CHAPTER 5: GAME ON

SERAPHINA’S POV

Back in the moment, I hadn’t thought of looking at her, solely focused on that asshole, but now that I see her, I can tell that she is the one.

The momentary surprise from her eyes fades away too quickly when she suddenly grips onto her nose looking at me weirdly.

“I heard Humans have a smell, but I wasn’t expecting this… smell. No offense.” She comments, holding back her urge to gag while offering me a strained smile.

I look down at myself, recalling the events that had caused this and feeling frustrated all over again.

“ No, it's fine. What you're smelling is rotten eggs with tomatoes on the side.” I shrug casually, noting she hasn’t made a derogatory statement towards me in the few seconds that we’ve met.

Strange.

“You need a shower, and you need one urgently.”

“Thank you for your honesty.” I laugh with exhaustion, wishing I could just fall onto the empty laid unused bed on the other side, but she’s right, I need to have a bath.

“Uhm, I’m Olivia Zachary, Omega and your new roommate.” She says, pulling out a clean white towel and handing it to me.

“Seraphina Hawthrone, human.” I point out as though it’s not already obvious that I am.

She chuckles just a bit at it, the laugh sounding way too genuine to be an insult.

Hmm, I might like this one.

“Please, can you show me where the showers are?” I ask finally and she nods, leading me forward with a gentle smile.

***

“So, let me get this straight.” I say, soaking comfortably in a tub, using the finest bathing product I’ve ever seen, while my newest roommate sits right in front of me, flipping through the pages of her thick book.

I playfully blow the bubble around and try to catch them in my hands.

“The social aspect of this school is run by the Alpha prince’s mate while everything else is run by him.”

“That’s right.” She nods.

“He controls quite literally everything and everyone worships the very ground he walks on because of his status.”

“Yep.”

I pause for a moment, letting the rundown of how things work here sink into my mind deeper; the whole hierarchy thing as well.

Her entire explanation was giving k-drama with ridiculous rules everyone had to follow just because two self-righteous teens want it that way.

Not even TV drama writers could make this shit up.

“What are mates again? That part is always confusing.”

“Think of it as every wolf being born with their better halves out there and once they find them, they’re inseparable. It’s actually quite a hassle.” She rolls her eyes midway, drawing her gaze back into her book, but I ponder on it.

“Actually, I think it’s kind of cool. Not having to go through countless assholes to find Mr right.”

“Yeah, reduces the number of assholes to only one.” She quips back easily and we both share a brief laugh before I sigh, sinking deeper into the tub.

So many rules to memorize all before school tomorrow…

“And the last thing.” She looks up to me, slamming her book shut with a firm face. “Whatever you do, do not anger the power couple, that is if you want to be here long enough.”

I remain silent now, not being able to give the usual response and avoiding her eyes.

“Sera?” She prods, waiting for a confirmatory response but I remain silent.

She sighs, smacking her forehead in exhaustion.

“Sera, don’t tell me you did something besides the stunt you pulled off this morning.”

“It wasn’t my fault!” I go into defense mode immediately.

It really wasn’t my fault. I was on my own when he took me there.

“Do you want to be a target for the entire school?!”

“First, I don’t know what that means, and secondly, of course not. But if he’s going to mess with me, I’m not going to just take it easily.”

“Firstly, being a target is the worst possible thing  that can happen to you at Raven Wood. First, it starts out with little jokes here and there just to mess with you and then things get too far and escalate.”

“Yeah, I get, bullying isn’t the best experience, but how bad could it possibly be?” I shrug, stepping out of the tub and wrapping a towel around myself.

I mean, I've been bullied all my life by older kids and kids my age, and none of them have been remotely fun for me. If I could take it, then I could take anything these preppy kids can throw at me.

Olivia shakes her head slowly, clearly wanting to object but decides to say nothing more.

“Smell check.” She says instead.

I raise both arms up and she moves in closer to sniff me. If thirty minutes of soaking in a scent water bath isn’t enough to get the gunk off me, then nothing else will work.

“How is it?”

She scrunches her nose just a bit before pulling away.

“Asides from the usual wet sock human smell, you're good to go.” She forces a smile, giving me a thumb up.

Her expression makes me laugh and I seem to be enjoying myself since coming here.

We move out of the shared bathroom, walking towards our own room while chatting about nothing in particular.

I let myself enjoy clicking with someone my age without having to fake the interest or seem interesting myself.

Stopping right at our door, the first thing we notice is a small weaved basket sitting just out our door, like a package meant for one of us.

