The hybrids are coming.

After my family leaves, I go directly to the alpha's house. He needs to know what's going on so he can alert the pack. We need to do an emergency evacuation. I'm not risking anything.

I stride up the porch of the alpha's house and knock on the front door, not even realizing that I'm knocking before sunrise. It's not like I actually care. We have more important things going on other than getting our eight hours of beauty sleep.

It takes a few minutes for the door to open. Alpha Ryan answers, and he looks like he just rolled out of bed. I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

"Brynn, what's-"

I cut him off, "I don't have much time to explain." I jump into the explanation of the hybrids, ignoring the shocked look taking over his face. I don't have time to break the news lightly and give him time to get used to it. This is literally a life or death situation.

"They're on their way now, so we need to evacuate everyone. I know that's a lot of work, but we don't have any other options," I rush, gasping for air when I finish talking. "You don't have time to ask questions. I wish I could tell you more, but your number one priority right now is protecting your pack. I'll worry about the hybrids."

Alpha Ryan opens his mouth to say something, but he quickly closes it and nods.

"Thank you," I breathe, and relief floods through me. It's not the end of things by any means, but it's something.

Without saying anything else, I turn around and bolt for the elder's home. I'm praying to the moon goddess that they might know something about the hybrids. There has to be something else to weaken them so we can fight. We don't have time to wait for the solar eclipse anymore. It's still two weeks away, and the hybrids are coming now.

I run as fast as I can. When I get there, I don't have to knock. Athena and Alden are out on the porch, sitting on the couch each with a mug of coffee in their hands. The couple is talking quietly to one another, and when I step onto the stairs up to the porch, they both look at me with warm smiles.

Their smiles quickly fall when they see the look on my face. "Brynn?" Athena asks, setting her coffee on the side table and standing up. I stay at the top of the stairs as she approaches me.

"Do you know anything about hybrids?" I ask, gasping for air once again.

Athena's eyes widen, and she looks back at Alden. He stares at her with no emotion showing, and I know even before he slightly nods that they definitely know something.

"Come sit," Athena says, leading me over to one of the chairs across from the couch they were sitting on. "How do you know about hybrids?"

I hesitate before speaking quietly, my voice just above a whisper. "I am one."

Athena gasps, but Alden doesn't look surprised. I stare at him for a few seconds while Athena lets the news soak in, and then I ask him, "Did you already know?" He nods. "How?

"When you were a few years old, your dad came to me. He told me about his first mate, your birth mom, and how she died giving birth to you. He didn't know hybrids were even a thing until they had you. He didn't know how he was supposed to raise you, if the vampire in you would make it different. We decided that the safest way was for you to not know until you at least met your mate."

"Well, it worked," I say, the edge in my voice coming out. It's not a great feeling to be reminded of the fact that I was lied to my entire life. "The vampire in me stayed hidden until I met my mate. He told me."

Alden nods, and he looks ashamed. I don't say anything, because I don't know what I would say.

"Why are you asking if we know anything about hybrids?" he asks.

I purse my lips together, not sure how I should jump into explaining this. There's so much to explain to them with so little time. They need to evacuate too, but I need to know if they know of anything that could help us first.

"A couple weeks ago, my mate and I were running in the woods when we ran into a few other hybrids," I start, and I go from there. Athena looks horrorstruck as I continue on, but Alden remains emotionless. They're both listening intently.

Tears start to fall as I talk about Max going undercover and what they're doing to him now. I wipe them away, but they're falling faster than I can keep up. "And now they're on their way here right now, and I don't know what to do. They'll eliminate our pack, which is why we're evacuating everyone, but I need to save Max. There has to be something that can weaken them besides the solar eclipse," I finish.

Athena stands up and pulls me into a bone crushing hug. I tuck my face into her shoulder and start balling. "Shh," she soothes in my ear, rubbing a comforting hand up and down my back. I hear Alden get up from the couch and head inside as I cry.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," I sob quietly, and I pull away from Athena. She keeps me at arm reach. "The hybrids are too strong for the pack to fight until the solar eclipse, and that's still two weeks away. Max got caught and I don't know what they're planning to do with him when they get here. He can't die though. I need him." I bury my face in Athena's shoulder again, and another round of fresh tears fall.

Alden joins us back on the porch, and I'm sobered up in no time. Athena raises an eyebrow at my quick change of mood. I shrug my shoulders and smile as f to say "you caught me". She catches on and smiles back, glancing down at my stomach.

Alden remains clueless.

The elders may be the wisest people in the pack, but they can skip over some of the most obvious things.

I turn my gaze to Alden, and he's holding a very old book that looks more like a clump of rags. He holds it out to me, and I take it as carefully as I can. I feel like one wrong touch will make it disintegrate. That's how hold it looks.

"This is a document of hybrids dating back from the very beginning. This will have more information about them then you will find anywhere else combined."

My jaw drops. "How did you guys find this? It looks like it's hundreds of years old."

"Because it is. It dates back to the first hybrid to ever walk the earth. A lot of packs have their own copies, but this is the original."

"How—" I start, wanting to know how our pack is the one with the original, but Alden cuts me off.

"Let's just day this isn't the first time this pack has run into a hybrid problem in the last couple of centuries."

"What does that mean?"

"You aren't the first hybrid this pack has seen. It's always kept on the down-low because ninety nine percent of the population doesn't even know they exist. They don't think it's possible for werewolves or vampires or any other species to be mated to anyone other than they're own kind."

"When was the last hybrid in this pack before me?" I ask, wanting to know just how common it is. I've completely forgotten about the hybrids coming with Max, because this is the most I've learned about hybrids since finding out I was one.

"He was born almost one hundred years ago," Alden says quietly. "He was my older brother. My father didn't meet his second chance mate for another fifteen years. Your father got lucky in meeting Lacey only a few months after you were born."

I nod, because no words are coming to my mind. And then, "You guys should get going. I don't know how much time you have to get away. Thank you for this." I gesture to the book in my arm.

"You can do this, Brynn," Athena smiles, pulling me in for a hug.

"Thank you," I whisper. I pull away. "Thank you both. For everything."

"Anytime," Alden says.

I nod, and then I turn around and run off towards my house.

I've got a shit ton of pages to read in an extremely short amount of time before the hybrids get here.

And Max.