Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella
Chapter 6

It was challenging blocking out all of the thoughts of the students around me in the first class. I wasn't used to being in close quarters with so many at once. But since I sat in the front row, everyone in range was focused on the professor's lecture. Before I knew it, he was dismissing the class, and I gathered up the notebooks and binders the adviser had given me earlier. The professor watched me as I left. He was the first person I'd met so far who hadn't internally remarked on how I must be Alpha Evan's mate at last. For that reason alone, I decided I liked him.

The next course I was scheduled to sit in on wasn't for another hour. That gave me time to get something at the dining hall, and I brushed my thumb over my student ID as I stood in line.

There were meal points pre-loaded onto it, the counselor had told me. I could eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

I could hardly believe it. Any second now, they could all burst in and take it away from me, saying there was a mistake and that I needed to go back to Dark Moon.

I let out a long breath when the woman scanned my card and waved me through.

I was in. I was meant to be here. No one was stopping me.

My legs were shaking so much I could only put a few things on my plate before I retreated to a table. I needed to sit before I toppled over in sheer amazement. But no sooner had I sat than someone joined me, pulling out the chair to my left without invitation. Two people, actually, a couple. The young woman beamed at me as she set her own plate down.Read more at Ebookex.com

"Hi! I'm Rafael! Yeah, I know it's a guy's name, but you heard right. Just call me Raf. You're the new hybrid girl, right?"

I was still trying to process how she had decided of her own volition to sit next to a half-breed.

Not everyone hated us like Dark Moon did, but I still had human slave blood, and no clan looked at us favorably. But she was talking nonstop and pulling me into a conversation with her and her friend Leon, gossiping about the Scarlet pack.

Somehow, I gathered from her rapid-fire conversation that there were four important families among the Scarlet. The largest of all was the Joseph family - the ones in charge of the business empire with direct ties to several other strong packs. Their support had solidified Alpha Evan becoming the new Alpha some time ago. The other three families were the Neeson, the Glilies, and the Lerman.

"You lucked out being Alpha Evan's mate," Raf told me as she took another bite of her food.

"You're going to be the Luna of a pack that's got a finger in every pie in entertainment, real estate, everything."

I placed my fork on my plate, appetite gone. "Why do you think I'm his mate?"

"Isn't it obvious? He's almost twenty years old. He's been searching for ages to replace his mate- and now, for the first time, he's come back with you."

Fine. I'm about to be convinced.

Peelle drove me back to the manor in the late afternoon and instructed me with a wink to check my room for the 'care package' he had put together. I didn't know what he could possibly mean until one of the maids escorted me to my new bedroom, which was adjacent to Alpha Evan's suite. On the round table inside was a brand-new laptop, a thick wad of cash, bank cards, and a car key.

I stood in stunned amazement for a long moment. Just yesterday, I had been brushing Elly's hair while listening to her rant about what trash I was, just like every day that had come before.

But now...

I might never have to go back. I really might be free after all.

But as I looked around my lushly decorated bedroom, clutching the car key to my chest, my heart sank. This was Evan treating me like a princess because he was repaying me for 'saving' him. What would he do when he eventually realized the truth? I had already told him he had the wrong person, but would he forgive me even still?

None of this really belonged to me. It belonged to the mysterious person who had rescued him almost a decade ago.

And it could disappear just as swiftly as it had come.

***

The next day, I drove myself to school in a Benz. It had to be used; who would trust me with a new car? But even then, it was too expensive for me to be driving around in. Parking took ages since I went around and around looking for a spot with no cars next to it, just in case. My driving and parking skills needed a lot more practice before I dared risk a scratch or dent.

At least the way to Scarlet University was easy to navigate. It was a straight shot from the manor, which was at the heart of the affluent area of the territory, and near the commercial district of the city. In fact, everything was easily accessible from here, even the low- income neighborhoods.

Very different from the zoning around Dark Moon. In that area, there were strict requirements for residence: higher-class families were divided from the rest, and there were even specific areas where humans and hybrids were allowed to live. It wasn't only Dark Moon who hated humans, after all.

Raf had told me to meet her for lunch again in the Rhyman dining hall today, and I found myself looking forward to it instead of focusing in class several times. But I had fun, too. The morning passed quickly thanks to the lab course the counselor had squeezed in for me, even though I was stuck mainly watching since all the students in there had paired off when the semester began a month ago.

Moreover, now that it was my second day on campus, there were several faces in my classes that I began to recognize, and vice versa. They were far kinder than the students at my high school had been, too, and after my initial wariness, I warmed up to them and exchanged introductions.

There were those who didn't take to me well, though. Foremost among them was Flicka, who had the bad luck of having to sit next to me in two of my classes. I had to wonder why she didn't just get up and sit somewhere else if she hated being near me so much, but otherwise, I found it easy to block out her noisy mental chatter and jealousy that I was so closely associated with Alpha Evan.

Relief came when Raf and I had lunch together, and she had so much to gossip about that she coerced me (though I was more than willing, to be honest) into having dinner together as well.

"I told you about the Joseph family yesterday, right?" she said through her forkful of salad. "I'm a psychology major but I have some classes next to the Econ building, so I see the youngest Joseph son a lot. His name is Ken and he's probably the only man hotter than Alpha Evan, even though some people will disagree. I guess it's half and half. But either way, make sure not to fall for it. He's such a player. But man, is he hot."

Beside her, Leon sent her a pained look. I laughed into my cup as they ribbed each other with more half-jokes.

This was why werewolves were so obsessed about families, about bonds - not just mate bonds, either. This sense of friendship and community was what they really wanted, and for the first time, I forgot that I didn't belong.

But we all had to go home sometime, and although Raf and Leon were eager to hang out until the dining hall closed, I had to worry about making it pack to the manor before it was too late. Just because they hadn't given me an explicit curfew didn't mean I was off the hook. By the time I stepped on any invisible toes, it would already be too late.

I was fumbling in my backpack for the key in the parking lot when an arrogant voice interrupted me:

"So you're Claudia."