Hybrid Aria by Jessica Hall

Chapter 26

Aria’s POV

Running down the stairs and racing out the back, I saw Zane had set up a huge jumping castle. It was

a princess one with a huge slide and on the side a climbing wall and a jumping pit. Christine was on it,

bouncing around with Lily and Amber. Seeing me walking towards them, she waved me over, telling me

to get in. I hadn’t been on a jumping castle since I was a kid. The jumping castle looked intimidating, an

injury waiting to happen. As I went to climb up, my legs were suddenly ripped from underneath me,

making my stomach drop and the air to leave my lungs before I was tackled, my body bouncing in the

air on the jumping castle. My legs stretched out in a not so lady-like manner.

Looking over, I see it was Wendy. She was laughing hysterically at her actions, which nearly caused

me to have a heart attack. The worst part though was looking back out through the netting and seeing

Zane, Reid, and Mitch were laughing, sitting on the bench seat watching. Getting to my feet, I tackled

Wendy onto the slide, and we both ended up rolling down before I ended up landing on top of her on

the grass. Jumping to my feet, I took off running. Wendy started chasing me along with Lily and Amber,

who jumped off the castle to help her. When they failed to catch me, I heard Wendy’s cracking bones

as she dived into her wolf form. Her wolf was a light grey with a bluish tint to it. She had a white streak

that went from her head to her tail, and she was big even in wolf form. Growling playfully, she ran at

me, before lunging. I dropped to my knees, landing on my back, sliding along the grass. Wendy went

straight over the top of me landing on her paws, spinning around. I stuck my tongue out at her before

taking off heading straight towards where Reid, Zane, and Mitch were sitting. Darting behind her mate,

I shoved him at her just as her wolf went to tackle me.

Mitch landed on the grass with a loud thump. Lily and Amber both jumped on him, holding him down.

Knowing Wendy couldn’t climb on to the castle in her wolf form without popping it, I tried to sneak back

to the jumping castle to catch my breath. Wendy, noticing my hesitation looking between the trees and

the castle, chased me down, her fast on my heels running around the back of the jumping castle. I took

off towards the trees when I heard a loud growl.

Looking back towards everyone, Reid was taking off his shoes. Wendy’s wolf collided with me,

knocking me to the ground before she started playfully sniffing my face, telling me she won. Looking

back over, I watched as Reid took his shirt off. Damn, that man is fine.

Reid had a silly smirk on his face that turned into a devilish grin. Christine mind linked me, her voice

ringing loudly through the link. “I would run if I were you. The big bad Alpha is coming.” I watched as

everyone turned to look at the Alpha. He shook his head at Christine for dobbing him in. I watched as novelbin

he started running towards me. I heard the sickening crack of his bones snapping mid-jump as he took

his wolf form. Landing on the grass about 40 metres away, I stared at him. His wolf was more like the

size of a bear, completely black, his shiny fur had not a patch of colour anywhere. Even in his wolf

form, Ryder seemed to be smiling, baring his teeth. Jumping to my feet, I ran straight towards the trees.

I could hear Ryder gaining on me, hear the twigs breaking under his giant paws. Running through the

forest, everything became a blur. I felt free as the trees whipped past me, the branches hitting my skin.

My adrenaline pumped with excitement as I weaved in and out when suddenly I hit a clearing. Nowhere

to hide, I turned to the left, running along the tree line. Ryder still hadn’t caught up. Using that to my

advantage, I climbed a huge tree standing on the branch, I waited.

A few seconds after knowing the branch would easily hold my weight, I got comfy on my branch,

draping my legs over either side. Ryder came into my line of sight he was sniffing the ground. I placed

my hand over my mouth to muffle my giggling. I watched as he kept running past then stopping after

losing my scent. Turning around, he was at the bottom of the tree I was hiding in.

I watched as he sniffed the tree before looking up, his gaze landing on me straddling the branch. He

tilted his head to the side. “Ryder can’t climb, but I can.” Reid’s voice coming through the mind link, my

smile dropped. I looked down before climbing another branch. Going back to his human form. I heard

him laugh, making my eyes dart back to him. Reid was standing there in all his naked glory, smiling

back at me. He started climbing the tree alarmingly fast. I took off running along the branch before

jumping to a nearby tree, gripping the tree with my claws before I steadied myself. Looking at the

ground, I gasped. That’s a long way down in my adrenaline rush I hadn’t realised how high I had

actually climbed. Frozen on the tree, Reid jumped over landing on the branch above me. “You can run,

but you can’t hide.”

