Defiance: The Hybrid's Tale (MxM)

Chapter 5: Tangled Situations. [Edited]

Nathan Underhill.

After stumbling into the kitchen, I rushed over to the table. The trek back to the house was arduous. Wolfsbane still clung to my blood, draining the last of my strength. The arrow wounds I had sealed with a ward were beginning to deteriorate. I grabbed onto the table to steady my balance. Pulling out one of the chairs, I fell into the chain with a hiss.

"Mom!" I cried out.

I had a hard time keeping my head from toppling over. What made it worse, the burn scar burned as if someone held a blowtorch to my skin. The three ribs I broke made it difficult to breathe as well.

"How did we get into this situation, Fenrus? Dad taught us better than that." I stared at the picture of a handsome blond man with green eyes holding my mother and me in a tight hug. I miss you, dad.

"We all miss him..." Fenrus let out a mournful howl that made me tear up.

Just as I began to doze off, my mom walked into the kitchen with a bouquet of flowers she picked from the front garden. As soon as she saw me, she screamed and ran over to me.

"Nathan! What happened?" She pulled a chair up and dropped down beside me. She touched the wound on my left shoulder, making me flinch.

"Ow! That hurts." I hissed.

"Tell me!"

"Hunters..." My lips began to numb.

My mom quickly grasped the situation and ran into the pantry. Seconds later, she emerged with a small bottle of red liquid and a first aid kit. She uncorked the bottle and lifted it to my lips. "Drink."

I obeyed her command and gulped the nasty concoction, sputtering when the liquid burned the back of my throat and stomach. Immediately after, warmth spread over my entire body. I glanced down at the burn scar. The wound slowly faded away while my broken ribs crunched back in place, mending themselves. My regeneration had kicked in. Thank the Goddess for my mom's magical potions. Fenrus chuckled at my comment. With renewed vigor, I tried to get up but my mom stopped me.

"Don't move. We're not done yet. The wounds on your leg and shoulder haven't healed yet, it will take a day or two. So tell me what happened." She took out a cotton pad and a bottle of saline solution.

I sighed, knowing that my mom would never allow me to leave my chair, so I explained what happened. After my tale, I couldn't help but avoid her gaze. I was terrified that she'd hate me for killing those men.

"Nat?" She grabbed me by the chin and pulled my gaze at her. "What's wrong?"

"I should never have killed them... I could have—"

"Don't do that to yourself, do you hear me? You had no choice. They would have killed you without sweating it..."

"Just as I said," Fenrus chimed in. "Great minds think alike."

I huffed and replied, "Oh, shove off, will you? If your mind is so great, why do you keep chasing your tail?"

My mom's voice interrupted Fenrus' growl.

"...It's a cruel world out there and sometimes you have to defend yourself no matter what. You didn't kill them for the pleasure of it, but to defend yourself."

"But—"

"No buts, Nathan. You don't want to go down that road. What happened, has happened. There's no turning back."

I squirmed around in my seat as my mom dabbed my wounds with the cotton pad laced with saline. She then took out a roll of medical tape and gauze.

"What are we going to do, Mom?" It was highly likely that we would have to start packing up again. It was only a matter of time before the incident drew curious eyes towards us, especially when it hit me that I had forgotten my t-shirt at the crime scene.