Barron's Prey

Owen

Chapter 18

He clenched his hands on the cheap sink in the hotel bathroom. Feeling the porcelain crack under his hands, he tried to ease back, but he couldn't. Voices flew through his mind.

Help. Who are you? Why? Get out. Help. Help. Help.

A chunk of the porcelain broke in his hand and the blood trickling down his palm calmed the voices. They didn't leave; no, they faded to the background, waiting for him to open himself again to their onslaught. Who in the hell were they? What was wrong with them? And why, out of everyone, was he the only one who could hear them?

"Owen?"

Glancing up, Owen looked in the mirror, seeing both his leopard and wolf swirling in his eyes, he knew he needed a minute before even attempting to walk into the emotional chaos outside of the bathroom. "Sorry, I tripped," he called out, pushing humor into his voice when he felt none.

Bryn laughed on the other side of the door. "Hybrids and their strength."

"Yeah," he mumbled back.

He thought back to her words earlier. He could have chosen whether he was a hybrid or not. He chose to be who he was. The thought was daunting. Knowing that he had caused all the pain he had gone through, knowing that he could have been normal tilted his world on its axis.

The blood began flowing down his forearm, and he glanced down at the cut, only to growl at the hair. Taking a deep breath, he pushed his wolf back. There were a couple of things him and Ally agreed to keep secret, and hybrid's abilities to partially shift were one of them. The world wasn't ready to realize there were actual wolfmen walking around.

His leopard yowled, and Owen shook his head in annoyance. Yeah, there could be leopard men walking around too, but luckily, his cat wasn't quite so quick to jump out. No, his wolf was the one ready to fight at a drop of the pen. He was the one who couldn't keep it in his pants long enough for Owen to heal his own damn hand.

Before opening his eyes, he took one more deep breath and pushed both his animals back. His cut was gone, the fur was gone, and the corner of the sink was still in his palm. With a frustrated sigh, he tossed the chunk in the bathroom garbage and plopped down on the toilet seat lid.

The voices were still there, but for the moment they seemed to want to leave him alone. Why? He didn't have a clue, but he sent a silent thank you in their direction.

Welcome

He jerked upright, his heart beating hard in his chest. He was so not having a conversation with some random person in his head. Nope. That would be another thing he pushed back until he broke. When he got closer, he'd have a conversation with them in person. Until then, he wasn't listening and he wasn't talking back.

"Hey, Owen?"

He paused for a minute before recognizing the voice as Molly. It wasn't some random person in his head, it was a real life person on the other side of the bathroom.

"Yeah?"

Someone hissed something, but Owen wasn't quite in the present enough to hear who said what. "Would you mind letting me in for a minute? Oh, be quiet, Barron!" she hissed. "He's not going to do anything."

Owen chuckled in real amusement as he jumped to his feet. Pulling the bathroom door open, he moved to the side to let Molly slip passed him. "I'll let you have it."

"What?" she glanced back at him, before glaring at Barron. "No, I just wanted to talk to you for a minute."

"Molly," Barron growled.