All Chapters of The Hybrid Huntress: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Raven I can’t stop staring at the clock in my room. Ten minutes until midnight. Ten minutes until my tenth birthday, and I finally get my wolf. I’ve been waiting for this day for as long as I can remember, and now that it’s here, it almost doesn’t feel real. My eyelids feel heavier by the minute, but I’m determined to stay awake. I’ve only got two minutes left now. I push myself off my bed and head into the bathroom next to my room, closing the door as quietly as I can before turning the light on. The brightness makes me squint at first, but I step over to the sink anyway, letting the cold water run for a moment before splashing it onto my face. The chill helps, pulling me back into focus just enough to get through the last few minutes. As I pat my face dry, I hear a small creak outside the door, and my feet move on their own as I step closer to listen. I pause there, waiting for another sound, but nothing follows. There are no footsteps, no voices, just silence. After a mome

RionI don’t move right away after Raven leaves the room.No one speaks at first. Avery keeps his attention upstairs on the hallway, watching as Raven disappears before turning back, and Harold lets out a slow, deep breath that he’s likely been holding in since we arrived. Sylvia moves to sit beside him, her posture breaking slightly as she moves her hand to hold Harold’s. She quickly laces their fingers together, though she keeps one hand loosely curled in her lap.“You handled that well,” Avery says.“She didn’t need to feel more overwhelmed than she already does,” Sylvia replies. “We’re not putting that on her yet.”Avery nods, then looks to me. “You weren’t very open about what her training would look like. She needs to be prepared. She will be disappointed that she won’t be training with others for a while.”“I may not have been very open, but I didn’t see the need to outline everything right now,” I say.“That’s not what we discussed.”I wait a moment before answering. “I could

Raven (15 years old) The snow had been coming down since early morning, steady enough that everything looked different by the time the sun came up.By now, the paths running through the pack lands have been packed down from people walking them all day, the fresh layer pushed off to the sides where it softened everything instead of covering it.I tug my hoodie sleeves down over my hands as I walk, my breath fogging faintly in front of me.Jax is a few steps ahead, dragging his feet through the snow as he goes, kicking it up in uneven lines like he’s trying to leave something behind him on purpose. He’s still taller than me by enough that I have to tilt my head when he’s next to me. He looks back, his dark hair falling forward a little as he moves. Now that we’re in high school he maintains the longer hair. It’s still got that shaggy look, but it doesn’t stick up in the back anymore. Now it just looks purposeful. I think it suits him. ‘It suits him?’ Callie snickers in my mind. ‘Yes

JaxI can feel the top of her lip brushing against mine, closer than we’ve ever been before. I haven’t felt her arms tighten around me, and my hands are still grasping her hips, but our bodies feel closer. I feel the edge of my bottom lip graze hers. Our breathing still uneven, and I don’t want to move. Too afraid of what eliminating the last sliver of space between us will do. I feel something tingling in my mind. It’s the mind link. I forgot I had closed it when I left my house earlier. I hold my body as still as I can and try to feel who’s reaching for my connection. I’m shocked to feel Raven in my head. ‘I don’t know what to do.’ Her voice is quiet, even in the link. This time, I’m not sure how, I can tell it’s not so much from fear, it’s her inexperience. As close as we are, we both know that the other has never dated anyone. With more confidence than I feel, I don’t hesitate when I respond, ‘Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter to me.’And before I even finish speaking in the lin

RionThe training field settles into rhythm around me as the gamma moves through the defensive sequence, demonstrating each step with the kind of precision that leaves no room for interpretation. His voice carries evenly across the clearing, not raised, but firm enough that no one misses the instruction as he shifts from one position to the next.I remain where I am at the edge of the field, my attention moving with the flow of the drill rather than fixing on any one point. The structure of it is familiar, built on controlled responses and measured transitions, but it’s the way each of them moves within it that holds my focus.When I first started training Raven, everything was effort. Every sequence had to be repeated, broken down, reinforced until it held. Now the same movements carry through her without that same resistance, like the space between understanding and action has narrowed into something more instinctive.It’s consistent. Until it isn’t. There’s something that’s there,