SWNOVELS Forged in Blood: Chapter 31
Rain pounds against the roof of the history building like it is trying to get to me. Perhaps it is. I close my eyes and try not to think of the reason for the twelve inches of rain that have fallen since last night, but she is never far from my thoughts.
It has been that way since the moment I met her. But now, after last night, I have been consumed with questions that I lack the desire to know the answers to. Yet I cannot stop asking them.
What is she? Why does her soul call to mine like it does? Who is responsible for Ophelia Hart’s attendance at this institution? And given what happened with Ronan two weeks ago and the girl from her high school last night, who else knows what she is and wants her dead?
I looked into Penelope Nugent, and yes, she had a cruel streak. Not unlike most humans, in my experience. But murdering Ophelia seems a step too … unhinged. The only thing that makes sense is that someone was pulling her strings.
The door to the classroom opens, and I snarl at the man who steps inside. I was expecting his visit, but that makes him no less unwelcome. Nicholas Ashe marches toward me, his hands balled into fists. “Tell me that your feral offspring didn’t have anything to do with two of my pledges being in a car accident last night.”
I slip my papers into my briefcase and shrug. “I could tell you that, but I would be lying.”
He slams his fist down onto my podium. “That is against the rules of fair play and you know it, Alexandros.”
The rage inside me has been relentless in its pursuit to be let loose lately. I stretch my neck and will it to subside. Experience reminds me that it can only be held at bay for so long before something has to give. I need some form of release. Something more than feeding from a willing but bland, faceless victim and making them forget after. “Your pledges stepped out of line, and they suffered the consequences.”
“Out of line?” he says with a snarl. “Your vile hell spawn—”
Not giving him a chance to finish that sentence, I cut off his airway with a firm grip on his throat. “You utter one more word about my boys and I will tear out your throat with such meticulous precision that it will take your body months to heal.”
I push him backward, and he growls, rubbing at his reddened skin. “We are two pledges down, and you have the audacity to come at me? What the hell! Are you so afraid of losing that you would stoop to evening out our numbers this way? I had no idea that you’d be so threatened by Onyx having more pledges than you.”
“You could have five hundred pledges and Ruby Dragon would still win. It is the way it has always been.” I take some small pleasure in his increased heart rate and the rage he feels at his own impotency. As head of the Onyx Dragon Society, he has a lot of power within these walls, but not where I am concerned. The knowledge that I choose not to tear off his head, despite having every right to do so given his past indiscretions, is always enough to keep him firmly in his place.
“I demand to know what happened. Why is it that your sons broke the rules that are there for the protection of all?”
I shake my head. “There is no rule that says pledges are not to be dealt with when they misbehave, Nicholas. It is only once they are turned that they are offered such protections. While they are human, they are fair game.”
“Fair game, you say?” He runs his tongue over his top lip. “Does that go for your pledges too?”
“You could try, but the Ruby pledges are neither misguided enough to get in anyone’s way nor are they stupid enough to fuck up so spectacularly as to come to the attention of three powerful vampires the way that two of yours did last night. You have my word that their punishment fit their crime.”
“And just what was their alleged crime, Alexandros?”
I inch closer, a warning growl rumbling in my throat. “They tried to take something that did not belong to them. I warned you to tell your offspring about the pitfalls of playing with my boys’ new pet.”
He blinks. “This is about the girl with the pink hair?”
The girl who continues to draw more and more attention to herself without even trying. “Yes.”
“But I did warn them. The pledges were … I didn’t know they weren’t supposed to …” He trails off because he knows this is a fruitless argument. He fucked up.
I scrutinize his face for telltale signs of deception but find none. If indeed someone is using the members of Onyx to bring about Ophelia’s downfall, I doubt that Nicholas is aware of it. He lacks the power and capability to hide such intentions from me. Perhaps it goes deeper than the society and involves House Chó̱ma itself.
“That you failed to warn all of those in your care is no concern of mine, Nicholas.” I pick up my briefcase and brush past him, not wishing to be drawn into any kind of discussion about Ophelia. About the girl who felt like lightning in my own veins when Axl tasted her. About the girl who I already know will bring about my ruin. “Turn the lights off when you leave.”