Her Ancient Hybrid (7 page)

“I’m not going to comment on Cameron’s looks. I’d rather stare at Waverly.”

“I’ll leave that job to you. That’s my sister, dude. I don’t look at her that way.”

Brolach grinned. He liked Devin and had started to consider him a friend. Waverly’s brother was laid back and joked quite a lot. Actually, Brolach liked her entire family. The first day he’d come to work there, her father had watched him closely, especially when he was around Waverly. Today he hadn’t been so vigilant. He had a feeling he was close to being accepted as a part of Waverly’s life.

Devin walked away and headed into the kitchen. He was one of the bakers. Brolach turned his attention back to Cameron and Waverly. Even though he didn’t have anything to worry about, he still didn’t like how the werewolf tried to monopolize Waverly’s attention. It was time Brolach did something about it.

He left the tub of dirty dishes on the table and walked over to where Cameron sat. Brolach came to stand beside Waverly and put his arm around her waist. He looked at the werewolf and met his gaze.

“Out back,” Brolach said. “Now.”

“I’m not done my coffee,” Cameron replied.

Brolach leaned close, and whispered, “Don’t push me, werewolf. It’s time we had a talk.”

Not about to let Cameron have another chance to say no, Brolach released Waverly, grabbed Cameron by the arm and hauled him up onto to his feet. He force marched him to the entrance. Waverly followed and quickly told her father on the way by that they’d be back in a few minutes.

Brolach didn’t let go of Cameron until they were at the back of the coffee shop where there were no windows. There was also no other building behind it, just a high fence. He walked a short distance away from the werewolf, taking Waverly with him, then turned to face Cameron with a growl and snarled lip.

“What are you playing at, Cameron?” he asked with another growl lacing his words.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do. You know Waverly is my unclaimed mate. My scent is all over her. As a werewolf, you should know to keep your distance.”

“As you said, you haven’t claimed her yet. She’s still free, and human.”

Brolach had been walking a fine line when it came to his mating urge. Cameron’s words pushed him a little over the edge. Brolach didn’t think and shifted to his wolf form. He raised his hackles and growled as the werewolf shifted as well.

*

Waverly could quite easily see this situation getting totally out of hand very fast. There were now two snarling and growling wolves facing each other down. It wasn’t something she wanted others seeing. She had no idea how she’d explain why she was in the company of what looked like two wild wolves.

She stepped closer to Brolach and sank her hand into his thick, light brown fur at his neck, prepared to give it a good yank if he decided to go after Cameron. Not that she thought it’d actually stop him.

Waverly knew both of them would understand what she said while in wolf form. Brolach had been teaching her about werewolves and vampires.

She cleared her throat. “Would the two of you knock it off?” Waverly turned her gaze on Cameron. “You stop yanking Brolach’s chain. Being what you are, you know damn well I’d never be interested in anyone else but my mate.” She looked down at Brolach. “And you stop letting Cameron get to you so easily. You have nothing to be jealous of. Now would the two of you shift, please, before someone sees you like this?”

“I think that’s a very good suggestion. That way we can all talk.”

At the sound of the new voice, Waverly looked past Cameron and found a man and woman standing behind him. It’d been the man who’d spoken. The two seemed to have their gazes locked on Brolach.

The two wolves’ bodies blurred and shimmered as they took on their human forms. Brolach took her hand and held it tight. Cameron went and stood a little behind the other two.

Waverly looked at Brolach when he stiffened. “What’s the matter?” she asked quietly.

“They’re hybrids. Half vampire and half werewolf like me.”

She gazed at the two new arrivals and then back at Brolach. She sucked in a breath. Could it be? Both the man and woman had some shared features with her mate, right down to the same colored hair and eyes. She’d thought there was a chance there was only one other hybrid out there, but two?

The man and woman walked closer and stopped a few feet away. The man spoke again. “That’s right. We are hybrids. And you, Brolach, are our brother. We’ve been searching for you for a very, very long time.”

