Page 13 of Forged in Blood

“Oh, you’ll be seeing plenty of me, sweet girl. Promise.” And with a wink, he’s gone. Leaving me to stare at his retreating back and wonder what the hell just happened.

Chapter

Eight

MALACHI

Isaid I’m on my way, jackass,I tell Axl as I leave Ophelia, tamping down the rage simmering beneath my skin.

You got a crush on the cupcake, Kai?Xavier teases me, and I shrug off his comment. Pair of goddamn assholes. A crush? What am I, twelve years old? All because I enjoy making conversation with her. Fuck! I wish I could have one goddamn moment without two fuckwits in my head. I’ve never been good at blocking them out. No matter how much time Alexandros spends teaching me how, I can’t do it. And ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, I don’t want to. But now, well, there’s a girl with pink hair and radiant blue eyes who smells like fucking heaven that I’d love to get to know a little better without those jackasses acting like teenage boys about it.

Just get the hell over here, Axl orders.

Shaking off my frustration, I move quickly and a few minutes later, I reach the field behind the Opal and Ruby Dragon Society houses. Axl scowls at me. His eyes, usually the color of melted milk chocolate, are dark with annoyance. “You decided to grace us with your presence at last?”

“Since when do I have to explain myself to you? Just because you’re the oldest doesn’t make you the boss of us.” I don’t normally bother pushing back against his tendency to pull rank and order me around, but I was enjoying talking to Ophelia.

He shakes his head. “You know the first few weeks are the most intense. There’ll be plenty of time to fuck around with our new toy once pledges are finalized.”

Xavier wraps an arm around my neck. “Yeah, we got Trials to plan for.” He flashes me a wicked grin, and I can’t help but smirk back. I do love the Trials.

I shrug out of Xavier’s grip. “How many pledges do we have this year?”

“Only thirty-two.” Axl frowns at the house where all pledges eat and sleep for the first six weeks of term, until we’ve successfully weeded out the ones who aren’t strong enough to be turned. Becoming a vampire isn’t a gift that can be bestowed on just anyone. Only those with a strong mind and spirit can survive the agony of the transformation.

I grimace. “That’s less than last semester.”

Axl pinches the bridge of his nose. “So let’s hope they’re all fit to be here and we can keep most of them.”

Xavier snorts. “Unlikely.”

Axl punches him in the arm. “Stop being such a dick.”

Xavier snarls and returns the favor by slamming his fist into Axl’s jaw. A split second later, the two of them are rolling around on the lawn, punching the hell out of each other. I fold my arms and wait, accustomed to their constant bickering.

“Hey, are they okay?” A Ruby Dragon member with long black hair and a nose ring whose name currently escapes me stands beside me, her gray eyes alight with fascination and her lips curved in an appreciative half smile.

Xavier straddles Axl, holding him down by his wrists. Axl’s huge biceps strain the seams of his T-shirt as he tries to buck his assailant off, but Xavier tips his head back and laughs triumphantly, showing his pristine white teeth and perfect fangs. Sweet motherfuck, he’s going to bite him right here.

My cock jumps in my pants, and I adjust myself while the girl goes on watching my buddies. As hot as their whole pissing contest is to watch…

I clear my throat. “Don’t we have shit to do?”

Xavier dips his head and licks the column of Axl’s throat, letting out a low hum of satisfaction. Axl growls and throws Xavier off him, launching him a few feet across the grass.

“Those two are so fucking hot,” the girl next to me says with a dreamy sigh.

I roll my eyes while Axl and Xavier wipe the grass off their clothes and join us, their fight already forgotten.

Xavier snarls at her. “Who are you?”

Her heart rate spikes. “I’m Jay. Professor Jackson said you could use some help with the Trials.”

Axl’s narrowed eyes roam over her body, drinking her in. “Professor Jackson is your sire?” Professor Jackson is Alexandros’s cousin and the dean of the economics department. He always gets his pick of the Ruby pledges to turn at the end of the Trials, and he only chooses the best. In our seventy plus years at this college, we have met and lost far too many pledges to remember them all. But I recall Jay from the Trials two years earlier, particularly the Hunt. She covered herself in rotten duck eggs to win.

She flashes her fangs, flicking her tongue over the tips and batting her eyelashes at him. “Yeah.”

Axl snorts, seemingly unimpressed by her obvious interest in him, which is very unlike him. Ordinarily he’ll fuck anything with a pulse. “I thought he was sending me his best.”

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