Lessons with The Alpha

CHAPTER.2

Too stunned to speak or get up from her position on the ground, Diana just lay there and watched as this new mystery stranger – her savior – battled with an alligator. He was still in his human form but she didn’t need anyone to tell her that he was a werewolf. It was obvious in the way he moved and fought. He had its arms around it and the two of them rolled around in the dirt. The alligator kept trying to turn its head backward so that it could take a bite out of the mystery savior’s head. Had they been near a body of water, the alligator would have drowned him. But the mystery savior held on tightly until he could no more when the alligator managed to wiggle out of his grasp.Still persistent about having something to eat, the alligator tried to rush forward to Diana but the mystery savior made eye contact with it and growled. Realizing that it wasn’t going to get even a little nibble of flesh, the alligator turned around and slithered away. Even after the danger was gone, the scent of blood and adrenaline hung heavy in the air.The mystery stranger got up from all fours and turned around to stare at Diana. “Are you alright?”Diana was too stunned to speak. When he turned around, she realized that she knew this mysterious savior: Arthur. From what she remembered, he had moved to Florida just before summer began. He was also in Camp Venus but he and Diana moved in different social circles so that they never had a chance to interact. Until now.“Let me take a look at your leg.” He said, crouching down beside her.As soon as he got down to her level, it was as if the world stopped moving. Both their scents mingled, wafting into their noses and permeating their very beings. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and she couldn’t pull her gaze away from him. Both of them stared in disbelief. They were mates! The chances of finding your mate were as slim as that of winning the lottery. Maybe even slimmer. Diana had heard stories about werewolves finding their mates and living happily ever after but she never thought that sort of thing could happen to her this early in her life. It was more common for werewolves to encounter their mates much later in their lives, probably at an age when one of them would have already been married with children and sometimes even grandchildren. At this stage, both parties would then reject each other as mates and go on with their lives. There was no point in pursuing a relationship with someone already in a committed relationship.So enthralled with each other were they that they didn’t notice the branch that Claudia’s net was hanging from snap from the tree, allowing Claudia to wiggle out of the net and make her way toward the infatuated duo. “Oh my God! You’re bleeding.” She gasped once she got close enough.Diana looked down at herself, surveying her arms and legs before she realized that she wasn’t the one bleeding. Sure, she had sustained a few scrapes and bruises from her fall but nothing serious enough to warrant the kind of horrified expression that graced Claudia’s face. She turned her eyes to Arthur, and sure enough, there was a large patch of blood on his lower abdomen from where the alligator’s claws had scratched him.Arthur glanced down at his abdomen and poked the bleeding site noncommittally. “It’s not very deep so it’s already healing. I’ll be fine.” He said, shrugging it off. “What about you? Are you okay?”“I’m fine, thanks for asking. Oh and, you were talking about Diana.” She mused once she noticed him start to feel up Diana’s leg for any potential injuries.“Diana.” He repeated, trying the name on his tongue. “Like the Roman goddess. And you look like one too.”Diana blushed in response and murmured a thank you.“Well, I’m Claudia.” She said, stretching her hand out for a handshake before dropping it when she realized that he was too occupied with Diana to return it. “I feel like I know you from somewhere.”“His name is Arthur. I’ve seen him around in Camp Venus.” Diana explained.For the first time that night, Arthur turned to look at Claudia. “You girls go to Camp Venus? It’s way past our curfew. What are you doing out by this time of the night?”Claudia huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I could ask you the same question. What are you doing out by this time of the night?” The two maintained eye contact before Claudia finally caved and answered the question. “We went to see a movie.”“I went to see my girlfriend. I heard you guys screaming and I came to see what all the fuss was about.” He said, then he spun around to address Diana. “But we just started seeing each other; we’re not serious.”But the seeds of insecurity had already been planted in Diana’s mind. Of course, someone that looked like Arthur already had a girlfriend. She had been stupid for thinking otherwise and even more stupid for thinking that she would get a fairytale ending with him.“Thanks for saving us from the alligator and all that but why didn’t you just kill it?” Claudia asked, not oblivious to Diana’s crestfallen expression. “I might have been a bit too far away to tell but it sort of looked like you could have easily done that. All it would have taken was just a little snap.” She said, pantomiming snapping the alligator’s neck.“I didn’t want anyone coming along the body and wondering what killed it.” Arthur explained. “Can’t have humans suspecting that there’s a werewolf among them and causing mass panic.”“Wait? You’re a werewolf? No. Don’t answer that. Of course, you’re a werewolf. Humans don’t go around wrestling alligators.” She said mostly to herself.“The good news is that nothing is broken. But the bad news is that you might have lateral ligament tear in your ankle.” He explained. “I’m no doctor but it’s a common enough football injury for me to be able to identify it. You just have to keep your legs straightened for about five minutes and you’ll be fine. Here, let me help you up.” He said pulling Diana to her feet. He didn’t let her get used to the feeling of standing before he scooped her up in his arms and cradled her close to his chest like she didn’t weigh anything.Claudia raised her brow at Diana who blushed and buried her face in Arthur’s firm chest.“We should get going.” Arthur said, starting to move at a slow enough pace so that Claudia would be able to keep up with him.The three of them made their way to Camp Venus, Diana in Arthur’s arms and Claudia by his side. Arthur only let Diana use her own two feet again when they got near the campground and she had to scale over the fence.“I should get going.” Arthur said. “I’ll see you tomorrow Diana.” He winked at her and disappeared into the darkness.“Why’s he winking at you like that if he has a girlfriend?” Claudia asked.“Because he’s my mate. But that doesn’t matter; he’s not going to leave her for me.” She sighed. “Let’s get inside. The mosquitoes out here are resilient

