Page 12 of Bound in Blood

Giorgios sighs. “I am sorry for my bluntness, Ophelia, but this is the awful truth we must face. Lucian Drakos must be hunted and killed, but in order to do that, we must find him. You four must give me the time and space to do so using whatever means I have. It is safer and less conspicuous if I make my inquiries alone. There are people in the old country who must know of his whereabouts. I will find the man who killed my brother, but none of you are equipped to face him right now.”

My anger threatens to boil over. I hate feeling this useless. This completely helpless. “And in the meantime, we do what? Sit around here and wait for him to find Ophelia?”

“This is the safest place in the world for all of you. Lucian will not get past these walls, I assure you. My guards are all my sireds, some of them former Ruby Dragon members. They are highly skilled and trained.” I can’t help but wonder if he’s telling us this to warn us rather than make us feel safe, but I don’t challenge him on it and allow him to continue. “And when he finally reveals himself, then we will be ready for him.”

“But we don’t have the time to sit around and wait to fucking die!” Axl shouts, and Ophelia flinches so hard that he immediately pulls her onto his lap and wraps her in his arms, murmuring his apologies for frightening her.

“Then that is your task, at least until I can find some more information about Lucian’s whereabouts. You must find a cure for the deterioration. My library is at your disposal. The books on these shelves are yours to peruse. Please, do all the research you can.”

“Why did he kill him?” Ophelia’s voice is quiet and calm but loaded with a conviction that fills me with pride.

“Pardon?” Giorgios asks, but we all know he heard her.

“Why did he kill him after all this time? Why now?”

Giorgios swallows hard and glances between Malachi, Xavier, and me. When we don’t speak, he finally does. “Surely you know the reason why, Ophelia.”

“Because of me?” Her voice is a mere whisper.

“Yes, because of you,” he says with a solemn nod.

I wind my fingers in her hair, if only to stop myself from going for Giorgios’s throat. “No, not because of you, Cupcake,” I assure her. “Because he is a twisted fuck, that’s why.” Malachi offers her similar assurances while Axl kisses a lone tear from her cheek.

I hate every single fucking thing about this. Every single fucking thing.

“Of course he is responsible for his atrocious act.” Giorgios sighs. “But there is not a doubt in my mind that he did what he did to get to you. Lucian has been to Montridge. He knows who and what you are, Ophelia.”

I sit up straighter and pay closer attention.

Ophelia scrubs her cheeks with the sleeves of her sweater. “He’s been to Montridge? When?”

“When the young wolf girl was killed. That was Lucian.” Giorgios frowns. “Did Alexandros not tell you this?”

I refuse to believe him. Alexandros would never have kept such important information from us. “If he was actually there, close to Ophelia, Alexandros would have told us.”

He scoffs. “Of course, because he has never kept secrets from you before, has he?”

Rage explodes inside me, propelling me up from the sofa and halfway across the room until I have my hands planted flat on the mahogany desk and my teeth bared. “Do not dare to speak ill of him in front of me.”

He growls right back, rolling his neck. “I am simply pointing out that he has kept things from you before, Xavier, not that he was at fault for doing so. Now sit down!”

“Xavier, please.” Ophelia’s sweet voice soothes the feral beast inside of me enough that I return to my seat on the couch beside them.

“How do you know he was there at Montridge?” Malachi asks, keeping a lid on his temper much more effectively than I have, even as I feel his simmering beneath the surface. “The professor told us he thought he might be connected to the attack on the wolf girl, but not that he was there.”

“Alexandros told me so. That Lucian was responsible for warping the two vampires’ minds and causing the girl’s death. But Lucian was there. Watching. Waiting for his moment to strike. I wonder if he was at Montridge the night before last and he followed us, sensing his chance to attack his father whilst he was away from the protection of the university.” He purses his lips like he’s deep in thought, and I comb my memories of the day the wolf girl was killed, trying to remember what exactly Alexandros told us. But it doesn’t matter what he said—anything he did was to protect us. To protect Ophelia.

“What do you think he wants with me?” Ophelia laces her fingers through mine, and when I look up, I see she’s done the same with Malachi. With her in Axl’s lap, she’s touching all of us.

Giorgios looks puzzled, his expression almost amused. “He wants what all magical creatures want from you, Ophelia. Your power.”

“But my power is mine. Surely no one else can have it.”

He makes his way over to us and cups her chin in his hand. Tilting her head back, he forces her to look at him. Only Malachi using the bond to tell us we can’t afford to make a scene when Ophelia is vulnerable stops Axl and me from wrenching Giorgios’s arm from its socket. “You have much tolearn, Ophelia. Your power is so raw, so new, that it can easily be manipulated.”

“But how?” she whispers.

His eyes narrow. “If Alexandros were here, would you not crumble this mountain to dust if he asked you to? If he told you it was necessary?”

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