CHAPTER 48: MEETING MY ROOMMATES

{Elira}

~**^**~

"Anything," Cambria shrugged. "Except loitering around the grounds during siesta hours. Some read, some do assignments, others gossip or nap lightly."

We stepped into the elevator, the small metal box reflecting our uniforms under bright light. My chest tightened with nerves.

I had been so focused on getting through orientation and meeting my homeroom professor that I’d nearly forgotten: I was about to meet the rest of my roommates.

Cambria must have felt the shift in my breathing, because as we stepped into our floor’s hallway, she said gently, "You are about to meet them now. Just be yourself."

Her words offered a moment of comfort before fading into fresh dread.

She opened the door, and together, we stepped inside.

Three girls sat or stood around the spacious dorm room. Each of them turned at the sound of our entrance.

Cambria spoke first, her tone bright and friendly. "Everyone, this is Elira. She’s joining us."

She pointed them out one by one. "That’s Juniper—" The girl with sharp cheekbones and black hair cut in a sleek bob barely inclined her head, her gaze cold and distant.

"—Nari," Cambria continued, gesturing to a girl perched on her bed, her wavy chestnut brown hair falling over one shoulder, her expression fierce and challenging.

"And that’s Tamryn, our dorm captain," Cambria finished, nodding toward a girl seated at a desk with a book open before her.

Tamryn had a severe ponytail and a posture so rigid she could have been carved from stone.

Tamryn didn’t even bother to stand. She flicked her gaze up at me once, voice flat. "Just stay away from my corner and we’re good."

Then, she turned her attention back to her book as though I’d never existed.

Juniper gave me a slow, appraising look. "I wonder what an Omega is doing in ESA," she murmured, voice laced with ice.

My breath caught in my chest. They already know.

Nari’s reaction was even sharper. She jumped off her bed, eyes flashing. "Wait—she’s an Omega?" Her stare cut into me like a blade. "How did you get in here?"

Before I could answer—or even form words—Cambria stepped forward. "Nari, she’s had a long day. Don’t be rude."

Nari rolled her eyes with a scoff, brushing past Cambria’s words like a breeze.

"Since you want to play mama, she’s all yours. But don’t expect me to be nice," she snapped, before flopping back onto her bed and flipping her hair over her shoulder with practised defiance.

Their words burned like small, cold fires against my skin. Inside, something fragile bent under the weight.

I couldn’t help thinking how unfair it was. I didn’t ask to be born an Omega. But it seemed to be the only thing people saw in me.

Cambria looked back at me and shook her head softly, offering a small, sad smile. "They are... interesting people," she murmured. "You will understand them more, eventually."

I wanted to believe her, but my heart told me not to hope too hard.

All I truly wanted was peace. If they chose to ignore me, that was fine—as long as they didn’t try to make my life hell.

Gathering the last of my courage, I walked toward my bed: the lower bunk that was still bare, my two pieces of luggage stacked neatly beside it. I sat down, my body sinking into the mattress, and let out a shaky breath.

I placed my notebooks down on the bed and, with tired fingers, slipped my heavy backpack off my shoulder.

The zipper whispered as I opened it, the glossy covers of my new textbooks catching the afternoon light.

As I tried to calm my nerves, Nari’s voice cut through the air again, sharp and impatient.

"Do you ever rest?" she demanded, glaring at Tamryn. "You just came back from class, and you’re already studying, instead of actually napping or doing something fun. We literally have a three-hour study period tonight."

Tamryn didn’t look up. Her voice was cool and dismissive. "If you spent more time reading, you wouldn’t need to complain about study time."

Nari let out an exasperated sigh and flopped backwards, mumbling under her breath.

I lowered my gaze, letting my fingertips rest against the smooth, embossed crest on one of the books.

Just then, Juniper’s cool voice cut through the stillness.

"Unlike you, Nari," she drawled, "Tamryn is studying hard to enter the Lunar Potential Development class by next year. Not even everyone who’s mated to an Alpha gets into that class—much less Tamryn, who doesn’t have a mate and might never get one."

Her words made my head lift slightly. Tamryn might never get one?

I had spent so long thinking of the mate bond as a given that it never truly occurred to me that not everyone would have one—that some people lived their whole lives without ever meeting a destined partner.

Next to me, Cambria shifted closer, lowering her voice so the others wouldn’t hear.

"Tamryn’s one of those people," she explained to me gently. "So, she’s working hard to get into the Lunar Potential Development class by our second year. She hopes that if she becomes strong enough, she might marry an Alpha who doesn’t have a mate."

I nodded slowly, the idea settling over me like a weight. It made sense—and suddenly, Tamryn’s coldness felt less like arrogance and more like the sharp edges of someone fighting against a fate that felt unfair.

Before I could say anything, Tamryn’s voice floated over from her corner, clipped and annoyed. "Can you stop discussing me over there?"

Cambria just smiled lightly, offering no further reply.

A quietness settled over the room, but inside, my thoughts churned.

The Lunar Potential Development class.

I wondered if, as someone mated to three Alpha brothers—one of whom would someday be the Alpha—would I qualify to enter?

But nobody here knew about that. And a part of me wasn’t sure I wanted them to.

My thoughts scattered when Nari called out, voice sharp and casual all at once. "Heh, new girl."

As I lifted my gaze, Cambria gently corrected her. "Nari, her name is Elira."

"Whatever," Nari huffed, rolling her eyes like it cost her too much to care.

Then she focused on me entirely, her gaze as direct as a slap. "You have no hope here," she announced. "An Omega can never be with an Alpha."

My breath caught.

If only she knew.

If only she knew my truth: that I was an Omega... and mated to not just one, but three Alphas. And one of them would inherit the Alpha title.

Before I could speak, Juniper leaned forward slightly from her bed. "Elira, do you have a mate?"

Her voice wasn’t exactly curious—more like testing me, looking for cracks.