THE HYBRID MATES

“ESCAPING THE FREELAND”

CHAPTER 2

“ESCAPING THE FREELAND”

EVAN’S POV:

Finding Meredith had been a stroke of stupid luck for me. When Ronan and I had gone for the run to get away from Bridgette, we had travelled a good many miles into the forest before we had stopped. I had raced blindly, it didn’t matter where I went, I just knew I had to get away from her, the reason I had lost everything, and I ran until my wolf was on the verge of collapse. I wasn’t sure how far I had traveled, but it was a sizable distance and that’s when I arrived at a small cabin at the base of the wood line near the creek.

Ronan’s hair stood up on end as we could smell the countless warriors camping beside the creekside, and I was familiar with the ramshackle cabin. It was the old witch Evelyn’s place. Everyone knew who she was, and everyone made a point, wolves, rogues, and vampires alike, to avoid her. She was capable of both dark and light magic and often killed trespassers in horrific ways if they posed any problems for her.

It surprised me to see so many wolves gathering near her residence. Last, I had heard she had a serious dislike for wolves. However, as I crouched down and watched the activities, I could make out clearly with my werewolf vision, the red devil himself, the Alpha King followed by Enzo, Mariano’s wolf trailing him. This was not good. With the number of warriors gathered, I knew they were looking for the girl, and it was apparent that they had received some sort of tip regarding her whereabouts in the rogue camp, or they would not be here.

“We’re as good as dead if that nasty old Lycan gets us.” Ronan muttered to me in my head. I sighed, knowing full well that he was right. That old man would tear us limb from limb. There was no point any longer in going back to the rogue encampment, because if my instincts were right, they would be attacking within the next few hours. That’s when I had heard a soft whimpering in the woods, and where I had claimed my new mate. The memory came to me as I drove along the winding mountain roads.

“Smells like a human female.” Ronan had muttered to me.

“Out here?” I recollected aloud; a lone female would not fare well in the Freeland at night. My wolf and I slowly stalked over to see the silhouette of a small woman, sitting on a large bolder near the shoreline of the creek. She was quite a distance from the cabin, and even farther from the grouping of warriors.

Meredith sat crouching on top of the rock, her arms wrapped around her knees, her long luxurious mane cascading down her shoulders and back. She was exquisite, I remembered fondly.

“She is beautiful.” My wolf retorted, causing me to snort, but glanced in the rear-view mirror to see the girl passed out in the back seat of the car I had stolen. I had been surprised when Meredith had not been spooked when she caught wind of us. If anything, she had almost appeared irritated.

“I know you are here.” Her voice was soft, sultry, and foreign, and had that same Celtic dialect that Bridgette had. That was when I had realized that she had to be the cousin that had joined the Alpha King when they had come to America. When Ronan and I approached her, Ronan perked up and took an immediate interest in the girl.

“I like her.” My wolf drawled in my head. “Although I think she is a witch.” That conclusion confused me, because initially I had believed that Bridgette’s cousin was a wolf like her and was surprised when I realized she was a witch. And a witch she was indeed!

“Subcinctus.” She had mumbled some strange spell causing me to shift back into my human form. Next thing I knew, I was dressed in soft cotton knit pants on my lower half, just simply by a wave of her hand. She was powerful, just like her cousin, and as we neared her, I could tell she was unmarked.

I knew this was going to be my chance at a new life. I was sure my beautiful second chance mate, Emily, was dead. I had not seen her since she and the doctor had betrayed me. My men had not found her before the Alpha King and Mariano came running up the mountain to intercede in our recovery. And between the Alpha King and Lucca Mariano, they had destroyed a good number of my pack in a short time frame. Besides, Ronan had taken an instant liking to the girl, and she had that same calming effect that Emily had had on us. She was a perfect replacement.

I took a couple of slow steps towards her and had her pinned down between myself and a large oak tree before our conversation ended. I had every intention of taking this foreign beauty and no one was going to stop me. She was to be my chosen mate. My Luna, the one that would help me reunite a strong formidable pack, and could help control, or perhaps even overthrow the Alpha King. She was exactly what I needed. My mind veered to the final moments before I made her mine forever.

“You are related to that Princess person that went missing a couple months back? I heard she had funny accent too.” I laid it on thick, trying to make her think I was some local harmless hillbilly. However, Meredith simply raised an eyebrow at me and slid another step away from me, bumping into the tree behind her. I noticed the first hint of alarm in her face, and I smiled uncontrollably in response.

“Why would you ask me that when you already know.” Her voice was a lot sharper than it had been earlier. She glanced nervously in either direction realizing that the tree was blocking her retreat, I noticed a hint of salt in the air, she was perspiring, she was anxious. I grinned wickedly and sprung forward, capturing her within my grasp.

“Such a brave little witch and so pretty...” I growled, holding her body tightly to mine. Ronan nodded at my advancement, for some reason he had taken a fancy to this girl, and the only other woman he was ever accepting of was our mates.

