Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella
Chapter 66

"Wait for me in our room next time."

"How can I? Evan, look!" I beamed at him as I dried off my hands with a brown paper towel, courtesy of the helpful lab assistant who had been tending to me devotedly for the past hour. "These plants, do you see them?"

Evan leaned over my shoulder. He carried the acrid scent of fire, and his clothes were rumpled. He must have thrown on whatever he could replace in the dresser right after arriving in our room to replace me gone, and he had come here straightaway instead of washing up. But he was worried for nothing. This was cause for excitement! As Professor Ornby had said, almost a miracle, though I wasn't so full of myself that I would really call it one.

"I don't understand. What am I looking for?"

"Oh! I didn't explain. These were seeds less than an hour ago. Something happened in the greenhouse overnight and Professor Ornby wanted to make sure of the cause for it. So he's running some basic experiments with all of our banshee weed supply to see if=" "To see if our dear Claudia has something even greater than the green thumb we always knew she possessed!" The aged professor hurried toward us, taking off his safety glasses and smiling so wide he could barely speak. "I can't believe it, but I think we've unearthed a long-lost genetic advantage, previously hidden in her! Claudia, you were previously from another pack, weren't you? Who were your parents? We must begin a genealogical study immediately!"

Evan stopped him mid-rant with an extended arm. "Explain," he said simply. "From the start. But keep it simple."

"Ah- of course, of course! We don't have the necessary equipment to run all the proper tests to examine Claudia's blood, especially the ones that require growing cultures and a few more complex tests I'd like to run, but our initial replaceings are undeniable. Physical contact with Claudia causes plant life to grow exponentially. Exponentially! Dormant seeds that have been in storage for months with no contact with direct sunlight, no water, not even the barest hint of soil, at a single touch they sprout. Now, there are limiting factors and I'm sure there is a critical cost component we haven't found yet, but-"

"A cost component?"

Ornby waved his hands. "We are taking rigorous measurements to ensure Claudia's safety is not at risk! We are doing no more trials today and we will monitor her condition for the next seventy-two hours. This is wonderful and truly a miracle of the modern world, but we know better than to push things to their limits as if Claudia is some expendable resource. You are truly irreplaceable!"

He patted my arm with redoubled enthusiasm and adjusted his glasses to sit better on his nose. In his excitement, they had come askew and nearly slipped off the tip of his nose.

"Truly, what a coincidence! What a turn in our luck! Alpha Evan, earlier Claudia and I discussed the potential results of a discovery like this. While we don't know the full ramifications and need to take special care until we are sure this is safe, the truth is that the mere existence of Claudia's ability has already changed our world. Imagine what this will mean for all the medical research we carry out that are limited by how slowly we grow our resources! Herbs and other medicinal plants, and although it's too early to put it to widespread use now, later on if there ever is a shortage of grown vegetables and fruits for the city food banks-"

"I understand. But there are risks, and I won't endanger Claudia here when we have only limited access to medical services. Put a stop to all experimenting so we can prioritize securing the city."

Ornby visibly wilted, and he wasn't the only one disappointed. But Evan continued before either of us could protest.

"I'll take Claudia now, she should rest. It's getting late. I saw Ken Joseph out in the lobby, has he been waiting there all this time?"

"Oh!" My hand went to my forehead. "I forgot he was waiting! He probably hasn't even eaten dinner."

"He'll survive."

***

Ken was more than civil, even friendly toward Evan despite their already-lukewarm relationship having chilled ever since that party when Evan had stolen me as his partner. At a nudge from me, Evan reciprocated the friendliness as best as he could, which still wasn't warm but was at least not frigid.

"All right, I'll see you soon then," Ken said as he walked backward with a friendly wave. "Today was fun, don't forget to catch me up as soon as you hear anything."

"I won't!"

I waved him goodbye too until he turned his back and disappeared around the corner. Evan's and my room was the other way, and we stopped on top of a tiny pedestrian bridge running over the creek. Darkness was falling, the shortness of winter days still going strong. The cold nipped at my skin through my heavy jacket, but standing next to Evan like this, our fingers interlaced and the warmth of his body radiating to mine, I forgot all about the dropping temperature.

"You don't like it when I hang out with Ken," I said. "It bothers you a lot."

Evan squeezed my hand and looked harder out over the creek. "Give me time. It's not easy."

"Give you time?"

"To get over it. I'm not going to be like Dark Moon and chain you to me to only do what I want you to do. I want you to live life free of that. You're your own person."

I smiled. "You've changed a lot since we last met."

"I'm trying." He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "You're thinking about them again, aren't you? About Dark Moon."

Had Evan always been so perceptive? Then again, he was the one who had mentioned them first a second ago. Of course my thoughts would wander that way. I shifted my weight between my feet, uncertain what to say.

"I know there was more you wanted to say about what I did to them. You didn't approve of the execution."

"I still don't."

"They hurt you."

"I'm not defending what they did. I'd never say it's okay for them to hurt anyone or e*****e humans just because they can. I'm allowed to want equal dignity, and I'm not that noble to say it's okay because it was me who got the worst of it. Besides, even if I was, it means they would have done the same to anyone else in my shoes, and that's not right." I looked up at him, gaze serious. "But mass execution just because you say the word is wrong, was wrong, and will always be wrong, Evan. I don't want to argue and fight, but this isn't just about different perspectives. This is about what's right and wrong, and how you see yourself compared to other people. You have so much power that when you snap your fingers, you decide who lives or dies. Should anyone have that kind of power?" "Whether I should or shouldn't, I have it."

"Then should you be exercising it? You already stopped raiding other packs, haven't you? And not just to stop looking for your mate. You put an end to it because that's not the kind of life you want."

I turned and reached up, cradling his face in my gloved hands.

"That's not the kind of life you want for both of us. You want a family. You want peace. You want what you used to have with your family too, before others took it away from you. What happened with Dark Moon... I know you wanted to make things right, and I know that their criminal ways had to do with your decision too, but you understand why deciding left and right who lives and dies just based on your feelings is wrong. Don't you? Because sooner or later... you'll make the wrong choice. You'll do something you can't take back, or worse, others will see you and do the same thing, and it'll spread like a disease. That's not the world we want to live in, Evan. I know it isn't."

"I'm trying, Claudia. I'm trying."

"I know. And I see it. So let's keep trying."

He kissed me gently on the bridge over the half-frozen creek, darkness falling around us like a gentle cloak. There was nothing that could break what we had between us, as fragile as it might feel. We had come so far, but we had our whole lives ahead of us even still, for the rest of our lives.

But that night, our world turned upside down.

"Evan! Alpha Evan!" Someone banged on our door, and Evan kept me back with a protective arm before opening it. The Delta didn't even give him a chance to ask what had him in such a lather.

"The Joseph family and the Glily family were in an altercation. Alpha Matthen Joseph reports that the Glilies have been collaborating with the enemy rogues!"