Chapter 5: The Silver Eyes

My stomach dropped as I stared at Dr. O'neil's smiling face. Behind him the rich darkness called to me and the beast's growls racked invisible claws down my back. This was no werewolf. Whatever it was, it wasn't of any world and there was Devon. The two scents confused me, I wanted to turn tail and run the hell out of that place. 

"Iris, my dear, don't be scared. It won't harm you." Samuel O'neil soothed as he saw my expression. The beast snarled from inside and it called to me. The vibrations of the sound hitting my bones, it was making my wolf excited. I took a few steps towards the door, my body shaking with fear and I could feel my bones shifting, my eyes burning and once again I was thankful for the darkness.

"Move." I snarled at the doctor and stepped past him inside the room. My heart skipped a beat as I glimpsed him. Silver, glowing, hot searing orbs. The silver so bright that I had to squint.

"What are you.." the words left my mouth with a rush of air. 

"He's my greatest experiment. He's the world's first hybrid." The doctor whispered. 

Hybrid.

The word flashed through my mind as I was pulled back into time; my mind recalling the tales. The ancient legends, the stories that were shunned in the name of myths. The stories that talked of blood and horror, of violence and death. A creature made of two, a mix of races that should not exist, a monster, a hybrid. 

I shivered and pulled my eyes away from those piercing orbs. My hands shook, I couldn't stay still. It was over. I was too late. I couldn't save him. Devon Knight was not himself anymore. He was no more. My knees buckled and I slid down to the floor, the cool tiles doing nothing to lessen my shock. I had failed. Nesta Rivera, the best agent at FRIO, was a failure. 

I couldn't save him and suddenly I wasn't in the room anymore. I was in the grassy backyard of my parents' country house, my hands clutching my school bag as I stepped inside the gate. The creaking sound of the rusty iron, a sign of my dad's laziness to oil them, and then the shouts, a blazing heat, the thunder of a blast, my body thrown away as everything burned. My mind screaming at me to stand up, walk into the fire and make everything alright.

I couldn't save them. Mama, Papa were dead. I was a failure.  

"Iris!" Hands shook me by the shoulder and I blinked. My cheeks were wet, I quickly dabbed it away. A snarl echoed around me, I pulled myself up on my feet. 

"Don't be scared, Iris. You'll have to do my work when I am not here." He whispered to me. I looked at the half naked man bound on the bed in one corner. His eyes were heavy lidded as if he was fighting to stay awake. His sharp canines flashing in the dark. He was like a storm contained but still deadly. 

"Did you d-drug him?" I asked the doctor, fury making my voice shake. 

"Yes. He's loaded with sedatives. I don't want him awake. He's been in this state since he was brought to me and when I am gone it will fall to you to see that he stays that way." The doctor whispered, his eyes pinned on Devon. 

"How do you keep him bound?" I asked, it was never easy to contain a werewolf, they were too feral and powerful for any kind of chains or ropes and Devon knight was a.. hybrid. How did he keep him bound? 

"Silver. Deadly to the werewolves." The doctor said with a grin. My stomach dropped. Silver chains, silver burned our skin and it could even kill us. I snapped my head in Devon's direction, he was wrapped in the chain from head to toe, he had to be in excruciating pain, I thought with an aching heart. 

"It's time to go back, Iris. I hope you will handle everything well." The doctor said as he walked out of the room. I didn't move an inch, my back was still pressed to the wall as I stared at Devon. His silver gaze boring into me. I felt compelled. My heart ached for him and I didn't even realize that I was moving towards him until the doctor's sharp warning stopped me dead. 

"God, don't stand that close to the beast!" He barked. I wiped my hands on the fabric of my jeans and resisted the urge to free him from those chains. 

"Iris!" O'neil called out. I ignored him.

I still couldn't move. I just couldn't stop staring at him. 

"Devon.." I whispered his name. My heart beating louder as I waited for him to look up, to give me some sort of signal that he was there. Nothing. He just closed his eyes and the dark locks of his hair slid over his face. 

