Mark of the Dagger (The Marked Series Book 1) by Stella Rae

would react to her being at their table.
    "I'm Damien,” he said, holding out his hand for her to shake. When she hesitated he laughed. "Don't worry, I won’t bite you. Scouts honor."
    "He's for real, he only likes blonds," Jan said, Dani laughed too and took his hand.
    "It's nice to meet you,” Dani said. He nodded.
    "So are you really not going to answer me?" Dani asked again with her eyes on Jan.
    "We were hanging out on the South Trail, nothing big. What were you doing?" Jan asked and Dani blushed.
    "Hanging out by myself in a tree. At least I thought I was by myself." Then she decided to tell Damien and Jan what had happened.
    "Rough break. He is hot," Damien said and Jan nodded her head in agreement. Dani looked at Damien curiously. "No, I’m straight but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate God's work," he answered her silent question with dignity.
    Dani shook her head at Damien. Another thought for another day, she decided. "Anyway. He was such a smart aleck and all 'I told you so' to me. It was his damn fault I fell in the first place. He shouldn't have kept his presence unknown. Then he had the nerve grab my arm and-” She was working herself up into a big temper when she noticed the look on Jan and Damien’s faces. "What."
    "You really shouldn't blame people for your own clumsiness," came a voice from behind her. The sound of the cocky voice sent shivers racing down her spine. She turned around to look up at the man standing behind her, his blond hair and bright baby blues shining.  Whether in amusement or anger she wasn’t sure.  Dani had a feeling that he was a master at hiding his emotions.  Not liking the idea of being talked down on, literally, she stood to face him head on with narrowed eyes and hands on hips.
    “I see you still have a penchant for sneaking up on people unawares, Samuel.  Have you not learned your lesson yet?” she asked sweetly.  Before he could toss a snide remark at her she continued.  “And FYI, I wouldn’t have even fallen out of the tree in the first place if it weren’t for you.”  She took a step closer to the brooding man, knowing they weren’t alone made her feel braver. “What are you doing eavesdropping anyway?  Nothing better to do?  Or are you just planning on being around every corner I take now?” 
    "Look who's being cocky now," he murmured quietly and matched her step. "You think I was following you little one?"
    She interrupted him, "You are such a jerk, and I am not little."
    "Would you just stop talking for one second?" he said heatedly. "I was in that tree first. Sorry that my being there scared you and made you fall. You dropped this when you went down," he handed her the small black cell phone. She hadn't even realized it was missing.
    Caught by surprise Dani said, "Oh, thanks." But he had already stormed off in his anger. "Oops," she said on a breath and sat back down. Damien and Jan were staring at her with mixed looks of awe and exasperation. "What?" she asked annoyed.
    Jan just shook her head as if she couldn't believe whatever it was going through her head. Damien said, "Two things. One you may just be an idiot for talking to him that way but it was very admirable. I've never seen nor heard of anyone facing him like that so you deserve kudos for having the balls to do it. Double kudos '‘cos one you’re a girl and two you’re a mixed blood." Dani must have made a face at that because he added quickly. "Not that I care. I don't. I think you're pretty cool no matter what blood you have."
    "Now back to my second point. Don’t get mad at me for saying this, but you are definitely an idiot because you totally just hurt his feelings. He was being nice and I think he likes you and you just made him feel like a stalker. No girl in their right mind would have done that. They would have been ecstatic to get his attention. Crap even I would be and I repeat-I'M NOT GAY."
    Feeling defensive she said, "I don't care if he likes me or not. His