Marked - Night Shift Series Book 1

three

According to her aunt, the only reason she could afford the house was because she purchased it during a foreclosure. 

However, Freya always believed that the house perfectly reflected her aunt's larger-than-life personality.

Freya grabbed the hair tie beside her phone and effortlessly gathered her thick locks into a ponytail. Descending the stairs with a zombie-like demeanor, she yawned loudly as her aunt shut the front door.

"Ah, she rises from the dead!" Aunt Kate walked through the front door, pushing it shut with her hip. She beamed at Freya expectantly, an amused glint in her eye as she took in her niece's disheveled state.

Even after Freya's mom passed away, her aunt held onto her humor and sarcasm.

Freya grabbed the two bags on her left wrist, lightening the load, and assisted her with the groceries. She followed her into the kitchen as they set the bags down on the counter.

"She's alive, but her survival depends on coffee." Freya couldn't help but smirk while referring to herself in the third person.

"Here." Gently, her aunt slid the bags of groceries across the counter to Freya. "I'll make a pot of coffee while you unpack the groceries."

"Sounds like a plan." The anticipation of coffee made Freya's mouth water as she opened the pantry and helped with the groceries.

She watched as her aunt glided around the kitchen, grabbing a bag of dark roast espresso beans from the far right cabinet. 

When she was little, she believed her aunt was a fairy because of the way she carried herself. Her aunt would float from room to room, possessing an airy disposition that could turn fiery at the drop of a hat.

Her mother always said she got her spunk from her aunt.

Following her mother's death, Freya's aunt became responsible for her care. They were already close, but their bond thickened in the aftermath of losing a loved one. 

Even in the face of ridicule from distant family members, they stuck together. Not everyone believed that something sinister took her mother.

There were whispers that her mother had committed suicide and that Freya and her aunt made up the supernatural story to cope. 

It was bullshit. 

Freya and her aunt knew what they saw that night. If anything, she had aunt to thank for encouraging her to go this far with her studies.

"Guess who I ran into at the store tonight?" As she poured water up to the correct fill line, her aunt became fixated on the electric water kettle.     

"Greg." Her aunt answered after a moment of silence, apprehension filling her tone. 

Freya sighed, a hint of exasperation escaping her lips.

Greg was her ex-boyfriend. They dated for like six months her last year at school, and although he was sweet, she knew it wasn't meant to last.

Plus, with graduation right around the corner, she needed to focus. 

However, it left him devastated.