Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella
Chapter 22

Even if I could endure the torment, it was impossible to stay here any longer. We had been out for too long, and once the sunlight moved through the trees to beam through the high branches at an angle, the reality of the passage of time returned to us. We needed to go.

I wanted to comfort him as we parted, even though the rational half of my mind coldly informed me there was no room for comfort here. He had made his choice. He would continue to search for his mate so he could pursue his vengeance, and I... wasn't a part of that anymore, if I ever had been. He believed I had saved him here in this very forest all that time ago, but there was no room for me in the future at his side.

Everything was for the sake of his vengeance. All that hatred, pain, darkness, all those terrible wounds in his heart and mind would never be soothed if he abandoned this path. Or so he had made it seem.

If only I were your mate, I had whispered to him, but I wasn't. Eventually, he would replace her, and then...

We left for the edge of the woods in silence. I dared a few times to glance at his face, and the heartrending sadness etched into every tired line almost made me speak, almost made me tell him everything would be all right - but I stopped, blocked by the unscalable wall wrapped around his heart, choked by the endless thorns and vines that seeped into my mind from his.

I was powerless. If I could ask what the curse was, if I could ask what that had to do with replaceing his mate, I would have. But I knew Evan would hide the truth from me...

And maybe more than that, I was afraid of hearing him say it.

The long walk pack to the Dark Moon pack house, neither of us said a word to each other. He left me to dwell on what this meant for us, what this meant despite the claim he made that I had saved his life when we were children, despite his taking me away from the cruelty of Dark Moon, despite his abrupt appearance at the dance to keep me away from Ken - and despite that kiss in the driveway. All of it.

Meaningless.

It was over. It was over before it had ever begun. It wasn't that Evan was giving up on me; he'd never even intended to let anything between us become... real.

Fine. If that was what he wanted, then he would have it. I would stop chasing him, reaching for a connection we could never have. He would replace his mate eventually, and together they would wipe out his enemies, avenge his loved ones. I wasn't the heroine of that story, the love of his life, his fated mate. I was just... his little maid, someone he'd picked up by the scruff of her neck like a rain-wet puppy on the side of the road.

I had to keep my distance. We both had to keep our distance. And if any doubt of that had remained, that final walk we took back to the Dark Moon pack house swept away every last trace. Not once did Evan try to speak to me. Not once did he try to touch me, to kiss me, to hold my hand - nothing. He kept a wall of space between us, impassable like a mountain.

Those few inches between our hands as we walked could never have felt so impossibly distant.

I held back the tears, swallowing each one with a slow breath.

It's over, I chanted. It's over.

***

I returned to Scarlet pack territory first. I couldn't stand being in the Dark Moon pack house any longer, not with the sickening knowledge that nearly everyone who had walked the halls were dead, slaughtered and buried somewhere in a mass grave, probably. I had never loved Elly, Maria, or Alpha Kris, but to think that the girls had screamed and sobbed as they met their bloody ends, not even adults yet... No. I refused to stay.

But maybe I had been hoping for just a second that Evan would tell me no, that he would order me to stay at his side until his business here was done. My stupid, foolish, ugly heart that kept wanting things I couldn't have. And what for? He gave me permission to leave with a single nod, and Peelle escorted me to the station.

I stayed strong until I settled into the private compartment, all alone.

Here, no one could see me. Here, I was safe.

The tears I had swallowed one by one all came back, rushing to my eyes. They stung and burned as they coursed down my cheeks in streams, and I sobbed into my sleeve the entire way home. Home... Was it really?

Or was that just part of the illusion too, my heart telling me that home was where Evan was?

By the time I got off the train, my face was red and raw. I hid it behind my scarf and kept my head low as I texted Rafael by the benches.

Let's meet up tonight, I said. We can stay together today.

Uh-oh. I know that tone. Something happened, didn't it?

What tone? I'm just typing.

I can read you like an open book, don't even try that with me. You hang tight. I'll bring the car around and we'll go to my place. Okay? Will Leon mind? Is he mad at me for last time?

Last time was not your fault. Don't worry about that. Just make sure you've got all your things. So easy to lose things at the station.

***

"Okay. Hot cocoa coming up. It's the best thing to have when we're having boy problems, which is probably what you're upset about, right?"

I took the mug with downcast eyes. It almost hurt to have Raf treat me with such genuine fondness. She only ever said what she felt, what she meant. There was no difference between her thoughts and her speech.

I loved her for it. She was truly the best friend I'd ever been privileged to have, even if she was the only one. She was a good person, truly.

"Claudia... Come on. Talk to me. Did you and Evan break up?"

"We weren't even really together."

"Oh, yeah? Let me be the judge of that. Tell me everything from the beginning."

I did. The only thing I excluded was the mention of the 'curse' and only because there was no way to explain that I'd heard about it because of my mind-reading ability. That was not happening tonight of all nights.

Her eyebrows creased and furrowed in turn, deepening more and more. "So he rejected you, basically. Because you're not his mate. But... he kissed you before."

"I guess that's not fair. I was the one who kissed him."

"Claudia, that's not how it works. He kissed you back. He's the one who led you on. This guy... So much for being the great Alpha Evan. He's playing with your feelings like a freaking jerk. Don't let him do it anymore. Stop him in his tracks." "Is that what he's doing? Really?"

"Yes, really. Maybe he does like you, but clearly he knows he isn't willing to commit to you. For the sake of someone he's never even met! For a fantasy! Trust me, this is no good for you, and he should have been up front with you from the beginning." I closed my eyes and slumped over the couch arm, miserable. She reached over and shook my knee.

"Claudia. Look at me. Say yes to Ken's invitation. If he asks you out again after that, just say yes."

"Date him? I'm not his mate either."

"And yet he was willing to step out of his zone to pursue you. He's not the one who keeps pushing you out, pulling you in, pushing you out like it's a f*****g game. Am I right?"

I nodded. Reluctantly, but it was what it was.

"Ken might have a reputation, but he's kind and he's fair, and he won't lie to you and lead you on when he has no intention of taking things further. He'll cut it off if he truly thinks that's the right thing to do. So follow my advice. You need to forget about Evan."

***

I slept over. I couldn't bear to be alone tonight, and Raf put out blankets on the floor so we could chat until we fell asleep side by side.

"Raf? Are you awake?"

"Sure am."

"I'm a hybrid, so I don't have a mate, right?"

"Who knows? Don't dismiss it just because of that. You never know. You're only seventeen, so you still have plenty of time before the odds are stacked against you."

"But is there... such a thing as a curse? A curse that has to do with mates?"

"You're not a curse, Claud."

"No, I just - I was just curious. Because everyone always talks about the blessing of replaceing your fated mate, but what if there's something else that... Never mind. I probably don't make any sense."

"Wait. Claudia, hang on. I'm hearing you. And as a matter of fact, I think I heard something about mate-related curses a long time ago, like in history class back in high school. But I'm not sure." "Okay. It's not important anyway. Let's just go to sleep."