Alpha's Vigilante Mate

Chapter 6

DELVIN

I felt sore, not the kind of good sore but where all my muscles ached, joints were painful, even my eyelids felt heavier than usual.

Groaning, I dragged myself out of the messy sticky sheets.I felt like skipping the first day of school, but having been cooped up for so long and my rut breaking, I needed a breather.

Our university had a policy of having the opening day on Friday. This was to get the students aware of their schedules and get to know their new professors while chasing all the holiday blues through the weekend as they waited for Monday to officially start studying. Now that I was feeling like death, that policy seemed like the wisest thing ever invented.

“ Let’s skip for today,’’ Rex grumbled and I could feel how exhausted he was by how he sounded, but I needed some confirmation, especially if our night out had any repercussions.

After a bath, I finally powered up my phone where all the messages and my missed calls trickled in one after another.

Mom : Heard you are in rut? Take care honey.

Mama : Your mom tells me she was informed you did not take a rut partner. Are you okay? Please call me.

Ned : Hope you are showing up to school today.

Anna : Miss you. See you soon.

None of the messages held priority at the moment and I decided to deal with all of them later. I would be having dinner with my parents during the weekend. Their answers could wait till then. As for Ned and Anna, we would be meeting at school.

I got a comfy cotton t-shirt, hoodie and sweatpants. My skin still felt too sensitive for anything harsh.The palace would send cleaners over when I was gone to deal with the mess I had left behind,so I didn’t need to be bothered about that.

I got to school later than I had expected, having passed through one of my favorite coffee shops for breakfast. Being a royal came with certain perks, like getting a designated parking spot that was silently designated for me, but somehow today another car was parked there.

Had something changed? I wondered.

Everyone in our school knew that had been my space for the past three years and the first years did not come in till the summer of the following year. Luckily, I found a spot, but making the extra drive made me a bit irritated. I did not want to come to school in the first place and the first mishap of the day had already taken place, adding to my bad mood.

With my backpack and phone in hand, I quickly made it through the large building decorated in large calligraphy

‘Compton School of Medicine - Genetic Engineering’

It reminded me of the first day I joined. Full of hopes and dreams and so much pride in joining the school on merit. I worked for it and deserved to be here.

The whole time I had been driving, my phone had been bombarded with messages from my friends asking where I was. Normally I was always on time,but just for today I wanted to just be.

My steps echoed through the quiet corridors, signaling that all years were already in session. I was the only one late on my first day, but it was too late to turn back.

I finally managed to find the hall where all the fourth years had congregated,all sitting while the new professor was already going on with his presentation. Searching through the rows of seats I could not find any of my friends.

I texted our group chat, which was already full of thousands of messages that I had yet to read, and asked where they were all seated and if I had a spot. Luckily, Simone, who was also Ned’s girlfriend, read the message and responded. I could see her trying to discreetly wave at me.They were in the fifth row from the bottom and I would not create so much commotion getting to my seat.

“ An honor for you to join us Sir,’’ the professor's voice rang out through the hall, causing all the heads to turn and focus on me.

‘Fck me,’’ I cursed under my breath. My plan to discreetly get in had been blown and the whole class was currently looking at me giggling.

The man stopped his lecture as I struggled through the limbs of my classmates trying to rush and get settled in.

“ We already had a class introduction, so you’ll have to do yours,’’ He continued in amusement.

Did he know who I was and was making fun of me or was he serious?

Professors in Compton were of three kinds.

Those who worshiped you since they knew you were a royal, those who were out to ‘ humble’ you and the others who didn’t give a sh.it about who anyone was. The latter were my favorite.

“ Morning everyone,’’ I began as the room echoed back in good mornings.

“ I am Delvin Rexmus and I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize for interrupting the lesson,’’ I finished off plastering my widest grin hoping it did not look like a grimace as I quietly sat down next to Ned who was trying his hardest to hold in his laugh.

“ Reminds me of Kindergarten. Should have stayed home like I suggested,’’ Rex jumped in, enjoying my embarrassment like everyone else.

“ Thankyou Mr Delvin. I am Clark Dawson. Your professor for this year. Welcome to my class,’’ he finished off and went back to giving the units outlines to which I zoned out on.

“ You are never late. What happened ?" Ned asked in seriousness and I could see the rest of our friends trying to listen in to get the answer.

“ Let’s talk over break time,’’ I replied. I had so much to tell them and I did not want to get singled out by the professor again. I zoned out during the rest of the session as the Professor droned on about the grading system, projects and assignments. The last thing he gave us was the timetable before he dismissed us.

