Total pages in book: 186
Estimated words: 176552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 883(@200wpm)___ 706(@250wpm)___ 589(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 883(@200wpm)___ 706(@250wpm)___ 589(@300wpm)
Ari was cross-legged on the floor with her tablet, knee-deep in Hunt research. Roxxi was muttering to herself at the dining table, typing an essay like her life depended on it, and Cloe was upstairs, pacing her room while trying to contact her ghosting project partner. The vibe had shifted from us eating together earlier.
I sat curled on the couch with my laptop open, trying to organize my notes for my online elective—Digital Ethics, of all things—but I wasn’t really retaining anything. The lack of noise in the house was peaceful, but the silence of the guys wasn’t, especially when all of us had been with one of them at some point today. Ryder had walked me to class and sent flowers. Roxxi had seen Nick and Xander this morning. Ari had seen Cade and spent most of the day bouncing between buildings, so there was no way she hadn’t crossed paths with at least one of them again. So why had no one said a word about The Hunt? No sarcastic comments. No casual teasing. No, we know jabs. Nothing.
“How mad do you think they are?” Ari asked suddenly, her thoughts aligning with mine.
Roxxi didn’t look up from her screen. “Why do they get to be mad? If they’re Marked too, they’ve been keeping it quiet just like we have. Communication goes both ways; if they want to play it silent, so can we.”
Ari hesitated, voice softer. “I get your point, but that doesn’t seem like the best way to handle this. You know how they are.”
Roxxi sighed, finally closing her laptop and tossing her pen onto the table. “I do know how they are. And we all know how easy it is for them to find out something when they want to. After thinking about it a little more, there’s no doubt in my mind they know we’re Marked. It might’ve started with Sanj, but as soon as Ryder got a hint of what was happening? You know damn well he told the others.”
Ari nodded slowly. “So, they’re waiting for us to admit it. They obviously don’t know about the bird because our home would have been invaded by them in caveman mode by now.”
I shifted on the couch, pulling my knees closer. “If I ease into the confession about the bird. It should be okay… Hopefully.” I paused. “I can’t picture them being Marked, too. What would that even look like?”
“I bet two or three Huntsmen try to screw with them, max. Then they’re going to learn a hard lesson because those boys never play fair,” Roxxi replied. “We’re the easy targets. Or at least, they’ll think so.”
My phone started ringing, disrupting our talk. I glanced at the screen—Ashton. I sighed and set my laptop aside. “I’ll take this upstairs. I need to start getting ready anyway.”
I answered as I was climbing the stairs two at a time.
“Hey,” Ashton’s voice came through, a little quieter than usual.
I stepped into my room and tossed my phone onto the bed after putting it on speaker mode so I could move around, going to my closet and grabbing my cheer uniform to change into.
“Are you okay?” I asked, sensing something was off.
“A bit weirded out, but yes. I was Marked today.”
“You were?”
“Yeah. I thought it was a joke at first because I didn’t know the girl who handed me the note. The text that followed it up confirmed this is actually happening.” There was a crinkle of paper, and then he read aloud: “Some sins take time to catch up. Consider this as your countdown.”
“What do you think that means?”
He huffed. “Hell if I know. I’ve never committed any sins.”
“We’ve all sinned, some more than others.”
“Well,” he amended, “I might be a little gluttonous, and I’ve fucked before marriage, but you knew that.”
I ignored his last comment. I hadn’t even considered him a possibility to be Marked. Guilt seeped into my consciousness. “You’re okay, though?”
He laughed. “It’s a silly tradition, sweetheart. I’m kinda looking forward to it.”
His answer surprised me. I wouldn’t have expected him to want to do this.
Then again, he did have a bit of an adrenaline junkie in him. “That makes one of us at least,” I murmured, then winced. “Shit.”
There was a beat of silence before he chuckled. “I heard that going around.”
“From who?”
“Kellan mentioned it. Wouldn’t say how. Actually, he slipped up like you just did.”
I silently cursed Kellan—and myself. “Well, it happened. I’m Marked.”
“How’d they tell you? Was it just you, or your roommates too?”
Roommates? That was certainly one way to reduce what the girls were to me. No way was I answering the how. Everyone else was getting ominous notes and vague threats. I got a justifiable reason for trauma and a stalker who thought we could have a connection.
“Can you keep it between us for now? I know it’s floating around, but I’d like it to stay that way for a little longer.”