All Chapters of The Hybrid's Hope: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

106 Chapters

Chapter 20: Hiding her Fear

HopeAfter getting off the phone with Levi, I get ready for bed. My room is next to Tanya’s with an adjoining door, so if I need access to her quickly, I can get to her without any delay. After everything that I did today to prove that I am the real deal, I think Mr. Russell is finally accepting that I can and will keep his daughter safe.I’ve just gotten into bed when there’s a knock on the adjoining door.“Come in?” I say, surprised that someone is knocking at this hour.Tanya opens the door and steps in. “Hey, I just wanted to make sure that you were settled in okay,” she says.Since I can smell her fear, I know that’s not why she’s here.“I am. Why don’t you come sit and tell me a little bit more about what you do and what I’ll be expected to do this month. You bought me a bunch of dresses that I’ll never wear again after this month,” I say tapping the bed.She smiles and practically skips over to the bed. I sit up, making room for her.“We can talk about that, but honestly, I’d ra

Chapter 21: Meeting Erika Edwards

LeviBeing able to sleep in Hope’s apartment, being surrounded by her scent, helps me to sleep. But every other minute of my day is either work or frustration.Work is good, but it’s security. If nothing is happening, it’s beyond boring. The frustration comes from trying to locate Hope’s father. Once I realized that there were no polar bear shifters in the Holstin Enterprises database, I searched for places in the world where polar bears live. Just like wolf packs prefer to live in the forests rather than cities, I assumed the polar bear shifters would live where their animals prefer to live. For polar bears though, that’s in the arctic, places like Canada, Greenland, Norway, Alaska, and Russia. Those places are extremely rural and it’s difficult to find anything about missing persons. I don’t know if that’s because those areas are primarily made up of shifters and they don’t necessarily go ‘missing’, they just get killed, or if it’s something else.After spending another evening searc

Chapter 22: Concert Plans

HopeThe next few days are a whirlwind of activity. Tanya has a live performance at a nationally televised concert on Saturday night. The event is huge and will take place in New York and Los Angeles simutaneously. Because she’s so famous, she’s a headliner. But because of her stalker, they aren’t announcing which city she'll be performing in, which is New York.I don’t have time to talk to Levi or my mother the rest of the week. Between going with Tanya to rehearsals and meeting with the security team to make sure our security is as tight as possible, especially while she’s exposed in public, it's been very late every night and I've just fallen into bed to sleep.Today, I'm with the security team making final arrangements for our trip.“We’ll be surrounding the stage, making sure no one gets past the general security,” Matthew says to the team. He’s got a map of the stage and he goes around, pointing to each spot where he wants someone standing.“What about me?” I ask.“You’re going t

Chapter 23: Major Slip-Up

LeviI was really glad to speak to Hope when I did. Every time I see her, she looks even more relaxed. I can tell that she and Tanya are getting really close, really fast. Just the fact that Tanya suggested calling me to tease Hope about being her ‘friend with benefits’ says a lot.After watching my girl blush when I explained what ‘friends with benefits’ means and getting Tanya’s promise to send pictures of the two of them dressed up this weekend, I spent time listening to Hope tell me all about their plans and the preparations they’ve been making for this weekend.“This is a prime opportunity for this guy to make an appearance. You need to be on alert, Hope.”“Yeah. I’m not worried, since I’ll be the one backstage during the concert and she and I are sharing a room in the penthouse suite. I’ve never been to New York, have you?”“The state, yes. The city, no. But it’s not like our city here, Hope. There will be millions of people in that city, and they may only allow a certain number

Chapter 24: Change of Plans

HopeFriday night in New York started out as planned. We arrived and got to our rooms without incident. Matthew asked me to check in with him each time we were in public to see if I smelled the stalker. He shouldn’t know we’re here, but he has a fifty/fifty chance at guessing the city.By the time we left the hotel for dinner, the paparazzi had arrived. I walked with Tanya to our car, letting Matthew know I didn’t smell the stalker before getting in.Tanya took pictures of us in the hotel room after we got ready and in the limo on the way to the restaurant, creating a group chat between me, her, and Levi.‘Beautiful ladies,’ Levi responded, making me smile.When we arrived at the restaurant, the paparazzi hadn’t arrived yet. However, when we walked through the restaurant to get to our private room to eat, people began calling out to Tanya, snapping pictures, and waving. She waved back and smiled while security kept everyone from coming up to her. Dinner started out fine and the food wa

