Defy The Alpha(s) 2: Rebel Beast

Chapter 73: Gave Her A Cardiac Arrest

"Every House has its own heartbeat. Sooner or later, everyone living inside begins to hear it."

~ Rebel Beast

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The moment Aria stepped into the suite, she understood why Felicity had glared at her earlier.

She would’ve hated anyone who took her away from a place like this too.

The shared living room occupied the heart of the suite, with four identical bedroom doors arranged evenly around it, one in each corner, giving every occupant the same amount of space and privacy.

This wasn’t a dormitory at all, but a five-star hotel.

The walls were painted a rich blue-green that gave the room a welcoming warmth beneath the soft glow of the wall sconces. White molding framed the walls, while dark walnut floors disappeared beneath a large woven rug patterned in muted shades of ivory, slate blue, and terracotta.

At the center of the room sat a spacious caramel-colored leather sectional, accompanied by matching armchairs arranged around a handcrafted walnut coffee table. A neat stack of books rested on its surface beside a ceramic bowl filled with pinecones and dried branches, simple decorations that somehow made the room feel lived in rather than staged.

Floor-to-ceiling windows stretched along one side of the suite, their cream curtains left partially open to reveal a spacious balcony overlooking the academy grounds. The evening breeze drifted inside through the slightly opened glass doors, carrying with it the cool scent of trees and the distant sounds of students still wandering the campus before night finally settled.

One wall was occupied by built-in bookshelves filled with novels, textbooks, and board games. Opposite them stood a refreshment counter fitted with a coffee machine, an electric kettle, a refrigerator, and neatly arranged cupboards, making it easy to forget this was student accommodation at all.

Mounted above the modern stone fireplace was a magnificent wooden carving depicting wolves running alongside bears, stags, lions, and other great land beasts beneath a full moon. Unlike the imposing sculpture in the foyer, this one carried an unexpected sense of unity, every creature moving together, none considering itself greater than another.

For a long moment, none of the girls spoke.

Aria slowly turned in a circle, taking everything in. If this was how the ordinary students of House Therion lived, she couldn’t begin to imagine what Professor Maverick’s quarters looked like.

Wait a minute. Why was she thinking about Professor Maverick’s room?

Aria mentally shook herself.

Get a grip.

"I know I was born into wealth," Brittney said with an appreciative whistle as she looked around, "but this is still ridiculously luxurious for student accommodation. I love it."

"It certainly beats that doomed human residence," Trisha agreed without hesitation.

"And we all get our own rooms," Alek added, visibly relieved. "No offense, girls, but I like having my own space every now and then."

Aria couldn’t have agreed more.

More importantly, she would finally be able to use her phone without worrying about curious eyes wandering onto the messages she’d exchanged with Doctor Eniola.

A sudden realization seemed to strike all of them at the exact same time because all four pairs of eyes met.

Then all four girls bolted.

Dimitri barely had time to blink before they shot off in different directions, their excited squeals ringing through the suite and nearly bursting his eardrums.

"Goddess above..." he muttered under his breath. "What did I just get myself into?"

Aria sprinted for the bedroom closest to the balcony. Unfortunately, Trisha had the exact same idea. The two of them reached the door almost together, but Aria’s fingers wrapped around the handle a split second first.

"I touched it first," she declared triumphantly. "It’s mine."

Trisha came to such an abrupt stop she nearly crashed into her. Seeing the room was already claimed, she whipped around and made a desperate dash for the one directly opposite.

Too late.

Brittney was already standing in front of it with one hand resting possessively on the doorknob. She wore a grin so smug it was almost offensive.

"Try being a little less greedy next time," she teased.

"Oh, come on!"

Trisha threw both hands into the air before trudging dramatically toward the only remaining room, directly opposite the one Alek had already claimed.

"Well," she grumbled, reaching for the handle, "I suppose this one will have to love me instead."

Brittney clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Alright, nobody opens their door until the count of three."

The other girls straightened up, eager to see what their rooms looked like.

"One..." Brittney began.

"Two..."

"Three!"

All four girls threw their bedroom doors open at the same time, and for one glorious second, silence greeted them.

Then the suite erupted. It wasn’t the sound of joy.

"Rats!"

"Oh my God! There are rats in here!"

"What the hell?!"

The screams echoed from every direction at once.

