Her Ancient Hybrid Read online

  Her Ancient Hybrid

  Marisa Chenery

  Edited by Marisa Chenery

  Cover design by April Martinez

  Copyright 2014 Marisa Chenery. Published by Forever More Publishing, 31 Wycliffe Place, Kitchener, Ontario, N2M 5J6, Canada. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author.

  ISBN: 978-1-92785-946-9

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

  Brolach is old. Ancient. A hybrid, half vampire and half werewolf, he’s a true immortal who can never die. He’s lived for three thousand years, but has slept buried for two of them. It isn’t until a female comes to the hill where he sleeps does he come awake, ready to protect her, his vampire side knowing she’s his mate.

  Physically threatened by her ex-boyfriend while out on a hike in the grasslands has unexpected results for Waverly. A man, muddy and covered in dirt, explodes out of the ground to rescue her. After he turns into a wolf and chases off her ex, she soon loses it when he turns his attention to her.

  With the help of Waverly, Brolach adjusts to the new world he’s awakened in to. The new life he sets about making with his mate is soon threatened by one of the vampires who’d killed his family and had buried him alive.

  Chapter One

  Waverly shrugged her backpack higher onto her shoulders as she walked through a section of the grasslands in the Grand River National Grassland in South Dakota. She lived in Lemmon, which was a smallish town of over a thousand people, and was close to where she now hiked.

  It was gorgeous outside, and a Saturday in June. Waverly tried to come out to the grasslands as much as she could and spend the day hiking. The area boasted rolling hills, river breaks and scattered badlands. It mostly was made up of mixed grass prairies.

  While with her ex-boyfriend, she hadn’t had as many opportunities to enjoy this particular pastime. James hadn’t been a hiker, and had taken exception to her going off on her own to the grasslands. He really hadn’t liked her to do much without him, which was part of the reason she’d broken up with him a few months before. He hadn’t taken it well, but it’d been time for her to move on.

  Waverly had just topped a hill when the sound of her name being called reached her. She turned and couldn’t believe who she saw running toward her. It was James, the last person she wanted to see. Lately, he’d been calling her, almost begging her to take him back. She hadn’t been impressed.

  After he finally met up with her and had caught his breath, Waverly asked, “What are you doing here, James? Did you follow me?”

  He gave her a smile. “Maybe a little. I’d come by your place and saw you driving away so I decided to see where you were going. When I realized you were coming here, I sat in the parking lot for a bit, not sure if I wanted to take the hike as well.”

  “I see you did in the end. What do you want?”

  “You. As my girlfriend.”

  She blew out a breath. “We’ve been over this on the phone several times. I don’t want to get back together. You were starting to suffocate me. You wanted to control my life.”

  “What if I promise I’ll stop?”

  “That won’t change my mind.”

  “Why not? I love you. We’re meant to be together.”

  Out of the six months they’d been a couple, not once had either one of them said the big “L” word. Waverly doubted James actually felt that strongly about her. Obsessed maybe, but definitely not love.

  She shook her head. “No, you don’t. You’re just thinking that way because we broke up. You want to use it as another tactic to get me back.”

  “You’re wrong. I’ve always loved you since our first date and never told you.”

  Would James ever give up? He had to know she wanted to keep things the way they were between them. She’d only said so at least a dozen times. Being apart from him showed Waverly she hadn’t made a mistake. He wasn’t the right guy for her, and really hadn’t been from the start of their relationship.

  “Forget it, James. What’s done is done. You have to get past it and move on with your life.”

  His smile slowly died. In its place a sneer formed. “I won’t let you walk away. You’re mine.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “If I say you are, then you are.”

  James’ words came out in anger. Rage was written all over his face and the stiff lines of his body. Waverly had never seen him like this before. He reached for her arm and roughly jerked her closer.

  He brought her nose to nose with him, and bellowed, “You’ll either stay with me or I’ll make you regret it.” James’ fingers cruelly dug into her biceps.

  That was when Waverly grew scared. James wasn’t a big man, by any means, but he had three inches on her five-foot-seven and weighed at least twenty pounds more than her. She struggled to break his grasp, which had no effect on him. He shook her until she felt like a rag doll.

  Even though there wasn’t anyone around, and couldn’t be for miles, Waverly screamed as her fear tried to take her over. She really hadn’t known the man she’d called boyfriend and had slept with. It was as if he had two personalities, and she was getting her first introduction to his crazy side.

  James raised his free hand and balled it into a fist. Waverly lifted her arm to ward of the inevitable blow that was about to come. He was going to hit her, and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

  Just as his fist headed toward her, there was a giant explosion of earth a few feet beside them. James froze and turned his head to look in that direction as she did. Waverly’s breath caught in her lungs. There was a man covered in mud and dirt standing next to the large hole. He snarled his upper lip, showing a fang, and let loose with an animalistic growl that would have done a wolf proud. It was his eyes that had her unable to breathe. The jade-green orbs glowed as his gaze latched on to her ex.

