The smile is wiped off my face. I don't even realize that his mind link is working again.

In the silence that follows after Max's mind link, I'm able to sense the hybrids. I can smell them, and I'm surprised I didn't hear them sooner.

"Brynn?" Mara says, her smile gone as well. Her eyes are wide and set on me. "What's wrong?"

"Max. They're here."

She swallows this information, and then she stands up. She reaches out her hands for me to grab, and when I do, she pulls me up to my feet.

I stumble to the doorway of my room after Mara, but she's not having it. She turns around and abruptly grabs my face between her hands. "Brynn." The stern tone of her voice makes me snap my eyes to her.

"Listen, I know this situation sucks, but you need to shape the fuck up right now. I love you, but you need to pull yourself together before we leave this room. If you can't, you're not going to be able to save Max. Is that what you want?"

Her harsh words are exactly what I need to hear. Her intentions are the farthest from being harsh, and that's what flips the switch inside of me. I wipe the remaining tears from my eyes and set my gaze into battle mode. Mara smirks, "There's the bad bitch."

"Let's go," I say, and then I'm the one leading Mara. With each step I take downstairs, I can feel and smell the fumes of the concoction working their magic inside of me. It's not a good magic, and I escape out the back door as fast as possible. Mara rejoins Hayden in the kitchen so they can put this plan into action.

The scent of the hybrids invades everything. The scent, the noise, the physical weight suddenly appearing in my chest. I don't see them near the house, but one quick moment of stillness to focus specifically on my hearing is enough to tell me that they're in the direction of the pack house.

Panic builds up inside me, because I still have no idea how the hell I'm going to get Max safely away from the hybrids but still leave enough time for them to be affected by the fire. I force the panic back to wherever it came from, though, because I cannot panic right now. I need to be on my sharpest game, and panic is not part of that.

As I wait for the hybrids in the backyard, my mind races with possible solutions for escaping. It almost seems impossible, but then it comes to me. I don't waste any time.

Mara, Hayden.

What's up? Mara mind links me.

Slight change of plans. Max and I are going to hang around until we're all too weak to escape. Then you and Hayden can shift and have Max and I on your backs. It's the only way I can think of to keep the hybrids here long enough.

So you're just going to put yourself in danger? Hayden responds.

And risk harming your baby? Mara says. Even in my mind, her voice is quiet.

Harming my baby was the first thing that came to mind with this plan, but I don't know how else to handle this. If I'm not here, the hybrids will keep searching until they find me. Without me right here, the plan is worthless.

I don't want to do it either, but it's the only plan we've got.

Brynn, what if there's a way you could do it and protect the baby?

Hayden, what the actual hell are you talking about?

You said you didn't know you were a hybrid until Max told you, and until then, the vampire in you basically didn't exist. It was hidden inside of you but played no part until you were made aware of it.

I catch on to where he's going with his idea, and I excitedly finish his thought.

I could try and reverse that effect! I could try and force the vampire side of me back to where it was hidden, and maybe the fire won't affect me!

Hayden, you are a fucking genius, Mara says.

I try, Hayden says.

I'll do my best. I'll let you guys know when they're here, I say.

I think about what our plan actually is now, and I realize that I don't even know where to start. The image of the book pops into my mind, and I mind link Mara to bring it out to me. I'll have the most luck looking through that then trying to do it on my own.

She brings the book out quickly, and I practically rip it out of her hands because of how anxious I am. "Thank you!" I rush out, immediately flipping it open on the table nearby to start searching. She heads back inside to rejoin Hayden, but I don't pay any attention to her. I'm focused solely on the Hybrid's book.

I flip through the pages frantically, just like I did earlier when trying to find a way to defeat the hybrids. I'm careful to not rip the pages, but that's where my gentleness stops. I need to figure out if there's a way to confine the vampire side of me.

All of my senses are on high alert as the hybrids get closer and closer. It seams like they're stopping at places along the way, and I don't want to know why. All I care about is the fact that it's giving me more time to figure out how to hell to make this plan work.

And then I find the page I'm looking for.

And I also realize how horribly this plan could go wrong.

Guys, what if the hybrids know how to make part of them not exist?

Then we are royally fucked and we are all going to die.

Mara, I mind link, hoping the annoyance is still conveyed in my tone.

Sorry.

The only thing we can hope is that they don't know how to, Hayden says. We don't even know if it's possible.

It is. I just found it in the book.

Then hopefully they don't how to. Or maybe they don't know it's possible, or even a thing at all.

I don't respond, because like Hayden said: we just have to hope. I start reading the passage, but there's nothing special I have to do to make the vampire side of me vanish until Max and I are safe. It's all inside of me. I have to mentally erase the vampire side of me, but I don't know if I have that kind of strength.

I close the book, lean back in the chair, and rest my hands on my stomach. Feeling my little bump calms me down. It's a reminder that we can and we will pull this off. We have to. My baby is going to live to see the light of day, and I refuse to let them be born in the middle of a war.

That is not going to happen.

I close my eyes, and I start taking deep breaths. I will the vampire away inside myself, not know if it's actually working or not. I don't feel any different, but I don't think something big is going to happen. When I found out I was a hybrid when I met Max, no feeling washed over me. Everything just clicked into place within me, just like that.

I hope it's the same thing.

I was so focused on becoming a pure wolf right now, I don't realize how close the hybrids are. My eyes fly open, and my senses all engage to determine where they are. They're only minutes away.

And my wolf is going crazy at the feeling of Max being nearby. I'm going a little crazy too.

Guys, it's almost go time, I mind link. Neither of them responds, but I know they got the message.

I stand up, tucking the book into the front of my shorts and under my shirt. I'll pass it off to Max when we leave. I may have erased the vampire in me for the time being, but there's no way for me to help him do the same without the hybrids becoming suspicious.

I walk off of the patio and wait at the line of trees into the woods. They're coming from that direction.

And it doesn't take long before I start to see them. They're weaving through the trees, and there's at least fifty of them. My eyes are scanning the group, looking for my mate.

I can feel the power in the air. This many hybrids in such close proximity is intimidating, but I don't let them intimidate me. I stand up straight, take a deep breath, and then my eyes land on the one person I've been searching for.

Max.