Hybrid Kiana: The Alpha Princess's Forbidden Mate

The wind kept howling and the trees continued dancing, tossing the leaves from side to side. A lady dressed in a white flowing dress stood in the middle of it all, entranced and confused.

The lightning shone and thunder struck, causing her to flinch and whimper as she glanced around in fear.

Turning to her front, a gasp escaped her lips as she beheld a huge animal in front of her; fangs dripping with saliva, a low growl emitting from its throat. Was it a dog? But it was so huge and shiny to be called one. Its ocean eyes glistened in sync with its shiny fur.

She felt her heart thudding loudly against the wall of her chest as her blue eyes met with its enchanting ocean ones. Right there, she felt peaceful; her heartbeat returning to its normal pace.

The howling wind ceased and the trees stood still. She felt this connection that she couldn't decipher— a sense of familiarity.

"Mate!" The furry animal growled softly to her surprise, sending cold shivers down her spine. She felt entranced by it, an unexplainable force pulling her closer and closer, surprisingly.

It was also inching closer to her, purring in this sensual way that made her skin tingle. They were pretty close to each other when she heard her name being shouted repeatedly, impairing the connection...

"Kee... Kee... Kiana!" Her eyes snapped, darting in confusion as she took in her environment.

She was no longer in the middle of the forest, lost in the enchanting ocean eyes of the furry animal, instead, she was staring into the worried green eyes of her best friend and colleague, Katherine.

"Kath..." She whispered in a faint voice. Katherine was still staring down at her, with concern etched on the contours of her face.

"What's going on?" She asked absentmindedly, her eyes darting around her.

She was still at the cafe where she worked, seated on a high stool behind a deck where customers normally came to place orders if they couldn't wait for the servers to attend to them.

"I should be asking you that, Kee. You were sweating on your forehead in your sleep and mumbling incoherent words. I got worried." The worry was evident in her voice.

Slowly, she started recalling the dream she had as Katherine's words homed in her. She was sweating.

That always happened when she woke up from that strange dream of hers that had been a daily occurrence in her life immediately after she turned eighteen.

The dreams she was yet to wrap her head around or decipher why she was having them.

But it was still freaking daylight. Plus, the incoherent words were lost to her, being that she normally slept alone— on the couch in the sitting room.

"You said I was mumbling incoherent words?" She asked, wearing a worried look on her face.

Katherine nodded. "Is it the nightmare again?" She asked, her concerned gaze pinned solely on her. Katherine was her best friend.

The only one that she told about the dream and the only one that knew her predicament. She never failed to switch into concern or protection mode whenever she was going through a hard time mostly caused by her family.

Kiana nodded and sighed. The dream had fully settled on her subconscious. Her usual dream of standing close to a furry animal in the middle of the forest and hearing it chant 'mate.'

"I thought you only had them at night?" She asked, offering Kiana a handkerchief and settling down on another long stool beside her.

Kiana glanced around, taking in the customers that sat over a coffee mug, milkshake or other drinks ranging from cocktails, fruit drinks and whatnot. She had an hour break so she decided to get some sleep as she didn't sleep well last night.

Glancing back at Katherine, she sighed and nodded. "I thought so too."

Just then, a customer arrived at the counter and Katherine got down to attend to him.

"Coffee Mocha." The man ordered and Katherine went about fixing it while staring at her dejected-looking best friend at intervals.

"Thank you." She replied with a smile as the customer tipped her after paying for his order. Then she resumed her previous position beside Kiana.

"Same old? You standing close to a furry animal and hearing it say, "Mate?"

She nodded. "Same old."

Katherine rubbed her shoulders reassuringly. "Don't worry bestie, everything will be fine."

She had ceased to believe that everything would. Not when she was the first daughter of her father but treated as a slave by her stepmom and father.

A degree holder in business management but her father wouldn't let her work in his company, claiming she wasn't cut out for business. But made her step-sister, Bronwyn, his assistant even when she was still in school.

All because her mum was dead. Now, she had no choice but to work in a coffee shop since all the companies she went to didn't believe she was a degree holder at the age of twenty-three, coupled with her small frame.

Living a life of a pauper; sleeping on a couch when her father owned a mansion with tons of room in it. She was tired of hearing that word because instead of getting better, it got worse.

"Break time's over, Melrose!" Her manager's voice thundered in her ears, snapping her furiously out of my thoughts. She glanced sharply at him. He was standing beside the door that led to his inner office.

