Gem

Acquaintance’s

Heading towards the main lobby Reese asks some random she-wolf where the cafe is and she was more than willing to tell him then noticed Eliza and myself. She gave us a snooty look which I winked at her in return. Not today b.itch. I will not let anyone here try and intimidate me. I was raised stronger than that. Even if Eliza doesn’t know how to yet I will take her under my wing. That she-wolf stomped away and Reese turn around to look at us. I smiled widely and he died laughing. “Being sassy again now are we?” He asked me and shrugged my shoulders smiling. He shook his head still laughing before turning back around and continuing down the hallway following the directions he was given. I start to smell food and know we have to be close.

Yep it’s huge! Looking like a food court with different types of food options, salad bar, dessert options and beverage stations. Anything and everything you could think of. Not even to mention the luxury seating. Two massive wooden doors wide open leading to the outdoor seating. Just with the glimpse from the windows along the side of the cafeteria is beautiful. Full trees, flowers and fountains. Students sitting in the grass or by the fountains. Everyone talking and enjoying themselves. I could really love it here. “Alright ladies why don’t we find Sammy first before breaking away to get food. He already mindlinked me that he has a table with a few friends.” Reese says and we nod in agreement.

Following him we are in the center of this place and I see a few people, two of them being Stass and Axel. She waves like a mad woman to me and I grab Eliza’s hand running right past Reese and heading straight for the table. He just laughs. “Hey guys! This is my roomie Eliza White from Pearl. Eliza this is Anastasia Hawkins my bestie I was telling you about and our friend Axel Stevens, Beta from Onyx. Have you two met yours?!” I say looking at them with a big smile. “It’s nice to meet you Eliza! I am Anastasia but please call me Stass. It is so nice to meet you. You are beyond gorgeous!” Stass says happily to my roomie and Eliza blushes. She is so innocent I love it. “I can’t stand my roommate.” Stass continued saying in a different tone and I chuckled making her roll her eyes. “She can’t be that bad babe, who’d you get stuck with? Oh and guys this hunk who finally made his appearance is Reese Jacobs, next in line Alpha of Amethyst. He’s our next door neighbor! Cutie pie right?” I say making him chuckle and putting his arm around my shoulder playfully and leaving it there. “You are something else. Nice to meet you Anastasia. Axel good to see you bro.” Reese says and it registered in my brain again the Ares is his roommate so of course he knows Axel besides why would they be sitting with Reese’s Beta if they didn’t know each other. Axel gives him a head nod and smiled. “Nice to meet you Reese, you are attractive but not as much as my baby Axel. Please everyone call me Stass. My birth name is too long.” Stass said giving Axel a kiss on the cheek and he shook his head while all of us at the table laughed. “I got stuck with Sapphire’s Gamma daughter Cheryl Philips. She’s a snooty b.itch. Her and I will not be getting along. Why couldn’t I get someone as awesome as Eliza. Wanna trade?” She continues sounding annoyed then smirking at me. “f***k that! I would get kicked off campus. You are way better at handling snoots then me. Just ignore her. Plus you can spend more time with us! You wouldn’t mind right Eliza?” I said and she shook her head. “No actually I wouldn’t. Nice to meet you all. Sorry I’m a bit quiet, there wasn’t that many girls my age from my pack wanting to get together so this friendship thing is new to me.” She says shyly and I break away from Reese’s arm to side hug her. “We got you girl. Always.” I said warmly to her and she smiled big at us.

“Now that you’ve all been introduced, Who must you be beautiful? I’m Samuel Hernandez, Reese’s Beta and this here is Ryan Gomez our Gamma.” The guy now known as Sam sitting next to Axel says smiling looking at me as if I was his next meal. They are both tan, well built, Sam has short dirty blonde hair and blue eyes while Ryan has a blonde man bun with pale green eyes. I smiled at the compliment. Not everyday you get called beautiful by a stranger so why be rude? I laughed to myself. “Sorry about that. The names Hazel Kade. Emerald pack just like Stass. My father is current Beta. Nice to meet you guys. I know we will all be best of friends this year!” I said to them smiling and they smiled back.