“What’s that?” I move forward, picking it up while Olivia moves for the door.

“Probably something someone left in front of the wrong door.” She comments casually, like it couldn’t possibly be for either of us.

My curiosity takes over, however, and I pull the lid open and take a peek at it.

Staring back at me are the dead pale eyes of a black cat’s head, neatly dismembered from its body. I scream immediately, tossing the basket out of my hands on impulse and it drops to the floor.

Out rolls a bloodied head almost immediately, right onto the passage floors

Olivia sees it then and gags with shock before running to the nearest potted plant that isn’t far and puking right into it.

We’re left both shocked and partially paralyzed while I stare at the thing, wondering who would do this and then drop it just outside our door, like some fucking sick joke.

A note still in the basket catches my eyes and I slowly reach for it with trembling hands, reading the words out loud.

“Let the games begin.” I say the words written in either dark red paint or the blood of this animal.

Olivia's eyes widen even more hearing those words as she switches into panic mode clutching herself.

“You’ve already been marked, this was a warning.” Her body begins to shake uncontrollably like she’s seen a ghost, but none of this makes sense to me yet.

“Wait, they did this, just to get back at me?”

What kind of sick asshole does this to an innocent animal just because he couldn’t handle being reprimanded by someone else or being spoken back to?

Before I can descend into anger, the slight of Olivia already falling into an anxious state makes me discard the entire thought.

She’s been nothing but nice to me, I can’t let her suffer from any of this.

I help her to her feet and into the room, closing the door behind her.

She sits on the carpeted floors, still stuck in her trance while trembling.

I drop right next to her, way smaller, but I wrap my hands around her.

“It’s okay.” I manage to offer.

“It’s not okay, don’t you see? Artemis is a psychopath. Once you’ve gotten on his bad side, he doesn’t stop until he’s gone way too far and you are too broken to even be in school.”

“Why doesn’t anyone ever stand up to him?”

“People have, but they’ve all been shipped off to goddess knows where, or mysteriously transferred outside. It’s even worse for people like us.”

She grows quiet, looking away while the tears in her eyes begin to slide down slowly.

Guilt hits me like a truck instantly, just from seeing her cry. Somehow she had seen that because of me, because I couldn’t control myself and just let things be.

“What do you mean by people like us? I imagined because you’re a wolf you wouldn’t have it as bad.”

She laughs beside me bitterly, looking in the other direction.

“What you don’t know is that wolves are very discriminatory, especially of others that aren’t on their level.”

That sounds very believable.

“Years before now, this school was just for high ranking wolves. The Alphas, and Betas and those alike - not until the Queen Luna, Coraline Sinclair, was crowned alongside her mate. Stories say she was an Omega too. She abolished the laws so every wolf that could dream big could attend Raven Wood. That hasn’t stopped the hate we receive though.” She explains with a sense of sadness in her eyes.

“I had a friend once. He angered Artemis because of a simple mistake and the bullying started and never stopped, until he had to leave and I haven’t heard from him since. I heard he killed himself because it was all too much.” She adds to her story.

I watch her silently, unable to offer words of comfort to her.

Her reason for staying clear and doing nothing is valid. Who would want to fight against a sick bastard when no one comes to anyone’s aid?

Things would only continue to go on like this if no one does anything or stands up to the bastard. There would only ever be oppression and there’s nothing like that that doesn’t anger me so much.

And I’m different from the rest of the people he’s faced, much more stubborn and less under to his controls.

 I’m a human!

“Olivia… What do you think about humans?” I ask her now out of the blue.

She sniffles, turning to me now while wiping her eyes.

“I think you guys are… different, in a very peculiar and interesting way.” She responds without much thought.

I smile instantly from her answer. Just as I thought, she isn’t like the rest of them, she’s different, the good kind.

“Good answer.” I say, standing on my feet again as she watches me.

“Don’t worry, Olive. I’m going to be fine, I promise and none of their tricks will affect you either. I swear on my identity as a human.” I say confidently, stretching out my hand for her to take it.

She looks at me with disbelief and stares down at my palm.

My promise sounds almost impossible, I know, all I need is for her to be on my side though, because in trying times the worst thing to be was alone.

She forces a smile despite her doubts and grabs onto my hand, risking it all regardless.

“I’ll hold your words against you.”

I smile back, more fiercely with a burning resolve that seems to have only grown strong.

“That’s exactly what I want you to do.”

Like he’d said, the game is truly on.