That would mark the end of the day and the students were not in a hurry to leave, most deciding to catch up.

“Welcome to the land of the living,’’ Anna shouted as she made her way towards me to give me a hug. Chad fistbumped me as both him and Anna took the seats in front of us that had already been vacated.

We had been a tight-knit group of friends since the first year. I had known Anna and Ned way before campus. Anna was the daughter of my grandad's therapist. I had come to know her during the few times her mother would drop by to check on my grandfather and leave us to play.

As for Ned, he was more like my shadow and assistant. A Security officer assigned to me, who would blend in without problems. His back story being he was the son of an oil tycoon. He has now become my closest friend and confidant over the years.

As for Chad and Simone, they came in way later. Chad was the son of a famous plastic surgeon and was a family friend to Anna. Simone, the daughter of two famous actors and was Ned’s girlfriend. Everyone here came from a well known and rich family. What separated us was how high in the social ranking your family placed.

“ We haven’t seen you since that night at the club,’’ Anna said as she perched herself on Chad’s shoulder.

“ Where did you run off to that night though?’’ Simone asked and I was thankful that Ned had not disclosed anything.

“ The short note version is, I picked someone up that night and woke up to my rut the following morning,’’ I replied.

“ Rut for five days?’’ Chad asked, eyes widening in surprise like everyone else.

“ That must be one very satisfied Omega,’’ Simone sighed while fanning herself. Ever with the dramatics.

“ Ned, I hope you heard that,’’ I replied while elbowing my best friend, who somehow turned red from the comment.

“ If the omega in question is his hand maybe,’’ he mocked, and everyone went silent.

“ I didn’t take a partner,’’ I explained under my breath, confirming Ned’s claim. Everybody knew I never spent my ruts alone, it wasn’t much of a secret in our circle.

“ I don’t understand. Knowing Rex, no offense, he would never put himself through that,’’ Simone added.

“ Well, he did.’’ I replied, not wanting to expound more on what had happened.

“ Knowing Rex? What does she even know?No offense my ass!’’ my wolf grumbled angrily. He was still pretty irritable. More rest would put him at ease.

“ I don’t feel so good so I’ll be leaving but I came to check in and tell you I am fine in person.’’ I smiled hoping that would pacify my friends.

“ Let’s all head out then,’’ Ned offered as we all packed up, shuffling down the hall towards the exit. The room had cleared for the most part but I noticed a student who was hunched over her phone all alone in the front row.

After more scrutiny, I realized I didn’t know who she was and when I tried to catch her scent and figure out if she was familiar, there was nothing, and that rubbed me the wrong way.

“ Who is she?’’ I asked Ned who was closest to me.

“ A new student.’’ he replied.

“ Can we have those at this point? I asked, bewildered. That was pretty odd.

“ Well, if she is here, then it's possible.’’

“ You can go and introduce yourself again, if she already doesn't know you are future King,’’ Ned scoffed as we continued walking.

At the bottom of the stairs, I found myself walking in her direction but Rex kept pacing and was uneasy because of her lack of scent. She smelt like nothing. Not a human,not a wolf, which was not good for my irritated wolf.

He would take the smell of a skunk as long as it was something. Regardless, I soldiered on and when she noticed my presence she looked up in a bit of shock that she quickly masked.

I was met by a pair of brown eyes hidden behind a pair of blue-rimmed glasses. Her face was partially covered by her blonde hair which was tied in a way that covered her ears. I sensed some bit of familiarity about her but could not place it.

“ Why don’t you have a scent?" I blurted out instead of saying hello and her expression became guarded.

“ Nowhere was it stated that having a scent was a requirement to join,’’ she replied and I could tell she wasn’t joking from her tone.

“ That’s a good one,’’ Rex whistled.

“ But seriously, why doesn't she have a scent? It makes me feel on edge. The only thing I have to recognise my mate with is her scent and the probability of her being able to hide it is really unsettling,’’ my wolf quietly whined.

“ Sorry for that. My wolf is just disturbed by it. I didn’t mean to offend you,’’ I continued, trying to rectify my mistake.

“ My wolf is also disturbed by your scent but you don’t see me complaining,’’ she replied with a bit of a bite before going back to her phone. I knew it was a dismissal. I had apologized.

Did she really need to be that rude about it?

My friends had been waiting at the door and I ran over to them regretting having tried to be friendly with the newcomer.

“I guess that didn’ t go well,’’ Ned sighed, probably having overheard our conversation.

“ Well, miss freak of nature, over there is one rude person,’’ I replied, but little did I know she had picked up on every single word I had said.