She shuddered under his hard gaze. "I... I know." Of course, she didn't. She was lost in thoughts as always while her best friend of all times was busy attending to customers in her stead.

"Then stop sulking and get to work!" He thundered again and made to leave, but not before fixing her another hard glare that made Kiana's knees buckle, causing her to spring on her feet in a frenzy.

The manager rarely shouted at her. He was known for the reputation of firing anyone he fixed that hard gaze on. Well, she couldn't possibly allow herself to be sacked this time, or else she would end up in the street searching for another job.

Probably washing dishes and cleaning marble floors and other jobs people thought fitted her age. Not the white-collar ones she had dreamed of. Bummer!

Sprinting across the counter, she met Katherine's reassuring smile. "Don't mind the bulldozer-faced man. He's just unhappy with his life."

Kiana knew what Katherine was trying to achieve with that; to make her smile and she did. Not just smiling, but laughing softly. "Kath! You and your words."

She half-shrugged, handing the customer her balance and beaming sweetly at Kiana.

"You can't blame me though. Anything that will bring those cute laughter to my girl's face." She threw her a playful wink that got her smiling widely without her knowledge.

"Now, that's the smile that makes you twice as stunning." She crossed her hand around Kiana's shoulders. "Everything will be alright, sweetie, okay?"

Kiana didn't know how she did that, but Katherine had that flare of making her glimpse a flicker of hope in her hopeless life. She and her boyfriend, Lawson.

They believed in her. And Kiana reckoned maybe it was time to share in their beliefs.

"Of course," she replied hopefully and made for her apron. Time to forget about the goddamn nightmares/daymares and get back to work. Well, until night came, though.

~~~~~~~~~~~

With unsteady steps, Kiana dragged her weary and tired self out of the taxi Katherine paid for her and made for the gigantic gate of her father's mansion.

The irony of having a rich father, yet living like a pauper and a slave, once again rested on her. She tightened her grip on the worn-out handbag that slung across her shoulders and let out a deep breath.

"A glimpse of hope!" She chanted as she dragged on towards the gate, opening it and entering inside to face the other side of her life— the heartbreaking one.

Her hand pressed the doorbell before she leaned on the wall, patiently. It would surely take Bronwyn an eternity to come down and open the door for her. Or one of the maids would. 'Her fellow maids' as Bronwyn would term it.

Soon, she started hearing footsteps and boom the door opened. A miracle! She stared at her watch in disbelief before staring back at the icy cold young lady in front of her. Bronwyn opened the door for her at exactly five minutes!

Should she start rejoicing? Wait, no. That signature mischievous smile of hers was plastered on her face, meaning that whatever was about to happen wouldn't end well for her.

"Right on time, slave." Her brows furrowed. Not because of being addressed as a slave. Hell, she had gotten used to being repeatedly insulted by her younger stepsister.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Question!" She replied Icily and turned, catwalking back to the sitting room. Half-shrugging, she stepped in and was met with slightly raised voices. She could recognize my dad's voice, but not the strange baritone voice that kept thundering words she couldn't decipher with reckless abandon.

"Did Dad have a business partner over?" She asked herself as she walked on, making herself visible to the people standing in the middle of their spacious living room.

Her vicious stepmother and step-sister, her father who was now smiling at her, plus the strange man whose eyes were blazing. Kiana gulped, not liking the smiling face of her father and the cold gaze that had been directed to her.

"Right on time, Kee-kee." Her furrowed brows deepened. Why was everyone telling her that? And why was her father suddenly addressing her by her nickname?

"Right in time for what?" She said in a strangled voice.

Her father, Mr Asher, closed the remaining distance between him and Kiana, towering over her with a smile plastered on his face. The smile that signified great danger for Kiana.

"Right in time to save our asses."

Kiana had since known that whenever her father smiled at her, it only meant another herculean task to be done. Another time to degrade her and make her do things he would never make Bronwyn do. Another time to show her how much he hated her and loved Bronwyn more.

His smiles for her were never a fatherly show of love, like the one he had for Bronwyn, but to let her know that there was another impossible thing he wanted her to do.

Like that reassuring devious smile he usually had whenever he wanted her to skip one or two years or grades. "You don't need to complete all these levels, my child. You are smarter than them."

She had believed him until she graduated from Harvard College— through scholarship, of course— and was denied employment by her own father with the excuse that she wasn't smart enough for the business world. Her young age of twenty three now an impediment to her getting a good job, because no company or corporation believed she was done with school a