Chapter 2 The Unexpected Mate

Valentino's POV

"Come on shithead! We are going to be late." My fraternal brother Vincent yelled from the living room of the pack house. I groaned in annoyance and finished getting dressed.

I wasn't one to go all out when it came to clothes or really anything. I threw on a gray long-sleeve shirt and black jeans. Mama wished I dressed more like an Alpha, seeing as I would be taking over soon. But I disagree. Comfort over everything else.

"Valentine, seriously come on. Or I'm going to leave you."

Vin slammed open my door and walked in with an attitude all over his face. I growled at that stupid nickname that he liked to call me. It pissed me off like no other.

We looked nothing alike. Other than our shared green eyes. I took my mother's features, but my dads' Italian roots. I had curly, moppy brain hair that was all over the place at the moment. I had big baby eyes and long lashes, that contrasted my strong jaw and nose. It was an odd combination.

Vin had bright blonde hair, and it was as straight as any hair ever. He had a lot of softer features compared to mine. Which is odd, seeing as we are Italian. Vin was more on the leaner side, I on the other hand was more built and taller by a few inches. I was 6'1, he was 5'10.

"Okay, I'm ready. Let's go, damn." I grabbed my backpack and threw it on. We both ran down the stairs and headed to the front door.

"Look at you, looking all buff." My sister, Victoria, teased as we basically ran past her.

"Bye, boys! Tino, behave!" Mama yelled out but we didn't stop.

Vin was a stickler about being on time, he was the complete opposite of me. He was punctual, charming, and smart. I on the other hand was not the best when it came to school, or the best when it came to being charming.

I kept to myself most times, I had a temper. Quick to anger my mama likes to say. I don't know where it came from but it was there. Always lurking in the back of my mind.

Neither of us had met our mates yet, but neither of us were really looking either. We had been 18 for about two months now, and neither of us had even gotten a whiff of them. But now that there were lycans around... it's best that we didn't. Both of us would be extremely aggressive in protecting our mates.

I didn't agree with Dad asking them for help when it came to the rogues. We had one of the biggest packs in the world, we could hold our own. But he believes in reconciliation. There has been tension between lycans and werewolves for as long as I can remember. Lycans think they are better than us, but truly they weren't. They aren't as great as they think they are.

My wolf, Zay growled slightly at the thought of running into a lycan at school. I'm sure many of them would be there, glaring down at us. Sitting on their high horses.

Vin parked the car and I hopped out immediately and went to the doors. We were greeted with a bunch of 'hellos' from the other pack members as we walked in. I looked around and a giant smile covered my face as I saw my future beta and best friend Quinton walk towards me.

"My, nig--" I cut him off before he could continue.

"Dude, how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that? I'm not black." Quinton laughed at my exasperation. As he wrapped his arm around me.

"Yeah, but I am. So it's okay." He shrugged and had a smirk on his face as we both walked in.

"You're so annoying."

"You love it."

As we walked the halls, it already smelled different. It smelt of lycan. And they didn't smell good. Not at all.

"It already smells like ass in here," Quinton spoke.

He was always loose with his tongue, sometimes too loose. He was going to get himself beat up one day. And I would be there right with him. Killing whoever thought to touch my best friend in the first place.

Just as I was about to respond a bundle of red hair came hurdling toward me and wrapped its arms around me. I looked down and I was met with a pair of sterling green eyes.

"Hi." She spoke and leaned on her tiptoes to kiss me.

Yes, I had a girlfriend. Very unconventional of me. My parents didn't agree with it when I tried to introduce them to Dalia, two years ago. Even now to this day, they haven't met her. And have no desire to.

Every Thursday we have giant family dinners, and I have tried to invite her on multiple occasions but my mother and father don't agree. Only mates are allowed, outside of family and very close friends. It annoyed the hell out of me.

"I saw one already. A lycan." She spoke pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, apparently there's one teaching. Their alphas son." Quinton said.

I don't know why but that caused Zay to stir. Maybe it was because there was another dominating male around and we were used to being the strongest. All I could do is pray to the moon goddess that I didn't have him as a teacher. That would cause problems.

"What's your schedule? I wanna know if we have a class together."

Dalia loved being around me as much as she could, but I think it was because she was scared that I would leave her for my mate. And now that I was 18. it was a possibility. Though the thought of mate sounded nice it caused great fear in me.

Dalia knew certain parts of me, not everything. Because if she did, I'm sure she would leave me. I have secrets, I have a past. I have this deep-rooted anger in me and I have no idea where it comes from. But it's there, always lingering.

I looked at my schedule to see what I had and I immediately was met with distress. Dalia grabbed it from me and she smiled as she read it.

