Page 43 of Forged in Blood

“Where the hell are you going?” Axl calls after me.

I ignore him and carry on walking, but a second later he and Malachi fall into step beside me. “Where are you headed, sweet girl?” Malachi asks. “Our car is the other way.”

Tears burn my eyes, but I blink them away. “I can get the bus.”

Axl grabs my forearm, stopping me in my tracks. “Get in the fucking car, Ophelia.”

I tip my chin up and glare at him. “Why her? Of all the girls who fawn all over you, why did you have to like her?”

Axl blinks at me, but it’s Xavier’s sadistic laugh that rings in my ears, and I realize he’s standing with us now too.

“What the hell is so funny?” I bark at him.

He holds onto his side, still laughing like the psycho he is. “You think Axl liked that stuck-up bitch?”

Malachi’s face wrinkles like he smells something foul. “He took one for the team biting her.”

I’m so bewildered. I stare at Axl, hoping his expression might give me some clue as to what’s going on here, but he simply glares at me. “You don’t like her?” Well, of course he doesn’t, he just allowed Xavier to claw out her throat. But I still don’t understand what’s happening.

Xavier presses his lips close to my ear. “He said she tasted even worse than she smelled,” he says, his hot breath making me shiver.

I blink, my mind swimming with questions and my brain fogged with confusion. But Axl’s expression only grows angrier. His jaw tics as he glares at me. “So why did you bite her?” I demand.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he growls.

I shake my head. “Not until you tell me what’s going on. You hate me, but you showed up here tonight and stopped whatever Penelope was about to do. Why? And why did you bite her?”

Xavier snickers. “He only wishes he hated you, Cupcake.” He flicks his tongue over his fangs, which are still on display, and eyes me like a prime rib, giving me an idea to make Axl talk. Or squirm. Either is fine by me.

I arch an eyebrow. “Do I smell bad too?”

Xavier grins. “You smell sweeter than cupcakes, baby. I’d bite you in a heartbeat if it wouldn’t get me in a whole heap of trouble.”

Malachi groans. “So fucking tempting.”

Well, now I have even more questions, but first, Axl. “But he said that I stink.” I jerk my thumb at the wall of vampire muscle towering over me, vibrating with anger.

Xavier grins at Axl. “You told her that?”

Malachi scoffs. “Such a fucking liar.”

Axl snarls and stalks toward their car, calling out over his shoulder, “Go get the fucking bus if that’s what you want to do.”

“Why did he bite Penelope?” I ask the two remaining vampires.

Xavier curls a lock of my hair between his fingers, that wild-ass smile still on his lips. “I think you must know the answer, Cupcake.”

I shake my head. “I don’t.”

Xavier rolls his eyes, but Malachi answers. “So he could know if she had any shady shit planned for you.”

“But why?”

Xavier tilts his head, his eyes raking over my body and making heat bloom between my thighs. “You’reoursto fuck with, Cupcake. Only ours. That means nobody else gets to even look at you funny.”

Malachi stands behind me, and Xavier presses up against my front. Their warmth and proximity make me shiver. “And anyone who tries,” Malachi says with a throaty growl.

“Will regret the day they were born,” Xavier finishes, then he sinks his teeth into his bottom lip. A possessive growl vibrates through his body and into mine.

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