by K. M. Raya
“That's enough!” he yelled at the boys, but they ignored him. “I said stop! This is absolutely unacceptable!” He kept trying but they were in the zone. Nothing existed apart from their fight. “Cole Harlan, you don’t even teach this class!”
Blue was getting bored with their nonsense. She didn’t know if there was some sort of rivalry between the two of them that she didn’t know about, but they were acting like school children. She stepped forward, much too close to the scuffle and brought her fingers to her lips, letting loose an ear-splitting whistle. “Stop!”
Her brows rose in surprise when they froze and let each other go immediately. She honestly didn’t think that was going to work in the slightest. ‘Oh, well, might as well roll with it.’ she figured. The guys were breathing heavily, glaring at one another, but they backed off and got to their feet. Cole was about a foot taller than Dresden, but where Cole was all muscle and girth, Dresden was lean and lithe, but still incredibly strong.
“What the hell was that about?” she asked Cole, whose golden wolf eyes flickered to hers for a second before latching back on to Dresden with disdain. He didn’t answer. Stepping forward, Blue leveled him with a cold stare. “I’ll ask you again, what was all that, we were sparing and you what... decided to step in and finish the job for me?”
This time, Cole did look at her, with deeply furrowed eyebrows and a clenched jaw. “He hurt you,” Cole muttered, his voice still carrying a bit of his wolf in his growl. ‘Oh for the love of…’ A part of her wanted to be flattered and blush at the prospect of this huge guy defending her honor and defending her physically, but the larger and more dominant part of her wanted to rip him to shreds for assuming that she was incapable of taking care of herself. Besides, she barely even new Cole. Why did he care?
“Yeah... that's sort of the point of the exercise,” she deadpanned. The class snickered. This time, though, it wasn't at her expense. Still, Cole’s face showed no remorse.
Cole’s jaw twitched while Dresden just stared him down in irritation. “He made you bleed, that wasn’t a part of the curriculum. He does it again, he’s dead.” His wolfy canines flashed.
“Watch yourself, dog,” Dresden spat, taking a step closer and Blue knew they were seconds away from another brawl. Stepping between them, Blue pressed a hand to each of their chests, keeping them apart like children.
“Alright, girls, simmer down. I’m not exactly a damsel in distress over here. Get your shit together and cool off!” She could have sworn Dresden’s lips turned up slightly. “Cole, can I speak with you in the hall?” she asked, though it wasn't really a request.
Zion shuffled forward with a frown. “Excuse me, Ms. Graves, but class is still in sess…” He was cut off when Cole turned his hard yellow stare towards the instructor. Wisely stepping back, Zion turned to the class, calling for their attention. One by one they turned away from the drama, a bit reluctantly. Blue moved towards the door, not waiting for Cole to follow but knowing he would anyways. She could also feel the unmistakable caress of Dresden's gaze on her back as she left.
The hall was empty save for the flickering of a lonely torch, making Blue want to roll her eyes. Everything about Arcane was old, creepy and in need of remodeling. A presence at her back made her turn around. Cole was much too close, leaving barely any empty space between their bodies. Her breath hitched as her eyes traveled upwards, slowly. He really was a giant of a guy. Her head barely crested his shoulder and one of his arms seemed to be about the width of both of her thighs put together. His long, chocolate hair was wavy today, just curling at his shoulder blades and his beard looked freshly trimmed.
Crossing her arms defensively, she stepped away from his close proximity only to smack into the wall behind her. Cole smirked and she glared right back.
“Do we have a problem?” she gritted out.
Cole stepped forward, crowding her. “Not at all, baby girl, quite the opposite, in fact.” He smiled and it made her pulse race as his fangs glinted in the light. She hated the effect he had on her.
“I’m not your baby, and you need to stop. What happened back there with Dresden was embarrassing. I don’t need you defending me. You don’t even know me.”
“You could be,” he whispered.
Blue frowned. “Could be what?”
“Mine… if you just let it happen.”
