Page 10 of The First Year

I headed to the dining room as fast as my legs would take me. I didn’t want to tip off Mrs. Adams nor my roommates. Once I entered, I got my tray and sat at our table, trying to look innocent and calm. I’d gotten better at that over time. Not a good thing but not a bad thing either.

“All right. Where is she?” The withdrawal of information slid off my tongue. A misdirecting and masking question, indeed. I knew where Roxy was. We didn’t get many new students here at Marked Blood, but even if we did, the raven-haired beauty would stand out amongst them all.

“She’s over there. Odin has already spoken to her.”

“Again?” I asked.

“Yes, again. She didn’t know which line to get into.” Odin defended himself. He usually didn’t. He let us pick at him liberally without batting an eye.

We meant it all in love and jest, of course. He was our friend.

Roxy sat with another girl. I thought she was called Desi, but I had a hard time with names. She faced me and, despite the reddened bite on her neck and the lightning burn scar on her temple, she was beautiful. So beautiful that seeing her struck me dead in the chest, causing my regular breaths to become a bit shallow.

“What else do you know about her, Odin?” Evander asked. He leaned back in his seat. He wasn’t the nonchalant type when it came to females. He flirted openly and shamelessly. When a female was being watched by Evander, she knew. Everyone knew.

“She’s from Urban Academy. She was about to finish up her second year. They gave her mostly third-year classes, but she has some second-year classes as well. Ones she didn’t get to finish, I assume.”

He would be right but I kept that information to myself. They didn’t need to know about my snooping, especially since I found nothing criminal—not even anything interesting, really.

“I know some things,” Evander offered.

“Like what?” I asked. “Have you even talked to her?”

His black eyes flicked to me. “No. You don’t have to speak to someone in order to know them. There are some things you can decipher without words.”

“Go on, then.”

He sat up. Instinctively, we huddled closer. “She’s beautiful. No doubt about that. She keeps her palm over her bite even though we all have one. Her hair covers that pigmentation over her temple, but I’ve seen that kind before—that’s the imprint of a powerful vampire. She’s paying attention to what Desi is saying, but her gaze keeps darting around the place. She’s scoping the exits, looking for danger. Must be fresh off the battlefield.”

“Her eyes are beautiful, too.” Odin had it bad. Too bad mating and dating and fucking were forbidden in this place. The only thing Marked Blood wanted to control more than those shifters who had been bitten by a vampire was those same shifters breeding.

Or loving.

Or having any kind of fun or entertainment whatsoever.

And I was right. Roxy’s new friend was named Desi.

“Looks like even Sol likes what he sees.” Odin kicked me under the table.

I sighed. I’d been caught ogling her. Every male in the room was. She drew us all in like a giant magnet.

We had to stay away from her. Specifically me. I had to graduate from this place, prove myself not some vampiresque creature, and regain my father’s good will, so I could take up the alpha position was born for. I wouldn’t let anyone stand in my way.

Not even the most stunning woman I’d seen in my lifetime.

Chapter Eight

Roxy

I felt their eyes on me. Sure, I was a new student and everyone would be curious—they couldn’t help themselves. I would’ve been the same.

The eyes I spoke of belonged to the three guys sitting at the table. One of them was Odin and, despite my thinking I offended him earlier, he’d helped me find my line and given me a heads-up about the assigned seating. I really should’ve read the conduct book instead of taking a nap.

“What do you mean they lock you in at night?” I asked in a hushed tone. I’d garnered enough attention, somehow, without speaking loudly.

“You didn’t check out your doors?” Desi asked and bussed her own tray, putting the silverware along the correct divot and all the trash into a container. I did the same.

“I came in, got the tour, checked out the uniforms, and took a long nap.”

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