Promised in Blood: Chapter 26

Please sir. Ophelia’s soft groans fill my head and rouse me from sleep, but when I open my eyes, I’m in bed alone. Axl and Malachi left some time in the night to set up another operation for our Ruby recruits, and Ophelia is clearly with Alexandros somewhere nearby. I stop myself from replying to her as I feel her climax build to a crescendo.

If I let her know I can hear her and feel her, the surprise we have for her later will be ruined. And as much as I’d like to talk her through whatever Alexandros is doing to her, I’m stopped by the thought of the look on her face if we pull off what I’m planning for later. Without either Malachi or Axl to provide me any relief, I wrap my hand around my aching shaft and squeeze hard, whispering her name like a prayer.

Her keening moan rips through me. What the hell are you doing to her, Alexandros? I ask the question rhetorically.

Eating her beautiful pussy. His deep growl shocks me to my core and also serves to magnify the need throbbing through my cock. I stroke up and down my length, imagining they’re both watching me. Pleasure coils at the base of my spine.

I didn’t expect you to hear me.

I always hear you, Xavier.

I don’t want her to know I can feel her. We want to surprise her later.

He doesn’t reply, and I close my eyes. Pressing my head back against the pillow, I let her ecstasy meld with my own, her moans mingling with mine as I work my cock and wish it was her. Or him. And maybe it’s the pleasure circling in my chest, or maybe it’s feeling her connection with him that makes me bold enough to say it. Tell me how good she tastes.

She tastes just as she always does. Like heaven.

Fuck. How wet is she? I push my luck a little farther.

Soaking. She is dripping down my chin.

Goddamn fuck! I can feel her. She’s so close. I’m so close. Precum beads on the slit of my crown.

And he knows how close I am too. How close we both are, but still he doesn’t lock down the connection between us. He lets me feel it all. Her pleasure. His need. And when she comes with a silent cry of his name, I hear her in his head and fall off the edge right alongside her. Gasping and panting and wondering why my sire allowed me to experience that with him. Before I can ask, he’s closed me off once more.

Malachi is chaperoning Ophelia today, and they left five minutes ago for class. Axl went to shower, leaving me alone with the professor.

“I can’t believe Ophelia managed to keep her exciting news all to herself.”

He takes a sip of his coffee. “I asked her not to tell you yet. I heard a little of your plans last night, so I warned her that she may have to proceed with caution for a day or two.”

His uncharacteristic magnanimity shocks the hell out of me. “You did that for us?”

“And for her. I am sure she would love whatever surprise you have planned for her.”

I picture the kitchen filled with pink girly unicorn shit and a giant sickly sweet cake, all for her—and Kai. She’s gonna fucking love it. “I was thinking a party. We only have a few hours to pull it together, but some cake and some balloons should do it, right?”

“A congratulations-you-are-allowed-to-orgasm party?” he asks, and I am sure I see the hint of a smirk on his lips.

“Can’t think of a better way to celebrate.”

He arches one dark eyebrow. “No?”

Is he kidding around with me? Like actually cracking jokes? This alternate reality I’ve stepped into is fucking bizarre. Despite my confusion, I smirk. “Well, obviously making her come as many times as possible before she melts into a puddle of cum is top of the list, but cake is a good way to start proceedings, right?”

He offers me a casual shrug. “And how do you intend to keep it from her for the rest of the day? Once you tell Malachi, he will be unable to stop himself from letting his emotions spill over. She will read his mind, and your surprise will be ruined.”

“Shit,” I mutter. That is a flaw in my plan. Unless we simply don’t tell Malachi. But he knows we want to do something special. We discussed it before he left this morning. “I guess we’re gonna have to keep him in the dark. Although he’s the one who’ll know where to get all the soppy girly shit.”

“So why not have him arrange the party, and you accompany Ophelia for the day?”

I shake my head. “I know all the plans. If she reads my mind, she’ll know it all.”

He licks his lips and takes two steps toward me until we’re standing only inches apart. “I believe you can block her from your thoughts.”

Is he serious? “Even you can’t do that.”

He scowls, and I almost regret saying that and ruining whatever this pleasant interaction is between us. “I can. I choose not to, partly because I like her in my head and partly because it requires the kind of effort I am not used to exerting on a regular basis.”

“If it requires effort for you, there’s no way I can manage it.”

He tilts his head, eyeing me with curiosity. My heart rate spikes, and I know he feels it, but his scrutiny always has this same effect on me. I’m vulnerable and exposed and turned on all at once. “I have already discussed with Ophelia how impolite it is to read another’s mind without permission unless they are in danger. I believe she would respect your wish not to probe if you asked her. And I also believe you could withstand any accidental attempts by her to read your thoughts if you so desired.”

“I didn’t do so great the other night.” Fresh, hot waves of shame roll over me. Images of my father flash through my mind.

Alexandros places his hand on the back of my neck. His touch grounds and soothes me, and a few seconds later, the negative emotions ebb away. “When I tested you the other night, you were in a state of high emotion, Xavier. Everything is more difficult to achieve when we are in fight or flight mode. And whilst you will need to learn to lock down your mind under those circumstances eventually, perhaps it was not the best environment for you to begin to practice that particular skill.”

Nervous anxiety crackles through my veins. “So what would be?”

His hand drops from my neck, and I shiver at the loss of his touch. “Here, now. No threat. No danger. You are going to block me from your mind.”

Immediately, my heart rate doubles, and I shake my head. “I can’t. I don’t want to see him again. Please, Alexandros …”

“I am not going to delve too deeply, Xavier.” His tone is so calm and soothing that it eases the trepidation enveloping me. “I will simply search your memory of the last twenty-four hours.” He presses his forehead against mine. “To block someone effectively, it is helpful to know when they have breached your mind. Are you able to distinguish that?”

“S-sometimes. When I’m expecting it.”

“The more accustomed you become to identifying a breach, the easier it will become. Until you no longer need to be on alert for it. But the only way to do that is with practice.”

He’s such a good fucking teacher. So patient when he wants to be that. I wonder if he was like this with his kids. Did they get a part of him that we never will?

I glance down at his bare chest and the hard ridges of his muscles. It’s also insanely fucking hot when he’s in professor mode. “Yes sir.”

“Concentrate,” he orders. “Tell me when you feel it.”

So I do. I listen to the sound of our breaths and the rhythmic ticking of the clock, waiting for the moment when he breaches that boundary of my consciousness. Minutes pass, and I wait so long that I’m sure I must have failed. And then I feel him. Like a tiny electric current above my left ear. It would be imperceptible if I were not searching for it. “I feel you.”

“Good. Try again.”

I wait, and this time he acts much more quickly. “Now?” I say.

“Why are you unsure?” His voice is gruff and laced with frustration.

“I don’t know. It felt the same, but …”

“But what, Xavier?”

“It felt too easy,” I admit.

He lifts his head from mine, and his smile is like a sucker punch to my gut. “Again.”

I catch my breath, and we go through the process a half a dozen more times. Each time, I’m able to identify the precise moment when he enters my mind. And I feel something monumental radiating from him. Something I am not entirely sure he’s ever directed my way.

Pride.

“Now that you have learned to identify the sensation you feel when your mind is breached, it is time to block me.”

I nod, feeling much more confident than I did ten minutes ago. And he said he won’t try to access the memories I don’t want to relive. Alexandros Drakos is a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them. I trust him. And as I stare into his dark eyes, I realize something.

He is nothing at all like my father.