The hybrid nobody wanted

Chapter3:who Am I?

The morning after Dorian found me in the alley, I couldn't breathe right.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him standing there. You can't outrun me. Every time I touched my chest, the bond pulsed back. Mine.

I needed to move. To fight. To scream.

So I went to the kitchen, looking for a battle.

Jax was there. Alone. Sharpening his knives at the table.

"You're pacing again," he said without looking up. "It's annoying."

"Then don't watch."

He looked at me then,really looked. His wolf eyes narrowed. "You're thinking about him again. The vampire."

"His name is Dorian."

Jax's jaw tightened. He set the knife down slowly. "Dorian. Right. The same Dorian who works for the King that murdered your father. The same Dorian sent to capture you. That Dorian?"

I crossed my arms. "You don't understand."

"No?" He stood suddenly, chair scraping back. "Then help me understand, Raya. Because from where I'm sitting, you're making excuses for the enemy."

"He's not"

"He's not what? Your enemy?" Jax stepped closer, anger burning in his eyes. "He's a vampire, Raya. A killer. The King's personal executioner. How many people has he murdered? How many families has he destroyed?"

I opened my mouth. Closed it.

"And you," Jax continued, voice rising, "you just stand there in an alley talking to him like he's some lost puppy. Like he didn't come here to drag you back to a King who wants to use you."

"You don't know what happened."

"I know you had a dagger." He was in front of me now, towering, furious. "I know he was right there. One strike and the King loses his weapon. But you just... let him walk away. WHY?"

Something cracked inside me.

Not my heart. Something deeper.

Heat flooded my veins sudden, violent, wrong. My vision sharpened until I could see every pore on Jax's face, every pulse of blood in his throat. My hands tingled. My gums ached. And for one terrible second, he didn't look like my brother.

He looked like prey.

Jax stumbled back. "Raya? Your EYES"

I couldn't stop it. The heat kept rising. My skin burned. My wolf howled inside me. My vampire screamed. And underneath both, something else stirred. Something darker. Something hungry.

"What's happening to me?" The words came out wrong , too deep, too rough.

Jax grabbed a knife, but his hand shook. "Stay back. Raya, STAY BACK"

"I can't…I can't control…"

Then Mira was there.

She burst through the door, witch fire blazing around her fingers. But she didn't attack. She ran straight to me, grabbed my face in both hands, and held on.

"Raya!" Her voice cut through the red haze. "Look at me. Only me. Breathe with me. In... out... in... out..."

I clung to her voice like a rope. The heat flickered. The hunger wavered. My vision blurred back to normal.

I collapsed.

Mira caught me, lowering us both to the floor. Jax stood frozen by the table, knife still raised, face white as death.

For a long moment, no one spoke.

Then I whispered: "What... what was that?"

Mira's arms tightened around me. Her voice shook. "That was you, Raya. The real you. The part your mother bound at birth."

I stared at her. "Bound?"

"To protect you. To keep you hidden." Her eyes were wet. "But the bond... it's breaking the binding. Every time you feel him, every time the bond pulls, more of your true power wakes up."

I looked at my hands. They looked normal. But they felt... different. Stronger. Wrong.

"How much more?"

Mira didn't answer.

I turned to Jax. He still hadn't moved. Still stared at me like I was a stranger.

"Jax..." I reached for him.

He flinched.

The movement was small. But it cut deeper than any knife.

And something in me snapped.

Not the heat this time. Not the hunger. Something worse.

Anger.

"You flinched." My voice came out cold. "You actually flinched. Like I'm a monster."

Jax's face twisted. "Raya, I didn't mean…"

"You did." I stood up, my legs shaking but my fury steady. "I've spent my whole life protecting this family. Hiding what I am to keep you safe. And the first time I slip, the first time something happens that I can't control, you look at me like I'm the enemy?"

"That's not fair…"

"Fair?" I laughed.bitter, broken. "You want to talk about fair? I was supposed to leave LAST NIGHT. I was supposed to be hours north by now, on my way to the Moonstone Temple, looking for answers about who….what….I am."

Mira spoke softly. "Raya..."

"No!" I spun to face her too. "I delayed because I wanted to say goodbye properly. Because I wanted to see your faces one more time before I walked into danger. And now THIS happens?" I pointed at Jax. "Now he looks at me like I'm something to be afraid of?"

Jax flinched again. Worse this time.

I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to be half vampire. I didn't ask for some ancient bond to snap into place with a killer. I didn't ask for any of it!"

Mira reached for me. "We know you didn't"

"Do you?" I stepped back from both of them. "Because right now, it feels like you blame me. Like I chose this. Like I wanted my body to start turning into something even I don't recognize."

Silence.

"I'm tired," I whispered. "I'm tired of hiding. I'm tired of pretending. I'm tired of being scared of myself."

I grabbed my jacket from the chair.

"Raya, where are you going?" Mira asked.

"I don't know." I walked to the door. Stopped. Didn't turn around.

"I don't know who I am anymore."

My voice broke.

"I don't know what I'm becoming. I don't know if I'm still me, or if something else is waking up inside. I don't know anything."

Silence.

Then, so soft I barely heard myself:

"Who am I?"

No one answered.

Because no one could.

I went to my room. Sat on the floor. Stared at the wall.

The bond pulsed. Soft. Gentle. Like he was checking on me.

I should ignore it. Should push him out.

But I was so tired. So scared. So alone.

Dorian?

His response came instantly. Raya. What's wrong?

I hesitated. Then: Something's happening to me. Something I don't understand.

A pause. Then warmth flooded the bond,not his heat, but something else. Comfort. Protection.

Tell me.

And for the first time in my life, I wanted to.

I opened my mouth to speak into the bond

A scream ripped through the night.

Mira.

I was on my feet before I thought, dagger in hand, racing downstairs.

The kitchen door was shattered. Mira lay on the floor, unconscious. Jax was gone.

And written on the wall in blood:

COME FIND HIM, HYBRID. OR HE DIES.

(The Pack)