Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella
Chapter 13

I was drowsy all day Saturday. We had gotten back reasonably early all things considered, but I was so accustomed to waking up before the c***k of dawn in Dark Moon that I couldn't rid myself of the habit here. I suspected it would stay with me all my life. Some

things just couldn't be fixed, the same way some scars remained engraved in flesh for life. I had my share of both.

What must Elly and Maria be thinking now, I wondered as I looked out my window. I didn't miss them at all, but there was no doubt in my mind they missed my presence. For all the insults they had hurled at me all my life, they had been so dependent on my service that they couldn't get by on their own for even a single day.

And yet I couldn't even be glad for it. I wished we'd never encountered each other, but if I couldn't have that, I wished I could magically forget everything I had ever unwillingly learned in Dark Moon. The punctuality and industriousness that marked my character had been beaten and punished into me mercilessly. Daring to wake up after dawn meant sobbing for hours as they grabbed a reed bundle to whip my calves and feet with, and jeering that if I weren't so lazy, I wouldn't have been beaten at all. My fault. My fault. My fault, they had said.

Of course it wasn't. But in order to not suffer, I had to pretend I believed it. And at least it had taught me one valuable lesson, that silence and indifferent endurance could be the most powerful weapon of all, always lying in wait to strike. What they saw as weakness was simply biding one's time.

For that, maybe being unable to sleep in was a fair trade-off.

But my morning alone with no one to call on me and order me around meant I was trapped with my increasingly tempestuous thoughts. Last night had been the most fun I'd had in ever. And yet dancing with Alpha Evan had been a step too far. I shouldn't have, even if I'd had no choice. Being so close to him... It had made me think of what it was like to sleep next to him in the same bed.

And if I didn't know any better, I would have thought I missed that warmth.

Of course I didn't. And of course it was crazy of him to have ever let me sleep in his bed, supposedly so he could get a good night's rest. It had only happened once and he had never called me back again, so he must have realized that too.

Or maybe it was because I'd annoyed him. Maybe I'd done something to make him start disliking me. That might be why he hadn't asked me to sleep next to him a second time...

Stupid. Stupid! I really shouldn't have danced with Evan last night. Now all I could think about were stupid things like that, instead of spending my time doing useful things like reading ahead for class.

I paced my bedroom, desperate to distract myself but unable to stay focused enough to do anything productive.

Think, I ordered myself. Everyone was attracted to Evan. It was normal, clinical. Nothing special. The same applied to Ken, after all, and Raf had warned me that Ken Joseph was a player and couldn't be trusted. Just like any rational girl could decide to reject Ken based on that logic, I should be able to block out these confusing thoughts about Evan as well.

After all, he was searching for his mate. And he would never stop until he found her. And what would I do even if he did decide to let it happen at its own pace, and in the meantime, expressed interest in me? I didn't want to casually date anyone. And I didn't like one night stands. I wanted a serious relationship, one that could last.

And any werewolf was automatically out of the running. They had true mates. If I fell in love with one and they found their destined other half five years later, they would have no choice but to go running off to them instead. No matter what Ken said about options, that was just the nature of matehood.

Well, I had my convictions. Just like Evan, who was devoted to the power he craved so much, and the mate who would give that to him.

I should move out, I thought firmly. Before things became even more of a headache. Raf always said I was welcome at her little cabin with Leo on the outskirts of the city. I could go there, and figure out how to strike out independently in the weeks following. ... But that was just my cowardice speaking, and sour grapes.

Because the truth was, the more I listened to Evan's heart, to his thoughts, to his soul, the more my own convinced me... maybe something was possible. Between us.

But of course it wasn't.

***

I didn't eat all day. It was only in the middle of the night that my appetite finally returned, but even then it was only a sliver. The manor was quiet as I crept to the first floor kitchens, and I shrugged off the desolate loneliness of the darkness as I moved. Such isolation. I was tempted to abort my mission and go back to bed just to avoid it.

But the sight that met me in the kitchen made me stop in my tracks.

A silhouette in the darkness, framed only by the bright moonlight from the window. A naked frame. A man's body, bare from head to toe.

Sweat glistened on rippling muscles that moved and bunched. The silhouette reached for something on the counter. A water pitcher. Gulp, gulp. I could hear the sounds from all the way in the doorway.

At first, I was fearful. An intruder? A silent break-in? I should sound the alarm.

But no.

It was Evan.

Evan, naked and sweating, in the kitchen.

No clothes!

There was the outline of his shoulders, of his damp hair. And there was the strong back, each muscle glowing in the moonlight. So broad, so muscular. Narrow waist, powerful hips, strong thighs.

My eyes took it all in with a single accidental glance, and to make it all even worse, there was no way I could ever hope to erase the memory of his manhood as well. At least if it were small, the outline would have escaped my sight, but it hung heavy and free between his legs as he reached around for more water from another pitcher.

Oh, no. I turned away blindly, almost falling over in my haste. My hand hit the doorway with a slap, and that ruined any remaining chance I had to creep away unnoticed.

"Claudia?"

No! How did he know it was me! I hadn't even been able to tell who he was until it was too late, but within half a second, he had identified me even with my whole body bathed in darkness and all the way out in the hallway.

Too late to deny it now. I breathed in and steadied my voice. "Sorry," I said, almost whispering. "I didn't know..."

"No, I'm sorry. I went out for a run. I didn't think anyone else would be up."

That explained it, both the sweating and the nakedness. He had been in his wolf form when he went running. And honestly! I'd been raised among werewolves, this shouldn't be a big deal at all. If they all stayed in their clothes when they shifted, they would rip straight through them. Common sense to take them off before shifting. Unlike me, who had torn my clothes apart that first day I had shifted in response to Flicka's dumb taunting.

But my face was burning like a wildfire anyway no matter what I told myself.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, back still turned. "Why were you out running so late? Are you still unable to sleep?"

"No, the opposite. I have to stay up for something, and I ran to stay awake."

Oh, heavens. He was carrying on conversation as casually as if he weren't standing naked just a few meters from me. This was awful. I didn't know how much more of this I could take, but it felt wrong to simply leave without being dismissed. "Well, I'll go now..."

"You came to eat? Or to drink? Don't stop on my account, Claudia."

On his account, he said. Of his nakedness. I was going to melt into the floor.

"Right... I just needed a cup of water," I fibbed. "But I'm not as thirsty as I thought I was. I think I just wanted to walk around, really."

"I understand. Same reason I went for a run, probably."

"Right."

I excused myself, unable to bear the tension any longer even if I was the only one feeling it. As I left, a faint voice ghosted into my mind, just barely within range.

I feel better suddenly, it said.

That voice. I'd heard it before. Evan's wolf?

I hurried away.