Page 10 of Beta Hybrid

He holds me closer. ‘I need you to know I don’t agree with Noah. That I wanted to rip Savannah’s throat out for hurting you. That I—I just…’ He holds me so close, I hear his heart beat, hammering in his chest.

I relax into his grip. It’s tight, but not crushing. Like he knows just how to hold me perfectly. As though he were made to. I close my eyes, letting his warmth seep into my skin.

You know this… us… it’s going to take a little time, right? I ask.

I know. Fear pulses down the bond. That’s my fault.

I take a ragged breath, but I don’t have anymore words. Neither of us do.

Cai guides me gently to the ground, and curls me into his chest, where I rest, cheek against his chest. My mind floats, listening to the gentle lapping of the stream, the rustling of leaves in the breeze.

How do you feel, being outside now? Cai rubs my back in soothing circles.

Like I can finally breathe again. I haven’t said outright that I fear being trapped again. I wouldn’t know how to.

I won’t let that happen to you again.

That old part of me is reluctant to believe him. To trust a promise. But I just nod into his bare chest. ‘Mmm-hmm.’

Cai takes my hand, bringing me to my feet. ‘There’s something we should do.’

I follow him back into the encampment, where only hours ago, two alphas had nearly fought, and past the main tree line on the other side. My feet are now used to the roughened ground, and I enjoy the patches of soft dirt and grass.

Unfamiliar faces pepper the encampment, but I keep my gaze trained on Cai’s back, averted. I don’t need to see them staring at me. The hybrid.

A little way into the woods, I catch sight of a blue truck.

Cai grins at me over his shoulder.

Now I understand. ‘You’ve kept Callen in here?’ I glance around. ‘How?’

Cai winks. ‘Alpha strength. And a little help from Divina,’ he adds as an afterthought. The bed of the blue truck is covered in metal, and it looks like it’s smoking. The same black smoke Divina used earlier.

Muffled curses and truly creative and terrifying expletives emanate from under the metal. Ah, yes. Callen. I glance down at my left wrist.

‘He could have killed you.’ Cai sets his hands on my shoulders. Mind, he can hear us now. ‘He nearly did.’ Whatever happened in the Tomb, he is not an ally. He’s a vampire. A traitor. An enemy. We’re here to interrogate him.

Sure, but how? I eye the truck. Carrots or sticks? A gift, appealing to him, or a threat.

I think it should be enough that he won’t want the world to burn down, right? Cai turns to the truck, but I grab his forearm.

No, I say firmly. If you can rely on anyone to want the same as Drusilla, it’s him. Believe me.

Cai pauses. So, you don’t think he’ll talk to us? How well do you know him?

Better than I’d like, I admit. And no, he will definitely talk, but I don’t think he’ll help us.

Cai’s wolf canines grow. Sticks, then. My mate pries the metal lip of the bed off, letting the sheet fall to the ground. The black smoke still clings to the truck, to the vampire, mussed and furious-looking, laying on his back. Rope worms through his mouth, and by the way he’s lying, it seems his hands are bound at his back. More around his ankles.

‘So, asshole,’ Cai says. ‘You nearly killed my girl. How have you been since then?’

Callen growls out a slur.

Cai bobs his head. ‘Hungry, are you? Oh, you must be.’

The vampire growls. Different to that of a wolf. Not a rumbling, arousing sound thundering from his chest, a sound of protective, fierce power. But a sound of cold threat.

I raise myself on my tiptoes to see him better. ‘Why did you bite me? You told me once you knew you wouldn’t be able to stop if you did. Were you trying to kill me?’