The Hybrid
Chapter 20 - Tell Me A Secret

I sigh as I start working on yet another math problem. The library is quiet with only the sound of pens being placed and pages being turned. This is my third time in here for the past week to study. A lot of my teachers have scheduled class tests for next week and I want to score good grades, but it’s proving to be difficult to concentrate.

Eventually, I manage to get two hours of study done before I pack up and head home. I place my books in my locker before walking out to my car but, no sooner have I sat down, a ping from my phone alerts me of a message. Vulcan is calling me over to his place so I text back an “okay” before starting the car and driving out of the school gates.

Remembering which way his house is, I eventually turn onto the dirt road that will guide me to where he lives. The trees surround me and when I glance to the side, I can see pack members running through the forest as they train. Their speed is incredibly fast, like lightning they pass me out.

After a few minutes of driving, the dirt road opens up to a large clearing. I drive past the pack houses and training grounds to where his beautiful home stands proudly. Parking in the driveway, I shut off the ignition before hopping out. I trudge up the steps with my bag slung over my shoulder, halting when I hear arguing voices. Pushing myself against the wall, I strain to hear the conversation. It’s Indigo and Vulcan.

″It is not the right time to tell Aurora that!″ Vulcan growls out. Tell me what? I think as I step closer to the door, quietly.

″Well, when are you planning on telling her?″ Indigo sighs loudly.

″If I had my way, I’d never tell her. She is not leaving me.″ Didn’t Vulcan already tell me what he is though? I wonder to myself as they continue arguing.

″- everything is different in your relationship. Doesn’t she deserve to know why you can’t mark her earlier like a normal wolf would, why there are people out there who’d do anything to her if it brings you down? We stopped the rogues from nearly attacking her in school a few days ago but what happens if one day, we’re too late?″

″That will never happen. I’ve got more guards around her than any other Luna has ever had!″ Vulcan snarls in reply.

″True but, Aurora is not a werewolf. If any one of your enemies manage to get to her, she won’t be able to defend herself compared to their strength!″ Indigo argues, unwilling to back down.

″I’ll figure something out but I will not tell her!″

″Vulcan,” I hear Indigo sigh in exasperation. “You won’t be able to hide it for long, especially on the nights of a full moon.″

″I’ll just tell her I have a business meeting and fly out of the country for a few days.″

Indigo growls frustratingly. ″You stubborn fuck -″

″Don’t tell me what to do! She’s mine and I choose what and when to tell her!″ Vulcan’s deafening growl booms in the house.

Having heard enough, I step out and head in through the open door. Both men are standing with their fists clenched, their eyes snapping to me when I walk in. Vulcan’s eyes widen whereas Indigo only smiles at me in relief. My gaze sweeps over Vulcan’s posture; tense, muscles coiled like a spring as if ready to attack any minute.

″Indigo, will you leave us? I’ll handle it from here.″ I state, crossing my arms and watching him nod before heading across the room.

Vulcan curses loudly before glaring at his Beta’s retreating back. I wait for the sound of the door close behind me before my arms fall to my side. I watch as he runs a hand through his tousled brown hair, ruffling it up even more. He’s looking everywhere but at me.

″Aurora -″

″Don’t.″ I warn quietly as I make my way over to him. ″I may not have any experience with this whole mate thing but I’m pretty sure you don’t keep secrets from each other. In any relationship.″

He sighs, running a hand over his face as I stand before him. ″It’s better if you don’t know, Aurora. You’ll just -″

I step closer and wrap my arms around his waist. His forest green eyes are panicked and his features are tense as he looks down at me. He stands stock still for a few seconds before his own arms wrap around my waist, squeezing me tight against his body. He nestles his nose into the crook of my neck and inhales deeply.

″I won’t leave you.″ I murmur gently, pushing up to peck his lips.

He shakes his head, vehemently. ″You will. I’m not what you think I am, Aurora. I’m much worse, I’m not a good person.″

″From what I have seen, you aren’t a bad person. Just tell me.″ I pause to smile at him softly. ″I’ve accepted that you’re a werewolf, I’ll accept your other secret too.″

″Promise that you won’t leave me.″ He states, sighing in relief when I nod. ″Alright, I’ll tell you just...let me hold you.″

″Um, why?″ I stare at him, quizzically.

″Just come here.″ He growls lowly, making me frown at him before I stand and walk over.

He pulls me onto his lap so that I’m straddling his waist, arms crossing over on my back as he inhales my scent deeply. I sit there whilst his hold tightens around my body, waiting for him to speak. After a few minutes of calming himself down, he finally speaks and tells me his secret.

“You know how I said I’m a werewolf, yes?” He asks, making me nod in confusion. ″That wasn’t the whole truth. I’m only half werewolf. I’m a hybrid, the other part of me is - is a vampire.″

My jaw drops and I pull back to stare at him in shock, his green eyes boring into mine expectantly, as if waiting for me to run. ″So you’re like a little bit of Edward and a little bit of Jacob?″

″Who the fuck are they?!″

″It’s a series I once read, Edward is a vampire and Jacob is a werewolf.″

He frowns at me, eyes burning with blatant jealousy. ″Oh that...I’m a hybrid, not just a vampire.″

″Yeah, I did like Jacob a lot more. He was more hot - crap!″ I freeze, cringing when his loud growl makes my ears ring from the closeness.