Chapter Six

Brolach stared at the two hybrids, knowing the male had told the truth. They were his siblings. A werewolf’s scent was made up of a component that marked them as an individual as well as one that all his or her family shared. The newcomers had that, and matched his. Plus, they had the family blood tie that vampires had.

“How can there be two of you?” he asked.

“They’re twins,” Waverly said.

The male smiled and nodded. “Correct. I’m Torger and this is our sister, Kaisa.”

“Those were my parents’ names,” Brolach said.

Torger nodded. “Before we continue this conversation, I think it best if we go to a place where we won’t be overheard.”

Waverly spoke up before he could answer. She looked at Brolach. “You can take them to our house. I’ll give you the keys before you leave.”

He didn’t miss the fact she’d called the house theirs instead of just hers. He shook his head. “I won’t need the keys. You’re coming with us. You’re my mate, even though I haven’t claimed you yet. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be there with me.”

Waverly went up on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss. “All right. Wait out here. I’ll make up some excuse for us leaving early that my dad will believe. He shouldn’t mind since we only have a couple hours left on our shift, anyway.”

She hurried away, leaving Brolach alone with the three others. He ran his gaze over his brother and sister. Torger was just as tall as he was, and had the same muscular frame. Kaisa was a littler taller than Waverly and had a slim build. He found it hard to believe he had siblings, let alone two of them. He thought back to when his mother had been alive and pregnant. She’d said she swore there was more than one baby inside her, kicking her in the ribs. She’d mostly been joking since twins were a rarity for vampires and werewolves alike. It explained why her belly had gotten so large. His father had said she was bigger than she’d been when pregnant with Brolach.

Waverly returned with a smile. “We’re all set to go. You guys can follow me to the house.”

They headed to the parking lot. Brolach and Waverly climbed into her car while Cameron got into another and Torger and Kaisa into a third. Waverly pulled out onto the street with the other two cars following behind. So many questions whirled through Brolach’s mind on the short trip home.

After they arrived, Waverly unlocked the front door of the house and waited for everyone to come in before she shut it. They went to the living room and spread out on the couch and two armchairs.

Once they were settled, Brolach looked at his brother and sister, who’d taken the armchairs. “You said you’ve been searching for me for a long time.”

“Yes,” Kaisa said, speaking for the first time. “We knew you still had to be alive since you’re a hybrid, a true immortal, like us.” She motioned to Torger.

“How did you know about me?”

“Our parents told us.”

“Parents?”

“Kaisa means our adoptive parents,” Torger said. “Our father was one of the hunters who came to investigate the fire. He found the remains of our birth parents. He also found Kaisa and I lying in the ashes of our birth mother. He wrapped us in his shirt and brought us home to his wife. They had no children of their own.”

“Our parents had known our birth parents and you,” Kaisa said, jumping back into the conversation. “We were raised on stories of our true family. How they’d come from the gods, and how different they’d been.” She met Brolach’s gaze. “When they couldn’t find your body, they thought you might have escaped and hid somewhere. All the hunters of the tribe searched for days for you, but never found you. They then figured the ones who’d killed our birth parents had taken you away with them.” She paused. “It’s only been recently that we learned that wasn’t what happened to you.”

Brolach shook his head. “It isn’t. It was vampires who killed our parents. Our mother’s family.”

“We learned that,” Torger said. “It took us many, many years to find out what lands our birth parents had come from, and who had murdered them. A lot of the family have moved to different countries, with quite a few living throughout the States. We’ve been hunting them down, trying to get the true story of what happened here in South Dakota on the day of our birth.”

“I can tell you that,” Brolach said with a sigh. “The vampires set fire to our home to flush us out. They captured our mother once she ran outside. They lied and told our father they’d let her go if he surrendered to them. They bound him and I with ropes threaded with silver, then burned our mother at the stake. While she screamed as the flames claimed her, they cut our father’s head off. They tried three times to do the same to me, but I healed instantly.”

“Fuck,” Cameron said from where he sat next to Brolach on the couch. “Three fucking times?”

“What happened to you after that?” Kaisa asked.

