Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella
Chapter 25

When Peelle had called mentioning that Evan was worried, I had assumed he meant Evan had not yet returned to the manor. But when I headed upstairs to my bedroom, the door to his own was wide open with the lights on. If I hadn't seen his long shadow sliding across the threshold of the doorway, I might have thought it was a maid cleaning up, but there could be no mistake. Evan was home.

My gut churned. So he had been able to talk on the phone after all, and yet he had ordered Peelle to call me instead. Was he that determined to keep distance between us now? I had drawn back and patiently waited to see what he would do, even though I had tried so hard to convince myself I no longer cared. But this... Just more proof that it was far too late, if there had ever been a chance in the first place. Evan was avoiding me.

And yet just as I took the first step across my bedroom doorway, ready to throw myself into a miserable night full of more nightmares, Evan appeared.

Stupid! Stupid me. My body paused right before I took the second step. No matter how I tried, I couldn't help it. What if he said something? What if he wanted me to stay? What if he...

When I sensed waves of bitterness tinged with jealousy radiating from him, I dared to wonder.

But he said nothing. Only a single thought gave away what might be hiding under the surface.

She looks like she had fun while I was gone.

That was it?

He was going to be angry that I had enjoyed myself?

If he would only take back what he said, if he would only tell me he would no longer chase after his fated mate and give this thing between us a real chance, I was sure I would buckle. But all he wanted was for me to be as miserable as he was. More miserable than he was.

I forced myself to enter my bedroom. I was not going to be a weak, clinging vine. I had my own life to live now, and I refused to let anyone take it away from me again, even Evan who had been the one to let me have it after so long.

"Are you and Ken Joseph going out? I told you he's a player."

"We're friends. There's nothing to worry about."

"Just friends?"

What was he interrogating me for? Was he asking as my employer? My landlord? My new Alpha?

If he wanted to ask me that, he needed to be clear in what capacity he was asking... but he refused to do that too, stubbornly letting the silence persist when I gave him no answer.

Fine. I had no obligation to answer him either. This was personal, and he had said he wouldn't strip my personal freedoms from me. I left him to brood in the hallway and entered my room, closing the door behind me.

***

Raf had texted me earlier when I was at Ken's house, and I had promised to get back to her after I was home. Now I no longer had an excuse to put it off.

You tricked me, I texted her. Why would you go and do that! You're so reckless.

Don't pretend to be mad at me! You were having so much fun you couldn't be bothered to give me play-by-play updates. So what happened!! Tell me everything and don't leave out a single detail.

I should keep you in suspense as revenge...

This was all to help you! You need to move on and live your life. This is the way to do that.

I smiled. There was no point pretending to be angry with her; she had already fully forgiven herself on my behalf. I shook my head, wondering how Leon put up so well with her rambunctiousness 24/7, but proceeded to recount my entire day from morning to night. You fast little racecar! You actually went to his place already! OMG! You're moving so fast, what did I tell you! Anyway, what does his house look like!

It's not like that. He wanted to make dinner. Nothing happened between us. We just get along well.

Yeah, really well, I bet. You minx! I bet you were kissing all over each other the second you got inside.

Kissing? Did that gentle peck on the cheek count? I wasn't sure if it was significant enough for me to tell her, or if she would take that as my being desperate for it to mean something.

It surprised me, how I wanted it to count. Maybe. I wasn't sure. Was it just my loneliness at being rejected by Evan's indecisiveness yet again?

I would decide later when I wasn't feeling so raw and easily swayed. My emotions were digging a hole out from under my feet right now, and I needed to be careful what I told Raf.

I'll just say he offered to pick me up for classes tomorrow.

OMG! He wants that hanky-panky first thing in the morning!

More like my car is still in the parking lot on campus. I hope nothing happened to it, I heard someone had their windows broken in the other day.

She assured me everything would be fine. I was still rumored to be Evan's mate after all, and even if there were daring girls who trash-talked me within earshot, they would never go so far as to vandalize my car. Maybe. Either way, she told me what I needed to focus on was beauty routines. I had to "glow up", as she put it. Skincare tips, makeup tips, Rafael was the expert in these, and she sent me link after link and practically gave me assignments like a professor to follow up with.

It turned out some of the skincare serums and creams she mentioned were already here. I hadn't opened the drawers in the vanity table placed in my room when I first arrived at the Scarlet manor, but I sent Raf pictures of everything in there. The beauty parlor attached to the manor for all the female werewolves going in and out of the place would have even more, I guessed. That first night when the maid team had cleaned and dressed me up, there had been shelves full of product I hadn't thought to explore. I'd get to them when I had a chance, I promised Raf, and I jotted a note for myself to stop by and request a few samples of the products she recommended if the parlor had them.

In the meantime, I needed to get my work done. I was already behind from that ill-advised trip to Dark Moon territory, and I stayed up late to finish my botany assignments and a lab write-up. Once I finished, I obediently went through an abbreviated skincare routine before turning in to sleep, just as Raf had ordered.

I might have gone to sleep smiling. And when I woke up, I couldn't recall waking up to bad dreams at any point during the night. Was I cured? I'd been worried I would have to start making banshee weed remedies for myself like I was a little child again, but maybe I would be spared.

I went down to breakfast, and again, Evan was home. Surprising that he would come home early and not be due for more business this morning. Stranger still that the atmosphere was so awkward, but I ignored the discontent he radiated at me.

Because infuriatingly, even though he had no intention of changing his mind, he had the nerve to be angry that I wasn't initiating communication with him. The dark thoughts swirling in his head were hard to read, but I could gather their surface meaning. He didn't want to be the one approaching me after everything he had said back in the woods by Dark Moon. He wanted me around, but he didn't want it to mean anything deeper.

His control was slipping. So what? Was he going to explode at me? Was he going to demand to know why I was determined to stop obsessing over him, or why I had taken his words at face value and determined that nothing would ever happen between us while he insisted on searching for his fated mate?

Was he insane? Why would I throw myself into his arms while he continued to go around, looking for another woman to replace me? Did he think I had no pride as a werewolf, as a human being? As a woman?

"Your car isn't in the garage," he said, breaking the silence at last.

"Yes. Ken drove me here yesterday."

"I'll drive you to school, then. You don't have your car."

Say yes, he thought fervently, mind racing as he waited for me to respond. But how dare he? Was he still trying to play games even though he had made it clear I was never going to be anything more than a temporary placeholder for him?

But before I could answer, the butler knocked once on the open dining room door. "Excuse the interruption, but Ken Joseph has arrived. He says there was an arrangement to pick up Miss Claudia this morning."

Evan's jaw clenched. f**k.