Nyah Pineda's PoV:

Unbelievable.

The thought kept repeating itself over and over in my mind.

Seriously, it was unbelievable.

First, the popular kid gets bullied—okay, that's a strong word, so not exactly bullied—by an even more popular kid for years, and then they end up as Mates.

What is this, some sort of twisted joke?

And now, wherever I turn, he's right there.

That first moment when I'd laid eyes on him in that café a few days before, I'd been hit with a surge of attraction and shock so hard, I'd have staggered had it not been for me already sitting down. Thank Goddess for small miracles.

Because that little boy with mischievous eyes who was nice to every fucking person on the planet except me was no longer that little boy.

He was all man, and the single most sinfully sexy creature roaming on earth.

And the fact that he's half-Arab and half-Brazilian on his father's side?

Don't ask me how I know that. I just do.

Anyways, that fact just did not help.

No.

Like seriously, just conjure this up.

There's the most amazing, yummiest sundae with your favorite flavors mixed in just the right amount in front of you and it's garnished with the best toppings.

Then, someone tells you that now they're gonna add extra whipped cream and all you've done is dreamed about it, but denied yourself—because, no, you don't want a flabby gut—and just dangles it in front of you and says it's yours?

I dare you to resist that kind of temptation.

That's what Ezra Anthony Harland is, to be described in one single word.

Temptation.

I feel myself getting hot a little, and grab my notebook to fan myself, but realize that only person feeling hot in here is me.

In this air-conditioned, cold as fuck room.

Shit.

I'm in deep shit.

"Hello, my horny Alpha."

"Shut up." I shoot a glare at Alessia, who makes herself comfortable on the seat next to me—uninvited, might I add—leaning back and stretching her legs as far as she can without kicking the guy-sitting-in-front-of-her's legs, that she's practically reclining.

"What? I can see the little beads of sweat on your forehead and your hands are clenched so hard the veins might pop at any given moment." She grins, leaning closer to me, "And don't forget, I can smell you." She whispers, giggling like crazy.

"Ew, that's disgusting!" I push her face away, standing up to move a few seats away from her intrusive little self.

"Oh, come on!" Alessia grabs my arm and yanks me down back to my seat, and I shake my head, pretending to ignore her as I pull out my other textbooks and arrange them on the table. Alessia on the other hand, is undeterred, "It's only natural! Plus, you're an Alpha. I'm surprised you haven't kidnapped him and locked both yourself up somewhere to make little Alpha-Beta babies."

"Gross." I mutter under my breath as I grab my phone now, scrambling to do anything but meet her eyes at the moment, "I can't stand the sight of him, much less be willing to 'make babies' to quote you."

"OMG!" Alessia squeals all of a sudden, bouncing in her seat like some sort of revelation just happened, "Something happened between you and him, didn't it? Yes, it did! It's written all over your face!"

"Excuse me?" I slam my phone down on my desk, turning around to glare at her, "Nothing of that sorts happened."

"Uh huh." Alessia nods slowly, smirking as she appraises me, "Then how the hell do you explain the blush on your face and the fact that you've been avoiding me for three periods?"

"I was busy writing that report."

"What report?"

"The one I didn't complete."

"The one you didn't complete?"

"Yes."

She flicks my forehead.

"Ow! What the fück?" I glare at her, crossing my arms.

Almost the entire college is practically terrified of me after that first day fiasco—which, just as I'd predicted, had gone unnoticed by the dean—but this tiny eccentric woman, she was not in the least bit worried about any of that.

And that's why I call her my best friend.

"That's for lying. Now start from the beginning."

"UH, fine. We ran into each other in the hallway."

"And . . ?"

"And he was being a smartass as usual."

"Ohhhhh." Alessia puts her hands together under chin, closing her eyes and smiling dreamily as if she was in dreamland.

"Um, what the fuck are you doing? You could get thrown out of class for indecent behavior." I say as I lean back a little, trying to put as much distance as possible between us.

"Can't you see? I was swooning." Alessia rolls her eyes and shakes her head dismissively, "You will never get it."

"Get what?"

"Get why I was swooning."

