Page 32 of Blood

He’s hard as hell.

I can see the distinct outline of his cock tenting the front of his basketball shorts.

“Interesting,” I murmur dazedly.

Alex mutters something I can’t quite hear and attempts to turn his hips to the side. “Stop fucking looking!” he barks.

I can’t help but tease him. “So, how long did you watch my little show before you decided to wake me up?”

“Violet...” His voice holds a note of warning, but it doesn’t scare me the way it once would’ve. If anything, my body turns radioactive, fire rushing through my veins and lighting an inferno in my belly.

“Alexander...” I mimic his serious tone, loving the way his cheeks pinken with anger.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Don’t call me that,” I mock.

“Violet, seriously.”

“Violet, seriously.”

Alex cocks a pierced eyebrow. “Really? You’re copying everything I say now? Real mature.”

I also attempt to lift an eyebrow, but since I’m still half asleep, I sort of end up making a scrunched-up face at the necromancer instead. “Real mature.”

Alex rolls his eyes and opens his mouth to retort—

Before abruptly snapping his lips together and whirling toward the window of the motel. Tension ripples down his spine, made all the more evident by the sudden stiffening of his shoulders. His abrupt change in demeanor has me crawling out of bed and attempting to smooth down my rumpled dress.

“What is it?” I ask softly.

“Shhh.” Alex keeps his attention fixated on the door. He slowly inches toward one of the god-blessed daggers we’ve kept on hand in case of an emergency. “I think there’s someone here.”

I give him an incredulous look. “Why do you say that? I have superior hearing and vision and don’t—”

As if the universe itself is giving me the middle finger and a smug F-U, a brick is tossed through the motel window, shattering glass in every direction.

On it are the words “DIE VAMPIRE WHORE.”

Well, then.

I stand corrected.

Alex gives me a look that so eloquently says, “I told you so,” before reaching for my hand.

“We need to go through the window in the bathroom. I think—” Alex breaks off with a curse when two monsters barrel roll through the now open window.

The first is a hydra—though it’s not like anything you’ll read about in the classroom. It’s the size of a large dog and has the body of a dragon, with bioluminescent red scales that shimmer in the artificial lighting. Each of its three heads also resembles that of a dragon, though the one on the right wears a top hat and bow tie, the middle head has a pink ribbon between its reptilian ears, and the final one wears a baseball cap backward and sunglasses.

The second creature is a...well, I don’t fucking know what it is. It has the head of a crocodile, the frontal body of a majestic yellow lion, and the rear of a hippopotamus.

But one thing that’s the same for both monsters? The distinct rune etched onto their necks.

Zeus isn’t even trying to be discreet anymore. What’s the point of hiding his insidious marks if we all already know the truth?

“Shit.” Alex grabs my hand and begins to race toward the bathroom just as all three heads of the hydra begin to roar. Correction—kind of roar.

The top hat head gurgles, the pink ribbon one giggles and then gives a flirtatious roar, and the third simply says, “I don’t feel like doing this shit. Can’t we go to the mall?”

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