Hybrid Aria 1-4

Lily POV

I was in my bubble of nothing, just floating. Floating around in the darkness of my mind. No feeling, just darkness and silence. I felt at peace and I was forgetting why I was here. Forgetting if I came here voluntarily or if I was placed here. Yet I felt nothing, so I didn’t care. I wasn’t awake or asleep, just floating, and weightless.

I could hear a buzzing, the buzzing getting closer before I realised it was a voice I could hear. There was something about the voice. I knew it somehow, but I couldn’t figure out why it felt familiar. The voice got louder and louder as they got closer.

“Lily, Lily, damn it, where are you? Need a torch in here” I listen, trying to remember who it is, only coming up blank until I feel it rush past me.

“Man, time really stands still in here” The voice says and I feel myself questioning them.

“Who are you and how did you get here?”

“It’s me Layla, you don’t remember me?” She asks. The name is important to me. I know that much.

“You know who I am, how can you forget, I am the best part of you. And you me” She says and something in her words makes memories flash back to me. Memories of the day my father died, memories of Kade ripping my father’s heart out of his chest. The look on his face as he looked at me. Memories I was here to forget.

“Why are you here?” I ask her annoyed realising I left her and I feel the pain, the crippling pain of grief starting to swallow me.

“I missed you” She said, and I felt her presence around me. Comforting and I could almost feel her the closer she got, feel the teether that links us and all its frayed pieces barely holding us together and also dragging us apart. We sit in the darkness, not saying anything. After a few minutes, I hear her voice echoing loudly beside me into the abyss.

“Well this is fun, do you come here often?” She says and I chuckle.

“Don’t suppose you brought a torch, it’s dark down here” Layla whines.

“Go back Layla, you can’t be here” I tell her.

“No, if your quitting I quit too”

“No, go back. You said you would take over”

“Yeah, tried that, I suck at being you. And there is something wrong with that skin of yours, it made me so itchy. You really need to rub some lotion on it, something is not right with it” She says.

“You promised, I tell her”NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“No, I didn’t. I said I would take over, I never said how long for”

“How long has it been?”

“I don’t know, took me a while to find you or maybe it was second I have no idea, time is weird back here,”

“Can you go back please Layla? I want to be alone”

“Maybe that is the problem Lily, we are always alone. I’m alone, you’re alone, maybe if we were together, we wouldn’t feel so alone,” She rambles.

“That’s not what I meant. I don’t want to remember, you being here brings it back, now go”

“I will if you come back” She says tugging on our already broken link.

“It’s not broken Lily, don’t think that”

“We are broken Layla, why am I the only one of us that realises that”

“Because you’re the only one that thinks it, we are perfectly imperfect. Maybe we aren’t broken, maybe the pieces are just lost, we just need to put the pieces back together” I say nothing, just letting her ramble like she does. I don’t know how long we sat there in the darkness when her questions made me tune back in.

“If you could have one thing, what would it be?”

“You know the answer already, Layla”

“Well, I can’t bring Dad back so choose another” She says.

“I don’t know then”

“You want to know what I want?” She asks.

“What do you want, Layla?” I ask, bored with this questioning.

“I want you to accept yourself and forgive yourself”

“Forgive myself?” I say rolling my eyes. “I have done nothing, to need to forgive myself”

“Yes, you have. You gave up, gave up on us. We were never broken Lily, we were never whole to break. How can you expect anyone else to accept us when you don’t. I have always accepted you. I never wanted to be by anyone’s side more than I have wanted to be by yours” She tells me.

“Not even Damien’s?” I ask.

“I would love to do a lot of things to Damien, but If I had to choose, I would choose you. So can you forgive yourself or at least try. We don’t have to do this alone, not anymore. I won’t ever leave you Lily, you are mine”

“As you are mine, Layla”

“So you will do it?”

“Do what?”

“Come back and accept us as perfectly imperfect” She says and I chuckle.

“Yes, Layla. I will try but I don’t want to go back”

“Well, maybe we stay for a bit, probably best that way, your sister scares me”

“Aria? Why, what did she do?”

“Oh nothing, just”

“Layla, what did you do?”

“I will tell you only, if you promise not to get angry”

“Layla?” I growl.

“Okay, okay, I may have tried to attack her, but she was so much quicker. That sister of yours is a real badass, Reid has trained her well. Luckily Ryker got in the way because she probably would have given me a beat down, then Damien drugged me and then I came here and yeah all caught up. So yeah, she is pretty mad at you for nearly hurting Ryker so I thought it best to come get you so you can deal with her and I don’t try to eat her” Layla blurted like word vomit.

