by C. R. Jane
I nod, thinking that with my limited medical knowledge...I guess that makes sense.
She hustles to the back and I stand up to go change behind the curtain. I look back at Nyx and see that his eyes are glued to my ass. Because of course I forgot to keep my gown closed when I stood up after all the weirdness that just happened.
I stand there frozen for some reason, not rushing to close up my gown and he doesn’t take his eyes off of me. Heat flickers all over my skin and suddenly I’m tempted to just change back into my clothes right here.
There’s the sound of glass clinking from the back room and I shake my head, bringing my lecherous body back to reality. Blushing profusely, I lock eyes with Nyx for half a second before I practically run behind the curtain and quickly get dressed.
I can barely look at Nyx when I come out. Luckily, the nurse comes back in just a few minutes dispelling the tension in the air...sexual tension obviously.
The nurse, who I probably should have asked what her name is by this point, has a strange look on her face that she’s struggling to hide. She goes back and forth between excitement and confusion.
It makes me nervous.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
She gives me a fake grin. “Yep, you’re all clean,” she says, with a pointed look at Nyx. I gasp in horror when I realize that one of her tests was for stds obviously. I could have done without that being announced to a boy that I’ve somehow become interested in today. She continues not realizing how much she just embarrassed me. “You’re a little bit anemic so you should try and incorporate a little more iron into your diet,” she says. She looks down the list that she has printed out. “Oh, and you probably already know this, but you’re O negative. You’re the blood donor that everyone wants,” she says with a wink.
It takes me a moment, but the O negative blood type finally clicks in my brain. “I’m sorry, are you sure about that? I don’t think there’s any way that I’m O negative.”
She gets an offended look on her face. “I assure you Adeline that I’m quite good at my job,” she says in a miffed tone. “I don’t make mistakes. Especially when it comes to blood,” she says with a sideways look at Nyx who isn’t paying attention to her.
My hands start to tremble, and I grab the side of my skirt to try and control them.
Nyx stands up and walks over to me looking concerned. “Adeline?” he asks.
“My parents are B and AB positive,” I say softly. “I know that for sure because of all the hospital treatments and my mom wanting to see if she could be a donor for him for things.”
It feels like the world is closing in on me. I look at the nurse who has lost the mean girl look and is now watching me sympathetically. “B and AB positive can’t make an O negative...can they?” I ask her, begging for her to tell me that I’m wrong.
“No, that’s impossible,” she says in a gentle voice.
I look at Nyx, tears pooling in my eyes. “That means my parents aren’t my parents,” I say in a trembling voice. Just when I don’t think my life can change anymore...apparently it can.
(Nyx)
Adeline is understandably a wreck as I lead her out of the nurse’s office and back to her dorm. I see Alexander standing at the end of the hallway, looking concerned, but I shake my head to signal him to leave her alone. I’m pretty sure she’s in shock.
“I’ll be back in just a few minutes,” I tell her as she sits blankly on her bed, staring at the wall. Her skin looks pale and clammy and I’m wishing for probably the first time in my life, that I knew more about humans so that I could make sure she was alright.
“Adeline, did you hear me?” I ask her. She nods and I hurry to the door. “I’ll be right back,” I tell her again, looking back and immediately wanting not to leave her in her current state. She looks so small sitting there on the bed. Fear fills my gut as it hits me how fragile she is. There’s a part of me that’s beginning to understand that losing her could be the worst thing to ever happen to me.
I close the door softly behind me and Alexander is immediately in my face, demanding answers. “Why were you with her? Why did she look like that?” he asks.
For the first time, I don’t feel like I can tell Alexander everything he wants to know. What Adi just discovered feels pretty fucking personal. If she wants Alexander to know, she’ll tell him. I’m unwilling at the moment to risk the little progress that I’ve made with her for him. “She just got some disturbing news,” I tell him, and I can see when he gets that I’m not going to tell him anymore because he stiffens.
“Where are you going?” he asks as I begin to walk away.
“I have some questions to ask,” I tell him vaguely, my mind already focused on the weird look that had been on Melody’s face when she had come back from testing Adi’s blood. She certainly was terrible at answering Adi’s questions today. It’s amazing that the Council allows her to treat humans. I unfortunately had fucked Melody for half the year last year on a dare from Dante. She was hot and a freak in the sheets, but clingy as hell. She hadn’t taken it well when I broke it off. I could have done without my current crush meeting my former fuck buddy though. I’m sure Adi could tell that we knew each other.
I can tell Alexander is pissed that I’m not being more forthcoming, but I ignore him, intent on my destination. When I get back to Melody’s office, I see her standing a little too close to Brandon Featherway, a sophomore. I roll my eyes. Apparently being attracted to high school boys is a tough habit for her to break. Good thing we’re not actually the age of human sophomores.
When she sees me, she immediately straightens up from where she had been tracing the buttons on Brandon’s shirt. He immediately scuttles away when he sees me, his cheeks flush with embarrassment.
Melody has a coy look on her face, like she knows exactly why I’ve come back to see her.
