Blood Of The Marked

Could every werewolf smell it? I was pretty sure I did not want the answer to that question. I would have felt way too awkward walking around Werewolf Academy if I knew that everyone could.

“Yes. It’s a werewolf’s instinct.” He shrugged as he climbed out of bed, walking over to the side of the room and pulling his pants on.That’s when I noticed it: on his shoulder blade, he had a tattoo. It was a tribal paw print.

“I didn’t know you had a tattoo,” I said.

“Well, this would be the first time you’ve seen me shirtless.” He turned around and grinned at me. “We actually all have the same tattoo. It’s our pack tattoo.”

“What made you choose a paw print?” I asked with raised eyebrows. “Actually, we didn’t choose it.” He pulled his shirt on and then turned to me. “When you become a part of a pack, you get that pack’s tattoo. And it can be in any location. Mine is on my shoulder blade. Theo’s is on his spine. Colton’s is on his chest. Rhys’s is on his chest, too.”

“Wow. So, you just woke up with it one morning and it was there?” I asked.

“Pretty much. Fate imprints you.” He shrugged. “I guess the design could be worse. The bright side is that I don’t have to see it all the time.”

“I want a tattoo.” I paused. “A real one, though. Not the type determined by fate.”

“Well, you will get the fate kind eventually.” He laughed. “What type of tattoo do you want?”

“A butterfly.”

“Where do you want it?” Aiden asked.

I hesitated for a moment. I’d never given that part much thought. “On my wrist.”

“You should do it.”

“I’ve always been afraid of the pain,” I admitted.

“You’re a werewolf now. I can almost guarantee you that it won’t hurt as much as shifting into your wolf form.”

“Well, that’s true,” I agreed. Shifting was painful as fuck.

“I’m starving. Do you want to go get some breakfast?” Aiden asked. “Sure.” This date was lasting practically forever… and honestly? I was loving every single moment of it.

“I was thinking we could meet up with the rest of the pack,” he told me. “If that’s okay with you.”

“Oh.” Well, as much as I was enjoying my one-on-one time with Aiden, I really was missing the others. Even after how incredible last night had been, my mind was still missing Theo, the same way it always did. “Sounds good.”

—-

About an hour later, we were sitting at a diner with the other Darken members. I was sitting in between Rhys and Aiden, while Colton and Theo were across from me.I couldn’t help but notice that Theo was being… well, strange… with me. He’d barely made eye contact with me since arriving at this diner.

As our waitress brought our food out, I decided it was probably a good thing we were in the werewolf world because this would have been an abnormal amount of food in the human world. There were stacks and stacks of pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, and muffins. It looked like enough food to feed an army, even though there were only five of us.

“So, what did you guys do last night?” Colton’s eyes locked on mine. “Yeah, what did you do?” Theo looked at me for the first time then,his blue eyes piercing straight through mine. I got the impression that he was trying to play it off coolly, even though deep down he was anything but cool about it.

No, I was positive that he was jealous and was trying really hard not to let his jealousy show.

“Aiden took me in your private jet,” I replied, trying to act like it was no big deal.

“Dude, that was my date idea,” Rhys groaned.

“You can still do it, too,” Aiden shrugged as he crunched on his bacon.

“But it won’t be as special. You stole my damn idea.”

“Sorry, bro. I’m sure you’ll come up with something just as good.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know why any of you feel the need to impress me.”

“Really?” Theo asked me, shaking his head. “Yeah, really.”Shaking it again, he slid out of the booth. “I gotta get some fresh air.”

I watched as he walked out of the diner. I glanced over at Rhys. “Can you let me out so I can go after him?”

“Theo is such a party pooper,” he replied with an eye roll, but he let me out of the booth.

Once I was outside, I found Theo standing next to the restaurant. “What is going on with you?” I asked him.He glanced over at me. “What do you mean?”

“You’re acting like a jealous jerk. That’s what this is, isn’t it?

Jealousy?” I swallowed hard, trying to fight back tears. This was only the first time we’d argued, and I already hated arguing with him. “Are you acting this way just because I spent the night with Aiden? If you had wanted to come inside after our date, you should have said something.”

“This has nothing to do with your date with Aiden. Not directly, anyway. Are you really so naïve that you actually believe we don’t have to impress you?” Theo asked.

“Because we do.”

“No, you don’t. I care about you all. I want you all. I don’t need to be impressed.”

Theo shook his head again.

“Why do you keep shaking your damn head at me?” I asked. “Because you’re wrong if you believe any of that is true.”

His eyes locked on mine. “We’re werewolves, Raven. It’s in our nature to end up with our mate. Keyword there? Mate. Not mates.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say,” I replied, shaking my head. “It’s not my fault that I ended up being mated to both you and Aiden.”

“And you’re probably going to be mated to the others, too,” he muttered.

Okay, everyone seemed to think that.

“This arrangement can’t go on forever,” Theo told me. “It’s working right now, for now. But in the end, we’re going to have to figure out a solution.”

“A solution?” I questioned.

“A way for you to not be mated to all of us. A way to break your bond with three of us.

“There’s just one problem.”

“What?”

“You can’t fall in love with all of us, Raven. You can only fall in love with one of us,” Theo said.

“Why?”

“Why? You really just asked that?” He sighed. “If you fall in love with all of us, you’re never going to be able to choose just one of us to keep as your mate. You’re going to want to stay mated to us all.” Theo paused and then glanced over at me. “You’re not already in love with all of us, are you?”

“What? No. Of course not. I barely know you all.” But even as I said the words, I wasn’t entirely sure if I meant them. I cared deeply for all four of the Darken, and I also felt the mate bond with both Aiden and Theo.What if I was already falling in love with them? I knew that I couldn’t let myself.

Because, ultimately, Theo was right—that Vince had been right. This arrangement was fun right now, but it couldn’t last forever.

In the end, there could only be one.