Page 13 of Promised in Blood

A shiver of fear runs through her and into the rest of us. “Can’t we just put it back?” she asks, her voice a mere whisper.

Alexandros blinks.“Put it back?”

“My power? Wherever it came from. I don’t want it. I want to go back to being just regular me.”

His lip curls, baring his teeth, and her entire body trembles. Pretty sure my own knees want to give out on me too. “You do notwant it?” He repeats her words back to her, his tone dripping with incredulity.

She swallows. Her heart rate doubles, but she holds his gaze. “I don’t.”

“You are the most powerful being born in over two thousand years, and you do not want it?”

She jumps off the stool and stands toe-to-toe with him, jaw tilted defiantly as she glares up into his face. “Will you stop saying that? I am not the most powerful anything. I am Ophelia Hart. Nobody. Nothing.” A tear runs down her cheek, and she swats it away. “I don’t want any of this.”

His scowl deepens. “You asked for this!”

“I did not,” she croaks.

The pained expression on his face causes a physical ache in my chest. I’ve never seen him so vulnerable. So open to being hurt. “You asked me to show you who you are. You begged me, Ophelia.” His voice cracks on her name.

She shakes her head. “I didn’t ask for this.”

His eyes darken, and the rare glimpse of vulnerability we all just witnessed is already long gone, hidden behind the mask once more. “Regardless, it is a burden we all carry now.” His tone is as cold and detached as his demeanor.

A sob heaves in her throat, and it makes my chest ache. She opens her mouth, but this time she doesn’t have a snappy retort for him. Instead, she rushes from the room. I fight the instinct to run straight after her and allow her a moment to deal with the gravity of everything she’s learned.

“She’s just scared,” Axl says, voicing what the three of us are thinking.

“There is no time to be scared,” Alexandros barks back.

Xavier runs a hand through his thick hair. “She just found out she’s some kind of superhuman powerhouse who’s catnip to every single vampire on the planet. Give her a break.”

I half expect Alexandros to tear Xavier’s throat out, or at least shoot him one of his don’t-you-ever-fucking-speak-to-me-like-that glares, but he does neither. Instead, he turns his attention to the doorway she walked out of. “She has much to learn. Each of you has something to teach her. Her lessonswillstart today.”

We all agree, and he jerks his head toward the door. “Go.”

Xavier and Axl obey immediately, but I hang back. There’s an anxious feeling churning deep in my gut, and I know he knows it too. “It will be okay, right? We can protect her? We can teach her to control her powers, and it will be okay?”

He stares at Axl’s and Xavier’s retreating backs.

“It will, right?” I ask again.

He turns to face me and rests his hand on the back of my neck. “Go make sure she is okay.”

Without argument, I do as he says. If all the years I’ve spent watching Xavier clash against him have taught me anything, it’s that Alexandros Drakos doesn’t entertain insubordination lightly.

Chapter

Six

XAVIER

Ophelia’s cheeks are flaming with indignation. I sit on the bed beside her, and she swats the tears from her eyes and blinks at me. “Sorry if I was an asshat.”

I shake my head. “You weren’t. You’re dealing with some real big fucking changes, Cupcake. You’re entitled to throw a hissy fit if you like.”

She opens her mouth to protest, but I wink at her, and she rewards me with her sweet-as-apple-fucking-pie smile. “So you’re bonded with the professor now too, huh?”

“Yeah. You’re not mad, are you?”

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