Her Hybrid Alpha (book 2)

BOOK ONE OF THIS BOOK IS HER VAMPIRE PRINCE by Stacey Golds. This isn't a stand-alone book. "I'm mated to a freaking Hybrid Alpha" I laughed at her remark, but inside fear and anxiety churned in my stomach. I'd felt lost for years, never knowing where I truly belonged. Even though I was here on paws, Mathew and Cage bowing at me, I still felt lost. They called me by the name Shawn, but who is Shawn ? I didn't know him. Would I even like him? Eyes were staring at me waiting for my next move. The truth was I didn't know it. My body felt different, lighter, free and more agile. Looking around the room, I looked at my brother. His face was tense. He'd stand with me no matter what, but our dynamic had just changed. Walking past Anya, I headed to Dante. He steps away from Sophie, stepping forward. Looking up into his eyes, he knows what I need, time to process, time to think. " Everyone, we will be back soon" he says, nodding at me. I headed out the room, turning back. I looked at Anya, she had a hurt look on her face. To her, I'll be choosing Dante to comfort me in my distress. But it wasn't like that, it wasn't about comfort, it was about having someone call me on my sh*t and tell me what I needed to hear. Through our link that I hope still works the same, I send a message that I love her. She smiles and tells me she loves me back. " Go on, I understand" she says when I hesitate. I don't want to hurt her. A soft" I know" comes through our link from her. Turning, I follow after Dante. We headed for his office. The vampires that are in the castle know that the danger is gone, so they stop and stare. It's not everyday you see a wolf walking through the castle. We ignore them and keep walking. When we are in the safety of Dante's office, he props himself against his desk looking at me. " Are you going to change back? If you've forgotten I can't talk to animals " he laughs, but it sounds tight. The thing is, I don't know how to change back. I start pacing and visualizing myself as a human, well, a vampire, but it doesn't work. I started growling, growing impatient. " Darius calm down and stop still. It can't be that hard", I snapped in his direction with my teeth and snarled at him. He holds his hands up smirking in a surrender, his face doesn't look very apologetic to me though. But he's right that being agitated won't help anyone, so I sat down on my haunches and breathed deep. The first transition had killed. I'd heard of wolves before, and the first few shifts do. Taking deep breaths, I imagine my body turning back, my fur disappearing and flesh showing. I imagine my vision turning from yellow to clear. Inhaling a deep breath, I opened my eyes to see Dante looking at me, his eyes a little wide. Looking down, I see pink flesh, hands and feet with no fur. Dante points to his cupboard. Looking down again, I see I'm also butt naked. Quickly getting up and throwing the door open. I throw on some clothes when I come back out. Dante is sitting at his desk. He doesn't say anything, so I go to pour us both a drink from the bar, making them neat and triples. " Darius or should I call you Shawn now" he grins, trying to make the mood lighter. I flipped him the bird and sat down. " Darius is just fine, thank you " I said, taking a seat. Man, I feel like I hadn't even come down from the fight yet, then this was added on top. I'd feared for a minute we were dead. I'd thought my life with my mate was going to be short lived. "This is f*cked up man, we should be celebrating with our mates. Finally settling down and enjoying life, this now?" I snapped, and I shot my drink back standing up. " I mean if it wasn't for Arakas we'd all be f*cked dead now, probably who'd have thought we would end up grateful for a f*cking demon ". I'm rambling, fixating on anything but my own truths. I think it's because I don't believe it that I can finally see where I come from, who I actually am. With everything I'd heard about the packs so far though, the history of it all and what happened to my parents. It wasn't going to be a happy story. " Darius, this doesn't change anything. You know that right. Yes, you're now a hybrid and you can find out about your family. But if that's all you take from this, that's all you take from it. You don't have to go take the pack back, this is your home, and we are your family " Dante states. Walking over to the bar, I filled my glass back up. " You've heard how the pack runs, how f*cked up it is. How can I leave the pack members to live like that when I could change that? I could remove those two idiots from power. But it means I'll have to leave here. Anya has already told me she will support me. But the girls are so close it will kill her to be away from them " I watched the glass fill up with liquid, before I took another large gulp of the amber