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Chapter 43
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The Hybrid Mate Chapter 44
"No," Bella said, trying to tune him out amid the rush of blood in her head. "That's just—please stop, Victor."“It’s getting weak, isn't it?" He murmured. Something about his words told her he wasn't talking to her. Not that she could answer, anyway. The pain was no longer a weak hum, it was a full-on roar.“I said stop!” she seethed. Victor stared at her in shock. She waited for him to hit her the way Jeff had the one time she’d ever made the mistake of raising her voice to him, but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “Alright.”“I’m sorry.”“Don’t be,” he murmured. “I saw an opportunity and I went for it. It was rash. I’m the one who’s sorry.”“You really think I’m sick because of Jeff?” she asked shakily. “Because he uses it to control me, even from afar?”“I’ve seen it before,” he answered sympathetically. She hugged herself. The blanket was doing nothing to keep her warm when the chill was coming from the inside. She’d convinced herself that running from Jeff wou
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 45
"Get off me," Bella said hoarsely. Her voice echoed in reality, but she couldn't make the image in front of her go away. She couldn't breathe from Mr. Alderdice's weight on top of her. "Stop, it hurts..." A horrible snarl broke Bella out of the vision. Victor was holding her again, trembling with rage. He must have realized that his outburst had startled her and gathered her closer to his chest. He rocked her gently, whispering his apologies. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, baby." Bella thought he was still apologizing for his snarl and wrapped her arms around his neck to snuggle closer as the vision faded. Victor's arms chased away the dread. "It's okay. I'm not afraid of you anymore." Darian, on the other hand... Victor let out a deep, ragged breath and squeezed her even tighter. "That's enough questioning for tonight. I saw all I needed to see."Saw? "Can you keep holding me? I'm tired." Bella yawned. The sense of wonderment with ever
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 46
Bella turned to Darian, seething. "You should be ashamed of yourself," she spat. Her words staggered him for a moment. A moment was all she had to diffuse the situation if the house was going to still be standing by the time all was said and done. "You talk like you own me or something, even though all you've done since that night my whole world came undone is disappear. So you saved me in the woods. I'm grateful for that, but I've spent this past week knowing that if your friends found your body somewhere, I was going to have to live with the fact that it was my fault for the rest of my life." Tears were streaming down her face, despite her best efforts. The salt mingled with the metallic scent of Victor's blood that was so much stronger than it should have been. The scent and the sight of it on his lips was making it hard to stay focused. Darian looked like he was about to argue, so she preempted him. “Let me finish. I know it wasn't your fault that you had to
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 47
Bella tried to force the door open, but it wouldn’t budge, so she started pounding on it. “Darian! Darian!” He ignored her, and she waited for the sounds of another fight. None came, which could only mean something even worse. There was no window in that room, and she was sure that was why Darian had chosen it. Bella took out her phone and started texting Victor furiously. No reply. “Fuck!” she seethed, throwing her phone down on the bed. Her scrawny self stood no chance at breaking the door down, but she tried anyway. She finally gave up from exhaustion when she broke the chair she had tried to use as a battering ram. And then she remembered she had the Internet. Bella took out her phone, connected to the Lodge Wi-Fi, and started searching for tutorials on how to break down a locked door. The video she found suggested a screwdriver, so she searched the room and finally found one of those steel rods used for putting togethe
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 48
The days passed in a series of repeating patterns for Bella. No matter how early she woke, Darian was already gone to do whatever it was that he did in the morning. When she felt like getting up, she headed downstairs, and there were almost always a few others in the kitchen. If it was Foster, Brendan, Jason, or Clara, she had company. If it was Clarence, they sat in less than companionable but mutually understanding silence. After breakfast, Bella would usually just hang out in the lounge area. Sometimes Sandrawould come in to sneak her homework in order to help her keep afloat in her courses just in case she survived her transformation. He would ask questions about her life at the Lodge, and she could tell he didn't understand her melancholic demeanor when she was clearly "living the dream." It was hard to keep him in the dark, especially now that she knew he hadn't been the one to enter her in the contest. Mostly, he just wanted to share school gossip th
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 49
Bella tried not to turn that pain into resentment toward Darian as he came to lead her back upstairs. His hand rested on the small of her back to steady her as he took her away from the man he no longer treated as a brother but rather as a prisoner. The basement door locked behind them, and she staggered."Do you need me to carry you?""No," she said as firmly as she could without being outright rude.He sighed. "What would you like for dinner?""Nothing. I'm not hungry."He spun her around and leaned down until they were face to face. "You have to eat something. You'll be too weak to complete the transformation if you don't."She jerked her arm away. "Fine. I'll just have what Victor is having." Darian stood up straight and watched her for a moment. He seemed to be summoning his patience. Looked like she was capable of draining even Darian's near-infinite reserves."I know you're incapable of seeing this right now, but he hurt you. He deserves a hell of a lo
