Page 46 of Forged in Blood

Spreading her thighs wider open, I allow my gaze to linger on her center, which glistens with the evidence of how much she wants us. I drag my pointer finger through her folds, causing her to whimper into Malachi’s mouth. “You’re soaked for us, Pyro.”

Her thighs tremble, and white-hot anticipation shudders up my spine. I’m so eager to taste her. Fuck her. Make her scream my goddamn name. From the moment she caught us in that alley, she has belonged to me. To us. Our little pet to toy with as we please. And toying with her like this… it’s the best kind of torture. I inch the tip of my finger into her tight cunt, and her hips buck while she cries out. The sound is swallowed by Malachi, who keeps his lips sealed over hers while he squeezes her breasts and rolls her hard nipples between his finger and thumb. Trailing my lips up her inner thigh, I growl, aware that I’m going to devour her whole once I get a taste of her. I’m going to make her come on my tongue and then fuck her hard.

I edge my finger deeper inside her, groaning at the way her tight heat squeezes around me. She wrenches her lips from Malachi’s, and her cry is full of pain and pleasure. Exactly what I love to hear. I swirl my tongue over her pulsing clit and sink my finger deeper, and she goes on moaning until Malachi captures her mouth in another forceful kiss. Working my finger in and out of her tight channel, I feel her juices run down into my palm while I suck on her clit. Closing my eyes, I savor the taste of her, my tongue dancing over her flesh until it joins my fingers at her dripping entrance.

Her arousal coats my tongue, and pleasure surges through my veins. She’s sweeter than nectar. Like nothing I’ve ever tasted before in my life.

Fire burns through me. Fire and power. Unsurpassable, transcendent, life-affirming power. Feeling invincible, I bask in the incomparable rush and wish I could live in this singular moment forever. Her juices flow down my throat. My fangs pulse painfully, and my tongue is coated in more than just the flavor of her cum.

“Alastair!” Alexandros’s voice slices through me, and the fiery grip of his rage curls like a vise around my heart. My head snaps up, and I lick her blood from my lips. How did… I know for fucking sure I didn’t bite her.

Ophelia gasps, scrabbling for the covers to hide herself from him, but I already know without looking that Alexandros’s eyes are firmly on me. I tasted her blood. And it was like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my life.

I spin around. “I swear I didn’t bite her.”

He bares his teeth, but he must know I didn’t bite her. If I’d disobeyed him, he would have already torn my head from my body. I glance down at my fingers and notice a faint line of red streaked over my knuckles. Holy shit. Ophelia being a virgin was a plot twist I didn’t see coming. But all I can think about is her blood thundering in my veins and how the slightest hint of her taste has lit my insides up with pure euphoria.

Alexandros scowlsat me from across his study, his face darkening with rage. “You disobeyed me, Axl.”

“I did not! You ordered me not to bite her, and I didn’t. But you didn’t sayanythingabout fucking her. I swear I had no idea she was a virgin. I didn’t know she’d bleed. If I had…” I run my tongue over my lip, and the mere memory of her taste has my own blood coursing through my veins like lightning-laced wildfire.

He scrubs a hand through his hair and sinks into the worn leather chair behind his desk. “I warned you, Axl. I warned you not to… You should not have tasted her.” He shakes his head, a thick vein pulsing in his neck. He’s livid, but fortunately for me, he seems distracted by something else.

I’m unable to shake the uneasy feeling that whatever happened here tonight has fundamentally changed something, even if I have no idea what or why. I inhale a shaky breath.

He pinches the spot between his brows and sighs. “And before you brought her here? What happened at the river? I felt your rage. All of you.”

Fuck. With the whole Ophelia thing, I’d forgotten about that added complication. I crack my neck and take a deep breath. “You remember you said we weren’t supposed to let anyone else fuck with her or taste her?”

He plants his elbows on his desk and leans forward, his dark eyes narrowed to slits. “Yes.”

“Well, that girl, Penelope—” I pull at the collar of my T-shirt and twist my neck. The faculty doesn’t take kindly to us killing the humans. Not unless it’s necessary. This was necessary. All I can do is hope he sees it the same way. I roll back my shoulders and look him in the eye. “She lured Ophelia to the river tonight. The bitch was planning to kill her, sir. My best guess, she was gonna make it look like a suicide.”

That sure gets his attention. “She was planning to kill Ophelia?” His voice vibrates with unsuppressed rage, and the unguarded reaction fills me with relief. Maybe he won’t punish us for the lives we took tonight.

“They went to high school together, did they not? Did she have anything to do with the incident before the fire?”

“Yeah. She humiliated her in front of the whole school at the school play or some shit.” I still can’t fucking believe how juvenile it was. Who gets that angry over something so trivial? I’m a fucking vampire with anger issues, and I don’t even get it. “The fire started after that. Funny thing is she transferred here two weeks after school started. And she was the one there the night of the fight too.”

He gives me a single nod. “I recall. So where is this girl now?”

Here goes nothing. “In pieces in the parking lot out by the crystal caves. We’re gonna go back and clean up. Make it look like two car wrecks.”

He hums, giving nothing away yet. “How many people were there?”

“Five.” Pausing, I swallow. He might not tear me a new one because of the humans, but this could be the thing that tips him over the edge. “Two of them were Onyx pledges.”

As I expected, this is a more problematic turn of events. His outward demeanor remains calm, but his rage grows palpable in the small room. I close my eyes and take another breath to tamp down my own frustration before I look at him again. “What were we supposed to do? Let them kill her?”

He inhales a deep breath, his nostrils flaring like he’s trying to keep himself from ripping off my head. Or at least tearing out my throat. Fortunately, he does neither. “I will speak to the faculty heads about the humans. And Professor Ashe about the pledges.” His voice drips with the fury he’s suppressing, but he knows we did the right thing.

He also knows there is something special about Ophelia, and I suspect he knows what that something is. For some reason, he’s withholding that information from us, and after over two hundred years with him, I have zero doubt that he’s doing what he feels is best for everyone—especially Malachi, Xavier, and me.

But I’m starting to chafe at the secrets he’s keeping from us. From me. “What the hell is she, Professor?”

He runs his tongue over his lip, avoiding my gaze now. And my question.

I persist, undeterred. “She’s not human. I’ve never felt a rush like it.”

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