gold that burns at my throat on the way day. " They are also witches, Darius, who can zip all over creation if they wished. The girls aren't the problem. That Bridie doesn't sound like she will go easy. Sh*t man, where all tiered we need a break. But we will be with you no matter what." He laughs, rubbing his neck, "can we just take a few days first ? " He adds on. I smiled at him. " Yea, we can, I think this should stay between our group for now. I want to know everything first and do recon. We need to sort the kingdoms out also, one problem at a time, Brother "I tell him, I didn't tell him I needed time with this also, but he will know that. He lifts his drink. " I'll drink to that brother, Darius ". I looked up at him from my drink. His face had a tinge of sadness again. He takes a drink then looks down and sighs. " You'll always be Darius to me, you'll always be my brother and this is your home, no matter if you are now an over-sized dog ". He looked up with a playful grin that made me chuckle, but I knew he was covering raw feelings with humor. We moved off about what our future could be and fell into a comfortable silence as we both decompressed and sat with our thoughts as we drank a few more drinks, then I left to find my mate. Anya was in our room when I went looking for her. The castle was quiet, everyone searching for solitude and peace after the months we'd had. She was sitting in the window seat looking out. The view was once a small village and then the forest. Now it was a city for vampires. Going over to her, I sat across from her. Our mating had been rough, she hadn't wanted to accept it. The change in her life or anything, she had been distant and cold. But now we were finding our way, Anya was refinding herself. My strong-headed mate, who had her life on a timetable, had to let that all go. Accept there were things about her that she couldn't control, that fact she was a witch looked at as a leader by all other witches. Her best friends and sisters mated with vampires. One now mated to the King of all Vampires. The fact she yearned to submit and give up power to me sexually. We'd discovered the 24/7 life wasn't for her, so we had adjusted. Now I was the supposed Alpha of the Hybrids. Where did that leave us ? How it would affect our lives I don't know. She looks across at me, her brown eyes tiered "We will do it together" she says, reading my mind through our link. I couldn't love my mate more. She was perfect for me in every way. " I love Anya, " she smiled as I took a seat across from her, and she crawled over, curling her long limbs up on my knee. " I love you too, Darius, tomorrow when we take my parents back home I'd like you to properly meet them" she said quietly, barley awake. Her body relaxes against mine, her breathing evening out as she falls asleep. I held her close for a while, looking out of the window in my own thoughts. My mind was going crazy enough that I knew I wouldn't sleep tonight. Carefully, I stood up and lay her down in bed, covering her up. She rolls over, searching the bed for me. She gives up quickly though exhaustion takes over. Quietly, I headed out of the room, my feet taking me in the direction of Cage's room. Standing outside his door, I just stared at it, not knocking. He's probably asleep with his mate. I shouldn't be waking him. As I turned to leave, the door opened. Cage stood there, he looked back at the bed and I saw Valerie was sound asleep. He comes out, closing the door behind him and gestures with his head to follow him. He pauses outside another door and within minutes Mathew comes out, pulling a shirt over his head. We all walked down the hall to the elevators. It's weird how they just sense me here they always have. I'm guessing now it's stronger I'll have to ask. We find ourselves at the pool side sat against the bar with a bottle of whiskey in front of us. Dante shows up minutes later, looking thoroughly f*cked out, a peaceful smile on his face. We were all quiet for a while. It's Cage that speaks up first " Darius, you don't know the whole story, I think. It's time you should. I've told you how my grandfather killed your parents. How your grandparents took you and ran, that my grandfather hunted you and couldn't find you. He told the pack you were dead that he'd slaughtered you. He knew the pack would come hunting for you, your family was loved. What I didn't tell you is my grandfather is your grandfather. He killed his own son to take over the pack. It was your mum's parents that stole you away to save you. We are family. Shawn, this whole thing that happened was one big family feud or just the f*cked up ego of a narcissistic prick that ruined us all. Our grandfather wasn't always that way, I don't think, but he turned into one nasty piece of work " Cage looked at me , I can only imagine I looked shocked.