Blood Of The Marked

The Dark Woods were located about two miles away from the Academy’s campus, and they were exactly as I had imagined them to be: dark and eerie.I was so relieved that the entire Darken pack was lurking nearby, or else I probably would have ended up backing out of meeting

Jessica and the other She-Wolves here.

I wasn’t sure why she had even chosen to meet me here, of all places. We could have met in one of our dorm rooms or pretty much anywhere else at Werewolf Academy, but for some reason, she had chosen here.It was so private—so secluded.I just kept thinking that the reason Jessica had chosen this location was because she planned to murder me if I didn’t agree to their join their pack.

I knew I was majorly jumping to conclusions. Just because Jessica was Milos’s daughter didn’t mean she was bad, too.Then again, it was hard to imagine Milos’s daughter being good.I tried to push all of the negative thoughts out of my mind. Theo and Aiden were probably going crazy right now listening to how fast my heartbeat was.I stood next to a boulder where Jessica had told me to meet her. But she wasn’t here yet.

What if she was going to be the no-show?

No, I highly doubted that. She was too desperate for me to join the She-Wolves to be a no-show.I waited for about five minutes when I heard the sound of multiple pairs of shoes over the old, dried up leaves.A moment later, four bodies emerged.

“Hello, Raven,” Jessica said. “Thank you for agreeing to meet us here.” Her face appeared under the dim lighting of the moon. “Let’s get right down to business. If you agree to join our pack, we will tell you where Milos is.”

“Before I decide to join, I have questions,” I told her. “Okay, ask away,” Jessica replied.

“If Milos is your father, why would you be so willing to tell me his location?” I asked.

“Why don’t you want to protect him?”

“A better name for him would probably be Sperm Donor,” Jessica replied. “He hasn’t actively been involved in my life, but he always writes my mother letters trying to win her back. I don’t have a need to protect someone who hasn’t actively been involved in my life. And I know you want this information. I’m willing to offer it to you as a bargaining tool.”

Well, at least she was being honest about the reason she was willing to give it to me—that it was really a bargaining tool more than anything else.

“If I join your pack, will you help me take him down?” I asked her. “No,” she said flatly.

“Why? I mean, isn’t that what pack members do for one another?Help them out in their times of need?” I questioned.

“I told you I am willing to give you my father’s location. But killing him isn’t a part of the deal.”

“You just said he wasn’t really a father to you—just a sperm donor. Which is it?”

I found myself asking, unable to ignore the obvious. And the obvious was that she seemed to be protecting him… sort of. She was willing to give up his location, but she wasn’t willing to be involved in helping me get my revenge… even if we were pack members.Something about it wasn’t exactly adding up for me. She was supposed to have my back in that scenario.

“My mother is still in love with him. I would never be the one to break her heart,” Jessica replied. “If you want to kill him, then kill him. But I want no part in it.”

I thought about it for a moment. “How do I know that the location you give me is his real location? How do I know you won’t be lying to me?”Jessica’s dark eyes met mine. “I guess you’ll just have to trust me.” She paused. “So, are you done asking questions, Raven?”

“Um…” I knew I had more questions—questions that just didn’t seem to be coming to me at the moment.

“Are you ready to join the She-Wolves or not?” Jessica pressed. “I want Milos’s location before I join,” I said firmly.

“Not a chance in hell. When you join, you can have the location,” she replied.

“How do I know you’ll stay true to your word?” I questioned. “Again, you’re just going to have to trust me.” Her eyes locked on mine. “So that brings us to an important question. Do you trust me, Raven? Enough to join my pack?”

I just stared back at her for a long moment, and for some reason, I saw Milos’s face. The Milos I had been picturing in my mind since my parents had died.In my mind, his black eyes locked on mine. His thin lips twisted upwards into a devilish grin.A voice entered my mind then, a voice that I had never heard before. “My daughter is the furthest thing from trustworthy.”

As Milos’s image faded from my mind, it almost felt like it had been ripped away from me; his image had been replaced by a headache.Whether it had really been him talking to me or a complete figment of my imagination, I somehow had the answer that I needed—the answer that I had known, deep down, all along.

“I don’t trust you,” I told Jessica. “Sorry. I do not want to join the She-Wolves.”

“But without me, you will never have my father’s location,” Jessica protested.

“I don’t care. I’d rather spend years trying to find him than join your pack.”

“You do realize what an incredible honor it is to be asked to join the She-Wolves… don’t you?” Jessica asked.

“I’m aware. And I’m thankful for the opportunity,” I told her. “I’m sorry that your pack isn’t a good fit for me.”Jessica’s eyes narrowed in on mine. Even through the darkness, I could see the anger that flashed within them.

“No one has ever said no to joining our pack,” she growled. “Yeah, no one,” Crystal agreed, also growling out the words.

Before I knew it, all four girls, three of which had been quiet until now, were growling at me.

“We know what’s going on between you and the Darken,” Jessica informed me.

“We will use it against you. We will go to the Headmaster. Students and professor relationships are frowned upon, but one student with four professors? Headmaster Black will have a field day with this one.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I replied.

“You’re right. We won’t… if you join our pack,” Jessica replied.

I thought about it for a moment. The last thing I wanted was for the Darken or myself to get into any sort of trouble.But there was one thing I wanted even less than that—and that was to be tied to the She-Wolves forever.I had learned enough about packs in my classes to understand that you couldn’t just join one and leave one. You had to go through this whole ritual in order to join and a second ritual in order to leave. And even then, the entire pack had to agree that they wanted to let the member leave.

I could already tell that Jessica would have never agreed to let me leave if I did join.No, if I agreed to join the She-Wolves, it would have been a permanent decision. And that was the absolute last thing I wanted.

“No. I’m not joining your pack,” I said firmly. “That’s my final answer.”

Jessica growled then. “Wrong answer.”

Before I even knew what was happening, she had shifted into a black wolf. The other three girls followed suit, shifting into gray wolves.I was surprised by the color of Jessica’s fur when she was in wolf form. She was black in color, but Theo had told me he and the Darken pack were the darkest wolves there were. Apparently, she was the exception.The eerie part was that the color of her fur matched her eyes.

This was the first time I had ever noticed that quality in a wolf before. It made wonder what was so different about her.I supposed that I probably should have known. She was Milos Santorini’s daughter. Her fur—and probably her heart were darker than all of the rest.Before I even had the change to shift into my own wolf form, I was being cornered by all four of them.