Page 136 of Fractured Fate

Turning from the sounds of everyone speaking over each other, trying to express their shock and thoughts all at once, he disappeared down the dark alley.

He would heal, but he didn’t know if his heart would ever recover.

Charlotte saw his monster, and she feared him.

27

TRUTH

Charlotte kept her eyes trained on the jasmine plant sitting on the massive desk with ornate carvings of thorn-covered vines. The plush, black leather chair she sat in did nothing to alleviate her uneasiness.

Blackthorn Academy.

She didn’t understand why her friends led her onto the academy grounds through the enormous black gate with the letters “BA” in ornate script welded into the bars. For years, she wondered what the campus looked like beyond the road leading from the plaza lined with live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, but shock overloaded her system, and she recalled nothing of the trip across campus aside from the panicked ramblings of Riley and the others trying to calm her.

Her gaze moved down to the bandage on her inner forearm.

When Lukas led her into a building on the right side of campus, Dominic took charge, providing hurried direction to a pair of women wearing latex gloves who appeared uncomfortable with Charlotte’s presence. They tended her wound and bandaged her up before Lukas and Dominic whisked her away to this office filled with the smell of old books from the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lining the walls.

Dominic’s authoritative tone toward staff members seemed odd coming from a student, but she had more pressing matters on her mind than worrying about why everyone, including her friends, seemed to defer to him.

Faint red tinted the pristine bandage, showing her wound still bled. A wound caused by a bite.

A bite from a vampire.

A vampire like Aiden.

Aiden.

Aiden is a vampire.

It explained the strange growls she found peculiar but never questioned further. Some people expressed strange ticks, made odd noises, and displayed involuntary behaviors. She wouldn’t put a spotlight on something he might feel self-conscious about. Maybe she should have.

It also explained the blood he drew during the last time they had sex.

Oh god.

She had sex with a vampire.

The thought should terrify her. It should have made her want to run away in terror, but it didn’t. Well… Her nose wrinkled. Anyone else besides Aiden would terrify her, but he didn’t.

Even faced with the truth that he wasn’t human, she didn’t feel afraid. Her mind replayed what he looked like standing before her covered in blood, eyes glowing, sharp fangs stained with the blood of a man he’d killed.

A man he’d killed. For her.

Aiden didn’t hesitate to eliminate the man who bit her. The man who had made the last several months of her life a living hell. Why had a vampire wanted to stalk her?

If she were honest with herself, once the terror of the threat disappeared, knowing Aiden would protect her to that extent felt exhilarating. He wouldn’t hurt her.

Sitting back, she rested her head against the back of the chair as the adrenaline thrumming through her system receded.

The chandelier overhead cast amber light over the room, reflecting on the large window behind the desk, allowing her to see the trees and garden on the other side steeped in moonlight. She wondered what lurked in the darkness outside.

Was the campus safe?

UGA wasn’t. Noah attended, and he was a vampire. The blue glow of his eyes confirmed his lack of humanity, leaving no room for confusion.

Her eyelids lowered, and she sighed.