"Come on. I have to lock the door." O'neil hissed from behind me and I felt his hand close around my wrist. 

"Let's go." He said as he dragged me outside. I was too stunned to shake his hand off, I just kept staring at Devon's still form. The soft light glinting off his bare shoulders as his head hung low until my view was blocked by O'Neil as he locked the door and dragged me towards the stairs. 

"Get going." He said to me and pushed me to the stairs. I climbed up and out of the door, the coldness of the hallways making me shudder. Dr. O'neil grabbed my hand and pushed something into my palm. It was the key. 

"Keep this with you. I have to hurry now, the chopper leaves for Peru tonight." O'Neil said and walked past me, shrugging out of his coat as he walked away. I felt the jagged metal surface of the keys with my fingers, it was still warm from O'Neil's hand. 

***

I stood motionless in front of the metal door the next day. His scent was wrapping around me, a dangerous mix of werewolf and vampire. It made my wolf excited and I pressed my face against the door. I didn't even know how he looked. It was dark yesterday and I was shocked so I wasn't able to look at his face clearly. Eyes of molten silver flashed through my mind and I whimpered. He had such a crippling effect on me. Why? 

I shook myself out of my thoughts and pulled out the keys, opening the thick door with a smooth click. A warm daft hit my face and I slipped inside. 

It was still dark. I looked around and spotted a muscled back and the line of his powerful thighs as he slept on the bed which was placed in one corner of the room near a weird sort of machine that was chiming, and beside it was a table that had long syringes filled with some pale blue liquid which I assumed was the drug used to subdue him. I moved hesitantly towards him, his hands and legs were bound with a thick silver chain. There were burn marks on his skin and I shuddered to think the sort of pain it would have caused. My heart filled with a sudden burst of fury and I looked around frantically for some sort of equipment that would unlock the chains but there was nothing. 

I swore and quickly pulled at the chain, as soon as my skin touched the silver a vicious burn made me almost drop it; I gritted my teeth and pulled with the strength that I had, my eyes watered but I kept pulling until the chain gave way and it slid around his hand. I quickly reached around and unwrapped the chains from his body and dropped it on the floor with an audible clang. I breathed deeply, my hands were covered with burns but I was used to pain, training for being an agent at FRIO had taught me to endure. I sighed and braced myself against the bed. 

All this time he hadn't moved an inch, which led me to believe that he was still in the state of unconsciousness.

I looked over at him, my eyes taking him in from head to toe. His face was averted from me but his back was bare and his long legs were covered with black denim jeans which were worn and threadbare. His broad shoulders gleamed where the light from the open door hit his skin and I wasn't above admiring the thick muscles of his back and his forearms.

He stirred and I stilled, my heart beating wildly inside my chest. His body moved as he turned and suddenly I was pinned under the coldness of those stormy gray eyes, which had been silver last night. 

Everything froze as we stared at each other. My heart was hammering in my chest. He blinked, the dark fringe of his lashes sweeping up and down as if he was barely able to stay awake.

"Devon." I choked out his name. 

His lips parted and his dark eyebrows furrowed as he tried to concentrate. 

"Ayrin." He whispered, the rough sound squeezing my heart as I realized that he was asking for Ayrin Moors who was dead. He had loved her and she was taken away from him.

"Ayrin." He said stiffly, his deep voice startling me. He tried to sit up, I quickly leaned in and placed my hands on his chest, his skin warm and silken to touch as I pushed him back but it was like pushing a wall of steel. He didn't even move an inch. Strong hands wrapped around my arm and I nearly cried out at the painful grip. He buried his face in the crook of my neck and I felt his breath against my skin as he inhaled deeply and the next thing I knew, I was hurled into the air and a splintering pain lashed down my spine as my back collided with the wall. I slid down and curled into a ball on the floor, my whole body was a mass of agony. 

