Page 5 of Forged in Blood

“Stop her,” he commands, then returns to the girl’s neck.

Malachi Young licks his lips while his bestie, Xavier Adams, flashes me a maniacal grin. I should run like hell, but my legs won’t let me. I’m frozen to the spot, and it’s not fear gripping me. “Let her go,” I say, my hands balled into fists at my side.

The words have barely left my mouth when Xavier and Malachi are at my side. How is that even possible? They were at least thirty feet away. Both of them reach for me, and their large hands easily encircle my arms. I try to wrench myself from their grip, but they’re freakishly strong.

“Get the hell off me,” I snap. “Or I’ll scream.”

Xavier laughs darkly. Psycho! “Ain’t nobody coming even if you do, Cupcake.”

Cupcake? What the …

“Take her back to the house. I’ll meet you there in five,” Axl says, the blond girl cradled in his arms.

I shake my head. “No! What are you going to do to her?”

Xavier tightens his grip on my wrist and runs his nose over the back of my neck, inhaling deeply. “You should be more concerned about what we’re going to do to you.” I look over my shoulder, and he bares his teeth, revealing a gleaming set of white fangs that match Axl’s.

I suck in a deep gulp of air. “What the hell are you?”

Xavier cocks his head to the side and grins. Meanwhile, Malachi curls the end of my ponytail between his fingertips. “Such pretty pink hair,” he says, his voice way gentler than I expected it to be.

“Get the hell off me,” I shriek.

Xavier sighs. “Let’s get her out of here.”

I don’t have a chance to protest further before they start to run. Except it doesn’t feel like running—more like floating really fast. They move so swiftly that the gentle breeze rushes through my hair like a tornado-strength gale. My feet don’t touch the ground, but I see theirs skimming over it. My stomach rolls and my head spins, and the next thing I know, we’re standing in front of a small house at the opening of a cul-de-sac. The house next door has a flag depicting a red dragon hanging from the eaves, so it must be the Ruby Dragon Society house—and the blue dragon on the house across the street tells me it’s for Lapis Dragon Society. Why is this house smaller than the others? Why doesn’t it have a flag? Why am I asking questions that don’t matter?

“What in hell’s name are you?” I ask instead, although I know the answer to that one. What creatures have fangs, drink blood, and have superhuman strength and speed? It all leads to one conclusion. Except for the fact that vampires don’t exist.

“We’re your worst nightmare, Cupcake.” Xavier flicks his dark hair out of his eyes and flashes me a wicked grin.

I twist my upper body, and this time they release me. Xavier jogs up the steps of the wooden porch and opens the door, and Malachi gestures toward it. “After you, sweet girl.”

I shake my head. “No way am I going in there.”

“You can walk or I’ll carry you,” Xavier says, his lips twitching. “And if I have to chase you down and carry your ass in here, Cupcake, it will officially belong to me.”

I blink at him. “What? Is that like some vampire rule or something?”

His grin widens and turns downright wicked at the same time. “Yeah.”

A shiver runs down my spine, and my mouth goes dry. But Malachi’s snort of laughter snaps me from the daze I was about to fall into looking into Xavier’s intense dark-blue eyes. I put my hands on my hips and turn my attention to Malachi. “He’s fucking with me, isn’t he?”

Xavier points to the open doorway and growls, all trace of his grin now vanished. “Try it and find out, Cupcake.”

Given how quickly they traveled across campus, I stand zero chance of outrunning them. But perhaps I can outsmart them.

So just like that, I walk inside the house, putting myself at the mercy of the commanders of the Ruby Dragon Society. The three most popular and powerful—not to mention dangerous—guys at Montridge University.

Chapter

Three

XAVIER

She sure shocked the hell out of me when she didn’t run away. They always run, but not this little bundle of sass. Which is a shame given how much I enjoy the chase. I’d call it sport, except humans don’t stand a chance against our kind. When she rolled back her shoulders and willingly walked through the open door, a flicker of excitement flared in my chest. I do like them feisty, and she smells sweet enough to devour whole.

I guide her toward the basement. This is the professor’s private residence, and he and the three of us are the only ones who live here, so there’s no risk of being caught by clueless pledges. Still, the basement is the best place for her—where nobody will hear her scream. And I do intend to make this one scream.

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