Hybrid Aria by Jessica Hall novel Chapter 16

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.

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.