The Half Blood

NALA

He was about to catch me. I couldn’t remember how long I’d been running, but there was a burning feeling in my chest. I could hardly breathe.

The forest rushed by as I tried to find an escape.

The lycan must have been right behind me, because all of a sudden the most incredible smell penetrated my nostrils, causing Nealie, my wolf, to howl. In the distance, he howled in response.

“Mate,” she growled.

“Get yourself together,” I snapped back. Finally making it out into a clearing.

But, right beyond the treeline was nothing but a cliff.

I looked into the dark murky depths below. The waves crashed violently against the cliff face. The seafoam fizzled away slowly.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, there he was. He transformed right in front of me. His dark fur became raven black hair.

His muscles glistened in the sunlight.

The smell was intoxicating. I could barely think.

He breathed deeply, his dark eyes gazing intensely into mine. He was waiting for me to say something.

I didn’t say a single word. I turned and jumped.

My legs dangled off the side of the cliff. I watched as the waves crashed into the rocks below. The fact that I could just jump into the dark depths thrilled me.

Of course I wouldn’t. But the thought stayed buried in the back of my mind.

A cool breeze brushed my face as the smell of the ocean rushed through my nostrils.

My wolf, Neale, needed to go for a run in the wild. Nothing like a family vacation to the Royal Kingdom to put her on edge. Which was how I ended up here.

The Royal Kingdom(—Denmark(—as the mortals called in, could not be any more different from my isolated village. We didn’t have oceans like this where I was from. My home was located in the Crossbreed Land, the only place where half-breeds from all realms live together without problems. The realms were parallel worlds to the human world. Only nonhumans could cross the boundaries between them.

My father, Darius, and mother, Elenor, were not of the same kind. Mum was a she-wolf, while our father was a warlock. Two people from different worlds. Yet fate paired them together. Despite the enmity that exists between the two kingdoms, nothing prevented them from accepting each other.

Many years ago, a war broke out between the Realm of the Witches and the Realm of the Lycans. No one now knows why the bloody conflict took place. The only person with any answers was the Lycan King himself. His counselors were so petrified of him and his rages that not even a sliver of a rumor was spread over the two hundred years that had passed since the war began.

But the hatred and resentment the two realms had for each other still ran deep. Especially for the Lycans.

When our parents met, their instant connection changed everything for them. They couldn’t bear to be apart and decided to leave their families and move.

Neither kingdom allowed my parents to live as mates in their territories. No one wanted the half-bloods they would procreate to walk among their own people.

It wasn't just the Witches and Lycans who didn't want half-breeds.

The Vampires, the Fae, and the Dragon Shifters strictly forbade it. Half-bloods were considered lesser beings.

Our parents have been going back and forth from the Lycan Realm for years.

Mother had always been a teacher of History of the Seven Kingdoms. Though at first the Alpha King did not approve of her staying in the Realm with her mate, a few years ago, he had invited her back to teach at one of the pack schools.

At least he offered her some kind of apology by inviting her and my father to the Lycan Royal Ball this week. My sister, Maeve, and I had tagged along to visit the Kingdom. We unfortunately did not get the invitation to the festivities ourselves.

I didn’t even want to go to the ball.

Lycans were snobby people and I imagined the royal court was even worse. They thought they were better than us half-bloods.

A chill ran down my spine, snapping me out of my thoughts. Suddenly, I was filled with the feeling of being watched. Like I could feel a pair of eyes searing the back of my neck.

I squinted my eyes, scanning the treeline, when I noticed a shadow just beyond where the light hit the forest.

“Nala,” a voice said from the darkness. “I need to show you something.”

It was the voice of a woman. Mystical and enticing, like a magical spell.

“W-who is it?” I stuttered, standing up.

“I’m afraid I cannot reveal myself to you. At least not yet.”

“What do you need to show me?”

“Him…” she said ominously. “Follow me.”

The shadowy figure melted into the darkness, beckoning me toward it.

She led me through the trees, weaving ahead, like a glimmering cloud. I could barely make out the shape of a woman. She wore a long dark cloak. The shadow led me to a clearing, but dissipated the second it touched the light.

Despite it being the middle of the day, the sky darkened all of a sudden as if it were the middle of the night.

Right at the center of the meadow a flame grew. It was faded, a ghostly apparition. If this wasn’t real, did that mean that I was peering into the future?

I could hear drumming in the distance. The beat of the drums intensified with an urgency that made my heart race. I knew I was waiting for something, but what?

I looked around, but the woman was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, two shadowy figures appeared, a man and a woman. They walked toward each other, their gaze fixed together. With every step they took, they became more clear, the orange light flickering off of their almost-naked bodies. From where I stood, only their faces remained hidden.

The second they touched my body lit up. As the man’s hands circled the woman’s hips, pulling her into him, I felt his fingers dig into my own body.

As he kissed her neck, I felt his lips against my skin, all the way down to my collarbone and back up to my ear lobe.

His face was buried in her neck, but hers was now clear. I gasped when I recognized it. The very same blue eyes I had been looking at in the mirror my whole life.

The woman was me…