Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella
Chapter 28

He must have taken my suggestion seriously. By the time I washed up and went down for breakfast fifteen minutes later, Evan was gone. The housekeeper said he had disappeared in a hurry, driving off with Peelle without an explanation to the staff. But I knew. He must have gone off to Dark Moon territory again.

Was there a point, though? It was not only possible but likely that if someone there had been intimately involved in the betrayal of his family, they were already dead. He had slaughtered everyone related to Alpha Kris after all... I shook my head, driving the grisly thoughts away. That was in the past now. I would never forget what Evan had done, but there was no way to bring anyone back from death. It was over. Evan might replace that the path was a dead end.

But maybe he could replace clues another way. I texted Peelle, staging the suggestion like an uncertain question. Didn't we stop by the city garden that day you escorted me? I asked. I can't remember clearly anymore but I think I got my cuttings from there. Do you remember stopping by anywhere else?

I could have easily texted Evan that, but I didn't want to give him a chance to reply and drag me into a conversation. It was painful enough having to keep living with him and seeing his face every day, but a text conversation would only twist the knife a thousand times more.

Peelle could relay my information for me. He might replace it strange that I would ask him instead of telling Evan outright, but hopefully I had masked it with enough questions that he wouldn't replace it too odd.

In the meantime, Evan was still on this path of vengeance, and there was no word on him changing his mind about annexing another pack in two weeks. He was still searching for his mate, and the mystery of that curse he had fleetingly thought of was no closer to being solved. I had to give up. I could no longer hope and dream that he tossed it all away and came to me instead, putting me before his ambitions.

It was time for me to open my eyes and accept it. I had to get on with my life.

It should have hurt to come to that final conclusion especially after last night, but it made my stomach settle enough that I could have breakfast in peace.

Maybe it would get easier soon. I just had to pretend to be strong until the pain disappeared. And maybe, by the end, I really would be stronger.

***

Lunch! Come to the Osterman dining hall today.

Raf's text came just as I left the manor proper and headed for the garage. I stopped and tapped out a brief confirmation, but no sooner had I sent it than I received another text, this time from Ken.

I'm nearby. I can pick you up in a few minutes?

I'm okay. I'm already heading out now.

Then how about joining me for lunch?

Sure. Raf and Leon will be coming too, if that's okay. We already agreed to meet up for lunch but it would be great to have you too.

Today was a special day for the lab session. We weren't experimenting on anything today or doing dissections. Instead, a researcher team brought in two specimens preserved in formalin in tanks, and we all stared at the sight from our desks. Most of us had never seen anything like it before.

One tank held the preserved body of a werewolf in human form. The other tank held the preserved body of a werewolf in wolf form. It was a black wolf, no peculiar markings to set it apart, but I had to wonder at its origins. How long had it been dead? How old was this preserved cadaver? Werewolf history pinned our origins at around nine hundred years ago, but this wolf could have lived during any point between then and now.

It was both gruesome and beautiful. No modern werewolf would ever agree to be preserved like this for posterity's sake, put on display in a vat of preserving chemicals for examination by thousands of students over the years. What would this werewolf think if they were alive to know what was happening to them now?

Raf and Leon were waiting for me in the Osterman dining hall at noon. I had taken my time getting there, appetite mauled by the inspection we had done of the two cadavers, but they didn't seem to notice I had taken a few extra minutes to get there.

Soon after I arrived, Ken also appeared, looking slightly harried as if he had hurried to get here. Raf shot me a smug look, and I gave her a stern glower in return. She was not going to play matchmaker today. I placed my plate on the table and greeted them all, and soon rapid conversation overtook the four of us.

We were a good group. Raf's talkativeness, Leon's good temper, Ken's charisma, and my attentive listening: it was lively and fun. But not long after, I became the center of attention when Leon brought up my recent questions on investments and business. Raf and Leon turned surprised eyes upon me.

"What's that about?" Raf asked, confused. "You're not short on money, right? Is there some problem or..." Her eyes flashed with sudden alarm, but I shook my head, hearing her frantic thoughts. If I could only reassure her that Evan wasn't withholding anything from me and that my needs were well-taken care of, I would have on the spot, but I had to make it seem natural.

"I have everything I could ever need," I told everyone around the table. "But that's kind of the problem, isn't it? I don't want to be dependent all my life. I want to be an adult for myself, take care of myself, be independent. When I was back in Dark Moon, I-" I broke off. If I told them about how I'd been shoved into the tiny huts or cramped slave quarters or even sometimes forced to sleep on the kitchen floor back when I was young and had no permanent place to sleep in the pack house, they would drown me in sympathy. I didn't want that.

"...When I was young, I always wanted to have a place of my own when I grew up," I amended, not lying but not exactly telling them the whole truth. They would be horrified to know that Elly and Maria had gotten grand bedrooms while I stayed in cellars and attics, choking on dust and grime. "So the way to get my own place would be to make my own money, and I want to have a lot of it. I want to stand on my own feet and take care of myself."

"But... aren't you going to stay with the Scarlet pack for a while?" Raf asked. "You don't like the manor? It's huge. It probably already feels like you live alone."

"But it's not really my home, you know? It's someone else's house, and I'm just living in it."

She nodded, understanding finally. This wasn't just about the incident that had gone down between Evan and me, not completely. It was related, but the realization that I was so dependent on his money that I couldn't even run away from him and the pain of seeing him had given me a reality check.

I had to get out. But more importantly, I had to be capable of getting out in the first place. Right now, I was little better than a dolled-up decoration in the Scarlet pack manor, just eating up money and food without actually accomplishing anything of my own. Evan had said I would be his maid, but he hadn't actually done anything to follow through on it. He was no longer expecting anything of me. He didn't even really want to be lovers, even if he had tried to kiss me... He had no idea what to do with me, was the truth. Now we were forced to be friends while we lived under the same roof. I had to pretend it didn't kill me to know he was searching for his fated mate every day, and he couldn't throw me out or else he would be seen as cruel and thoughtless.

We were friends. Family, in the same pack now. But this wasn't how it should be.

"So you're planning on moving out," said Ken. "How soon are you trying to do that?" "As soon as possible."

Good, I heard him think with enthusiasm. She can get out from under Evan's shadow.

I smiled at him. He had no idea I could hear his every thought, or that his faith that I could thrive without Evan's guiding hand was making me feel warm and happy.

I agreed with him. I could do it on my own. I had to.

It was time to put this dead thing between Evan and me to rest.