The Hybrid’s Second Chance
Chapter 80

Julianna's

POV

Alex and I were gathered around Gregory's dead body, making sure this was, in fact, the last time we were going to have to go through this. The fighting around us had lightened significantly, as most of the remaining October Moon warriors were retreating into the trees. "Don't let them get away," I said in a massive mind link to our warriors. "I don't want any chance they could come back and try this again!"

"Yes, Luna," everyone chanted together.

"Elijah, is anyone of ours injured or worse?"

"No, it doesn't seem that way. It looks like all the casualties are on the October Moon side."

"Good. Have you seen my mom or Cornelia? Someone needs to go find Vincent."

"I haven't seen anyone so far, just Hannah. I'll send someone in search of Vincent."

"Okay, thanks. We'll go find my mom." Sofia turned to Alex and lan.

"We have to find my mom and Cornelia," I told him.

"Let's split up and see where they are." I went in one direction as Alex and lan went in another. Walking around for a minute, avoiding dead bodies, I saw the long chestnut hair of Cornelia, tending to a Lycan that had been injured. Sofia walked over to her, rubbing her nose along her arm.

"Hey, I'm okay," she reassured us. Sofia whined, wanting to know where Vincent was. "Vincent's fine. He came to pretty quickly, and I think he's talking to Hendrix." Sofia nudged her with her large head, letting her know we were happy she was okay. We turned and continued our search for our mom.

"Cornelia and Vincent are fine," I told Alex.

"Good, still no sign of your mom," he told me.

"Mom, where are you?" The only thing I was met with was silence. "Mom, can you hear me?" Still, it was only silent. I was beginning to panic. The man had a knife to her throat and with me getting away and the fight breaking out, I wasn't sure what happened to her. I saw Elijah walking over to me, back in his human form, wearing some basketball shorts. He was carrying what appeared to be a T-shirt in his hands.

"I thought you might need this," he told us, holding out the shirt. Sofia took it in her mouth and went behind a nearby tree to shift and change. When I came back out, I saw Hannah whispering in Elijah's ear, tears glistening in her eyes. That didn't seem like a good sign. I walked over to them both and she looked at me with wide, grieving eyes.

"What's the matter?" I asked, my heart quickening. She sucked in a breath and looked from myself to Elijah, who now had a sorrowful look on his face. "What's the matter?" I repeated slightly louder.

"Um, well, Jason found your mom," she said with a sniff. Sofia was whimpering in my mind.

"Where is she?" I asked. Hannah only looked at me as the tears spilled over and ran down her face. "Hannah, where is she?" My voice broke on the last syllable. Hannah stepped to the side, and I saw Jason walking towards me, slowly. My stomach dropped and my heart caught in my throat. My mother's limp body, still dressed in her swimsuit, was cradled in his arms. Blood soaked and pale from a slice I could see across her neck even from this distance. My breath started coming quickly as he got closer and closer. I felt warm arms close around me, as Alex came to my side.

"Don't look, Julia," he said, trying to pull me into his arms.

"NO!" I yelled, ripping myself from his arms and walking towards Jason, who had stopped moving. "Mom....." I stammered, looking into her gray, lifeless face. "Mommy...." I was only inches from her, as I reached my hand out and placed it over hers.

"I'm so sorry Luna, we didn't get to her in time," Jason hung his head as he spoke, not able to look into my eyes. I think time around me froze, my breath was caught in my lungs and wasn't coming out of my mouth anymore. My body felt like it had been plunged into an ice bath. This couldn't be happening; I was going to open my eyes and find out this had all been a dream.

"Julia, sweetheart," I heard Cornelia's worried voice behind me. She could fix this!

"Heal her..." I whispered. "What?"

"Heal her," I said, turning to face her. I was pleading, this was my only chance, she had to be able to help. "Please...." Cornelia looked from my desperate eyes to Alex behind me, and then my mother's body. "Honey, I can't heal the dead." She reached out to me, but I stepped back.

"No...."

"Julia," Hannah started to say.