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 50
"The way I'm is acting? And how exactly is that, Darian?" she demanded, standing. She planted her hands firmly on her hips and stared him down, willing herself not to give in to the shiver that was creeping up her spine. "Because all I see is you acting like a fuming child who's jealous that his older brother is getting more attention."Darian's fist clenched and for an instant she feared he really was going to hit her. Instead, he turned around and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his desk drawer. His fist enveloped the carton and he stalked out of the room. Against her better judgment, Bella followed him. The one time she had followed Jeff when he had stormed out of the apartment after an argument, she had ended up with a broken jaw. After that she learned that it was better just to cower and hide. It occurred to her that she could remember that now without the familiar hum of pain in her mind. Victor's efforts were working, just not fast enough.If there
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Bella didn't care. Her fear of him was fading with every moment that passed. The moon's rays streaming through the trees were warm and encouraging. She just had to get Darian on board. "So let's go to the dungeon," Bella suggested. Her suggestion clearly took him by surprise. "Call me old-fashioned, but I don't want our first time to be in a playroom. Besides, you hate that stuff." Bella knew that telling him she'd come around to the idea of BDSM while he was gone wasn't going to help, so she tried a different tactic. She drew him in for another kiss and subtly wriggled out of his grasp just enough that she could break free.It worked. Bella darted past him and stopped to turn around, grinning at her poor, bewildered wolf. He watched her in confusion as she stepped backward down the slope of the hill the Lodge rested upon. She crooked her finger and gave him a playful look as she beckoned him. He shook his head in bewilderment, but he was grinnin
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Bella froze when she realized what she was doing and tossed the pieces in the empty bread basket to hide the evidence. “Sorry,” she murmured, blushing. “You uh, get my blood boiling.”“I can tell,” he said, blinking. He looked down at his hands. “I'm sorry. I had no idea I was that intolerable.”“But you're not,” Bella said earnestly. “You make me angrier than anyone else, but you also make me laugh more than anyone else. You push me, sometimes to the brink of sanity, but she's a better person when she's with him. He's all of those annoying things, but he's also sweet and funny and protective and so compassionate toward the other members of the pack. He's a natural-born leader, and a good one. Whenever she sees the way he is with the other wolves, the way he cares for them and puts their needs above his own without even thinking, she falls a little more in love with him.” He stared at her in shock. “You love me? And you're admitting that freely?”Bella laughed, embarrassed. T
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Bella reached across the table and rested her hand on his forearm. “You make it sound like I'm the one who's out of your league and not the other way around.” His eyebrows knit into a perplexed frown. He finally relaxed as if he'd given up trying to figure out whatever it was that was bothering him. “You are. Even aside from the fact that you're probably one of the mythological creatures our entire religion is based on, I don't deserve you. Neither does he, but I'm a big enough man to admit that Vic is a hell of a lot closer to being worthy of you than I am.” “Don't be so sure about that,” Bella said with a wry smile. “You both have your positive qualities.” “And negative ones, I'm sure.” Bella smiled wider.“Well, let's have it. Give me the side-by-side analysis,” he said, sitting back and folding his hands studiously on the table in front of him since he had already finished his meal.She laughed, but stopped abruptly when she realized he wasn't kidding. “You're
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 156
Bella reached across the table and rested her hand on his forearm. “You make it sound like I'm the one who's out of your league and not the other way around.” His eyebrows knit into a perplexed frown. He finally relaxed as if he'd given up trying to figure out whatever it was that was bothering him. “You are. Even aside from the fact that you're probably one of the mythological creatures our entire religion is based on, I don't deserve you. Neither does he, but I'm a big enough man to admit that Vic is a hell of a lot closer to being worthy of you than I am.” “Don't be so sure about that,” Bella said with a wry smile. “You both have your positive qualities.” “And negative ones, I'm sure.” Bella smiled wider.“Well, let's have it. Give me the side-by-side analysis,” he said, sitting back and folding his hands studiously on the table in front of him since he had already finished his meal.She laughed, but stopped abruptly when she realized he wasn't kidding. “You're
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 155
