38. Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Winnie
Luka is a fucking hybrid!
A thousand thoughts raced through my head, my heart beating against my ribcage as I hopped in the front seat of a van with Drag, and Zeke and Erik got in the back.
“Carmen said the doctor at VRC pushed Luka to his limits, torturing him more than her. Almost like she was looking for something. Do you think she was trying to get him to snap? Is that how they change?” I shook my head, then turned my face toward Drag, not giving him a chance to answer. “You saw those hybrids, man. They smelled like vamps and wolven combined. And now Luka smells like that. Did you see his four fangs? That bitch turned him into a hybrid somehow!”
“I saw his fangs up close when he tried to eat my sister,” Erik said from the back. “Way scarier than a normal vampire.”
I furrowed my brows, attempting not to be offended by Erik’s comment.
“My senses were in overload with the amount of mixed breeds there,” Drag said, pulling out of the parking lot. “It was so strange, my vinculum buzzed just like when a new member is asking to join my pack. When I reached out to see who, it surprised me when it was Luka. The second I accepted it, I could hear some of his random thoughts because he doesn’t know how to mindlink properly.”
I think my heart stopped beating. “What. The. Fuck. He’s a vampire but has four fangs and can use wolven telepathy? How is that possible?”
Drag shook his head. “I don’t know. I need to talk to my dad or one of the elders. Maybe they’ve heard of this before. Or maybe VRC made a new species. And another thing . . . he wasn’t just a hybrid.”
Fixated on Drag, my breath caught in my throat as I braced myself for the news.
He glanced at me, his eyes wide. “He’s an alpha.”
My heart definitely stopped. “How is that even possible? I thought you couldn’t have two alphas in one pack.”
Drag shook his head, eyes locked on the road ahead. “We can’t, but it happened. He’s a part of my pack now.”
“Holy fuck.” I pushed myself back in my seat, pressing one of my black combat boots against the dashboard, my breaths heavy.
“Get your damn feet down before I make you walk home.”
I yanked my foot off the dash. “Sorry. I’m just nervous and can’t sit still. This is a lot of shit. Even for us.”
“On a positive note,” Zeke said from the back, “Luka seemed like himself once he was out of bloodlust.”
A small bit of relief swept through me. “Yeah, I noticed that. I also noticed none of the hybrids or Ben shifted.” I turned my head back to Drag. “I guess you couldn’t hear their thoughts.”
He let out a hard sigh. “No, but my inner wolf sensed they were wolven before I even shifted, not that their smell wouldn’t have given it away. I don’t think they have the same capabilities a true born shifter has because they seemed surprised when the packs started coming out of the woods, which means they didn’t sense them hiding.”
I let out a hard breath, directing my gaze out the window.
The rest of the ride was quiet, all of us deep in our thoughts. My mind reeled with the hybrid situation. Between them and what Sage was calling a tercet, we had two whole new species to deal with.
Ravage had always been the science guy and I was grateful he was already back at camp when we pulled in because I had a million questions for him.
Sage’s Jeep was also sitting there, so I knew she and Luka were also back.
“This is going to be an awkward conversation,” I said, pulling the door handle and exiting.
As soon as I got out of the van, the back door opened, Zeke and Erik getting out. They’d been so quiet the rest of the ride, I almost forgot they were there.
Zeke squatted, stretching out his long legs. “I’d never seen anything like that before.” He stood, shaking his head. “I’m going to check on April and my daughter.”
A small smile pulled at my cheeks as he headed toward his cabin.
Erik stood there, his eyes distant.
“You good, bro?”
“A man murdered his own brother in front of his wife and kid. The woman I consider my sister died, then turned into a vampire, and is now running a Venom hub. There are hybrids and tercets and witches and all kinds of shit.” He took a deep breath through his nose, blowing it out through his mouth. “I’m as good as I can be.”
I clasped my hand on his shoulder. “But did you die?”
Erik laughed, and it was nice to know he was getting used to my sarcasm. “No, because I was with a damn good team.” He held his fist and I bumped mine into it. “I’m going to find Kimber. Maybe she can massage these knots in my shoulder.”
“Take her on the roof. I heard it’s a nice place for a date.”
Erik smirked. “Goodnight, Winnie.”
“It’s Winston!” I hollered, my smile fading when my eyes met Drag’s.
“Are you ready?”
Of course, I wasn’t ready to confront my friend and reveal that he was a hybrid freak, but I nodded.
We headed toward Luka’s place and Nellie’s laughter caught my attention, the joyful sound contrasting with the fear and anger coursing through me. The fire residing in my chest flared higher with each step I took before I finally flung around, the veins on my face pumping, a large hiss leaving me.
“Winnie!” Drag screamed, and I ignored him as I took off.
In a flash, I was next to the bonfire, standing right in front of Nellie. Before I had a chance to rip her throat out, a powerful force tugged me backwards, causing me to crash onto the ground, the impact vibrating through my spine.
More anger filled me as I hopped to my feet and Ravage was immediately in my face. “Don’t you fucking move, boy!” he spat, his voice filled with authority.
“She’s a fucking rat! Her and that whole fucking society are the reason we’re all in this fucking mess.”
Peach instinctively pushed Nellie behind her, shielding her from me. “And we can talk about that, but if you lay one hand on her . . .” Peach shook her head. “Don’t make me hurt you, Winston.”
“You want to talk, fine! Let’s fucking talk about how she made sure to tell my girlfriend and Sage when we went on a mission to the Venom compound. Or when she said ‘we’ when mentioning Venom. Or when she was in the woods making a phone call. Let’s talk about that!”
“Wait, a damn minute!” Nellie screeched, coming out from behind Peach. “I don’t know what you’re talking about with the ‘we’ thing, but Randi is the one who said I should tell Sage what happened. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to. She also told me to ask Peach if I could call my mom because I missed her.” Nellie’s mouth dropped open simultaneously with mine as we both had the same thought. “Oh my god, is she a rat?”
“Fuck,” I whispered, my eyes darting around, looking for Randi. “How did we miss this?”
“You were too busy blaming me,” Nellie retorted, pointing at herself. “I didn’t betray you. I have no plans of going back to Venom or doing anything to put this group in jeopardy.”
“Lower your voices,” Ravage said in a hushed tone, fearing Randi might overhear us. He glanced at Lynx, he had left her and Laren in charge. “Where’s Laren?”
“She went to the store for Ollie.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ravage’s face contorted with anger, and my heart went out to Lynx. He shouldn’t be mad at her or Laren, considering no one we left at the camp knew about tonight’s mission. We had done that for a reason, and it could have possibly backfired on us.
Zeke came running up, a concerned look. “Has anyone seen April and Scarlet?”
Lynx shook her head. “She went to the cabin earlier to feed the baby. She never came back out. I assumed she fell asleep.”
“Ravage, Sage, somebody!” Jimmy hollered from a distance, and I wondered what the fuck else could be going on.
Ravage let out a hard sigh. “Peach, you find Laren and April and I’ll deal with whatever he wants.”
Ravage took off and Peach turned toward Drag. “Can we get some of your men to check out the area for April and Scarlet’s scents? I’m going to find Randi and bring her here. This needs to be handled tonight.”
Drag leaned forward and grabbed his chest, an aching scream coming from him. “Ahh, shit! Someone in my pack is injured.” He straightened his spine, his fear-filled eyes meeting mine. “It’s my dad.”
Drag took off toward his truck with me, Heston, and Demi right on his tail. Nervousness ate at me as we hopped in the vehicle, headed toward Drifter’s.