The Eyes That Found Me
SCARLETT
“...Okay, I gotta ask, what the hell are you wearing?” Milo said, staring down at my skirt like it personally offended him.
Lily followed his gaze, then let out a tiny laugh.
I lifted the edges of the long flared skirt. “What’s wrong with it?” I asked, genuinely confused. It was soft and super comfortable, and I’d paired it with a pink cashmere singlet top. No bra. My chest needed to breathe; that tight bra had been stabbing me for hours.
So honestly, I thought I looked decent… except for the part where the chilly campus air was making my nipples poke straight through the singlet.
Lily covered her mouth to hide a grin. “Scar… you look adorable, but it’s, um…” she gestured at my chest, cheeks going pink, “a little… perky.”
Milo snorted. “A little? Her nipples are waving at everyone like they’re saying hi.”
My hands slapped over my chest so fast it hurt. “Oh my God, shut up.”
Heat crawled up my neck as I folded my arms tight across myself.
Milo raised his hands in surrender. “Hey, I’m not judging. Just… you’re gonna give some Alpha an aneurysm.”
Lily looped her arm through mine. “It’s cute. And honestly? Wear whatever lets you breathe. The bras these days are torture devices.”
“Hmm, that's not surprising !” Milo added. “It seems that's why half the female Omegas here ditch their bras by mid-semester. Campus rule number fifty-two.”
I blinked. “There are fifty-two rules?”
“Oh sweetheart,” Lily giggled. “There are hundreds. Most unwritten. Which is why we’re taking you to the café. We’ll get you caffeine and teach you how to survive.”
We stepped out into the main walkway, sun-washed stone paths, rows of old sycamore trees, students sprawled on the lawns, laughing and lounging after lectures. It looked… normal. Safe.
It felt nothing like that.
As we walked, Milo pointed toward the massive building on our right. “Library’s there. Four floors, three hidden rooms, one off-limits archive. Don’t go there unless you want detention for a month.”
“Or unless you want to see ghosts,” Lily whispered dramatically.
“There are no ghosts,” Milo muttered.
“There are,” she hissed back. “I heard one crying in the archives last year.”
“That was a janitor!”
They bickered the whole walk, and I should’ve been laughing with them, but…
Halfway down the path, something crawled up the back of my neck.
A prickling. Sharp. Icy.
Like fingers brushing just under my hairline.
I froze.
Goosebumps swept over my arms. My spine tightened. The air suddenly felt too heavy, too close.
Someone was watching me.
I turned…but all I saw were students crossing the quad, chatting, eating, scrolling on their phones. Normal. Harmless.
My heart hammered anyway.
“You okay?” Lily asked.
“Yeah,” I lied quickly. “Just… cold.”
We kept walking.
But the feeling didn’t go away.
If anything, it grew stronger.
Like eyes sliding over my skin with every step. Slow. Intentional.
Tracing me.
I looked again over my shoulder.
A couple of guys tossing a football. A girl on her laptop. Another group heading to class.
Nothing.
But my pulse wouldn’t calm down.
Milo kept talking as we turned toward the student café, a gorgeous, glass-walled building with vines creeping up the sides. “So, this place has the best breakfast sandwiches on campus. Avoid the tuna melt unless you want food poisoning. And don’t….”
I wasn’t listening anymore.
Because the hairs on my arms rose again.
Hard.
The pressure hit me low in the spine, sliding up my back.
Watching.
Hunting.
I spun around one more time, breath caught in my throat.
A group of students walked past.
A couple kissed by the fountain.
Someone laughed near the bike racks.
No one was looking at me.
No one but it felt like someone stood right there behind me, breath ghosting across my neck.
My fingers curled into my skirt. “Guys… do you feel that?”
“Feel what?” Milo asked, already reaching for the café door.
“That…” I swallowed. “That feeling.”
Lily tilted her head. “Like… anxiety?”
“No,” I said softly. “Like someone’s watching us.”
Lily and Milo exchanged a look, pity mixed with confusion.
“No one’s watching, Scar,” Milo said gently. “This campus is big, that’s all. You’re safe…well out here.”
Maybe they believed that.
I didn’t.
Because as the door to the café swung open and warm air rushed over me…
the feeling followed.
And this time, it wasn’t cold.
It was hot.
Burning.
Feral.
Someone was out there.
And they wanted me.
****
“So, what are you getting? I’d suggest the éclair. It’s so good. Everything is good, but that one is the best,” Lily said.
I nodded, standing in front of the server, but I wasn’t really listening. My eyes kept darting around the café, searching for the source of that awful, crawling feeling in my chest.
Everyone else looked normal, talking to their friends, typing on their phones, sipping drinks.
But every few seconds, I felt eyes on me. Heavy ones. Hungry ones.
Some were Alphas, some Betas. Their stares were disgusting, full of interest I never asked for. I was used to it, back in the pack, outside of it, pretty much everywhere but today it felt worse. Sharper. Like a warning.
“Scarlett. Scar.”
My name cut through my thoughts, and I blinked, turning to Milo and Lily.
Milo frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look really pale.”
The words I still feel eyes on me sat on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them down. I didn’t want to sound dramatic. Not again.
They exchanged a look, one I didn’t really understand but I let it go. We grabbed the snacks and headed toward the empty seats by the window.
But as we got closer, my whole body froze.
Cold rushed through my veins, so fast it made me dizzy.
Because standing a few feet outside the café, directly opposite the floor-to-ceiling window, were three figures.
Not moving.
Not talking.
Just staring at me.
And this time, I knew I wasn’t imagining it.
Shifters had sharper senses than humans, and even though I was an omega, just a human omega, I still had some instincts.
And every instinct in me screamed the same thing:
Those three massive Alphas weren’t curious.
They weren’t admiring.
They were watching me.
Waiting for me.