“Whoa there, buddy!” She pressed a hand to his chest because he wouldn’t stop inching closer. “I’m not sure what you think is going on here, but it's not... that.”
His chest rumbled slightly. ‘Is he... purring?’
“The second I saw you I knew you were mine…” he said with finality. He was completely sure of his words. “I know you feel something for me; you’re only making it harder on both of us by denying it.”
Blue rolled her eyes. She knew werewolves took mates. Everyone knew this. Once a werewolf male locked onto the female of his choice, it was her or nobody. Their souls would latch onto the female supposedly created just for them, and that was it. But just the thought of being Cole’s mate was preposterous. She didn’t know this guy at all, despite the fact that her body seemed to be gravitating towards him each time he entered a room. Sure, he was wonderful to look at, he smelled incredible and his voice made her knees weak, but it didn’t mean anything. Not really.
“Hell no. I’m not your mate, you weirdo. Go find someone else because trust me, I’m not interested,” she lied.
Cole rumbled and she was pretty positive it was laughter. “Your mouth tells me one thing, but your body says something different."
“Huh?” she asked dumbly. Looking down, she noticed how close their bodies were. Sure enough, her hands were on his chest without her being aware of what she was doing. His body felt hard beneath her fingers and she longed to drag her nails down his shirt and rip it from his… ‘What the fuck is wrong with me?!’
Shaking her head, she dropped her hands. “What are you doing to me?” she asked accusingly. “Is this some sort of weird pheromone thing? Why do I feel like I can’t control myself around you?”
His eyes heated. “You're my mate, you're supposed to feel like this. Trust me, you have no idea how much I’m holding myself back right now. I’m not an asshole, Blue, but I know what I want... who I want, and I won't change my mind.”
“Is that why you went all psycho wolf on Dresden back there?”
Cole growled low and menacing, making her want to smirk. It was easy to rile him up. “You have no idea who that joker is, do you?”
“Am I supposed to? You people keep pretending like I’ve always been here. In case you failed to notice, I’ve been a bit out of the loop for about... oh yeah, a decade.”
“Trust me, I noticed.” He smirked at her, but it fell a moment later. “Dresden is bad news, Blue. Seriously, stay away from him.”
Folding her arms in front of her once again, Blue felt her anger rise. She was sick of people telling her what to do. “Don’t give me orders. You want to get on my bad side then go right ahead and keep ordering me around, see where it gets you, Cole.”
A slow smile spread across his face and his fangs peeked out again through his full lips. “I like it when you say my name,” he practically whispered. “So far, you’ve called me wolfy, wolf boy, Lassie and dog boy, but I much prefer it when you call me Cole.”
“Oh, for the love of…” She threw her hands in the air in exasperation. “Look, I need to get back in there, but can you please just promise to not do that shit again?”
“Only if you promise to give me a shot.”
“That's not a fair deal.”
He obviously didn’t care. “It's that, or I’ll go back to stalking your ass, only this time, I’ll make it obvious.”
She grumbled for a moment, knowing her protests would fall on deaf ears. The guy was obviously prepared to follow her around and she didn't feel like testing that. Besides, he really was a handsome devil. After her kiss with Jasper in the cemetery, the part of her brain which crav
ed affection seemed to have awakened. What could it really hurt to indulge a little?
“Fine,” she relented and she watched as his eyes darkened to a molten gold. ‘Oh no.’
“That's all I needed to hear,” he declared before grabbing her by the cheeks and hauling her lips to his.
He kissed her furiously, every swipe of his tongue held a sense of strange urgency. He tasted like smoke and juniper tea—a mixture that she never knew could be so enticing. Blue growled in the back of her throat, surprising herself as she pushed into him a little harder. Bringing her arms up, she looped them around his broad neck, clasping her fingers tightly behind his head.
