“Yes, Luna.”
Picking up Lily, I turned back towards Zoe, who placed a kiss on Lily’s head. “You should come with us; it won’t be safe here.” Zoe shook her head.
“I have Marcus here, and I’m not some defenceless little old lady. I can hold my own, Ari. I refuse to be scared out of my home.”
Marcus got a broom and started cleaning up the broken glass with a broom. Embracing him in a hug, I said my goodbyes. As I was walking through the busted door, I heard a low growl from behind me. Reid was standing there, glaring at Marcus. Marcus growled back, shocking me. I always thought of him as human, so it was quite shocking to him growl at someone, especially an Alpha. He must feel comfortable being himself around me now that I knew. I sort of understand why he remained hidden. This city isn’t the safest for Hybrids. I’m his best friend, he shouldn’t have felt the need to hide it from me, but now I am seeing him in a totally new light.
Reid took a step forward, reached out his arm and grabbed Marcus. I stepped between the two of them and glared at Alpha Reid.
“Move Aria.”
“You are not going to touch him; he has done nothing wrong.”
“He is a Hybrid, fucking move.” He growled, shoving me to the side. Spinning around, I passed Lily to Zane before jerking Reid back by his jacket, who had tackled Marcus to the ground.
“I said no. If you want to kill him, you can go through me first. Marcus is my best friend. I won’t allow you to hurt him.”
Marcus got up and went back to sweeping, seemingly unfazed by Reid’s show of dominance. Marcus could probably hold his own, but he isn’t very confrontational and would rather diffuse a situation. The only time I had seen him get angry or hit anyone was when I had customers being inappropriate or vile towards Zoe or me, but Reid needs to get over his aversion to Hybrids seeing as I am one.
Storming off, Reid got in the car that was parked on the curb, slamming the door behind him. Zane took Lily in his car, while I got in Alpha Reid’s.
“Why are you here? I told Zane to tell you to wait at home.”
“You’re my mate. As if I am going to sit at home like some house husband while my mate is in trouble, and then I show up and you’re cuddling up to some Hybrid.”
“Really, you’re jealous? That’s what this is about? Well, I’m afraid to burst your bubble, but you and Zane are more his type. Marcus is gay, and he is my best friend, so grow up. I don’t know why you hate Hybrids so much, but if I catch you trying to hurt Marcus, Lily and I will leave, and then you will have no mate.”
Aria’s POV
Driving back to the Pack house, Reid didn’t say much. He seemed to be thinking about what I said. After about ten minutes, he finally spoke. “Do you know why I hate Hybrids?”
Shaking my head, I looked over at him. Reid was staring out the window. “No, I don’t know,” I said. Reid thought for a few moments before speaking again.
“I wasn’t an only child. I had an older brother: his name was Alexander. He was 4 years older than me, and he was meant to take over the Pack when my father died. He never got the chance, though. When I was fourteen, my father took me away on Pack business with him. My mother and older brother stayed behind. Alexander was meant to go, but I begged my father to take me instead. We were gone for three days when my father got called through the Pack link saying the Pack house was under attack. We shifted and ran all the way home. My father screamed in agony every time he felt a Pack members link break, but he didn’t stop running because he knew his Pack needed him. When we arrived at the Pack house…” Reid went quiet, trying to find the words to express what haunts him.
“When we reached the Pack house, Pack members bodies were strewn across the place. Men, women, even the children that didn’t have a chance to get to the bunkers. All ripped to pieces, their blood staining the soil where they lay. My brother was fighting for his life and the Packs, but we were outnumbered. My father screamed, clutching his chest. It was the most agonised scream I had ever heard. I felt like my chest was being crushed. I will never forget the feeling of my mother’s link breaking. My brother dropped to the ground feeling it too, feeling my father’s heartbreak through the Pack link. I ran towards my brother to help when a man put his hand through his chest, ripping his heart out right in front of me. I killed the man, ripping him limb from limb. The last image of my brother has haunted my dreams ever since…” Reid’s hand clenched into tight fists white-knuckled he continued.
“When my father managed to get to his feet, he became crazed at the loss of his mate, my mother. The loss of my brother was the last straw. He slaughtered every single one of them. We lost half the pack that day. My father wiped out the entire other Pack, every single person. He didn’t care if they were involved or not, he went after them anyway. They were a rival Pack, my father had a dispute with them a few weeks before. They waited for my father to leave so they could attack, and they enlisted the help of the Hybrids. I hate them for what they did, not just the fact that they killed my family but for what they did to my mother. The Hybrids ripped her to pieces. It took us hours to find her entire body.
“My father went on a rampage and killed every Hybrid in the city with my help. I promised him I would kill every Hybrid I came across, promised to keep the Pack safe. A few years after, when I was sixteen, my father took his own life. My father couldn’t handle the pain of losing his mate. I found him hanging from the ceiling in my office. Losing a mate will send a wolf crazy or make them bitter and angry. My father went crazy and killed himself, leaving the Pack to me. That’s why I hate Hybrids. It doesn’t matter if they weren’t involved. I have seen what they can do, I know the destruction they are capable of.”
I sat silently listening to everything he said, letting it sink in. He didn’t look at me or add anything else. Reid just sat there gazing out the window trapped in his memories. Reaching over, I grabbed his hand. Reid ripped his hand out of my grip, and a growl escaped his lips, making me flinch and pull my hand back. We had pulled up outside the Pack house. Opening the door, Reid walked inside, slamming the car door behind him, leaving me sitting in the car. I felt terrible not because he rejected me but because he had his own secrets, his own pain. A pain I couldn’t take from him. Feeling through the bond, I could feel how hard he struggles with himself being around me, but at the same time, I could feel how much he rejects those feelings, pushing them aside for me. I felt guilty. I know I didn’t kill his family, but that didn’t make me feel any less guilty knowing that my kind were the ones to cause his heartbreak and knowing I was also making him break the promise he made to his father.
After a few minutes lost in my own thoughts, Zane came over, opening the door. He waited for me to get out. “Let him calm down. He doesn’t mean to push you away.”
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