“I knew that girl wasn’t enough for you,” she coos at me, batting her eyelashes insincerely and sending a wave of revulsion down my throat. One thing about Adeline, she doesn’t put on airs. What you see is what you get as far as what her intentions are. It’s refreshing and attractive, which has surprised me from the start.
Melody idles up to me, raising her hand to touch me. “I don’t believe I gave you permission to touch me,” I snap, and she straightens up and takes a step back, her face flushing with anger.
“What are you doing here?” she snaps at me, pretending to organize some medical supplies on the counter next to her as if I hadn’t just rejected her.
“Why did you have that look on your face when you came back from testing her blood? And why was she even called in for a fucking physical to begin with? That’s never been a school policy.”
She gets a calculated look in her eyes. “Why should I tell you?”
In a split second I have her against the wall, my hand clenched around her neck, just enough to scare her. I may come across as the party boy of the group, but I have an anger problem a mile long that would scare anyone.
Melody’s never seen this part of me and she’s terrified. I relish the feeling.
“The Council told me to organize it,” she says breathlessly as she struggles in my ironclad grasp. “They want her blood for some reason. They didn’t tell me why.”
I look at her closely, trying to tell if she’s lying. Finn’s always been the best in the group at telling people’s intentions. The bleeding heart would be useful at the moment. “Why did you have that look on your face when you came in.”
A hint of smugness crosses her features, and I clench my hand tighter around her neck to squeeze it off of her. Her eyes bulge a little. “Just because I knew that she was about to find out her parents weren’t real,” she says frantically.
“And how did you know that? How did you happen to get her parent’s blood types?”
A look of confusion flashes across her face. “The Council wouldn’t have been asking about her blood if she was just a human. And we both know beings like us don’t get cancer.
So obviously at least her dad wasn’t going to be her real parent.”
I release her and throw her against the wall just for good measure. She slides down the wall, gasping for breath. I leave the room without saying anything.
It seems that there is a whole hell of a lot more to Adeline Jones than I had first thought.
I couldn’t wait to uncover all of her secrets.
Chapter 8
The next day, I feel like I’m in a fog. My brain is filled to the brim with questions. I feel like my whole life has been changed. How could I just now be finding out that I’m adopted? How have my parents managed to keep something that big a secret from me my entire life? It makes me sick to think about asking them about it.
Mercy insisted on sleeping in this morning and I’m glad that I have the slight reprieve from all of her questions once I tell her. I would try and keep it from her, but the girl seems able to see right through me more than anyone else.
My thoughts stray to Mercy’s behavior lately. The night she stayed in my room, she slept like a baby and seemed to wake up energized, but since going back to her room, the bags have returned under her eyes. Something in her room is not letting her sleep well, and maybe the trick is for me to sleep in her room one night to find out exactly what’s going on since she isn’t giving me any answers.
I slowly trudge across the school grounds when I spot Nyx strolling side by side with another student. I recognize him as the golden-haired boy from my chemistry class. Liam.
Both chat as if they’re longtime friends, but my attention fixes on Nyx, thinking of everything that happened with him yesterday. He appears tall and proud, and even from across the yard, his smile gleams, and his chiseled jawline catches my attention. My body heats up at the sight of him, like it does every time I cross paths with one of Them. His black school shirt hangs untucked over his tailored pants, his collar upright around his nape. Nyx’s chestnut hair flutters in the wind as he pats Liam’s back and they both break into laughter. But I can’t look away. Something is wrong with this picture...I feel it in my gut.
Liam’s head sits at a slight angle on his shoulders, also uneven like he hasn’t slept well. And every time I’ve seen him in class, he keeps to himself, never talks to anyone. Yet here, he seems like a different person. Or is this the impact these guys have on anyone who isn’t part of their clique?
The pair meander across the yard without a thought given to other students they pass, putting farther distance as they head straight for the woods surrounding the campus.
Where are they going? Why would Nyx be taking him on a walk in the woods like he did with me yesterday?
I’m following them before I realize it, curiosity hammering through me. Too many things aren’t making sense, and I can’t help but think the four guys are somehow at the center of it all.
These two vanish into the woods, shadows swallowing them, and I pick up my pace.
My shoes slide over the dewy lawn from my rushed steps. I’m running now and burst into the forest, my gaze swinging left and right.
Sunlight fades as I head deeper into the woods, following the direction I believe they went, even if I’ve lost sight of them. The forest seems ominously silent without the chirp of birds, except for the susurration of green and yellow leaves fluttering about from the suddenly bitter wind blowing through the woods. They circle the boughs of several enormous pines up ahead. The smell of dampness and fresh kindling fills me, but I keep moving forward, searching for movement. Where have they gone so quickly?
I keep pushing forward, one leg in front of the other since they have to be here somewhere. Everything looks different from yesterday though and it’s hard to have any semblance of direction.
The cracking of twigs and leaves underfoot reaches me from up ahead. I’ve found them. With each step I take, less light illuminates through the canopy, and suddenly the pines remind me of giants, towering over me, stealing the sun rays. Unease sits in my gut, but curiosity pushes me to find out what’s going on at this school.
