Blood Of The Marked

When I opened my eyes, I found that I was laying on a couch. I was still wearing the black bikini, and there was a white fluffy towel tucked underneath of me.

What the hell had just happened?

I sat up, glancing around. Theo was kneeling on the marble floor next to me. Colton was sitting in an armchair. Aiden and Rhys were just standing there, arms folded across their chests, as they peered down at me.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re alright,” Iris said as I glanced over in her and Vince’s direction.

“We were so worried about you,” Vince added. “W-what happened?” I managed to ask.

The last thing I remembered was kissing Aiden, getting caught by Theo, climbing out of the pool, and then passing out as I had tried to go after him.

“We think it might have just been too hot in the pool for you,” Theo explained. “You were probably dehydrated. Here, drink up.”He handed me a glass of water.

“Thank you.” I took it from him and brought it to my lips. All I could wonder was why he was being so nice to me after he had just caught me kissing Aiden.Not that I really owed Theo anything. After all, we had made out in my kitchen and then he had gone over a month without even talking to me. But it had me feel sort of guilty to know that while he was out getting my birthday cake, I had been kissing his… well, basically his brother.

“How are you feeling now, Raven?” Rhys asked me. I considered it for a moment. “I actually feel fine.” “You’re not dizzy or anything?” Theo asked.

I shook my head. “No. I feel okay.”

“Then the party must go on,” Colton said. “Are you ready to have birthday cake?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, let’s head into the kitchen then.”

I rose to my feet and then glanced down at the bikini I was wearing. It made me feel sort of naked. I thought about changing back into my clothes because I felt awkward, but honestly? They’d all seen me wearing it now already, anyway.Once the Darken pack had slipped into the kitchen, Iris grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “You really feel okay?”

I nodded.

She glanced around to make sure no one was listening to us before saying, “You should have seen how Theo took care of when you passed out, Raven. He came running outside and swooped you up like he was Prince Charming or something and brought you onto the sofa. He seemed so worried about you.”

“Wow.” I thought about it. I wondered if that was how it had happened when I had fainted back in the human world at Branden Mitchell’s party.Why did I keep fainting lately? I had never fainted before in my life until that party.

I wondered if this had something to do with being a werewolf. It was sort of strange how it kept happening whenever I was around the Darken, too.A thought occurred to me then.The first time I had fainted, I’d kissed Theo. This time I’d fainted, it had been after kissing Aiden.

Was it possible that kissing them sent my heart into overdrive or something, causing me to faint? Or was it merely a coincidence?

Pushing the thought to the back of my mind, Iris and I followed the others into the kitchen. They had already lit the candles on the huge turquoise cake with yellow sprinkles. How had the Darken known my favorite color combination?

“Happy birthday to you,” they all began to sing in sync. “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Raven. Happy birthday to you.”

“Make a wish,” Vince said.

I hesitated for a moment. What did I wish for?I racked my mind for a moment until I settled on something.I wish to avenge my parents’ murders.I managed to blow out all of the candles out in just one attempt.

“Yay, your wish is going to come true,” Iris said.I’d never been that superstitious, but honestly? I was a werewolf now.

Clearly, anything was possible.

—-

As we were watching a movie in the Darken’s movie theater room, Iris yawned loudly. “I am so ready for bed. I don’t know why I’m exhausted. What was in that cake?”

“I’m actually pretty tired, too.” Vince glanced over at me. “How about you Raven? Are you ready to call it a night?”

“Um, I actually feel fine,” I admitted. In fact, if anything, I actually felt more energized since I had passed out, if that was at all possible. “But if you guys are that tired, you should probably head back to your dorms.”

“Okay.” Iris rose to her feet.

“Do you want one of us to drive you there?” Colton asked her.

“No, we can walk, but thank you.” She hesitated. “You’ll make sure that Raven gets back to her dorm okay, though?”

“Yeah, of course we will,” Rhys promised.

“Okay.” Iris gave me a loose hug. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” “Goodnight,” Vince said as he came in for a hug, too.

A moment later, they were gone.I turned to the Darken. “So, now what?” “Now, we tell you the truth,” Theo said.

The truth. It sounded so serious—so consequential. “The truth about what?” I questioned.

“The truth about why we’ve pretty much been M.I.A. up until now,” he explained.

Finally. I was about to get the answer that I’d been wondering about for more than a month now.

“The reason we haven’t spoken much is because we’ve been trying to figure things out for ourselves,” Theo began to explain.

“We’ve been trying to make sense of everything.” His light blue eyes locked on mine. “I’m not quite sure how to tell you this, Raven.”

“Just tell me,” I insisted.

“You’re not just an average werewolf,” he began. “You’re a lot more extraordinary—a lot more powerful.”

“You’re not telling me anything new, Theo. You already told me my parents were really powerful,” I pointed out.

“You are far more powerful than even them.” He paused. “We’ve all been watching you, Raven. Your abilities are… well, they’re extraordinary.”

“I don’t know about that.” I found myself growing frustrated.

What did these alleged abilities have anything to do with why they’d been avoiding for more than a month? I wished he would just get to the damn point already.

“Did you see the way you shot that bow and arrow in Weaponry class yesterday?” Colton asked me. “You are absolutely excelling with every single weapon you’ve tried so far. None of my other students even come close to how on point you are with all of these weapons.”

“Most of your students probably don’t have as much anger and rage as I do.They don’t have the desire to avenge their parents’ deaths,” I pointed out.

“It’s not only that. Professor Lee told me that you’re excelling in Lunar Magic 101 to the point that it’s freaking her out a little bit,” Theo said.I just stared back at him.

“Freaking her out? Why?”

“Your magic seems to know no bounds. It’s far stronger than most werewolves’—modern day werewolves’, anyway.”

I frowned. “What exactly are you saying?”

“We don’t think you actually are a modern wolf, Raven.” His blue eyes locked on mine. “We believe you’re one of the Ancients, just like us.”