Promised in Blood (Broken Bloodlines Book 2)
Promised in Blood: Chapter 24

Watching Malachi fuck Ophelia face down in the dirt might be one the hottest fucking things I’ve seen in my long life. It’s got both Axl and me so worked up, and I swear I could get off just watching them. A single tug on my rock-hard cock and I’d lose it. But I’m gonna lose it inside Ophelia’s sexy little body—my absolute favorite place in the universe to come. And we can keep a handle on her out here in the woods. She’s already learning so fast. So she set fire to a couple of trees. No big deal. She put it out straight away. Smokey Bear would be proud—no forest fires today. And that means I get to make my girl come.

I glance at Axl, and he grins at me. “You want to take her together?”

He nods. “Fuck yeah.”

“Our turn, Cupcake.”

Malachi presses a kiss on her temple before he pulls out of her, and as soon as he’s out of the way, Axl and I drop to our knees on either side of her. She pants, breathless from the orgasm she just had. The one she’s needed for so long now. It burns me up with jealousy that Malachi caught her instead of me, but the sweet smile she gives me dissolves that feeling as quickly as ice in boiling water.

“We need you on all fours, princess,” Axl says, grabbing her hips and maneuvering her into position for us. Her face is inches from my bulging cock, and I pull down my zipper, groaning with relief as I release the pressure. She looks up at me, fluttering her long dark lashes. I run my fingertips across her cheek. “Do you know what we want now?”

She licks her lips, and my cock jumps in my boxers. “To both fuck me at the same time?” she whispers, her cheeks turning a deep shade of pink.

I cup her jaw and squeeze, desperate to have her pouty mouth around my shaft. “You’re such a quick study, Cupcake. So smart.”

Axl hums. “So fucking smart.” He pushes her skirt up, bunching it around her waist, and then he circles the tight ring of muscle of her asshole.

I snarl at him. “Don’t you fucking dare. That’s mine.”

He laughs wickedly, his finger still teasing her there while he sinks another finger into her pussy. The wet sound of her and Malachi’s cum has me growling with need. “I know, just teasing. You like it too, huh, princess?” he says.

She arches her back, and her mouth falls open on a loud moan. I free my dick from my boxers and take the opportunity to slide the tip into her open, waiting mouth. She immediately sucks on the crown, sweeping her tongue over my weeping slit and filling my entire body with white-hot pleasure.

Unable to hold off any longer, Axl takes his dick out and sinks into her pussy, and the moans of pleasure that he pulls from her vibrate around my entire length, making a shudder run down my spine.

I look down at my girl and brush a tear from her cheek. “I promised you I’d fuck your ass one day, and I meant it. Kai got your hot little mouth.” I wipe a drop of spit from her chin while she goes on sucking me. “Which is very talented by the way.”

She flutters her eyelashes, delighting in my praise. “And Axl got your sweet pussy. So it’s only right that I take your virgin ass. I’d do it here, but I’m thinking we should at least have a bed for your first time.”

Malachi snorts. “You’re such a romantic.”

I ignore him and the sounds Axl makes as he fucks our girl from behind and focus all my attention on her. She rewards me by gazing up at me adoringly while I fuck her throat. “I’m going to make you nice and wet first. Get you all loose and pliable so you can take my entire cock inside your tight little hole. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Yes, she says clearly in my head while she mumbles around my cock.

“You’re a naughty girl, Cupcake. A bad fucking girl running around the woods with no panties just so you can get yourself fucked by three vampires.”

She mewls, her orgasm drawing closer.

“Make her come while she’s sucking my cock, Axl,” I tell him.

He smirks at me before reaching between her thighs and playing with her clit while we both fuck her. The sounds she makes have my cock leaking precum down her throat. She’s so compliant and needy for us. This tiny little powerhouse who could mask her scent just because she read about it in a book.

Axl pulls out and slams back inside her, and she moans so loudly it vibrates through my cock, sending white-hot pleasure through every cell of my body. I have been so desperate for this all day and then after chasing her through the woods, my adrenaline pumping and my fangs and cock aching for her—it all makes this relief all the sweeter.

The ground shakes beneath us, and I should tell her to focus but can’t find the words because I’m too lost in my own pleasure. Thankfully, Malachi speaks to her instead, coaxing her through her orgasm with soothing words. “That’s it, sweet girl, you can do it. Feel it all and channel it inside.”

His commanding voice only adds to the sensation of euphoria hurtling through my body right now. I come hard and heavy, filling Ophelia’s throat with my release. She comes too, swallowing every drop of me as her body shakes instead of the ground with the strength of her orgasm.

And when we’re both spent and have filled her with our cum, Axl and I pull out of her. I swipe the mess on her chin with my thumb and place it in her mouth, and my good girl sucks it clean. “You did so good, Cupcake.”

She smiles at me, so fucking sweet.

Ophelia curls up on Malachi’s lap in the back of the car, her legs draped over me and one of her hands clasped in mine while my other rests on her thigh beneath her skirt. The feeling of dread that balls itself in the pit of my stomach is sudden and violent.

Malachi glances at me. “You feel that too?” I ask.

“He’s so mad,” Ophelia whispers.

