The Hybrid's Hope novel Chapter 6

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Levi

My life is perfect. The only thing that would make it more perfect is if Hope would have agreed to let me mark her. But I know my mate. She never expected to be worthy of a mate, even if I knew she was.

I carry her out into the water, partly because I want to feel how Qadira responds in the water and partly because we’re both covered in gritty sand.

I’m happy, content, and loving life when I feel Hope tense in my arms.

“What? What is it?”

If she says she regrets our time together, I’ll hate it, but I’ll deal with it.

She shakes her head, not wanting to tell me.

I growl, reaching up to pull her face to mine so she’s forced to look at me.

“Hope.”

She huffs out a sigh and if I’m not mistaken, she’s fighting tears.

“Was it terrible? I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll get better. It was my first time too. I read a lot of books and magazines to be ready for tonight, but … nothing could prepare me for how good it felt being inside you. I’m so sorry if I hurt you.”

“You didn’t hurt me,” she says, trying to push me away.

“Stop! Tell me what’s wrong. If you’re not hurt, what did I do wrong?” I ask her.

“Levi, you came inside me. We’re mates. What if …”

Oh shit! I did come inside her. I didn’t even think about it. I was so lost in how good she felt, how happy I was, that I didn’t think.

I close my eyes, thinking fast. “Okay, listen to me. Your body can’t support a child when you shift back and forth into your two different forms, right?”

“I don’t know, is that true?” she asks.

“Ask Qadira, but we know that once a woman is far enough along, she can’t shift. So, it makes sense that if you shift, before the fetus takes hold in your uterus, that your body won’t accept it.”

A part of me, a very LARGE part of me, hates telling her this. I want Hope to carry my pup or cub. I want to see her stomach growing large with my child. I want to come home at night and kiss my mate as I scoop up our son or daughter, kissing them too. It’s part of the dream that I’ve had for years, even since I realized that I was in love with Hope.

But I know that Hope is terrified of having a child. She’s worried that any child she has will be a hybrid as well and, therefore, be tormented like she was in school.

“So, tonight, we’ll shift back and forth. Qadira wants to swim anyway, right?” I ask.

“Yeah, but Malcolm won’t want to swim,” she says.

“Malcolm will do whatever his mate wants to do because he loves you both with every part of his being, just like I do,” I tell her.

“Give me my mate,” Malcolm growls.

Qadira shifts, right there in the ocean, looking like the goddess she is. Her bear isn't white, which is another reason we didn't know right away that her bear was a polar bear. Her fur, like the rest of her, is a blend of bear and wolf. Unlike most wolves whose fur is the same color as their human's hair, Qadira's fur is a lighter brown that Hope's hair, a cross between the white of her bear and the brown of her wolf.

“Mine!” Malcolm snarls, then shifts. He’s not as adept in the water as Qadira, but he forces himself to swim, proving that he’s worthy of being her mate.

Qadira, being the loving mate that she is, swims out of the water and begins running over the sand. Malcolm follows her and the two of them begin playing and nipping at each other in the light of the moon.

Hours and multiple shifts later, as the sun begins to rise, we both shift into our human forms. I sit Hope in front of me as we watch the sky begin to lighten, turning yellow, then orange, then red, then finally turning blue.

“I love you, Hope,” I say, lifting her into my lap so she’s over my hard length, then I slowly slide inside her. “I love you so much,” I say as she leans against me, her head falling back onto my shoulder.