She's just one floor below me. She is so close yet so far. All I can think about is running down the stairs and kissing her perfect lips. I want to run my hands through her soft silver hair.
"Yo, Aren, are you in or what?" Jaydens voice finds me.
I shake the forbidden images of Ora out of my head. "I'm sorry, what are you talking about?"
Jayden rolls his eyes and points to the table with cards already dealt out around it. "Are you ready to steal all these newbies' money in poker." I grin and nod.
"Who wants a beer?" I ask, making my way into the kitchen and opening the fridge. Jayden sucks at poker, but he thinks gambling and beer is a good way to bond with new academy students. I agree with him.
"I'll take one." Ryland responds. Ryland lived with us last year and he has become a good friend. He is a powerful panther shifter who is around the same height as Jay, but thinner with sleek muscles, black hair and brown eyes. Out of the four rooms in our suite he is the only one who doesn't have a roommate, the lucky bastard. That's probably one of the many benefits he gets from being from the Ruling Pack, but it is probably for the best, since he has a constant parade of women through his bed.
I look over at the table with my new suitemates sitting at it. Leon is a scrawny, but energetic 3rd year with golden blonde hair and blue eyes. Between his childlike demeanor and height, you'd never guess he is the oldest student in our dorm. He is a seal shifter from the Aquatic Kingdom, who has struggled with a weak shift his whole life. Max is his roommate. Max is a first year and is a giant of a man with short wiry black hair from the Grassland Kingdom. He is an elephant shifter and has the largest shift out of all of us. He is very quiet and shy, almost like he is embarrassed to take up so much space. When he does make eye contact it feels like you can see into his soul through his gray eyes. Another room is shared by Kaden and Koda, polar bear shifter identical twins from the Tundra Kingdom. They have white hair that contrasts dramatically with their dark skin. Their personalities also contrast with each other. Koda is bubbly and playful while Kaden seems to always be in a sour mood.
The final room in our suite is the one I share with Jayden. His father is the Forest Kingdom's High-Alpha, and Jayden is a wolf shifter. I grew up in the Forest Kingdom with Jayden and his sister, because my father was the ambassador from the Desert Kingdom. I grab some beers from the fridge and then take my seat at the table.
"You should just give me all your money now." I gloat. "It would save us some time."
"What would be the fun in just giving up?" Ryland responds, taking a beer from me.
"Yeah I'd never just give up." Kaden gruffly responds, his perpetual frown staying in place.
"Good to hear. I like a challenge." I say clapping my hands together and lifting my cards.
To everyone's surprise, Max, the giant of a man, swept the floor with all of us. After Max took everything, but my underwear from me in poker, we decided it was time to play a game that required a different set of skills, Beer Pong. A few rounds in, and I am up against Ryland in the semi finals. I get my first shot in, but I miss my second. Ryland drinks the cup of beer, and then puts it to the side. Ryland fires back, landing both of his shots and getting balls back. I chug the two cups of beer feeling the warmth spread through me, and enjoying the feeling. I feel loose and happy. Having Ora close again is freeing. I didn't notice until I saw her again how tense I've been for the last five years with her hundreds of miles away. I'm sure Jayden feels the same way.
As if he could hear my thoughts, Ryland pauses before taking his next shot, and asks Jayden, who is leaning against the kitchen counter, sipping on a glass of whisky, "So what was with that girl you fought a claim fight for in the dining hall today? I've never seen you fight a claiming match, let alone a claiming match for a scrawny 1st year." Ryland says this in his usual bored manner. I want to punch him for the lazefaire way he's referring to Ora. Jayden acts before I can, grabbing Ryland by his collar.
"You will show nothing but respect for Eudora." Ryland puts his hands in the air in a sign of surrender.
"No disrespect meant man. I just want to know, why this girl?"
"She's my sister." Jaden growls out, "Which means she is off limits for everyone." Jayden releases Ryland with a small shove and walks away. I look around and notice the shocked expressions on all of our suitemate's faces.
"Oh shit." Ryland breaths straightening out his collar.
"And she's a female shifter, who hasn't come of age yet." I add, thinking that she could be so much more than just a shifter due to her mothers line, but I don't say that. "Until she comes of age, there will be no funny business."
Jayden nods in agreement with my words, then adds, "She will be around a lot, so I expect you all to treat her well and help keep her safe."
"Great, I just got to this school and already I'm expected to look after some spoiled brat." Kaden says, crossing his arms across his chest. Jayden stares daggers at him, but he doesn't move to grab Kaden like he did Ryland.
"I think this is great!" Leon adds smiling and dancing around the room. "It will be good to have some feminine energy around here."
"I agree!" Koda says, stepping in front of his grumpy brother. "You guys are great and all, but I need some girl time every now and again."
Just then, a timid knock sounds at our door. Leon is the closest to the door, so he is the one who answers it. Standing on the other side of the door, looking at the floor is Ora. The sight of her takes my breath away. She looks up and I notice a red mark on her cheek. I push my way through my suitemates, and without thinking I lick my thumb and then gently rub it across her cheek, healing it instantly.
"Who did this to you?" I ask, voice hitching in my throat. What the hell is wrong with me that such a small mark on her could bring me to my knees.