″You belong to me; the only man you should be thinking about is me!″ I roll my eyes before nodding.

I’m still going to drool over every hot, male celebrity though. Gesturing for him to continue, he sighs and leans back, pulling me with him to rest my head on his chest. I relish in the sparks that dance across my skin, smiling softly when he strokes my hair as he speaks.

″As you know, I am a Lycanthrope, which means I can shift whenever I want as opposed to werewolves who can only shift on a full moon. But, I have two beasts rather than just one like a normal wolf. My mother was a vampire whereas my father was a werewolf. My siblings and I are descendants of the original Lycanthropes and so was my father. Because of my lineage, I am regarded as a king in the supernatural world, that is why I have such a large territory compared to other Alphas.

Back then, it was forbidden for the two species to mate with the other but, they loved each other dearly. They ran away from their kingdoms and settled down in a remote part of Russia, where I was soon born. My father’s bloodline was more powerful making them expect that I would turn out to be one too. But instead, unlike my other siblings, I inherited both the werewolf and vampire gene and the powers that came with it.″

″Are you the only hybrid?″ I raise my head up to look at him.

″I was the only one alive back then.″ He nods before placing my head down and rubbing my back, soothingly. ″There are a few hybrids that I now know of. My father had to call witches to mask mine and my mother’s scent. We were in a place that was dominated by werewolves at the time who would’ve killed us the second they found out that we were different. Vampires and werewolves were sworn enemies back then. However, word soon spread of me being different when I shifted for the first time at sixteen, also when my blood lust happened.″

″Blood lust? That doesn’t sound good.″ I murmur, tracing aimless patterns on his shirt.

″I destroyed more than five entire villages.″

I freeze in his arms before jolting upright. ″D-Destroyed as in just wrecking some houses and stuff, right? Not -″

″I killed more than three hundred people.″ He looks away, his jaw clenched and grip tightening on me.

″You regret it, right?″ I whisper, making his head snap to mine.

″You have no idea how much. I wish I was never born because then I wouldn’t have killed and destroyed. I was chained up for two years and treated like an abomination, and when I received my full powers and escaped, I found out that my parents had been murdered and my siblings were missing. I ran away to the witches and told them to mask my vampire, leaving me only with my wolf but they couldn’t. All they gave to me was a necklace.″ Vulcan pulls a black pendant out that pulses a blood red, the one I noticed at the airport when I first met him. ″This keeps my vampire at bay. At twenty I revived this pack and found my siblings along with some original members. The elders found out that I was a royal heir to the pure blood lineage though. I was named King and thrown into ruling an entire kingdom. And after many years, I found you.″

He tangles his hand into my hair and gently pulls me up to peck my lips. Kissing his way down my jaw, he nips at a place where my neck meets my shoulder making my body arch upwards in pleasure. Blushing at my reaction, I hide my face in the crook of his neck while he continues. After the incident in the shower, Vulcan will make it a point to touch me in some form, be it kissing or just holding my hand because he knows my cheeks will be graced with a bright shade of firetruck red.

″I never wanted a mate.″ He confesses, making me pull back with a frown. ″I never believed in love. I’m too much of a monster for it to happen to me and because of what happened in my past. I didn’t think I’d be blessed with a mate but then I saw you at the airport and I just knew you were mine.″

Smiling at him softly, I play with the hair at the nape of his neck. He has a hard expression on his face, his thumbs rubbing warm circles into my skin making me want to sigh loudly at the feeling he’s causing. My eyes run over his features, taking him in while he speaks, too engrossed in telling the story for him to notice that I’m openly ogling him.

″When I flew back to Russia, my vampire side awakened once more even though I was wearing the pendant. I was chained up and injected with strong doses of Wolfsbane -″

″Why do you do that to yourself?″ I frown deeply.

″I’d do it again and again if it means not hurting you.″

″Will it stop if we mate?″ I mumble, feeling him tense under my touch.

He tenses and pulls away, standing up. ″Don’t go there, Aurora. Not until you’re ready.″

″What if I am?″

He leans down, leveling me with a dark look. ″You are not. I will wait forever if I must but we will only make love until you are ready. Understood?″

Nodding slowly, I look down at my wringing hands. He sighs from above and crouches down, pushing my hair that’s curtained around my face to the back, before taking my hand in his.

″Not a day goes by without me thinking of marking and mating with you but you’re still new to this, Aurora.″ He speaks in a gentle voice. ″I want to get to know you before your body. I want to know what you like and dislike, what your hobbies are, your favorite color and how you became a ninja like you claim yourself to be.″

I laugh loudly before grinning cheekily at him. It isn’t his fault that he destroyed and killed innocent people, he didn’t know himself what he was doing. How can I judge him based on his violent past when he wasn’t present mentally when he did it? I will give us a chance. Slowly falling head over heels for him, I know I have become addicted to him. Everything about him: his touch, his kisses, hands sliding over my body, the warm hugs, the sparks and tingles; everything. I’m hopelessly addicted to Vulcan Romanov and I love it.