“You did what?”

“You said you wouldn’t get mad, I didn’t even leave a scratch on her, I am sure. Pretty sure we got gravel rash in places we shouldn’t have gravel rash but we will be fine, might have scratched that itchy ass skin of yours glad to be rid of that. Think you need a flea bath”

“I don’t have fleas and will you slow down, you aren’t making sense. Why would you attack my sister?”

“Because I made a list, like you do of what I need to do, to bring you back”

“And attacking my sister was on that list?”

“No, but she was like an added extra. You were upset because she didn’t tell you about Kade, so I wanted to get revenge for you”

“Layla, no she is my sister and what about Ryker?”

“He is fine, said I can’t eat his mother, complained about my well your boob in his ear. I like that kid. Gave me quite the fright when I ran into him, but he is good, everyone is good”

“You didn’t think to tell me this when you first came here?”

“No, kind of slipped my mind, like I slipped yours. But if you come back, we can fix everything. Fix us”

“Maybe, but I don’t even know how to get back”

“hmm, this place needs some neon signs and map”

“Be serious, Layla. How do we go back?”

“I don’t know, I can’t even see you. Just feel you’re near”

“Well, maybe we try to find each other, then we can find the way back together” I tell her, trying to feel anything in oblivion surrounding us. I couldn’t even feel my own limbs, yet I could feel her presence as I struggled to reach out to her, to find her in the darkness. Both of us are pulling on the weak teether that holds us together. Stretching and moving further into the darkness until I felt it. Like a rubber band being stretched before it flings back together.

Smacking into each other with so much force we burst from the darkness and I felt her fur brush against my hand as we both looked out the eyes of our human vessel. I move closer, debating whether I should take the reins back.

“You can do this Lily, I am here with you” Layla says, her fur brushing against me in encouragement.

“I don’t want to feel the pain”

“Then don’t, focus on something else, focus on our mate” She says, nudging me forward.

I go to run back when Layla gets in my way, blocking my way back to the void of darkness.

“I can’t Layla”

“You can, I am right here. Right here, Lily. Where I have always been,” She says her Sapphire and amber eyes burning into me. “We are one. I won’t let you fall, not again. You can trust me”

That’s when I felt it, the overwhelming feeling of every emotion I ever felt rush into me, but that wasn’t all I felt as I felt hers rushing over me to making me gasp and I realised she was giving it to me, showing me she would always be there, that she has always been there. Watching from the shadows, but she was there watching and feeling everything with me. So I let go, let go of everything and I felt stronger and more in tune to her.

Layla always thought we needed a mate to fix us, and I always thought I needed a different wolf, but what we really needed was each other. To let the walls we built up between us come crashing down. Brick by brick they fell, and I snapped back to reality, snapping out of my head and into the present.

Opening my eyes, I felt heavy, like I haven’t moved in weeks. I try to sit up, but even that is a task in itself, as I prop myself up on the headboard. Looking around the room, I try to figure out where I am. I don’t recognise this room. The walls padded with white padding;

I try to reach up and rub my eyes only to find cuffs holding my wrists to the bed, my ankles also shackled to the bed. I yank them, trying to free myself, when that doesn’t work. I feel Layla press against my skin.

“Layla, can we shift?” I ask and I feel her force the shift, I scream from the snapping of bones and I can tell wherever we are, we have been here awhile, because shifting isn’t usually this painful. I feel the cuffs slide off our paws and the hospital gown is shredded on the bed. Jumping off the bed we land on our paws on the floor, which is also padded.

Shifting back, I am left in a coat of sweat as pain wracked every muscle and bone in my body. There are no windows to let us know if it is day or night, turning I see a door. When it hits me, the room upstairs. I recognise the steel door. The prison Damien made for us. The one I thought I would never see the inside of.

“What did you do, Layla, that we would get locked in here?”

“I do not know, I just remember being stabbed by a needle then I went looking for you” Walking to the door, I pressed my hand against the cold steel before knocking on it. I hear no movement outside the door, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the place was sound proof.

“The mind link Lily,”

I nod in agreement with Layla before feeling for the bond.

“Damien?” I ask, and I feel his shock through the bond.

“Lily?”

“Can you let me out?”