"You're not Ayrin!" He hissed furiously as he crouched down in front of me. I looked up to see the gray eyes turn silver and I managed to pull myself up and press my body away from him. He reached out, long fingers brushing against my cheek, clamping down on my flesh as he tilted my face up, he stared into my eyes for a long time. I whimpered and tried to shrug off his hold but he just tightened his grip.

"Who are you?" He clipped out. I breathed deeply and curled my hands against his chest, My eyes squeezed tightly and a tear escaped past my eyelids. There was a long time of silence and then his hand slid away from my face. I opened my eyes slowly and looked at his face, his eyes were back to its stormy gray colour and his dark locks slid down his face. He was very attractive I thought as I looked at him closely. 

"I am not Ayrin." I whispered, Unnerved by that unreadable stare. 

"I know. You are human." He snarled the last word. I shrugged away from him. He moved back a bit but still towered over me as if he thought I would escape. 

"I-I am not human!" I blurted out. 

"Liar. I can scent it on you." He said, his deep voice dripping with scorn. He despised humans and it was only reasonable after all the torture he had endured because of humans.

"It's a g-glamour! I am a werewolf!" I exclaimed as I saw his eyes turning silver, he was getting angry. I watched in horror as his nails extended into sharp claws as he waved them in front of me, oh so close to the pulsing artery in my neck. I felt a spark of fear. It didn't matter how much I tried to think of him as Devon Knight, the agent at FRIO who had written all his feelings in a diary, but he was no longer just a werewolf, he was a hybrid. No normal werewolf was able to change any single part of their body without the complete change while he was able to sprout claws whenever he desired. He was well and truly changed. 

"I will ask again, human, who are you and what have you done to me?" He growled. 

"I am not a human! And I am here because Gregory Hemsworth sent me to find you and bring you back to Etherea! I would have been having a nice drink with my sister at her home and enjoying myself if it weren't for you!" I shouted as my patience snapped. He just stared at me, his claws pricking my skin. I hissed and caught his wrist in my hand. 

"Do not touch me without my permission." I gritted out and tried to fling his hand away from me but he was stronger, of course, and I ended up feeling like a fool. 

"What proof do you have that you are a werewolf?" He bit off. His hand was still roaming around my neck but I no longer felt the sharp prick of his claws. 

"Get away from me and I will show you." I said calmly. He looked at me strangely then moved away, I had no doubt that he could catch me in seconds if he thought I was trying to escape. 

I raised my hand and removed the contacts from my eyes, wincing as I roughened it up accidentally. I blinked away the moisture and turned to stare at him, expecting him to flinch. 

He gasped, his face unreadable as he examined my eyes. I knew what he was seeing. My too wide mouth, the strange lilac eyes which everyone said were unnerving, the small scar at my left cheekbone and the mousy brown hair which I knew were a mess. I wasn't much of a looker. I felt vulnerable under his intense gaze and I hated him for making me feel that way. 

"That doesn't prove anything." He rasped.

"What?!" I hissed and pushed myself to my feet, the pain at my back was now a dull ache, one of the many benefits of being a werewolf. 

"Get down, human." He growled, his warm hand squeezing my thigh as he continued to sit on the floor. I froze. It felt strange and intimate, the feel of his palm on my thigh. He snarled when I continued to stand, his eyes blazed and he pulled me down, making me fall into his lap, his face inches away from mine. He exposed his sharp canines and in a quick movement of his head, he sank his teeth into my neck. I screamed. He withdrew his teeth but his lips closed around the wound as he flicked his tongue against my abused flesh, lapping my blood. I jerked his head away and tried to get off his lap. 

"What have you done to me, human?!" He growled. I looked over my shoulder and saw the horrified expression on his handsome face. He looked disgusted as he stared at the blood trickling down my neck. 

"Why do I crave your blood?" He asked, his face pale, the blood on his lips, my blood stood stark against his skin. 

It was at that moment I realized that he didn't know what he was. He didn't know that he was a hybrid. 

"Damn me to hell.." I whispered as I stared at the hybrid.