Chapter 2: Roommates

The hotel room had a living room and two extremely large bedrooms that would be shared between two girls. There were four girls living in the hotel room and Artemis was terrified of what that meant. She would have to do a lot of socializing and she hoped that these people would actually be willing to put up with her and not shun her from their group due to her lack of social skills.

"Hi! I'm Rosalind!" A blonde girl with a pretty face put out her hand for Artemis, who shook it firmly and returned the smile. "Call me Rose though, but I don't mind either,"

"I'm Artemis," she introduced.

The three girls excluding Artemis nodded their heads in recognition and she felt bad for not knowing their names.

"I'm Iris," a petite brown haired shook Artemis' hand with a smile. She had short hair that had been braided into two short plaits. Her face was almost pixie-like with the flyaway hair giving her an aura of a rebel.

The third girl, who had opened the door, was looking out of the window looking very deep in thought. She almost looked sad. She turned to them, sensing all eyes were on her and gave Artemis a polite smile.

"Hi, I'm Helena," she gave an incredibly forced smile to Artemis but she could she the sadness behind it "I would usually say more but... I'm afraid I'm not going to be here much longer,"

"Hey," the girl who had introduced herself as Rosalind went and put her arms around Helena's shoulders. "Don't think like that, everyone's got the same chance as you, trust me, I might even get out before you, you're way more built than me," her comforting words helped crack a smile from Helena which made Artemis slightly surprised.

"No.. it's not that..." she slumped down on the plush sofa in the living room. "The competition states that a mated girl cannot enter the competition or take part in it... and"

"And?" Rosalind butted in impatiently. Artemis was beginning to like her. "And I think I may have just found him."

A gasp resonated from across the whole room, including Artemis who was more surprised at her interest in the conversation rather than the words that Helena had said. She had figured it out by the way her guard had looked at Helena to know that he had imprinted. She'd seen the way that Phoenix, her sister's mate looked at Liza to know exactly how that bond works.

"The reaction from my guard, however, was not something I expected," Artemis let out.

Rosalind shared a look with Iris of complete shock before facing her.

"You saw it happen?" she gushed. "Oh my god!" she squealed. Her high pitched noise was something that Artemis was wishing she was not going to have to get used to.

"Yeah... nothing special, Helena here..." Artemis gestured towards the girl's body on the sofa, "Just disappeared into the hotel room and he just... left, I guess,"

Rosalind was clearly shocked. "You hid from your mate?" she screeched. There goes the high pitched voice. "Oh my lord!"

"Hey! I was nervous! This is not how I envisioned meeting him, especially not when I'd given up ever finding him!" she cried defensively. Artemis shrugged kicking off her boots and she was glad to see that the other girls' shoes were thrown haphazardly around the room too. Helena ran a hand through her hair in a way that suggested she might be tearing them out in the near future.

"You should go find him," Iris spoke out for the first time, "Then resign from the competition,". Her answer was short, calculated and to the point. Artemis decided that she liked her the best. Helena nodded her headed miserably.

"I'll go find him first, he's closer than the office," her gaze fluttered away. "For some reason, I can feel him, how close he is and just a slight understanding of his feelings right now... and frankly I don't actually know where the office is so maybe he can show me," she grumbled, but she got up anyway and walked out without another word.

Artemis felt they would've been great friends and felt sad that she had to leave so early. In fact, she'd only arrived to be sent back.

The three of them stood there a while before Iris spoke up.

"So... Artemis, before you showed up, we actually decided that we'd all freshen up and settle in and then at midnight, which is in..." she checked her watch. "... three hours and 20 minutes, we'll sit here with a bunch of junk food, because it's restricted for the duration of the competition, and get to know each other!"

Artemis' eyes bulged out of her head. "No junk food?!" she cried. "For a year? That's fucking insane!"

Rosalind rolled her eyes and got from her seat on the sofa. "Don't be such a drama queen, I brought a stash that'll last almost two years. However, no burgers or fried chicken might be a good thing to worry about," she said stretching upwards. "I'll see you guys in a bit, I'm gonna go and try and actually unload my luggage before bed, it'll give me a peace of mind,"

Iris and Artemis nodded before Iris disappeared behind Rosalind and Artemis went to her room, which she guessed she would have to herself, now that Helena would no longer be in the competition.

The three hours were gone quicker than they realized and Helena still had not returned. It should've worried Artemis but the reservoir they were staying in had state of the art security and she was sure that she and her mate were spending just some time together.

When Artemis had gotten out of her room, the other two already had arranged an assortment of junk food on the table in the middle and we're lying on the sofas in comfortable positions. Artemis suddenly didn't feel self-conscious in her onesie.

"Hey," Rosalind greeted her without turning around. It was hard for Artemis to think that they'd all shifted for some crisis or another. It must be hard for them to live without their mates but Artemis' love for books substantially lessened her need for her mate. She'd read enough books in the werewolf genre to know about how it should feel like but she felt the real feeling would disappoint her if it wasn't what she'd expected.

"So... shall we start?" Iris piped up.

Artemis shrugged and Rosalind nodded.

"Let's start with Artemis, we've both gotten to know each other a little since we arrived yesterday?"

"Really?" Artemis asked in surprise. How long had her journey been?

"Yeah... you're one of the last girls in the competition to arrive,"

"Shit..." Artemis breathed. The other two nodded. "I must live far..."

"Yeah, or that's how they planned it out so you'd have less of a clue about where this place is," Iris said with a small shrug opening a can of Sprite with a soft 'pssss'.

"Cool," the others nodded in agreement. Perhaps there was more comfort knowing there were other shifter girls her age that made her feel so comfortable but it was a foreign feeling. Usually this level of comfort was only achieved by Liza and no one else. 

She wondered briefly how Liza was doing but decided that her sister would most likely be worrying about how Artemis was doing. It would be best to write her a letter later.