NULL.
The scent registration had finally ended and the yard had started to get empty.
Gravel crunched under boots and the wind picked up as we all walked stiffly back towards our dorms.
My hoodie was now clinging to my body while the charm around my neck felt like ice.
Dren walked quietly beside me, not too close and not too far either. Just present. I did not ask him to follow like that, but he had not left my side once throughout the scans for the remaining boys.
We approached the same block and then he finally spoke again, "I'm in room two here. Looks like we are in the same block."
He said it like it was a good thing while I said nothing. Again.
I honestly did not know what to say because all of it was still very much new to me. I didn't know how to make a friend, nor keep one. Cael was my brother and he only sneaked around to see me back at North Fang.
I did not have to make him a friend or keep him as one. He was just the only family that cared about me.
We reached a split in the hallway of the block, three doors in a row with numbers stenciled in paint: 3, 2, 1.
I stepped toward room one while Dren stopped at room two, hand already on the doorknob.
He then smiled faintly, not forced at all, and said, "See you around then, I guess?"
I did not respond as usual, I merely entered my own room.
The door hissed shut behind me and I took another look at my room. There were three beds which meant I had two roommates. I've already met one—naked boy.
Which means there was only one mystery left to solve.
But then I suddenly looked up at the top bunk and saw that someone was already on it.
He had his legs stretched out, his ankles crossed and a thick book open over his chest.
He was not asleep at all, he was just still, yet I could tell that he was alert.
Wait a minute!
I know that face.
Pale. Unreadable. Eyes like smoke. Shoulder-length grey hair?
The boy from the scan line with a name that starts from S?
Silas?
The Alpha blood rogue?
Of course my other roommate just had to be someone like him. Ugh.
He turned a page and still did not glance down at me.
I cleared my throat in a quiet, careful manner then spoke, "Hey."
I waited a few seconds but got no response then tried again.
"Uh… hello. We are roommates," I said, adding a forced smile afterwards, but I still did not get any response from him.
Okay? Was he rude? Or just mute? Deaf? Maybe both or all?
I walked over to my bed then slid my bag towards me.
If the first roommate smiles so easily even while naked, this one does not even move at all.
I concluded that it was the best outcome. If he does not look, he won't see. And if he does not speak, he won't ask.
He's a safe roommate. Safe enough.
I laid down carefully with my arms crossed over my chest and eyes locked onto the ceiling.
That's it, I thought. No more surprises for now. Just me and two wolves I can't read.
Speaking of which, why was Jace not back yet?
I closed my eyes for one second and then the door opened.
I assumed it had to be Jace so I did not bother looking and only listened to the sound of metal and booted footsteps.
I was halfway through pulling my hoodie tighter around my face when I saw him.
No. No. No no no.
It was not Jace.
That brown hair. That walk with shoulders that look like cliffs.
The screen from earlier flashed behind my eyes.
Rank: Alpha Blood
Pack: North Fang
Wolf: Active
My lungs locked as the dorm seemed to get smaller and smaller.
He can't be here. There's only three beds? Did he come to greet a friend?
However, he stopped right in front of me without blinking. Then his eyes dropped to my bed, to the duffel by the foot of the bed, and then to me.
"You're in my spot," he simply said.
I flew to a sitting position in a confused, terrifying manner.
My thoughts were jumbled up but I managed to speak, "This room has three beds."
"Yeah," he said as he dropped his own bag beside mine. "And this one's mine."
He reached down slowly and suddenly grabbed my blanket. Then yanked it.
I jerked back instinctively, now sitting on the edge of the bed.
My voice almost broke, "You… this isn't… there's nowhere else for me to—"
He cut me off, already throwing himself down onto the mattress, legs spread, arms behind his head like a throne.
"Not my problem."
What on earth is happening? How could he be my roommate too? How could we be thrown in the same room as if being in the same academy was not enough?
What if he smells me so easily? What if he finds out I'm their she-wolf?
He shifted as one knee brushed mine. It was obviously not intentional, but he was not apologetic about it either.
He smirked up at the bunk.
"Don't worry," he muttered. "I'm pretty sure ghost-boy up there won't mind if you join him."
I could not answer. I did not even know what to say to that. My mouth was dry and my pulse now felt like glass.
Instead of speaking, I slowly stood up, wanting to be away from him as much as possible.
I could not risk being close to him. Who knows if speaking too much or even breathing too much would make him catch my scent?
When he finally closed his eyes, I crossed the room slowly with shaky legs.
In the corner, just between the bed frame and the wall, there was a narrow space just big enough for me to crawl into, so I slid down with knees to my chest.
Maybe if I make myself small enough, he would not notice me.
But then, how could I finally escape the cage and still, the cage sleeps inches from my feet?