There is movement ahead… I squint closer. What is that?
Something on all fours slinks amid the trees, concealed by shadows. Something the size of a dog… no something much, much larger. A chill encases me, and I can’t breathe for those few moments. The warnings that these woods are haunted cut through my thoughts, and I retreat backward. Needing to escape, to get out. I never should have come in here alone. The forest has lost all the beauty of the day before.
I step on something round and hard, my ankle pinching, sending me into a backward lurch. My arms pinwheel to catch my balance. “Shit.” Fear creeps up my spine, and I glance back down to find an acorn rocking back and forth in the foliage.
From within the shadows ahead of me comes the sound of something heavy that is being dragged across the floor. Is it Nyx and Liam in the monster’s clutches, or the creature dragging its feet?
A panicked scream presses on the back of my throat.
The crackling noise comes again.
Shadows flicker behind the trees, faster, paws slapping the forest floor.
Fear gallops across my chest, and my mind yells.
Run.
Run.
Fucking run!
Loose rubble and foliage roll under my boots as I whirl back around and sprint toward the school grounds. I grasp for shrubs for a weapon but come away with fistfuls of leaves. Ducking under low hanging branches, I move swiftly, my breath caught in my lungs, my ankle slightly throbbing from that stupid acorn.
Next time, I’m not following anyone into the woods. Never again.
I glance over my shoulder, and the animal is thundering after me, on all fours it gallops. Fur shaggy and black as the darkest pits whips back and forth over its large form. Amber eyes are glowing like an inferno. A wolf. Why are there wild wolves so close to the school… and fuck. Why’s it so big?
My scream explodes from my lungs, and I whip back around, running for my life. Scrambling, feeling nothing but the desperation to survive.
A guttural snarl fills the woods, loud and piercing.
My body bursts with adrenaline, and it feels like my heart might explode.
Breaths turn ragged and harsh, when my foot slides over something slimy, and my world tilts around me.
I’m falling, and my scream thunders past my lips.
Thump.
I crash to the ground hard, but I swing my gaze behind me.
The wolf’s plunging toward me, drool seeping from his fangs. All I see is my death. Torn to shreds. I won’t even get to find out who my real parents are.
Clenching my fists, I scramble back to my feet, recoiling from the animal who’s shoving past trees, trampling over shrubs.
My back hits a trunk, and I should climb up, do something, but dread locks me in place. It’s a straitjacket around me.
Feet away, the creature lunges. Teeth. Gaping mouth. Creased nose. Eyes of death.
I cower and cover my head and face, trembling, my eyes watery. The wait whispers its threat of my vicious end, the pain, the agony.
A sudden explosion of growls and grunting detonates, pulsating in the air.
I flinch, pressing in on myself, hidden, whimpering.
A sudden booming sound of grinding and ripping reverberates around me, followed by the dull thump of punches. The air seems to flutter past in several directions around me.
Terrified, I lower my hands from my face to see the wolf tossed across the ground before it slams into a tree. The creature collapses to the ground. Unmoving. Bloody. Dead.
Shuddering, I can barely breathe.
Nyx stands several feet away motionless, wild and ferocious, and the expression on his face terrifies me. There’s something foreboding and so animalistic about him standing there so still like he’s not even breathing, staring at the dead animal. A bloody gash streaks his cheek, red droplets rolling down and over his jawline and onto his shirt. Bites on his arm, teeth marks are ripped down the front of his shirt. But there
’s something else different about him… he seems to almost glow, even beneath the shade of the pines.
“You fought that thing?” I gasp, staring at the unmoving animal and back to Nyx who meets my gaze. A smile chases away his darkness.
He strolls over like nothing in the world can touch him, cocky as shit, but his eyes... they glow and are crammed with worry.
“Are you hurt?” he growls, reaching my side, his hands cupping my face, studying me.
I shake my head. “Just my ankle and… what the hell just happened?”
“Why’d you come into the woods without one of us? It’s dangerous.” He leans over and threads a hand under my knees, the other at my back, and lifts me off my feet. “Where the fuck is Alexander? Isn’t he supposed to be guarding you?”
I’m cradled against his chest, and I loop an arm around his neck, holding on. “You’re hurt,” I say, ignoring the fact that I once again evaded Alexander. He’s going to start sleeping outside my door soon if I keep this up.
“I’ll be fine. You’re the one I’m worried about.” When he looks down at me, the bluest eyes crinkle at the edges, and that fluttering sensation swarms through my gut, the one that leaves me weak in his presence.
“What were you thinking?” he insists.
“I followed you,” I admit, heat hitting my cheeks. “Where’s Liam?”
“He left.” His voice darkens, but I don’t believe him. He’s hiding something.
“I didn’t know there were wolves so close to school.”
“There are many things in these woods. So, stay out of them if we’re not around,” he reprimands me as we travel through the forest with amazing speed, and I feel like I’m floating through the air in his arms.
“That’s why they call it haunted? They should call it deadly if there are huge wolves in here.”
He doesn’t respond but gives a single nod.