She could feel Cole’s shaking fingers as they dragged down her back slowly. He was squeezing her, but not too tightly, but tight enough to let her know he meant it. The longer she held Cole in her arms, the more right it felt. His presence wrapped around her like a comforting embrace and for just a moment, she wondered if she just made a big ass mistake.
Chapter Ten
Sweat poured down her face as she rounded the next bend of the running track. She hurdled over each obstacle, not caring if the rain was pelting her in the face and soaking her to the bone. It was actually sort of relaxing to run in the daylight after spending so much of her life living in the night.
It was a warm rain that day, and she’d been running for an hour, but already things were starting to take a turn for the worse. For the first half hour, Jasper had been running drills alongside her, but after taking a sudden call from his mother, he’d disappeared and didn’t come back. She ran hard, sloshing through the mud and fighting the warm wind on her face. She hated cardio but recognized how needed it was. She’d been caught in situations before where running had been the very literal difference between life and death. Vampires were swift little beasties, but luckily, Slayers were always faster.
Since that day out in the graveyard when they’d been attacked by two rogue vampires, Blue’s head had been on a constant swivel. She didn’t trust this place to keep her safe… not like she used to when she was a child. Even the running track seemed too out in the open. Trees rose up around her like a giant wall of black and green. She could barely see the spires of Arcane through their tips. The track wasn’t made of nice cork like other schools she’d been to, it was made of dirt, which turned into thick mud whenever it rained. She was covered in the stuff. There were others out here and there, as rain wasn’t enough of a deterrent for a Slayer. They needed to train in all conditions if they had any hope of becoming the more dangerous predator. So, she slugged on, contemplating whether or not this whole situation was even worth it.
A hard shove sent her face first into the mud. She skidded to an abrupt stop, turning to the side and coughing up rainwater, but a kick to her stomach knocked the wind out of her. She hadn’t seen the blow coming. She’d been too lost inside her own head to realize she wasn’t alone.
Four pairs of shoes came into view, surrounding her. Looking up, her eyes widened as she met Jewel’s angry green gaze, but quickly looked to her right and left where two boys she didn’t know, and Jewel’s new best friend Krista stood shoulder to shoulder sneering down at her. One of the boys was burly, with ashy blonde hair. He would have been handsome, with cornflower blue eyes and smooth features, but the snarl on his face made him instantly unattractive. The other one was a well-built Asian guy, probably in his early twenties. His hair was tied back in a bun and his eyes didn’t hold quite the same amount of malice as the others. In fact, this boy looked like he really didn’t want to be there.
“Why are you still on the ground, vamp lover?” Jewel spat. Literally. She spat in the mud beside Blue. “You’re getting soft.”
Blue rolled her eyes, unamused. Everyone wanted to be tough in front of their friends. “What do you want, JJ?”
Jewel’s mouth twisted in disgust. “I want you out of my school.”
Running a hand over her face, Blue wicked off a glob of mud, and luckily the rain helped wash it away. “Are we still doing this?” she asked incredulously. “I’ve been here for weeks; don’t you ever get tired of the same old insults? Next you’re going to tell me this town ain’t big enough fer the two of us.” Blue snorted. So did the Asian boy.
Jewel and Krista cast the guy a glare and he sobered right up, but Blue at least knew there was one person here who might not hate her as much as she thought. The people here were like sheep sometimes. She only knew a handful of them personally, but the others just seemed to fall in line and did what they were told without question. They were told to hate her, and so they did.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take to make you leave, Blue, but I’m tired of having to look at you.” There was so much hatred in JJ’s eyes and still, it made something in Blue’s chest squeeze. “I hate you; we all fucking hate you, don’t you get that? Things were finally starting to go alright for me.” Her voice cracked a little, some of her bravado breaking. “I was ready to be top of my class, graduating with honors so I can get the hell out of this city and do something with my life after everything your family took.” She squatted down until they were face to face.
