I let my bow and arrow fall to the ground. I nearly fell as well but somehow, I managed to keep myself upright. Ever since she'd been taken, my mind had conjured up image after image of all the terrible things that could have happened to her. But I never could have imagined this.
I never could have imagined that my mother would become one of the creatures that had broken our world so long ago.
I placed my hand out in front of me, palm open. My mother looked at it, almost with uncertainty before she walked forward and pressed her forehead against my skin. I ran my fingers through the roots of her fur. It was coarse and thick beneath my calloused fingertips. She nudged me with her muzzle. A muzzle. My mom had a muzzle now. It was long and her whole body was bear-like in appearance. Nose elongated and leathery, teeth wide, sharp and dangerous.
But she wasn't dangerous. Not to me. She'd just taken down the leader of the hybrid creatures to save me from getting killed.
"Mom, who did this to you?"
She let out a low growling noise almost as if she'd meant to answer me. "Keanna!" There was the shout of my name and before I could blink, strong hands were shoving me away. I nearly tripped over my own feet but righted myself easily enough, turning just in time to see Akir pointing a large gun straight at my mom's face.
"Akir, don't!" I shouted. He ignored me and in my adrenaline rush, I did the only thing I could think of doing. I charged.
In my mind I heard River's instructive voice, telling me about feet placement and the angles of my upper body. I crouched low as I ran, and the surprise of the impact from my body colliding with his, knocked Akir to the ground. Our feet tangled as we both went to the dirt. I fell on top of him with a grunt and he let out a curse as his gun was knocked sideways.
His glare at me was mutinous. In a quick, swift motion, Akir flipped me over so I was beneath him. The press of his body was hard and warm against mine for a fraction of a second before he was standing up, whirling his gun again.
Cursing, I jumped up and stepped in front of my mom. He would not shoot me to get to her.
Akir was covered in black ash and dirt. Bright blood was prominent on his face, dripping down the length of his beard. His eyes looked red, the fire reflecting in his blue depths. There was anger etched deep into the lines of his scowl. But there was something else there as well. Worry.
"What are you doing, lass?" He ground out tightly.
"You can't kill her," I shouted firmly.
He cocked his gun. "Like hell I can't." His finger tightened slightly on the trigger as he aimed. "Move aside before that thing kills you!"
"Akir, please just listen to me!"
I wasn't sure what exactly I'd be telling him, what words I could say that would make all of this seem less crazy. Less like a fantasy and more like the reality of the Broken World we lived in. But my fiancée gave pause at my words. Almost as if he'd listen to me. As if he'd believe anything and everything I had to say.
I sighed my relief and opened my mouth to speak…
When all at once, every remaining hybrid roared.
Their cries were a violent screeching that shook the sky. The sound was a dangerous symphony, their voices rising in painful song that sent a chill down the entirety of my back. I whipped around and Akir pulled me towards him, strong arm wrapping around my stomach to hold me in place against his chest. I didn't feel his usual heat in that touch. I felt nothing but worry as I watched my mother join in, letting loose animalistic sounds, one after the other.
She began whimpering first and looked to me, her brown eyes wide and frightened. I knew then that something was terribly wrong.
Suddenly, in quick violent movements, she began pawing away at her face, growling as she began running her face against the dirt. She looked like a demon possessed as she thrashed around uncontrollably, painfully. She screeched and cried, enormous paws flattening out her ears.
"Something's wrong," I cried out. I tried taking a step forward but Akir held me firmly.
"Look, lass," he said in my ear.
I looked up and gasped. All of the screeching hybrids were suddenly dashing away from the melee of the battle, running towards the tree lines and disappearing completely. As if they were answering some call they couldn't ignore. And my mother appeared to be fighting that call with every fiber.
Her movements were jerky as she struggled around on the ground, almost as if she were trying to physically push aside some hybrid instinct that threatened to override who she was. And she could fight it. I knew she could. She was a Ferguson and we Ferguson's did not break beneath the conquering pressure of these creatures.
She could do it.
I knew she could.
But when my mother stood on her back paws and cried out, I knew that I was wrong.
She couldn't.
In an instant, her entire being seemed to change and the eyes that had looked on me with such tenderness just a moment ago, vanished entirely into something else and she truly became a hybrid.
She began swinging her paws around at anyone that dared get too near. Men suddenly came at her from every angle, pointing guns, metal spears with electric ends and bombs. She cried out her rage at their proximity and made a move to deliver death blows…
And then the net went over her.
She fell to the ground, more from surprise than anything else, and growled as a smoke bomb was thrown in front of her face, exploding into a dense cloud of gray. The men got to work around her, rushing to hammer the net down and keep her in place.
The smoke cleared quickly, revealing her struggling form beneath. She had gone more still and her brown eyes darted to me. She was herself again.
And then Akir was letting me go, rushing towards her to help his men. The end of his gun pointed straight at her face and I had no other choice. I threw myself over her body, between them.
Akir appeared startled by the sudden move and lowered his gun a fraction before tightening his grip on it. I wondered briefly how angry he'd be with me later, since I'd undermined him in front of his people. But that didn't matter. Nothing mattered now except saving my mother from death.
"Move." Akir demanded tightly.
I looked him in the eyes and didn't blink. "No."
"Do I need to shoot you to get to that beast, lass?" His voice didn't make me doubt that he would. But his eyes were what gave him away. He didn't have it in him to shoot me. Not even to save his men from what he thought was a monster. And that was when I realized, with a sudden jolt, that he hadn't been lying earlier when he'd told me he loved me.
"You can't shoot her, Akir." I said firmly.
He lowered his weapon. There was resignation on his face. And anger. We could get into that later, though.
Around him, his men seemed to snicker in disapproval at me. I ignored them and looked only at Akir. At my fiancée and hoped that he would ignore the men around him. Ignore his people. For me.
"Akir," I whispered. He looked at me with uncertainty. I knew what truth would give him pause. Give them all pause. I only hoped they would believe me. "I know what they've done to the royals."
About the author
Aleera Anaya Ceres is an Irish-Latina romance enthusiast who loves reading, drawing, mermaids, movies and heavy fangirling. A proud Slytherin from Kansas, she currently lives in Mexico with her husband and son. Author of the Blood Novels, you can find her on her Facebook page or on Twitter.
Other books by Aleera Anaya Ceres
The Blood Novels:
Blood Drug
My Master
Last Hope
The Hybrid Trilogy:
Braving the Beasts
Escaping the Beasts
ing books on Archive.
Escaping the Beasts (The Hybrid Trilogy Book 2) Page 9