"We have almost every class together! Yay!" She jumped and wrapped her arms around me again. My eyes met Quinton and he had a playful smirk on his face.

"Yay!" He teased in a tone mocking Dalia's, and I rolled my eyes. "Who the hell is Mr. Mickaya?" He asked as he looked at his own schedule and mine side by side.

I don't know why but that name made me feel something. Something weird. I didn't like it.

"That must be the Lycan, we should get going. He is our first period." Dalia spoke up and grabbed my hand and started pulling me down the hallway. Goddess, I hated how clingy she was these days.

*****

Once settled in the classroom that anxious feeling didn't go away, it actually got worse. Zay was pacing back and forth and it was slightly irritating. At the same time, Dalia was holding my hands and chatting about something that I wasn't paying attention to at all. She talked too much sometimes. Overstimulation is a bitch.

'What the hell Zay?'

'I don't know, something is... I don't know.'

'Can you chill the hell out for a minute? You're giving me a headache.'

'Something is happening. I feel it. You feel it too.'

I groaned in annoyance at his cryptic words. If he wasn't going to give me a straight-up answer then I wasn't going to give him the time of day.

The seconds rolled past and I watched the clock, why the hell hasn't the bell rung yet? Where the hell is this teacher? Then moments later my questions were answered. The bell rang and at the same time, it felt like the world had stopped in place. First, the smell hit my nose. It was peach and sea salt, it smelled heavenly. I had no idea where it was coming from but it was driving me and Zay wild.

Then that's when I saw him. He walked in with such confidence and poise, his head high, his eyes forward. I had yet to see his face, but I knew it would be gorgeous. His body was truly a sight to see. He was built, more than me, more than I could ever be. And he towered over everything in the classroom with his height. His hair was in a tight bun, it looked to be curly on the ends, and it was pitch black. I had never seen such dark hair before.

Zay was whining at this point, begging for this man to turn around. I wanted to see him. Just out of curiosity. No other reason, of course.

But when he did, my breath caught in my throat. I had never seen such a beautiful face, and I had never seen such unique and beautiful eyes. They were two colors, gray with a blue ring around it. I wanted a closer look, I'm sure I was missing something from all the way back here.

His eyes scanned the faces, I was waiting in anticipation for him to get to mine. And once we locked eyes, it all was made clear as day.

'Mate'

Mate? A man? A lycan? There's no way...the goddess wouldn't do that. Would she?

We stayed there staring at each other. I wanted to know what he was thinking. I'm sure I looked crazy sitting here. My doe eyes probably look humongous, my cheeks heating up from embarrassment. But he looked unphased. Like I was nothing to look at. He immediately moved his eyes from mine and I felt cold.

Zay let out a soft whine at his quick dismissal of us. Was I not what he expected? I mean I wasn't expecting a guy either. And I sure as hell wasn't expecting my mate to be a lycan. And it's not even like I want to be with him. But it would be nice to know if he was attracted to me. That's not weird at all. No, I think that is a normal response.

"You okay?" Dalia whispered in my ear and rubbed her hand on my arm.

All of a sudden her touch felt like acid. Burning me. I slowly pulled myself away from her and gave her a curt nod and looked forward. My mate's eyes were glued onto our intertwined hands. I tried to pull away but Dalia had a death grip on me.

"My name is Mr. Koa Mickaya. I am your new history teacher for the year."

That voice. His damn voice. I never thought I'd ever find a deep voice like his attractive but it did something to me. It was smooth like velvet and warmed my body like hot chocolate. I loved it. What the hell am I saying? No...no. I didn't. Fuck that voice.

But I, unfortunately, couldn't stop the urge of saying his name.

"Koa," I whispered to myself as quietly as my voice could go.

But I should have figured Lycan hearing is twenty times better than werewolf hearing. His eyes locked on mine yet again, but still nothing. No emotion in them. He heard me.

A girl raised her hand and caught his attention and I went back to being unseen. I hate that girl.

"Mr. Mickaya, do you think we should go around introducing ourselves? I would also love to get to know you more?"

Is she flirting? Was that flirting? What the hell? No way she was flirting.

"Yes, of course, we can start with you." He motioned to her and he moved to where he was now leaning against the desk. He was a very big man... But I couldn't focus on that, I could only focus on this giant feeling of jealousy coursing through me.

'Why the hell would he do that?'

'Zay, chill out man.'

'No! He saw us. Why is he acting like he doesn't see us? Like we aren't here?'

'Zay--'

'He thinks we're ugly? I can't even feel his Lycan, he's hiding from me.' Zay let out a soft whine at that and I could feel his sadness.