The others just stood there looking awkward now. “I haven’t been back home in seven years, Blue. I stay here at the Academy while everyone else goes home to see their families… but I don’t have a family, now do I?” she asked, voice heavy with ten years’ worth of anger and sadness. She shook her head, brown curls soaked with rain. “No, you took them from me. Now I have a mother who never leaves her fucking office because she can't stand to live in that house without dad. Your family ruined my whole life and now I have to see your goddamn face every fucking day? It’s not fair. You’re so selfish and you don’t even care!”
Her shoulders were heaving. Blue just watched her old friend with a clenched jaw. There was nothing she could say. Jewel obviously needed to get this off her chest. Krista laid a hand on JJ’s shoulder. “Jewel, maybe we should g—”
Jewel cut her off with a sharp look. “Shut up, Kris.” Turning back to Blue, she wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye. “Stay out of my fucking way… before I have to make you.”
The four of them turned to leave while Blue just sat there in the mud. She watched them disappear into the foggy rain and around the corner of the school. But before she could get to her feet, there was a hand reaching out to help her up. Her eyes connected with the soft light brown of the Asian boy. He smiled a watery smile, and made a grabby gesture with his fingers, yet again offering her a helping hand. Sighing, she accepted, and he hoisted her to her feet. Jewel and the others were long gone now.
“You should really stay out of her way…” he murmured, eyes shifting around nervously before coming back to her.
Blue scoffed. “I’m not here to tiptoe around Jewel Hobbs. I’m here to graduate and that’s all. Besides, she’s the one who found me all the way out here, not the other way around.” She blinked at him. “Why are you still here?”
The guy ran a hand through his black hair nervously. “Not all of us hate you, just so you know.” His words were earnest, and she really didn’t think he was bullshitting her.
Folding her arms over her chest, she took him in with heavy suspicion. “Could have fooled me.”
He sighed, shoving his hands in his pants pockets. “Look,” he leveled with her. “Not all of us are sheep. I know it seems like it, but there are some of us who realize you're innocent. I think it’s wrong how everyone wants to blame you for what your parents did… it’s not fair. I just wanted you to know that not all of us are blind… just scared, I guess.”
Blue frowned, not understanding. “Scared of what? Scared of Jewel?”
He shook his head. “No, of course not. Maybe scared was the wrong word… but you being here changes things. The Conclave has never gone back on an exile before and people just don’t know what to think. We grew up hearing stories about the Graves family massacre, and it’s sort of hard to just disregard ten years of hearing about you
. I don’t know how to explain it to you, but it’s like you’re not even a real person or something. I mean shit, your story is in our history textbooks.” He looked a bit guilty now.
She stepped forward, and to her surprise, he didn’t flinch or back away. “Then imagine how it feels on my end.” She tapped her chest with her palm. “I’ve lived with the memory of that night for a decade, and when I finally had the chance to come back home again… I’m treated like a monster. Maybe you and these ‘other’s’ you talk about, should pull your heads out of your collective asses and think for yourselves for once. I’m a fucking person, in case none of you noticed.”
The guy looked to his feet, shame clouding his dark eyes. He shook his head, black hair flinging little droplets of water around his shoulders. She’d almost forgotten how hard it was raining. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you have to put up with this shit. Jewel’s been a good friend to me for years now, and I know she’s not a bad person, even if what she’s doing is petty.”
“Then why don’t you tell her that?” Blue asked.
“It’s not that simple. She’s hurting…”
“We’re all hurting!”
His eyes widened and he took a step back. “I get it, alright? I know. But there’s no reasoning with her. She’s been angry for so long and I don’t see that changing any time soon, especially with you showing up out of nowhere like a freakin ghost from the past.” His eyes turned pleading. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but can you try to just give her some time?”
Huffing, Blue looked away, not wanting him to see the rage in her eyes. He wanted her to give Jewel time? She’d given her ten years… ten years that JJ got to spend living within the safety of the Conclave’s watch… ten years she was supported by their community and coddled while Blue was cast aside, and he wanted her to give her more? She shook her head and kicked at the mud. He just didn’t understand what he was asking.