Marked Book 2

***

I was jogging along the forest line.

It had become my new favorite thing to do since New Year’s Eve.

Not because of some ridiculous resolution like the things most people usually promise themselves at the beginning of every year and then drop a few weeks later.

No. I was out here to clear my mind. To stop thinking.

That was all I did at home. Ever since that night when Shay had pinned me down and bitten me.

Every time I gave myself the courtesy of relaxing, I saw his eyes. The way they had changed after spotting the black mark on the back of my shoulder. After realizing that it was from Cassandra’s knife.

Something I could only have received if I had been associated with her, which had been against everything Shay had made me promise.

I couldn’t look in the mirror without being reminded of his touch. How his lips had traveled across my body and stopped by my neck. The four perfectly symmetric puncture wounds were a symbol of that.

His mark.

I had hoped that it would’ve disappeared by now like most of my wounds. But like the black mark, it had healed but left a scar. Four skin-colored dots on my neck.

He had referred to what he had called the Mating Season and warned me that I would become unable to resist him. That it was inevitable.

After Shay had left me in the forest, I had run all the way home with piles of questions at the surface of my mind. I was conflicted. Angry and petrified at the same time.

What was Mating Season? Why had Shay bitten me?

All I had longed for was to drag my mom with me outside and demand answers to my questions. But as I had approached the house, my courage had seemed to fade completely.

Everly and her parents had still been inside. They had been celebrating the New Year and were waiting for me to return.

But I hadn’t been able to make myself barge in there and destroy the cheerful atmosphere.

I had been standing by the front door for half an hour before I decided to go back for my clothes. Afterward, I hadn’t felt like confronting anyone and had snuck inside through the window to my room.

Since then, I had been out for a jog almost every day. Always hoping that I would gain enough courage to break the question to my mom like I had that night.

I ran until I felt valiant. Until I felt ready to ask her and to let go of the uncertainty that bothered me.

I reached the front door and inhaled before I entered.

I had done this so many times already, and it always ended the same way.

I was feeling ready to get answers, but as soon as I entered the house, I was overwhelmed with doubt and abandoned my intentions.

The same thing happened today, and I cursed myself for it. I wouldn’t have another chance. It had to be today.

It was Sunday, and Christmas break was over. School started tomorrow.

I hadn’t seen Archer for the past week. He had been hunting with his father, who had returned from Europe. Whom I had yet to meet.

Not only that. The founder of Chasseur de Loups had also returned to the house of the Marquardts, which meant that he would be there the next time I visited them.

The thought alone petrified me.

Archer had insisted that I needed to meet him, but I had been hesitant. Archer didn’t know my real history. None of his family did.

The founder was still alive because of magic, and I couldn’t help but wonder what else he was capable of. What other powers the witch had given him?

If he would be able to see through me. If he would know that I was a Loucrious right away. And how Archer would react when he found out that I had been lying to his face the entire time?

The questions were endless. That was why I needed to run.

Everly had been skiing with her family and would return tonight. But I wasn’t going to be able to see her before tomorrow.

I had done my best to avoid Shay by staying inside and turning down every single one of my mom’s suggestions of activities.

But tomorrow… Shay wasn’t a student anymore, but he liked to hang around. Making sure that the young wolves behaved properly.

I didn’t know how I could face him without having just one answer to my many questions.

I would have preferred to have discussed these things with Everly, but my mother would have to do for now. I couldn’t tell her everything, but she could give me the answers I needed.

My mind was eagerly going through multiple ways to break the question.

I didn’t know what Mating Season exactly meant for me, but I had ideas, and I didn’t like them. I was deeply hoping that my mother would invalidate them, but I was fearing the worst.

I felt a knot in my stomach. It was begging me to recess, but I couldn’t let the fear defeat me today.

I needed to know what would happen to me in a few months. I needed to know what I was going to fight.

I jumped up and down, trying to shake the feeling, but it didn’t help.

“Are you okay, honey?” my mom shouted from somewhere in the house.

I had been standing in the hallway for quite a while now. “Yeah,” I lied. “I’m just stretching.”

Today was the last chance I had. I couldn’t stall it anymore. “I need to know… For my own safety,” I told myself.

Finally, I took a deep breath and continued inside. I was close to convincing myself to take a shower first, but that would only have made it worse. It was now or never.

“Mom? I need to ask you something…”