Dimitri had expected gasps of admiration, perhaps even tears of gratitude after seeing the rooms. Instead, his sensitive ears were assaulted by pure, unfiltered panic. He barely had time to react before Trisha came sprinting toward him.

"Save me!" She launched herself straight at him.

Dimitri caught her on instinct, lifting her effortlessly as her arms wrapped around his neck while her legs locked around his waist. The force of the impact nearly knocked them both off balance, but he steadied himself before either of them could fall.

"It ran over my leg!" Trisha shrieked, frantically shaking one foot. "Oh my God! I think I’ve caught something!"

Dimitri stared at her.

"You caught what?"

"I don’t know!" Trisha cried. "Rat disease!"

Before he could reassure her, Brittney stumbled out of her room looking rattled as well, though slightly more composed.

"There were two of them!" she exclaimed, pointing accusingly toward her bedroom. "Two whole rats!"

Almost as if offended by the accusation, one of the tiny rodents darted out through the doorway.

Brittney saw it and screamed.

"I hate rats!"

She jumped sideways without looking where she was going.

The little creature skidded to a stop. Then, before everyone’s eyes, its body stretched, bones shifted beneath its fur, and within seconds, a young naked woman stood where the rat had been.

Brittney froze. Her mouth slowly fell open.

"T-That’s..."

She pointed with a trembling finger.

"That’s a human?"

No one answered because, at that exact moment, Aria burst out of her room.

"Get back here, you filthy pest!"

She came charging after another fleeing rat with a mop handle gripped in both hands.The terrified rodent zigzagged across the floor.

Aria raised the stick.

"I’m ending you!"

"Aria, don’t!"

Three voices shouted at once.

"What?" Aria snapped, still glaring at the little menace that had nearly sent her into cardiac arrest the moment she’d opened her door.

"It’s a human!" Brittney cried.

Aria frowned.

"A what?"

The rat suddenly stopped running and shifted in the blink of an eye. A heartbeat later, a young man was crouched on the floor, completely naked and shivering with fear.

Aria’s grip loosened, and the mop slipped from her fingers, clattering onto the floor.

Her eyes widened. She had very nearly beaten a human to death. Worse still, he wasn’t wearing a single stitch of clothing.

Right at that moment, Alek stepped out of her room, and unlike the others, she wasn’t screaming. Instead, both shifters in their human forms were bent over as she dragged them along by their ears.

"I caught them," she announced proudly.

Then she stopped, her eyes landing on Dimitri. Or more specifically, on the fact that Trisha was in his arms.

Dimitri froze.

In all the chaos, he’d completely forgotten he was carrying her. The moment his eyes met Alek’s, realization hit him like a freight train.

His arms instinctively relaxed.

Thud!

"Ow!"

Trisha landed squarely on her backside, wincing as she reached behind herself.

"I think I just broke my tailbone!"

Brittney hurried to her side.

"Are you alright?"

"I’ll survive," Trisha groaned as Brittney pulled her upright. "But if I start walking funny tomorrow, I’m suing you, asshole." She glared at Dimitri.

Unfortunately, Dimitri stood rooted to the spot. For reasons he couldn’t explain, he faced Alek wearing the unmistakably guilty expression of a man who’d just been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

"I can explain."

Alek blinked.

"Explain what?" she asked, looking genuinely confused.

Dimitri stared at her.Then it dawned on him.

What exactly was he trying to explain? More importantly, why did he feel the need to explain himself to her in the first place?

Something had to be wrong with him. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Mercifully, Alek spared him any further embarrassment.

"Well..." She lifted both hands slightly. "Look what I found."

Only then did he notice the two miserable rat shifters in her grasp. She marched them toward the others by their ears while the pair stumbled after her, both wearing identical expressions of suffering.

The rat shifters had all reverted to their human forms now.

There were eight of them altogether, huddled shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the living room with their heads lowered, while Aria, Brittney, Alek, Trisha, and Dimitri stood over them.

The playful beta from moments ago was gone.

Dimitri’s face had hardened, and though he never raised his voice, the authority in his expression was enough to make every rat shifter shrink where they stood.

"What," he asked, his voice dropping into a low growl, "is the meaning of this?"

It was the same girl who had shifted earlier who finally found the courage to speak.

"It... it was Felicity," she admitted. "She told us some human girls were moving in today and ordered us to hide in their rooms."