Forged in Blood: A Dark Paranormal/ Fantasy romance (Broken Bloodlines Book 1)

Thunder rolls and lightning cracks the sky in two before the rain begins hammering on the glass with such force that the old frame rattles. Dark clouds roll in fast, obscuring the vibrant blue of the sky.

Something is happening to Ophelia.

I tune into Malachi and Xavier to figure out what is going on, and as soon as I do, her pain sears my chest as strongly as if it were my own, making me stumble back a step. Her bond with my boys grows stronger every day, and I can feel her more keenly through that than I have felt anyone else before, even those I actually bit.

Baby, what’s happened? Malachi calls out to her. Are you okay?

She sobs her reply, and my own sorrow clouds my thoughts, obscuring the words. But I hear the words elementai and did you know, and my chest grows tight. She knows what happened to her kind. But how?

Come home, baby, Malachi says. You’re not supposed to be talking about that with anyone.

I’m not. Not about me. I’m in the library with Cadence, and I asked if she knew about the elementai. She told me what happened, Malachi. How the vampires wiped them out. Did you know? Did any of you know?

Indescribable rage burns beneath my skin.

Xavier joins the conversation. I’m coming to get you, Cupcake.

No! I order him, aware that she will not be able to hear me. I will get her.

Don’t be mad at her. She only wants to know where she came from. Malachi’s plea echoes through my head. Mad is not a word I would use to describe the intense fury that boils inside me. I warned her not to speak about what she is. But his fear does not warrant a response. My focus is on getting to the library and putting a stop to the lies she is being subjected to. Damn witches.

It takes me less than a minute to get to the library, and her face is a mask of shock when she sees me approach.

“You are leaving.”

She flinches but folds her arms across her chest and glares at me. “I am not.”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

My muscles vibrate with tension. At this moment, I possess neither the time nor the patience for her overt display of defiance. I grab Ophelia’s arm, and her friend gapes at me, horror etched on her pale features. “Yes, you are.” Without giving her another chance to argue, I drag her out of the library and down the short path to Zeus Hall. She finally stops resisting once we enter the building, but I maintain my grip as I lead her to the safety of my office. She keeps her lips pressed tightly together the entire time, her rage boiling inside her like a miniature inferno. Little does she know, her fury has nothing on mine.

I close my office door behind us and keep a tight grip on her arm. My fangs protract with a painful, burning hunger. “I warned you not to discuss what I told you.”

Her brows pinch together in a scowl that does nothing to sate the desire coursing through me. “And I didn’t. I only asked her if she knew about elementai. If you won’t give me any answers, how else am I supposed to learn about them? How to control my powers?”

“I specifically told you⁠—”

“I didn’t tell her anything you told me.” She tries to wrench her arm free of my grip, but I hold tight. Tears fill her eyes. “You said I have power, but I don’t feel it. You said I have to learn to control it, but how do I do that if I don’t even know what my powers are? What I am?” The last words come out on a sob that wrenches something deep inside my soul.

I growl in frustration and mutter a Greek curse.

She blinks and a tear rolls down her cheek.

“I will teach you.” A sigh heaves out of my chest. “But you are not to discuss anything further with strangers. Do I make myself clear?”

“But Cadence is my friend.”

I pull her closer. “Only because she does not know who—or what—you are.”

She yanks her arm so forcefully that I release it for fear she will tear the limb from its socket. She folds her arms across her chest once more, her face flaming with fiery indignation. “Yeah, well, she had some very interesting things to say about the elementai and what happened to them.”

Blinding rage courses through me, and I growl a warning. She ignores me and rubs at the mark I left on her arm.

“What lies did she tell you, little one?”

She flicks her pink hair from her eyes with a toss of her head. Her pulse flutters in her throat, and the pounding of the blood in her veins calls to me like a siren’s song. Her scent makes my mouth water, but it is the defiant tilt of her jaw that makes my cock ache. “How vampires wiped out the elementai. How they wouldn’t stop killing and torturing until every last one was gone.” The accusation in her tone snaps something in me, and I lose the control I have been holding onto since the moment I first sensed her in my house all those weeks ago.

My hand is wrapped around her throat before she can blink. Her blue eyes fill with fear and excitement, and I already know how this day will end. And to my eternal shame, I succumb to my baser instincts, allowing them to take the reins. I push her toward my desk, and the soles of her black boots squeak on the wooden floor as she stumbles backward.

“Shall I enlighten you as to what really happened to the elementai, Ophelia?”

“P-please,” she rasps, her throat flexing under the pressure of my palm.

