtyn, a smile on his lips. What was the idiot doing?

  "Lass, are you going to tell me what happened? I can read the lies all over your pretty little face." His hand went to cup my injured cheek, but he was careful not to touch my wound. His thumb caressed the line of the graze just below my high cheekbone. I listened to his heavy breathing. Soon, my own began matching his.

  "Nothing happened," I began.

  His face grew dark with anger. "Don't. Lie. To. Me."

  I pushed his hand away from me. He dropped it, but I didn't miss the way it curled into a fist. "I don't want to get into it with you right now, Akir. We have things to do."

  "Keanna," his hand gripped my wrist tightly. He didn't squeeze hard enough to hurt but hard enough to keep me in place. "Talk to me, lass." His voice was soft, and it made my throat tighten up. It made my heart melt. "I don't want there to be secrets between us."

  "Secrets," I breathed. I hated having to do this, but it was necessary. I hardened my gaze even if my heart was pounding nervously in my chest. "You want to talk about secrets? Let's talk about the fact that you've been fucking Helga." I watched his reaction with a heavy heart. I watched him release his hold on me and stagger back a step.

  "Helga?" he asked incredulously. "Who told you such nonsense?"

  I shrugged a shoulder. "Doesn't matter."

  He frowned, the crease between his eyebrows growing more prominent. "It bloody well does matter." He reached for me again, this time he pulled me against his chest and held me in place around the waist. I wriggled against him. A part of me wanted him to let go but another part just wanted to be closer. To stay like this if only a moment longer. "You have to know that I ended that months ago. She's nothing to me but my guard now."

  I believed him but still I scoffed. "Right. Nothing but your guard."

  "You have to believe me." His usual dark voice was gone. There was no danger in him now. There was soft desperation, pleading, a violent urge to keep me. To make me his forever. It sent a wild thrill through me. "I'd never betray the woman I love."

  I stilled at that, my entire body going taut at his confession. Love. Cole had mentioned it last night. That Akir loved me. But how could he when he knew nothing about me? He knew nothing beyond what his spies had reported back to him.

  "Let go of me," I demanded suddenly.

  Akir looked at me darkly. "No."

  I pressed my palms against his chest and pushed him away. My chest was suddenly heaving, my breathing too erratic as panic nestled into place. I placed a palm against him, keeping him arm's distance away. I needed to think, to clear my muddled thoughts.

  Akir had never held anything back before. Every word he spoke to me, he spoke with honesty. I knew. Somehow, I knew that he'd never lied to me. That he always seemed to bear his soul in that dark, dangerous way of his. I believed him when he spoke of his father. I believed him when he spoke of Helga. Hell, I'd probably even believe him if he told me the sky used to be purple.

  But this, this I did not want to believe.

  Akir couldn't love me.

  "You don't love me," I managed past the lump in my throat. As if denying it aloud could have made me feel better. A thousand reasons he couldn't love me popped into my mind. We'd only just met. He'd been with Helga. He'd had women draped over him like curtains just to infuriate me.

  "Lass," he whispered.

  But he didn't get a chance to finish.

  Because at that moment there was a scream.

  We whipped around, my weapon poised, Akir's gun already cocked in his hand. And we saw Helga along the edge of the treeline. Her body seemed frozen with fear. And then she took a step back and another, slowly.

  And then we saw it. Saw them.

  We all saw the big, black monstrosities walk out of the trees and make their way towards our camp.

  Helga screamed again.

  And the creature before her, the biggest and ugliest of them all, swiped an enormous paw forward, its claws raining down against Helga. Her body flew backwards as blood spurted and tainted the grass. She landed on the ground with an ugly thud and didn't get back up again.

  We stood frozen in our shock as the beast stood on its hind paws, threw its head back and roared. The sound shook the sky, caused the ground beneath us to vibrate. And it moved the other beasts into action.

  Six of the things detached themselves from the trees and shadows to make themselves known. Each of them a different size than the last. The smallest beast came through last. This one different than the rest. This one's skin and fur was immaculate. There was no scarring on flesh, no signs of battle.

  I didn't get a chance to observe the creatures further, because they began to attack.

  Paws began swiping, digging into flesh of guards and soldiers. Roars and gunfire thundered in echoes throughout the sky and soon, my focus was lost in the melee. Bodies and blood flew and the creatures raged down upon us like fury given form.

  I sprang to action, Akir beside me. We ran to an oncoming beast as it snapped at a soldier. I didn't think twice as I shot an arrow towards the thing. It pierced its head, but it still didn't go down. My little weapon looked like nothing but a thorn in its body. It screeched and turned its attention to me instead. But Akir was there, blasting bullets onto it. The hybrids seemed to be made of steel. Nothing pierced them. Nothing seemed to slow them down.

