The Alpha's Hybrid Mate

Chapter 9

Waking up had never been more difficult. Vanessa didn’t sleep well that night. First, she was thinking about what he had told her about his family, then her mind wandered to the choice she had to make – because apparently, he had already made up his mind about her, even though she was a freaking hybrid – until she finally thought about the implications of her becoming Luna of a pack she had never been part of. It was a mere two hours before her alarm went off when she finally fell asleep.

No wonder she woke up with the worst headache of her life. She immediately checked her phone to see if there were any more messages, but there weren’t, which further dampened her mood. She had been lying in bed last night when he texted her, and it was an entirely new feeling for her that someone texted her goodnight. Chiara had purred throughout their entire conversation. 

Vanessa quickly got ready. She chose her favourite dark grey hoodie, the same colour as Lucio, Raffaele’s wolf. Maybe that would make her day slightly more bearable. Pulling up her jeans, she walked into the kitchen and prepared some coffee with the moka pot. That was the fastest way to make the one cup of steaming goodness she required to start her day. As soon as the espresso was ready, she poured all of it into her mug, added some sugar and milk and, leaning against the kitchen counter, drank her coffee while looking out of the window. The weather was nice today, but she could sense the coming winter. She put the empty mug into the sink, grabbed an apple and her bag on the way out and left for school.

When she reached school, she quickly climbed the stairs to the entrance and carefully looked inside. The hallway was the danger zone for her, it was were Alessio and his friends were always waiting for her. She felt relieved when she couldn’t see them, but that was short lived when she heard him behind her “Looking for someone, freak?”

She didn’t turn around, instead swiftly entered the building and tried to reach her classroom as fast as possible. Unfortunately, Alessio was faster than her and grabbed her backpack, nearly ripping it off her shoulders, causing her to shriek. “Why are you running away from me, do you have something to hide, sfigata (loser)?” With that, he ripped her backpack open and threw all its contents on the floor. Her books, pens and pencils, her water bottle, everything was scattered around on the floor. “What are you doing, stronzo (asshole)!”, Vanessa yelled at him, while the other students gathered around them to watch. “What did you call me?”, Alessio menacingly snarled. But she could see by the twinkle in his eyes that he got exactly the reaction he had hoped for, this was why he provoked her in the first place. So she would get angry and say something and he could punish her for it.

We could fight back, you know? We are strong enough, Chiara whispered. Yeah, but what would be the consequences? Not only would he hate her even more than now, but also the school would get involved, and she was sure that Alessio would be able to spin it around and make her look like the villain. It was better to just stay quiet and ignore him.

Vanessa took a deep breath, shook her head and then just bent down to collect her stuff, putting it all back into her backpack quickly so she wouldn’t be late for class. She could hear some students snicker, some were disappointed that it didn’t get more violent. Most students didn’t bother her at all, but they would also never take her side and stop Alessio’s attacks from happening. After closing up her bag, she saw that the altercation had resulted in a tear in the fabric of the straps. Figlio di puttana (son of a b***h), she thought. Now she needed to be extra careful so it would still hold up for the rest of the school year. She just spent most of her money on school items, she couldn’t afford a new bag.

Sighing, she entered the classroom as the last student, just as the bell rang. Her German language teacher stared disapprovingly at her, he was a stickler to punctuality. “Just in time, Vanessa, please do sit down.”

She bowed her head, trying to hide behind her long hair, while she slid into her seat. The rest of class thankfully passed without any further incidents, and she managed to relax a little, praying to the Moon Goddess that she would be safe for today.

Of course, Alessio hadn’t finished his torture just yet. Some days, he would ignore her, but some days, he seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of bed, and he chose to let that out on her. Today, unfortunately, was one of those days. On her way to the school yard during their break, just as she had taken the first bite of her apple, he purposefully ran into her hard, causing her to drop her meal. “Watch where you’re going,” he grinned while walking away from her and stepping on her apple. Vanessa was steaming with rage. She didn’t have breakfast, and she was hungry. She picked up her apple and wondered if she could just wash off the dirt under some water. But she didn’t want to eat something Alessio had stomped off with his dirty shoes, so she just threw it into the garbage. She rummaged through her bag to check for some lose change, maybe she could get something out of the vending machine.

She had just enough for the cheapest item in there, rice cakes. They were dry and tasted like card board, but it was better than nothing and she could wash them down with some water from her water bottle.

The rest of the day, Alessio was thankfully distracted talking crap with his friends and flirting with the girls that seemed to flock around them and stopped bothering her. She didn’t want to push her luck, so as soon as the bell rang, she bolted out of there. Knowing her mother wouldn’t be home yet, she knew she could finish her homework in peace before going for a run. The thought of that made her feel better already.

When she got home, she immediately started preparing her lunch. There wasn’t much in the fridge, but she found some tomatoes and mozzarella. She put some water on the stove, added salt and started chopping her ingredients while she waited for it to boil. Putting the tomatoes and mozzarella aside in a bowl, she added the pasta into the boiling water and set the timer. Then, she went outside to grab some basil from her little herb garden. It wasn’t very big, but she managed to plant some basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme and sage. She used to have a little vegetable garden, but her mother ripped it all out one day when she was angry with her. She left the herbs alone only because she probably thought they were just some weeds.

When the pasta was cooked through, Vanessa drained it and then opened the tab, so the cold water could cool down the pasta to room temperature quickly. She added the cool pasta to the tomatoes, the mozzarella and added pepper, olive oil and grated parmesan cheese, before she roughly chopped the fresh basil and mixed it in. Grabbing the bowl and a fork, she sat down at the table, took out the first of her assigned homework and started working on it while eating.

When she was done, she cleaned up after herself and went to her room to remove her clothes. She couldn’t wait to run through the forest, and she could feel Chiara itching to come out and play. Finally, she shifted while jumping out the back door and sniffed the fresh mountain air. Gleefully yapping, Chiara started running into the woods, and Vanessa happily gave the reigns to her and stayed in the back of her head. She continued pondering over her thoughts from last night. Why could the Moon Goddess not pair her with a simple pack member, or a rogue without any pack affiliation. They could just travel around, settle wherever they wanted. She could become a lawyer, they could enjoy their freedom… but no. The next Alpha. She did decide, however, that no matter what, she would not ask him to give up his place for her. She’d rather be without him than having him resent her for disappointing his family. Which only left two choices. She could leave him, or she could stay with him and take on more responsibility than she had ever asked for. Besides, could she really leave her mate? Reject him? Deep down, she knew that would break her.

I can smell him, Chiara interrupted her thoughts. I can smell my mate.

Vanessa looked around, she was close to the spot she had first seen him two days ago.