I could ask Richard to show me around campus, but he was probably busy with everyone moving into the dorm. I could open up a meet up app and try to find someone on campus to hang out with, but then I risked meeting a complete psychopath.

I sighed into the heavy room and made my way to my desk. When I couldn’t think of something that I wanted to do, I usually opted to draw. I pulled out my sketchbook and stared at a blank page while I came up with something to put on it. I thought about the day and thought that I could draw something from the move that stood out to me. Sketching the building could have been a good challenge and would have kept me busy for some time. However, as I started to sketch, the dorm was not what appeared on my paper.

Maelstrom had played a big part of my day since making it to the college campus. He was undeniably handsome and powerful. He didn’t seem like the type of guy to be easily phased, but when he brought me back to the room after causing an incident in the parking lot, he had a look of complete defeat. It was almost as if someone had stripped him of his pride, which was strange since he had won the fight with the two alphas. Maybe the fact others thought he had purposely harmed me was the reason for his reaction, or maybe he was genuinely upset that he had caused me so much stress.

His form began to take shape on the page in my sketchbook. It captured the slight slump in his shoulders and his low hanging ears that he expressed when he told me he would ask to change rooms. It also had his downcasted eyes and the slight frown at the corner of his lips. At that moment, it was as if he was the puppy, waiting to be scolded, and I was the master that would put him in his place. The whole picture was odd as this was behaviour uncharacteristic for an alpha.

Once I had the pose and tone of the sketch down, I needed to lay down some more defining features of Maelstrom. He had short, slightly curly hair that messily fell on top of his head. The ends of his hair ended just above his eyebrows, and in a month, he would definitely need a haircut to keep the hair out of his eyes. His ears were long and erect. It was hard to tell if they came to a point or not because they were covered in long fluffy hair that had a slight curl at the ends. In comparison, his tail also had long fluffy hair with slightly curled ends. It was obvious he had long hair influence in his bloodline, which although not rare, was quite unique to dog influenced lines. With his features on paper, I quickly sketched some clothes on the body. Although not overly big, his clothes loosely fit around him. They gave a relaxed look to his demenare, but didn’t take away from the overall look of defeat in his expression and mannerism.

With his pose down and his defining features sketched in, it was time to ink the sketch. Inking was never my favorite part about any art piece because this was the stage that could make or break artwork. I managed to get through it with no major mess ups. With the hardest part out of the way, I had to make a decision on whether or not to color him. It would be difficult to lay down his colors since he was tri-colored.

Deciding it would eat more time, I pulled out my alcohol markers and began swatching colors to potentially use on the drawing. His skin was a warm ivory that didn’t make him stand out too much from other people, but his hair was contrastingly unique. It was mostly a blue gray, but it had scattered patches of white and brown. It was difficult to find the right shade of gray from my set of markers to use for his hair, but I did eventually found one that was close enough. In contrast to his hair, his ears had a white base. His right ear was almost completely white, but had a gray patch in the middle of it. The left ear, however, was peppered with both gray and brown. It was hard to believe that these two ears belonged to the same person, but they did. With the combination of his hair and ears, he definitely would stand out in a crowd. His tail was similarly colored to his left ear with a white base and gray and brown peppered into it. Then, there were his eyes to color.

This is when I realized I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to his eyes. I had no clue what color they were. Since I didn’t know what color to use for his eyes, I left them white and decided to fill them in later when I took a closer look at Maelstrom’s eyes. Unable to color the eyes, there were just a few things left to color: his clothes. I couldn’t remember what color his shirt was or if it had a design on it, so I just colored it a solid red color. His pants were easy because he had a pair of denim blue jeans on, and I had the perfect shade of blue to use for this. I also hadn’t paid attention to his shoes, so I left them white because it matched the rest of the outfit.

With everything finished other than the eyes, it was almost a perfect replica of Maelstrom. I looked at my phone to see the time and realized that it was almost six in the evening. I hadn’t realized that so much time had passed since I arrived at the campus. When I parked my car, it was eight in the morning. I don’t know how long everything took, and I didn’t even know when Maelstrom had left the room. With the day coming to an end, I needed to get out and get food.

