The Omega Hybrid

by J. L. Wilder

  Once inside, she began to look around for the keys. But after several minutes of searching in the most obvious places, Echo turned up nothing.

  Then it hit her.

  Shit, she thought. He keeps the keys in his jean pockets.

  Echo realized that to get the keys, she'd have to go upstairs and risk waking Stone. But she knew there was no other way.

  Carefully, she went up the tall staircase to the second floor of the house. Once at the top, loud snoring carried down the hallway—a sign that Stone was still passed out.

  Echo hurried down the hallway, stopping at the open bedroom door. After taking a breath, she stuck her head inside to see that Stone was out cold, his mouth open. And to her relief, he'd taken off his jeans during the night and tossed them to the other side of the room.

  She walked on her tiptoes as she made her way over to the jeans. As soon as he reached them and slipped her hand into the pocket, Stone let out a loud, sharp snore that nearly made Echo drop the jeans.

  Then she found them. Just as she'd hoped, the keys were in the pocket. Once Echo had them in hand she hurried out of the room and back down the stairs.

  Moments later she was out of the house and making her way towards the motorcycles. Stone's was the biggest—something he made sure of—and Echo had no trouble finding it among the long line of chrome and leather.

  She hopped onto the seat, her heart pounding. Echo had only ridden a motorcycle once before in her life and she barely managed it. But she knew she had no other choice. After putting the key into the ignition, she gunned the engine.

  The roar of the bike ripped through the quiet morning air, and her eyes went wide as she realized that there was a good chance, she'd just woken someone up.

  But there was no time to think about that. Echo pointed the bike towards the road and gunned the engine again, the powerful vehicle bursting out of its parking space and flying towards the forest. It took all the skill Echo had to stay on the road as the trees turned into a wild blur all around her.

  Oh shit, oh shit, she thought.

  She managed to hold on for several minutes, using her shifter hybrid reflexes to stay on the path and keep moving ahead. Before too long, Echo had put considerable distance between her and the bear camp.

  I'm doing it, she thought, unable to believe that she'd really made her escape. I'm actually breaking free.

  But she knew she was far from safe. If one of the bears had awoken to the sound of the engine revving that'd be all it would take to have the camp up and after her. Her blood went cold at the idea of the entire Hearteater clan chasing her through the woods. Echo didn't even want to think about what Stone would do if he were to catch her.

  She kept on driving, no destination in mind.

  Okay, she thought. If I keep going southeast, I'll eventually hit Montreal. But what the hell would I even do once I got there? I've got no money, no ID, nothing but this bike and the clothes on my back.

  She shook her head, trying to focus on the task at hand.

  Just keep driving, she thought. Just get as far away from Stone and the rest as possible. That's all that matters.

  Echo revved the engine and picked up speed, more and more light pouring through the leaves and branches above as the sun rose higher and higher. She knew that the first members of the clan would be getting up soon, and it wouldn't take long for them to realize their omega was missing.

  She gunned the engine harder, the bike roaring as she cut through the woods. All she could think about was getting away, never letting the Hearteaters find her.

  Her mind was so focused on this, in fact, that she missed something on the road ahead of her. It was a small shape, an animal, its body shrouded in shadows from the trees. By the time Echo noticed the animal on the road it was too late to react. She pulled the bike hard to the right, the tires kicking up dust as it toppled over.

  The last thing she remembered before she went out cold was the sight of the animal—a wolf, its eyes an amber so striking they seemed to glow like tiny suns.

  WHEN ECHO AWOKE THE sun was directly above her, the bright light warming her face. She shot up and looked around to see that she'd crashed on the side of the road, the bike a smoking heap nearby.

  "Shit," she said as she sat up and looked herself over.

  Like when she'd suffered the beating from the girls, Echo's body ached and her clothes were torn, but aside from a few scrapes and bruises, there was nothing on her body to suggest that she'd been in as bad an accident as she had been.

  The bike was a mess, the frame crumpled on one side and a tire flat. Nearby was a tree with the bark stripped off one side—the place that Echo realized she'd slammed the bike into.

  I should be dead right now, she thought as she surveyed the damage. If I weren't a hybrid...

  She didn't even want to think about it.

  Need to focus on the here and now, she thought. And the "here" is the middle of the woods, and the "now" is an hour or two, at most, ahead of the clan.

  Panic gripped her as she realized she'd lost precious time being knocked out cold. The men of the pack had been drinking hard last night and would likely sleep their morning away, but they'd almost certainly be up by noon.

  And once they realized Echo was gone, they'd scour the woods looking for her. She knew that despite how much distance she'd covered it'd only be a matter of time before they found her. Especially with her only mode of transportation wrecked.

  No sense standing around, she thought. Got to move. Got to stay off the road.

  Echo looked up at the sun and let out a sigh of frustration as she realized it was directly above her and wouldn't do any good in making her way in the right direction.

  Can't wait any longer, she thought. Time to move.

  Echo closed her eyes and shifted, her senses coming to life in her hybrid form. She sniffed the air, trying to detect any sign of civilization that could steer her in the right direction. But nothing. She turned her body towards the right and started off.

