Page 53 of Plug and Claim

Stubborn…

But she’d made no protest as he drank from her. Yes, he’d physically held her down, but most people—whether willing donors or victims—shut him out of their mind. Kira hadn’t shut him out. Instead, she’d opened to him, and he’d been so taken aback, so mesmerised, that he’d fed for far longer than he’d intended.

The memory left him as giddy as if he were one who’d lost blood.

He startled awake sometime later when the card table erupted in cheers as someone won a hand.

Nathaniel felt a gentle pressure squeeze his hands. As he glanced down at the armrests, he saw that the carved vines had curled and intertwined between his fingers. He had never thought of himself as lonely before, but he wished in that moment that it was Kira’s hand he was holding.

Chapter 20

Outcast

Kira

Words could not describe Kira’s fury when she awoke the next day. Nathaniel had ruined her initiation and any prospects she might have had of fulfilling her goal at Volmasque Academy.

The other wolves wouldn’t speak to her. Not Mark, not Chelsea, and not even the omegas of the lowliest pack. They all gave her a wide berth in the cafeteria as if she were diseased.

All except Susie, who had been there when she woke, and hadn’t left her side as she made the arduous walk to her first class.

The red socks turned heads wherever she went. It was the colour of vampires, and yet it was her colour now, too, because after last night, she now belonged to one.

She’d been tempted not to wear them, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. Word had already spread about how Nathaniel had interrupted her initiation and claimed her as his own, although the Poplarins had managed to frame it in a way that put them in a more positive light. According to them, Kira was naïve and had let the vampire trick her into biting her, and this was quickly becoming a cautionary tale for other first years. Even so, tension filled the air, greatening the divide between the vampires and shifter students.

And then there was her.

The anomaly.

The one that did not belong.

To be pitied, avoided, shunned.

At least the white socks had made her popular and given her bargaining power. The red socks made her an outcast. Susie assured her that she was not the first wolf shifter who’d been claimed by a vampire, but that was hardly reassuring.

Apparently, vampires could ‘claim’ a victim by biting them on the throat. A bite anywhere else—wrist, inner thigh, and other, more intimate regions—meant nothing.

Nathaniel could not have made his bite marks more obvious. Try as she might, even her thick hair failed to hide them. She spent the same amount of time touching the bite marks as she did adjusting her hair to cover them.

The wolf students stared in horror, whilst the vampires seemed as apathetic as ever. No one wanted anything to do with her. Apparently, Nathaniel’s claim on her diminished her in everyone’s eyes.

Screw them all.

Kira kicked up tufts of grass on the wet lawn in frustration. She hadn’t had the courage to face class this morning, especially not potions class where Nathaniel might be waiting.

Without entering the classroom, she’d spun on her heel and fled the building. It had taken all her inner strength not to break out into a run as she power walked through the corridors and out the front doors, ignoring the clang of bells signalling the start of first period.

To her surprise, Susie wordlessly followed her as she crossed the dewy lawn, the frosty grass crunching beneath her stomping feet.

“You don’t have to miss class because of me, you know,” Kira said.

“I’m your friend,” Susie replied, “and I’m here for you.”

Kira was touched by Susie’s words, and the tears she’d been fighting to hold back flooded her vision.

“Why don’t we sit down?” Susie said quickly, guiding her to sit at the foot of a leafy tree. They perched themselves on the roots, which were damp from the morning rain.

“I hate these stupid socks,” Kira said, kicking at her shins. It left a brown streak on the blood-red fabric. “Can’t I just take them off?”