"It's actually, kind of, Jaydens fault." My head whips around glaring at Jayden who stands confused just inside the door. Ora sashays into the room and I can't help notice the sway of her hips as she walks over to our fridge and takes out a beer. "That scene you made today in the cafeteria really pissed off one of my suitemates. She thinks I am trying to steal you from her." She says accusatorially at Jayden.
"What?" Jayden responds confused. He follows her to the fridge and takes the beer from her before she can open it, and puts it away.
"Come on, I'm over 21. I can have a beer if I want." Ora looks annoyed at her brother.
"You are 21, but you shouldn't be drinking the night before placement testing." Jayden responds.
Ora huffs and spins smacking her brother in the chest with her long hair. She marches to the common room dramatically laying herself across the couch. "What, your 1st year suitemates can drink, but I can't?" She complains, glaring around the room eyeing the beers in all of our hands.
"They all have already had their first shift, so they recover from alcohol better than you. But enough of that, tell me about the girl who slapped you." Jayden responds, sitting down in the armchair. I tap Ora's feet that are on the couch, and she lifts them just long enough for me to sit down, before placing her feet in my lap. I place my hands on her ankles, and it takes every ounce of my control not to run my hands down her bare legs. The only thing covering her perky ass is the school uniform skirt she is wearing. When she threw herself onto the couch her skirt landed haphazardly, and is now revealing the very bottom of her ass cheeks. I feel myself growing hard, and I force my eyes away from the lush skin of her ass and try to focus on the conversation she is having with her brother.
"She says she is your girl, and that you are soon to be mated." I look at Jayden. This is the first I am hearing of this. Has my bestfriend been secretly seeing a girl?
"I am not seeing anyone. I have not met any girl I wish to mate with and make my future Luna, let alone have I promised that to anyone. Who is your suitemate?" Jayden asks. He looks angry and confused.
Ora looks annoyed. "Her name is Madison."
"Madison?" Jayden's blank expression tells me he doesn't know who Ora is talking about.
"She's tall and tan, with blonde hair, and she's gorgeous. She says she's the only female shifter at the Academy." I gasp now remembering who Madison is. Jayden laughs.
"Oh shit, Madison is one of your suitemates? That girl is as crazy as she is hot." Jayden smirks, "Which is to say extremely crazy and extremely hot. She has enough guys following her around like puppies, I don't know why she's so desperate to add me to her harem."
Ora rolls her eyes, "This isn't a joke Jayden. She slapped me, and threatened to do much worse, if she ever caught me talking to you." The knowledge of someone threatening his sister sobers Jayden. "Why does she think she's with you anyway?" Ora asks, pouting.
"She started at the academy last year, after she had already turned 22, and the strings showed up for her. She thought if she fooled around with me, a string might appear for us. She drunkenly cornered me after homecoming last year and tried to make out with me. I refused and walked her home. Nothing at all happened, but after that she started telling everyone we had a string and that we were meant to be." Jayden explains.
"So you really don't have a string connecting you to her, even though she's the only female shifter here?" Ora asks.
"None at all, and you keep forgetting that you are a shifter."
"At this point I'm starting to think my shifter pheromones might be a fluke. I'm two months away from turning 22 and I've never shifted or shown any signs of being special."
"I think you are very special." I blurt out, before I can think any better of it.
Jayden gives me a weird look and says, "there's something very special about you. I can feel it. It just hasn't manifested yet."
"I'm glad you guys believe in me, but you're my family, you have to think I'm special."
"Come on Ora, cheer up. Placement tests start tomorrow, and then you'll see how special you are." Jayden says, as he stands and turns to help her up from the couch. "You really should get going, it's late and you need your sleep."
"I'll walk you back." I say, quickly before anyone else can volunteer.
"I don't need a guard. My room is only one floor down."
"I'll sleep better knowing you got back to your room safely." I respond.
"Fine." Ora is pouting again. I want to pick her up and kiss that pout off of her lips. I shake the thought out of my head, and follow Ora to the door. She turns to address the rest of the room, taking in all of my suitemates.
"Goodnight everyone. Hopefully, next time I visit it will be because of better circumstances." With that she opens the door, and I follow as she quickly walks down the hall.
"What's the rush?" I ask, easily catching up to her with my much longer strides, and matching her pace.
"I'm just annoyed. I didn't expect Jayden to still be treating me like a kid. I've completed my military service and now I attend this academy. I'm going to be of age in eight weeks and could be mated soon after that. I should not be seen as a child." She huffs and I laugh.
"You're his little sister, he is always going to want to protect you." I respond, following her through the suite's entrance. "And besides, there is no rush to get mated quickly. Some people don't choose a mate from their strings until years, decades even, after they come of age." As we walk towards her room, I notice a small dark skinned girl sitting in the study room. With a round face and large eyes, she looks too young to be going here. Eudora stops in front of her door and turns to me.
"That's not the point. I could be mated, but he refuses to see that I am grown. I don't want to be sheltered again, like I was before. And you," She looks up at me with fury in her eyes. "You're just as bad as Jay. I am not even your little sister, but you're always trying to protect and shelter me. She leans her face up towards mine and I lose myself looking into her beautiful violet eyes. Eyes the exact same color as her mothers.
"You're practically my little sister." I say, reminding myself as much as her.
"But I'm not." She looks away from me and I can't stop my body from moving.
I kiss her on the cheek and whisper softly into her ear, "Even so, I will always protect you."