Page 26 of Forged in Blood

Malachi snorts a laugh.

“Fuck,” Axl grumbles. “So not only are we babysitting the pyromaniac, we need to keep an eye on Ronan and this Penelope bitch. Like we don’t have enough to do babysitting pledges.”

“How about one of us bites her?” Malachi suggests. “Then at least we can keep track of her emotional state. If she’s planning something, there’ll be a spike of anxiety or excitement or whatever.”

Axl shrugs. “She’s hot, right?”

“You can’t fuck her though. Ophelia would be really upset,” Malachi warns him.

Axl’s eyes glint, and I lick my lips with anticipation. What better way to mess with Cupcake than to fuck her nemesis? This could actually be a whole lot of fun.

Chapter

Sixteen

OPHELIA

“Shh! I told you it’s a secret,” the girl whispers, her cheeks red with indignation.

Penelope makes an exasperated sound and flicks her long blond hair over her shoulder. We’re standing in line in the dining hall inside the Commons, the one place I can’t seem to avoid her, not even when I come outside of regular mealtimes like I did today. Thankfully, we don’t have any classes together, but she’s in here every time I come. It almost seems like it’s her personal mission to make me as uncomfortable as possible. As I do whenever I’m near her, I feel her disgust for me emanating from her pores, and my skin prickles with anxiety from the moment I see her until she’s out of sight again.

From the corner of my eye, I see her glance my way, her lip curled in a sneer. “Don’t worry abouther,she’s nobody.”

I drop my head and stare at the floor, shuffling as far away as possible without moving past the cash register while I wait for the employee to finish getting my order together.

“So tell me more about these trial things. They’re full of hot guys, right?”

“Penelope!” the other girl admonishes.

Penelope laughs her snooty little laugh. “Relax, Madison, there’s nobody here to hear us.”

Rude bitch. Still, I want to hear more about the Trials, so I keep my gaze averted, pretending my boots are the most fascinating thing in the world.

“Yeah, well, I told you I’m not supposed to tell anyone,” Madison whispers. “I could get Caleb in a lot of trouble.”

Penelope drops her voice to a whisper now too. “If there is some kind of secret society Olympics full of hot guys on this campus, wild dogs couldn’t keep me away. If you don’t tell me, I’ll just sniff them out like a piggy looking for truffles.”

I stifle a snigger at the image that metaphor conjures and strain to hear Madison’s reply.

She sighs dramatically before she answers. “Just meet me outside Urania Hall Saturday night at ten.”

The employee comes back and shoves a brown paper bag at me. I snatch up my lunch and pay before hurrying out of the dining hall, my mind buzzing with questions about Trials and secret societies. And I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t see him until I literally walk into—and subsequently bounce off of—his solid chest. I stumble backward, but he stops me, circling his strong fingers around my wrist. Goosebumps break out over my arm.

“Watch it, Cupcake,” Xavier says, his lip curled in a faint sneer.

“S-sorry,” I stammer, trying to wrench free of his grip.

He licks his full lips, flashing me a hint of his fangs. An unexpected and frankly unwelcome shiver of excitement runs up my spine, and he laughs. It’s mocking and cruel, and my cheeks flush pink. I yank harder, desperate to get away from him.

He rubs the pad of his thumb over the pulse point on my wrist, and I swear my veins fill with electricity. “I can feel your blood racing through your veins, Cupcake. I bet you’d come in your pretty little panties if I bit you right now.”

I squawk a feeble protest that only makes him laugh harder. “Let me go!”

He releases my wrist but continues to loom over me, fixing me with a fierce glare. His eyes smolder and darken like coal from the pits of hell, and he steps closer. His solid form is mere inches away, and the heat from his body warms me all over, enveloping me. The flush on my face races down my neck and chest, and his eyes follow the path before landing on my boobs. I suck in a shaky breath.

“You’re hot,” I whisper, by way of explanation for the heat spreading across my skin.

He licks his lips, his eyes still on my chest. “Thanks, Cupcake.”

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