“Can we eat now?” Reese said and I roll my eyes at him. “Yes you can go get some food.” I tell him laughing and everyone joins in. He smiled before walking off. “So do you ladies know about the party in the woods tonight?” Sam says to us and I shake my head no stealing a few of Stass’s fries. “Tell me the details.” I said to him and he smiled. “Well it starts at sundown and usually for newbies joining for the year but everyone ends up going.” He smirked at me. “Sounds like fun. We will be there! Which reminds me I need to unpack a little, I’m gonna head back up to our room. You coming Eliza?” I said responding to him before looking at my roomie who nods her head. “We will come grab you guys when we head over!” Says Stass as we say our goodbyes. I interlock my arm with Eliza and we walk away back up to our room. Making our way through the corridors and seeing others chatting about tonight it must get crazy busy. We better dress to impress. Sure I have Ryder but that doesn’t mean I can’t hangout with my friends and have a blast. I am here for education but having fun is okay too. I will call him the second I get upstairs. “Are you cool with going tonight? I know I made it so you couldn’t object but if you aren’t comfortable with it I totally understand.” I ask Eliza. “I think it’ll be fun besides Ryan is really cute. I would love to see him again.” She says smiling as we walk up the stairs. “He is cute. When’s your birthday? Do you think he could be your mate?” I asked her politely and she shook her head no. “My birthday was a month ago so I have my wolf Blanca and she already told me he isn’t our mate but I can still mingle even though he’s not my mate right? What about you Hazel?” She says and I chuckle. “Yes you can definitely still mingle girlfriend! My story is complicated. I’m pretty sure my mate is next in line Beta for my pack. We are dating and his birthday is in a few days so we will find out for sure. I don’t know what to think of it.” I said to her truthfully and she nodded her head in understanding just as we got to our door and she unlocked it.

“He would be lucky to have you Hazel. Let’s have fun tonight. Are you going casual or dressy?” She asks me heading towards her room as I shut our front door. “Probably casual for me. If you need an outfit let me know and you can borrow something sexy.” I say giving her a wink and she laughs going into her room. I head to mine and open my suitcase finding my red satin cowl neck top and pairing it with my dark jeans that have a few rips in them and of course my trusty sneakers since we will be in the woods. I head out of my room seeing Eliza in a short blush pink romper showing off her long beautiful legs and neutral flats.

“Looking good Hazel! Now what of hair and make up?” She asked me as she is straightening her hair. “You look great too roomie! I’m going for minimal so lip gloss, mascara and I will add a few wavy curls to my hair.” I said back to her and she smiled. “Sounds pretty! I am doing minimal makeup too.” She says excitedly finishing up her hair. “You nervous at all? What if you find your mate tonight?” I asked her putting a few curls in my hair before moving on to my mascara. “Honestly that does have my nerves going.. I guess I am secretly hoping I do because I’ve never had a boyfriend before and since mates are literally made for you I just hope he sweeps me off my feet.” She said to me with a nervous giggle. I finished applying my mascara and looked at her. “Your mate will be lucky to have you Eliza, you are wonderful in every aspect! Don’t forget that!” I said to her with a big smile. She ran over to me giving me a big hug. “I will take that as a thank you.” I laughed and she laughed nodding her head. We both hear a knock coming from our door so it must be Stass. We release from our hug and I apply my lip gloss while walking over to the door as Eliza checks herself out once more in the mirror.

