Rejected By One Alpha, Claimed By Another

Chapter 4: The Party

Serena's POV

"Mine."

That one word followed me all the way out of the admission office and down the corridor and I still could not make sense of it.

I kept walking, telling myself to forget it, telling myself he was probably just the kind of person who said things like that, meaningless things that felt enormous for no reason.

I was still thinking about it when I found the notice board near the main entrance and stopped to read the announcements pinned there. One of them explained that first year students were expected to stay on campus during the week and could only leave on weekends. I stared at it for a moment and then pulled out my phone and called Aunt Kira.

"I saw it already" she said before I could even explain, "I'll bring your things Monday morning with the car, don't worry about anything."

"But I have nothing tonight," I said, looking down at the dress I was still wearing from registration, the one that already felt like it belonged to a different version of me than the one who left Crescent Shadow Pack two days ago.

"You'll figure it out," she said warmly, "and Seren? Talk to your roommate. You might be surprised."

She hung up and I stood there for a second and then went to find my assigned room. Her name was Madison.

She was sitting cross-legged on her bed when I pushed the door open, surrounded by clothes and snack wrappers and three different lip glosses, and she looked up at me with the brightest eyes I had ever seen and said "finally, I was wondering when you'd show up" like we had already made plans.

We talked for four hours straight. It turned out we liked the same music, found the same things funny, both hated mornings and loved eating late at night, and she had a way of talking that made me feel like I had known her for years instead of minutes. I had never had a friend like that before, someone who just decided immediately that I was worth knowing.

I had barely noticed it getting dark when she suddenly sat up straight.

"Okay so there's a party tonight," she said like she was telling me something obvious I had somehow missed, "big one, happens every year when the new intake arrives, no lecturers allowed on campus after eight, so it gets properly crazy."

"I can't go," I said immediately, "I don't have anything to wear, all my stuff is coming Monday."

Madison looked at me like I had said something ridiculous and stood up and started going through her wardrobe, pulling things out and holding them up and rejecting them one by one, talking the entire time about how I absolutely was going and how this was non-negotiable and how first impressions at this campus lasted forever.

She eventually held up a dress and I felt my eyes go wide.

It was tiny. A black and stretchy one but it was extremely tiny. I held it up against myself and it barely covered anything and I looked at her and she was grinning.

"Put it on," she said.

I put it on. I turned to the mirror and stared and of course every of my curves were out being a very curvy person. The neckline was low and a half of my boobs were practically out in the aur, and the hem stopped very high on my thighs and I tugged at it twice before Madison grabbed my hands and stopped me.

"Don't you dare," she said, walking around me slowly, then stopping with her mouth open, "Serena. You look insane, like genuinely."

"It's too much," I said, pulling at the hem again.

"It is perfect and you are going," she said, and then she paused and tilted her head and looked at me sideways,

"wait. Have you ever even done anything with anyone? Like ever?"

I said nothing for a second too long and her eyes went wild.

"You're a virgin," she said, not even a question, just a flat statement of something she could apparently read directly off my face.

"That's not..." I started.

"Serena," she cut me off, putting both hands on my shoulders,

"tonight. I'm serious. You are not leaving that party the same way you walked in, do you hear me? You have been hiding under those clothes and tonight you are going to let yourself actually live for once, okay? Promise me."

I didn't promise her. But I also didn't say no.

The party was loud and hot and packed from wall to wall and the moment we walked in people started looking.

Heads actually turned and a guy near the door literally stopped mid sentence talking to his friend and Madison grabbed my arm and whispered

"I told you" into my ear and I felt something I was not used to feeling, like maybe I was worth looking at after all.

We found a table near the back and someone brought drinks over and the music was good and I was actually starting to relax, actually starting to feel like I was allowed to be here, like this life was something that could belong to me.

Then the whole room suddenly changed, the way conversations dropped a little and heads started turning toward the entrance. I looked up and my stomach did something complicated.

Damien walked in and he looked like he had no business being at a university party. Dark jeans, dark shirt, that jaw, and hose eyes that moved through the room like they were looking for something... Or someone.

"Okay that man is coming directly to you," Madison said into her cup.

"He's not," I said, not looking away from him.

"Serena."

"He doesn't even know where I'm..." I said and was cut short.

Damien stopped right in front of our table. He didn't look at Madison. He looked at me, just me, and then he bent down slowly until his mouth was level with my ear and the warmth of him hit me before the words did.

"You look like trouble tonight," he murmured, low enough that only I could hear,

"I'm not sure I mind."

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, and then every single light in the hall went out at once.

It turned into chaos as everyone moved around in a hurry wondering what was wrong. Someone's hands grabbed me in the dark and I got scared for a while.

"Don't move," Damien said quietly right against my ear.

When the lights came back on thirty seconds later the room was half-empty and people were still pushing toward the exits and standing at the entrance, completely still, and

my eyes found someone looking around the room. His eyes found mine and he smiled.