Page 17 of Beta Hybrid

It will take me some time to get used to seeing him naked. His magnificent body, all tan, rippled muscles, sunlight reaching down his sweaty skin. My eyes drink him in as though I’m dying of thirst.

‘How did you do that?’ There’s anger in his voice. Wariness.

‘I told you,’ I snap back. ‘I didn’t mean to.’

Cai throws an arm out, pointing. ‘You could have just killed three little wolves.’

Cold grips my chest. I open my mouth, then close it. ‘Run,’ I tell him. ‘I’ll follow. Find them.’

Cai looks at me differently. It’s Mordecai I’m looking at now. An alpha, protective of other werewolves. His jaw clenches as he shifts again. Without a backward glance at me, he bounds off into the distance, loosing a howl I will never fully understand.

I cannot hope to keep up with a werewolf running at full speed. I just can’t. Not built that way. Even with my new comfort walking through the woods in bare feet, I’m just a witch. No, well, not just. I’m the hybrid with freaky tree-wrecking powers, apparently.

I pick through the ruins of the trees, trying to hurry, but I cannot leap over large, felled trunks which look as though they’ve been struck by lightning. I gape around. Did I really do this?

Find them?

Not yet, Cai growls down the bond.

I wince. I should have known he would hate this. This part of me. He always has.

I hurry through the carnage I’ve wrought as best I can. I hope Divina has found those pups, safe and sound. I wonder if she can heal them if they’re wounded, or if they can heal on their own? Lexie mentioned they have their healing already.

Another growl reverberates through me. You’re lucky they’re unharmed.

I exhale. They’re okay? Thank the Goddess—

This time, Cai slams a mental wall in front of me. That’s the first time he’s done that. I clench my jaw, mentally knocking. Come on, please. I didn’t mean to do this.

A crack in the wall. Meet me where we train. Do not return to camp. Noah will kill you.

In the middle of the unfamiliar woods, my breath catches in my chest. But you wouldn’t let him though, right? My throat tightens. Hands clench.

Silence greets me.

I sit down in the wreckage, that familiar chasm of rejection that I had so swiftly sewn shut as Cai rescued me from the Tomb, cracks open. I look down into it and let my rage burn.

I don’t go to the meeting spot.

Where Cai kicks my ass every afternoon. Instead of training me, he seems to enjoy winning.

I sit right here. On the grass. I might as well be holding up a great, giant sign that says, LOOK I’M DIFFERENT. I DESTROY STUFF.

The chasm in my chest grows larger with each moment, the edges crumbling in with each passing second. Every memory of Cai—Mordecai—rejecting me for who, for what, I am.

Soft footfalls sound behind me. Divina takes a seat on the grass, looking for all the world like an ordinary young woman. For a moment, silence fills the woods.

‘I know you didn’t mean to.’ She sounds like a kindergarten teacher. I, the student, who accidently spilled paint all over the floor.

I turn to look at her. ‘He’s furious with me.’ My voice is level, even. Hollow.

Divina dips her head. ‘Sure. But that’s his problem.’

‘You don’t…’ I struggle with the words.

‘Power is power. It is unpredictable until trained and tested, and perfected. No power is all of these things all the time.’ Divina sets a hand on my shoulder. ‘Do you really think that with an alpha’s power, he’s never made one little mistake?’

‘I’d never thought about that before.’