"No.... no, no, no!" My breath was coming too fast now, it seemed like my lungs were trying to rip themselves from my body along with my heart. "No, because she.... She was with me. She was right next to me when they.... And then I moved the knife....." My whole body was shaking, I stumbled and fell to my knees hyperventilating. Without even knowing it, tears were streaming down my cheeks as if someone had broken a damn. I felt arms engulf me from where I sat on the ground. I buried my head in Alex's neck, his scent doing nothing to calm me in this moment.

"It's alright," he cooed, stroking my hair.

"No, no it's not! This is all my fault!" I sobbed.

"What are you talking about? This is in no way your fault!" he said forcefully.

"Yeah, it is! I should have moved the knife away from her! Gregory was distracted, he wouldn't have had time to hurt me! I wasn't even thinking!"

"Julia, this isn't your fault! We don't even know when it happened. It could have been someone else."

"Julia, honey, you didn't do anything wrong here." The sad voice of Beth broke my train of thought. This had to be as hard for her as it was for me. Beth and my mom have been friends since they were little. Looking up at her face, I saw her red, watery eyes were looking down at me with sadness and empathy.

"Beth...." I sniffed, shaking off Alex's arms and getting to my feet. I stumbled forward into her open arms, and we held each other. Her body was shaking with the silent sobs she was trying not to show. After a minute of attempting to comfort one another, I heard footsteps walking away. Opening my eyes, I turned to see Jason walking away from us, still cradling my mom's body. "Where are you taking her!" I yelled, trying to follow him. But strong arms caught me and held me tight.

"He's taking her to the morgue," Alex said softly.

"Right, the morgue.... Because she's......." but I couldn't finish my sentence, I couldn't make the word escape my lips or it might actually be true. But the true realization hit me like a freight train at that moment. My mother was dead, gone from this world, and I would never be able to see or speak to her again. My legs gave out from under me, as the little strength they had left disappeared. I started falling towards the ground, but Alex had me in his arms before I got close to hitting it.

"I'm taking her home," I heard him say, from what seemed like a distant world. He must have run us, or Cornelia must have teleported us, because the next thing I felt was the softness of our bed underneath me. I rolled onto my side, drawing my knees to my chest as I continued to let my tears flow freely. Alex crawled in behind me, and drew me to his hard chest, kissing the top of my head. Sleep must have overtaken me, because when I peeled my puffy eyes open, the room was dark. I felt for Alex, but he wasn't in bed with

me.

"Alex!" I yelled, hoping he was about to come into the room and tell me it was all just a bad dream. "ALEX!" I yelled louder. He came bursting into the room, looking at me with concern and fear because of how loud I had been screaming.

"I'm here!" he said, climbing back into the bed and pulling me to him. "Sorry, I had to go take care of a few things."

"Are you gonna tell me it was all just a bad dream?" I asked in a whisper.

"I want nothing more than to tell you that," he said, snuggling closer to me.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked. "I don't know how to live in a world where she doesn't exist. How am I supposed to live without her?"

"I know, and that never really goes away, you just learn how to keep moving every day. I'd love to say it gets easier with time, but that's not the truth. You just learn how to breathe through the harder times." I had forgotten Alex had lost his father, and that's why he became Alpha.

"I never got to say goodbye," my voice broke on the last word.

"She knows how much you loved her. Nothing can ever take that love away from you. She'll never truly leave you; she'll always be walking beside you."

"What happened to everyone? Is Marvin, okay?"

"He's fine, he's still in the hospital. Beth went there after I took you home. October Moon is in the wind. They must have heard about their warriors losing the battle. Elijah and Hannah went there with Beth and a lot of the pack had fled. We told the people remaining if they pledge their loyalty to Crystal Sky and they do not share the same beliefs as Gregory and Logan, our doors are open. If not, they're not their own. Marvin is going to renounce his title as Alpha and wash his hands of the pack."

"Are him and Beth moving here?"

"They are, along with Vincent."

"That'll be nice for Cornelia."

"I think so too. Why don't you go back to sleep?"

"I'm not sure that I can," I admitted.

"Here," he said, taking a glass off the bedside table.

"What is it?"

"It's a potion for sleep. Cornelia made it in case we needed it."

"Okay," I said, taking the glass from him. The energy it would take to argue about it was something I didn't have. I drained the small glass in one gulp. Immediately, my eyes began to get heavy. Alex took the glass from my hand as the potion took effect and sleep overtook me.