Blood Of The Marked

“Why is it going to be hell? What’s so bad about it?”

As it was, I already felt like I was in my own personal hell, but it had nothing to do with this class. It had been too long since I’d been around Theo. That withdrawal, that craving, had returned. And this time, I was feeling moody and extremely irritable.

I was afraid that if I didn’t see Theo soon, I was going to snap and I wasn’t just being dramatic.

“I just had Professor Wickburn for my last class,” he said in a low voice, “and she’s the biggest bitch ever.”

“Oh. Great.”

As if on cue, Professor Wickburn walked into the room at that moment, leaving me to wonder if she may have overheard Vince’s comment.She went straight to her desk where she laid her bag down. Then she turned to face us. We were the only students in the classroom so far.

“Raven, may I have a word with you in my office before class?” Professor Wickburn asked.

“Oh, um, sure,” I replied nervously as I rose to my feet.I was afraid to know what this could have been about. If she had overheard me and Vince, she should have been having a discussion with him—not me.

As we slipped out of the classroom, she led me across the hallway and opened her office door.I followed her into the room, and she shut the door behind me. “Raven, I just want you to know how terribly sorry I am to hear about your parents’ passing,” Professor Wickburn said, a sympathetic look on her face. “I was a very close friend of theirs.”

“Thank you.” Her words sort of caught me off-guard. I couldn’t help but feel sort of… well, baffled that my parents had all of these close friends who I’d never heard of or met before.

“I just want you to know that if you need anything at all, my door is always open to you.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate that.”What was Vince talking about? Professor Wickburn didn’t seem like a bitch to me. She actually seemed really sweet.

“There’s also something else I wanted to discuss with you,” Professor Wickburn went on. “I couldn’t help but notice that you ate breakfast in the Dining Hall this morning with the Darken.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“I’m not sure if you know this or not, but it’s not actually advisable for a student to not get… well… close with a professor.”

Professor Wickburn met my gaze. “I wouldn’t advise that you be seen eating with them or spending much time with them in public. Really, it would be most advisable for you to not be involved with them at all.”

Okay. Maybe that was her bitchy side coming out. Even though she was trying to make it seem like she was offering me some useful information, I couldn’t help but think that it was actually anything but.

“Headmaster Black is actually well aware of my involvement with the Darken,” I informed her. “They are the ones who dragged me here to begin with.”

“So I’ve heard.” Professor Wickburn cocked her head back. “But it seems that their job is over. You are here now. You are… safe.” Her eyes met mine. “I just wouldn’t want anyone to get in trouble if they knew that you were involved with Theo.” She paused and then quickly added, “Or any of the other Darken.”

So, this was about Theo, I realized. Was the whole reason she was saying any of this because she actually wanted Theo?Was she trying to get me to stay away from him so that she could have him?

The last thing I wanted was to create waves with my professor, but I also wasn’t going to back down, either. My body was already craving Theo in ways I couldn’t even begin to explain. I wasn’t about to let her tell me who I could and couldn’t be involved with.And besides, didn’t Theo have a say in any of this?

“Is that all? Can I go back to the classroom now?” I asked.

There was an icy look behind her light blue eyes as they met mine. “Yes, that’s all.”

As I headed back across the hall, to the classroom, a thought occurred to me.

Caroline Wickburn was, by far, one of the most gorgeous women who I’d ever met in my life. And me? I was just sort of… well… average. In comparison to her, I just looked so… human.

What if Theo actually wanted her, too?

—-

To say that I was relieved when classes were over for the day would have been an understatement. I was so anxious to get the hell out of Caroline Wickburn’s class and see Theo again.I just needed to locate Theo first and I had no idea if his last class had been in the Descendants’ House or the Crescents’ House. But I hurried out of the Crescents’ House, partly because it still gave me a weird, eerie feeling—the type of feeling you got when going to a haunted house. I also figured Theo and I were bound to bump into one another at some point.

That point came as I was about halfway across the campus quad, walking in the direction of my dorm suite.

I saw Theo from behind. We hadn’t known each other for very long, but I would have recognized him anywhere; his dark hair was shorter in the back than it was in the front, and his shoulders were broad as fuck.

“Theo!” I called out to him.

He glanced over his shoulder, and his intense blue eyes locked on mine for a long moment.I continued walking in his direction, and for a few moments, it seemed like he was frozen in place as he stood there waiting for me.

I was surprised to watch him turn away from me then. He moved towards one of the cars that was parked in the teachers’ parking lot. I watched as he climbed into the navy blue sports car and then drove away from me.I watched in disappointment as the car pulled out of the parking lot and through the gate of the school and then off into the distance.

What the hell had just happened?

“Don’t take it personal,” a voice said from behind me.I whirled around to find Rhys standing there, a sympathetic look in his eyes. “Theo just does this sometimes.”

“Does what?” I questioned.

Rhys hesitated, seeming to choose his words carefully. “When things are going in the right direction, he runs. He sabotages his own happiness.”

I stared in the direction Theo had drove off in. “Where is he running to?”

“I don’t know.”

“Will he be back?” I swallowed hard, considering the possibility that he wouldn’t be. The idea of being away from him for too long… Well, it made my heart hurt a little.

“He’s got to be. He’s under contract to teach for a year. The last thing he would ever do is upset Headmaster Black.” Rhys’s dark blue eyes slid over to meet mine. “He’ll be back. He’s probably just going somewhere to escape for a little while.”

“Did I cause this?” I asked, considering the possibility that I had.Rhys shook his head and gently touched my shoulder. “No. It’s not you. It’s Theo. Trust me.”

Even as he said the words, though, I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that I actually had somehow caused it.