REX POV - At the cafeteria, after Elena left to ‘go to the library’.

I stealthily looked at Black Alpha marching outside the cafeteria with a determined expression and his fists clenched. The guy was so huge that he almost reached the exit door’s frame.

I pulled out my phone for a quick check, but the moment I removed the airplane mode I was bombarded with text messages. My instant concern was soon replaced by annoyance.

Ginger: ’Come to mine after school? Xxx’

Ginger: ’We could bake cookies! Xxx’

Ginger: ’Let me know the time you will be here xxx’

Ginger: ‘My granny will be helping us! She can’t wait to meet ya!’

Ginger: ‘Xxx’

I pinched my nose with a sigh, scrolling down my other messages without opening the other ones from Ginger.

I smirked at another chick’s message, Amber. It was actually a photo and I felt the urge to join her in the toilet from where she had sent me that photo.

Alpha: ‘Where’s Elena? She hasn’t answered any of my phone call or text.’

I raised my eyebrows. Recently my best friend was always moody and far too agitated, like a woman in a constant period. It was strange... But not less weird than Scary Black Alpha, who apparently suffered from attacks of anger. The whole school and its surroundings had probably heard his roar a little while ago.

According to legends he had lost a portion of humanity in the Alakasian mountains. I shook my head in disbelief. How do you leave a child so small all alone in that terrible place for a whole year? Pure madness! But this was how things went in their territory...His father, the ex Alpha of Black Devil, was insane to allow that horrible tradition to continue.

“Hey look, he just left!” Riccardo exclaimed pointing at the exit.

“Who?” Giulia asked absentmindedly, glancing at his food like a hawk.

“That creep of an Alpha” Riccardo said with disgust, like he was talking about some rubbish.

“So?” I was confused by his sudden interest in Black Alpha.

“I just don’t trust that crazy creep leaving after Elena…” He murmured with a worried expression.

I was sure I had a trench in my forehead for all the times I had frowned in the past two weeks. “Why should he notice Elena’s movements? They barely know each other.” Giulia rolled her eyes, as if stating the obvious.

“Haven’t you seen how he snarled at us before?” Riccardo’s lips curled into a grimace.

There was a dot that I couldn’t connect. Something very obvious. And I felt it was there, hidden behind the next corner of my mind. But every time I was close enough, the dot ran away with an evil laugh ... Elena’s moody behaviour, terrifying Alpha Mirko with his impulsive anger ... something was missing here ... and my forehead’s trench was deepening!

“It’s no normal but there must be a reason for his anger.” I stated, contemplating all the events where I met Alpha Mirko in person.

“Well, simple, he got angry because you came here without asking for his permission!” Giulia said, and it made sense, considering the murderous stare he gave Riccardo. What other reasons could he have had? I felt closer and closer to finding the hidden place of my missing dot, of the solution...

“Technically the school boundary should be a neutral zone! It is right on the edge of its territory.” Riccardo retorted, uncertain and slightly nervous.

“Anyway, I’m going to check on Elena. See you around guys!” He decided with a determined facial expression.

“Tell Elena that her father was trying to call her.” I reminded him before he headed out of the cafeteria.

I did not believe that Black Alpha had followed Elena, probably he had simply gone off on his own. Or maybe he had gone hunting for game in the woods because he didn’t like normal human food.

“I can’t believe he is still in love with Elena!” Giulia giggled, already devouring all Riccardo’s untouched food. He barely ate, it was crystal clear he came only to see Elena.

“Poor guy, maybe I should introduce him to Ginger” I said shaking my head.

“I hope he finds his mate soon...like Marco did.” Giulia added with a dreamy look.

I stood up, barely paying attention to my chair falling down and Giulia’s yelp. “Did you say mate?” I asked, staring at the exit where Elena had left.

“Yes! Go and check for earwax, you dummy!” She snapped, placing her hand on her heart theatrically. “You scared me Rexy!”

Could it be that Elena had found her mate? And that maybe, just maybe, he was part of Black Devil’s pack?

This would explain her mood swings and why she had kept it secret: Full Moon and Black Devil shared a bloody story. And that would also explain the behavior of Alpha Mirko, who must have felt very protective of Elena. As it was with Giulia, since she was the sister of Marco ~ the mate of Alpha Mirko’s Beta. In fact, Giulia had a special guard assigned by Alpha Mirko and Beta Crucifero who followed her wherever she went, when she was out of the Full Moon territory.

I absolutely had to talk to Elena! That young lady had many explanations to give me!

“Giuly! I have to go to the bathroom!” I lied, patting myself on the belly.

“Uuuh disgusting! I don’t need to know all your movements.” She said, gesturing quotation marks with her fingers. I laughed, kissing her on the cheek.

When I left the cafeteria, I was ready to head to the library, but stopped abruptly when I saw two figures standing opposite each other, in the middle of the corridor.

“So why do you have Elena’s smell on you?” Riccardo yelled accusingly to Alpha Mirko himself. Oh shit.

“That’s none of your business, little pup.” He spoke with an evil smirk. I had to admit that Riccardo had courage to spare, facing Black Alpha all by himself.

“Now move away before you’ll regret it.” Alpha Mirko demanded, moving forward.

When Riccardo punched him on the cheek, I thought his life would end today. But, to my surprise, Alpha Mirko didn’t even flinch, while Riccardo fell to the ground, landing on his ass. I facepalmed my face, in amazement. I couldn’t believe how strong this Alpha was!!

And how ridiculous Riccardo seemed!

With a laugh of derision, Alpha Mirko passed by a fuming Riccardo, as if he were not worthy of further attention.

“Elena is going to be my mate and future Luna and you should stay away, as*le.”

