The Silent Alpha

 ***Vanessa*** 

All morning, the pack medical team has been examining me, testing my brain function and my patience with their incessant questions.

What makes this entire experience upsetting, however, is the fact that my own husband has not even bothered to check up on me.

I don’t expect to be coddled or doted on as Christian is not exactly a very nurturing man even when he was with Natalia, but still, a simple "Hey, how are you feeling?" would have been nice.

To make matters worse, my head is pounding and it feels like every part of my body is overstimulated.

My ears are so sensitive and the sound of the heart monitor beeping is only making my headache worse.

Even my eyes burn from all the damn light coming in from the window and I’ve been given sunglasses to alleviate the pain.

All this stimulation seems to be playing tricks on my mind because I swear I hear whines and barks in my head throughout the examinations.

I don’t think much of the sounds though, chalking it all up to my imagination and exhaustion.

Where the f**k is my Gamma? I wonder, looking around the empty hospital room.

Shouldn’t Jordan at least be here to take care of me? He used to take care of Natalia all the time whenever she was sick.

No matter what I do, I will always be stuck in her shadow.

Growing up, Natalia was the perfect golden child.

She was naturally very smart, always landing a spot on the Honor Roll while I always struggled to keep up.

I had to work twice as hard to make the list and when I showed my mother my report card for a tiny bit of recognition, she just shrugged and tossed it on the table.

"What do you want? A reward?" she scoffed sarcastically.

"Estas pero bien pendeja {You are an i***t!}.This is the bare minimum.I did not leave my country for you to not take advantage of your education.You should always make the honor roll, just like your sister.Deja de andar con tus babosadas y ayudame a hacer de comer {Enough with your stupidity and help me make dinner}."

I never showed her my report card again after that.

With Natalia being such a damn star in academics, I turned to the next best thing, sports.I joined the soccer team and worked my way to captain on the cheer team.

Did it matter? No.

My mother was always too busy taking Natalia to her debate meets, her volunteering programs at the local nursing homes, and her community service activities at the rec center to ever see me cheer.

I had to build my own support group, seeking recognition in the amount of friends I had and attention from the football team.I was labeled a slut for most of highschool, though I never did could get attention for: my looks.I inherited my mother’s pale skin and green eyes and she always praised me for looking so pretty.I was dumb but pretty.

Of course, that quickly backfired.

One night, while at a highschool party, I met a college boy from the nearby university, Skyler, through some friends.

He asked me to join him for a drink in the master bedroom and being the dumb b***h that I was and excited to have caught the attention of an older man, I agreed.

I do not remember most of that night, only that I woke up naked in bed early the next morning with a soreness between my thighs.

Ashamed, I ran all the way home, convincing myself that nothing happened to me, that it was just a strange coincidence.

For many reasons, I never told anyone.

My parents would have been angry at me for sneaking out and the cops would have said I was asking for it by dressing the way I did and agreeing to drink with the boy in the bedroom.

Besides, it was my word against his and who would believe the promiscuous girl in school was raped? After that, I did everything I could to erase Skyler off my body, f*****g anything with a pulse to distance myself from that turbid night.

I learned to see s*x as just an act, an exchange and nothing more.

My nightmare of an existence continued into college.

Unlike Natalia who always knew exactly what she wanted, I was completely lost.

With an undecided major, my parents were not "Become an engineer," my mom would say.

"They make good money."

But my brain is not wired like an engineer.It’s wired like a cactus s**t really hit the fan when Natalia became an EMT and then started working towards her Medical Assistant certification with the ultimate goal of going to PA school while I was still deciding what the f**k I wanted to do with my life.

I turned to the only thing I knew, partying and drinking to numb the emptiness inside that was slowly starting to consume me.

That all changed when I met Christian.

He was like a beacon of hope.I had seen him in a few classes but it wasn’t until we were paired for a sociology project that I finally got to know him.

He was funny and charming, always very polite whenever we got together.

Unlike most men I had met up until that point, Christian didn’t try to jump into my pants at the first opportunity.

