The Vampire’s Hybrid / Book Four ✔️
Chapter Nine: Beauty in Her Beast

Lucas held his hands behind his back while he waited for Ava to come out of the cabin in her wolf form. His excitement was evident, and after what he secretly did to that asshole who tried to ruin her day, he wanted to get some joy out of her before he confessed to his actions. He hated himself for missing the whole thing, the Beta had gotten up on his nerves and then he turned back around, he saw her physically pushing the guy to the ground before running away. Lucas knew then that something bad had happened, and when the asshole lied, he couldn’t help himself but break his nose.

His eyes surveyed the cabin. He was desperate to know who she made this for, and the longer she dodged the topic, the more curious he had become. It wasn’t his business, but he held a strong form of jealousy in his gut at the thought of her building this for someone special, and as stupid as that jealousy was, he couldn’t help but feel it deep in his gut.

He quickly looked away from the run-down building before his nerves got the better of him. After spending each night venturing into the thieves’ lands and buying out one of the flower stores, his jealousy was pointless and seeing his necklace around her neck also heightened the fact that he was the only person on her mind, but he couldn’t help it. That overprotective need to have her was driving him insane, and he wondered if Raph and Zack felt this. He wondered how deeply August suffered when Nymeria pushed him away and how scared Zack was when Mack almost rejected him. Luke knew that he had it easy, Ava was all over him, and he wasn’t about to complain, but his fears were deeper than he realised, and now he hoped that she wouldn’t flip and reject him for being too clingy.

The door to the cabin opened, snapping him out of his panicked thoughts. He saw a paw first, her hair was the colour of light golden-brown like the natural hair on her head. His eyes widened in awe as she came out, her wolf was small but as he looked into her soft golden-brown eyes, he knew that he was looking at his Ava. Lucas felt his breath hitch, he didn’t know entirely why he asked to see her wolf - maybe out of curiosity but he was glad that he had. She was beautiful and as he came near her and placed his fingers into her hair, he had to hold back a moan of satisfaction as their mate bond intensified in this form. He heard her gently sigh at his touch and his lips instantly turned up into a grin as he went down onto his knees so that he could touch her more.

He remembered the conversation he had with Abby, how he called the werewolf kind, dogs without thinking but now that he has finally seen one up close. Now that his mate had gifted him with the pleasure of seeing her true form, he wanted to take back what he said. Calling her a dog was an understatement. Calling her anything but pure perfection and beauty felt like a sin as his body shivered from the sparks that evaporated through his fingers and curled around his form.

‘You’re too quiet.’ Ava said through their shared mind link.

Lucas felt himself jump, his heart racing as he wasn’t used to someone talking in his mind. Her voice came through so naturally that he felt himself lost for words. He wasn’t completely educated on the topic of werewolves but he knew that they all shared a specific mind link. And for mates, they had their own, but he wasn’t aware that you didn’t need to be of the same species to share a link so special.

‘I wasn’t aware I could talk to you like this.’ He finally said as he shook his head and tried to come back to reality but it was hard around her. Their connection was so natural that sometimes he found himself star-struck with how easy it was to talk to her and be around her. Even in their silence, he was at ease. ‘How can you talk to me?’

‘Usually, you need to mark each other for this to work.’ She said sheepishly as she sat down and faced him. Her tail wrapped around her body while she tilted her head. ‘But I’m a witch and with my power, I guess I can talk to you like this without needing to be fully mated to you.’

Lucas felt his pants tighten at the thought but he tried to dismiss it and hoped that she wouldn’t look down. He then felt himself panic, she could smell his arousal, it was in her blood and that thought alone made his face heat. “Why is your hair so soft?”

His question made him close his eyes in embracement. He didn’t know what else to say and the question slipped out before he realised what he was saying but instead of laughing at him, she placed her face in his lap, her right ear against his chest before she answered. ‘We like to keep ourselves as clean as possible and that is why we have plumbing here. We have showers and we have only just figured out how to create hot water so we aren’t bathing in cold water.’

His eyebrows rose in fascination. Lucas had heard about them being the first on the island to have running water. He had tried but Zack went through the layout of the castle and village and found that there was no way that it could be done without destroying the entire kingdom and rebuilding from the ground up. “I would love to see it sometime.”

Ava lifted her head, cold instantly hitting his legs as he missed her touch. ‘I can show you right now.’

He didn’t fully comprehend her words as she stood and walked back into the cabin. He stood and waited a few minutes before she came back out fully clothed and was whispering something that he couldn’t make out, under her breath. He went to ask her what she was doing before the canin transformed into a fully working building. Gone were the weeds and overgrown vines and what replaced them was a pristine wooden cabin with a small garden by the front entrance. Ava wordlessly opened the door with a wide smile on her face as she entered and waited for him to follow.

He had no words as he entered and looked around. It no longer smelt like damp mold and dirt, the flooring held rugs and the kitchen held a bason with two fossett’s. He watched as she walked into the kitchen and turned the small dials before water came out. “This is utterly brilliant!”

Ava’s small blush made his heart swell as he stood close behind her. He could feel his hands wanting to touch her lower back but he retrained himself. He still regretted kissing her the way he had and he didn’t want to mess anything up now as their relationship was only just starting to form. That and his conflict with himself, he wanted her to know how truly special she was to him and knowing how she felt about herself placed a deep pain inside of him that he wanted to burn and bury along with the people who made her feel this way. “Thank you. It took months before Alpha agreed and that was only because Cole asked him. He would have never allowed this if I had asked.”

Lucas felt another round of rage hit his heart as he frowned. “You were the one to have this idea?”

She nodded a little embarrassed. “I was tired of heating buckets of water for one bath so after I created this cabin, I came back here and used my abilities to see if I can form some kind of pipe like to the river. It worked and then I showed Gene and Cole and they agreed that it was a good idea.”

“How did you connect it all in your pack?”

His question was genuine curiosity but her eyes had widened and her rosy cheeks darkened. “I uh… well when the Midnight Pack held their yearly celebration for their Luna’s birthday, Alpha made Cole, Gene and myself stay back because we weren’t allowed to go. Cole told him that we would do it then and Alpha threatened to kill all three of us if that promise was broken so I waited until the pack was empty and used what I could to do it. I slept for three days after, it was the first time I used my powers for something so large and I was drained.”

Lucas felt a smile form on his face. He didn’t like what drove her to do this, to begin with, but he liked the idea that she was so kind and selfless that she risked exposing herself to help her people. “You are pure beauty and kindness, you know that? Your selfishness is abominable and I hate knowing that you are just being used even more.”

Ava looked down and bit her lip as she turned the water off. He noticed that she had clenched her thighs and that confused him but he dismissed it as she softly smiled up at him again with hope in her eyes. “Did you want to join us for dinner?”

The look of hope in her gaze made his breath hitch with want as he nodded. “I would love to.”