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.

me feel warm and fuzzy inside that someone actually thought my

little hurt to realize perhaps

looking for his other half and could

hoping that in time he would

I

going to, for the

to catch Christian’s attention but it was all

blink of an eye, my hopes and dreams came crashing down on me

few months later, ready to spend their

Natalia but I could not even enjoy it

to New York, hoping to find myself

parents and I never

probably feeling sorry for me now that

moving in with her and Christian but to be honest, I was struggling in New York and finally gave in and my

were gone and she now had an entire community looking

prayed to their Moon Goddess that maybe just one wolf, just one out of the

Moon Goddess herself,

and the once perfect Luna was suddenly

my

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

little encouragement before we shared the bed over and over again and in just under a year, I took back my dream...only to realize it

it turns out, being Luna is a lot harder than it

my shortcomings and loved to

absolutely despises me but she is not even

quite frankly, the biggest asshole

the pack

as I look around the empty hospital

not me, the entire pack would be visiting her, checking in and wishing her a speedy

startles me, a feeling of restlessness washing

door bursts open, Beta Derek strolling into

dead in his tracks when our eyes meet, a flutter of butterflies dancing in my belly and something stirring

my eyes widening

never even felt a pull towards him

Derek drops the gym back, his eyes refusing to look

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

the spell breaks, Derek rushing over

he hisses, sparks tingling across my

heart monitor from the wall, one of his

of sweat gather around his forehead as he tries to think of what to do before he finally looks

it inside you," he murmurs to himself, as

you," he pleads, the sound of a whimper escaping my throat when I realize what he

whimper, dread settling in the pit of

I want a

I want love too....

throat as I look into the eyes of the man

"I’m sorry,"

tears lining his

"I’m very sorry...but...we-"

with

"Please..."

leaves my mouth before I can stop it, a part of me hoping it

both of his hands cupping my cheeks

a complete stop, the world and all of its problems fading away with every movement of

I have ever experienced, but the bliss lasts only

Derek Mitchel, Beta of the Silver Crest Pack, reject you, Vanessa Vasquez as my mate," he whispers, pulling up the blanket to my chin

the center of my

into my neck and making it hard to get air

as I sob into the blanket, my wolf howling

the torment lasts, but Derek never leaves my side

my cheek with the back of his finger but I pull away from his touch, fearful that the pain might

does not act on it, instead stepping away to put some distance between

clears his throat to demand I complete the rejection when Dr.Lila comes in with

of medications with you very quickly.These are human drugs and we do not carry them here so you'll need to I travel into town to get them,"

to return shortly to take

bed and search the gym bag, finding a change

as possible, taking Derek’s car keys and

bag over my shoulder and pulling on my hoodie, down the hall so as not to

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

I find Derek’s wallet with some cash and a credit card in

bag, I pull out of

the road towards the horizon, determined to never

***Derek (Christian’s Beta)*** 

wolf within Vanessa upon seeing her,

no one has informed

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

plan to keep her

his tail hanging between his

know where to begin explaining why Vanessa wouldn’t be

she’s in love with woman seeking