“Evan James.” I heard her whisper my name as she realized I was not simply an ordinary wolf. I smiled with sheer amusement; however, her eyes went dark as she began speaking a handful of words foreign to me as she attempted to raise her hand. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that same electric blue glow began radiating about her just as I had seen from Bridgette. Alarmed, I leaned into her quickly, my snout elongated, fangs emerged as I hastily bit into her neck, piercing her marking spot. The witch screamed out in pain and tossed her head back wildly, attempting to spin away from my grasp and bite, however only causing my fangs to tear more deeply into her flesh. I pulled myself back and licked the wound closed. Her breathing had become shallow, and those radiant green eyes met mine once again as she glared daggers into mine. her body began to tremble as her eyes rolled back into her head.

“f**k you.” She whispered hoarsely as she slowly slumped forward into my arms.

“You are mine.” I said as I gathered the witch into my arms.

Thankfully my new little witch was light weight because once she had passed out from being marked, an effect of my venom, I had no other choice but to carry her. Luckily, she had wandered quite a distance from the camp, and under the cover of darkness and careful to remain downwind, I was able to veer about the forest and head towards a small tavern I had recalled seeing only a couple of miles from here. I had to admit that despite my strength, venturing through the night carrying the girl was fatiguing. However, for some unbeknownst reasoning, my luck was extending through the night as I caught sight of a Jeep parked just off the highway. From the distance, I could hear moans coming from the rocking vehicle. It was clear I was about to interrupt pair of teenagers making out on the highway. I shook my head, such foolish humans that would deliberately venture in the Freeland for a little alone time.

Ronan and I chuckled together as I laid my new princess down on the damp ground, shifted and slinked closer to the Jeep that was only a couple hundred feet away. I needed to make sure that I kept Meredith close in my sights, because I certainly didn’t want to lose her to an opportunistic vampire or rogue, as I stalked over to the vehicle.

Inside, the human couple were grunting, moaning, and I could hear the thrusting of intercourse. I grinned to myself. This was going to be the last lay he was ever gonna get. I quickly peered at the rear of the jeep to ensure there was a spare, then swiped the rear tire quickly with my claws to draw them outside. The vehicle bobbled and a loud hiss of air escaped into the night. It was loud enough to cause the couple to cease, and I heard some grumbling and swearing from the man in the back seat as he dismounted his lady.

“Damn it.” I heard as he opened his rear driver’s side door and slid out of the Jeep completely nude. He ran his hand through his sandy blonde hair furiously. “Tires flat.” He barked back to the woman, who had sat up, holding a man’s shirt over her middle and breasts. It was then I took the opportunity to lunge at the woman, grabbing her by her long blonde hair and dragged her out of the car like a ragdoll. The young woman screamed, kicked, and flailed all around, completely panicked. The younger man spun around, however froze in place with sheer terror when he laid eyes on my massive grey wolf.

“Clay help me!” she screamed, apparently aware that I had no intention of letting either of them leave alive. However, in the corner of my eye as I was dragging the teenage girl away from the automobile, I saw a dark shadow hover over my mate. Immediately infuriated, I shifted back into my human form, releasing the teenager for only a moment before I snatched her back up by the neck. She was screaming wildly, her eyes bulging in terror, so utterly terrified that she had peed herself.

“Get the f**k away from my mate you nasty bloodsucker.” I roared as I drug the teenager over to my mate. The vampire, an older man, dirty and ill kept materialized standing over my beautiful Meredith.

“But she’s so pretty.” He hissed at me, and I felt my blood run cold. I half shifted, my snout elongated, my eyes faded into blackness.

“Two for one. You get these two and get to keep your nasty bloodsucking life. Your no match for an Alpha wolf old timer.” I could tell that this vampire was indeed an opportunist, a scavenger, with little talent or skills of his own other than biting. He was no better than a human drug addict, utterly worthless. The old timer raised an eyebrow and pursed his lip in a curl showing off his pearly fang.

“Hmm, looks like that human is fixin to get in that their jeep.” The bloodsucker growled, his gaze shifted from me to the teenage boy frantically trying to gather his footing, pulling himself along the side of the vehicle, too terrified to even stand up. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the vampire.

“Five hundred bucks if you get him, and you can suck the life out of both of them.” Immediately the vampire’s eyes brightened, and he nodded, using his vampire speed, he was upon the human before I had time to look back from the screaming flailing woman I still had in my hands to the car. I heard a scream from the man as the vampire bit down on him right against the car. The man ceased to struggle after a moment, killing him quickly. The woman screamed once more and passed out in my arms at the sight of all the blood running down the front of her boyfriend. I noticed her weight, glanced down and dropped her on the ground. I had more pressing things than worrying about this stupid human. I was happy to leave her for the bloodsucker.

“Not on the car!” I shouted at the vampire as I gathered Meredith into my arms and walked over to the Jeep, sliding my mate onto the backseat. The vampire grunted and groaned with pleasure as he sucked every last drop of blood from the man, making me gag. Nasty bloodsuckers, how I hated those things. I shut the door of the jeep to keep Meredith safe, just incase the vampire had a change of heart and quickly undid the bolts on the spare so I could fix the flat and get the hell out of the Freeland.

And that’s where I was now, finally out of the Freeland, and out of West Virginia for that matter, driving north. I had no idea as to where I was going, all I knew was that I needed to get away from here before I was found, we were found. I also knew that I needed to find a way to keep Meredith with me, but unless she was unconscious, she as having none of it. And I knew I was not going to keep her on a steady dose of wolfsbane forever, or I would end up killing her. I needed to figure out something and soon.