Hybrid

Chapter 23

The hunting party helped each other into their tough gear, Gideon had probably thought it looked easy to assemble but it really wasn’t if you hadn’t done it before. It clipped and strapped in places to keep it snug and protective. “Phantom!” Eva called, holding another piece of clothing. 

“Yeah.” She jogged over. “What’s up?” 

Eva tossed her the object at her. “It’s part of the gear. Take the jacket off and I’ll help you put it on.” 

“How much damage do you think we’re going to sustain?” Phantom asked incredulously, shrugging her jacket off. The object was a black vest, made from a thin but tough material. 

She slid it on, it was snug around the tops of her shoulders and Eva clipped it in the front. Tightening the straps, she handed her back her jacket. “It’s just precautionary.” 

“Huh, it’s surprisingly comfortable and easy to move in, like regular clothes.” Phantom was surprised, she shouldn’t have been because it made sense, but the toughness of the clothes made it hard to believe that you could move around so easily. 

Eva handed her a metal object that Phantom just stared at. “Oh shit, I forgot, elves don’t use guns.” 

“Guns?” She’d never heard of guns before. 

She handed the gun to her. “Yeah, elves don’t use guns and for some reason we don’t use them on them, usually we don’t use guns. For hunting, it’s just precautionary. We tend to use bows while hunting, occasionally we change to smell out our food or if it’s big enough we just attack it in wolf form.” Eva showed her how to hold it, take it out of safety, and fire it. “It’s a pistol. Tuck it into the side of the vest.” She instructed, watching Phantom as she did so. “Good, I already know you have a dagger tucked into your boot and here.” Eva handed her a bow and a quiver of arrows. “I’m going to assume you know how to shoot this?” 

“Of course.” Phantom scoffed. “I’ve known how to handle weapons since I was old enough to walk. Besides a gun apparently.” She slung the bow and quiver over her shoulder, the feeling comfortingly familiar; she was skilled with a bow, more so with a dagger. Eva set up her own stuff quickly, a brunette with blue eyes came up to her, walking tall even though she was a couple inches over five feet. 

“Beta,” she addressed her. “The hunting team is ready and waiting for you. Zy is being a child as usual and Annik is trying to help Fynn with his gear even though he needs no help.” 

Eva grinned, “Same old, same old. As long as everybody is geared up I don’t really care.” 

“I still don’t understand why our Sentinels have to be with the Hunters. They are better as our guards, not the other one.” The girl or woman, it was hard to tell because she looked like she had just gotten out of school, looked irritated but barely. 

Rolling her eyes, Eva thrust weapons in her direction. “Because they’re needed, just don’t let Annik hear you talking like that, I think she’s already known for a while that he’s not interested but she’s just hoping to change his mind.” 

A loud clamour drew their attention to the other werewolves, a blonde male was whooping and laughing with a red headed guy, his hair was more copper than red. They were attractive too. A girl with dark brown hair was watching them, a smile on her face when she watched the blonde one. 

“Fynn,” the dark haired girl practically purred. “Leave Zy alone. Be mature for once.” 

“Shove off Annik, just ‘cause Fynn doesn’t want you to blow him doesn’t mean you can’t let us have fun.” The guy with the copper hair snapped, Phantom quickly assuming he was Zy. He looked past her shoulder and his eyes widened when they landed on her. “Holy shit Fynn,” Zy grabbed his jacket. “We have a hot new hunter.” He whispered it, clearly noticing her pointed ears and sharper features.