The Silent Alpha (Natalia)

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Chapter 41: In Her Shadow
***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.
A lump forms in my throat as I look into the eyes of the man whose soul completes mine, understanding that my worst
nightmares are finally coming true.
“I’m sorry,”
Derek murmurs, tears lining his eyes.

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“I’m very sorry...but...we-”

He struggles to find the words, fighting with his own wolf but ultimately winning his battle.
“Please...”
The word leaves my mouth before I can stop it, a part of me hoping it could somehow change my fate.
Derek’s face softens, both of his hands cupping my cheeks as he pulls me in for a kiss.
Time comes to a complete stop, the world and all of its problems fading away with every movement of his lips.
It is the most breathtaking kiss I have ever experienced, but the bliss lasts only for a moment.
“I, Derek Mitchel, Beta of the Silver Crest Pack, reject you, Vanessa Vasquez as my mate,” he whispers, pulling up the blanket to
my chin and stuffing into my mouth to stifle my screams.
A sharp pain burns in the center of my chest, spreading like tiny needles across my flesh.
Agony wraps its fingers around my throat, its claws digging into my neck and making it hard to get air ending waves, the tide
overwhelming all of my senses until it nearly drowns me.
Tears blur my vision as I sob into the blanket, my wolf howling in anguish with me.
I do not know how long the torment lasts, but Derek never leaves my side until it finally subsides and he removes the drenched
blanket from my mouth.
He tries to caress my cheek with the back of his finger but I pull away from his touch, fearful that the pain might return.
Turmoil lingers in his eyes, but he does not act on it, instead stepping away to put some distance between us.
Derek clears his throat to demand I complete the rejection when Dr.Lila comes in with a clipboard in her hand.
“Beta Derek, can I have a word with you? I just want to go over her list 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,” she explains, eyeing both of us
suspiciously..

Derek leaves his car keys on the nightstand, and promises to return shortly to take me home before following Dr.Lila out of the
room.
Upon hearing the click of the door closing, I jump out of bed and search the gym bag, finding a change of clothes for me and my
wallet.
I dress as quickly as possible, taking Derek’s car keys and shoving them into the pocket of my jeans.
Slinging the bag over my shoulder and pulling on my hoodie, down the hall so as not to raise suspicion.
No one tries to stop me or asks me any questions as I walk out of the pack clinic and get into Beta Derek’s car.
Luck smiles upon me when I find Derek’s wallet with some cash and a credit card in the glove compartment, along with a silver
gun.
Stuffing the weapon into my gym bag, I pull out of the pack clinic, my wolf still whining in pain.
With no destination in mind, I drive down the road towards the horizon, determined to never return again.
***Derek (Christian’s Beta)***
Casper could sense the wolf within Vanessa upon seeing her, feeling his other half lurking just beneath her surface.
It appears no one else can sense it, however, as no one has informed me of any changes to the Luna.You rejected her ...my
wolf, Casper whimpers.
Why did you reject her? We’ve waited years.She’s the Luna, Cas, I sigh.She can’t be our mate...
But Alpha doesn’t plan to keep her for much longer...
he argues, his tail hanging between his legs.
Why can’t we have her? I don’t even know where to begin explaining why Vanessa wouldn’t be a good mate for us.
For one thing, she’s in love with woman seeking power.