The Alpha Captain Hates Me

One Bed

Maya

The universe clearly had a personal vendetta against me.

By the time evening rolled around, every muscle in my body felt like it had been tenderized with a sledgehammer.

Ethan had spent the entire afternoon executing his promise. He couldn't tackle me physically because of his cast, but he used his position as Captain to run me ragged, barking orders, forcing me into brutal sprint corrections, and intentionally running me into defensive walls during synchronization drills.

I was covered in bruises, smelling of sweat and muddy turf, and all I wanted was a hot shower and my tiny, lumpy mattress in the scholarship dorms.

Instead, I was standing in the pouring rain outside the residential complex, staring at a massive red magical barrier blocking the entrance.

“Attention all students,” a magical amplification spell boomed from the building’s warden. “The main water elemental core in the eastern wing has ruptured. The entire lower residential sector is completely flooded. High-level containment wards are being deployed. All scholarship and low-tier Beta dorms are officially condemned until further notice.”

A loud groan went up from the crowd of displaced students shivering under the torrential downpour.

“What are we supposed to do?” I muttered, wiping rainwater from my eyes. “Where are we going to sleep?”

“All affected students will be temporarily reassigned to the premium Alpha suites in the western tower based on pack availability,” the warden announced, checking a glowing ledger.

I felt a sudden, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Premium Alpha suites? Those belonged to the elite. The heirs of the ruling packs.

I pushed my way through the crowd toward the warden's desk. “Sir, I’m Maya Lin. I don't belong to a pack. Where is my reassignment?”

The warden looked down his list, his eyes lingering on my name with a look of pity. “Ah, the traitor's daughter. Let me see... the western tower is completely booked solid due to the influx. There is only one vacancy left on the entire campus.” He tapped the ledger. “Suite 404. It’s a shared suite. The Headmaster personally signed off on it ten minutes ago.”

“Who am I sharing with?” I asked, a terrible feeling creeping up my spine.

“Your Wolfball captain, Ethan Vance.”

I choked on my own breath. “No. Absolutely not. Put me in the gymnasium. I'll sleep on a yoga mat. I'll sleep on the floor of the locker room instead!”

“The Headmaster explicitly stated that no complaints will be tolerated, Miss Lin,” the warden said coldly, shutting the ledger. “The academy rules require varsity teammates to maintain strict proximity during seasonal emergencies to ensure pack cohesion. Take the keycard or spend the night in the rain.”

Ten minutes later, I was standing in front of the door of Suite 404.

I swiped the keycard. The lock clicked open, revealing a room that looked larger than my entire apartment back home. It was luxurious—plush velvet rugs, a roaring stone fireplace that smelled of rich cedarwood, and massive floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the storm-lashed campus.

But my eyes immediately darted to the center of the room.

There was only one bed.

It was a king-sized mattress piled high with silk sheets and dark fur blankets, but it was definitively, undeniably *one bed*.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Ethan stepped out of the adjacent bathroom, a dark towel slung around his neck. He was shirtless, his broad shoulders and deeply defined chest glistening with drops of water from the shower. The dark ink of his Crescent Moon pack tattoo wrapped around his left bicep, flexing as he crossed his arms. His right arm, still bound in the black medical cast, looked like a stark weapon against his skin.

“The scholarship dorms flooded,” I said, forcing myself to look him dead in the eye instead of staring at his chest. I held up the keycard. “The Headmaster put me here. Trust me, I hate this more than you do.”

Ethan took a step toward me, his eyes flaring red. “Get out, Lin. I don't share my space with traitors, and I definitely don't share it with a girl who ruined my life.”

“I have nowhere else to go, Vance!” I snapped, my exhaustion turning into anger. “It’s freezing outside, I am covered in bruises because *you* spent five hours trying to break me on the field, and I am not sleeping in the dirt. You want me gone? Call your uncle and tell him to give me another room.”

He let out a low, guttural vibration that rattled the windowpanes, then snatched his phone off the marble nightstand and dialed a number.

Pressing it to his ear, his jaw clenched hard. After a few seconds, he slammed the phone back down, his expression dark as thunder.

“He didn't pick up,” I guessed, crossing my arms.

“He blocked my number for the night,” Ethan hissed, running his left hand through his damp hair in frustration. He glared at the massive bed, then back at me, looking absolutely disgusted by the hand fate had dealt him.

“Fine. But let’s get one thing straight. You stay on that side of the room. You don't touch my things, you don't talk to me, and you don't even look in my direction. Tomorrow morning, you find a new place to live.”

“Deal,” I said, walking over to the far side of the bed.

I didn't even have clean clothes. I had to sleep in my oversized, damp track sweater and shorts. I crawled under the fur blanket on the edge of the mattress, my back turned completely toward him, my body rigidly pressed so close to the perimeter that one wrong move would send me rolling onto the floor.

A moment later, the mattress shifted heavily as Ethan got in on the opposite side.

The silence in the room was deafening, broken only by the sound of the rain lashing against the glass and the crackle of the fireplace. Despite the distance between us, the heat radiating from his Alpha body was impossible to ignore. Shifters had a naturally higher body temperature, and sitting next to him felt like being near a furnace.

I told myself.

Eventually, the exhaustion from the brutal training session caught up to me, and my eyelids grew impossibly heavy, pulling me down into a deep sleep.

Hours later, the storm outside intensified. A loud c***k of thunder shook the entire western tower, followed by a violent flash of lightning that illuminated the room in stark white.

I stirred, my consciousness slowly drifting back to the surface.

The warmness I felt was incredible. There was a large, comforting weight wrapped tightly around my waist, and the soothing, intoxicating scent of rich cedar, mint, and burning ash filled my lungs.

I blinked my eyes open, the sleep still blurring my vision.

The room was dark, lit only by the dying embers of the fireplace. I tried to shift, but I couldn't move. My back was pressed flat against a broad, solid wall of burning muscle.

My heart skipped a violent beat.

I looked down. Wrapped securely around my waist, pulling me backward into the center of the mattress, was a thick, muscular arm. The fingers were dug into the fabric of my sweater, anchoring me against him.

I had rolled. Or he had rolled.

Either way, we were no longer on opposite sides of the bed. I was completely back-to-chest with Ethan Vance.

I was curled perfectly against him, his face buried deep into the crook of my neck, his deep, steady breaths blowing hot air against my bare skin.

My entire body went completely stiffened with panic. If he woke up right now and realized what was happening, he would kill me.

I held my breath, slowly, meticulously reaching down to lift his arm off my waist. But the moment my fingertips brushed his skin, Ethan’s grip tightened instantly.

A low, warning growl rumbled deep inside his chest, vibrating straight through my spine.

He didn't wake up, but maybe it was his subconsciousness reacting to the contact, pulling me even closer until there wasn't a single millimeter of space left between us.

"Mine..." a faint, barely audible murmur slipped from his lips in his sleep, his voice thick and rough.