Rooming With The Enemy Alpha

(Danielle) Gazing up at the sterile white ceiling of my school dorm at Semer School for Shifters in Westwood County—a renowned institution where shifters from across the state came to study both human and shifter disciplines—I felt an unsettling void expanding inside me. The faded blue paint on the walls seemed to echo the dull ache crawling from my stomach to my chest. It was like a tree of desperation had rooted itself within me, its black, gnarled branches curling around my ribs and lungs, tightening with each passing second, until even breathing felt like a task too steep. A single tear slipped down my cheek and landed on my palm. I stared at it in silence—frustrated, ashamed, and yet… strangely in awe. I wasn’t the kind of girl who cried. Not when my mother abandoned me to escape this life. Not when my father mated another wolf and treated me like a stranger. Not even when my life crumbled and turned into the nightmare I was still living. I didn’t cry. I couldn’t cry. Not now. Not ever. I couldn’t afford to. Tears meant weakness. And weakness? That wasn’t something I could allow myself to feel. "We’re sorry, Danielle. We’re going away for Christmas to Fiona’s pack, and we can’t—" They didn’t need to finish. We don’t want you there. Fiona. My stepmother. My father, Beta Brian Landon of the Wylen Circle Pack. Their unborn baby. Fiona’s daughter, Anna Sophia. Grandmother. They were a unit. A picture-perfect family. And me? I was the odd one out. The extra piece of that puzzle. The one that didn’t fit. Christmas was still a month away, but maybe he just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t crash their perfect holiday last minute. I wiped the tears from my face, jaw clenched tight. I was Beta-blooded. I was powerful. But even strength couldn’t stop the sting. “I’m sorry, Dani,” Rexi, my wolf, said quietly. “You don’t deserve this.” “I know,” I whispered back. “But this isn’t new.” I used to call him Dad with love. With reverence. He was my hero once. But that was a long time ago. Now he felt like a stranger—like I was just a leftover from a story he no longer wanted to remember. He pushed me further away with every word, every action. And it still hurt. Even if I pretended it didn’t. I just wanted him to see me. To really see me. But he wouldn’t. “You can call your aunt, if you want. Or stay in your dorm. Whichever is better.” He didn’t care what I did. He just wanted me away from the pack. Call my aunt? I nearly laughed. Aunt Giselle was all I had left of my mother’s memory, but I hadn’t seen her in a long time. We’d lost touch after Daisy… “It’s alright,” I said, swallowing down the lie. “I’ll stay in the dorm. I can’t go back to Crimson Woods.” Nothing about this was alright. And I knew he knew that too—but he never cared enough to question my “okays.” “Right. After what happened to Daisy...” He trailed off. A deep breath followed. “Yeah. It’s better you stay.” “I know. Bye.” He hung up. That was it. No I love you. No take care. Just obligation and silence. Sometimes I wondered why he even bothered to call. Maybe guilt. Or maybe he just felt responsible. And that was the worst part—being treated like a duty. A responsibility. Nothing more. Grandmother loved Anna Sophia more than me. Anna, the perfect child. She walked and talked like Grandmother. Elegant. Refined. Me? I was my mother’s daughter—through and through. And that alone was enough for Grandmother to hate me. And yes, my dad loved Anna Sophia more, too. Maybe she was the daughter he wished he had. She fit into their life seamlessly. They were all perfect—perfect home, perfect image. I was the smudge in their frame. The red-eye in their photograph. Fiona was never cruel to me. Never hit me. Never screamed. But she didn’t love me either. She couldn’t. I was never part of their family, no matter how many birthdays or parties we shared. I was always watching them from the outside. I was eight when my mother disappeared without a single goodbye. That day, everything shifted. The illusion shattered. The family we had—the life we lived—it had never been real. Just a shadow of something that might’ve been. We looked like a family at pack gatherings. But I always stood apart. Watching them like a stranger among magic. It was painful. But it was bearable. Until it wasn’t. Until that day. The day everything broke for good. And to this day, I don’t know who to blame. Daisy was from Crimson Woods—my aunt’s pack. We became inseparable when Mom and I visited. After my mom left, Daisy stitched my heart back together. She was my hope in a hopeless world. My color in the gray. My best friend. My soul sister. And when I realized I couldn’t imagine life without her... I lost her. I lost her to a cruel fate. Tears came again. But these? These I let fall. These I would always let fall. Forever & Always. She’d promised me. I was still waiting for her to remember that promise. Daisy had been my home when my real one became a prison. Losing her had been my greatest fear, and it came true. Now this dorm was the only place I could call home. I’d been here almost two years. I had nowhere else to go. I couldn’t go back to my own pack—nobody wanted me there. Couldn’t go to Daisy’s either—not after what happened. Not when I was the enemy in their eyes. This Christmas, while everyone else would sing carols, share gifts, and feel the warmth of family... I would sit here. Alone. I had nothing. “But one day, you’ll have it all. And Daisy will wake up. She’ll come back. She will.” Rexi’s voice was soft with hope. I sighed. One day, I would break these chains. I would escape this suffocating existence. I would fly—wherever life took me. I’d fly far, far away. From heartbreak. From pain. And I would find myself again. Find happiness again. They say life is tricky. And mine always has been. But I’ve learned to catch the curveballs life throws. You just have to anticipate them. That was all. I was ready for this year—my final year. After this, I’d leave the dorm behind. Leave the pack. And maybe… finally find a place to call home. But what came next? Oh, Goddess. I hadn’t anticipated that. Not in my darkest dreams. I was completely unprepared when— The boy who hated me burst through my door and into my life, shattering the fragile world I’d built. Aaron McCarter was my storm. And I wasn't ready.