“I can’t do that Lily”

“What, why? It is me Damien”

“I’m sorry Lily, it’s not safe”

“What do you mean it’s not safe”

“You’re not safe Lily, I won’t allow you to hurt anyone else”

“What are you talking about, let me out, this isn’t funny Damien?”

“I will come see you when I get home” He says before cutting the mind link.

“I don’t understand Layla, why won’t he let us out?”

“I… I don’t know, I swear I didn’t do anything else. I can only remember what I told you” Layla says and I can feel her disappointment and sadness rush over me. Sitting on the ground, I hug my knees to my chest, suddenly feeling cold.

“I just want it to stop, I want it to stop. I don’t understand, I came back. I came back. Why doesn’t he want us now? Is it because of the baby?” I ask, scared that Damien tossed us aside for Tabitha.

“Shit, I forgot to tell you, that place really messes with your mind. It isn’t Damien’s; she had her blood tested at the human facility and the results were wrong. Damien isn’t the father, Tatum is,” Layla says, making my head snap up.

“What?”

“He isn’t the father Lily, the results were wrong” I feel relieved at her words but that doesn’t explain why he has us locked away. Why he doesn’t want us anymore”

We waited for Damien to arrive; I wasn’t sure how long it took but it did take a while before I heard the locks on the door twisting and groaning. His scent wafting throughout the room as he stepped in making my heart flutter, Layla purring in my head with excitement.

Hopping off the bed, I walk over and wrap my arms around his waist as he shuts the door. I feel him freeze and the muscles in his back tense at my actions, but I ignore his reaction just enjoying him being this close.

He turns around in my arms and I rest my head on his chest; I feel him brush my hair off my head before kissing the top of my head. The mate bond was a lot stronger now, and I felt tingles everywhere his skin was pressed against mine, maybe absence really does make the heart grow fonder. His heartbeat thumping in his chest softly as I pressed my ear against his chest. I feel him fiddling with his back pocket and step away so he can retrieve what I assumed must have been his phone.

I walk over to the door, tugging on its handle only to find it locked. Turning around, I glare at him.

“Let me out Damien, I want to leave” I tell him. He shakes his head and I feel Layla suddenly become wary as we both look at our mate.

“I can’t do that, Layla” Layla? Confused, I feel my eyebrows furrow trying to remember anything, I could feel Layla doing the same and she couldn’t figure out why he was acting this way.

“No, it’s me Lily,” I tell him, yanking on the handle. I feel Damien step closer, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Spinning around to face him, I go to demand he let me out when I see the syringe in his hand making my heart rate quicken.

“How did you get out of the cuffs?” He asked, cocking his head to the side.

“What? I shifted how else. Let me out Damien you’re scaring me” I tell him as he moves closer. I see his eyes soften and sadness flood me through the bond.

“I can’t, I can’t take that risk. I am doing this for your own good” He said moving closer. I shake my head.

“No, Damien, it’s really me, please” I tell him looking toward the door. I see him move out of the corner of my eye and see him lunge at me. I try to fight him off, but he is quick to pin me face down on the ground. I feel the sting of the needle as it stabs into my neck, instantly feeling woozy.

“I don’t understand,” I tell him, trying to get out from under him. My body feels heavier and heavier as I struggle, the room getting darker as I try to fight the fog that’s taking over. I feel him roll me onto my back before lifting me off the ground. His lips going to my head as he kisses me. I hear another voice and recognise it as Natalia’s.

“Is this really necessary, she seems cognitive?”

“I don’t care, I won’t take the risk. She nearly killed her. What if it happens again and she kills more of my men?” I hear Damien speak.

“You can’t punish her for what might happen. We don’t even know if she is telling the truth. This isn’t the answer, Damien. And since when did you care for your mother, the bitch deserves death” Natalia spat.

“I don’t care for her, she can rot in hell for all I care. You let her out, and I will banish you, understand?” I hear him growl.

“You can’t do this; it isn’t right, why can’t you see that?”

“You don’t tell me what to do with my mate” He spat at her when she growled angrily at him.

“She may be your mate, but she is my Luna. You can’t treat her like this” Natalia yelled angrily back at him. I could feel Damien fiddling with my wrists and I felt something go around my neck. My entire body feels heavy before I lose feeling in my limbs.

“What are you going to keep her locked up for the rest of her life?” Natalia asked.

