today, probably so she could feed both of them lies about me. As much as I didn’t want to end up losing Vince, I had a feeling that it was inevitable at this point.
Continuing to glance around the room, I spotted a wave of black hair at the back corner of the room, along the windows. It was the first time I had seen Maddie on campus.
She was sitting across from Branden Mitchell, her mate who we had known back in the human world. Even from a distance, I could see the way the two of them were staring into each other’s eyes. They looked completely caught up in one another; it was as if there was no one else in the world, let alone the cafeteria, but them.
It made me feel sort of bad that I was about to interrupt them, but they had spent the entire summer together back in West Brook. I hadn’t spoken to Maddie since before summer break had begun. She still didn’t know anything about what had happened to me this summer: the kidnapping, the near murder, the fact that a war involving the Darken pack—a war about me—was about to begin at any moment. I had thought about telling her, but some things are just better said face-to-face.
As I sat down next to Maddie, she broke her gaze with Branden for the first time.
“Hey, Raven!” My best friend chirped, as Branden said, “Hey.”
Before I could get a word in edgewise, Maddie continued. “Ohmigod. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you all summer. I know reception can be bad in this realm sometimes, but I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“Actually, it didn’t have anything to do with bad reception. I’m sorry. A lot has happened since the last time I saw you,” I explained.
“Is everything okay?” There was a look of concern in her brown eyes.
“It will be.” At least, I hoped it would be. “Maybe I can catch you up to speed later.” I glanced over at Branden pointedly.
“Oh. Shit. You want privacy.” He rose to his feet. “I’ll go hang out with my friends. I’ll catch you later, babe.” He leaned down and kissed Maddie before heading towards the front of the cafeteria.
She stared after him longingly as he went. “I love him so much. This past summer, all I’ve done is fall for him. Remember when I thought I was in love with Robbie?”
“Yeah.” Robbie was Maddie’s ex-boyfriend who had bitten her just so she couldn’t escape him. He had hoped that she would turn out to be his mate, but fate didn’t let that happen… thankfully. Instead, she was mated to Branden, who we had known since we were kids.
“That doesn’t even remotely compare to what Branden and I have.” She turned to me then. “Anyway, what happened? Are you really okay?”
And so, I told her everything: about how Milos had lured me to his dungeon, how I had woken up to Iris while I was there, and everything else that had taken place there.
When I had finished my story, Maddie just shook her head in anger. “I can’t believe this. I’ve never trusted Iris—you know that. But I didn’t think she was capable of something like this.”
“Yeah. It was a pretty big shock to me, too.”
Maddie paused. “Have you told Vince about what happened?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m not sure if I’m going to, either.”
“Raven, why? Vince needs to know what a monster she is. And you know he’ll take your side. It’s not like he didn’t see that Iris had gotten really weird,” Maddie said.
“I know he’ll take my side, and that’s part of why I can’t say anything.”
“I don’t understand,” Maddie replied, shaking her head.
“You know the saying: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Well, the one thing that will piss Iris off even more is if I ruin the one and only friendship she has on this campus,” I explained. “I’m not sure if I’m ready to deal with the backlash from that right now. I just need to figure out a plan on how to handle everything first.”
“I get it. I just don’t think Iris deserves to have him as a friend.”
“I’m more afraid that she might try to use him as a pawn in her game.”
“I’ll still be friends with both of them,” Maddie suggested. “That way, I can keep an eye on Vince.”
“But Iris knows that you’re my best friend. She’ll know that I told you,” I