I drop into my chair and pull her onto my lap. Her plaid miniskirt rides up, exposing the creamy skin of her thighs, and the scent of her pussy clouds what is left of my faculties.

I loosen my grip on her throat, and she sucks in a ragged breath. “Please tell me, Professor.” Her plea claws at the wounds etched deep into my soul.

I cannot tell her. Speaking about the horror of the elementai genocide is too raw, the pain too visceral, even after five long centuries. My free hand snakes up her thigh, and goosebumps break out along her supple flesh. My cock throbs, hardening further at the weight of her pressed against me. I shift my hips, causing my length to rub against her heat, and she whimpers, dropping her hips and seeking more friction.

“Tell me,” she whispers.

“I cannot tell you, little one.”

Her eyes swim with tears. “But you said …”

I press my forehead to hers. “I can only show you.”

Her slender throat convulses beneath my hand, sending a current of electric fire down my forearm. Taking her will be brutal and cruel, but I am as incapable of stopping what is about to happen as I am of stopping the sun from rising tomorrow. It is the end of the world as I know it. An inescapable insanity and the beginning of the end. But it has been an inevitability from the moment I met her.

Her eyes seem to glow with hunger. My gaze trails across her face, over her cheekbones and along her jawline down to her neck. I move my thumb, exposing an expanse of skin at the base of her throat where her vein pulses thick with her blood. My fangs ache, and I flick my tongue over the tips, tasting my own blood when their sharpness pierces my skin.

I run my nose over her neck, inhaling her intoxicating scent, and a whimper tumbles from her lips. Her blood thunders beneath her skin, so tantalizingly close to my lips and my tongue that it hurts to stop myself from tasting her for a second longer. Without waiting for her consent, I sink my teeth into her flesh.

My fangs pierce her delicate skin. Her blood floods my mouth.

I am lost.

Her taste floods every part of me, tying me to her and this moment for all eternity. She permeates my heart, my soul, every cell of my body. I feast on her like a starving animal, a beast that has been caged for too long before finally being allowed to devour the object of its obsession. And she is my obsession.

Euphoric power lights me up from the inside out, sending me into a frenzy. I should force myself to stop before I drink her dry, but I cannot pull away. I want her. I need her.

She runs her fingers through my hair, tugging my head back and arching into my mouth at the same time. Then she moans my name, and the sound crashes over me, searing white-hot desire and the animalistic need to claim her into every cell of my body. I stop sucking and lick the trail of blood dripping down her collarbone. She grinds her pussy against me, and I mutter a curse and free my cock from my pants, basking in the sweet relief of allowing my aching shaft some room. Then I slip my hand between her thighs and tear her panties in half. She gasps, her eyes hooded with desire. And when I lift her to line the crown of my cock up with her entrance, she clings to me.

“You are soaked, little one.”

She takes her bottom lip between her teeth and nods, and it is either an admission or her approval of what I am about to do, but I no longer care. I impale her on the full length of my cock, stretching her tight pussy so wide that she cries out. Her wet heat pulls me deeper, welcoming me as I sink far inside her. Endorphins flood my body, and the euphoria I felt a moment ago from sucking her blood ignites once more, only more dangerous and addictive.

I am going to fucking ruin her, going to take her to the depths of hell. And I cannot bring myself to care.

Her breath catches, and I rub my thumb over the pulse in her throat. Taking me by surprise, she rocks her hips, her tight cunt squeezing around my dick and making fire surge in my veins once more.

Show me! she pleads, her voice in my head stronger than my own thoughts.

I close my eyes and try to block her out, but she is already inside. And that should come as no surprise considering that she has already embedded herself in my heart and soul. Her power is astonishing, and we have barely begun to scratch the surface.

Please. Show me who I am, sir.

My fangs throb to take her once more, and I roll my neck to ease a little of the tension that has turned my muscles to stone. I release her throat and tug her tank top and bra down to expose one of her pebbled nipples. With my tongue, I flick the hard peak and skim it with my fangs, allowing a trickle of blood to coat my tongue. My hands firmly grip her waist, and I rock up into her until her eyes roll back in her head. Then I trail my lips and tongue back up to her throat on the opposite side from where I bit her before, where the wound is already healing. Partly because of my saliva, but mostly because she is channeling some of her own healing energy now too. I feel it flowing through her as though it were my own.

Her scent overwhelms me once more, making my head spin. My own blood pounds a staccato beat in my ears.

“Alexandros,” she moans. I reward her by sinking my teeth into her throat again and showing her the power of who she really is.