Maybe he didn't want us. You know what, that is fine with me. I don't want him anyways. Truly. I'm not gay, and I'm an alpha. Alpha's don't take it up the ass anyways. I'm happy with Dalia. And at some point, my parents were just gonna have to accept the fact that Dalia is gonna be the Luna.

"You, in the gray. It's your turn." His voice pulled me out of my thoughts, I hadn't even realized it was my turn. That went by fast. Or was I zoned out for that long?

"Uhh-yeah-uhh. My name is Valentino, I go by Tino. Son of Vincenzo and Maria Rossi. My favorite color is orange. And my favorite thing to do is your mom jokes."

My voice faltered, I had never stuttered in my life. There were a few chuckles from my classmates at my joke, but not from HIM. He just squinted his eyes at me, the only indication that he was even looking at me. What the hell is happening?

But as he watched me talk I felt so much pressure to sound right. I watched to see if maybe, just maybe he would react. He didn't. His face was still cold. And distant. I knew what this meant. He was going to reject me. That made Zay whine in pain, but he didn't protest. If his lycan wasn't reaching out to him, then we knew it was a done deal. They didn't want us.

I didn't want him either. And I will prove it.

"Thank you, Valentino."

MAGIC, magic is real. Because it felt like it was surging through my entire body as he spoke my name. I usually hate when teachers say my full name, but when he said it...it made me feel...weird.

He started on his tangent of Lycan and Werewolf history. To be honest I didn't care about lycan history, it seemed relevant to me. And also the fact he had not once looked at me since he started teaching. But I didn't care.

Dalia had her hands on me still and she slowly leaned into my chest. I leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. It was muscle memory, truly it was. I didn't even realize what I was doing until after and I felt his icy gaze on me. It caused my hair to stand up. I sat up and turned to see his still, and emotionless gaze.

"No PDA in this classroom Mr. Rossi and Ms. Crilo."

His voice was stern and his eyes never left Dalia as she immediately pulled away from me. No longer touching me in any capacity. I let out a breath of relief at that. Dalia hated getting in trouble with authority.

"My bad, teach." I hissed out. I was annoyed at the fact he wasn't paying attention to me. His jaw ticked at the disrespectful name. One thing I knew about teachers they hated being called teach. I don't know why.

But instead of giving a comeback, or any indication of anything at all. He went back to teaching. Completely ignoring me. Again.

Zay was hurt, and so was I. Maybe he could tell I was no good. Maybe I had an aura that showed all the bad that I'd done. Yeah. That's it.

I kept my head down for the rest of the class. It wasn't like he would care if I was looking at him anyways. It was weird what I was feeling. Rejected? Probably. Even though I hate to admit it. Once the bell rang, I couldn't get out fast enough. I grabbed my bag and bolted. I didn't even wait for Dalia, I just needed to leave.

Note to self, when trying to flee from your mate at least look where you're going.

I ran into a giant wall of man, and I knew who it was. I didn't have to look. I felt it. The heat, the electricity that everyone talks about. I felt it. His giant hands were holding my biceps. Making them abnormally small. I kept my head down, I refused to look at him. Also how embarrassing it would be to see a man look down at me? That's never happened before. I wasn't ready for that.

"My bad," I mumbled as I pulled myself from his grasp and raced out of the room. I was pretty far down the hallway and I finally felt like I was able to breathe. I walked to my locker and Vin was there, back leaning against them.

He looked just as disheveled as I did. Maybe even more so. His eyes looked crazy like he was looking around for me. Once I got close he grabbed me and pushed me against the lockers, catching me off guard.

"What's your problem?" I hissed out in pain as he stood in front of me.

"We need to talk."

"Then talk, idiot." I pushed him off and moved to where I could open my locker and started shoving stuff in there.

"I met my mate. I found her."

Goddess, I hated being a twin sometimes. I literally can't have one unique experience of my own. I stayed silent cause I knew his annoying ass wasn't done talking.

"It's a lycan..." AGAIN. I HATE BEING A TWIN.

"Yeah? Welcome to the club." I whispered and Vin looked surprised.

"Your mate? She's a lycan too?" Vin leaned forward and got all up in my personal space. He did this a lot when he talked about something serious.

"I wouldn't say she." My voice was low enough to where no one would be able to hear us, but Vin as his stupidity.

"A boy!" He yelled it so loud that it caused some people to look our way, and I could feel my cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

"Shut the fuck up, you dumbass," I said through gritted teeth. Anger surging in my eyes, I'm sure of it.

"Valentine, I didn't know you went that way."

"I don't. And you better stop before I punch you." He wasn't helping.

"Okay, chill out. Let's go, we have the rest of the classes together. And don't think I won't be asking you about them later."

Oh, yay, I look forward to it.

Goddess, help me.

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