“Ha, that’s what you think,” I threw back at him before clenching my teeth. I jumped off the branch the

ground rushing towards me, making me let out a high pitch squeal, my feet landing on the ground

below. I was now looking up at Reid who looked like he was about to have a heart attack at my little

stunt. I saw him mutter something under his breath but couldn’t make out what he was saying. I knew

he would have to climb down. His human form isn’t sturdy enough to jump the thirty or forty metres to

the ground.

“You could have hurt yourself doing that.”

“Don’t you mean, you would hurt yourself if you tried that?” He shook his head at me. Climbing down

the tree while I watched his nice firm ass. I giggled to myself watching him swinging from branch to

branch, like Tarzan.

“What are you laughing at?”

“The view,” I called back. He smiled at me. Before hanging from a lower branch by his arms, he let go

landing on his feet in front of me. I stared at his gorgeous body covered in sweat, his tanned skin

shining in the sunlight. My eyes running down his body to his V-line.

“Hey, my eyes are up here.”

Rolling my eyes at him. I shoved him to the ground, making him land in the dirt, and took off running

towards the Pack house. I could hear him shifting back into wolf form just as I broke through the tree

line. Seeing his clothes laying on the ground, I reached down and grabbed them, only leaving his

shoes. Zane and Mitch watched as I darted inside, locking the door behind me. Everyone was standing

inside the kitchen, watching amused. I knew Reid wouldn’t fit inside the door in wolf form, his shoulders

were too wide. I watched as he breathed on the glass, I waved his clothes at him.

“He is going to kill you when he gets inside,” said Christine.

“Has to find me first,” I said, running through the kitchen door and towards the foyer. I could hear

everyone laughing behind me.

“Bring my clothes back, Aria.” I ignored him walking up the stairs. I listened as he Pack linked everyone

asking for some clothes so he could shift back.

Everyone ignored him except Zane. “Can’t get involved, boss man” I laughed to myself, before hiding in

his office. After a few minutes of him not being able to get in. I heard him use his Alpha voice through

the link demanding clothes. He sounded annoyed.

Being cheeky, I knew mine would overrule his commands. “No one help him, I’m trying to find

somewhere to hide,” I called back. I heard him growl annoyed.

“You’re gonna regret that, Ari, when I get inside. I am going to punish you.” I laughed back at him.

Deciding he would find me in his office, I ran back downstairs and into the kitchen. Reid was no longer

at the door.

“Where did he go?”

“I have no idea, but you better hope he doesn’t find you,” Mitch chuckled. I heard banging. Looking

through the window I see Ryder/Reid had jumped on to the lower part of the roof. Whoops didn’t think

about the windows. I knew as soon as he was out of sight of the kids he would shift back and climb

through a window. I looked at Zane for help, but he put his hands up.

“Don’t look at me. I’m staying out of it.”

Christine nodded towards the walk-in pantry. Just as she closed the door, I heard Reid landing on the

floor in one of the upstairs rooms.

Everyone darted out of the kitchen, leaving me in the pantry. It didn’t take long before the pantry doors

were thrown open and a not happy Alpha was staring down at me with his arms folded across his

chest.

“I see you found some clothes,” I nervously giggled.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself at my expense.” Reaching forward he gripped my wrist, making me

smack into his rock-hard chest before he threw me over his shoulder.

“How very caveman of you.” He stormed out of the kitchen and past everyone, who were now sitting on

the lounge in the games room. I could hear Reid muttering to himself while I flailed around trying to

make him put me down.

He didn’t let me go, and much to my embarrassment as we were walking past everyone, his hand

slapped my arse. I flinched at the impact of his huge hand coming down on my arse, making me hiss at

the sting. Did he just spank me? Zane smirked, shaking his head and waved at me. I, in turn, flipped

him the finger. Reid started climbing the stairs with me still half upside down over his shoulder. On the

plus side, I got a nice view of his ass. Returning the favour, I slapped it. He grunted before slapping my

arse even harder. “Do that again, and you won’t be able to sit for a week.”

“You’re a brute, you know that?” I could feel the vibration of him laughing. My belly was starting to hurt

as his shoulder pressed into it. Just as I was about to demand he put me down, he kicked the bedroom

door open and dumped me on the mattress, making me shriek. Reid stood looking down at me.

“You think what you did was funny?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. His lips turned up and into a

menacing smile. Excitement ran through me. I couldn’t help the smile that crept onto my face as I

nodded my head. His smile didn’t waver, and it sent a chill down my spine. I laughed at his expression.

I couldn’t tell if he wanted to kiss me or kill me. He raised an eyebrow at me and clicked his tongue.

Gripping my ankle, he yanked me towards the end of the bed.