Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella
Chapter 53

For three days, Evan remained at the Scarlet manor. I'd asked him to. I was bad at using social media, what had happened.

en I could read the blaring tweets and catch glimpses of viral videos featuring everyone's reaction to the news that had broken the night before I found out It spread through the city like wildfire, and it must have swept the whole region too. I stayed away from the news. I couldn't take it, hearing the horrified recounting and twisting of the facts, the joint fear and disapproval of Alpha Evan of the Scarlet pack. What made it worse was that they were always afraid. False names, filters, hiding their faces and only allowing their voices to be heard in their videos, anything to preserve their anonymity. It was because they were terrified of retaliation. They weren't simply jumping on the bandwagon to criticize him; they wanted to share their thoughts of the tyrannical Alpha who had swept whole packs and territories off the map.

And this latest incident had only proven how ruthless and cruel he could be. A fifteen year old boy, a snapped photograph of him from the sidewalk as an ambulance transported him to the hospital, face almost purple and neck bruised, injured all over. The photograph I saw most before I cut myself off from the internet altogether was a grainy picture of the blood covering the boy's entire face, and the lost, dazed look in his eyes of someone who'd been beaten senseless.

Evan had promised it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Most of the injuries had come from when he resisted capture and tried to fight back against the Deltas bringing him in for interrogation. When he shifted back to human form, the wounds he had gained as a wolf had remained... although it was true Evan's rough treatment had aggravated his condition.

He wasn't the only one. There were others Evan had treated far too ruthlessly, those who hadn't deserved it. And after the storm died, he was going to make things right. Not just how he would handle the investigation going forward, but in making amends for the harm he had done.

It wasn't easy. Waiting out the worst of the storm was painful for both of us. Evan hated the idea of hiding, and in my heart I knew it was right to fix things straightaway, not wait until the coast was less stormy. But Evan's decision had been begrudging and he was still wielding the anger that had made him lose control the first time. He needed to get a hold of himself first before he went out there to make right what had gone wrong.

Raf was the only exception along with Leon, although he was too busy and exhausted picking up extra shifts to visit me more than once over those three days. Raf, however, was a different story. She brought a camping bag of all things, and when I asked, her answer was so matter-of-fact that I had no choice but to drop the questions.

"In case Evan gets out of hand and we have to leave and camp somewhere outside," she had explained that arst night. "We are not going to tolerate him if he loses his temper with you." "He won't do anything to-"

"You said you almost got into a fight this morning about all of this, didn't you?"

"It wasn't even a real fight! It was a little argument-"

"It was a little argument where you are half his size and there is no one to stop him if he starts throwing hands. No. It's not going to down like that. Come on, you pack a go-bag too just in case." "Raf..."

She let it go after I insisted enough. Evan overheard everything, but he kept his distance for those few minutes while I calmed Raf down. He knew what she thought of him. He also knew his Alpha presence was so strong she would read it as hostile no matter how peaceable he tried to be, and that while Raf and I had a heart-to-heart, his input was not welcome.

Their first interactions after that were chilly. She was afraid of his strength, able to detect his power like any werewolf could, but more powerful than her fear was her loyal determination to keep me safe. I couldn't wish for a better friend. I couldn't wish for a better sister.

The third day, she finally allowed the first cracks to form in the ice wall s he had put up. After a visible struggle, she asked him a benign question about food allergies and asked him if he was going to have any issues with us baking a pecan cake in the kitchens. The latter half of the question was a mite more aggressive than the first, but Evan graciously ignored the slip in tone and answered with full cordiality. No, he didn't have allergies. Yes, we were welcome to use the kitchens in any way we wished to make whatever we wanted. After all, this house was my home as well as his, and any friend of mine was just as welcome.

After that reply, the bristling tension Raf had carried around deflated. She muttered something affirmative and dragged me downstairs by the hand to get to work.

The cake looked like a car accident. Raf was a nightmare in the kitchen, so I had taken over the mixing and baking portion, but she had insisted on decorating it herself. How she could be getting so good at latte art but accidentally put ninety percent of the frosting on the counter instead of the cake, we didn't know.

Still, it gave us reason to laugh our hearts out, something I'd needed for a long time. Something everyone had needed. Several times, the Delta staff peeked in on us with shy smiles, and Evan wandered downstairs as well, unable to stay away. The strangest smile was on his face, not wide enough for anyone unfamiliar with it to recognize the sight, but for me, there was no denying that subtle upturn of one corner of his mouth.

I waved him over. Raf stiffened with the cake knife in hand, but relaxed when he approached with slow, easy strides, like a horse that had been spooked for a second but now saw there was no threat.

"You have to have the first taste," I said. "We're not sure if it's edible or not."

Evan's eyebrow shot up. "I'm the poison-tester?"

"I never said it was poison," I chided, and Raf wagged the cake knife at him. "We're just saying it might not be perfectly fit for human or werewolf consumption."

"And so..."

"You're an Alpha. You have the strongest stomach in case this thing tries to kill you." Raf slid the small plate over to him almost menacingly. "Chop-chop. Once you don't drop dead, we'll have a slice too."

"I don't believe I signed up for this."

"You walked in. Now you pay the toll."

"What are you two? Trolls collecting tax under the bridge?"

Raf flared. "How dare you! To a couple of ladies like us."

"You're right. I'll go ahead and do my duty." Evan obediently stabbed the fork into the misshapen cake slice-

"Oh, no! That's not how you do it. Come here." I turned his fork sideways and sliced through the cake from the tip. "Save the frosting for last. Eat from this side." I separated the smaller piece, turned the fork upright to impale it, and brought it to Evan's mouth. He ate it without objection, chewing with a pleasantly surprised expression.

Raf, however, did not have the same reaction.

"Oh, you two are so gross," she grumbled. "Really? Right in front of my cake?"

I blushed. "You and Leon are even worse! Don't act like-"

"Oooh, let's feed each other all our food, ooh, open wide-"

"Raf!"

She didn't let it go. Her jeers and ribbing were merciless as she spoke around the cake in her mouth, until I was sitting on the stool with both hands covering my face to try to calm the raging fire in my cheeks.

Evan took it all with goodnatured patience. He didn't join in the joking and he barely even reacted except with an uncharacteristically sage smile, but his thoughts were at peace, not angry. The dark cloud that had followed him around and choked the light out of him was almost gone.

"Oh, you sappy - fine!" Raf rolled her eyes and turned around in her stool. "You two go and be gross all you want."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Staring at each other! Again! I am so not third-wheeling over cake, okay? Ugh!"

I hadn't even realized I'd been staring at Evan, and him at me. How long had Raf been watching us in the awkward (for her) silence? My face was in flames again, but really... this was nice. A warmth spread through my chest, thawing the tightness that had hidden there.

I smiled.