"Oh yeah? Try me."

"The reason why he's always pulling your leg is because he has a crush on you."

I burst out laughing at her crazy logic, because that was the most random thing I've heard all my life, "Go on."

She opens her eyes and glowers in response, but continues nevertheless, closing her eyes once again. "He was a stupid little boy who didn't know how to deal with his crush and decided to behave like a little schoolyard asshole. But after he grew up and really wanted to make a move, he couldn't do it because he didn't know how to start being nice to you again."

"Wow. Seriously, wow." I'm blown away.

"Yeah. I knew if I was patient enough, you'd eventually get it." Alessia opens her eyes now, grinning at me happily.

"I don't." I shake my head, patting her shoulder sympathetically.

"What? You don't get it? But—"

"I don't understand how you come up with this stuff. Like seriously, is there a club where you guys meet up and make up crazy stories to make every little thing, part of a big romance?" I chortle, raising my eyebrows as my shoulders shake with laughter.

"Fuck off, bitch. You'll come running back to me when it happens."

"We'll see." I refrain from saying more because the professor chooses that moment to enter, silencing the class.

"We will." Alessia whispers, shooting me a confident look as she bends down to grab her books from her bag.

Oh, I wish. My stomach drops at the thought, and I push away all the romantic notions she just stuffed in my head.

I should stop letting her get to me.

~

During lunch hour, I tell myself I'm going to that café where I first met Aleph Micajah Rye because the coffee and burgers there were good. Not because there's a huge chance that a certain someone might show up.

Nope.

I order my food and go wait in one of the booths by the end of the café, which is hidden from view of people walking in with antique-y wooden dividers. I pull my phone out to shoot Alessia a text about my whereabouts, when I realize I've received a text message from an unknown number.

Sender: Number Hidden

I'm sorry, Ny-Ny. 

A chill runs through my body and my heart just about stops in my chest at those two words.

There's no need to pull some strings and find out who sent me that text, because I already know who that is.

There was only one person in the whole world who called me that.

Estevan Pineda.

My brother who abandoned me.

The one whom I'd been searching as much as I could in the last year since I became Alpha.

The search which I'd given my everything for, which was also the reason why I'd forgone college for a year and joined now.

I obviously haven't given up on my search, but I could no longer spend days and nights over something I couldn't find the slightest clue about. My best men are still on the look for any hints as to what might've happened and where he might've gone, but we'd come up with nothing.

Nothing.

Six years of radio silence and now he contacts me?

I get that he was kicked out, it was the most ruthless thing I've ever seen my father do, but Estevan could've contacted me in the least. I mean, I always knew he was gay and he knew that I fully supported him. He knew that I would never betray him.

For six years, I've been worried sick.

Worried whether he was safe.

Whether he was alive and well or just hanging on for life, because although the family link tells that he's breathing somewhere on earth, there's no guarantee that he's fine.

Worried what leaving the Pack and the severing of the links did to his mental health.

Worried if he is alone.

This same text, six years before, heck even five or four years before, would've made me fly over the moon in happiness.

A sense of betrayal and hurt hits me so hard I feel like I might be knocked over. My breath comes out shuddery and I put my hands on the table, resting my forehead on my arms as I take in deep breaths, trying to calm this overwhelming emotion threatening to overtake me.

I realize that I'm about to have a panic attack.

This can't be happening to me right now.

Not in public where everyone can see.

Just no.

There's a touch on my back that jolts me out of it—mainly because it fracking tingled like someone sent a small voltage of electricity—and I look up with bloodshot eyes to meet a pair of cerulean orbs that are looking down at me worriedly.

Worried? Since when was he worried for me?

"Nyah, I've been calling your name for a while. Are you alright?" Ezra Harland questions as he withdraws his hand quickly, clenching and unclenching his fingers as he swallows, seemingly very uncomfortable to be speaking with me.

"Uh," I exhale, clearing my too dry throat, "Yeah, I'm not feeling well, that's all. You can go." I mumble, trying to grab my phone with shaking fingers and just send that stupid text I wanted to send to Alessia in the first place.

