The Alpha's Hybrid Mate

Chapter 5

Vanessa had never been to a restaurant like this. To be fair, she had never been to a restaurant at all. Her mother certainly never spent money on taking her out, and nobody had invited her to one before today. She tried to soak in everything, the crisp white table cloths, the decoration hanging on the walls, the flowers on the table. And the best part was of course her mate sitting at the table with her. She was happy that he brought her to a place he had been to before, a place far enough away from her home that she didn’t have to wonder whether they would run into someone she knew from school. And when she told him she trusted him to order for both of them, she could see his eyes lightening up. She didn’t know what would be served to them, although the mention of eight different courses excited her. It meant that the evening wouldn’t end anytime soon and they could spend some time with each other. She also wasn’t able to make a decision about the dishes, one sounding better than the other, and getting to try eight different things sounded delicious.

The waiter came back with two tall glasses of sparkling wine. “Two glasses of Arunda, Cuvée Extra Brut ‚Marianna’,” he explained as he set them down in front of them. She took a sip, and the bubbles tickled her throat.

“I never had sparkling wine before,” she said, and Raffaele looked at her in surprise.

“Really? Do you like it?”

She nodded.

“Arunda is a local winery that produces sparkling wine the way they make champagne in France. I’m glad you like it”, Raffaele explained.

Vanessa took another sip. “So, what do you do when you don’t take girls out for dinner?”, she asked sheepishly.

He smirked at her and she felt like her heart was about to explode in her chest. “I study economics at the University of Milan. But my family is from here, so I try and visit every now and again. Of course, now I have another reason to come home more often”, he added. “What about you?”

“I’m finishing high school this year, and I’m planning to study law. I haven’t chosen a university yet, though. I just know that I would like to go away from here.” Her eyes clouded over as she thought about her life here. “It’s not that I don’t like this place, it is home after all. I just want to explore what is outside of South Tyrol.”

He nodded.

Just when he was about to reply to her, the waiter appeared with two plates. “Smoked yolk, Jerusalem artichoke, black bread and Piedmont hazelnuts. Enjoy!” He refilled their water glasses and left again.

Vanessa was carefully eyeing her plate. It looked like a picture, more than a dish. She was hesitant to destroy the wonderful arrangement, but her mouth watered at the aroma, so she picked up the cutlery and cut off a small bite. The taste of the yolk with a hint of smokiness exploded on her tongue. Never had she tasted anything like this. She could feel the stare of Raffaele on her and tried to hold back the small moan that wanted to escape her mouth. Instead, she blushed deeply when she looked at him and found that he looked like he wanted to take a bite off her more than he wanted to taste the food. Ignoring the butterflies in her stomach, she tried the black bread on her plate. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw that he now also started to dig in. He seemed to enjoy it just as much as her. She didn’t like to talk while eating, wanting to savour the food in front of her undisturbed, and he seemed to be content doing the same. Every now and again, between bites, they would look up and smile at each other.

“I can’t imagine it getting any better than this,” Vanessa exclaimed as the waiter took away the empty plates.

Raffaele chuckled. “Just you wait, they have the best food here.”

And he was right. The next dish was just as beautifully arranged on a big white plate as the one before. “Snails, sour butter, smoked trout caviar, parsley and Pücia bread,” the waiter explained and left them again.

“Snails?” Vanessa was slightly torn. She had never eaten snails before, not even in her wolf form.

“Try it,” Raffaele encouraged her, “you said you trusted me.”

Still hesitant, Vanessa waited until Raffaele took a bite first and only then she dared tasting from her plate. Unexpectedly, the snail tasted much better than she thought it would, and the buttery texture surprised her. Maybe we should eat snails more often, Chiara commented dryly. That made her laugh out loud, and Raffaele looked at her questioningly.

“Chiara says maybe we should eat snails more often,” Vanessa explained.

“Chiara is your wolf?”, he asked.

Vanessa nodded affirmingly. “Yes, she is. What’s your wolf’s name?”

“Lucio”

Lucio, Chiara purred, what a strong name, I love it. Vanessa left her love-struck wolf in the back of her mind and focused on her food again. She ended the course with another sip of wine.

The next course was sturgeon in butter, tarragon, parsley roots and caper leaves. She liked fish, but didn’t eat it very often. It was easier to get meat around here, especially if she had to hunt for it herself. The herbs and the fish melted on her tongue, this time she couldn’t help it, she closed her eyes and let out a small moan. Next to her, Raffaele tried very hard to not stare at her lips that glistened from the butter the fish was coated in. He cleared his throat and took his wine glass, emptying it in one gulp. Vanessa blushed again, feeling like she did something wrong, but the food was just too delicious for her to be able to hold it in. She finished her wine as well, and when the waiter came to pick up the plates, he asked Raffaele if they wanted another glass.

“No, we’ll have a bottle of ‘Beyond the Clouds’”, he answered.

“Wonderful choice, sir, I’ll be right back.”

“What a wonderful name for a wine,” Vanessa mused. “I hope it tastes as great as it sounds.”

The waiter appeared again, showing a bottle with a cream coloured label, which prominently featured the words ‘Beyond the clouds, Elena Walch’ on it, to Raffaele. He skillfully opened the bottle, smelled at the cork and then poured a small amount of wine into one of the empty wine glasses he had brought with the bottle. Raffaele tasted it and motioned to the waiter to proceed. Nodding, the waiter poured the wine into Vanessa’s glass before adding to the wine in Raffaele’s glass as well. He put the bottle into a bucket with iced water that stood close to their table and left.

Thankfully, alcohol didn’t affect werewolves that much, they mostly drank for the taste only. That meant, that even if they finished the bottle, they wouldn’t be drunk or even feel tipsy, as it took a lot more than half a bottle of wine to make them feel something. Although, being next to Raffaele made Vanessa’s head spin a little as if she was. She carefully lifted the glass, looking at the golden coloured liquid inside, and took a sip. It tasted as she imagined it felt like being beyond the clouds. Powerful but soft, not too sweet, and complex but soothing. This might be her favourite wine. Alas, this was also the first wine she had that didn’t come in a cardboard box, but she couldn’t imagine finding a better one.

“You do know your wines, do you?”, Vanessa noted.

“I enjoy everything that is worthy of being enjoyed.”

Her breath hitched in her chest and she felt like her heart had stopped beating. The way he looked at her when he said that made her feel dizzy. Thankfully, the waiter appeared again, bringing yet another plate that looked like it came straight out of a photograph.