Page 7 of The First Year Continued (Marked Blood Academy #2)

Odin

“Take a walk with me?” I enfolded Roxy’s hand in mine and gave it a tug.

She looked conflicted. I hated that for her. “I don’t know.”

Sol and Evander exchanged a glance.

“It’s okay.” Evander reached out and touched her shoulder. It was strange. Them touching her never bothered me. Now, the thought of another male touching her made my wolf want to growl, but my friends? Nothing. They would never hurt her.

My friends would never hurt my mate.

“What if something happens?” she asked, tearing up. It broke my heart.

“Do you feel out of control?” I asked. “Are you in pain or anything?”

She shook her head.

“Then I trust you. Come on.” The word mate was on my tongue, but I dared not speak it.

We weren’t allowed to mate or have a mate at the academy.

It was forbidden. Their reasons were stupid and cruel, but while I didn’t care about getting in trouble myself, I cared about her getting in trouble. I cared about her above myself.

“Okay.”

There were some students and staff up ahead, so I released her hand. There were no rules about hand-holding, but I didn’t want to bring any more attention to Roxy other than the attention she already got.

All the males looked at her. She was stunning. I didn’t blame them. The females were upset at her. They made comments in passing and right to our faces about how we’d never spent time around females before.

What they didn’t know was that I would never spend time around a female again, none but her.

Maybe Desi if she was around. She was a good friend to my mate.

“Are you okay?” I asked when we rounded a corner and were finally in a private-ish spot. We sat on a concrete bench. She sat close to me. So close, our thighs were touching.

“I don’t know.” Roxy shrugged and tucked some errant hair behind her ear. The evening was getting chilly. The seasons were changing. I could smell autumn creeping in. The leaves were ready to turn. The trees settling in for the time of rest.

Roxy shuddered as a wind blew through the alcove we’d found. Instinctively, I put my arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “If you’re cold, we can go inside.”

“No. I like it here. It’s quiet and…unless you don’t want to be alone with me. It’s getting dark.”

The oranges and pinks of the sun setting could be seen over the trees, but that was the only indication of sunset. I hoped that one day, I could take Roxy somewhere where we could see the sunset. Watch it together. Be at peace. Right now, that dream felt unattainable.

“I’m not afraid of you,” I whispered in her ear.

“I gave you every reason to be.”

“Did you want to bite me? Did you wish for it and make it happen? Were you conscious of that choice?” I asked, already knowing the answer. My mate wouldn’t ever hurt me on purpose. She was out of her mind. Something about her bites affected her in a way our bites hadn’t.

“Of course not. I would never hurt you. It’s all a blur. It was like someone else was in my body. I wasn’t in control of myself. I’m scared every minute it will happen again.”

“It won’t. And if it does, we’ll deal with it.”

My wolf howled inside me as Roxy leaned her head on my shoulder. “Thank you. You three could’ve turned me in but you didn’t.”

“We care about you, Roxy. All of us do. But me the most.”

She giggled and I wallowed in the sound. We had very few moments of happiness in this place and since the wars, so every laugh was precious. Every smile. “Of course you the most.”

We sat there for a while, a comfortable silence between us.

She snuggled into my hold deeper and deeper until we were tangled in each other’s embrace while the world changed from day to night around us.

Surprisingly, no one came around. I could hear students and other people moving around, talking, making noise, but no one bothered us.

I wished we could stay like that forever.

“Do you want to go inside? It’s getting cold and today has been a doozy.”

She laughed. “It really has been a day. Can we stay here a bit longer? It’s peaceful.”

“We can do whatever you want to, sweetheart.” The word poured out of my mouth effortlessly.

“What did you just say?” She turned, breaking our bubble.

“It just slipped out.” I cupped her face with my hands. “But I mean it. You’re my sweetheart.”

Her cheeks immediately turned red. Goddess, she was gorgeous in this moment. My mate was beautiful all the time, but right now? I’d surely been blessed with her. “Odin, after what I did to you…”

“Hey, I’m trying to have a moment here. Forget about what happened, okay? It doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”

She cocked her head and pressed farther into my palm. “How do you feel about me, Odin?”

Every time she said my name, my wolf wanted to claim her right then and there. This wasn’t fair. None of it was. Us being forced to be here. Her being bitten. All of us being bitten.

We deserved to have a life, not just survive.

“I feel like I want to kiss you, female.”

“I feel like I want you to kiss me too.”

My heartbeat throbbed between my temples. It was so loud and powerful. My wolf whined inside me.

I moved my face toward hers, slowly, in case she changed her mind. “Are you sure?” I breathed.

She didn’t answer with words. Instead, Roxy wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned forward. Her scent intensified. I was surrounded by her smell. Fire, rain, the wind before a winter storm, leaves. None of the elements were left out.

And then her lips were on mine. I sank into her embrace. At first, the kiss was sweet, chaste, almost. Her lips were soft, softer than anything I could’ve imagined. Her silken lips opened and I gasped as her tongue licked my bottom lip.

I opened my own mouth, and we turned our heads, deepening our kiss as though we’d been doing it for years.

My hands reached into her jacket and I pulled her closer.

Her body was so warm, so damned inviting.

If we weren’t here. If we weren’t under the supervision of this place, I would’ve invited her to my room. Out for a date.

To be my mate.

She let out a little whimper as our tongues met, and it was the end of me. My cock strained, punching against the restraint of my pants. Her legs scissored against themselves and me.

I’d never wanted anyone as much as I wanted Roxy in that moment.

A sound from behind Roxy made me pull away from the kiss. The bushes behind her moved. Not a shake from the wind or a branch falling on them.

Someone was in there.

“Get behind me,” I said, putting my body between her and the bush. Everything went still for a second. The bush. The wind. The sounds around us. The night became immobile. Ringing began in my ears, and my wolf snarled and snapped his teeth, wanting out. There was someone in the bush.

Someone near my mate.

And they didn’t smell like anyone I knew.

“What is it?” Roxy whispered from behind me. She clutched my shirt in her fists. Her body pressed against my back.

“I don’t…”

A figure darted from the bushes and to my right.

It was so fast. Faster than a shifter moved.

I watched for a few seconds as the shadowy person or thing ran a distance and then stopped.

I could see it a bit more now. It had a body.

A shape like a human or an unfazed shifter.

It was on two legs. Even though it shot out of the bushes and ran, it wasn’t breathing hard.

Could this be the vampire Tyrol wanted us to look for? Either way, my wolf immediately thought this person was danger. Danger to me. To the students. But most importantly, to my mate.

“What should we do?” Roxy asked.

I didn’t think about the answer. Didn’t hesitate. If this was a vampire on our academy ground, there was only one thing to do. I’d killed vampires before. This one wasn’t getting away.