New Beginnings (True Hybrid Book 1) (23 page)

He is faster than I thought and he plows into my side dragging claws down my side tearing through the feathers and flesh. This pain is new to me. This pain drives me. I picture tearing my attackers to pieces in my mind.

I charge after Zander and fly into the air to throw him off. I look back and see One change from the huge cheetah into his lotus in mid run. I dive straight down and pin Zander on the ground. I put my strong jaws around his throat.

“I’m dead and out of play. Now take out One.”

I jump straight into the air and catch sight of him flying toward me. I’m much happier that I’m down to one attacker. One and I fly around in circles waiting for the other to make the first move.

Since neither of us is showing weakness, One decides to make the first move. He charges me. I decide to charge him back. One is charging full force with talons extended and paws extended out in front of him.

When we are a heartbeat away from crashing into one another, One changes course and goes straight up to increase altitude. I follow closely behind him. I’m not letting him get out of my sight again. Not even for a brief moment.

We are high enough now the tree tops look like small twigs sticking out of the ground. I am about to make my move and sink my talons into his hind quarters. One changes course again. He flips and crashes into me. Staying on top of me, we head straight for the ground.

One uses his paws and talons to prevent my wings from moving. Everything is rushing by on our decent to the ground. I brace for impact. This is just training. I don’t think they will let me get hurt too bad.

As my body slams into the ground, One’s talons pierces my wings and sinks into the ground. Due to the immense amount of pain I’m in, I swipe One’s face with my right paw and dig my hind paws and talons into his belly to kick him off.

One and I jump up to face off again when Zander runs between us.

“That’s enough for today. We don’t need to overload her.”

He must have felt how much pain I’m in. I am still ready to fight. I need to learn to fight through the pain. Not just in this form, but all forms.

I’m fine. You need to get out the way. I need to learn to fight through this.

“Elisabeth, you need to rest. The babies and I need you.”

I sigh mentally, knowing he’s right. I turn around and run into the woods. I need to shift back. So, I can get back to my kids. I find a quite area. So, I can clear my mind and shift back. I take a deep breath and clear my mind.

The shift happens fast and hurts, but not as bad as I expect. The gashes made the shift very uncomfortable. They burned.

Once back to normal, I take account of the gashes. They are bigger, but nothing is bleeding. I’ve never gotten a cut, scrape, or anything else that didn’t heal quickly. Where One’s talons went through my wings made perfect gashes through 2 places on each side where my shoulder blades are.

I walk out of the wood line and spot Zander and One in the center of the field. As I approach, Zander and One turns around to face me. Where I had swiped One’s face and belly there’s deep gashes.

“Did I do that?”

One and Zander look at One’s belly.

“Yes you did, but I’m not sure why they aren’t healed yet.”

“Well, One. You’re not the only one.”

I turn around to show them my back. I hear Zander growl. As I turn around Zander and One start fighting. I run to get in between them. Unlike the fight between One and I, Zander and One will kill each other.

It only takes me a moment to separate them. They are fighting with everything in them. Men can act like such children.

“Now are you going to tell me why you attacked One, Zander?”

I wait for him to answer, but all he does is give One a murderous look. One looks at me.

“He thinks I hurt you on purpose. What he doesn’t realize is that I’m having just as much problems healing as you are.”

Now I understand. Zander thinks One hurt what belongs to him. Even though I don’t actually belong to him, it is kind of cute.

“Well. He can be mad. We on the other hand need to go see Sonny so she can fix us up.”

I signal for One to follow me. We start walking back towards the house when Zander starts hollering.

“Get away from her mutt!”

I spin around and face off with Zander. If he can call a stranger mutt, then I can just imagine what he calls me. My anger rises quickly. I’m not going to stand for this.

“What did you say, Zander?! Did you just really call One a mutt?! If you can call him mutt, it makes me wonder what you call me behind my back!”

My predator instinct kicks in and I start advancing on Zander. One grabs me around my waist, and Zander starts growling and advancing on One. This is about to get very ugly. The only thing that stops me is hearing Sonny approaching with my babies.

“If YOU act an ass in front of my babies, you will not live to see your next breath. Do you understand me Zander? I hope I have made myself perfectly clear.”

Zander must’ve taken my threat to heart because he runs to us with a fake smile plastered on his face. Wrapping his arm possessively around me as One lets go, we all start walking towards Sonny and the babies.

“Hey! How was training?”

“One and I have some gashes for you to look at. Not sure why, but they aren’t healing. Nor are they bleeding.”

“Well that’s strange. Let’s get to my office so I can look.””

Wrath reaches for me. So, I take him. They appear to have grown a few months since I left this morning. Wrath feels about 10 lbs. heavier.

As we walk in Sonny’s office I notice a scale. I place Wrath on the scale and my jaw drops at what it reads. Wrath weighs 23.7 lbs. I look at Sonny. She pushes the other babies to me and we weigh them each. Donovan weighs 21.2 lbs. Savana weighs 18 lbs. and Sonia weighs 14.9 lbs.