"You sure?" Ezra asks as he slides into the seat opposite to me comfortably, grabbing my phone from my hands. I open my mouth to protest when he raises an eyebrow, silencing me effectively, "Just tell me whom to text. I'll do it."

"No—you don't have to—"

"I felt it, Nyah." He jaw clinches, dark brows push down and blue eyes turn icy as shoots me a look of stubborn resolve, "We are barely Mated and I could feel you hurting. I'm not letting you stay here alone. Just tell me."

"Fine." I sigh in defeat, reaching forward to put my thumb and unlock the phone carefully, without touching his fingers, "Text Alessia that I'm at this café."

He types for a couple of seconds and places the phone on the table, looking up. "Done. I'm not going to ask what that was. I know I have no right. Just let me stay here until she comes."

I nod mutely in response.

A few minutes pass by and we sit in awkward silence, none of us having a clue as to what to say. My breathing gradually slows down and I feel myself returning to normal.

If anyone asks me if the reason why it subsided was because of my Mate's presence, I'd deny it till my dying breath.

Finally, Alessia shows up, rushing to the table with her arms full of books.

"I'm so sorry, I'm late! I had—what the fuck happened to you?" Alessia exclaims in horror as she drops her armload of books unceremoniously on the table, not caring that the hit the wood with a thump loud enough to get everyone's attention in the tiny café, and not even conscious that Ezra was sitting right there, when I know very well that she must have noticed him the moment she entered.

She pushes into my side of the booth as she grabs my still pale face, looking it over. She then turns to Ezra with a glare that could melt the Arctic, "I swear if you did something—"

"No, no. It wasn't him." I hurry to cut her off, before she says something like she'd stuff his own balls in his mouth.

Alessia is colorful like that.

"Nice to meet you, too, Alessia Clarke." Ezra smiles as he stands up, and my Wolf, that betraying beast, howls at me to ask him to stay.

I ignore the traitor, and wave at him as he gives us both a grin and turns around, walking away.

"Did you tell him my name?" Alessia looks at me in confusion.

"I did." My brows wrinkle in confusion, "Not your last name though."

"Huh. We'll come back to that later." She shakes her head, "Now tell me what the hell happened."

"Estevan happened." I say gravely, and Alessia pales.

~

By the time I reach home, I've exhausted myself by just overanalyzing the whole 'Mated to my tormentor' concept. It was either focusing on this, or 'the brother who almost gave me a panic attack in the middle of the day'.

I'd pick bad boy Mate over that minefield any day, because I still haven't decided what to text in reply, or if I should even reply.

Back to the point, I've now made a mental pros and cons list which will no doubt put me in a huge mess if it's ever written on paper, considering all the similar scenarios I've seen in movies and TV series.

A huge example?

Remember, when Rachel sees Ross' list?

Not that I'm implying that me and Ezra will get together someday and he'll feel all betrayed when he sees it—you know what? Never mind.

Bottom line is, it will stay mental and never see the light of the day.

Cons:

1. I can't even WRITE my pros and cons list to analyze this and that's the biggest con.

2. He's my frenemy at best, and bully at worst.

3. He's always mean and has never shown signs that he is capable of treating me like a princess (okay, I really don't want to be treated like one, but still, a girl can dream).

4. He's from the Mordecai Pack, whose Alpha is rumored to be ruthless and hence, what if he's bloodthirsty too? (Okay, that's a big IF 'cause I've been around Alpha Seneca plenty of times in many events and am yet to see her "thirst for blood")

5. He's Alpha Seneca's Beta and would NEVER leave her side to come and be my Aleph. (Although I have other plans . . . never mind)

Pros:

Well, I haven't really gotten to that part yet.

Alright, that's a lie.

There's only one pro.

He's Ezra Anthony Harland; the guy who chased me across the campus and found me when he realized something was happening.

And that was NOT my heart fluttering at his name.

I'm definitely screwed.

~ * ~

QUESTION: should Ezra leave Seneca to become Nyah's Aleph?

NEXT UPDATE: JUNE 6.

Dedicated to @SimplyUnique9 for their support! <3

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