Whaaaat? I probably looked like a fish out of water at Riccardo’s words.

“What did you just say?” Alpha Mirko’s voice could freeze blood in the veins.

He swiftly grabbed Riccardo by his throat, lifting him with one hand like he had no weight.

Ok, this was my time to intervene.

“Yo guys! There’s no need to be violent!” I slowly approached them, as if I were talking to two wild animals. Or more like a prey about to be eaten by a hungry predator.

“Elena has always been my best friend! If she was going to mate with someone, I would definitely be the first to know! ”

Mirko stared at me with a raised eyebrow, Riccardo forgotten for a moment. The poor guy was gasping for air.

“Oh really?” He asked me with an amused spark in his scary eyes.

What was going on here? Why does he seem amused? I swallowed hard as I realised the heaviness of the situation.

“Come on dude, let him go and we can all settle that Elena will mate with her true mate, which obviously isn’t either of you.” I declared, very proud of my Gamma skills, great to handle these kinds of drama.

Mirko snorted and released a panting Riccardo, who fell to the ground like a puppet. “Stay away from Elena or there will be nothing left of you or your pack.” He said deadly serious, before turning around.

A normal person would have been terrorised and accepted his defeat. But the son of Crystal Wolf Alpha wasn’t one of them.

He laughed, spitting some blood as he coughed

“You can try, Black Alpha. And about Elena, for your information, I have already kissed her many times when we were a real couple.” He stopped again to cough, while Black Alpha stared at him in disbelief.

“Oooh! I see. Didn’t you know? Well, I was her first boyfriend, and when I say first, I meant first in EVERYTHING!” He croaked another laugh.

Now, I knew that it was a lie. Elena was keeping herself for her mate as some of us decided to do, in this werewolf world…(I wasn’t in that category but hey, I had my needs.)

But Alpha Mirko didn’t know that.

Before I could put my thoughts into words, Mirko kicked Riccardo on the legs, so sooo strongly, that he had flown a few meters before landing in a bloody mess. The sound of broken bones filled the hall and almost made my eyes pop out my head

He only gave him one kick! Using one leg! Was this guy of a superior species of werewolf?! Or like a mutant?

“Alpha! What the hell are you doing?” A worried Gamma Rolando came in a hurry and tried to hold Mirko up in an iron grip. But it wasn’t working. He was heading for a sobbing Riccardo. He would have killed him. I saw it in his dark eyes.

It required the strength of both of us to slower Mirko down, his dark orbs never leaving Riccardo.

“He lied! She didn’t go through phase 1 with him or anyone else, for what matters.” I didn’t know why I had revealed Elena’s private secrets to this stranger, but I felt it was a crucial aspect.

Magically, Alpha Mirko stared at me for a few seconds as if to meditate on my words. Then, with a snarl, he punched the wall next to him, leaving a deep hole. Probably to release his anger.

“Phase 1? Really? How old are you?” Gamma Rolando said, rolling his eyes. “Well, it worked!” I replied with the same annoying tone, showing him my middle finger. Alpha Mirko had stopped marching towards Riccardo and his chest heaving up and down.

“Let’s go, Rolando.” He finally ordered. There was not even a slab of remorse for the broken guy on the floor.

“You.” He then pointed at me.

“Call the infirmary and bring that piece of s*t away from my sight and from my school.”

“Yes, my captain yes!” I said with a smirk, putting my hand on my forehead to imitate the gesture of greeting a military captain.

He cracked a smile before shaking his head and leaving.

God, that was scary.

Later, at Full Moon pack house #

“What happened to Riccardo?” Luna Elisa exclaimed with worried eyes, staring at the photo on Rex’s phone. Alpha Giacomo, on the other hand, looked amused by the situation, pressing his lips in a thin line to suppress a laugh.

“Black Alpha beat him up really bad before his Gamma could move him away.” Elena snapped, with angry eyes and her jaw clenched. “And for no reasons.” She muttered, more to herself.

Alpha Giacomo instantly became serious at the mention of his rival pack’s Alpha.

“Actually, Riccardo asked for troubles.” Rex affirmed, avoiding Elena’s condemning eyes.

“Ricky disrespected someone and then tried to attack him. Black Alpha only gave him one kick and even a little hold by the neck.” Rex didn’t bother to hide his laugh.

“And how would you know that? Are you a fortune teller now?” Giulia countered, while Elena narrowed her eyes at Rex.

“Well I was nearby...”

“Black Alpha did that?” Luna Elisa questioned with curiosity.

“Only with one kick?” Now Alpha Giacomo’s ear-to-ear smile was illuminating the whole room.

“I thought you didn’t like Alpha Mirko.” Elena glanced at him suspiciously.

“I just think that little Ricky must have deserved it, otherwise why the hell Alpha Mirko would have beaten him up?”

“He didn’t beat him up! He kicked him once.” Rex corrected Alpha Giacomo, followed by more laughs.

Elena gnawed on the inside of her lip, surprised by his dad’s reaction, then her eyes wandered away never settling in one spot.

His father had never liked Riccardo since they “dated”. He was probably so happy only because someone had finally done what he had always wanted to do: taught poor Riccardo a lesson.

But how would he react knowing that Alpha Mirko was her mate?

A very jealous mate, apparently.

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Up to chapter 28 already available on my Patreon! Link below:

https://www.patreon.com/ladytrex

Also available on Patreon exclusive reverse version of Chapter 14 ‘Fluffin’ from Mirko POV ;) and two funny episodes of Rex and Marco in a party! And so much more! Go and check it ;)

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Next Update on Tapas will be released next Monday!

Have a great week everyone!! Love you all!! :*