Page 35 of Forged in Blood

What did you do?I keep my eyes fixed on Ophelia, who is actively turning her head away from me now.

What needed to be done to get her the fuck out of there,Xavier says.

I suppress a sigh and shake my head.Fucking assholes.

We heard that, Axl growls.

You were fucking supposed to.

Blocking out those two clowns, I focus all my attention on Ophelia. “You okay, sweet girl?”

She stops and spins on her heel to face me, her beautiful face incandescent with rage. “Don’t yousweet girlme!” She stomps her foot, and the action makes her delicious tits jiggle in her tight tank top. My cock twitches. Fuck, she’s so cute when she’s pissed. I bite back a smile and let her go on chewing me out. Her delicate hands ball into fists by her sides. “No, I am not okay, you jackass.”

I hold up my hands in surrender. “Whatever Axl and Xavier did Saturday night was for?—”

“Don’t you dare defend those heartless douchebags to me.” She stomps her foot again, and my eyes roam to her chest. Fuck, I wanna sink my fangs into them like a pair of ripe peaches.

“Malachi!”

I press my lips together and allow my eyes to travel back up her slender throat, over her fluttering pulse to her bright-blue eyes, which spark with indignation. “Sorry, but you are kinda cute when you’re angry.”

She gasps, her mouth open in shock and her cheeks as pink as her hair. “I… You… Stop trying to distract me. Stop pretending to be nice to me. You’re a jackass just like your friends, and I want you all to leave me the hell alone.” She turns and marches off in the direction of her dorm, her fine ass swaying hypnotically in her plaid miniskirt.

I watch her stomp away for a few seconds before I chase after her, catching up in three strides. “Not gonna happen, sweet girl.”

She huffs. “What’s not?”

“Leaving you alone.”

She stops again and turns to face me, her eyes swimming with tears. “Why?” The word comes out as little more than a whisper.

“Why what?”

“Why won’t you leave me alone? Why can’t you all just leave me alone? I never…” She sucks in a heaving sob, and the sound feels like a blade slicing into my heart. “I’ve never hurt any of you.” Tears run down her cheeks, and she swats them away with the back of her hand. Rain pours from the sky, soaking us in seconds, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “All I want is to be left in peace. Why can’t any of you let me just… be?” She shivers, her thin tank top plastered to her body. “You can all have Penelope and bite all the hot girls you please. I’ll never tell a soul. I swear on my life. But please, please leave me alone, Malachi.”

The plea in her voice breaks me. How the fuck has life made this incredible girl feel so worthless? And how do I even begin to tell her that she’s not? I don’t know how to explain to her that as sure as I know the moon orbits the earth, I know that she is everything.

She doesn’t give me a chance to speak anyway. Spinning on her heel, she offers a quick glance at the dark sky and takes off, hurrying to escape the quad like the rest of the people around us. Except I have no doubt she’s rushing to escape me rather than the rain. I stand rooted to the spot, unable to do anything but watch her leave.

Chapter

Twenty-Three

ALEXANDROS

Nicholas Ashe was once a formidable man and a prominent member of House Chó_ma until he betrayed his roots and his family’s honor to further his own ends. He remains alive only because he was calculated enough to not technically break any oaths made to his father. Now he is the faculty head of Onyx and the sire of many of their vampire pledges. He is disliked by our counterparts at Lapis and Opal as fervently as he is by me. A fact of which he is well aware.

He sits behind the black mahogany desk in his office in the west wing of Zeus Hall, as far away from my own office as possible. “Alexandros, to what do I owe the honor of a visit from such an esteemed colleague as yourself? Surely you are not taking an interest in the Trials this year.” His attempt at sarcasm has no effect on me.

I take a seat without it being offered and glare at him. “I am simply here to deliver a warning, Nicholas.”

He puffs out his chest, making a show of bravado, but anxiety rolls from him like the mist pours down Montridge Peak at the end of every fall. “A warning?”

My jaw tightens and anger bristles beneath my skin. “Did I stutter?”

He sits up straighter, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “About?”

I am taking a risk bringing Ophelia to his attention, but the greater risk would be to allow one of House Chó_ma or their Onyx sireds to bite her. “This is not the first time that I have had to warn your offspring to keep their hands to themselves, and one day I will not be around to intervene and stop my boys from tearing off your commanders’ heads.”

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