Chapter One

ALPHA'S HATED MATE

        CHAPTER ONE

           Camilla’s POV 

  My heart is racing and for some reason I’m biting on my tongue. I’m always anxious but today is different and he knows it. He can see me biting my tongue. He knows how important this is for both of us. 

  Crossing my hands behind my back I pull my lips into a pout, if there is one thing I know he can’t resist it’s my puppy eyes. 

  His response was delayed, extremely calculated but I know what it is before he says it. He sighs and I know what the answer is, undoubtedly a yes. 

 “Fine Milla. You can have whatever you want.” He says scratching the back of his head. 

  I don’t think before I fling my arms around him and he embraces me laughing. 

“Thank you, thank you!” I continue to repeat, jumping in his embrace. 

  “Alpha, we need you.” Someone says behind me, out of breath. 

   Ryan lets go of me and I scan the man kneeling in front of us, he seems to have run a marathon and that could only mean one thing, trouble. 

  “What happened?” My brother Ryan, Alpha of Dark Moon pack, inquires pulling me behind him. We call Ryan the Mystical One because he is simply too good to be true. Ryan is the best Alpha this pack has had since my uncle Enrique, his father. 

   “They’re about to attack.” The man retorts, his head still bowed. 

 “Camila go to your room and lock the door.” Ryan demands without looking at me, his tone is firm and clear with angst. 

  I know what goes on when Ryan is infuriated and this is one of those moments, Ryan has always kept me from seeing that side of him, or anyone for that matter. 

   I don’t watch anything with violence in it because I react…well let’s just say I don’t give a pleasant reaction. I run to my bedroom and shut the door behind me. I begin to count backwards to divert attention from the noise I’m hearing outside but my effort is in vain. I hear a high pitched scream, and curiosity sinks in along side the fear. 

   I try to talk myself out of peeking out through the window but I find myself peeping through it. The first thing I see is a middle aged man holding a sword about to slice my other brother Michael in half.

   “No!’’

 I scream before sliding down the wall till I settle on the floor and rocking my knees to my chest. 

Lord no, please no. God doesn’t let good people die over nothing so Michael is okay right? Wait but if he died trying to protect this pack then he would have died for a good cause isn’t it? ‘No Camilla don’t think like that.’ I tell myself. I can’t stop the tears that are now blurring my vision, not that I’m attempting to see anything at all. 

   The door of my bedroom swings wide open, I’m about to scream once again when I see who it is, I relax. “Come here sweetie, why did you look through the window?” My Dad asks opening his arms for me. 

  I don’t hesitate running to him. He brushes my back and kisses the top of my head. “I’m scared… Michael... he.. that.. man…” My voice comes out hoarse.

  “Don’t worry about him. He is fine and you’re safe, you’re always safe here princess.” He assures me and I nod my response. I know I’m safe with him as long as my brothers are with me and him too, nothing can happen to me. 

  “You know you have to be strong, princess, you can’t let every little thing affect you.” He sighs. 

  I pull out of his embrace and blink at him, wiping my tears. My Dad has been a vast part of my life ever since I was two years old.

 My parents died in a car crash when I was two, my uncle Enrique who happens to be my father’s younger brother has had custody of me ever since. I call him Dad and his Wife mom. 

  He and his wife Reina raised me as their own daughter, I was the youngest of their kids, they only had five kids, Selena who married a pack doctor in a faraway pack, we never see her anymore. 

  Delilah who also got married to a warrior in the same pack as Selena. Then Ryan, our current Alpha, then the twins Michelle and Michael. Michelle is married to a member of Midnight Saints pack. 

He places a kiss on my head, “I wish I could protect you forever.”  

  “Ryan said I can go to school.” I sniff, smiling awkwardly at him. 

  I used to go to school but the kids would pick on me because I wasn’t like them so my Mom pulled me out of school and I’ve been homeschooled since then and this is supposed to be my senior year. I would like to get an experience of actual high school.

   I’m honestly tired of seeing it on television and reading about it in my many, many novels. I want to experience it for myself. Ryan said he couldn’t get me into any school because it’s the middle of the term but I persuaded him and he will make arrangements so I can go to school on Monday next week.

    I will have to work extra hard but I’m a pretty fast learner and I do receive immense academic validation. 

  I’ve invariably been exposed to a certain school’s end of term papers and mid term, teachers from that school have always brought me papers and waited for me to complete the test’s and they do compare my marks to other students and according to them I’m a five star student I get straight A’s nothing less. My Father has spent a fortune on my education and it reflects on my academic accomplishments. 

  “Oh, so that’s why you placed an order for spectacle frames?” He chuckles. 

I grimace, “I need them.” 

 “Princess, we’ve examined your eyes, your vision is great. So tell me why is it that you insist on wearing those glasses you wear?”

  “Well ummm people stare at my eyes weirdly and I don’t like that.” I truthfully say. 

  I’ve been wearing brown contact lenses, and fashion frames to disguise my eyes, it draws less attention to me and makes me lowkey after everything that’s happened in the past. People would call me a freak because I had eyes different from theirs and I had no wolf, still don’t have it. I take after my mom’s side of the family, she was human apparently. 

 “Listen, you are all that’s pure in this pack. You’re beautiful and smart, don't let anyone tell you differently.” Dad says ruffling my hair. 

I have met enough people to know I’m not ‘Beautiful’ by society standards. 

  So what do I say? “Thanks Dad, but I wanted to ask… can I go with everyone to Beta’s party?’’ I plead. 

Just like Ryan his answer is calculated and well thought over. “I will talk to Ryan and he’ll see to-” 

  “He won’t agree.” I say, frowning. Ryan doesn’t let me go to most parties held in the pack so outside the pack? I doubt he would let me go outside the pack. 