  "Run!" Akir screamed, pulling me alongside him by the wrist as the thing charged after us. "We need to get to the ammo van!"

  We ran as fast as we could, our legs pumping beneath us. The van had only been about twenty feet away, but the span of that space suddenly felt like miles. The creature was after us, gaining on us. I focused solely on the weapons ahead. I tri
ed not thinking about Lex, Kael and River who were suddenly nowhere to be seen. Had they rushed into the battle and gotten hurt? No! I couldn't think about that now. I had to help take the beast down.

  And then there was an explosion behind me.

  The force of it tripped me. I skidded through the grass, scraping my hands on dirt and rocks. The scar on my back throbbed, the stitches on my arm seemed to tear loose. I groaned as I lifted myself up. Debris flew all around me. Ash and smoke and blood rained down and in that moment, I imagined what the hybrid wars had been like back then. The chaos that had ended everything.

  It was terrifying.

  I stood to my shaking feet and turned. The creature had fallen to the ground and half of its face had been blown off. The smoke cleared and behind it, I saw River holding a massive, unrecognizable weapon in his hands. There was blood running down his temple, matting his curls against his cheeks. His face was tight with the stress of battle. Our eyes met for a brief second before he nodded.

  I turned and ran to the van.

  Akir was there already, pulling out enormous guns and a weapon similar to River's. He tossed weapons of all kinds to me and to River, who had followed behind me. We said nothing as we took and loaded them. When we were done, we turned back to the battle.

  It was chaos.

  I didn't think as I ran forward among the screaming bodies. I held two guns in my hands, aimed and shot them both at a creature. It turned to me and let out a fierce cry to the sky before charging. It ran at me on all fours, its massive head shaking, mouth gaping open to shriek murder.

  I dodged as it came near, running off to the side. The action confused it and made it even angrier. It turned again and when it eyed me, charged once more. I shot at it. Dodged. Shot. It was a dance with death and I was so close to losing.

  The beast let its claw fall towards me with a vengeance. I was close, too close to it. It would get me.

  But then I felt strong hands push me aside just as the claw came down. I fell to the ground as I heard a painful scream. I scrambled up and turned…

  Only to find River in the jaws of the monster.

  "No!" The scream that tore through me was inhuman. I tried to run forward, to save my best friend and guard. But then there were arms around my waist, locking me in place. I thrashed and fought and tried to get to him. But the arms holding me were adamant.

  "Stop, princess. You can't!" Braxtyn's voice screamed in my ear.

  But there was nothing. Nothing beyond the scene in front of me. River screamed and thrashed as the creature took him between enormous paws and pulled him closer. Massive jaws gaped open to reveal sharp teeth and slime. The hybrid's lip curled back to reveal blackening gums, a leathery tongue.

  A sob wrenched out of me at the sight. "River, no!" If I could get its attention, if I could get it to come for me instead…

  But the thing seemed fixated on the meal before it. Its nails were curving down River's body and dug into his leg. He screamed out his pain and the sound shattered my very soul.

  "Riv!" I clawed at Braxtyn's hands. "Let me go!" But he only squeezed me tighter. "Riv! River!" I was shrieking now. The thing still ignored me, but I was a good shot. Maybe I could… I stopped struggling and tightened my hand on the gun. I aimed it at the creature, stared down into the hole of its disgusting throat.

  And I fired.

  The hybrid let out a screeching choke and then dropped its massive body on top of River. Dead. I'd killed it. But I felt no joy at what I'd done.

  "Let go of me, you bastard!" I brought my head slamming back into Braxtyn's face. I didn't have time to feel the pain of stars behind my eyelids, because Braxtyn let out a curse and immediately released me. As soon as I was free of his caged prison, I ran towards River. Only his head was exposed. His entire body was being crushed. "River," I said gently. But he wasn't moving. His eyes were closed, unblinking. He didn't even appear to be breathing. "River, come on. Wake up." The tears fell from my eyes, stinging my wound before falling onto River's face.

  If this had been one of the fairy tales I'd read as a little girl, my tears would have brought him to life. He would have opened his dark eyes slowly, smiled and made a joke. He would have told me that princesses weren't supposed to whine before ruffling my curls.

  But River didn't wake up.

  Because River was dead.

  I threw my head back and screamed at the sky in raging fury. River. River. River. He couldn't be. It couldn't be true. But it was. The truth was staring me in the face. The truth lied in his unmoving, unbreathing body.

