Page 72 of Forged in Blood

Axl nods.

I nod eagerly. Yes, this is good. “So how soon can you teach me?”

The professor flashes me a look of pure disdain. “It doesn’t work like that. It takes time. Your bond is already incredibly strong. It can take some centuries to tune into the thoughts of those they share a bond with. You have done so in a matter of hours.”

I snort. “Like I have centuries to practice.”

Cue more awkward looks between Axl and Xavier. I don’t like that look. What else can they be keeping from me?

The professor’s lip curls in a cruel sneer. “Do you want to tell sweet Ophelia what she got herself into when she allowed you to taste her blood, Axl?”

I glare at Axl, my blood thundering in my veins. My head spins, and I feel faint.

“Sit down, Cupcake.” Xavier pulls out a chair in a rare display of compassion.

I gladly take a seat and retrain the fiercest glare I can muster on Axl. “So?”

“Your bond. Our bond. It’s unbreakable, Ophelia. That’s why you couldn’t stay mad at us after we bit you. Even though you had every right to after what we did. It would be impossible for one of us to live without the other.”

“Agonizingly painful,” the professor says. “But not impossible.”

My head spins faster. “What does that even mean?”

“When a vampire bonds with—” Axl licks his lips and looks like he’s searching for the right words. “Someone like you, it is forever. It’s not something that can be undone.”

“But I’m human. And you’re immortal. So in about sixty years or so, you’re all going to be screwed.”

“Sharing our blood will keep you immortal too, Cupcake,” Xavier says softly.

What now? I shake my head. “I’m not drinking your blood.”

“You don’t have to. We can transfer blood when we bite. A little is all you need.”

I screw my eyes closed. Sometime soon, someone is going to wake me up with a bucket of cold water to the face and tell me this is all a nightmare. I open one eye, but they’re still there, staring at me. “What if I refuse? What if I don’t want to be immortal? I don’t want to be bonded to you forever. I’m only nineteen!”

The professor blows out a heavy sigh and shakes his head. “It’s already done.”

“What do you mean, it’s done. So undo it. I’m undoing it.” I stand but immediately feel woozy, so I sit back down and close my eyes.

“It cannot be undone, Ophelia,” he says. “You made your choice. Now you must live with the consequences.”

Tears stream down my face unbidden. “But I didn’t make a choice—I didn’t know what I was agreeing to.”

Axl drops to his knees at my feet and takes my hands in his. “We didn’t know either, princess.”

I look at the professor. “You did though.”

He pushes back his chair and stands, unaffected by my accusation. “I warned them not to taste you.”

Fury ignites inside my chest. How dare he treat this situation—treatmeas inconsequential. White-hot rage clogs my throat, and I barely manage to choke out, “But you didn’t warn me. You lied to me.”

His jaw clenches tight and his eyes bore into mine. “You are not my concern.”

Propelled by my rage, I launch myself out of the chair and stand in front of him, so close I can feel the anger vibrating from him too. The heat from his body warms me through the thin T-shirt I threw on earlier. How can someone so cold radiate such heat? I suck in a rasping breath that makes every cell in my body tremble. My words are stuck once more, but I tip up my chin and stare into his dark eyes, trying to direct everything I’m feeling into my glare. But there are too many emotions to feel, and I can barely focus a single thought. And between the pounding of my heart and the ache between my thighs, I can barely breathe.

It’s as though my body has woken from a long sleep and is finally experiencing what it’s like to be alive. His eyes are so hypnotic. If I stare into them too long, I will fall into their dark abyss, but I can’t stop myself. What is this? More vampire magic?

I hold my breath, and the world stops turning. My head spins. I’m falling.

---