  * * * *

  Brolach was three thousand years old and had “slept” through two thousand of them. He was the only one of his kind—a hybrid, half vampire and half werewolf. Even though he’d been under the ground for so long he’d been partly aware of the surface world. People traversed the area, and as the years went by, the language they spoke changed. His mostly-asleep brain learned it enough to understand it.

  Something brought his mind closer to wakefulness before he was ready to be roused. There was a presence on the hill where he was buried. It drew him and captured his attention as nothing had done for centuries. It was female, which caused a part of him to stir.

  Soon a male joined her. Brolach listened to their conversation, his sensitive hearing able to pick up each word spoken. The longer he listened the more he awakened from his long slumber. The need to protect the female came to life. Never before had he’d felt like that toward a member of the opposite sex. The vampire side of him instinctively knew she was his. His mate. The werewolf wouldn’t know for sure until he had her scent in his nose.

  The sound of the male’s voice raised in anger would have had Brolach’s hackles rising if he’d been in
wolf form. It wasn’t until the female screamed did he come fully awake. The sound was full of fear.

  Brolach burst out of the ground. His fangs lengthened at the sight of the male holding the female by the arm with a raised fist, ready to strike. Brolach snarled his upper lip and growled a warning. All his protective instincts roared to the surface. He latched his gaze on to the human who threatened his mate.

  He surged into action. Brolach closed the distance between them, broke the male’s grip on the female and tossed him away. He landed with a shriek, then whimpered as Brolach approached him. He was tempted to kill the weaker male, to drain him of the blood he needed after his long sleep, but he decided against it. This new world he awoke to wasn’t the same as the one he’d known. Death wasn’t doled out so easily or frequently as it’d once been.

  Rather than take the male’s life, Brolach reached for the werewolf half of himself and brought on the change. He took on his wolf form in a matter of seconds. His hackles rose and he growled as he made a threatening step toward the male. That was enough to send the human scuttling backward before he clumsily gained his feet and took off running down the hill.

  Once he was sure the male wouldn’t come back, Brolach turned to take his first good look at the female who was his mate. She had long, light brown hair that she wore loose around her shoulders. She was the perfect height to tuck her head under his chin when he held her against his chest. Her hazel eyes were wide and filled with fear, but that didn’t take away any of her beauty. His cock stirred to life for the first time in two thousand years.

  He slowly walked toward her, which had a whimper pushing out of her. Even though she was scared of him, Brolach didn’t stop until he stood directly in front of her. He shifted back to his human form, thinking she’d find it easier to handle.

  He took a deep breath. Her scent filled his lungs and his head. He found it intoxicating, and it set off his werewolf’s senses. His wolf side recognized her as his mate along with the vampire. She was his. A mate. The first woman he’d ever wanted to claim.

  Brolach reached out for her only to have her suck in a lungful of air and then let it out in a high-pitched scream. That didn’t bother him so much as how fast her heart beat. The sharp bitter scent of her fear grew stronger. As she opened her mouth to scream again, he caught her chin in his hand and forced her to look him in the eyes.

  With his vampire ability to compel lacing his words, he said softly, “You’ll no longer fear me. You’re perfectly safe. No harm will come to you. We’ll leave this place and you’ll take me to your home to provide me with food and clothing.”

  All at once, she calmed down. Her heart beat at a normal rate, and the scent of fear blew away on the slight breeze. She nodded as her gaze remained fixed on him. “Okay,” she said, sounding in a daze.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Waverly.”

  “I’m Brolach.”

  “Brolach,” she repeated in the same dazed voice.

  “I’ll release you now. No more screaming. You’ll always feel safe with me.”

  He stopped compelling, releasing the hold he had over her mind. Waverly blinked a few times, coming back to herself. Brolach hoped never again to have to use it on his mate. If there had been any other way to have calmed her, he would have chosen it rather than take her free will away.

  Waverly took a deep breath and looked him up and down. “Come on. We’d better get out of here before someone sees you.”

  Brolach stayed at her side as she headed down the hill. As they walked, he gazed at the landscape around them. It really hadn’t changed much over the last two thousand years. He still recognized it as the land where he’d hunted buffalo and deer.

  That changed once they reached a path that led to a large graveled space. It was made by man, as had to be the metal beasts that sat inside it. Brolach quickly scanned the area, but didn’t see anyone else around.

  As Waverly continued walking toward one of the beasts, his steps slowed. “What are we doing here? We need to go to your home.”

  She stopped and looked at him. “If you want to do that, then we have to go in my car.” Waverly pointed to the black metal beast she’d headed toward. “It’s a lot faster to drive there than it is to walk.”

  He had no idea what a car was, but he had a feeling he was about to find out. Waverly led him over to the black one. She took something out of her pants pocket, pressed on it and was able to open a part of the car.

