SWNOVELS Forged in Blood: Chapter 44
Watching Ophelia’s face light up with excitement and surprise when the server brings her ice cream sundae has me feeling all kinds of things I’m not used to. She was just as excited by her burger and fries earlier too. Malachi told me about their conversation at the house. Learning that she never got to enjoy simple pleasures like going out for a burger made me want to go back in time, find that awkward teenage girl, and take her on a date every night of the fucking week.
“You want some?” She holds a spoonful of ice cream across the table, and I shake my head. I’ve never been into sugary shit, although there weren’t a lot of options back when I was a human.
“You?” She turns to Malachi sitting beside her.
He smiles. “No. It’s all for you, sweet girl.”
“But it’s bigger than my head. Surely you’ll have some, Xavier?” She bats her eyelashes at him.
He scoops some of the ice cream from the spoon onto his index finger. “You know I’m only interested in one kind of dessert, Cupcake.” His blue eyes go dark as he stares at her and licks his lips. Then he holds his fingertip to her lips, and she parts them, allowing him to feed her the dessert.
She swallows, and the pulse at her throat flutters, silently begging me to sink my teeth into her neck. “And what type of dessert is that?” she asks in a breathy whisper.
Xavier leans across the table and cups her jaw in his hand, pulling her closer until their faces are inches apart. “You know what I want to eat right now, Cupcake. And if you don’t stop fluttering your pretty eyes at me, I’ll lift you onto this table and eat it right here.”
Her pupils blow wide. “Eat w-what?”
Sweet motherfuck, how is she still so damn innocent when she’s constantly surrounded by the three of us? It’s so fucking adorable, and it makes me want to corrupt her right here while everyone in this restaurant watches us.
Malachi chuckles.
Xavier dusts his lips over hers and whispers, “Your cunt.”
Ophelia’s face instantly reddens, making Xavier laugh darkly. “Y-you wouldn’t,” she protests.
“I would do it in a fucking heartbeat, Ophelia. You want to push me on it and find out?”
She shakes her head as I silently urge her to push him. Then I won’t be the jackass who ruins our first date.
“So eat your dessert like a good girl and I might wait until we get home before I eat mine.” He releases her chin and sits back against the leather bench.
I lean across the table, my eyes raking over her face, down her neck to her pert tits. I flick my tongue over the tip of my fangs. The only thing I want to eat in this entire place is her. “I might not make it all the way home.”
She presses her lips together and holds my gaze, almost like she’s daring me to do something. And fuck me, I want to pin her down on this table and fuck her until she screams my name all over this restaurant.
Malachi slips an arm around her shoulder. “They’re not playing, baby. You better eat your dessert real quick.”
With her eyes darting between Xavier’s and mine, she licks the ice cream from her spoon, deliberately and seductively swirling her tongue over the cold dessert like a wicked temptress begging to be fucked. Like my cock isn’t hard enough already.
“I will have you ride my face at this table, Cupcake,” Xavier warns her with a growl.
“I second that, princess.”
“I’m not doing anything,” she protests, taking another lick. “Well, except for enjoying our date, which has been incredible, by the way.” She smiles sweetly. “Thank you, boys.”
Malachi brushes his lips over her neck. “You deserve all the dates and all the ice cream you want, sweet girl.”
Her smile grows wider, her eyes full of hope and excitement. “Does that mean we can do this again?”
I can barely stand this any longer. How is she this goddamn sweet? And how is it that making her miserable used to be my greatest pleasure in life? This lifelong bond shit is turning me into someone I barely recognize. Even when I was a human I wasn’t a nice guy. A blackhearted cad, my mother called me. But Ophelia Hart has me wrapped around her pinkie finger. I plant one elbow on the table and curl my index finger, summoning her. “C’mere, princess.”
She sinks her teeth into her juicy bottom lip and leans across the table once more. “What is it?”
I slide my hand to the back of her neck and pull her closer. “I think I will take a little of that dessert, after all.” I lick the seam of her lips, tasting the sickly-sweet residual ice cream before she allows me entry to her delicious warm mouth. I slide my tongue inside, flicking it against hers until a whimper rolls out of her.
How do you feel about being fucked here at this table, princess? I ask through our bond so I don’t have to pull my lips from hers.
She moans into my mouth even as her protests echo in my head.
Malachi laughs and joins our internal conversation. At the table or on the table?
On! Xavier answers for me. Fuck, I want to spread you open and show this entire school who owns your hot pussy, Cupcake.
That would be so fucking hot to watch. And then it would be my turn. I devour her mouth, stealing the breath from her lungs and wishing my head was buried between her thighs.
You can’t, she says.
Pretty sure we can, I retort.
She tries to pull back and break our kiss, but I don’t let her. I hold her in place and pierce the inside of her lip with my fangs. The faintest hint of her blood on my tongue has my own blood racing through my body like wildfire.