Chapter 25: Interview with a Vampire

Hope“A vampire? How do you know?” Tanya asks.“I can smell him. His scent burns my nose, like bleach.”“And you smell like a wet dog, but with something else mixed in. What kind of mutt are you?” the vampire asks, making me growl. From behind him, Matthew raises his gun.“Don’t Matthew. He could kill all five of you before you could blink,” I say, not taking my eyes off the vampire.“Now why would I do that? It’s bad for business, but I can’t have you shooting a gun inside my establishment either,” he says and, in a move too fast for even me to see, he disarms all five security guards before coming to stand in front of me.I wrap a protective arm around Tanya, holding her body against my back in case I need to move quickly. Matthew takes a step forward, but I hold up a hand to stop him, staying focused on Vasile.“What do you want?” I growl.“To meet Erika Edwards. After all, I am the reason this suite became available on such short notice. I had to kick my friends out for her. They

Chapter 26: Paparazzi

LeviThe alerts on my phone started going off so frequently that it sounded like an alarm. Eventually, I just muted my phone. Erika Edwards, and by association, Hope, were all over the fucking internet.I stayed up late looking at images of Erika and Hope. Of course the one that is getting the most attention is the one where Tanya is kissing Hope. Given the look of surprise on Hope’s face, I know that was unexpected. Even in the pictures, I can see how drunk Tanya is, but the internet is blazing about the possibility of Erika Edwards having a girlfriend.My phone pings with a text.Faith: Um, did you see that picture?Me: There are thousands of them going around, Faith. Which one are you referring to?Faith: You know which one. Or if you don’t, then ignore my question.Me: I’m sure it’s not what it looks like.Faith: IKR! That is exactly what I thought. Don’t be mad at her, okay? She really does love you, Levi.Me: I’m not mad at her.And I’m not. I’m irritated that everyone is now foc

Chapter 27: Regret

HopeThe morning after the big party, Tanya woke up with a hell of a hangover.“Ugh, what happened?” she asks with her arm thrown over her eyes.“You got drunk,” I say.I’m pissed off. Not at her, but at her father and all the social media bullshit that I couldn’t stop myself from looking at after I talked to Levi.She must hear the aggravation in my voice because she lowers her arm and looks at me. “Did I do something to upset you?”“No. Your father is probably going to let you have it this morning because you apparently posted that you were New York on one of your social media accounts.”“Oh, fuck me! I did?”“Yep,” I say, getting up and walking to the bathroom.“Hope, wait. Why do you sound so angry?”“Because apparently, your father seems to think that I’m your social media manager as well as your bodyguard. He blasted me when we got in last night.”“What?” she asks, shooting up out of bed and immediately groaning while putting a hand to her head. “I don’t remember. What happened?”

Chapter 28: Attack

HopeThe moment she walks on stage, the crowd erupts. A part of me wishes I was just here to enjoy her music. I really do love her songs, and she’s singing two of my favorites in her set.While she’s on stage, I mouth the words along with her, bouncing to the music, while still watching the crowd and sniffing the air. During her fifteen minutes on stage, I make contact with Matthew three times, shaking my head that I don’t smell the stalker.When she walks off the stage, her fans are screaming for her.“Erika, I love you!”“Erika, marry me!”“All good,” she says, walking up to me and pulling me into a hug. “Thank you for being here. I felt safer with you here,” she says.“I’ll keep you safe,” I say.“Duh, I just said that,” she says, grinning at me.As we walk back, she looks at me. “So, which was your favorite of the songs I sang tonight?”“I already told you that I liked two of them,” I say, still watching the area around us and sniffing the air.“Yeah, but now that you’ve heard them

Chapter 29: A Guardian's Healing Touch

LeviAs soon as Tanya called me, I told her to put me on speakerphone.“Hope, can you hear me?” I ask, getting dressed quickly. My mate needs me.When Tanya tells me it’s Qadira, I already know there’s a problem. Qadira would have shifted back if she could.“I’m coming, baby. Hang on.”“Levi, I think she passed out,” Tanya says, her voice filled with the panic I’m feeling.“Keep the knife he used to stab her, Tanya. It shouldn’t have caused her to pass out.”“It’s a really big knife, Levi,” she says.“It’s a dagger with a blade about eight inches long,” I hear a man’s voice say.“Who is that?” I ask.“My dad,” Tanya says.“Mr. Russell, what happened?”“This fucker somehow got up here and killed two of my security guards before stabbing Hope.”“Tanya, put the phone up to Qadira’s face near her mouth,” I say.When she does, Qadira's breaths are making a wet, rattling sound. Shit, he punctured a lung.“Tanya is there blood coming out of her mouth?” I ask, grabbing my keys and racing down

1 2 3 4 5 6

...

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP