Chapter 4 Chapter Four

Rosie's POV

"You want to keep watching the show, or you want to leave?" The guy in front of her, the Alpha apparently, asked with his voice low and dripping with authority. His green eyes locked onto hers, waiting, daring her to answer wrong. The room felt smaller than it should have, his presence pressing against her like a wall closing in.

Rosie swallowed hard, forcing her hands to stay still at her sides. "This is my room."

His mouth curved into a slow, mocking smirk. "Your room?" He said it like the words themselves were a joke. "That's cute. Try again."

"Ha! Listen to her." The girl beside him let out a sharp laugh, eyes raking over Rosie with open disgust. "A little omega thinks she gets to bunk with him? Sweetheart, with the way you're dressed, you'd send half this campus running for the hills at night. Do you even know who he is? That's Kai. Star of the hockey team and the strongest Alpha in this whole school. And you look like something the cat dragged in."

Heat flooded Rosie's cheeks, humiliation crawling up her neck. She glanced down at her plain clothes, suddenly aware of every thread, every seam that marked her as exactly what they thought she was. Is she mocking my clothes, or just what I am?

Her fists curled at her sides, nails biting crescents into her palms. "I'm not joking." She lifted her chin, meeting Kai's stare head on.

His smirk didn't waver. "Out." His gaze cut to the girl.

Rosie's eyes went wide, her whole body bracing to be the one thrown out. She turned to go, no interest in watching them finish whatever this was.

"Not you. Her." He jabbed a finger toward the girl. "Don't make me say it twice."

The girl blinked, clearly stunned to be the one dismissed. "But—"

"Now."

There was no room to argue with that tone. She scrambled to gather her things, throwing one last venomous look at Rosie before slamming out the door.

Silence swallowed the room. Rosie's pulse hammered so loud she was sure he could hear it.

Kai leaned back against the couch, arms crossed, studying her like she was a puzzle he hadn't decided was worth solving. "So what's an omega doing in a place like this?"

"I was assigned here." Her tone came out colder than she meant it to. She was terrified, but she refused to let this Alpha smell it on her, not in a school full of wolves who'd eat that fear alive.

His eyebrow arched, amused. "Assigned, huh." He tilted his head. "What's your name, little omega?"

The word omega slid off his tongue like a leash tightening around her throat. "Rosie."

"Rosie." He said it slow, testing the shape of it, and took a step closer, his green eyes narrowing as they swept over her.

She stepped back on instinct, the distance between them shrinking too fast. "What are you doing?"

"Relax." A faint smirk pulled at his mouth. "Just curious. You're different."

"Different how?" She narrowed her eyes right back at him, though his scent was already crowding out every other thought in her head. He was handsome in a way that felt almost unfair, his shirt half open, his height dwarfing every wolf she'd ever stood beside, including Frank.

Before he could answer, the door swung open and two more figures stepped inside.

Rosie's breath caught as Kai gestured lazily toward them. "Dr. Lucas Steele. College doctor, Alpha of the Red Moon Pack." A man in a crisp white coat, calm and composed, nodded once. "And Adrian Blackwell. Biology professor here." The second man wore a tailored suit, older, sharper, the kind of presence that made a room go quiet without him trying.

Both paused the moment their eyes landed on her.

"Who's this?" Adrian's brow furrowed, his gaze assessing, curious.

Lucas grinned, clearly enjoying himself. "This is Rosie. An omega." He gestured toward her like she was an exhibit. "Claims this is her room."

Adrian's eyebrows lifted. He exchanged a glance with Lucas before looking back at her. "Your room?"

"Yes." Rosie squared her shoulders, refusing to shrink under three sets of Alpha eyes. "That's what I was told."

Lucas chuckled, shaking his head. "She's got some bite to her."

"An omega, here." The doctor studied her, something like disbelief flickering across his face. "That's rare. Do you understand what you've walked into?"

Rosie's throat tightened, but she held his gaze. "I didn't have a choice in coming. But I'll survive it."

Laughter rippled through the room, not cruel this time, more startled, like she'd said something they hadn't expected to find entertaining.

"I like her already," Lucas said, dropping onto the couch with a smirk.

Rosie didn't wait around to hear more. "Excuse me." She turned sharply toward the bed she assumed was hers and pulled the blinds shut around it, sinking onto the mattress the second she was hidden from view.

Her whole body ached with exhaustion, and for the first time all day she let herself go still. The bed was better than she expected, the privacy a small mercy in a day that had offered her none.

Carefully, she peeled off her shirt, hissing as the fabric dragged over a bruise still tender from the whip. Her reflection in the small mirror beside the bed told the whole story in shades of purple and blue scattered across her ribs.

She let out a slow breath, biting back the sting behind her eyes. Not now. I don't have room to fall apart right now.

She reached for the small kit to clean her wounds when the blinds beside her bed shifted without warning.

Rosie froze, clutching the cloth against her bare chest. Standing there, half hidden in the dim light, was Lucas. His eyes went wide, and for one long second, neither of them said a word.

"What are you doing?" Her voice cracked sharp through the silence, her face burning despite the cold dread pooling in her stomach.