  She ran as fast as she could through the woods, but it wasn't long before her muscles began to ache, and her stomach rumbled hard. Her hybrid form provided many benefits, but it also had an extremely high food requirement. After an hour or so of running she realized that she was either going to need to hunt or go back to her human form.

  Then she heard it. A rev through the woods—the unmistakable sound of a motorcycle engine. Fear ran through Echo as she realized that the Hearteaters were up and after her.

  Can't shift back, she thought. Have to move.

  She ran hard and fast, pushing herself as far as her body would allow. But after a time, her muscles simply gave up, demanding rest and food.

  Another rev sounded as she shifted back to her human form.

  She was cold and barely dressed and starving. On top of that, she was lost. Echo kept on moving, her legs feeling like they were going to give out from under her at any moment.

  More time passed, her legs now screaming underneath her for rest.

  Echo thought back to her mother, remembering the story of how she'd been found wandering through the woods, scared and alone when the Hearteaters found her. History seemed to be replaying itself, but Echo feared that this time the ending would be her found by the Hearteaters once more, this time to be punished.

  She was tired, so tired she could hardly think straight. Echo realized that she'd pushed herself too far too fast—her body wasn't used to such exertion, and her animal was crying out for food, raw and red.

  But she didn't have the energy to hunt. She barely had the energy to walk. Echo came to a stop under the shade of a nearby tree and collapsed into a heap. Her last thoughts before she passed out were of her mother, wondering if she'd risked it all for nothing.

  CHAPTER 7

  JACK

  Jack Rayne couldn't believe what he was seeing. Lying in the grass, her long, slender limbs stretched out around her, was possibly the most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen in his life.
/>   No, she wasn't just gorgeous, he considered. She was as fucking hot as hell. So hot, he found himself getting hard right there in the middle of the woods. He'd come out to hunt, but he'd found a different sort of catch than he'd been looking for.

  "Hey," he said, standing over her body and trying to get her attention. "You Okay?"

  She didn't respond. Jack squatted down at her side and took a long look at her.

  The girl was slender but shapely, her body clad in tattered jeans and a simple t-shirt, the sneakers on her feet more suitable for running to the grocery store than venturing through the woods.

  Her body was killer—Jack knew there was no sense in denying that. Her tits strained against her shirt; her curves poured into her jeans. Her hair was curly and dark as India ink, her heart-shaped faced adorned with a slender, upturned nose and Cupid's-bow lips.

  "And why the fuck are you in the middle of the damned woods?" he asked himself, shaking his head. "Asleep like a baby?"

  It was too bizarre to think about. And what was even more shocking was the fact that the scent of a shifter was heavy on her—it had been what led him to her.

  Jack knew there was no sense in trying to puzzle it out right then and there. She was alive but sleeping like that in the forest would be an easy way to get exposure.

  "Come on, kid," he said as he squatted down at her side and slipped his arm under her body. "Time to move."

  He lifted her effortlessly, his inner wolf giving him more than enough strength to heave her over his shoulder and start off into the woods.

  "Now," he said, his boots pressing hard against the forest ground with the extra weight of the girl. "Where the hell were you running off too, little one?"

  Jack's stomach growled as he thought about the food waiting for him back at the cave. He'd gone pretty damn far out of his way to track down the scent of the girl, and he was missing the meal he'd put off.

  "Need to get back," he said. "Make a fire, cook some meat. Hope you're a better conversationalist by then."

  Jack continued on. But before he went too far, a strange sound cut through the woods, a noise that sounded like some kind of engine.

  "What the hell was that?" he asked, cocking his ear and listening for the noise. "Fucking loggers?"

  He knew it was the wrong answer the moment the words left his mouth. No loggers would be out in this part of the woods. And even if they had been, he would've noticed them by that point.

  Another rev sounded, this one seeming closer.

  "Friends of yours?" he asked.

  The girl said nothing in response, still out cold.

  "Don't tell me you're some kind of fugitive or something. I swear, the last thing I need is to get caught up in someone else's bullshit."

  Wouldn't be the first time that happened, he thought.

  Jack picked up his pace, retracing his steps to the cave. After a half-hour or so of walking, he spotted the dark opening to the Cliffside cave where he'd spent the previous night. His back ached and his shoulder was sore from carrying the girl.

  But more than that, carrying her had been...distracting. Her body was soft and curvaceous, her hair like silk as it hung down his back. His inner animal cried out, demanding that he wake the girl and mate with her as fast as possible.

  "God, shut up," he said, talking to himself. "Bigger things to worry about than my cock right now."

  Then he laughed.

  "Not too many bigger things, though."

  The air had warmed over the course of the day, and by the time he reached the interior of the cave the cool air inside was about the sweetest relief he could imagine. He set the girl down, propping her head up on a wadded-up coat of his. Once he had her down, Jack let out a cry of relief, his deep voice carrying through the cave.

  As soon as his muscles had recovered, he glanced over at the small crook in the cave wall, covered with stone. He opened it up to reveal a hidden store of meat, freshly killed the previous night. It was almost too much for him to eat, and part of him was grateful for a guest to share it with—it'd go bad anyway just sitting there, he considered.