″I don’t want you in pain when there’s a solution though.″ I whisper, turning his hand over and tracing his palm. ″There must be some way -″

″Well, there is one way.″ He smirks boyishly, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

I perk up. ″Really? What is it?″

″You.″ He leans closer and pecks my lips. ″You have to kiss me. Every thirty minutes.″

I chuckle whilst he grins and nods to himself. ″What if I’m not there and in school instead?″

His hands slip under my thighs and pull me forward making me cry out in surprise. I like this side of him; the playful side. He’s much too serious for his own good and I’m glad I can make him loosen up a little and forget his title, even if for a moment.

″You have to make it up to me then. I get to lock you up in a room and have a hot, steamy make-out session with my gorgeous mate.″ He nuzzles his nose into the crook of my neck making me giggle, bursting into laughter when he starts tickling me.

After our talk, Vulcan brought me to the training warehouse. He wanted me to start learning how to defend myself and we had a two hour session of learning the basics before advancing into slightly harder combat training. I’m learning easily than I thought I would but the second Vulcan introduced hand to hand combat, I was ready to drop from exhaustion. Eventually, he ended it and told me we will train every morning.

Now, after showering and changing into comfortable clothes, we are in the kitchen because the training made me very hungry. I tried to help him cook but he would just push me back onto the counter with a stern look. So, I resort to annoying him with questions about anything and everything.

″Why was Indigo saying our relationship is different than everyone else’s?″ I ask Vulcan, taking a bite out of a red velvet cupcake.

I dangle my legs as I take another bite, watching as Vulcan places the lid on the pot and turns down the fire before walking over to me. Chuckling whilst I frown at him in confusion, he leans down and licks some frosting off the corner of my lips before biting my bottom lip hard, making me yelp in surprise, before he pecks the sore spot.

″Well, Alphas feel everything ten times stronger than the average wolf when it comes to their mate. Royals and Lycanthropes, however, their emotions are the strongest and the most intensified. I have this constant urge to protect you and keep you near me. We’re controlling, yes, but we’re also dominating and possessive over our mates. We can’t fight the bond like normal werewolves, our instincts push us to our mates that are important to our lineage.″

“So...you just want me for children?” I deadpan, staring at him with an unimpressed look.

“No!” He exclaims, shaking his head wildly. “I admit that was the thinking back in the day but women mean so much more than just bearing children. Sadly, there are some men out there who still believe the ancient teachings of our elders.”

I nod before hesitating over what I’m going to ask next, afraid of the answer. ″You said you never wanted a mate. Did you not want me when you first met me?″

He steps in between my legs, palms placed flat on the counter on either side of me. A serious expression is on his face, his lips thinned and his eyes a dark green. ″I was in shock when I smelt your scent and realized what you meant to me. I only tried to resist the bond because of my past and because I’ve made a lot of enemies. Aurora, I would never forgive myself if you got hurt because of me, never.″

He caresses my cheek before walking back to the beef chili and rice he’s cooking. We eat our dinner with me teasing him and making jokes. Halfway through, he growls playfully before pulling me onto his lap. After that, he won’t let me eat by myself.

″Werewolves like to feed their mates.″ He explains as he spoons the ridiculously amazing food into my mouth, pecking my lips when I finish chewing. After a few minutes, Indigo bursts into the kitchen with Caia and Nikolai in tow.

″Man, the council are arriving tomorrow.″ He states worriedly as Nikolai yells in happiness while helping himself to the food.

″What the hell do they want?″ Vulcan mutters, more concerned with ensuring that I eat.

″Uh, don’t you remember? You left the pack to fend for themselves when you were giving Aurora time to process everything.″

Vulcan leans back into his chair with a sigh before jolting upright and snatching the spoon from me. Sending me a firm look, he starts feeding me again while I try to shove Nikolai, Indigo and Caia as they mock gag and fan themselves because of ″so much sexual tension in the room!″ He’s feeding me rice, for goodness sake. What’s sexual about that?! I turn back to Vulcan and roll my eyes making him chuckle before looking at me seriously.

″I’m increasing security on you.″

″No thanks, I’m good. In fact, why don’t you take away the other guards you already have on me?″ I glare at him, not liking that he had done this without telling me.

″No. I don’t want you walking around unguarded while the council visits. The young ones in there aren’t exactly saints.″ I huff and cross my arms before trying to take the spoon from him.

I fail, obviously. Only getting a glare in response, I pout at him before looking away. My evening passes by on Vulcan’s lap, his hands rubbing circles on my hips while I play monopoly with the other three. Naturally, we scream our lungs off at each other because Nikolai cheated, but I lose in the end. It’s a miracle it even did end. Most of the time, someone gets real crazy and swipes everything off the board.

Indigo soon leaves for the pack house whilst Caia and Nikolai bid us goodnight and head off to their rooms. I complain to Vulcan as he takes me upstairs to bed, blaming him for distracting me. In turn, he makes it up to me in the bedroom, continuously kissing me and letting his hands roam over my body until I fall asleep, cuddled into his side.

This is officially my favorite way to fall asleep.