The Three Alphas and Her Christmas Wish

CHAPTER 2

The day seemed interminable. I wandered the corridors of MoonStone University as if it were some ghostly haunt, hoping to go unnoticed and to be lost, yet at every step achingly conscious of eyes tracing back my trail. In halls, murmurs issued and phrases, snatched from ears bent near, resolved: my name, the word "Belmont," and terms such as "the glasses girl" issuing from lips shut tight over cupped palms.

By the time I arrived at the dining hall, it was lunchtime. My stomach was all stiff with nervousness. Guffaws and clinking against porcelain echoed in the opulent hall. All kinds of wolves from rank and background filled the long, long tables, and overlapping conversations played out in confidence and camaraderie symphonies. I stood holding my tray near the entrance of the hall, keeping an eye out for a quiet place where I could just slip away.

But the moment I went inside, things changed.

It was almost imperceptible at first ripples on the surface of a still pond-and then it hit him like an electric charge that raised every hair on the back of his neck. The dining hall fell suddenly silent as every head turned in the direction of the commotion.

There they were.

The Zeyren brothers.

They sat at a dais-like table against the far wall, where one was most certainly a mark of untouchability. Blaise reclined across the middle of it, his dark eyes moving across the room with an expression of all-consumed disinterest but subtly calculating at the same time. To his right Caelan sat; silver hair was caught by sunlight which streamed into the high windows. His cold gaze, pins his phone into his gaze, fingers tracing over it with a sense of detachment. Lucien leans on Blaise's left side, relaxing in his chair as he slowly scans the room with lazy eyes that almost look searching for something he finds to be funny next.

I held my tray motionless as its quivering seemed to convey, that it wasn't just there the whole room appeared to revolve around them, as all conversations stopped and laughed, as even the servers walked tip-toe into the brothers' orbit almost as if entering it by choice on their peril.

"Move," someone hissed from behind me, nudging my shoulder. The spell was broken, and I strode forward, keeping my head down as I sought an empty table toward the rear of the hall. I slid into a seat, and set my tray down on the table in front of me, my heart racing.

They did not see me, I pretended. They were not noticing me.

But with my fork raised, I felt the weight, the unmistakable feeling that someone was watching. I slowly turned my head up.

And Lucien was looking at me.

His gold-flecked eyes locked onto mine, and he was grinning, his whole face spreading wide as he'd finally found something suitably funny. He nudged Blaise over; this one's raised eyebrow made it hard to tell whether he hadn't a clue. The fact is, Caelan never actually looked up-but the definition of awareness pretty well included his sharp-angled profile.

Heat rose to my cheeks, and I looked away, at the plate in front of me. My appetite was gone. I pushed food around the plate with my fork, hoping they would lose interest. But the weight of their attention lingered a tangible force that made the air feel thick and heavy.

Hey, a voice broke my cyclical thoughts.

I looked up to see a girl standing beside my table. She had long red hair tied behind her in a loose braid, and emerald-green eyes bright with curiosity. She wore a casual sweater and jeans; her easy smile was in sharp contrast to the tension filling the hall.

"Mind if I sit?" she asked, raising her tray.

I hesitated and nodded. "Okay."

She scooted over in the chair across from me, setting her tray down with a clatter. "You looked like you needed someone to talk to," she said brightly. "I'm Sienna."

Aria" I whispered looking at her over my eyelashes.

She smiles more widely. "Nice to meet you, Aria. First year?

I nodded. "Right.”

“Figured. You’ve got that ‘deer in headlights’ look. Don’t worry—it gets easier. Kind of.”

I could smile; I had hardly opened my mouth when the brothers' shift took over in the air: not only the brothers this time, but them, moving.

The scratch of chairs against the floor seemed like a ripple in the room, and I knew, even without seeing them, that they were going out. Their footsteps went by and I held my breath for silent prayer that they did not stop.

Worry about them, Sienna said in a low voice that cut through the tension like a lifeline. The Zeyrens love their theatre. They're all talk-all right, mostly,

I looked at her, surprised at her nonchalant delivery. "You know them?”

"Everyone knows them," she said, rolling her eyes. "They're practically royalty around here. Blaise is the broody one, Caelan's the cold one, and Lucien's the playful one. All equally terrifying in their ways."

I gulped hard, my head replaying how Lucien had smiled at me: "Why do they let people give them so much power?”

Sienna shrugged. "Because they can. Their family owns half of campus and they're alpha in every way conceivable, so people tend to adore them or are frightened by them, often even that."

I looked down at my tray, letting the words sink in. Coming here was different from home; nothing could have prepared me for this, though, nor put me in the orbit of wolves like the Zeyren brothers. I wasn't ready for this. I didn't belong here.

Hey. Sienna's voice was calling out to me. "Don't let them get to you," she said. "They may play the part of gods, but they're just wolves like everybody else."

I nodded, but her words were hollow. The Zeyrens aren't just wolves. That's not it at all. They're predators, and for some reason, it is I who caught them notice.

I walked out of the dining hall with others while my head remained low. Lectures and whispering tales of back-door gossip filled my mind for the rest of the day. When I got to my dormitory, I felt tired as well as mentally weary.

I was lying on my bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling; the incidents of the day would not let go in my head. I tried to change the scene, but somehow one thought lingered: College life is just like that; it can be worse than I could think.