  In my rage I stood up, cocking my gun and I turned. The battle was still ensuing. Everyone was in their own world, oblivious to what had just happened. To what I'd just lost.

  Well, the entire camp would now hear me scream.

  I ran towards the monsters and shot until the bullets ran out. When that happened, I readied my bow and aimed for their throats. One went down easily. They were faster than me. But I was enraged. And when I eyed the biggest creature of them all, the obvious leader of the group, I couldn't help myself. Someone needed to pay for what had happened to River. And that hybrid would be the one.

  I reloaded my bow, pulling my string back and ran towards the thing. It was close to me and entirely too oblivious that its death was at the end of my aimed arrow. I let it fly. It buried home into its neck. The hybrid roared and turned. The eyes that stared at me were rage filled, murderous and terrifying.

  It charged at me.

  I let another arrow fly straight but it seemed to zig zag across the field.

  Aim where it will be, not where it is. River's voice filled my mind. Edged me on. I focused. I aimed. I fired.

  The arrow landed in its neck but it didn't go down. This one was made of stronger stuff.

  It raged towards me and I didn't run away. I held my arms out to my sides. "Come on!" I yelled. It could try but it would not bring me down. I wasn't going to die today. I screamed at it as it barrelled towards me. I waited for a closer shot, waited for it to open its disgusting mouth.

  But my moment never came.

  Because suddenly, another beast, the smallest of them all, saw it coming towards me and let out a massive roar that chilled me down to my toes. I watched with jolted surprise as the small hybrid lunged forward, seeming to come out of nowhere, and lock its jaws onto the bigger one's neck.

  The small hybrid tore at it with claws and teeth. The bigger one defended itself, pushing and scratching but the smaller one was determined. It held on, shrieked and growled and fought. Their bodies collided painfully together, the noises smacking and loud. They snapped their muzzles and clawed. Black fur became an enormous blur before me in this sudden match to the death.

  My throat caught as I watched and I wondered, why was the small one attacking the larger one? Why did it seem like it was protecting me?

  I held my breath as I watched the battle. The larger one had the smaller hybrid pinned to the ground, paw digging deep into its throat. I gasped, fearing what would happen to it, not really knowing why. But the smaller one pulled through, slipping out from under and jumping onto its back. I watched as it lashed out with surprising swiftness and pulled the hybrid's throat out with its teeth.

  Their leader fell to its death.

  I loosed a tight, painful breath and watched with wide, surprised eyes as the smaller hybrid spat out the blood from its tongue and turned to me. My hands tightened, my body tensed distrustfully. Maybe it hadn't wanted to protect me at all. Maybe it wanted to kill me itself.

  I took a fearful step back even as it stepped forward.

  It was in front of me before I realized. I gasped and held out my weapon. To shoot it? But it wasn't attacking. The hybrid was just standing there on four paws, looking like a pretty large bear. Its eyes were big and brown, the fur was dark and smooth. When it opened its mouth, I took another step back and p
ointed my arrow in the direction of its throat but the hybrid didn't lunge. It didn't try to bite me. It let out a series of low growling noises.

  Almost as if it were trying to speak.

  I lowered my weapon and stared. I stared into those big, round eyes questioningly. There was something about them… something about them that was all too familiar but I couldn't quite place what.

  The hybrid lifted a paw to my face. I flinched briefly but otherwise stayed still. Somehow I knew, I knew it wasn't going to hurt me. If it wanted to, it would have done so by now. This one seemed more intelligent than the others. Less crazy. The hybrid's paw went to my face. The touch was as light as the brush of a feather. It flicked my hair from my shoulder and I jolted.

  The action...the eyes...the way it was looking at me.

  My heart crashed to the pit of my stomach as I realized what-rather,who-the hybrid was.

  "Mom?"

  *The End*

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  The air was tainted with smoke and the tips of flickering flames of angry fire. Gunshots rang out, each piercing bullet that resonated around the clearing was no match to the pounding of my own heart. Bodies became a blur around me, both of the living and dead. My whole body throbbed in the aftermath of the battle between us and the hybrids, but that pain became nothing, dissipating entirely as I gazed upon one hybrid in particular.

  This hybrid was different than the rest. Smaller, with fur that looked newly groomed and shining and brown eyes that looked at me with gentleness.

  Eyes that I recognized.

  The eyes of my mother.

  "Mom?"

  Her ears perked up and she let out a grunt, as if she'd tried to form a word. My mother. My mother, who had been kidnapped when she'd gone beyond the walls of our kingdom to follow me. My mother, who I thought to be captive of the Ruined City. My mother, who was taken to the Hybrid Laboratory. My mother, who was now a hybrid.