“Not sweet, innocent Clara,” Bella said doubtfully. “Oh, I've caught Jason coming out of her apartment once or twice.” “Jason and Clara?” Bella blanched. “But he's so... He chuckled at her reaction. “I know. Doubt he's her type, but the moon makes everyone go crazy, especially unmated fleurs. The rest of us try to stick to our subs, but what happens on a full moon stays on a full moon.”“Until now,” Bella reminded him. “You just told me.”“Hey, you didn't hear it from me.”Bella grinned mischievously. “Nope. I'm thinking now I own you.”“I don't go that way, kiddo. Not even for you,” he scoffed. “Now, if you ever decide you want a new master...”“My contract with Victor isn't exclusive. And don't try to change the subject.”“Sheesh. Okay, fine. It's probably already pretty obvious, but Brendan and Clarence don't just take care of Foster's emotional needs. They share him as a sub, but there's no relationship there otherwise. I'm pretty sure even that's tapered off since
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 154
"Are all the others out?" Bella asked, noting that the lot was almost empty. "Most of them," he said. "Clara and your dad are still around, as usual. Vic has been holed up in his office all day. Hunter and Clarence are still frolicking in the woods somewhere. Brendan was heading out with Maverick last I heard and uh, I think I saw Sarah with Jason." Anger started to boil inside Bella, but it couldn't take hold for some reason. "Oh, whatever," she muttered. "As long as she's leaving Dad alone." He glanced at her as he turned onto the road that led past campus. "That's a surprisingly zen attitude you got there." "I'm trying out a new approach to life," Bella said, admiring the heavily forested path. He shrugged. "Hey, I'm not complaining as long as you're okay.""I'm okay," Bella said. For the first time in a long time, she meant it.No one said a word for the rest of the ride. Darian took them into the city, or at least what passed for one in their little section o
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 153
A knock at the door jolted Bella awake from the most delightful nap. Despite the dull throbbing in her head, she woke feeling more refreshed and alive than she had in recent memory. “Be right there,” she called, yawning as she sat up. Her head spun a bit once she got to her feet, but it wasn't bad enough to make her stagger.On her way to the door, she noticed something strange about her room. All her stuff was there, but it looked like half of the room had been cleared out. Before the thought could trouble her too much, she remembered that Victor had probably just come for the remainder of his old things. She did have his old room, after all. Strange that he wouldn't have mentioned it, though.She shrugged it off and pulled the door open to find Darian waiting on the other side. At least, she thought it was Darian. The man before her had lightly slicked back hair, a stark contrast from his usual tousled brown locks. He wasn't wearing a suit or anything, but for Darian, a gray b
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 152
When Bella turned around, he was walking toward her calmly. She pressed herself against the door and struggled to slow her fluttering pulse as she looked around the room for escape. The window was too far to reach, and even if she did somehow manage to escape, she would only be prolonging the inevitable. Once Victor set his mind on something, no matter how horrible that something was, he got it. It briefly occurred to her that maybe that was why he was doing this. Maybe he thought his will had been strong enough to conquer her own and that removing all traces of it was the only way she would truly be free to choose. “I'm sorry, pup. I didn't want this to be a traumatic experience,” he murmured. “I was planning on waiting until tomorrow night, but it's just as well that I don't have time to talk myself out of this.” “Please don't do this,” she begged for what seemed like the hundredth time. “I don't want to forget you.” “You won't forget me,” he said softly. “J
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 151
“Of course,” Bella said, startled that he felt like he had to ask. “Well, I know you didn't like him so I just thought...” He trailed off, losing his enthusiasm for a moment. “Thank you. It would mean a lot to have you there. Victor is coming, and he said your dad would probably want to come, too.” He glanced toward the stairs. “I'll let you go; I have to find Brendan.” “He's probably still out with the others celebrating, but I know he was planning on seeing if you wanted to go out later,” Bella said carefully. “Oh, darn. I wanted to invite him, but I'll just have to wait until later. Bye, Bella!” he waved, already halfway down the hall. “Bye, Mav.” Bella waved back, mystified. Barely recovered from the macabre interaction, she knocked on Victor's office door and waited for permission before she entered. “Aren't you supposed to be with him?” was his immediate response. “Hi to you, too,” Bella muttered, walking over to his desk.He gave her an apologetic sm
The Hybrid Mate Chapter 150
“I'm fine,” Bella lied, brushing past her. She grabbed Bella's arm before she could head up the stairs. “You're a terrible liar,” she said, sounding a bit disappointed. “You get that from your father, obviously. Tell me what's wrong, maybe I can help.” “I went out to watch the others shift,” Bella said, leaning on the railing. “Now there's an all-American pastime,” she said, casting a lustful glance in the direction of the forest. “Honey, trust me, if your boy toys are upset about you sneaking a little peek at the competition, they probably don't have the equipment for the job in the first place.” “That's not it!” Bella snapped. “And they both have plenty of equipment for the—they're both well equipped, okay?” Bella stammered. “That's not what this is about.” “No?” She blinked. “Then what?” “I left the Lodge by myself. Months ago, Victor put a mental block up that would keep me from leaving the Lodge without permission,” Bella said. “It was our trade
