His Hybrid

Chapter 4

Three Years Later (Mischen is 11)

I smile at the pictures I have of Mischen on my desk top. We were smiling happily, the beach behind us. We had driven through California three years ago and Mischen wanted to see the beach. I couldn't say no. After all, we had finally moved to a town that she liked and then we had to leave.

We had moved to a little town in North Dakota. Mischen seemed to be enjoying it here. She had made a small circle of friends and was passing all subjects in school. She still had trouble with math so she had a tutor every Wednesday after school. Mischen wasn't a big fan of him but he was the best tutor in the entire town and I wanted her to have the best education possible.

I looked over at the clock and saw that it was almost three o'clock. Mischen gets out at three fifteen and she was having a few friends over for the weekend since she got an A on her last math test. That is how I would encourage her. When she has math tests she either gets to choose what to do over the weekend or stays in studying for the retake the following week. She hated studying so she always worked really hard to pass the test. Even if she does fail she always manages to convince me to a movie marathon with her.

Lately she has gotten a bit obsessed with the Harry Potter series. She read the first book in class and watched the movie and she got hooked. She now owns all of the books and movies, has a few posters, and I got her an exact replica of Hermione's Time Turner for her last birthday. She wears it almost every day.

I leave the building that I work at, saying goodbye to a few of my co-workers on the way out. I get into my car and head over to Mischen's school. By the time that I get there Mischen and two of her friends are waiting outside for us. I get out of the car and look over at Mischen. Her dirty blonde hair, which she has been growing out, is in a bun on the top of her head. Her green eyes are shining brightly in the sun. Her skin has a kind of glow to it as she laughs at something one of her friends tells her.

"Mischen!" She looks over towards me and gives me a bright smile. She looks back at her friend and runs towards me, two of her friends follow her but they stay walking. When she gets to me she throws her arms around me and I hug her back. "Hey Misha." I pulled back with a smile. "How was school." She shrugs, a blush spreading across her cheeks. My eyebrows scrunch together in confusion but I let it go.

"It was fine. Boring actually. I hate school sometimes." I chuckled at her and got up, ruffling her hair. She pushed my hand away and scowled at me. I looked behind her to see her two friends. One of them had ginger hair and grayish blue eyes that seemed to judge everything but I could tell that she wouldn't actually speak her thoughts. The other one had brown hair and a pair of matching brown eyes. She had a light dusting of freckles that coat her candy apple cheeks nicely. She looks like a movie farm girl. Of course Mischen will always be prettier, more beautiful, to me.

"Well it's the weekend now and your friends will be over until Sunday morning." She smiled brightly and turned around to talk to her friends while I got up to unlock the car. I went around to the driver's seat and started up the car. I wait for the girls to get in and buckle up before driving back to the house.

When we get to the house I open the gate and wait for the girls to go through. When they are through I sigh in relief. This area has a few other creatures living here and I was really hoping Mischen didn't run into any of them. Even if her friends hadn't turned or gained their powers, they wouldn't be able to pass the gates if they were any creature other than human. I always have gates on our houses just so I can have a greater chance of keeping out other creatures.

"What do you girls want for dinner?" They set their bags down in the living room and Mischen came running into the kitchen. "Slow down Misha. I don't want you to get hurt." She nodded and sat on one of the stools at the island. The other two girls came in and sat next to Mischen.

"Can we have pizza? My parents never let me have it at home," the one with the brown hair said.

"Can we Salvus?" Mischen asked excitedly. The one with the ginger hair rolled her eyes but a smile tugged at her lips.

"Sure," I said and started to get out the ingredients. "Now which one of you is Sasha and which one of you is Kate?"

"I'm Kate," the one with the brown hair said.

"And I'm Sasha," the one with the ginger hair said. I nodded and went back to making food as the girls talked.

"Mischen, what did Scott talk to you about today?" I strained my hearing a bit so I could pay attention to their conversation. I've been worried about someone at her school seeing her eyes change colors. As soon as I know the conversation won't turn into that subject I'll ignore it, give them their privacy.

"He um. . . He asked me out." I could hear one of the girls squealing but then I heard a ringing in my ears and felt my eyes turn black. I quickly shook it off. She is only in sixth grade. Relationships aren’t even real at their age.

"And what'd you tell him?" Kate seemed far too interested in this. How much does her parents restrict her from? Maybe she just thinks it's cute or something that girls her age think.

"She obviously told him no," Sasha said. "We're in middle school, dating is stupid. What would they do anyways? Hold hands at lunch? It's useless."

"I didn't tell him yes or no. I said I'd think about it." I stiffened. This is stupid, my jealousy I mean. I should let her do whatever she wants. Let her be a normal girl for awhile. She only has three more years until she'll have to hide more. If she wants to keep participating in school, it will have to be online. She'll be lucky if she's able to leave the house for things other than hunting with me.

I looked back to see Mischen closing her eyes tightly and rubbing her temples. "Sasha, Kate why don't you girls choose the toppings. They’re on the second shelf in the fridge. Mischen has medicine she is supposed to take right now,” I lied. They both said okay and I gently took Mischen's arm and led her to the bathroom, closing the door.

"Let me see," I whispered. She moved her hands away from her head and opened her eyes. Her eyes were a reddish orange, letting me know she was frustrated.

"Why does this happen to me?" She asked and the color in her eyes intensified. I held out one of my hands and she put hers in mine.

"It's okay. It makes you special," I said with a smile. "Now take a few deep breaths." She did as I said and her eyes slowly went back to normal. "Better?" She nodded. "Good, I'm sure your friends are waiting for you."

When we got back to the kitchen the girls were still putting toppings on the pizza. Mischen joined in and I smiled.

*~*~*~*

"If I can hear you girls still up past eleven then I'm going to make you sleep in Mischen's room instead. Understand?"

"Yes," they all chorused. They insisted on watching movies until they fell asleep but I knew Mischen would have trouble controlling her emotions if she stayed up too late. I have been thinking about getting her colored contacts but I don't know how she would feel about that.

I went to my room and opened my mini fridge, grabbing a soda and turning on my TV. I watched some random show on Netflix until about midnight when I heard a knock on my door. "Salvus," Mischen whispered poking her head inside. Her hair was down now and she was in a pair of sports shorts and a T-shirt that’s too big for her. When she saw I was awake she walked in and jumped on my bed.

"What's wrong Misha? Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I couldn't get to sleep," she admitted and pulled on the ends of her dirty blonde hair.

"Come here.” She crawled in the blanket next to me and I held her close.

"I think Sasha's right about dating in middle school."

"Is that what's keeping you up," I asked while tightening my grip on her.

"Yeah. Kate thinks that if I tell Scott yes then I'll have fun but Sasha says it's useless."

"I think you should do what you think is the right thing. Not what your friends think is right."

"Then I'll tell him no. Aunt Joli used to tell me that everyone has a mate out there. I wanna wait for them." I smiled at her. She gave me a tiny smile but then she frowned. "When will I see them again?"

"I don't know," I said sadly. "How about next time you have a school break I'll try to arrange something with them?" She hopped up, turning to face me. In the past few years, I’ve arranged calls between them. Sometimes they are video calls but it’s overall rare. We don’t want the werwolf council tracking us.

"Really?" I could see excitement dancing around her eyes, her smile growing widely.

"No guarantees but I'll try," I said knowing that her talking to them over a computer screen a few times a year is tough for her.

"Thank you Sal-" she yawned, "vus." She closed her eyes and fell asleep. I closed my eyes and followed her actions.