THE HYBRID QUEEN AWAKENING

Zara's POV

Athdal Haven, Home of Wolves

Werewolves and vampires have hated each other for hundreds of years, but for a pack like mine that shares a border with the most dangerous vampire tribe, living here felt like being stuck in a nightmare every damned day.

But we hadn’t been attacked in ten years. Not one time. Not until now, apparently, because the universe has a fucked up sense of humor.

So when Karin and Zero dragged someone into the packhouse, with blood all over his stomach and neck, my stomach dropped hard because I knew exactly what that meant.

These fucking bloodsuckers crossed the line.

"...please... a healer"

Karin’s voice was so quiet I almost missed it, but it was enough to make everyone’s jaws lock and their hands turn into fists. The whole room changed in that second. Everybody knew what a vampire bite does to one of us, but no one wanted to say it first.

Rhida stood up slowly, with that old-person bend in her back that she acts like isn’t there, and she started walking toward them. She stopped halfway just to look over her shoulder at me.

“Zara, are you coming?”

“Oh yes, I am.” The words left my mouth before I could even think about them. I follow Rhida everywhere these days because learning to heal is pretty much my whole job now, since everyone keeps calling me the last Liphra with the healing gift.

What makes it worse is my weird green eyes that nobody can explain, and I know how the eye colors work around here. Dad has red Alpha eyes, Rhida has yellow ones, and Omegas have blue, so everyone fits somewhere except me.

I got close to the bed and my heart did this horrible drop because it was Dain lying there. He’s one of our best fighters who never loses a fight, and damn he looked like death.

Vampire bite marks were torn into his neck, black blood was leaking out while these black lines were moving under his skin like spiders, and they were spreading fast, and I was supposed to be the girl who fixes this kind of thing. What a fucking joke.

His whole body was shaking while his face turned that wrong kind of pale that tells you death is already standing in the room, because a vampire bite kills wolves unless a healer can force the poison out.

Rhida was already working on him with her eyes closed and her hands pressed hard on his wounds while she pushed her power into him, trying to shove the poison back out.

“Ahh, ahhhh,” Dain screamed.

God. I felt that sound hit my spine because I have never seen it this bad before. Maybe when I was a kid, but we don’t run into vampires anymore. They stay on their side and we stay on ours. That was the deal, or at least it used to be the deal.

“What happened to him?” My father’s voice cut through the noise from the back of the room. He was moving fast. I have never seen him look this shaken before, and that scared me more than all the blood.

“We found him half dead by the west border,” Zero said, pushing a pillow under Dain’s head. He didn’t leave Dain’s side for even a second.

Dad touched Rhida’s shoulder gently, then turned toward Karin. “Did he cross the border?” His voice got louder.

“We don’t know, sir... we didn’t smell any vampire scent out there.”

“But this is a vampire’s bite mark, Karin.” He growled the words out.

“I swear it, Alpha. I don’t know what happened.”

Zero kept his hand on Dain’s forehead. “He’s burning up.”

“How much time does he have left?” Dad’s voice cracked when he asked, and hearing that sound almost broke me more than seeing Dain like this.

“Not long,” Rhida said. Her voice was quiet.

“Is he going to make it?” I asked, even though it was a stupid question because I could already see the answer on Rhida’s face.

“Please save him,” Dad said.

Rhida looked at him for a moment. “I’ll try my best.”

“I think I smelled wolfsbane, I remember it now,” Zero said, putting Dain’s hand down on the bed. He walked over to Dad.

“Me too,” Karin added.

“That’s not supposed to be in wolf territory. Only in the lab. The concave lab,” Dad growled. “Those damn bloodsucking demons. They broke the rules, and they will pay for it.” His hands were closed so tight that his knuckles turned white.

“Smell alone doesn’t prove anything,” Kain said, walking in through the front door. His voice was hard and sure, and my stomach did that stupid flip that it always does when he shows up, and my face got hot even though I hate that it still happens after all these years. Of course he would walk in right now.

I have been promised to him since I was a kid because our dads are friends, and marrying him will tie the packs together even stronger. Two days. We’re supposed to get married in two days, right when mating season starts. Everything would be official then. Fate has a shitty way of choosing its timing. But not now... someone was dying.