They are huge compared to yesterday. They are growing like weeds and I don’t even get to enjoy it that much. I look at Sonny with tears in my eyes. She wraps her arms around me, and holds me tight.

After my eyes clear, I pull away from her. I wipe the wet streaks from my face and turn to my babies. They are perfect. I wish I could keep them this way forever. All good things must come to an end though.

We grab up all the babies and head into the first room on the right down the hall. Sonny decides to check me out first. One and Zander watches the babies as I’m being examined. Zander isn’t too happy about One being in the same room as me but he deals with it. I guess because of my comment earlier.

Sonny studies the gashes closely and for a long time. She stands up and tells me that the gashes will heal but she cannot figure out why they haven’t healed while I was shifted or why they aren’t bleeding. She takes a blood sample for some tests and bandages the wounds.

“The blood test results won’t be in for about two weeks, I have to send them off.”

As I thank her and walk over to the children, One began his examination. Sonny told One the same thing that she told me, bandages him up, and we all leave for my house to care for the babies and to get something to eat ourselves.

The atmosphere around Zander and One is toxic. They are acting like they are going to blow a fuse at any moment. The walk home is quiet and seems longer than ever before. It air feels like you can cut it with a knife.

The babies don’t seem to notice. They happily coo amongst themselves. As soon as we walk through the front door, One and Zander go their separate ways. Maybe it’s for the best.

I bring the babies into the kitchen with me and place them in highchairs that weren’t here when I left. They baby talk to me while I start fixing lunch.

I decide to make sandwiches for Zander, One, and me. While waiting for the bread to toast, the babies start crying. I check each one out, but when I get to Donovan he bites me and something in his mouth feels strange.

I open Donovan’s mouth and notice a few teeth. I check each of them again. Each baby has at least 3 teeth. I scream for Zander, to show him what I discovered. I start bouncing up and down in place from my excitement.

Zander and One come running into the kitchen.

“They all have teeth              !”

Both men look at me like I grew a second head, but decide to check the babies anyways. The shocked expressions on their faces make my smile that much bigger. I run to the phone and called Sonny, excited to spread the news.

“Hello”

“The babies have teeth! They started crying. I checked each one. When I got to Donovan he bit me. I opened his mouth because I felt something when he bit me. There in his mouth, and the others, were at least 3 teeth.”

The phone line goes silent. I’m not sure if Sonny hung up or dropped the phone. I spin around when I hear the front door slam. I sprint to the babies to provide protection while One and Zander take care of whatever the threat is.

A very exasperated Sonny slides into the kitchen. I let my guard down as she has to see the babies’ teeth for herself. She checks each and every baby, making sure the babies’ teeth are healthy.

“Our baby’s grow faster, including their teeth, but I’ve never seen them come in this fast. Of course your blood is coursing through their veins. So, I’m a little out of my element. Judging by the growth of their teeth and bodies they won’t stay little for long.”

Her statement hits home. I feel the tears build behind my eyes, but I have to stay strong for my babies. Nothing hurts worse at this moment. I’m not ready for them to not need me.

I notice Zander straighten up and rush from the kitchen. Something is wrong with him. Guess I better go check on him. He probably went to his office. He tends to do that when he wants privacy or to be left alone.

As I walk down the hallway, I notice his office door is open again. I peek inside, but he’s not there. I open my mind to him, but find a wall in place. Now I’m starting to worry. There is something going on that he doesn’t want me to know about.

I search the house for him, but come up empty. I rush back to the kitchen in a panic.

“Zander is gone. He has be blocked.”

They both appear unfazed by the news. I think about everything that was said before he rushed out the kitchen. We were talking about how he babies aren’t going to stay little long. Then I become slightly emotional.

Oh! Now I see. Either he feels the same way I do about the babies getting older or my emotions became too much for him to handle. Either way it shows a softer side of Zander that I’ve never seen. Maybe this Zander will show up more often.

After everyone but Zander ate lunch, we migrate into the living room to let the babies watch T.V. while we relax. That’s not something I expect to be able to do for a long time. I flip through the channels until I come across an educational cartoon. The babies are immediately entranced by the bright colors and music.

I stretch out on the floor next to them. I hear them giggle and baby talk to the T.V. I start to feel exactly how tired I am. I lay my head on my arm. This educational cartoon crap is for the birds.

Next thing I know I’m waking up on the floor in the living room with my babies pressed up against me. The lights and T.V. are off. They are mumbling to each other in their sleep. It is cute. Where’s a camera when you need one?

I feel a pair of eyes on me. Looking around the room, I notice Zander sitting on a couch. He is watching us sleep. Probably standing guard to make sure One stays away from us. Jealous men.

They are going to have to learn to get along eventually. Zander is my bond, and One is like a brother. They are both going to be in my babies’ life, or I will hunt them down and kick their ass until they are.