.”* * * * *

“You’ve been awfully quiet ever since last night.” Claudia said. She was still dressed in her pajamas sitting crossed-legged on the top part of the bunk bed that they shared.Diana stopped drying off her hair with her towel. She was always one of the first girls in Camp Venus to shower, getting up before the sun to use that bathroom. Most girls preferred to shower after the sun had risen and a handful, like Claudia, showered after they had had breakfast. When she had stepped out of the room almost an hour ago, Claudia had still been asleep. Diana had wished she had been able to sleep so soundly as her friend but she didn’t have that much luck. Her encounter with her newly discovered mate, Arthur, snatched away all possibilities of sleep from her.Her mind kept going back to him; she couldn’t help it. She kept thinking of him. How she had been able to see and feel the outline of his muscles through his shirt. How her body had tingled when he had said her name and told her that she looked like a goddess. How he had fought off the alligator with such vigor and finesse. How their relationship was doomed from the very beginning on account of his girlfriend.“I’ve just been thinking about Arthur.” She said hanging to damp towel on a hook.“Your mate?” Claudia said. “He’s alright I guess.”Diana scowled at her. “He’s perfect.” She countered, sparring Claudia the details. It had been too dark for Claudia to see the handsomeness of Arthur in its entirety. His long luscious eyelashes. His dark wavy hair. His baby blue eyes. Diana sighed just thinking about how good he looked.“If he’s so perfect, why do you seem so worried?” Claudia asked.“Because he has a girlfriend.”“Well, yeah. But he also winked at you and said that he wanted to see you today.”“I know. That’s why I’m going to pretend to be ill so I can spend all day indoors.” Diana said, then let out a series of fake coughs.“Are you out of your mind?” Claudia said, climbing down from the bunk. “You can’t stay in here all day. What’s the worst that could happen?”“He rejects me and continues his relationship with his model girlfriend.”“Okay, first of all, you don’t know that his girlfriend is a model. She could look like a gremlin for all you know.” Claudia said. “And second of all, if he rejects you, so what? It’s not like you guys have formed any emotional connection yet. There are tons of guys out there that are better than him.”Diana shook her head. “You won’t understand because you’re…”“A human?” Claudia finished. “I know that. I know that I’ll probably never understand what it means to be rejected by a mate. But you were the one who told me about people finding their mates when one of them would have already been married with children and sometimes even grandchildren. Those guys reject each other and they turn out just fine. If he doesn’t want you, you’ll be fine. I promise.”Diana nodded. She still wasn’t convinced. It wasn’t just the part of Arthur rejecting her that scared her. Arthur was her mate, assigned to her by the moon goddess. In a way, he was bound to end up with her; to love her until death did them part. If he rejected her, what other guy out there, werewolf or otherwise, was going to want anything to do with her?“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s go down for breakfast. Hopefully, you guys would be able to talk and sort this whole thing out.” Claudia said, looping her arm with Diana’s and leading her out of the room.The two of them walked into the cafeteria and inspected the spread between them: a variety of foods ranging from waffles to mini cereal boxes. They had barely had time to decide on what to get when Diana felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She spun around to see Arthur smiling down at her.“I’ll leave you guys time to talk.” Claudia said, moving to the table with stacks of waffles.He led her away to a table in the more secluded part of the cafeteria. “I brought you breakfast.” Arthur said, holding out a plate of bacon toward her.Diana smiled at him nervously. “Thank you. That was really thoughtful, but I’m a vegetarian. I don’t eat meat.” She said, adding the last part when he still had the plate stretched out toward her.He let out a hearty laughter before he saw her face and realized that she was serious. “How can you not eat meat? You’re a werewolf. That’s ridiculous.” He shrugged. “More for me then.”Diana shuffled on her feet and watched as he put two bacon strips into his mouth.“I wanted to talk to you about us.” He said once he had finally stopped chewing. He took his hands in hers. “I want us to pursue a relationship. See where this goes.”“What about your girlfriend?” Diana said in almost a whisper.“Sophia and I have only known each other for a week. We don’t know each other that well and the only reason I call her my girlfriend is because she insisted I did.” He explained. “We’re mates, Diana. The two of us belong together. I want us to be together.”Diana nodded earnestly. “I want us to be together too.”“Then it’s settled.” He said bringing her knuckles to his lips and placing the lightest of kisses on them. “But I can’t break up with Sophia right away. That would crush her heart. And she’s preparing for the Pumpkin Princess pageant. I don’t want to be the reason she doesn’t win. We’ll have to keep our relationship under wraps until October. I’ll break up with Sophia after her pageant.”With those words, Diana felt her blood run cold. She didn’t exactly follow pageantry but there was only one Sophia that she knew of that was involved in the Miss Florida Teen pageant. The queen herself: Sophia Adams. “Your girlfriend is Sophia Adams?”“Yes. Do you two know each other?”“From school.” The only reason she knew Sophia was because the vile girl continually tormented her, picking on her at every chance she got. She bullied Diana about everything from her weight to her dead parents. No topic was off limits for her. Claudia had been wrong. Physically speaking, Sophia was possibly the furthest thing from a gremlin to exist.“Hey.” Arthur said, tipping her chin up so that she could look him in the eye. “She doesn’t matter to me now. You’re my mate and I want to be with you.” He assured.Diana nodded mutely at his words. She was his mate. All she had to do was wait until October so that they could flaunt their relationship. Until then, Diana was satisfied with whatever attention he chose to give her.