Page 58 of Forged in Blood

“Does it always rain when you are sad, Ophelia?” The deep, smooth timbre of his voice startles and soothes me at the same time. For the first time in almost a week, I feel a spark of warmth inside me.

I spin on my heel and stare into the face of Professor Drakos. He’s standing inside my dorm room, and I didn’t even hear him come in. He watches me intently, waiting for my reply. “Maybe I’m sad because it’s raining,” I offer.

He looks out the window behind me. “It has rained almost nonstop for five days now. Unusual weather for Havenwood, even in October.”

I shrug. “I’ve lived in this area all my life. The weather’s always been unpredictable.”

He doesn’t reply, but his black eyes fix on mine. Something warm and familiar coils in my gut. I feel pinned in place by his gaze. Is this more of that vampire voodoo? Desperate to break the spell he seems to have me under, I focus on a spot above his head. “Did you come here to discuss the weather, Professor?”

He takes a seat on my bed uninvited, and I should be mad at his intrusion into my life, but all I can think about is how the sinfully delicious Professor Drakos is sitting on my unicorn comforter. My mind fills with the dirtiest images of him sinking his fangs into the most intimate parts of me.

His eyes, darker than the depths of hell, narrow. “But we are not simply talking about the weather, Ophelia.”

“We’re not?”

He doesn’t reply. Instead, he inhales deeply, and a shiver of excitement laced with something unfamiliar shudders up my spine. It takes me a second to recognize that it’s fear. He frightens me, and I don’t understand why. Despite his ruthless exterior and rumored cruel streak, his actions have only ever protected me.

My legs tremble, and I croak, “So why are you here?”

“Axl is sick.”

Well, that was anticlimactic. “I hope he feels better soon,” I say in a dry tone, not really caring one way or the other.

Professor Drakos licks his lips. “Oh, he will.”

That sliver of fear snakes its way into my lungs, making it difficult to breathe. I lean against my desk and grip the edge tightly. “Why are you telling me this?”

Before I can blink, he’s standing in front of me. “Because you are what he needs to cure his sickness, Ophelia.”

I bark out a laugh at the absurdity, and he frowns, no amusement in his eyes at all. “You are…special.”

I snort. “I think we both know I’m not.”

“Your blood is special, Ophelia. He had a taste, and now he needs more. You are the only thing that will cure his sickness.” He looms over me, his eyes burning into mine, and a jolt of something dark and wickedly dangerous ripples through my entire body.

He needs my blood? Oh, the irony of him needing me tastes like poetic justice. Well, pity for him, I don’t give a donkey’s butt crack about him being sick. “So you expect me to let him bite me?”

“Yes,” he says coolly, like it’s nothing to have some evil bloodsucker feasting on me.

I scoff. “No way. I’m not letting any of you freaks drink my blood. I hate you all.”

His tongue darts along his full bottom lip, and another image of his mouth on the inside of my thigh sears itself into my brain like the negative of a photograph. It’s like déjà vu. He leans closer, dipping his head a little so that his warm breath dusts over my forehead. “You let him drink it from your virgin pussy.” The low growl in his voice rumbles straight to my very core.

“That was different,” I mumble, my cheeks burning.

“Why? Because you enjoyed it? I can assure you a vampire’s bite is quite pleasurable.”

I shake my head. “No, not because I enjoyed it. I didn’t agree to let him drink my blood. It was a…” I swallow hard.

“But you knew you were a virgin and must have known there was a good chance you would bleed. You are notthatnaive, Ophelia.”

My face grows hot with shame. “I didn’t think about it.”

“Well, your lack of thinking put Axl in danger. If he does not drink your blood, he will die.”

“Wait, what? He’ll die?”

He gives a short nod, and I suck in a shaky breath. This is all way too confusing. “I thought—they told me vampires could only be killed by having their heads chopped off.”

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