“Shit,” Axl mumbles in the front seat.

“We didn’t do anything wrong,” I insist. “We were careful. No one would have felt Ophelia’s power out there.”

“So why is he so mad?” Ophelia asks, squeezing my hand tighter in hers.

“We could ask him?” Malachi suggests.

I shake my head. “No fucking way. We got five minutes until we’re back. I’d rather spend them in blissful ignorance, thank you very much.”

“Or fucking torture,” Malachi groans. “I’m gonna ask him.”

“He won’t tell you anyway,” Axl interjects. “When the fuck have you ever known him to take it easy on us?”

“True,” I mutter.

Ophelia clutches her stomach. “I feel sick.”

Malachi presses a kiss to her forehead. “He can’t hurt you. He’ll be pissed, but he’ll get over it just as quickly, I promise.”

Liar.

“I heard that, Xavier,” Ophelia says.

I brush my fingertips over her cheek. “Because I can’t fucking block you out anymore. You’re already too powerful for me, so you just remember that when you’re getting your ass handed to you in a few minutes, okay?”

Her sweet little giggle breaks the awful tension in the car.

Alexandros is waiting in the den when we get home, his rage so palpable I could take hold of it and fashion it into a weapon to punish us with.

“Exactly how stupid are you all?” he asks, his tone so even and controlled that it makes every hair on my body stand on end. His cold brand of anger is worse than shouting. At least him raging would dissipate some of his temper. Instead, he directs every single ounce of it at us.

I shoot a worried glance at Malachi and Axl while I keep Ophelia’s hand clasped in mine.

Ophelia speaks first. “It was my f⁠—”

He holds up a hand and glares at her, and she clamps her mouth shut. “I asked you all a question.”

I take a deep breath. “Not stupid at all, sir.”

He scowls, his dark features appearing murderous. “Pardon?”

Ophelia trembles beside me, but I tip my chin. I’ll take his wrath for her. “I said not stupid at all, sir. We made sure that no one was around. There was a small fire, and the ground moved a little, but⁠—”

“I am not talking about you animals fucking in the woods!” He roars now, the lid on his temper well and truly blown. I guess I was wrong about the raging thing. I’m certain the entire house rattles on its foundation.

I blink in confusion and see Malachi and Axl glancing at me in my peripheral vision. Meanwhile, Ophelia drops her head, embarrassed. Fuck him for making her feel like that. “Don’t you ever call my girl a fucking animal.”

His eyes turn blacker than the darkest pits of hell. Oh sweet motherfuck, he’s going to kill me. He inches forward, and I flinch.

“It was my fault, sir,” she blurts. “I was so tightly wound after our lesson, and we …”

He trains his fierce glare on her, and she trails off. “I am not talking about you all having sex, Ophelia,” he growls, but his tone is much softer for her.

“So what did we do wrong?” she whispers.

He rolls his neck, the thick vein on the underside of his jaw throbbing. His eyes dart between me, Axl, and Malachi. “You hunted her?”

Oh shit.

“You allowed her to run from you without any thought as to what would happen if you could not find her, just for the sole pleasure of you hunting? Yes?”

“Yes sir,” Axl replies.

Ophelia shifts from one foot to the other. “But I⁠—”

“And you!” he barks. “You thought it would be fun to mask your scent and your emotions to stop them from being able to track you?”

Her heart rate doubles. “Yes sir.”

His cracks his neck, and the noise makes me wince. “And none of you thought this was a terrible idea that could put Ophelia in considerable danger? Not even for a second?”

We all shake our heads, chagrined.

“I have never been so disappointed in any of you as I am this day.”

Ophelia swallows a harsh sob.

“Sorry, sir,” Malachi and Axl say in unison.

But not me. Why can’t I fall into line with the rest of them? Why can’t I just be the person he wants me to be? Because I’m not, that’s why. And I never will be.

“Fuck this. I’m not sorry!”

He focuses all of his considerable rage squarely on me. His eyes shutter closed as he visibly works to stop himself from removing my head, and when he reopens them, he seems to have regained control. He cups Ophelia’s jaw in his hand. “We are all animals, little one. I did not mean to cause you any shame.”

She offers him a faint smile. “I know.”

His sigh is deep and weary. “Go to bed.”

The relief that floods the room is like a wave. But before I can move, he puts a hand on my shoulder. “Not you.”

Double fucking shit.

My co-conspirators cast me a worried glance.

“I said go to bed,” Alexandros orders.

“But what about Xavier?” Ophelia asks, her hand still clasped in mine.

“Xavier and I have something to discuss. Now leave us.”

A second later, we are alone. I stare at him, wondering if this is it. Did I finally push him over the edge? At least with me out of the way, he only has to share Ophelia with Axl and Malachi.

“That you believe me capable of such cruelty does not surprise me, Xavier.” He cuts through my thoughts. “However, that you believe me capable of such cruelty toward you and to Ophelia and your brothers by depriving them of you …” He draws a deep breath through his nose. “That saddens me.”

“So you’re not going to kill me?”

He inches closer, and I feel the heat radiating from his body. It warms me in ways that it shouldn’t. “If I were going to kill you for defying me, it would have happened a long time ago, would it not?”

