Hidden Mate

5

“True.” Roxy bobbed her head. “But not infinite.”

“Just remember; when you’re two hundred and all wrinkly”—Lillith motioned to her face—“I’ll still be looking like this.”

“You b***h,” Roxy growled good-naturedly.

“It’s not easy being a vampire.” Katherine tapped her fingers on the table. “Your instincts are to kill and be vile. You fight them every day to keep your humanity. The ones who lose their humanity either wanted to be a vampire or lost someone they loved and turned off the pain.”

“Oh wow.” I hadn’t thought about outliving all of my loved ones. It had to be a nightmare. “That would suck.”

“Are you trying to be funny?” Lillith chuckled. “Or was that unintentional?”

I had to be missing something. “What do you mean?”

She pressed her thumb to her incisor. “It would suck to be a vampire?”

“No. Sorry.” Being around these two wasn’t nearly as strange as I’d expected. Dad made it sound like all of us supernaturals were so different from one another, but we really weren’t. We were four girls looking for a chance at a normal life.

My alarm blared, startling me awake. I had my very first calculus class at nine, and choosing such an early class already felt like a bad idea.

Roxy threw the pillow on top of her face. “I can’t believe you talked me into this blasphemy.”

She had told me it was too damn early, but I’d convinced her to take the class with me, anyway. “Oh, stop.” I yawned as I said, “It’s not that bad.”

“I’m sorry.” She lifted the side of the pillow so I could see her scowling face. “I couldn’t understand you through that huge-ass yawn.”

I threw the covers off me and placed my feet on the fuzzy beige carpet. “Bite me.”

“Those vampires sure did you in,” she said as she stretched. “You’ve been all about sucking and biting here lately.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t hang out with them anymore.” After we’d finished our little chat outside, the vampires had helped Roxy and me set up our room. The look on Brock’s face when he’d come to get me for dinner had almost had me bursting out in a peal of laughter. “You and Lillith could almost be twins.”

“I couldn’t pull off her look.” She fluffed her hair. “This red wouldn’t allow me to achieve the dark, gothic look.”

“You could always dye it.” She never would. She was proud of her bright red hair that wasn’t common in the shifter world. Apparently, that’s how she’d known we were meant to be besties. Our colorful hair set us apart from the rest.

Brock had informed me that his first class wasn’t until noon and that he would be sleeping in and that I should call him if something happened. I wouldn’t call him if a clown with an axe showed up at my door. I’d rather die a slow, tragic death than subject myself to him more than I had to. “Let’s get up and grab something to eat.”

Just as I’d expected, she sat upright. “You do know the right words to say to me.”

We ran to the dorm bathroom and quickly showered and got dressed. Once we’d fixed our hair and makeup, we were ready to take on the day.

We entered the Student Center and walked past the circle of couches right in the doorway and toward the open area where at least twenty booths lined the walls and fifty square tables were arranged in rows. In a few sections, students pushed the tables together so a bigger group could sit with each other.

“For it being this early, it’s pretty crowded.” There were still a few open tables sporadically spaced throughout the room. “We better hurry or we might not be able to find a vacant table.”

The scent of bacon overwhelmed my senses. We went over to a breakfast station where biscuits were individually wrapped and ready to go.

As I reached for one, my body collided with a brick wall. I bounced off it and almost fell on my ass, but strong, warm hands gripped my shoulders. Then, an all-too-familiar sexy voice rasped, “Watch where you’re going.”

It took a second for it to sink in. The hot guy from yesterday had his hands on me, but he glared at me with such disdain.

H

is hands stayed on my shoulders, which surprised me. I’d expected him to drop his hands with repulsion. My heart sped up from his proximity.

He acted annoyed but continued touching me, which gave me mixed signals. I wasn’t interested in whatever game he wanted to play. I lifted my chin and channeled all of my rage toward him. “Maybe you should watch where you’re going?”

The room quieted, and all I could hear was his rapid breathing. He rasped, “I was already here.”

I should have moved out of his grasp, but my legs wouldn’t allow it. Even though his fingers dug gently into my skin, it made butterflies take flight in my stomach. I didn’t understand what was going on between us.

Finally, he dropped his hands to his sides, but then he took a step closer to me. In the next moment, it sounded like he took a sniff of my hair. I was most likely losing my damn mind.

I needed to end this encounter, but of course, that wasn’t what I did.

He reached around me and grabbed the very biscuit we’d both been aiming for. “Better luck next time.” He waved it in front of my face, gloating like a jackass.

In a flash, I snatched the biscuit from him. The way he blinked several times in shock almost had me keeling over in laughter.

To gloat, I took a bite and chewed with my mouth wide open. “This has got to be the best damn biscuit I’ve ever had.”

Roxy snorted and took a biscuit for herself. “Come on, Sadie. Let’s go find a seat.” She pulled me away, but I couldn’t tear my gaze from him.

“Uh …” His friend took two biscuits from the bar. “I found you a replacement.” A s**t-eating smirk filled his face. “Unless you wanna go chase her down and finish off that one? But with how she’s chowing down, I bet it’s almost gone.”

The thought of him following through on his friend’s suggestion thrilled me. Whatever was going on between us was not normal or healthy.

“Shut up,” Dreamy said as he took a biscuit from his friend and headed to the cash register. I didn’t need him catching me watching him.