  Brolach glanced inside as Waverly stood to the side and motioned for him to come closer. There were two places for sitting. The one he stood near didn’t have a wheel in front of it. He looked at her, not sure what was expected of him.

  “Get inside,” Waverly said. “We can’t leave until you do.” She looked him up and down. “Hold on a second. Let me put something on the seat first. I don’t want mud ground into the upholstery.”

  She went to one end of the car, and another part of it lifted. Waverly took out what looked to be a folded blanket, then closed the opening before she came to his side once again. Brolach shifted out of the way as she bent, ducked her upper body inside and draped what she held over the seat.

  After she finished, she straightened. “There. Now you can get in.”

  This time she didn’t wait to see if he’d comply. Waverly took hold of his arm, positioned him and pushed on his shoulder until he lowered himself enough to climb onto the seat. Once he did, she ducked in and secured him to it with a wide black strap that came to rest across his hips and up his chest to his shoulder.

  Brolach wasn’t at all sure he liked being restrained like that. He decided to let it go for now as Waverly closed him in, then walked around the car and got inside next to him. When she also strapped herself to her seat, he realized she hadn’t tried to keep him trapped. He guessed it was part of what someone did while in a car.

  He turned his gaze directly in front of him, then just about jumped out of his skin when a loud rumble seemed to come from all around him. His fangs lengthened and he growled as he frantically looked around for the threat.

  “Relax,” Waverly said. “I just started the engine. And you can put those fangs and glowing eyes of yours away. You’re acting as if you’ve never been in a car before.”

  “Because I haven’t.”

  “Okay. Where have you been? Living in a hole somewhere?”

  “No, in the ground for the last couple thousand years.”

  Waverly appeared not to know what to say to that. She shook her head. “You can explain that after we get you cleaned up and fed.”

  She pulled on a stick that was between them before she held on to the wheel in front of her and then the car moved. Brolach watched the scenery go by at a very fast rate and was very much grateful he was immortal.

  *

  Waverly kept glancing at Brolach out of the corner of her eye as she drove toward town. She had no fricking clue what he was, and for some reason, all it’d taken was for him to look her in the eyes and tell her not to be afraid of him and she wasn’t. She’d been on the verge of completely losing it, and now she felt comfortable around him enough to take him home so she could feed him and get him cleaned up. It made no sense.

  She glanced at him again. Waverly had to admit that under all that dirt there was the makings of a very handsome face. One she found herself attracted to. Even his deep voice did delicious things to her body. As for his jade-green eyes that glowed at times and fangs that grew in size, she was okay with them. Again, it had to be a byproduct of him telling her not to be scared. His clothes weren’t exactly what the normal guy would wear either. The shirt and pants looked to be made out of buckskin, and on his feet he wore moccasins. He was dressed in native garb, but she didn’t think he was one. It was hard to tell under all the mud. His hair, which was long and covered the tops of his shoulders, was also covered in it.

  Once they arrived at her small two-bedroom bungalow, Waverly parked the car in the carport. Since Brolach hadn’t known h
ow to get into it, she unbuckled his seatbelt, got out of her side, then went around to help him open his door. As he stood in front of her, she couldn’t help feeling short compared to his almost six and half feet.

  She motioned for him to follow her as she walked out of the carport and to the front door. After she unlocked it, she stepped inside. Once Brolach came in behind her, she shut it. He stood in the middle of her entranceway, looking around.

  “I guess we should get you cleaned up first before you eat,” she said.

  “I’d prefer that.”

  Waverly headed down the hallway that led to the bathroom. On the way, she stopped at the linen closet and took out a towel. Once inside, she pushed open the glass shower door. Considering how muddy Brolach was, it didn’t take a genius to figure out she’d be washing the bathtub once he was done showering. She placed the towel on the counter.

  “You should have everything you need,” she said. “There’s shampoo, conditioner and a bar soap already inside the tub. I’m going to have to see what I can come up with for you to wear since you can’t put your clothes back on until they’re cleaned.”

  She went to leave, but he stopped her by standing in front of the doorway. “Wait. I need you to stay.”

  Waverly shook her head. “I’d rather not.”

  “I need your help.”

  She swallowed as she pictured the number of ways he’d need “help” in the shower. All of them had to do with him naked. She gave herself a mental kick to get her mind out of the gutter.

  “I don’t know if that’d be a good idea,” she said.

  Brolach took a stepped closer so he was toe-to-toe with her. “I don’t understand your world. You have to teach me how to live in it.”

  She looked him in the eyes. “You’ve never had a shower before, have you?”

  “No.”

  He watched her intently as she thought over what he’d said. If she told him no again, she had a feeling she’d suddenly have a change of heart without knowing it. Somehow he’d turn things his way as he had at the grasslands. She didn’t want that to happen again. Plus, there was a tiny voice inside her mind that reminded her that she more than wanted the chance to see him without any clothes on.