I shrug, feeling too vulnerable under his scrutiny. “I guess.”

“Tell me what she did in the woods. How she evaded you all.”

I swallow. “She read about a spell that manipulates air to mask scent and emotions, and that’s what she used.”

He hums. “You could not trace her at all?”

I shake my head. “But we could still speak to her. We knew she was safe.”

His anger threatens to boil over once more, and he sucks in air between his teeth. “Anyone could have been masking themselves in those woods. All it would have taken was a moment, and she would have been gone. Within the grounds of this campus, there is a measure of protection, but outside of the boundaries of the university, Xavier …”

I swallow. He’s right, and I hate admitting that we put her in danger simply for the thrill of chasing her. But I don’t need to admit it aloud for him to know.

He sighs. “Her powers grow quickly, and soon she will be teaching you how to control your mind.”

“Yeah, she’s too smart for me.” I give a self-deprecating laugh.

“No.” He shakes his head. “She is powerful and smart, but you underestimate yourself, Xavier. You always have.”

I regard him with suspicion. This feels like a test rather than a punishment.

“Oh, this is a test.” He runs a hand over his beard. “And a punishment.”

He grabs my throat, pulling me close so our chests are pressed flush together. “But if you ever openly defy me like that in front of your brothers again, Xavier, I will not be so lenient.”

I swallow nervously. “Yes sir.”

“Close your mind to me,” he orders.

I frown. I wish I fucking could. “I can’t. You know that.”

“Try.”

I close my eyes and feel him inside my head, searching my thoughts. And now my memories. He flicks through them like images on a cell phone. Going back to my life when I was a human.

My heart rate spikes. “No.” I don’t want to see even a snapshot of that time.

“So stop me.”

I shake my head as he searches deeper, into the darkest recesses and the memories I keep hidden. “I can’t,” I insist.

“Because you are not trying,” he snaps.

My mouth goes dry. My blood screams in my ears. And then I see him. My father. “No!” I shout. Alexandros has seen these memories before, but I feel a sense of shame in allowing him to see them again.

“These are the memories you refuse to relive, Xavier.”

“Yes.” I grit out the word.

“Perhaps we should relive them now?”

My eyes fly open, and I find him staring at me. His expression is entirely unreadable. I shake my head. “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll never question you again. Please don’t do this.”

“Stop me, Xavier. Close the door, and I will not be able to force you to relive them.”

I screw my eyes closed again as images of my father swim through my mind. His face twisted in disgust. The hateful bile he spewed at me. The way he couldn’t even bear to hit me that time, too disgusted to lay a hand on me again. My heart is racing so fast it’s going to beat out of my chest.

“Stop!” I plead with Alexandros, but he keeps pushing, forcing me to replay that horrible day over and over.

“Stop me,” he growls.

I drop to my knees, rubbing at my temples as I try to scrub away the images. “I can’t.”

And he’s there again, screaming at me and telling me how disgusting I am. An abomination he should have smothered at birth. I feel a splinter of wood spearing my skin as he beat me with the leg from the dinner table.

“No!” I scream the word aloud while chanting it over and over in my head, no longer sure who I’m screaming it at—Alexandros or my father. Did I simply swap one monster for another? But at least Alexandros has always been clear about what he is. He’s never pretended to be something he’s not.

You can fight it, Xavier. His voice fills my head.

Tears run down my face. “I can’t.”

I’m being pulled to my feet. Strong hands rest on my shoulders. “Yes, you can. Close the door and shut me out.”

But I’m too weak. Too weakened by the man who haunts my nightmares. The man I called father a long time ago. I’m falling forward, but I don’t hit the floor. Instead I face-plant into solid muscle. Alexandros is no longer in my head, and the memories disappear, locked once more inside the vault I kept them in. Only I didn’t put them back there this time. He did.

I open my eyes, and he’s holding me upright. Disappointment threatens to swallow me whole. I’m such a fucking failure. Maybe my father should have smothered me when I was born.

“You did well, Xavier.” The deep timbre of Alexandros’s voice soothes the tremors in my body.

I didn’t. I let him down. Just like I eventually let everyone down.

He runs a hand over my hair, pulling me close to his chest, and I drink in his unique scent. It is both comforting and intoxicating at the same time. “Next time,” he says quietly. Then his arms are gone, and he walks out of the room.

When I’m sure my legs will carry me, I leave the den and head to find her. To find the comfort that only she can bring me. I crawl into bed and wedge myself between Malachi and Ophelia. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I bury my face in her hair.

“Are you okay?” she whispers.

“I am now.”

“What did he do?” Her voice quivers.

“He just taught me a lesson, that’s all.”

“What kind of lesson?”

Pursing my lips, I will my voice to remain even. “A valuable one.” I drape one leg over her, pulling her into my body like a pitcher pulls his arm into his chest before his best pitch. Pain and regret still linger at the edge of my consciousness. “Tell me you love me, Ophelia.”

She wriggles in my arms, turning until she faces me, and rests her hand on my cheek. “I love you, Xavier.”

I smile, and she does too, pressing her nose to mine. “Love you too, Cupcake.”