Hybrid Aria by Jessica Hall

Chapter 15

Reid’s POV

Walking in, seeing her on the ground, I couldn’t help the pull I felt towards her, even after knowing what

she is. The mysterious mate bond had other plans. I am supposed to hate her, but being in front of her,

the bond won’t allow that. Only the need for her. Her feelings of disbelief, surprise, understanding, then

lust all flowing into me through the bond. I could feel every emotion rolling off her and into me. Her

desires becoming mine. When she moved towards me, I could feel her intention. She just needed to be

close, to touch me. I could feel Ryder pushing me to give in to her, which aggravated me, distracting

me enough to think clearly to realise my reason for being here wasn’t to snuggle up with some bloody

Hybrid. I grabbed her wrists before she made contact.

I felt Ryder jump at me trying to fight me for control, but I held strong, too strong. I didn’t realise I was

squeezing her wrists so tightly until I felt her bone-crushing pain sink into me through the bond. Letting

go abruptly, she stumbled to the floor, landing on her ass. I could feel her embarrassment, then

sadness leaking through the bond, I could smell the saltiness of the tears she tried to hide. Ryder kept

pushing for control. He was screaming in my head, angry. I only came in here to find out who she was

running from. Instead, this shit happens, making everything more awkward than it needed to be.

Seeing her hurt gaze staring back at me, I couldn’t handle it any longer. Turning my back on her, I

walked out the door, locking it behind me. Going back to my office, Zane was standing against the

office door.

“We have a problem, Alpha.”

“What is it?” I snap, pushing past him into the office.

“The Black Moon Pack have been at the border. They want permission to look for some Pack members

that escaped,”

“Let me guess, a woman and child?”

“Yes, Boss.”

Aria’s POV

After Alpha Reid left, I was locked in for most of the day. Wendy came in a few times to check on me,

but other than her, I spent the rest of the day alone plotting our escape. In the afternoon, I got that

chance. Wendy came in and said the rest of the Pack had to go out on Pack business and that I could

explore the Packhouse. When she left the door wide open, I thought it was a trick. Fifteen minutes had

passed when I realised the door wasn’t going to be slammed in my face, and I couldn’t hear anyone

loitering behind the door or in the hall.

Stepping into the hall, I felt soft carpet under my feet instead of the cold tile floor in the hospital room.

The hallway walls are a soft light grey colour with white trims and black dome lights hanging from the

ceiling. I walked down the hall until I came to what I thought was the end but was actually just an open

ceiling and balcony overlooking the floor below. Peering over, I could see the foyer below and hear

children playing. Walking down the huge white staircase to the floor below, I followed the noises into

some sort of media and games room. I watched for a little while before walking in and interrupting the

children’s fun. Lily was playing Mario Kart with another little girl. Seeing me walk in and standing behind

the huge lounge, she jumped up, bringing her new friend with her. “Amber, this is Ari, my sister.”

Amber had dark straight hair that was cut just above her shoulders and pale skin with rosy red cheeks.

She looked like a porcelain doll.

“Hi, I’m Ari,” I told her, waving to her. She shyly waved back before taking off back to her spot on the

giant navy-blue horseshoe-shaped lounge. Sitting down, she grabbed her controller and resumed

playing. Just as Lily was about to go back and play, I pulled her aside.

“This may be our only chance to leave, we have to take it.”

Lily shook her head. “I don’t want to leave Ari, I like it here!” she yelled, crossing her arms over her

chest and pouting.

“We can’t stay here, Lily, we have to leave,” I said, grabbing her arm, pulling her gently towards the

stairs to retrieve the bag so we could leave.

“No, I’m not going!” Lily yelled and took off up the stairs. Just as Lily took off, Wendy walked in. Just my

luck, now I must find Lily and not tip Wendy off to our departure. Turning to Wendy, I plastered the

fakest smile I could muster.

“Everything okay, Aria? I thought I heard yelling.”

“Yes, everything is fine, we are just playing hide and seek,” I lied.

Wendy smiled politely, believing my lame-ass excuse. She then turned around and walked off through

a door on the other side of the media room. As soon as she was out of view, I darted up the stairs.

Going back to the infirmary, I quickly grabbed our duffle bag, chucking it over my shoulder before

turning and walking out of the room, shutting the door behind me. Making my way down the hallway

towards the foyer, I opened every door, but each room was either an office or storage rooms.

How big was this house? I felt like I had been walking around opening random doors for hours, even

though it had only been 10 minutes tops. That’s when I decided to go back the way I came. Starting

back at the infirmary, I turned in the other direction which led to another hallway turning the corner into

the new hallway. I came across another office, this one was richly decorated. Mahogany bookshelves

lined the walls loaded with books. I loved reading, I used to borrow books off the pack members back

home. Some of the teenagers still in school used to borrow them for me since I didn’t have a TV in my

room to watch. But as Lily got older and I started working, I didn’t have much time to read, and when I

did, I was too tired.

In the centre of the room was a mahogany desk which looked brand new, as it still had plastic over the

top of it. The carpet was thick and black, warm under my feet. Walking back out of the room, I went to

the next door and the next until I came to another hallway of doors. Opening the first one I realised was

a bedroom. Knowing Lily must be hiding somewhere here, I started opening every single door. I came

to the last one next to a set of stairs that led to yet another floor of this mansion of a house. Opening

the door, I could tell straight away it was a child’s room. It was pink, and there was a white 4 poster

single bed with a frilly pink unicorn bedspread. It had fairy lights hanging from the posts and had lots of

toys and a fluffy purple mat. Looking over, I saw a built-in cupboard, and opening it, I found Lily sitting

in the bottom sobbing.

