Page 31 of Forged in Blood

“Get your hands off me,” I yell, but for the first time in my life, I feel afraid. Because now I have something to lose. My life only just got interesting, and now I’m going to die in these woods and nobody will even notice that I’m gone.

He grunts, dragging his fingers over my panties. “Oh, you even beg pretty.”

I close my eyes, bracing myself for what he’s about to do. I’m about to be raped and bitten and probably killed, and maybe if I think hard enough, I can?—

A vicious roar pierces the air around us, and I’m hauled backward. I stumble to the dirt, and his hands are gone. Blinking, I look up and gasp.

Xavier shakes my attacker like a ragdoll with one hand wrapped around his throat. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? No one gave you permission to touch her.”

The guy snarls, but he doesn’t try to fight back. “I don’t need your permission.”

“Oh yes you fucking do.” Xavier snarls back. “You ever touch her again and I will take your head. You understand me?”

What’s happening? Why is Xavier defending me? This is too confusing.

“Yes,” comes the reluctant reply.

With a guttural growl, Xavier throws the guy across the clearing and turns his fiery glare on me. “I told you not to come here.”

I swallow hard. “I know, but I?—”

“But you wanted to get yourself killed? Because that’s what was about to happen.”

I shake my head. “No. Of course I didn’t.”

“I should have let him do whatever the fuck he wanted with you.”

“So why didn’t you?” I demand, needing the answer to that question more than my next breath.

His nostrils flare as he advances on me with eyes so dark and dangerous that they make me shiver, and I vaguely register that my fear has been replaced with excitement. I should want to run, but all I want is for him to touch me. His hands on my body, mouth on my skin. He edges ever closer until he’s towering over me, the toes of his shoes touching mine. He breathes hard. My knees tremble, and I’m thankful I’m still on the ground.

“Oh my god, Opeelia, is that you?” Her sarcastic bitch laugh rings through the air like a damn fire alarm. My heart sinks.

Penelope stumbles through the clearing. Madison follows, accompanied by the loser of the fight I witnessed, his arm draped around her shoulders. And if their presence wasn’t awful enough, Axl comes into view. Of course, Penelope is with him. Because my life is just one crushing disappointment after another.

“What the fuck isshedoing here?” Axl barks.

What is it about me that offends people so much? All I ever did was get a part in a damn play. Had I known getting the part over Penelope would have caused me so much heartache, I never would have auditioned. But I did, and here we are.

Again.

Penelope and her friend stare at me with disgusted expressions on their faces while Axl and Xavier simply exude raw, unrestrained anger. At least the guy from the fight seems too dazed to do anything other than look at me blankly. I stand and brush the mud and dirt from my legs. In my mind, I’m back on that stage on opening night, an entire auditorium full of people laughing and pointing at me. The memory is forever burned into my brain like the negative of a photograph.

Xavier bares his teeth. “I dunno why the fuck she’s here, but she’s not welcome. Get lost, reject.”

Reject? But he just… I’m thankful for the sudden downpour because at least the rain hides the tears running down my face.

“Yeah, bye,reject.” Penelope flicks her wrist, shooing me like I’m a stray cat begging for scraps.

Rolling my shoulders back, I force my trembling legs to carry me out of these godforsaken woods. It was stupid to come here. Stupid to think that things would be any different at Montridge and that I might find my place here.

Chapter

Twenty

XAVIER

Malachi pulls on his T-shirt, and the wet material sticks to every inch of damp, muddy skin. The silver in his tattoos shimmers in the moonlight, and I drink in the sight. By the time we were finished dealing with Ophelia and Ronan, Malachi was already shirtless and fighting a junior from Onyx. Every single fucking year, some hotheaded asshole challenges my boy at Fight Fest, and every single year, they have their asses handed to them. Malachi is undefeated. Strong as a demon five times his size and smarter than every other person on this campus, with the exception of Alexandros.

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