“They kept me bound, thinking the silver weakened me and buried me on a hill in the grasslands. I let them.” Brolach paused and looked at his brother and sister. “I went to ‘sleep.’ If I’d known the two of you lived, I wouldn’t have given up.” He shook his head. “I didn’t awaken until Waverly came to the hill a few days ago. She was the one who suggested I could have a hybrid sibling out there who’d survived the fire that took our mother. It never occurred to me since you hadn’t been born.”

Kaisa stood and came to stand in front of Brolach before she went on her knees. She took his hands in hers. “You didn’t do anything wrong. As you said, you didn’t know. We’ve found each other now. You, Waverly, Torger and I can be a family.”

“Hey, what about me?” Cameron asked.

“Sorry. You, Waverly, Torger,
Cameron
and I can be a family.” She leaned in and hugged Brolach, then stood and turned her head to look at their brother. “At least we know that snitch of a vampire in Finland was right about Brolach being buried.”

Torger nodded. “That also means he could have been right about our mother’s family keeping watch over where they did bury him.”

Brolach stiffened. “The vampires are here in Lemmon?”

“We’re not sure yet. Cameron, who is a very close friend, originally came here to see if he could find any clues left behind that could tell us what happened to you.”

Cameron snorted. “After two thousand years, it’s been like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Torger smiled. “You know you enjoy it.” He turned his gaze back on Brolach. “He’s known for having a knack for finding people. Anyway, we were in Finland up until yesterday. We’d gotten the information about you being buried alive and an estimation of where you were. We told Cameron, who was going to do some searching. The day he met you in the coffee shop was when he’d planned to go to the grasslands.”

Cameron chuckled. “You have no idea how shocked I was to run into you and Waverly. I knew from your scent you were a hybrid. With the name Brolach, I would have to be an idiot not to put two and two together. Plus, there’s the fact you look like Torger and Kaisa.”

“So that’s why you’ve been hanging around the coffee shop so much,” Waverly said.

The werewolf nodded. “Torger asked me to keep an eye on Brolach until they could get to Lemmon.”

Waverly shook her head. “And to bug the crap out of him by using me.”

Cameron shrugged. “What can I say? I was bored.”

Torger laughed. “Cameron’s boredom has gotten us into a few messes over the years.”

Kaisa rolled her eyes. “I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gotten your dumbasses out of them.”

Brolach watched the interaction between his brother and sister with Cameron. It was easy to see they shared a friendship that had lasted a great many years. He ached to have that kind of closeness with Torger and Kaisa. He doubted he’d ever forgive himself for not being there for them on that fateful night. He had no idea what would have happened to them if they hadn’t been adopted by that native couple.

Waverly laced her fingers with his. “Stop,” she said quietly.

“Stop what?”

“The expression on your face says it all. You didn’t know they were alive, but now you’ve all found each other. You have an eternity to be with them.”

“You’re right.”

Brolach leaned toward Waverly and kissed her, putting the love he had for her into it. Once he pulled away, he found the three others in the room watching them.

He cleared his throat. “So, what do we do about the vampires who may or may not be around here?”

“We’ll keep an eye out for them,” Torger replied. “If someone is watching over where you were buried, they could already know you’ve awakened. If they do, the ones we really want, those vampires who were the ones to kill our parents, may come to try to finish you off. I’m hoping they do. They need to pay for what they did.”

Brolach couldn’t agree more. The faces of the vampires who’d ended his parents’ lives were forever etched in his mind. He looked at Waverly. If his enemy did come for him, he’d have to do everything in his power to protect her. Even if he turned her, she’d be just as vulnerable as his mother had been. The only way to keep her truly safe was to put an end to the ones who’d threaten her. He wasn’t sure if he could survive if something happened to her, if she were taken from him. Even though he knew of no means that would end his immortal life, he wouldn’t give up trying. Going to ground and “sleeping” wouldn’t work. Not with his mate’s passing. Only the finality of death would suffice. Now that he’d found her, he understood why his father had given up so easily after the death of his mate. Life no longer held appeal without the woman you loved in it.