Chapter 3: Party

Ivy’s Point of View

“We literally just see each other, mom.”

[And I already miss you! Can’t I even miss my only daughter? This is the first time we’ll be apart for so long! Aren’t you going to miss your mother?]

“Of course I’m going to miss you. It’s just that, I need to unpack my things so I can rest early and call you before dinner.”

[Oh, that’s right. I’m sorry, sweetie. Your mother’s just emotional right now.]

I smiled. “It’s alright. I understand where you’re coming from. But I have to end the call now, mom. Say hi to Dante for me, please?”

[Of course. I love you, sweetie. Take care of yourself, alright?]

“I love you too, mom. Don’t overwork yourself anymore. You have no expenses needed to pay anymore,” I replied.

[I’ll try. Talk to you later, Ivy. Don’t forget your suppressants and inhibitors! And enjoy it, Ivy.]

“Yeah, definitely.”

Once our call ends, I let out a deep sigh. I looked at my dorm and saw several boxes and luggage still waiting to be unpacked and I couldn’t help but feel the sudden attack of longing and loneliness that hit me at once.

I’ve always known there comes a day that I won’t be living with my mother anymore, but knowing it and actually living it is a completely different thing.

Mom is the only constant thing in my life from the very beginning of it. She’s always been there for me.  If I miss her, I can just go to her room to see her. If she’s at work, I can just wait until evening. 

But living in a dormitory of my college university which is far from where mom’s living right now, I can’t exactly go to her whenever I miss her. Calling isn’t enough; I want to hug her or smell her calming scent to ease my nerves, like what we’ve always been doing.

I shook my head, standing up and stretching my body.

This is no time to think so negatively. Mom told me to enjoy it, so that’s what I’m going to do. 

Right now, I need to unpack first.

###

“Thank goodness for online deliveries,” I muttered as I entered the elevator in our dorm building to head back to our room.

“Yeah. Goddess knows we’d eat convenience store junks if not for online shops,” Desiree— my roommate— said, following suit.

She arrived when I was halfway through unpacking my belongings, which actually took until evening to finish. She doesn’t have as many belongings like I do, so she finished quite fast.

Once I was done, Desiree and I chatted like long lost friends. I was awkward at first because growing up, I’ve never had friends. Not exactly my fault, but due to some... people, I’ve never learned how to properly socialize with kids my age. 

Thankfully, Desiree didn’t mind my initial awkwardness. She’s not quite as bubbly and loud as per my first impression. Instead, she’s cool and sarcastic. She filled the awkwardness with her remarks that first intimidated me, but eventually learned has no bites and is just her way of communicating.

When my awkwardness slowly went away, we didn’t notice the time and had missed dinner. She first suggested going to the convenience store but I just said to order online since deliveries are accepted in our dorm, though we’d have to go down to the lobby to get it. Better than her initial idea to go out of campus to buy convenience store foods.

“Do you hear that?” Desiree asked once we stepped out of the elevator.

“Hear what?” I asked, brows furrowed in confusion. Then I heard it.

There was a loud music blearing through a speaker, resonating across the whole floor of where our room is also located. There were also voices screaming and laughing obnoxiously.

“Seriously? Partying this late at night?” I muttered, annoyed. Who wouldn’t be? The noise can probably be heard in our room if it can be heard from the outside!

“There’s colorful lights coming from that open door...” Desiree pointed out when we turned to the hallway.

A door was widely opened two rooms away from our room, and just as Desiree pointed out, there were flickering lights of different colors coming from it. The noise from inside is so loud that I’m sure other neighbors are complaining about it right now. 

“The audacity to throw a party this late at night where their neighbors can complain,” I grumbled.

“Should we go to the RA?” Desiree asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I think we should. Though I hope someone already did it, but seeing as it’s going on, I think the RA wasn’t notified of it.”

The Resident Assistant’s room is located on the farthest part of this floor. So we walked past the noisy room and headed straight to the RA’s room.

Desiree knocked loudly which made me wince but didn’t do anything to stop her. The door opened and a brown-haired man frowned deeply, his eyes glaring at us.

“What the hell? Don’t you know how to knock properly?” The man scowled at us.

I fidgeted nervously from behind Desiree, who didn't look intimidated at all. She even crossed her arms against her chest and tipped her head up to meet the RA’s eyes.

“There’s a party going on in one of the rooms here on our floor. It’s loud and disturbing, and I don’t know why you haven’t noticed it yet but can you ask them to stop? It’s annoying,” Desiree said, ignoring the man’s question.

The man raised an eyebrow, then he looked past Desiree which made our eyes meet. I hurriedly hid further, grateful that Desiree is taller than me. 

“Ah. That,” the RA plainly said. “Yeah, sorry freshie, but I can’t do anything about that. Just have to suck it up.” With that, the man closed the door again, leaving Desiree and I bewildered.

“Did he just say he can’t do anything about the party...?” I whispered, confused.

“That... motherfucker...!” Desiree snarled and proceeded to kick the door several times. “This is probably why the party’s still going on!”

The RA yelled inside but didn’t open the door to scold us. It seemed he didn’t want to answer our questions nor face Desiree’s wrath.

“What kind of fucking RA is that stupid man if he can’t do anything when a resident complains?!” 

“Come on, Des. You might get charged if you break the door,” I said while trying to pull my roommate away from the RA’s room. 

“I will kick that coward’s face—”

“Calm the fuck down, man!”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Shit, pull yourself together!”

I stiffened, my whole body freezing as a pungent scent hit my nose—then another, and another.

“Ivone? You alright?”

I knew Desiree was speaking to me, her anger probably subsiding a little as she turned her attention my way. But I couldn’t make out her words as I spun around, trying to locate the source of the scents.

There, standing outside the open door from where the party is happening, stood five men and three women. But I couldn’t care less for the other people aside from the three nearly identical faces of the men that still haunts me in my nightmares even after years have passed.

Those three men stood rigidly, body poised like a predator attacking its prey, and their familiar eyes staring directly into mine.

The mixture of their forest, rain and wood scent hit me at once. There was an odd sensation in my chest the longer I smell their scents. My heart is pounding loudly and my head spinning with something unfamiliar, as if my brain’s getting restructured. 

I remembered something that was said to me a while back. I just turned eighteen two months ago when my mom and Dante sat me down and explained something important, saying that as I reached the legal age, I should be prepared for something.

In theory, I already understand what they told me. But since I haven’t met them yet, I didn’t know how it would feel.

Mom just told me to trust my instinct. It should know about it.

But what she didn’t tell me is that it’s not entirely my instinct— but my wolf’s instinct.

‘Mates. My mates.’ A voice inside my head spoke, a whine accompanying those words.

My eyes widened, both in utter shock and fear. I unconsciously took a step backwards, which made the three men growl, their eyes sharpening even further at my movement which they seemed to interpret as a prey trying to escape from their clutches.

Which is what I’m exactly planning to do right now, seeing the way their body is preparing to lunge at me while their dark, wild eyes are trying to pin me in my place.

Then, the dreaded words came out of their lips.

“Mate… mine!”