He made me laugh until my stomach hurt and we'd talk for hours about nothing and everything.

More than anything, though, he was the first person to make me feel smart.

"Damn, Nessa.You are one smart Lady.Why didn’t I think of that?"

He used to tell me whenever I got an idea for our sociology presentation.

inside that someone actually thought

hurt to realize perhaps it

other half and could only offer something casual

time he would see

I grew impatient and I decided to try the ol’ make

a frat party I knew Christian would be going to, for the sake of parents but bringing her proved to be

it was all over the moment he walked up to

hopes and dreams came crashing down on me and once again, I was pushed aside for

just a few months later, ready to spend

the first time our parents were ever disappointed with Natalia but I could not even

find myself there only to be brought back when the car crash

parents and

to come live with her, probably feeling sorry for me now that I was

hated the idea of moving in with her and Christian but to be honest, I was struggling in New York and finally gave in and my envy for my sister

parents were gone and she now had an entire community looking after her while I was still

out of the hundreds here, would want me, but none ever declared

blessing from Moon Goddess herself, I struck

to conceive and the once perfect

was my

old relationship with Christian to my advantage, becoming a shoulder on which

again and in just under a year, I took back my dream...only to

turns out, being Luna is a lot harder

of my shortcomings and loved to tell me just how wonderful of

but she is not even

frankly, the biggest asshole I have

more infuriating is the fact that the pack can’t seem to

as I look around the

it been Natalia in this bed and not me, the entire pack would be visiting her, checking in and wishing her a speedy recovery.take first watch over her and several of the neighboring Lunas would likely stop

a small whine in my head startles me, a

Beta Derek strolling into the room

when our eyes meet, a flutter

my eyes widening in

even felt a pull towards him before! I think to myself,

Derek drops the gym back, his

a hint of a smile hidden within the features of his face and neither one of us moves, a part of me hoping all of this is a

I finally open my mouth to speak, the spell breaks, Derek rushing over to me to cover my

tingling across my face

heart rate starts to accelerate and he unplugs the heart monitor from the wall, one

think of what to do before he

a wolf.I can sense it inside you," he murmurs to himself, as if

why I cannot accept you," he pleads, the sound of a whimper escaping my throat when

in

Please! I want a

I want love too....

my throat as I look into the eyes of the man whose soul completes mine, understanding that my worst nightmares are

"I’m sorry,"

murmurs, tears lining

"I’m very sorry...but...we-"

the words, fighting with his own wolf but ultimately winning

"Please..."

stop it, a part of me

softens, both of his hands cupping my cheeks as

complete stop, the world and all of its problems fading

breathtaking kiss I have ever experienced, but the bliss lasts only for a

of the Silver Crest Pack, reject you, Vanessa Vasquez as my mate," he whispers, pulling up

sharp pain burns in the center of my

neck and making it hard to get air ending waves, the tide overwhelming all of my senses until

into the blanket, my wolf howling

know how long the torment lasts, but Derek never leaves my side until it finally subsides and he removes the drenched blanket from my

the back of his finger but I pull away from his

but he does not act on it, instead stepping away to put some

to demand I complete the rejection when Dr.Lila comes in with a clipboard in her

with you very quickly.These are human drugs and we do

car keys on the nightstand, and promises to return shortly to take me home before following

hearing the click of the door closing, I jump out of bed and search the gym bag, finding

Derek’s car keys and

and pulling on my hoodie, down the hall so as

me or asks me any questions as I walk out of the pack clinic and

smiles upon me when I find Derek’s wallet with some cash and a credit

I pull out of

drive down the road towards the horizon, determined

***Derek (Christian’s Beta)*** 

sense the wolf within Vanessa upon seeing her, feeling his other

however, as no one has informed me of any changes to the Luna.You rejected her

you reject her? We’ve waited years.She's the Luna, Cas,

plan to keep

tail

her? I don’t even know where to begin explaining why Vanessa wouldn’t be

in love with woman seeking