Page 6 of The First Year Continued (Marked Blood Academy #2)

Roxy

I made it through the afternoon classes, barely, but by dinnertime, I just wanted to go back to bed.

Odin had to be even worse, but you’d never know it to see him laughing with a couple of classmates as he came out of his last session of the day.

In fact, his openness and relaxed demeanor were not what anyone who knew him would expect.

Overcompensating much?

I lifted my feet a little higher, using energy I didn’t have to try to catch up with him as he left the people he’d been talking to behind and moved down the hall.

“Roxy?” Desi’s voice caught me and slowed me down again. Not hard, since I had run down on about the fourth step after Odin. “Wait. I need to talk to you.”

“Hi, Desi. Thanks so much for last night.”

She linked her arm with mine. “You’re welcome, but my cooperation comes with a price. I take it you didn’t want me to make myself scarce for a romantic evening with your mates.”

“Mates? I am not mated to them. They’re helping me out with whatever is going on and oh…Desi, it’s so much worse than that.”

“What?” She dragged me toward an outside door. “We need to have this talk in private, I assume.”

“We don’t have time.” I dug my heels in. “I can’t miss dinner again. I’m on thin ice already. The only reason I’m still here is they don’t know… Oh, Desi, it’s all such an insane mess.”

“I know a spot. Come on. We have a half hour, and you can spend it telling your bestie all about it. She led me toward a copse of trees I’d never noticed, or maybe only as background foliage, but in the middle, there was an open space.

“This is private for sure, unless there are ears in the trees.”

“There are not. No ears of any kind. I’ve checked. And with open space all around the trees, there is no way anyone can sneak up on us. Mostly, I just come here for privacy. That’s hard to get in this place.” She released my arm and dropped to sit down.

“No kidding.” I sat cross-legged in front of her. “If I get through the mess I’m in.”

“Okay, tell your bestie all about it. How did you spend the night with the three hottest guys in school who are clearly insane about you and just waiting for the word to mate you, and manage not to have fun.”

“I bit him…Odin. I grew fangs and launched myself at him and drank his blood like your typical vampire.”

I expected her to reel back, to be repulsed, maybe to run, but not Desi. She was made of stronger stuff than that. “Okay, since I just saw him walking down the hallway, you didn’t kill him.”

“No…”

“Or even debilitate him.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” I swallowed, remembering what happened. “But it was close.”

“And the others saved him?” She reached for one of my hands and held it between hers. “Lucky they were there.”

“They weren’t and they didn’t. I stopped.”

Her eyes widened. “You did? Okay, let’s start at the beginning. What made you want to bite him?”

“There was no want or thought. It was like being in a trance. One minute, I was fine and the next, I was drinking his blood.”

“Enjoying it?” No judgment colored her tones. I didn’t think I’d be as calm. No, I absolutely would not be.

“No. It wasn’t like that, but I didn’t think I could stop. And then, I managed. How are you even still sitting here? For all you know, you’ll be my next victim. Oh Goddess, I have victims.” I tried to pull my hand free, but she held tight.

“At best, a victim, and I doubt he considers himself one.” She stroked the back of my hand. “Any idea what brought on this episode?”

I used my free hand to push down my skirt. “Look.”

“Is that…oh, Roxy! When did you get a second bite?” Even if she wasn’t judging me, her voice came out high and tight. “I’ve seen you getting dressed—not that I was staring. I don’t like girls that way.”

“I know.” Sharing a room and a bathroom made it hard not to see each other naked. Also being shifters.

“And that wasn’t there…”

“I don’t suppose you remember last time you saw it not there?” It would help if I knew when I’d been attacked. “Because I have no memory of it happening.”

She tapped her cheek. “I don’t really know because I’m not paying that much attention, but for sure a couple of days ago?” Her jaw dropped. “You got bitten on school grounds. Unless you somehow were outside the walls?”

“Not to my knowledge, but then I can’t imagine when I was approached and bitten on my stomach.” The true horror engulfed me. “What if something else happened? What if they…I’d know if they did worse right? If they r—”

“We are not going there. I have to think if they had, there would be signs of some kind. Let’s deal with what we do know. You have been bitten a second time on school grounds and since your, umm, encounter, so has Odin.”

“A third time for him.”

“What?” She dropped my hand and pulled up her shirt, examining her abdomen. “Was it his stomach too? What if we’re all getting bitten? Does he remember his experience?”

“The one me, yes. The other, no.”

“Oh hell, what are we going to do? There is a vampire among us.” She held my gaze. “And it’s not you.”

“Anyway, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to share the rest of this, but let me tell you where I spent my morning.”