However, there was a problem. I would have to leave the dorm to get food, and I didn’t want to leave by myself. Maelstrom was not in the room, and I had no friends. I was unsure of what to do. I could wait for Maelstrom to return and ask him to accompany me. But what if he didn’t want to? Or what if he had already gotten food?

While all of these thoughts filled my head, the door to the room opened. Maelstrom had returned to the room. I looked over at him and realized he was a sweaty mess.

“What happened to you?” I blurted out before I realized I had even said it.

He walked over towards me, causing me to give a small flinch. “I went for a run.”

I didn’t say anything back to him. It made sense that he had gone on a run, but how long was he out for? He had to have been gone for at least an hour, but there was no way anyone would run for that long.

Maelstrom walked over to his side of the room and began pulling clothes out of his dresser. I assumed this meant he was going to take a shower to wash all the sweat off his body. As he crossed the room to go to the shower, he asked, “is that supposed to be me?”

I had forgotten that I had drawn him and that the sketchbook was still open on my desk. “So what if it is?” I asked defensively.

“It’s good.” That’s all he said to me as he walked into the bathroom.

My heart was racing, and I could feel the heat on my face. I couldn't believe he had seen my drawing of him. It was a bit embarrassing, and I was worried that he would read too much into it. What if he thought I drew him because I was interested in him?

I could hear the shower start. It was strange to think that there was an alpha inside the bathroom. I had never really shared a living area with an alpha before, and I was still tremendously nervous about sharing my room with one. I had grown up without an alpha in my house since my mother raised me as a single woman. She had gotten pregnant with me while she was in heat with an alpha she went to high school with. They weren’t dating, and they weren’t friends. This alpha had taken advantage of my mother.

She doesn’t like to talk about what happened and tells people it isn’t his fault but her own. She had forgotten to take her suppressant, so she blames herself for the incident. I on the other hand blame the alpha; he should have had more control over himself. My mother never took on a partner after this because the alpha had claimed her, and once an omega or a beta is claimed they will never forinicate with anyone other than the alpha that claimed them. There is a chemical inside their saliva that gets into the bloodstream and goes to the brain when they bite the back of someone’s neck. This chemical alters the way omegas and betas behave, making them completely loyal to the alpha that claimed them.

The alpha who claimed my mother didn’t want to take responsibility for what he had done and even moved schools just to avoid my mother. Even though he had claimed an omega, he wasn’t affected the same way as my mother. Alphas can claim as many mates as they want without any repercussions to themselves. It’s a sad truth, which is why many omegas and even betas have a hard time allowing an alpha to claim them.

I shuddered thinking about all of this. It would be super easy for Maelstrom to claim me. I wouldn't even have to be in heat for him to claim me. He could simply bite me while I slept, making me his for the rest of my life. It was a sickening thought, and I slightly hated myself for thinking that he would do such a thing. I just couldn’t help but be distrustful towards alphas since my whole life could be ruined by one.

I was still lost in my thoughts when Maelstrom exited the bathroom. All of his hair was still slightly damp from the shower, and I let out a small laugh at the sight of him. He looked like a drowned puppy. His ears were being weighed down by the added weight of the water, and with the water making his hair look straight, he looked like some kind of playboy. It made me realize that his curly hair gave him a childlike look and when that was taken away he seemed like some kind of sensual beast.

“What’s so funny?” He asked as he raised his eyebrows and ears.

“Nothing.” I yelped as I turned away from him.

I could hear Maelstrom cross the room towards me. I felt my body tense as he got closer. Then, he put his hands on my chair and leaned his head close to mine. I could feel the dampness of his hair against my skin. I could also hear the air escaping his nose as he looked over my shoulder.

“I don’t understand why you’re so scared of me, especially since you have a beautiful drawing of me.” He whispered into my ear.

The sound of his hushed voice made me nervous. All of the hair on my body was standing on end. What was I supposed to do with such a large alpha next to me?