“She is unhinged, I won’t risk my pack. Now get out” he bellowed, his voice echoing through the room. His words slapped me in the face. I have heard that term from everyone else, I never expected it to leave his lips and it suddenly hurt more coming from him. The one person who was meant to love us, made to accept us. It would have hurt less if he did slap me, his words cutting deeper than any wound I had ever had.

I heard Layla whimper in my head before it left my lips. I could feel tears run down my cheek and I just wanted him to leave. I feel him wipe my tears and I feel him move away from me.

We should have known better than to believe he would accept us; I should have ignored Layla when she begged me not to reject him. That would have hurt less, would have hurt less than hearing those three words leave his mouth.

She is unhinged. His words replayed in my head over and over as I slipped into unconsciousness. I no longer fought to remain conscious, instead I willed it to happen. Praying I wouldn’t wake up and for once Layla didn’t argue. For once we wanted the same thing. Death would be better than feeling every piece of my heart shattered by those three words that taunted me all my life, now taunting me worse coming from him.

We would never be good enough, always known to be the unhinged Alpha. The unhinged one, the one no one wanted around because she couldn’t be trusted.

Damien’s POV

I hated seeing her like this, hated myself for doing it to her. Tucking the blanket around her I walk out, locking the door and pocketing the key. Walking down the stairs, I see the thing that is supposed to be my mother wandering into the hall.

“Why did you come back?” I ask her. I couldn’t stand the woman, and Darian was pressing beneath my skin, wanting nothing more than to rip her to pieces. Yet as much as I hated her I couldn’t bring myself to kill her. She was my mother after all, even if she didn’t protect me. Even if she fed me to the wolves literally. My body was littered with scars from my old man and all she did was watch, letting me take the beating so she wouldn’t have to. What mother does that? What mother can sit back and watch her child be beaten till the brink of death, only to heal him and let him do it all over again.

“I missed you?” She says looking at her feet. I scoff at her words.

“How much?” I ask and she looks up, anger in her green eyes.

“Come on, mum. How much do you need this time, what shit do I have to dig you out of this time”

“It’s not like that son, I heard you found your Luna, I just want to be a part of my future grandchild’s life”

“You will never come near any child I ever have; I will skin you alive before I let you near any future grandchildren”.

“Wow, you really are your father’s son, aren’t you?” I growled at her words; I was nothing like my father. He was cruel and merciless on his pack and on me. I treat my pack right; I look after them. He just tortured them for his own sick amusement. To inflict that sort of pain on a child, on his own pack members and to claim you are an Alpha is simply wrong. Alpha’s look after their own, not destroy them, not sell them off. They certainly don’t kill them for fun.

I must admit though, she does look better than last time I saw her five years ago. She didn’t look like your typical rogue, her long dark wavy hair flowing seamlessly down her back and she had gained weight, was no longer frail and her olive skin had fewer wrinkles. She no longer looked like a corpse.

“I met someone, he looks after me” She said looking at me hopefully like I could just forget the past and let her in my life again.

“Good, that means you don’t need me” I tell her before turning my back on her. I mind link my Beta and tell him to get her off Pack land. She had caused enough damage already. My mate forever stuck in a padded room because I could no longer trust her around my pack after what she did. Darian said we shouldn’t trust my mother, he said that Layla wouldn’t just attack her for no reason, my mother was many things, had done unspeakable things, yet she had no reason to lie about Lily. She didn’t know her, didn’t know she was my Luna. So, her lying didn’t make sense.

Darian and Aria pleaded with me to listen, that it was out of character for her to do those things. Yet I could also see the doubt of her own words as she spoke them. Aria truly didn’t know what Layla and Lily were capable of because no one knew what the mutated genes did to her. What the effect they had on her was. How could we when we weren’t even sure what she was anymore. Aria left promising to get answers but until then I have no choice but to keep her locked up.

I feel terrible that she missed her own father’s funeral, that she didn’t get to reconcile with Aria. I felt terrible for Ryker as Aria hauled him away kicking and screaming for his aunty. But it doesn’t undo what she did.

But I couldn’t take that risk, not after what she did downstairs, not after what she did to Aria. If she would attack her own family, how could I trust her not to attack my pack? And the fact that she was able to resist Aria’s Lycan voice and my own Alpha voice had left me with more questions. What was she? I knew she was a wolf, but wolves don’t drain people of their blood, they recognise their own pack, yet she killed three of my warriors already. I won’t let her hurt anymore people. I won’t let her kill for pleasure. I loved her but love isn’t enough when you’re an Alpha.