The next morning, Delina woke up very early and was cooking her family breakfast. Family. Something she longed for years, finally happened. She saw, during her childhood, as the other children got adopted, but her. After she came to know that she was different from them, it all made sense, but still, the feeling of rejection was strong and painful. She accepted in her mind and heart that her fate was to be a 'Evans', the surname every orphan received if they didn't have one before, and only by finding her mate/life lover – human or werewolf – could she finally have a family. She was grateful to be wrong.
When Nora went downstairs, the smell of bacon and eggs filled the house. Elenora was already dressed up and took a seat at the table.
"Mm, this smells great, De!" Elenora closed her eyes while speaking.
"It's my first morning as an official member of this family and I had to prepare this wonderful breakfast, to celebrate!" Delina almost jumped, but she was holding the frying pan, so she had to be cautious.
Nora came downstairs and took a seat at the table. She was nervous, because the next day would be her birthday and she was afraid of the rejection, like what happened to Delina. Yeah, she wasn't a human, but yet, it was a risk and she had to be prepared.
""What's up, kid?" Elenora asked, looking worried at her daughter's expression.
"Tomorrow is my bday." She simply said and Elenora knew that she may find her mate the next day.
"Your mate won't reject you, my love. And he may not even be from this pack." She assured her daughter.
"Yeah, Nora. He will be a nice, loving guy who will take care of you. Don't worry. I know it." Nora gave her a weird look. She held her tongue not to remind Delina that she had a good feeling about her own mate/human and it ended up being a total deception.
"Okay." Nora answered and looked at her plate.
"Oh, Elen-" Delina stopped and remembered that Elenora was not only Nora's mother now, "Mom, I would like to know if I can have a part time job at the orphanage." She asked, serving their plates and her own.
"Sure! I was about to ask you this. If Nora wants too, you both can work after school hours." Both girls looked at each other, smiled and nodded. "That's great! On Monday, you both start."
The girls screamed and sang, to show how happy they were. Elenora only shook her head, smiling. She loved those two.
After breakfast, they both headed to school. It was a warm day in July. A Friday, to be more specific. They were talking about their Biology essay for Monday while entering school grounds, when a car passed by them, very fast, almost hitting them. It was Keira's vehicle. Kraig, who was at the school entrance talking to Kendric, almost had a heart attack when he saw that Keira almost hit Delina. Without thinking, he went to Delina's side, like a thunder, and held her arms, taking a good look at all her body.
"Are you okay?" He asked, exasperated. Delina's heart was beating stronger than ever, and her skin was tickling where he was touching her, not to mention the butterflies in her stomach.
"I-I'm fine." She stuttered. Kraig, realizing what he was doing, let go of her. He changed his voice and said, indifferently.
"Good. As the Alpha I need to take care of everyone in the pack, even you, who is a human." The others around them nodded in agreement and pride at their Alpha to be.
"Thank you." She said, in a low voice and holding Nora's hand, she went to the building.
"What was that?" Nora asked. Kraig was a strong Alpha and responsible, but he wasn't this attentive to anyone, maybe his best friend, Kendric, and that's that.
"What?" Deline tried to play innocent, but Nora wasn't stupid.
"It's him, right?" She asked and Delina didn't need to answer. Her silence was enough. "He's such a jerk! Pretending to be the great Alpha, who protects even humans, when he rejected his mate because she is human. What a fraud!" Nora was outraged, but Delina shook her head, asking her to keep it low. Nora looked around, made a face, but respected Delina's wishes. They went to class.
"Man, what the hell was that 'I protect humans' shit?" Kendric asked, when they were a bit far from the others.
"I have to protect everyone inside my pack, right?" Was Kraig's answer. Kendric narrowed his eyes on his friend.
"That chick ain't your mate, right?" Kraig put his hand in front of Kendric's mouth, to shut him and looked around, uncomfortable.
"Keep it low, fucker!" Kendric slapped Kraig's hand from his mouth, frowning.
"She is!" He said in a hushed tone. "I knew you had found your mate, you underhanded liar! You'll tell me all about it during the break." He demanded and Kraig nodded, nervously, before they entering class.
After three classes, the break time came and everybody went to the patio, in order to eat and chat. Delina and Nora left the math class, heading to a spot in the grass that hardly had anybody in there.
When they were getting near, they heard two men discussing, and Delina easily recognized Kraig's voice.
"What the fuck, man? She is your mate!" Kendric shouted at Kraig, who ran his hand through his hair.
"I know, okay? But it's not like I've chosen her. Why would I, anyway?" His voice as full of disgust. "She is human."
"Oh, c'mon! She is pretty and nice. And smart. It's more than you can say about more than half of the females of this pack. She isn't some stupid bimbo slut."
"Of course she isn't!" Kraig wanted to say that she was pure, but what he said something very different, instead. Zyon sensed she was there, so did he, of course, that smell of vanilla and strawberries were all over there. "She is a fucking weak and disgusting human, how could she ever be a bimbo, with that looks? Only a stupid werewolf would feel attracted to her. Actually, even for humans standards she is below average."
Kendrik couldn't believe Kraig was saying that. He knew many wolves there thought she was the most beautiful female in the pack, too bad just a human. He had his eyes on somebody else, but couldn't deny Delina's beauty. But then, he sensed they were not alone, especially because a muffled sound was heard, along with steps of someone running away. He took a look and saw an auburn hair getting far away, with a brown headed girl chasing her.
"You knew she was here." Kendric said, turning around to look at Kraig's face. "Why? How could you do that?" He didn't even had the strength to scream, because he was too baffled.
"Did I lie? And it's better for her to realize there's no chance between us, so she'll accept the rejection and move on!" Kraig walked away, in the direction of the canteen. He was hungry. He always got hungry when he was nervous or angry. At the moment, he was felling both things.