All Chapters of The Hybrid Mate : Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

Victor and Bella sat in uninterrupted silence while they waited for the others in Ulric's study. Bella's anger over the vampire situation was beginning to take a backseat to concern for Ulric and Brendan. They had both been gone less than an hour, but even a minute outside the artificial safety of the Lodge walls seemed like too much of a risk. “I'm going to wait downstairs,” Bella said, running to the door before he could forbid her from that, too. Victor's footsteps followed close behind her, but no command was issued. Bella took up her post leaning against the front desk, waiting for the front door to open and hoping desperately for it to be one or both of them. Everyone else should have been inside after Ulric's mandatory curfew. Victor sat in one of the big leather armchairs by the fire and already appeared deep in thought. Bella watched the door for a while longer, and the next time she looked in his general direction, he was staring at her. Gazing, really.

Bella stifled a scream at the sound of Hunter's voice. He was leaning on the hood of the truck, arms crossed and smirking. She glanced behind him to make sure no one else had followed. “Relax, you practically invented sneaking out after curfew. I'm not here to snitch, but I do want in.”“Just get in,” Bella hissed.He opened the driver's side door, chucked Darian's suitcase into the bed of the truck, and climbed inside. “So are we going to clean up that douche's body or to find your friend?”“To find my friend. Or both. I haven't thought that far ahead, but you were eavesdropping?”“Well, yeah. I just got here, how else am I supposed to know what's going on?” he snorted. “We can talk on the way, let's just get out of the lot before her entourage gets wind of her great escape.”Bella took his advice and pulled onto the grass to pick up the driveway at a later point that wasn't quite as visible. The hill was rough, but Darian's old truck handled it like a champ. Maybe it was

“In Sandra's desk,” Bella said sadly.“This is a hunter's ring,” said Ulric. He passed it back to Hunter. “Do you know which branch of the Family it belongs to?”Hunter took the ring and examined it closely. “It's from the Burns line, definitely. Second-oldest after the Winters line.”“Burns?” Bella's stomach flipped. “That's the last name of the man I killed at the rest stop. That has to be a coincidence, right?” She asked, looking to Hunter.He shook his head somberly. “Remember what I told you the other night, Bella. When it comes to the Family—”“There are no coincidences,” Bella finished for him, collapsing back in the chair.“I also found this,” said Hunter, unzipping his jacket to reveal the scarlet book. It really looked more like a journal now that Bella was looking at it closely. He undid a bronze latch that was keeping the leather cover in place. There was no title that she could see, and the first few pages appeared blank save for a rather long handwritten dedi

“Close the door and have a seat,” said Victor. Bella did as he said, taking the only seat available in front of his desk. “Victor, I'm so sor—”He held his hand up to silence her. “I don't blame you, I blame myself. My love for you has made me complacent and oblivious to your more self-destructive tendencies. I acted carelessly tonight in assuming that you would choose to obey me rather than go after your friend. In the future, I won't be so careless— or so lenient.” Bella listened quietly as he spoke, unable to look him in the eye. He seemed to pause in expectation of an interruption that wasn't going to happen. “Ulric has called to have alarms installed around the entire perimeter of the Lodge. Even if I'm not here, someone will be close enough to grab you if you manage to slip out. The code will change randomly throughout the day, so even if you compel someone to give it to you, it won't remain the same for long. When you're not being escorted direc

He rested his fingertips against his temples, and Bella closed her eyes as she felt him slipping in. The invasion was far more intimate and forceful than anything he had done to her body, and she resisted it instinctively as fury overtook her on the brink of orgasm. She could feel him shifting past her carefully constructed walls, and her power wanted him out, even if her conscious decision was to give him control. A low growl she'd never heard before escaped her throat, and for a moment, she wanted nothing more than to rip into the nearest person's throat. Rage was making it impossible to remember that she happened to love the only two people who were close. “Should you stop?” Brendan's voice was worried. It sounded distant, like it was coming from another room. “No, it's fine. This is what happens when you use force to break past a vampire's defenses. Bella!” Victor's voice called her back to herself, at least partially. His hands hovered over either side of her head, and his thu