Page 15 of The First Year Continued (Marked Blood Academy #2)

Odin

Roxy took a shower while I waited for the others. I had no idea where they’d gone to, but they couldn’t exactly answer their cell phones while they were in wolf form. So, I waited.

A lot had happened in their absence. A whole hell of a lot.

“Did you find her?” Sol and Evander rushed down the hallway, seeing me stand outside her room.

“I found her. She’s okay.”

“Tell us everything.” They came in and shut the door behind them.

“I followed a scent trail into the woods way beyond the school’s boundary. A vampire had her. One I’ve never seen before. He spoke very little, but I really didn’t give him a chance to. I attacked and got her away.”

Sol grabbed my arm. “He’s dead? Or dead again? Whatever happens to vampires?” I nodded. I had a hell of a lot more to tell them but for now, my mate was safe. Was she my mate? We had a bond. It was through blood and mating only. No mark. But she was mine. Mark or not.

“How is Roxy? Did he hurt her?” She wasn’t hurt. He did some kind of hypnotizing thing on her. That’s how he got her not to shift or fight him back. She did some, here in the room, but after that, he had her under his spell.”

“I want to see her,” Evander said. “Is she…she’s in the shower?”

I sighed. This was the part where I had to tell them what happened. All of it. They would know sooner or later but even though they were my best friends, what happened between Roxy and me was private.

“She is.” The water shut off in that instant. “And now she’s not. I’ll let her explain the rest.”

“The rest?” Sol stepped to the side to get a better vantage point to the bathroom door.

They said nothing else and asked no more questions until Roxy came out, dressed only in her robe.

Her long hair still dripping from the shower.

“I’m here. I’m okay.” She came over to me and I tucked her under my arm.

The others looked from her to me and back again.

“Did something else happen?” Evander asked. There was a hint of hurt in his tone, and I felt awful, not for having sex with my mate but for the way they were left in the dark. Plus, I was sure Evander had feelings for her the same as me.

Never thought I’d be the first one to get a girl between us.

“You two had better sit down.” They followed her command and sat on her bed, side by side. “The reason Odin was able to find me, we think, was because we are blood-bonded.”

I interrupted, “The scent trail only lasted so long. Then I realized I could sense her another way. It was like she was calling me but without words.”

“But there’s something else.” Couldn’t get anything past Sol.

“Once we got back, we were so relieved and our bond was so strong. We…” Roxy trailed off, but from Sol’s and Evander’s wide eyes and open mouths, they clearly got the gist.

Evander stood and looked Roxy in the eyes. “You’re okay though? The vampire didn’t hurt you.”

“No, Evander. He didn’t hurt me. He didn’t get a chance to.”

“Okay.”

Then he walked out, shoulders slumped. Head down.

Sol was next. He stood up and walked over and placed a kiss on Roxy’s temple. “Good night. I’m glad you two are safe.”

And then he followed Evander’s lead.

This was exactly what I was afraid of.

“Are they angry?” Roxy asked. “You know them better than me.”

I shook my head and wrapped her up in my arms. She was still warm from the shower. “Not angry. No.”

She sighed and leaned her head against my chest. “This is something we need to talk about. With all of us.”

“Okay. Tonight, I think you need some rest.”

“I do. And you do too. Stay with me?”

How could I ever resist my mate? “Always.”

We lay down together and shut off the lights. She was safe here, in my hold.

“Should we report all of this?” I asked. “I think this is what the Tyrol dude was talking about. Reporting vampires. But I don’t think that one was one of us. I’ve never seen him before around school. There’s no way he would pass for a shifter.”

“We should. I don’t want the headmistress or Tyrol to find out any other way. It might look like we were making everything up or covering it up for the vampire. We don’t need anyone thinking we’re involved with vamps. They think we are all vamps anyway.”

“Are we?” I asked, piercing the sweetness between us. “Are we vampires now?”

She sighed. Her sweet breath fanned over my face. “We still shift into wolves. That makes us shifters. You know how witches are human but they have magical powers?”

I nodded.

“Maybe that’s what we are. We’re shifters with a little something special added. Except we weren’t born or gifted with those powers. They were thrust upon us.”

“Maybe so.”

Roxy fell asleep soon after my last words, but I stayed awake, staring into the darkness. Overthinking, of course.

Were we shifters? If they found out Roxy and I exchanged blood, would they kill us? Send us away to be rogue? Hand us over for assassination by the shifter council?

I’d run with her. I’d run with my mate. Hide her. Keep her from harm. Rogue or not, we’d make it.

I also hated that I’d potentially hurt my friends. They cared for Roxy as well.

There were so many facets of our lives in the air, open to interpretation depending on perspective.

Roxy made a noise in her sleep and cuddled in closer. She made it all worth it. My wolf wasn’t happy about not marking her, but he was content with the bond we had even though it was foreign to him. He still recognized it.

Tomorrow, I decided, we would go to the headmaster and tell her everything, come what may.

I’d never been more terrified in my life.