Hybrid Aria by Jessica Hall
Chapter 55

Reid's POV

Zoe's friend was extremely useful, 1 could tell years of being a Hunter himself had him still wary of Abel and myself. I could also tell; he was trying his best to conceal his discomfort. Hunters are raised in families who have generations of Hunters following in the footsteps of their forefathers. I didn't expect him to drop everything he has been raised to believe. I could tell he had only just come around to the idea that not all of us were bad, that didn't make him more comfortable though, so Abel and I let Zoe do most of the talking. This was her area of expertise even though she retired decades ago.

Abel and I were organising what was left of both Packs into scout teams, which was easy over the mind link for me, but David's Pack discovered Abel didn't need to be a Pack member. Being half Lycan allowed him to communicate with David's Pack members, he was able to contact Michael for me. I wondered why Aria never talked about the fact she could mind link any wolf. I also learned that Michael lost his mate in the war, Elizabeth. My Pack took the biggest blow; we lost two hundred and nine Pack members; David's side only lost seventy-one members. The Crescent Pack, another neighbouring Pack outside the city, was on their way over to give us a lending hand. I was grateful, but we didn't have the best relationship with them. We were currently waiting for the Crescent Pack Alpha to arrive before we made our move.

Abel also was able to verify Kade was, in fact, the same man from his younger years. We were still trying to figure out how the heck he had managed to prolong his life. Johnathan the Hunter that was helping had taken plenty of surveillance footage of trucks coming in and out of the city heading towards the area where the tunnels cut off one of those photos were of Kade. We knew now they must have built a headquarters just outside the city. Our scouts at the moment were verifying that's where the tunnels lead to.

Right now, we were waiting for people to start arriving. When we heard the familiar ding of the diner bells ringing, I knew instantly it was the Alpha from the Crescent Pack. I looked at the screen above the bunker door. I looked at Abel, and he nodded. I walked upstairs.

Walking upstairs, I came to find four enforcers and the Alpha Trent and his young son. Who looked to be thirteen? I thought he was insane for bringing his son until I remembered my brother and I were taught by our father the same way with hands-on experience.

"Alpha Trent, thanks for coming,” I said, holding my hand out. Alpha Trent was a giant of man, his arms flexing as he shook my hand. He had shoulder-length blonde hair that was tied at the back of his neck and dark, almost black eyes. Anyone else would be intimidated just by the look of him, but I felt no such things. They were the third biggest Pack, but after our loss, our numbers were pretty much the same as theirs now.

"Alpha Reid, nice to finally put a face to the name, this is my son Damien.” His son put his hand out, and I quickly shook it giving him a nod.

“If you want to follow me, I will show you downstairs, please be mindful there are two retired Hunters so I would appreciate if you didn't kill my mate's grandmother or her friend, they are helping us locate my mate and our missing Pack members” He nodded once, but I was a little concerned still. It was unheard of to have Hunters working alongside the very thing they hunted.

I was halfway down the stairs when I felt it, a wave of emotion hit me. I grabbed onto the handrail and doubled over. Zane would be here any second, and if I feel this bad, he would be ten times worse. Forcing myself back up the stairs, I shoved past everyone.

“Alpha Reid, what's going on?” I looked back at them. Trent looked up at me alarmed.

“I need to get to my Beta,” I gasped out, forcing my legs to keep moving up the stairs. I had just walked out to the diner's dining area when I saw Zane's car run straight into a telegraph pole out the front. The howl that resonated through the air chilled me to the bone. I ran to open the door just in time for Zane’s wolf to break through the door of the car, ripping it clean off. His howls agonised as he threw himself at the ground.

I ran towards him, Zane had no control left, his wolf taking over as I felt Christine's teether to us break, her life slipping from us. Zane's agonised screams resonating through my head at the loss of his mate. And our Beta female. I hesitantly walked over to him; his wolf was whining, completely devastated.

“Zander,” I called to Zane's wolf, he lifted his head at the command of his Alpha, he took a step towards me, teeth bared, I knew he wouldn't attack me. I knew his wolf well; he made a noise that sounded strangled. “You need to give Zane control.”

His wolf whined and then howled, I could hear how broken he was, I could feel it. I looked back towards the diner. Alpha Trent and Abel were watching a knowing look on their faces. I didn’t have to explain anything. The sounds he was making told everyone what broke him. But right now, I needed him to focus, move through the pain he still had to find his daughter.

I put my hand on his head. “Zander, give Zane control, we still need to find your pup, your little girl buddy come on.” He whined before I watched him shift, Alpha Trent walked out with a towel Zoe had given him. I threw it over his naked body. Tears running down his face as sobs wracked his body. I had never seen him like this, my strong best friend, now broken. Alpha Trent helped me get him up and inside the diner.

We placed him on a chair, Abel came out with a change of clothes and handed them to him. He took them with one hand. His eyes looking at us were empty and hollow. It was like looking into the eyes of my father, nothing left, just an empty vessel

After a few more minutes of silence, he pulled himself together and stood up pulling the pants up before doubling over again. I turned around horrified praying to the goddess it wasn't Amber, but then I felt it too. My breathing becoming harder, my skin burning, my eyes watering. Something was terribly wrong. I could hear Trent yelling at his men to do something, anything. He wasn't prepared to deal with this, none of us were when we realised we were all linked to Aria the way we were. I didn't even have a chance to warn him before both Zane, and I passed out. The pain becoming too much. If this keeps up, we were never going to have a chance to find them. My last thought was trying to mind link Aria.

“Keep fighting, stay alive, so we can find you.”

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