Blood Of The Marked

On Monday, it felt like everything was back to normal again with the Darken. They stopped acting like I didn’t exist, and instead gave me tons of attention.I felt so relieved. That, in itself, had been the best birthday gift (or fake birthday gift) ever.

The last thing I needed to worry about was whether they were mad at me, on top of everything that I had just learned about myself and my parents.The one thing that had changed? I felt like I was in constant need of both Aiden and Theo. Every moment that I wasn’t with them, my body just missed them.

The only good thing about all of this was that I least understood the reason why. I no longer had to feel like a weak, pathetic girl who was longing after a guy who she hadn’t known for very long. I was longing after both of them because we were connected in a way that could never be undone; our souls were permanently bound together. And I knew that they were longing for me, too.

I sometimes heard girls in my classes talking about how badly they wanted to find their mates. It boggled my mind that girls actually wanted this. The truth was that, as attracted as I was to both Theo and Aiden, life had been so much easier before these withdrawals became a part of my daily life but at the same time, my life would have ben so lonely without having the Darken around.

I wasn’t sure what I would do if Vince was right. If I ended up mating with all of the Darken, life would be even more complicated. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle it physical or emotionally, but honestly?

There was no turning back now. I had agreed to be with all of the Darken, and that was what I really wanted.

——

On Friday morning, Iris and I headed for the track before classes started. We’d done this every morning for the past couple of weeks. Today, she hadn’t drank enough caffeine to wake up yet, so she was sitting on the sideline while I ran the mile.I had really been working on my running times. I had gotten the amount of time I could run a mile in down to two minutes and thirty-seven seconds.I was determined to become the fastest wolf on the team.

There was only one other wolf faster than me: Stella Knight, who was able to run two minutes and fifteen seconds. I always felt like she was gloating whenever she beat my running time. That was why I was so determined to get faster.

“Hey, Raven!” I heard a voice call out from behind me.I glanced over my shoulder to find Aiden running in my direction.

Ugh.

Of all times for him to try to talk to me. We had class together in less than a half hour. Whatever he had to say could have waited until then.

I didn’t slow down. I wasn’t about to let him interfere with my running time.

Must beat Stella, I reminded myself.

He caught up to me fairly quickly. There was no doubt that the Darken were fast—as fast as me, for sure. I knew that was probably because we were all Ancients. I just wasn’t sure why Stella was so much faster than me when she wasn’t.

Well, she was technically only twenty-two seconds faster than me, but still. Girl was pretty damn fast for not being an Ancient.

“You look nice this morning,” Aiden said, his honey brown eyes meeting mine.

“Thank you. Why are you buttering me up?” I questioned.

“Well, I just wanted to see if you wanted tonight to be our night,” Aiden said.

“Our night?” I eyed him curiously. “Yeah, our date night.”

“Oh.” Duh. I probably should have figured that out on my own. “Okay. Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” he replied.

I rolled my eyes. “You Darken and your surprises.”Aiden grinned at me. “I’ll pick you up at your place at seven o’clock.” Then, without saying another word, he ran ahead of me, towards the school.

I tried not to smile too hard. I had a date with Aiden. My mate.Somehow, that was enough to give me what I needed to move faster. In fact, just talking to him made it feel like my legs were moving entirely on their own. It felt like I was flying.

As I finished my last circle around the track, fully completing the mile, Iris announced my running time, the same way she always did. “Two minutes and fourteen seconds!”

“Yes!” I shouted, jumping up and down with excitement.I had finally beat Stella’s time—and it was all thanks to Aiden. It was like the Darken were my good luck charms.