“I will see to it that he agrees, princess.” He sincerely says. 

 Jumping up and down I clap my hands. 

  “But you should stay with Luna or Beta all the time.” He warns. 

  “I promise.” I giggle, crossing my fingers behind my back. 

  His head tilts slightly. “Hmm so why cross your fingers?” 

  I laugh and wave my hands in his face. “I have to go and pack. Your Mom will kill me if I miss my flight again.” He says kissing my forehead. 

  “I will miss you both so much.” I whine. 

Arching his eyebrow, he pushes back a smile, “Maybe I should take you with me?” 

  My answer is quick, “No, no. Russia is lovely this time of the year and don’t worry I will be right here when you come back.” I say, sucking in a deep breath after the words leave my mouth. 

   “I hope so, princess.” His voice is low with a hint of worry, which in turn worries me. “Well.. let me help you pack.” I beam.

 “No, it’s fine princess. Go hangout with your friends or do whatever it is you teenagers do.” 

Searching his eyes for humor, I frown. “I don’t have ‘friends’ and I don’t do what normal teenagers do.” I shrug. And truly, I don’t. I have a group I interact with often but we are not friends. I feel everyone is obligated to be nice because I’m Alpha’s little sister and it’s pathetic. I know they HATE me. 

  Dad sighs, “Oh Camilla.” He holds out his hand, I take it. He lets out a small growl of frustration before he kisses the back of it. “My sweet child.” He grins. 

   I feel warmth fill my heart, “I love you.” I reply, smiling from ear to ear, hoping he smiles too, and he does, only it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I love you too, my princess. I have one last..”

  The sound of a phone vibrating cuts through, he reaches into his pocket for it, taking it out he swipes the answer option. I watch him as he brings it to his ear, his other hand still holding mine. “Hey! Yes I remember, I was just checking on Camilla.” He informs the caller, bringing my hand to his mouth once again, he kisses it. 

  That's his way of saying goodbye to me, he let’s go of my hand and proceeds to the door, “I know, I’m on my way right now.” I hear him say before his voice completely fades out into the hallway. 

  My parents travel a lot and I always worry they might end up like my biological parents but they’ve assured me a tragedy as such can’t hit me twice. The first time was unfortunate and Mom Reina says God made up for it by bringing me to them because they had a miscarriage the year I was born.  

 Sometimes I miss my biological parents, especially my mom. I get vivid dreams of her probably aroused by every story I've heard about them. I would have loved to have known them both but at least they got to know me and they were the best parents to me, that's what Dad says.

   I've watched a lot of home videos of my parent's, they had cameras around the house and the footage is clear as day, even after all these years. It's like they knew they were going to die before I grew up, they'd always film, they both looked like they appeared straight out of a fairytale. 

  My mom was completely resplendent, I wish I looked like her. She had the prettiest eyes I've ever seen, Dad proclaims I get my eyes from her even though mine are a brighter shade violet than hers were. 

  She had beautiful hair that fell an inch above her collar bone, her smile could light up any room, she was surreal. My dad was handsome and really tall. I sometimes wish I had inherited his height at least. 

  He had dark brown hair, greyish eyes. I could tell by the way he looked at my mom that he adored her like she was the most precious jewel a king owned and she was to him, that is. 

  I grab a book from my bookshelf, and head out to look for Arielle, Ryan's mate. I took a quick glance at my wrist watch in my search for Ari.

  4:24pm, she's probably with her girlfriends in the dining room down west. Two of her friend's mate's pertained to another pack but Ryan being the good husband he is, traded some of his people for them just so Arielle could have her beloved friends with her. Alternatively, I have always thought he did it because he doesn't like it when she's gone so this way he can keep an eye on her. 

  Making my way into the dining room I confirm my presumption, Bingo! She's in the dining room with Ashanti, Vanessa and Tamina. Ashanti and Arielle with their matching T-shirts and pink hair, an odd color but they make it work. Vanessa is mouthing something to them and they’re acting like they haven’t heard it before. Making my way further in, I grin as I approach them. “Hey.” I raise my hand to wave at them. 

 Turning their attention to me they flash their best smiles, genuine smiles. “Hey, baby.” they say in unison. I smile politely,“Guess what? Dad said he'll convince Ryan to take me with you to Beta's party.” 

  “Duh, of course, you're coming. I planned this party, you have to be there.” Ashanti giggles, twirling her hair on her finger. Beta is her husband.  

  Arielle flickers her eyes from Ashanti to me, “I hope you didn't get scared by that cry for help the Frenxo pack put on.” 

I want to say no but it did. I shrug, pictures of what I saw earlier flooding my mind. I take a deep breath and gaze towards Arielle. “Is Michael okay?” 

  She giggles, her head falling back and when her eyes meet mine she nods. “Yep, he's good. He's delivering dead bodies to Frenxo Pack.” She smiles beaming with pride.

 She loves her brother-in-law and him being a great warrior for this pack is a bonus for her, she worries less because he handles the dirty work well and with grace, a dark grace. 

  “Charge up your noise barricade.” Nessa smiles, waving my headphones in the air. Walking round the table, I smile and mouth a silent ‘Thank you’ to her before taking my seat, next to Mina. Vanessa slides the headphones over and I put them on, placing play on one of the playlists on her phone. 

-And just like that, they carry on with their conversation, a daily dose of what they did or what happened on the TV show they all watch which Arielle barely has time to see and me? I sit the novel on the table and flip to page 243 of a dark romance novel.

 The book I started reading yesterday and let me say it’s emotionally draining me, which might be the reason I couldn’t put it down till two in the morning, aside from the fact that it’s a masterpiece at its best. I found out long ago I thrive on things that drain me, the pain, the angst, it reminds me I’m still breathing because dead people don’t feel right? 

   Or do they?

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