MATED TO THE ALPHA AND HIS BETA - Season 5 Episode 78

Stella

The awkwardness hit me like a shovel to the face.

I’d had a short life so far, but I’d had a lot of people paying attention to me during it. I should have been used to the weight of so many eyes on me. The whispers and the giggles.

I couldn’t handle it. I got myself off the dance floor as best as I could, bumping into people and earning their angry comments as I did. I fled for the restroom, slamming open the door and hurtling myself into a stall, where I sank onto the toilet and put my head in my hands.

The tears rose in me like a rising storm.

No matter how hard I tried to hold them back, the best I could do was clap my hands over my mouth and bite my tongue as hard as I could, hoping the pain and the taste of blood would hold back my cries. It didn’t work that great. Tears flooded from my eyes. My entire body shook.

All I wanted was to fit in, and even in this new body, with this pretty face, it was so obvious that I was never going to. I could dress up in new clothes, but the outfit I’d picked also didn’t fit in here. All the women in this bar wore torn jeans with fitted T-shirts and cowboy boots, or sleek little dresses that showed off their cleavage. My dark denim jeans and flowery blouse looked out of place.

I heard the door to the restroom swing open and footsteps on the concrete floor. Women’s laughter. I caught a hint of perfume. Sweat. A tang that might’ve been alcohol or something else, something smoky.

“It’s crazy out there tonight,” said one voice.

Another answered. “Yeah, well, now that the Alpha’s back, everything’s going to be different.”

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“Co-Alphas,” a third voice said with a serious tone. “Which is so freaking weird, am I right?”

“Whatever. They’re both hot as fuck, and their Beta is fine as fuck too,” said yet a fourth voice. “I used to think about leaving Constantine, but I guess it’ll be cool to stick around and see what they do now.”

“Where else would you even go?” said the first voice. “It’s not like any of the other packs are in any better shape.”

“Yeah, but if I went to live in another pack, I’d probably have a better chance of finding a decent mate,” said the second voice. “Everyone around here is so borrrrring.”

“You don’t think the co-Alphas are going to make us…you know. Let them choose our mates? The way the High Council did?”

“I don’t know. I mean, they were forced to take Selena Stanton’s sister as their mate, and we all know they didn’t want to do that. They were totally in love with what’s-her-name.”

My tears had slowed. I grabbed some squares off the toilet paper roll and wiped my face as I listened to the conversation. Had I known about this, my Dad and Papa being forced to mate with my mom? If I had, I’d forgotten. My head spun more. I swallowed hard, hoping I wasn’t going to be sick.

“They said they were opening Constantine as a sanctuary to all supernaturals,” said the third voice. I heard the faucet splashing water into the sink. “To tell you the truth, I’m kind of nervous about that.”

“I never believed the High Council when they said that they were bad, by the way,” the first voice piped up. “The Alpha, his Beta, and the Luna, I mean. My mom and dads didn’t, either. So I don’t

think that other supernaturals have to be bad, either. Like, I’m sure the co-Alphas wouldn’t allow dangerous people to come here to Constantine.”

“Maybe not,” said one of the voices, “but it’s not like they’re putting any kind of like, you know, standards, in place.”

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Guffaws rang throughout the bathroom.

“You mean that random chick who showed up tonight? Where the hell did she come from? Mars? ‘Cuz it sure wasn’t the Moon,” said a voice edged with laughter. “Did you see the way she was wearing her hair?”

“Yeah, well, that outfit was a choice, huh?”

“It sure was,” laughed someone else. “A bad one.”

Heat slammed into me so hard I fell back against the wall. Silence fell outside the stall. I was breathing too fast. It made whistling sounds in and out of my throat.

“Someone’s in here,” said one of the voices.

A hand rapped on the door of the stall.

“Hey. You okay in there?”

“I bet it’s Candace. She’s always drinking too much and having to throw up,” said one of them.

I could hear the roll of her eyes in that tone.

I struggled to my feet and pushed open the stall door. I didn’t wait to look at any of them, just ran out of the restroom. Through the crowd, I headed for the bar’s front door. I didn’t care if I spilled drinks or stepped on toes.

I had to get out of here.

This had been a mistake. I burst through the door and out onto the sidewalk. I took in great gulps of cool night air. I needed to just get home.

That’s when I heard the shouting coming from inside.