Hybrid's Fury Unleashed

Trinity of Entanglement Fifteen

ANNALISE

‘We do what I promised Xillon we would do and keep our distance from Nox. Step away from him, Larrisa. You can do it. If you allow me some control. There’s a place I go to reflect and be alone. I haven’t been there in a while, but I can lead the way. Should only take a few minutes in wolf form.’

With a mournful whimper. She prods him once more, muzzle to muzzle. Turns her back on him, then springs away. Led by myself, we raced through the forest. Devouring a few rabbits along the way to keep our strength. Once we’ve arrived at the clearing that leads to the mountains. I persuaded Larrisa to shift so I could squeeze through the crack leading to a cave that I have been visiting occasionally for the last few years.

Plucking a blanket from the ground, I wrapped it around my body, then started lighting candles so I could read. With night vision shifter capabilities I could read in the dark, but what’s the fun in that? I’ve only been connected with Larrisa for a week, but already I miss simply being human.

Larissa sulks and pushes her way to the furthest reaches of my mind, wanting to have some peace and solace from my relentless musings. Refrain from blaming her, because my ideas are running rampant. I’m merely sixteen. Supposed to not be having mate issues already.

What I really need to do is contact my uncle to see if he has any advice or knowledge of the subject. Or should I get in touch with my mother? Hell, I don’t know. All I can tell is I’m too young to figure out who my mate is. Let alone having two fated mates. Which is unheard of, from what I’ve been told. My uncle has a chosen mate and a fated mate, but not two fated mates.

If I have two mates. Would they both have to mark and mate me? Would the elders put aside the laws so I could be with both of my mates, even though I am underage? Once the mate bond clicks into effect, the she-wolf goes into heat the following month, while a full moon is high in the sky. There’s just no way of knowing what could occur in the next few months. Will the connection between mates be established once Finley turns eighteen? Or can I make the most of my two years of youth I have left before accepting my fate? This is utter torture. One thing I recognize is, I’m going to stick to my word and stay with Xillon, whatever happens.

Groaning, I toss the sci-fi thriller novel I’ve been attempting to read aside. I’ve been gazing at the same page for some time now. Figured there was no point in attempting to continue reading any longer. Contemplating on whether I should go back out to everyone else, I grimace and stay put. Instead, deciding some meditation and relaxation was in order.

Centering myself as I held my head high, I took in several deep breaths and let them out slowly. Pondering that contacting the moon goddess Selene would be ideal. Rather than going to my mother or my uncle. She’s the one that got me into this mess.

Instead of making contact with Selene, however. I ended up falling asleep against the rock face of the cave and the most bizarre dream came upon me.

Someone is chasing me through a forest that I’m unfamiliar with. Well, I say it’s me running in the dream. Though their resemblance to me is minimal. There are some similarities. But she has curly, light brown hair. Where my hair has some curls to it, but mostly it’s straight and a dark brown. Next up would be our facial shapes. Mine is more heart-shaped, where hers is more like a diamond. Although she has my eyes, and she’s tall and toned, similar to me. I sense it within me that the woman in my dream is me. Perhaps from another life possibly, as her clothes aren’t from my era. She appears to be from the Victorian era and also seems to be older than me.

She laughs hysterically when a guy comes up behind her, taking her by surprise. He lifts her up and spins her around in the air as she giggles. Then she slaps him playfully on the chest and pushes him away. At that point, a different man approaches from a different direction, lightly tackling her, so they tumble to the rich verdant grass of the forest floor. The other man joins them on the ground and tickles her ribs, as the other man drives her to insanity by tickling her forearms. I didn’t even know a person could be ticklish there.

Finally able to glimpse the males, I see that they have striking similarities to Finley and Xillon. Some minor differences, but nothing major. The dream was just getting interesting, as they were all tearing each other’s clothes off. When a sudden crash in the cave wakes me from my slumber.

“Shit, Annalise. My apologies. Shouldn’t be here, I know. I uh… here,” Finley said, as he plucked a quilt and chunked it towards me. That’s when I noticed he had a blanket wrapped around his waist.

“What are you doing here, Finley?” I asked, while pulling the blanket over me.

“Everyones has dispersed and has gone back to the pack house. Your parents assumed you went back early to see Xillon. Your father wasn’t too happy about it. Had a feeling that I needed to search for you. Anyway, it’s two in the morning. Could track your scent through the… whatever the hell you want to call it. We’re too young for it to be a mate bond, right? Anyway, they all went in an hour ago. It took me a while to catch on to your most recent scent. Since you were out on a run recently. I was first led to the lake.”

Pain and then anger crossed his face. He growls, then smooths a hand down his face and scratches the patch of whiskers on his chin. Damn, he’s hot. All tall, dark and brooding. His smoldering ocean eyes lure me in, leaving me entranced.

‘No! No! No! Stop it Annalise! You have a boyfriend! That you care for deeply!’ I yelled at myself in my mind.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that much trouble. Well, as you can see, I fell asleep. I wasn’t meaning to. Was actually trying to meditate and pray to the moon goddess. If it’s anyone who wants answers, it’s me. But something tells me we won’t get them until you come of age. Who knows, maybe nothing will happen until I turn eighteen. That would be ideal, right? Um… I guess I’ll go outside and shift. Then we can run back together. Promised Xillon I would stay away from you. But…”

“Go ahead. I’ll stay here for a little while. Blow out the candles and then head back. Wouldn’t want to make you break a promise to your…” he’s eyes blaze brighter and I can tell his wolf is trying to push through. He shakes his head and turns away from me. “Please go, Annalise.” he said with his back to me.

Without a word, I pull myself from the ground, retreat from my hidden cave, and go into the woods to shift. Larissa gathers the blankets and puts them at the mouth of the cave for me.

‘Would you mind fetching the blankets for me and putting them back inside the cave, please? Again I’m sorry. I’ll see you soon, Finley.’

***

On reaching the mansion, I went straight to the kitchen. Not only was I famished from another shift and sprinting through the woods, but I also thirsted for something to drink. My throat felt like it was closing in and I had cottonmouth. After snatching a bottle of water from the fridge, I rummaged around for something to munch on, but nothing seemed to stand out to me.

“I saved the last banana for you.”

Jumping in surprise, I bang my head on the refrigerator door. Then stand upright rubbing my head, spin around and come face to face with Xillon.

“Sorry. I know how much you love bananas. So when I noticed it was the last one, I kept it for you. Are you alright?” he asked, walking up to me and inspecting my head.

“Yeah. I’m fine. You just startled me, is all. Thank you for saving the banana for me, Xillon. You’re the best.” I said, plucking the fruit from his hand. “I’m sure everyone is in bed now. Would you like to come with me to my room?”

“Your father has forbidden me from being around you. Until the hickey’s are gone. So it’ll be a few days before we can have much to do with one another. He used his alpha tone, so… Honestly, I’m not supposed to be talking to you right now. But, I wanted to give you the banana as a peace offering, and apologize for… well… all of those hickey’s I… That was wrong of me and I won’t do it again,” he said. Then turned his back on me and walked away.

I’ll most likely have issues sleeping. I’ve grown used to Xillon sleeping with me. He’s cuddled me every night for the last few nights. Though I’m angry about what he did, I can’t fathom why dad is punishing so severely. Perhaps it’ll be a good thing for us to be away from one another for a few days. I’ll be busy with uncle Gabriel, anyway.

Who knows? Maybe without Xillon in bed with me, I’ll have another dream like I had in my cave. Perhaps that was Selene’s way of giving me answers. Was she letting me see into a past life where Xillon, Finley, and I were all together? What does a past life have to do with the here and now? I’m more confused now than I was before.