Blood Rose

9

"You know what? You're right, I'm really sorry-" I stopped and shrieked when he grabbed my outstretched hand and and twirled me into his chest where he wrapped his arms around me, trapping me against his body with my back to his chest. I cringed at the wet sticky red liquid clinging to my skin and clothes.

"Now we'll both look like serial killers." He whispered close to my ear and I resisted a shiver. One of his arms retreated and then I felt wet ooze on my hair, feeling the drips fall on my face.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope." He popped the 'p' and let go of his hold on me but grabbed my hand and tugged me towards the massive shower.

"Wh-what are you doing?" I skidded on my heels when he turned on the water, his hand straining to hold onto mine as he reached the faucet. 

"Do you think I'm going to let you stain another shower with this blood?" I stayed silent and attempted to trap a thought flying through my head right now to think things through with the pros and cons, but I couldn't pinpoint an exact thought. I jumped back when he pulled off his black tee then threw it in a nearby trash can, forcibly moving my head to look away. The only glance I got was of his back and man, good thing I pulled back then. His tan skin looked so smooth and- stop Naomi, don't let the mate bond force you to do anything yet. 

I felt his hand on my wrist and he turned me around. It took everything in me to not trail my stare down to his chest and stay on his amber eyes. 

"You going to wash the blood off your clothes too or are you going to throw them away like I did to save yourself time?" I noticed by the corner of my eye that his jeans were gone and he was in his boxers. Jesus, could this boy not get the hint that I'm not trying to embarrass myself here?

Look and lick. My eyes widened at my wolf's comment and my cheeks flushed, even though I knew he couldn't hear what she said.

"If it's your wolf tell her nothing's stopping her." He smirked, proud of his comment that made me blush harder.

"Fuck you, Fox." Shit, wrong thing to say. He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows but didn't say anything. I exhaled sharply before pulling my shorts down and tossing them in the trash, fully aware at Fox's unwavering stare. With a deep breath I pulled off my own tee and tossed it away, crossing my arms at Fox who was smirking and leaning against the glass shower wall with raised eyebrows, shamelessly checking me out.

"You going to go in or are you waiting for the undergarments to come off too? Because that's not going to happen for a couple years so let's not get our hopes up just yet." He pushed off the glass and stepped into the giant shower and I followed, fully aware that I was about to look like a rat with wet hair sticking to my skin.

Red water fell from our bodies and down the drain, and I stood under the water without knowing exactly what he was expecting from this. He was close to me too, although there were two shower heads on. 

"I can feel your eyes on my ass or some other part of my body." I stated before turning around and proving my point. His hair was matted and pressed down by the pressure of the water, the dark locks even darker fitting his rumored reputation. It didn't really help that his amber eyes stood out and there were water droplets on his chest. Man, was my wolf going insane inside of me right now.

"Right back at 'ya." My cheeks flushed again and I cursed my betraying eyes. "You know, we both can't seem to get past the endless checking each other out, why don't we just skip it and get right to the making out?" He stepped closer and I attempted to step back, but my back was already against a glass wall. 

"Calm down mister cocky pants, staring doesn't always lead to action. Especially now, I have homework." I turned back around and stepped through the door to find a towel but he was right behind me and grabbed my arm again, spinning me to face him and pin me against another wall.

"Why dry yourself off when we're both already wet?" He lowered his voice and I swallowed a lump in my throat. 

"Try harder, Phoenix. Dirty lines all you've got in that egotistical head of yours?" I really just wanted him to give me something real and not just lust, but what could I actually do? We're promised mates to reproduce, but we aren't promised love. Maybe my dreams of love coming out of my mate bond were just fairy-tale thoughts that I needed to get over. This was reality, and this was just purely a foundation of infatuation. 

"Don't give me all that sexy bullshit talk." I whispered, the edge of my words seeming to change the mood. The shower was still on and the noise filled the silence between us. When he couldn't say anything I moved his arm off of me and grabbed a towel, walking out of the room.

•

I finished hanging the developed pictures I chose and looked through them again, the liquid dripping off each image. I grabbed my bag and walked out of the development room and the classroom, finding my way through the school to the back. Sports teams were practicing and some students hung around, waiting for rides. 

I pulled my camera out of my bag and turned it on, laying flat on my stomach and getting the right angle of the grass. When I stood back up and dusted rocks off my clothes I looked up to see a girl I knew as Hailey who was in my Physics class.

"Can I help you with something?" I asked, tucking my camera back in my bag. 

"You have powers but you aren't from this pack."

"Yeah?"

"You must have weaknesses then, right? The witches gave the titles of our pack centuries ago their magic without a price. Nobody else can get a deal like that, so what's the secret?"

"What's the curiosity?" I started walking, suddenly feeling like this was another way to be attacked. 

"Hey! I'm talking to you." She cut in front of me and I was surprised by how fast she was.

"What do you want?"

"If your magic doesn't have a price then show me, use it on me." I looked at her like she was a lunatic and clutched my bag, walking faster to get around her. Before I knew it I was blown back by a strong gust of wind and thrown to the ground. My head hit the ground and I felt the wound reopen, pain striking through my skull. "Use it on me."

"You're related to the Delta." 

"My twin sister's the Delta, so yeah you could say that we have pretty similar strengths in our magic."

"Why do you want me to use it on you?"

"I want to see what you've got. How weak your abilities are."

"Yeah, not happening princess." I looked at the blood on my hands from touching the back of my head and attempted to stand but I suddenly couldn't breathe. The air was just sucked out of me and I was choking on the absence of it, clawing at my throat. My insides felt scrunched and my head felt like it was about to explode. I was gagging on nothing and digging my nails into the concrete.

"I said, use it." Without hesitation I reached my hand up towards the lamppost and pulled the electricity out of it, slamming it down right at her. She fell back and I could feel the stares and gasps. The air was returned to me and I could stand back up, catching back my breath. Hailey was slumped against the brick wall across the pavement groaning and I took that as my time to leave. 

Nobody seemed to understand that I wasn't out to get any of them, and I sure as hell wasn't choosing to be mated to Fox. He's a killer, a mass murderer and I keep forgetting it because the mate bond makes me. I'm the one being attacked for being mated to the lunatic and I can't help but let it get to me. Would the attacks ever stop or was I now caught up in an endless cycle of abuse from my new pack?

•••