Page 76 of Promised in Blood

“The more accustomed you become to identifying a breach, the easier it will become. Until you no longer need to be on alert for it. But the only way to do that is with practice.”

He’s such a good fucking teacher. So patient when he wants to be that. I wonder if he was like this with his kids. Did they get a part of him that we never will?

I glance down at his bare chest and the hard ridges of his muscles. It’s also insanely fucking hot when he’s in professor mode. “Yes sir.”

“Concentrate,” he orders. “Tell me when you feel it.”

So I do. I listen to the sound of our breaths and the rhythmic ticking of the clock, waiting for the moment when he breaches that boundary of my consciousness. Minutes pass, and I wait solong that I’m sure I must have failed. And then I feel him. Like a tiny electric current above my left ear. It would be imperceptible if I were not searching for it. “I feel you.”

“Good. Try again.”

I wait, and this time he acts much more quickly. “Now?” I say.

“Why are you unsure?” His voice is gruff and laced with frustration.

“I don’t know. It felt the same, but…”

“But what, Xavier?”

“It felt too easy,” I admit.

He lifts his head from mine, and his smile is like a sucker punch to my gut. “Again.”

I catch my breath, and we go through the process a half a dozen more times. Each time, I’m able to identify the precise moment when he enters my mind. And I feel something monumental radiating from him. Something I am not entirely sure he’s ever directed my way.

Pride.

“Now that you have learned to identify the sensation you feel when your mind is breached, it is time to block me.”

I nod, feeling much more confident than I did ten minutes ago. And he said he won’t try to access the memories I don’t want to relive. Alexandros Drakos is a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them. I trust him. And as I stare into his dark eyes, I realize something.

He is nothing at all like my father.

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

OPHELIA

Malachi and Xavier have their heads close together and are engaged in a conversation that I’m too far away to hear. I am vaguely aware of Dr. Underwood telling me I’m capable of better grades, but I’m too distracted, wondering what the boys are up to. They appear way too conspiratorial for my liking.

“I don’t want to see you waste your potential, Ophelia.” Dr. Underwood raises his voice an octave, dragging my focus back to him.

I nod my appreciation. “I won’t, Professor. I’ll study harder. Promise.”

The corner of his mouth lifts like he doesn’t entirely believe me, but he dismisses me with a wave of his hand, and I head immediately for the boys standing in the corner of the classroom. “Hey.” I bump my arm against Xavier’s. “What are you doing here?” Malachi is my designated chaperone today. “I thought you and Axl had some super important Ruby Dragon recruit business to take care of?”

Xavier flashes me a smirk, his deep-blue eyes raking over my body in a way that makes me squirm. “We did. It’s done.”

I glance between him and Malachi, and my stomach flutters. “So you’re both with me today?” The excitement in my tone would be embarrassing if I didn’t know how much they enjoyed being with me too.

Malachi winces. “Nope. I have to go, sweet girl. Xavier is spending the rest of the day with you.” He avoids my gaze and instead glances at Xavier.

“Oh?” Something feels very fishy here. “What were you guys just talking about so intently?”

Xavier slings an arm around my shoulder and starts to guide me toward the exit. “Nothing for you to be concerned about, Cupcake.”

Malachi still won’t look at me, and the flutters in my stomach turn into an anxious churning. Xavier dips his head and presses his lips to my ear. “And remember, it’s impolite to read our minds without permission, Ophelia.”

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