  It was warm out then, but Jack knew that once the sun set the chill would return. The position of the sun suggested that it was getting into the middle of the evening—perfect time to start a fire.

  He got to it, setting up the fire pit and venturing out of the cave to pick up some decent wood. Once it was in hand, he piled it in the middle of the circle of stones and ignited it with his flint. After doing a little blowing on the smoldering sticks, the fire was soon roaring, his and the girl's shadows dancing on the cave walls.

  "Alright, little one," he said, turning his attention back to the girl. "Hope you're not planning on spending the rest of the day sleeping. I need some answers."

  Jack expected nothing in response, but to his surprise the girl moved over onto her side and stretched out her legs.

  "Whoa," he said. "You there?"

  The girl moved again, and Jack kept his eyes on her.

  "Speak up," he said, hoping it would encourage her to come back to the world of the living.

  "Where...," she said.

  Jack sat up, his eyes going wide. He watched the girl move around a little more, slowly waking up.

  "Where...am I..."

  The girl stretched her limbs, getting up and leaning back against the side of the cave. Her eyes were still closed, and she struck Jack almost as to be sleepwalking.

  "Hey," he said. "Come on."

  Then she opened her eyes. Jack noticed right away that they were dark and rich, a perfect match to her hair. And now that she was finally awake, he could see for certain just how beautiful she was.

  Jack couldn't believe it—she was gorgeous, like a runway model he'd found in the middle of the woods. Nothing about it made sense, but he was determined to find out.

  Before he could speak even a word, however, the girl's dark eyes went wide and she let out a piercing scream.

  Jack's hands shot to his ears. The girl had a set of lungs on her, and he felt instantly like his eardrums were about to burst. The girl scrambled to her feet and started to run towards the cave entrance. But Jack knew her running out into the middle of the woods was about the dumbest thing she could do. He shot up and dove towards her, wrapping his arms around her hips and holding her in place.

  "Get the hell off me!" she shouted.

  "Sit down!" he shouted. "I'm here to help!"

  She struggled more, and Jack was surprised by just how much strength the girl was capable of. He could tell that she was a shifter, but there was something else to her, something even more strange and powerful than that.

  It took all Jack had to wrestle her to the ground. And once he had her pinned, her wide eyes locked onto his, Jack felt his cock shift down below. All his animal could think about was the fact that there was a beautiful young shifter pressed underneath him. The urge to rut arrived hard and fast, but he put it out of his mind.

  More fucking important things to worry about, he thought.

  The girl struggled, but once she realized she was pinned she stopped fighting. Jack noticed how warm and soft her skin was, how good her tits felt pressed against him. His cock grew harder and harder by the second.

  What the fuck is going on? he asked himself. Why the fuck am I having such a hard time resisting this girl?

  Her chest rose and fell, her breasts now visible through the thin fabric of her shirt. Jack could see her nipples through the shirt, now hard and stiff.

  The girl continued to squirm, but as he held her she slowed her movement, her eyes locking onto his. She opened her mouth slowly, her lips red and wet.

  Then, her eyes still on Jack's, chewed her lip softly. Her body released its tension, and all he could think about was the way she felt against his arms.

  Jack couldn't resist her any longer. The animal inside him demanded to mate, and everything about her suggested she wanted the same thing.

  He kissed her.

  Jack half-expect
ed another scream, followed by a hard slap across his stubble-covered cheek. But that's not what happened. Instead, she kissed him back hard, her intoxicating taste flooding into his mouth and making him go even more insane than he already was.

  What the fuck is with this girl? he thought as his hands moved up and down her body. She's sure as shit no ordinary shifter.

  He could barely think about anything else, the effect this girl had on him so overwhelming that it scrambled his thoughts. All he could focus on was her body, her scent, her touch. Jack needed her like he'd never needed a shifter before in his life.

  The girl's hands shot to his waist, quickly opening up his belt and zipper. Once that was undone, her slender fingers went under the waistband of his boxer-briefs and grabbed onto his thick, throbbing prick.

  Jack's eyes went wide. The pleasure was instant, but the surprise was just as sudden. Whatever intense need he felt for this girl, she seemed to be taken by it as well.

  He grabbed onto her shirt and pulled it over her head, the girl's heavy, round breasts now exposed. He lowered onto them, taking one nipple into his mouth and licking and sucking it before moving onto the other. The sensitive skin went hard in his mouth, and sighs flowed from the girl as he pleasured her.

  The girl stroked him as he got her out of the rest of his clothes, peeling her jeans off followed by her panties. She did the same, and before too long both of them were stripped down to nothing, Jack's throbbing, dripping cock ready for her. He grabbed her inner thigh, another gentle sigh sounding from her lips as he did. Then he dragged his hand over her cunt—it was warm and wet, the sensation driving Jack to the brink of madness.

  He wasn't going to wait any longer. Jack spread the girl's legs and positioned his prick right at the opening to her lips. The girl looked up at him with expectant eyes, her chest still rising and falling.

  "Fuck me," she said. "Fuck me now."

  Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing, but he wasn't about to waste any more time. He grabbed onto his cock and shoved it into her, a long moan pouring out of the girl as he filled her with all of his inches.