(The Hybrid) Damon POV
The scent of blood. Of fear. Of disbelief.
They felt it the mont I stepped into their territory—the mont I tore through the veil of that cursed cabin and stepped into the world I was ant to conquer.
I carried her in my arms. My mate. Soft. Warm. Unconscious. So delicate in contrast to the power thrumming in my veins, screaming to be unleashed. The woman who tethered the chaos, even as she trembled before it. She did not yet understand what I was. What we were. What I had beco.
The pack house ca into view.
They stood outside, faces twisted with horror, so clutching their chests, others baring their teeth in grief or rage.
"Alpha?" soone gasped, but it wasn’t a greeting. It was a prayer.
And I am no god.
"What have you done?" barked one of them—a Beta, if I had to guess. His energy vibrated just beneath mine like a pathetic candlelight flickering against a tempest. "Where’s Kane? What the hell are you?"
I didn’t stop walking. My boots hit the gravel with unrelenting rhythm, each step a drumbeat of judgnt. I cradled her like sothing precious. Mine.
The Gamma stepped forward, foolishly blocking my path.
"I said—what have you done?!"
I tilted my head, slowly, until I was staring directly into his eyes. Red t blue. Yellow flickered with hunger.
"You stand in the presence of a king and bark like a dog," I said, my voice low, velvety, laced with sothing ancient. Sothing evil.
"She’s unconscious—what the fuck did you do to Elena?" he growled.
I smiled.
A thin, cruel smile that made several warriors shiver.
"I took what was mine."
And then I moved.
In the blink of an eye, I stood with one hand wrapped around the Gamma’s throat, Elena still nestled against my side, untouched. His eyes bulged. I could feel his pulse hamring beneath my fingers. I didn’t squeeze. Not yet.
"Alpha Kane would never—"
"I am not Kane," I growled, and my voice cracked the air like a whip. The earth trembled beneath us. Warriors collapsed to their knees, whimpering as my alpha dominance washed over them in waves of pain and obedience. "Your Alpha is dead. You will address as Alpha King Damon. And you will obey."
The Gamma tried to shift. He actually tried to shift.
I laughed. It was a hollow, eerie sound.
"You dare?"
And with one sharp motion, I crushed his windpipe and dropped his twitching body to the dirt.
A scream rang out. The Beta lunged.
Fool.
With a flicker of shadow and fang, I leapt—still holding Elena—and drove my hand clean through his chest, ripping out his heart in a pulsing, wet ss of blood and bone.
"Still think I’m Kane?" I asked the others as the Beta dropped, lifeless, at my feet.
They said nothing.
Good.
I turned slowly, sweeping my eyes across them all.
Fear painted every face.
So were trembling. So weeping.
But all bowed.
Every last one of them.
Their foreheads pressed to the earth, their necks bared.
Exactly as it should be.
"Three of you," I said casually, stepping forward, blood dripping from my hand like paint. "You—yes, you three—get up."
They scrambled to their feet, still crouching low.
"You will gather the entire pack. Every able body. I will address them within the hour. And if anyone refuses to co, or so much as whispers rebellion..." I let my eyes sweep over them, lingering.
"...I will butcher their families. I will feed on their children as they watch, and then carve their hearts out while they scream."
Soone whimpered. Good.
"Understood?" I asked softly.
They nodded, wide-eyed and pale.
"Then go."
They bolted like frightened prey.
I turned toward the pack house.
It would be my throne room soon enough.
As I approached, one of the warriors—trembling—spoke up. "Alpha Kane... he used to stay in his own house—his private cabin..."
I stopped walking.
Let the mont hang in the air.
Then turned my head slowly.
"I am not Kane," I repeated, with venom in my voice. "Your Alpha is dead. And his na is forbidden in my presence."
The warrior swallowed hard and bowed lower.
"From now on, you will address as Alpha King Damon," I continued. "And this"—I gestured to the pack house—"will be my domain. Clear it out. I want no one inside but myself and my mate."
They scurried away, barking orders to one another.
I stepped over corpses and blood and walked through the doors.
My throne awaited.
*******
The house reeked of many wolves scent.
It clung to the walls like mildew. Smothered the air like mold. Every corner whispered mories I did not own. A pathetic echo of weakness and restraint that I would purge soon enough.
But first, I carried her deeper.
Past trembling warriors who averted their eyes.
Past blood still drying on the floor where I had claid this house—and this pack—as mine.
To the farthest room in the corridor. The master bedroom.
The door creaked open with a groan that reminded of sothing ancient and buried. It was large, untouched . Fitting.
And a cradle to what I had beco.
I stepped inside and crossed to the bed. The sheets were dark. Thick. Fit for a king.
I laid her down carefully, despite the weight of chaos pulsing in my limbs. There was no violence in my touch—just reverence. Possession. Her skin was pale, her lashes casting soft shadows against her cheeks. Her lips parted slightly as she exhaled in shallow breaths.
So fragile. So mine.
I stood over her for a long mont.
My hand hovered at her cheek but did not touch.
Who would have thought?
That a creature like —a hybrid born from fear and sealed in shadows—would have a mate.
A true mate.
My red eye throbbed with heat. The yellow one flickered. Even they burned with conflict—wolf and vampire both snarling at the chain she unwittingly wrapped around my soul.
The beast in wanted to devour her.
The man... wanted to keep her.
All of her.
"You were ant to be Kane’s," I murmured. "Or Dean’s. Or whatever na the world gave the pieces they split from ."
I sat beside her on the bed, elbows on my knees, head bowed.
"But that was never the truth, was it?"
My voice was soft. Almost amused.
"You were ant for the whole. Not the fragnts."
I looked down at her.
"So here I am, sweetheart. The truth they feared. The chaos they tried to erase."
I ran a hand through my hair, still slick with blood.
"They tried to bury . Strip down. Split like a bone. And still... here I stand."
I rose and looked down at her again, watching her chest rise and fall.
"I wonder what you’ll do when you wake up and see ," I whispered. "Will you scream? Will you cry?"
I smiled faintly.
"Or will you finally understand that you belong to now... and I don’t let go."
Then I reached for the blanket. Slowly. Covered her like she was sothing sacred.
Even monsters know how to cherish.
But only once.
And gods help anyone who tries to take you from now.
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