I’d rather we just enjoy our date though, she says, her voice breathless even in my head.
Dammit, she’s right. This date is supposed to be about her, not us. Reluctantly, I drag my mouth from hers, already missing the sweet taste of her on my tongue. “You are getting fucked hard as soon as we get home, princess.”
She gasps, her heart racing faster and her pupils blown so wide that her blue eyes look black.
Malachi grunts. “I second that.”
“Not before I eat.” Xavier takes the spoon and scoops up a glob of cherry sundae before holding it out to Ophelia. “But first our girl is gonna enjoy every second of our date, and that includes eating this ice cream sundae that’s as big as her head.”
She rolls her eyes, and I flex my palm on the table, resisting the urge to spank her, kiss her again, or do anything that involves having my hands all over her in any way. Because I am hanging by a thread. Then she parts her lips and accepts the spoon from Xavier’s outstretched hand. I swear, the way she purrs like a kitten when she tastes the ice cream is intended to fire us up.
It’s sure fucking working.
Ophelia rests her chin on her hand. “So, do you guys do stuff like this often? Date stuff?”
“Can’t remember the last time I took anyone out on a date,” Xavier says.
I shake my head. “Me neither.”
“Last date I had was about six years ago,” Malachi answers.
Her pretty face scrunches in confusion. “So you don’t date? Like ever?”
Female attention has never been a problem for any of us. We could bite and fuck our way through about ninety percent of the female population at Montridge if we chose to—probably a quarter of the guys too. But I don’t tell Ophelia that. Instead, I give her a casual shrug. “Never really had to, princess.”
“Never really wanted to.” Xavier grunts.
“But …” She opens and closes her mouth. “You were always surrounded by girls.”
Xavier takes her hand in his and presses a kiss on her knuckles. “Whatever we’ve done with those girls is completely different from dating, Cupcake.”
She swallows hard. “And this … between us all? What exactly are we doing?” Her voice is little more than a whisper.
I tilt my head, basking in her nervous anxiety while she waits for our reply. I guess a part of me can still feel a thrill of excitement from her pain, perhaps because I know her anxiety is baseless and that I’m gonna feel that warm rush of happiness in a few seconds when she realizes what she means to us.
Malachi tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “We already told you we love you, sweet girl.”
I narrow my eyes, watching every micro expression on her face and feeling the sparks of hope and happiness igniting in her heart. “This isn’t close to dating or fucking or anything we’ve ever done before.”
Xavier rubs the pad of his thumb over the back of her hand. “We’re bonded for life, Cupcake. Do you have any idea what that actually means?”
She frowns. “A little, I guess. It’s like you have to be with me and love me, right? Not necessarily that you choose to?”
Wow. That she actually thinks that our bond works like that hurts me more than I thought it would. I shake my head. “You have it all fucking wrong, Ophelia. A life bond isn’t some chance occurrence. They happen for a reason. Only souls who were meant to be together form a life bond as strong as ours with you.”
“But you bonded to me because of my blood, right? Wouldn’t any vampire who bites me feel the same way?”
Xavier’s animalistic growl takes even me by surprise. “No one else is biting you, Cupcake. Ever. Do I make myself clear?”
“I never said I wanted that,” she says with a sigh. “I was just making a point.”
How do I even begin to explain? “Technically it’s true that any vampire who bites you would be bonded to you, yes. But this is … different.”
She blinks. “How?”
Malachi kisses her temple. “We knew what biting you would mean, sweet girl, and Xavier and I bit you with full knowledge that it would bond us all for life. We chose you.”
“But you didn’t, Axl.” Her eyes are fixed on mine. “You didn’t know what would happen. You tasted my blood by accident.”
I run a hand over my face and close my eyes, unable to find the words to tell her how I feel. That’s why I climb over the table and wedge myself in the booth between her and the wall. I need to show her. Once I have her on my lap, I claim her lips in a bruising kiss, not giving her a chance to protest. Into this one kiss, I pour all my longing, my desire to protect her, the way my heart beats faster every time I see her, and the constant aching need to be near her. And she melts into me, letting me take everything she has as I try to give her all that I am.
I pull back, leaving us both wanting more, and stare into her bright-blue eyes. “I wanted you from the moment you walked into that alley, Pyro. I might have been unaware of what tasting your blood would do to me, but I know my own mind. I would do it again in every single lifetime I have just to be with you. You are it for us, princess. There will never be anyone else besides you. Now tell me you believe that.”
She nods, her bottom lip clamped between her teeth, but I already know she believes me. I feel it in her.
Malachi brushes his fingertips over her cheek. “And would you choose us if you had the chance again, sweet girl?”
She smiles. “Every second of every day.”
I bury my face in her neck and inhale her intoxicating scent. “Get the check, Xavier. We’re leaving.”