“Come Lil, we need to go before everyone gets back,” I told her, trying to get her to understand. Lily

wasn’t one for tantrums, and this was the most difficult she has ever been, but slowly, she sniffled,

wiping her nose on the sleeve of her shirt.

“Do we really have to go, Ari?”

“Yes, we need to leave. We have to leave the city before your father finds us or Alpha Reid hands us

over to him.” I left out the part of Reid hating Hybrids and was probably in his torture dungeon plotting

my death somewhere. Lily slowly nodded and stood up. Pulling the pyjamas off her, I quickly

rummaged through the bag, pulling out her winter school clothes and dressing her quickly. Once Lily

was dressed, we snuck down the stairs, going to the front door. I tried to open it, but it was locked with

a key.

Knowing that Wendy must have the key, I quickly walked through the media room to the door on the

other side, pulling Lily behind me. Sticking my head through the doorway, I found that it was a kitchen.

Everything was white tile, the benchtops white marble over grey cupboards. There was a gold

chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and all the appliances were restaurant quality. Seeing that Wendy

wasn’t in the kitchen and stepping completely into the room, I noticed on my examination there was a

set of double doors leading outside. Racing over I twisted the handle, they were unlocked.

Pushing Lily out the door, we walked out to what must be the rear of the property. We were on a huge

patio area that overlooked a pool. Running down the stairs quickly, I saw that the entire property was

surrounded by trees, making it very private. Moving quickly across the lawn, we made it to the tree line.

Looking back, I could see that the place was indeed a mansion. It looked more like a white sandstone

castle than a mansion actually. Not giving it another thought, Lily and I started running through the

trees. After a while, we came to a dirt side road. We must be outside the city. Where? I had no idea, but

luck must be on my side today because, after about two minutes of walking, a silver car with an old

couple pulled up beside us and asked if we needed a lift into the city.

Knowing if they were psychos I could easily just turn around and eat them. We accepted and asked if

they could give us a ride to the closest train station or bus depot. The old couple were quite talkative.

On the drive, they told us they had been married for 40 years and had 7 children who were all grown up

and 16 grandchildren. Their names were Norman and Enid. Pulling up to the front of the train station, I

tried to offer them money for fuel, but they declined. The train station was small, covered in graffiti, and

the signs were ripped down so I couldn’t even tell which station we were at.

Walking up to the ticket booth, we met a girl. She had piercings all through her face, black and pink

hair, and she looked very emo, chewing on bubble gum with a frown on her pale face. Raking through

my bag, I told her I needed two tickets out of the city. When she asked where, I told her as far away

from the city as possible, not really knowing where I was going. I would call Zoe and let her know we

left when we found a phone at our new destination. Grabbing the tickets, I passed her the cash before

she said the train was five minutes away.

Once on the platform, I found some vending machines. Putting some change in, I got Lily some chips

and peanuts for the trip and a few cans of lemonade. I wasn’t sure what we were going to do once we

got there, but I would have to figure out something fast. I had some money we had saved up, mostly

tips from the diner, but it wasn’t going to last long, maybe a month max. I would have to find a job as

soon as possible.

When the tin can also known as our freedom, pulled up at the station, we jumped straight on finding

some seats, which was easy since the whole train was empty. It consisted of 3 carriages so we must

be out of the city a fair way, because the city trains were huge and modern looking. On this train, we

had to open the doors ourselves, and the leather seats were ripped. It had a weird odour to it. Sitting in

the green leather seats, I rolled up my work uniform so Lily could use it as a pillow. I wanted to put my

feet up, but after seeing how filthy my feet were decided against it, not that it would matter with the

state of seats.

The first thing we needed to do was find a shop with shoes because I couldn’t go around barefoot

forever. Pulling the socks out of the bag that Wendy gave me, I quickly placed them on so my feet

wouldn’t catch a disease from the filthy carpet in the train carriage. After about 20 minutes of being on

the train, it came to an abrupt stop, making us jerk forward in the seats. Lily, laying with her head in my

lap on her makeshift pillow, nearly completely fell off her seat. Getting up, I peered out the window. We

weren’t at another station yet. All I could see was farmland. Walking over to the other side, I looked out.

My heart nearly stopped, there were about 7 black SUVs along the tracks. Like some scene from a

movie, the doors opened, men stepping out. I knew it was Reid’s Pack members. I recognised his beta,

Zane. They got out in their suits. I could see the train driver out talking to someone. When they spun

around, I could tell it was Reid. He looked furious. He was showing the driver a picture, which I was

guessing was us, and all the Pack members started boarding the train. Grabbing Lily, I pulled her

through to the next carriage, intending to run out the last door. Halfway through the carriage, the door

opened. Zane and another Pack member walked towards us, smirks on their faces like they found this

amusing. Spinning around, I went to run the other way, when an angry Alpha stormed through the door

we just came through, blocking our escape, making me gulp and take a step back. Fuck this, I’m sick of

playing nice.