Blood Of The Marked

I tried not to think about all of the worst-case scenarios and just focus on my classes, but that was a lot easier said than done. It didn’t even make sense how I could have been so hung up over a guy who I had kissed twice. I felt pathetic, but at the same time, I missed him like crazy.

I missed all of them. But I tried not to let my feelings show.

Iris, Vince, and I fell into a comfortable routine of eating all of our meals together. Somehow, Iris convinced both me and Vince to join the Track and Field team. So, when we weren’t at class or hanging out in my private dorm suite, we were usually running the track.I couldn’t get over my running time now that I was a wolf. Back in the human world when we had to run track during gym class, it took me ten or eleven minutes to run a mile. Now, it only took me about three and a half minutes, and I was growing faster every day.

The truth was that, for the first time in my life, I actually kind of liked running. It was the only time I was able to clear my head and really take my mind off of everything: my parents’ deaths, Milos, and Theo and the Darken. It was my only real escape from reality.When Iris, Vince, and I weren’t at Track and Field practice, we hung out together after school. Usually, the two of them would come over to my place, since I had such a big dorm room. They spent the night a lot, which made me feel better. On nights when I was alone, I worried about the possibility of Milos figuring out where I was. I even had nightmares about it sometimes.

Even though it was nice to have Iris and Vince as friends, they didn’t fill the void I still felt for Maddie. I knew that at some point I was going to need to make an effort to get in touch with her and Uncle Ryan to let them know I was okay. I was sure they were both probably worried sick about me. They had probably assumed that I’d either run away or that something bad had happened to me. Either way, I wanted them both to know that I was safe—I just wasn’t sure how to do that without letting them know the truth about where I was or about the whole werewolf thing.

I assumed that Uncle Ryan must have known about my parents and that he might have even been a wolf himself, but I couldn’t have been certain.The only ones who would have probably known were the Darken, but I didn’t want to be the first one to break the ice between us.

—-

During the second week of November, I watched, from the corner of my eye, as Colton walked over to me during Weaponry class.

I didn’t pay him any attention. I was focused on my target. I was aiming for the human-shaped target, which I pictured to be Milos.I didn’t actually know what Milos really looked like, but I had conjured an image in my mind that I saw often: a guy with dark hair, a large nose, and wideset black eyes. For all I knew, Milos may have been blonde and blue-eyed, but it didn’t matter. This was what I pictured any time I thought of him. It helped me to stay focused by picturing something, even if it was an inaccurate representation of him.

Most of all, what I saw was pure evil. And I wanted nothing more than to kill him.I narrowed in on the target’s heart.

The one thing I had learned in Weaponry class was that there were two ways to kill a wolf.

The first was silver, straight through the heart. The other was fire, obviously.

Well, kill my family with fire and you were going to get that silver right through your heart.

Drawing my bow back, I released it. I watched as the arrow whooshed across the room before sailing straight into the target’s heart.

“Wow, that was incredible.” Colton was standing next to me then. “Great job, Raven.”

“Thanks.” I grinned. I was actually proud of myself. I hoped that I would actually hit Milos that way—the real Milos, not the target Milos.

“So, you have a birthday coming up,” Colton said. “Tomorrow?”

My eyebrows rose. “How do you know my birthday?”

“It’s in your student file,” he explained. “So, we were wondering if you wanted to come over to our house tomorrow. We’d like to throw you a little party.”I hesitated for a moment before asking. “Who do you mean by ’we’?”

“The whole pack,” Colton replied. “Even Theo?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, it was actually his idea.”

“Really? Sorry, but I find that really hard to believe. He was the first one to stop talking to me, and now suddenly he wants to throw me a birthday party?” I found myself saying.

“And we have all been feeling really crappy about the way things have transpired,” Colton said, his gray eyes taking on what appeared to be a genuinely sad look. “Please just come to the party tomorrow night so we can explain things.”

I hesitated. “It’s my birthday. I already made plans with Iris and Vince. I can’t just ditch them.”

“Then bring them along,” Colton said. He reached out and grabbed my hand in his. Something about his touch and the look in his eyes had the butterflies swirling around inside my stomach…I glanced around. There were other students around, though they were all in their booths, not paying any attention to us.

“Please, Raven?” Colton pressed.

“Tomorrow night at eight.”

I rolled my eyes, trying to suppress my smile. “Fine. I’ll ask Iris and Vince if they want to come, and as long as they’re willing, we’ll be there.”

Even though a small part of me wanted to talk my friends out of saying yes so that I would have an excuse, the truth was that I was secretly dying to be around the Darken again.I was also curious to know what they were planning to explain. It wouldn’t change the fact that they had gone completely M.I.A. from my life, but at least I would know the reason why.