Chapter 26

Chapter 26

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Five

My heart leaps into my throat when Eric attacks me. His large body collides with mine, and suddenly, we are rolling on the ground with him hissing like an animal. It’s terrifying. I thought the mate bond would kill his thirst for me, but it only seems to have made it worse. Long teeth elongate from his mouth, and I hold my breath.

Do I let him drink from me or not? He is my mate, and I want to be there for him, but something tells me he isn’t going to settle for a little taste. No. His eyes are crazed and filled with hunger–if he drinks from me, I’m probably going to wind up dying. He is a newborn hybrid; I doubt he can control his own strength and the amount of blood he will

take.

I struggle underneath Eric, his weight crushing me. “Eric, please,” I gasp out, trying to push him away. But he’s too strong. With his fangs bared, he lowers his head towards my neck. Panic sets in as I feel the sharp points of his teeth graze my skin.

Then, in a sudden burst of energy, I kick him off me. Eric goes flying, crashing into a nearby tree. I scramble to my feet, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

He’s not himself. Not entirely. The hybrid virus has infected him, turning him into

something else. Something dangerous. And even though we’re mates, I can’t let him hurt

“Stay back,” I warn him, holding up my hands. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Listen to her,” Logan says..

Eric growls and doesn’t listen to his brother at all. His eyes flashed red. “You’re mine,” he

snarls. “I have to feed.”

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I shake my head. “Not like this. You’re going to hurt me.”

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“I can control it,” he insists, his voice laced with desperation and hunger. “I just need a

little taste.”

Logan steps between us. “Eric, you’re not acting like yourself at all. A taste? Really? Are you hearing yourself?”

“But I’m hungry!” Eric cries. “So hungry!”

I stand a little closer to Logan, my heart pounding. “I can’t risk feeding you, Eric. Not when you’re like this.”

For a moment, Eric looks like he is going to attack again. But then he seems to deflate, his body sagging. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

I approach him slowly, my hands outstretched. “It’s okay,” I murmur. He is so much taller than me that I can’t touch his beautiful face, but he seems to understand what I want and leans into my touch, allowing me to cup his face. “We will figure this out together, Eric. You’re newly awakened. It happens. I didn’t expect you to be able to control yourself.”

Eric groans, his eyes closing as he leans into my touch. “I never wanted this,” he whispers, his voice heavy with regret. “I never wanted to be like this.”

That gives me pause. “You…you didn’t want us to bring you back to the land of the living?”

“Oh, I did, and I’m happy to be back,” he rubs his face against me and inhales the scent of my hair. I expect it to be fully romantic, but a snarl leaves his lips. “Fuck…this hunger… I don’t like this,” he leans back, his eyes flashing red. This time as if he knows that he doesn’t look like himself. “I’m a freaking monster, Five. All I can think about is blood. Your

blood.”

I take a step back, my heart racing as I look at Eric, now seeing the hunger and

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desperation in his eyes. “Eric, please don’t say that. You’re not a monster. You’re a hybrid. It’s in your nature to crave blood.”

“But it’s not supposed to be this way,” he growls, his eyes flickering between red and their

original black. “I’m supposed to have control.”

“And you will,” I assure him. “We will just need to find a way to help you gain that control.

There are ways to satisfy your hunger without hurting anyone.”

He looks at me skeptically. “How?”

“Blood banks,” Margaret helpfully suggests. “They have synthetic blood. It’s not as good

as the real thing, but it will do in a pinch.”

Eric shakes his head. “I don’t want that. I want…I want…”

“What?” I ask softly.

“I want you,” he whispers, his eyes locked onto mine. “I want your blood. Let me just take a little, just a little taste.”

Logan steps forward, his hand on Eric’s shoulder. “No, Eric. That’s not an option.”

Eric snarls, pushing Logan away. “Let me taste her!” he roars, his eyes blazing with a fierce hunger.

I take a step back, fear coursing through me. “Eric, please…”

But he is already on me, his hands gripping my arms tightly as he leans in, his teeth bared. “Let me taste you,” he growls, his breath hot on my skin before Logan and Margaret pull

him off with me.

“Help me handcuff him,” Margaret says in a concerned tone. “I’m not sure if it can keep a hybrid imprisoned, but we may as well try. There are used on vampires.”

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Logan shoots her a smile. “Alright. I will try to hold him still…Five, can you grip his wrists?”

I nod, my heart still pounding in my chest as I tentatively reach out to grab Eric’s wrists. But as soon as my fingers touch his skin, a jolt of electricity shoots through my body. Eric’s eyes have turned completely red now, and he is struggling against Logan’s grip with all his

might.

“Logan, hurry!” Margaret cries out, fumbling with the handcuffs. “We need to subdue him

now!”

With a fierce determination, Logan manages to pin Eric down to the ground, holding him in place as Margaret finally snaps the handcuffs around his wrists. Eric howls in anger and frustration, his body writhing beneath Logan’s grip as he tries to break free.

I watch in horror as Eric’s eyes continue to flicker between black and red, his body trembling with the force of his hunger. “What are we going to do?” I whisper, my voice. shaking with fear.

“We need to find a way to help him regain control,” Logan says, his voice firm and steady despite the chaos around us. “There has to be a way.”

Margaret nods in agreement, her eyes focused on Eric’s struggling form. “We’ll do everything we can,” she says. “We won’t let him hurt anyone.”

But as I look into Eric’s eyes, I can’t help but wonder if we are already too late. If his hunger has taken over completely, leaving nothing of the mate I once knew behind.