“Hello beautiful.” My mouth drops and so does the lip gloss out of my hand onto the floor the second I heard that voice.. I didn’t need to see him to know it was Ares.. Standing in my doorway wearing a dark button downed shirt giving a generous view of his chiseled chest and his broad arms looking even bigger, pairing it with his dark jeans and casual boots. He looks so handsome with his curls, those piercing eyes and his groomed beard. Okay woah pull it together woman you have a mate! I shout at myself.. His voice just does it for me as does his appearance. “Wow I didn’t think she could ever shut up.. You literally made her speechless bro!” Reese shouts then laughs hard from behind Ares who picked up my lipgloss. I quickly close my mouth and roll my eyes while they both laugh. “Did I surprise you cherry?” Ares winks handing me my gloss. I smile sweetly at him feeling the warmth from his hand slightly touching mine and here I am again lost for words but I quickly pull myself together. I am not weak. “Hmm maybe you did.. Maybe you didn’t.. I thought you were away on business until tomorrow?” I said playfully trying to redirect my attention from his muscular body as he watches me smirking. I can feel Eliza’s eyes burning in the back of my head from our apartment. “I’m Alpha remember? I make the decisions where to be. Plus I heard I had a new neighbor.” He says still smirking at me. I chuckled. “Of course how could I forget? Mister big bad Alpha.” I stick my tongue out at him and he smiles big. Show off. “Anyways enough about me, this tall glass of water is my roomie Eliza White of Pearl.” I said stepping aside so Eliza could join. “Nice to meet you tall glass of water Eliza. I am Ares Scratch, Alpha of Onyx.” He said teasing my words and stuck my tongue out at him again not missing the effect he has on clearly all she-wolves. “Nice to meet you Ares. Looking good tonight Reese.” She said with a flirty smile and I looked past Ares for a moment checking out Reese. He does look good with his purple tee shirt hugging his muscular form, jeans and sneakers. Reese winks to us and we laugh. Ares clears his throat. “You ladies ready to go?” He asked us and Eliza nods her head walking past me into the hallway. “Yeah, where is Stass and Axel? Should we wait for them first?” I asked them and Ares shakes his head taking my arm into his walking down the hall and stairs. Eliza and Reese following us. All eyes on our little group. You can tell Ares has quite the reputation here just by his presence alone he walks tall and strong attracting several looks from both males that wish to be him and females wishing to be with him. “Relax cherry, they are looking at you not me.” He whispers down in my ear making me shudder at his voice. I stand tall not letting him know that he has that effect on me although I’m sure he does just by his grin as I turned my head slightly upwards seeing him not moving his head and I turn back as we continue to walk. Getting outside there is students everywhere, we walk further into the woods towards the massive bonfire. Music blaring, people drinking, dancing and having a blast. I let go of Ares arm seeing Stass and wave to her. Axel and her walk over with the guys from Reese’s pack.

“Dam.n girls you both look hot!” Sammy, Reese’s Beta says and we both laugh. “Thanks Sammy. Ryan want to dance?” Eliza says wasting no time smirking at him and he nods taking her hand. “Catch up soon babes!” She shouts to me as they walk away to dance with everyone else. “Good to see you Ares, I take it Hazel was surprised?” Stass says teasing me and Reese laughs. “You can say that again! She was a mute. Something I never thought could happen with her.” He shouts leaning down over me from the back and wrapping his arms around me into a hug. I just roll me eyes. Everyone laughs. “Fine I was surprised. Now that everyone has had a laugh shall we get to dancing Stass?!” I shout breaking out of Reese’s hold and grab Stass’s hand. “I will be back baby, you boys play nice!” Stass shouts to Axel and the guys before we head off. “How are you feeling?” Stass asks me and I just give her a look.. “He got you good huh?” She said teasingly nudging into my side. “Stass if you don’t shut up I might need to hit you.” I said to her and she raised her hands in surrender. I shake my head stopping in my track further away from the boys but close enough to where everyone is dancing.

“Why am I feeling this way towards him still even after Ryder and I made up? It confuses me. I just want anything to go in the right direction for me.” I say looking at her seriously. She gives me a big hug. “Babe honestly if I wasn’t with Axel then I would say I understand because he is devilishly good looking but I don’t see anyone other than Axel. Maybe not think about any of this right now and just have a good time tonight!” She says shouting to me with her big smile. “Ugh I guess you are right. Let’s go shake our a.sses!” I shouted back to her with a smile and we head to dance.