Everybody bowed when he walked in. He gets that kind of respect for being the future son-in-law of the Alpha king, and I get this crazy reaction from my own body every time he’s close to me.

“How is he?” Kain asked.

“Not good,” I said. My voice came out smaller than I wanted it to.

“Father, I came the moment we heard the west side was hit. And on our way from the north, I caught the smell of wolfsbane,” he said.

“Wolfsbane?” Karin asked.

“Yes... I think there is something bigger going on. If it’s the vampires, then we need to understand why they attacked, and we also have to find the wolfsbane and who brought it into wolf territory,” Kain said.

“Are you saying that we have a traitor here with us?” Zero asked.

“Yes,” Kain said. He didn’t hesitate at all.

“Call the seven elders immediately. We are having a meeting in the morning,” Dad said. His eyes were bright with anger.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh,” Dain screamed. The sound tore through the whole room, and everybody looked back. I did too.

“What’s happening?” Father demanded. I could hear the panic in his voice now.

“The poison has reached his heart. I’m trying everything I can, but nothing is working,” Rhida said, her voice soft.

“Please... don’t let him die,” Zero’s voice broke when he said it.

“I need you, Zara. You need to focus your power so that we can help him,” Rhida said.

My heart was beating so hard against my ribs that it hurt. My hands wouldn’t move. I couldn’t do this and I don’t know how anyone thinks I can control something I don’t even understand. Healer!! Right!! What a fucking joke.

“Now, Zara,” Rhida shouted. The room felt tight after she said it. Everybody felt the pressure.

“But I...”

“Now Zara.” She snapped the words. “Don’t think... feel it.”

“Zara... focus,” Kain said, his voice was low. He put his hand on my shoulder. It felt steady. “You can do this.”

Easy for him to say. My wolf slammed around inside me, so hard that I dropped down next to Rhida and put my hands over hers because my body moved before my brain could say no.

“Focus, Zara,” she cried out.

My wolf pushed deeper. I felt something strange moving through my veins, hot and wrong, and I didn’t realize I was screaming until I heard the sound myself.

“Zara!” Dad and Kain called out at the same time.

My wolf hit my ribs like she wanted to break out right now, clawing and desperate. She always thinks she can fix the things I can’t.

Dain’s body jerked hard while his back bent off the bed and those black lines pulsed stronger than before, and my breath caught in my throat when I choked out, “Rhida... it’s fighting back.”

“Hold it...” She shouted. “Don’t let go.”

My wolf roared inside me while I pushed harder, and for one second, just one second, the black lines actually pulled back.

“It’s working!” I yelled. Hope makes you stupid, and I am so tired of being stupid.

His eyes flew open. All white. Completely white. The poison came back faster and the black lines covered him completely this time.

“No... No...” I cried, pushing harder even though my whole body hurt and my wolf was howling and it still wasn’t enough. Because it’s never enough.

Dain shook one last time before he went completely still, and the quiet that came after was the bad kind that means everything is over.

Rhida looked away while she put her hands in her lap, but mine were still on Dain and still pushing and still hoping he would take a breath or move or do something, because if I stop then it means he’s really gone.

“He’s gone, Zara...” Rhida said quietly.

“No...” I whispered. Then I yelled it. “No!” But I did not move my hands away, because pulling them back means I have to admit it.

Tears ran down my cheeks and they were hot. I didn’t even try to hide them.

“Stop, dear,” Dad’s voice said. But I could not stop because I physically could not make myself do it.

Arms came around me from behind and pulled me back gently. I knew it was Kain without even looking because my body knows him even when my brain is screaming at me.

I did not fight him, I just buried my face in his chest and screamed loud because the whole room felt heavy with sadness since this was the first wolf we lost in ten years, and I am the healer who couldn’t heal him.

My chest was burning when I finally pulled out of Kain’s arms and stood up and walked over to Dad, who was sitting there with his hands covering his face.

And that was when it hit me, hard and sharp, because I caught the smell of wolfsbane right there in the room with us.

I knew in that moment that the traitor was here and had been standing with us the whole time while Dain died, and my wolf went completely quiet for the first time tonight because now we had a target.