Hunted Hybrid – Aegis War Saga 1
Chapter 38
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Ash conjured a cloth and wrapped it gently around my hands. “We’ll need to start training you in both. Moon magic and blood magic. Carefully. Blood work is volatile. It’s not like elemental casting, it’s instinctive. And dangerous.”
“Sounds like me,” I said weakly.
Daxon brushed hair off my shoulder. “You’re doing better than most first year soldiers. They just piss themselves
and pass out.”
“Wow, thanks,” I said snarkily. “Comforting.”
Taya grinned. “Look at you, blowing up the practice field and still cute.”
“I’m a blood drenched disaster,” I muttered.
“A powerful blood drenched disaster,” Ash corrected.
Lyssi yipped excitedly in my head. “Ash is pure perfection.” She sighed. I grinned, because yea, he definitely was.
“And she hasn’t even shifted today,” Rylen added, eyes warm but cautious. “That’s coming too, right?”
Ash nodded. “We’ll integrate combat shifting into the next session.”
Jace clapped once. “Alright, who wants to place bets on which of us gets their ass handed to them first by Elowen?”
“You,” Taya said instantly.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
I looked at the mess of blood on the warded grass, the stunned stares of Draven’s top warriors, the fear in my own hands. Then I looked up at the people who weren’t running. Not running away. Not running from me. And I smiled.
“Okay,” I said, wiping my palms clean. “Let’s go again.”
Stormclaw Keep – Training Ring, Later That Afternoon
Ash’s voice was low, steady, and way too calm for someone who just watched me accidentally explode blood like a warlock piñata.
“Again,” he said. “Left palm. Focus. Only moon magic this time.”
I exhaled slowly, my eyes on the small chalk ring in the grass in front of me. I could feel it now… the difference
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between the two. Moon magic was… cool and luminous. It pulled from my chest, from something soft but endless. It hummed behind my ribs like a lullaby on the verge of becoming a storm.
I lifted my hand, exhaled, and reached inward…past the fear, past the noise, into the part of me that had lit up during the blood moon shift. Silver light swirled across my skin, soft at first, then brighter.
Ash smiled. “Good. That’s your soul. Your heart. Your origin. The moon magic is you.”
Then he pointed to my right hand. “Now switch.”
I blinked, startled. “Switch? Like… blood now?”
“Yes,” he said, stepping closer. “Blood magic is different. It’s not summoned. It’s unleashed. It responds to intention. Purpose. Hunger.”
I swallowed. “And if I don’t have murderous intent?”
“Then use focus,” he said. “Pick something worth protecting. Anchor yourself. Then command it.”
I closed my eyes. This time, I didn’t pull from my heart. I pulled from my spine. From instinct. From rage. From the moment Vaela turned her back on me. From the betrayal. From the quiet, steady promise in Daxon’s arms that I
would not be broken by it.
Heat surged through my veins. Lyssi growled her approval. My right hand ignited, not in flame, but in a dark red
pulse that danced across my fingers like liquid lightning.
Ash’s breath caught. “You’re doing it,” he said reverently. “You’ve separated the threads.”
One hand silver. One hand red. Two sides of one soul. I stared down at my hands and felt… whole. For the first time
in years.
“You’re not broken,” Ash said, stepping closer. “You’re just built to carry more.”
I didn’t cry. But my throat ached like I wanted to.
Then I grinned. “So, what now? You throw me into the arena and make me wrestle a bear?”
Ash’s lips curved. “Close.”
Training Ring – Combat Field
“Let’s fucking GO,” Jace said, already bouncing on his toes like a six year old high on sugar and delusion. “C’mon, El. You and me. Friendly match. Just taps, no claws. First one to pin, wins.”
Rylen looked vaguely concerned. Daxon looked entertained. Taya was placing invisible bets with herself. I rolled my eyes and stepped onto the mat. “You’re on, toast boy.”
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He lunged. I pivoted. And five seconds later, I had him flat on his back, his wrist pinned behind his shoulder and my knee on his chest. “Fuck,” he wheezed. “Did you just..how the fuck”
“You said ‘tap out,” I smirked. He slapped the ground. “Okay, okay! I yield to the hot magical beast girl!”
Taya hollered from the sidelines. “That was sexy domination, ten out of ten!”
I stood, brushing grass off my pants. My heart was still racing…but not from fear. From adrenaline. And discovery. I was faster now. Stronger. My vision had sharpened. I could hear the shift of birds in the trees and smell the change in the wind. Every part of me felt like it had snapped into place.
Ash nodded approvingly. “Bond strength. Magic awakening. Hybrid acceleration. It’s all syncing.”
Daxon smiled proudly. “Told you she was a wrecking ball.”
“Let’s run,” Rylen said, his eyes shifting. “We shift, we run, we burn off whatever’s still building in our blood.”
Everyone agreed without question. We stripped in record time….shifter speed had perks…and in seconds, Lyssira
exploded out of me in a ripple of silver fur and bright blue eyes and howled.
Zuki howled, and Taya’s red wolf sprinted past me in a blur of firelight. Rylen’s wolf Anton was massive and dark,
with gold tipped fur and eyes locked on Zuki like she was the only thing that mattered.
Daxon’s wolf, Talon was huge, powerful, midnight and smoke, and ran on my left. Ash didn’t shift. He stood at the
edge of the trees, his arms folded, watching like a sentry.
But I knew he felt every step. Every howl. Every pulse of wild magic in the earth as we tore through the woods like lightning, like prophecy, like fucking freedom.
By the time we returned to the Keep, we were covered in mud, panting and laughing, wolf energy still humming under our skin. Dinner was waiting.
But I was already full. Of power. Of pack. Of purpose.
And gods help Aegis if they thought they could cage this.
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