Chapter 18: Forged in Blood: Chapter 16

“Shh! I told you it’s a secret,” the girl whispers, her cheeks red with indignation.

Penelope makes an exasperated sound and flicks her long blond hair over her shoulder. We’re standing in line in the dining hall inside the Commons, the one place I can’t seem to avoid her, not even when I come outside of regular mealtimes like I did today. Thankfully, we don’t have any classes together, but she’s in here every time I come. It almost seems like it’s her personal mission to make me as uncomfortable as possible. As I do whenever I’m near her, I feel her disgust for me emanating from her pores, and my skin prickles with anxiety from the moment I see her until she’s out of sight again.

From the corner of my eye, I see her glance my way, her lip curled in a sneer. “Don’t worry about her, she’s nobody.”

I drop my head and stare at the floor, shuffling as far away as possible without moving past the cash register while I wait for the employee to finish getting my order together.

“So tell me more about these trial things. They’re full of hot guys, right?”

“Penelope!” the other girl admonishes.

Penelope laughs her snooty little laugh. “Relax, Madison, there’s nobody here to hear us.”

Rude bitch. Still, I want to hear more about the Trials, so I keep my gaze averted, pretending my boots are the most fascinating thing in the world.

“Yeah, well, I told you I’m not supposed to tell anyone,” Madison whispers. “I could get Caleb in a lot of trouble.”

Penelope drops her voice to a whisper now too. “If there is some kind of secret society Olympics full of hot guys on this campus, wild dogs couldn’t keep me away. If you don’t tell me, I’ll just sniff them out like a piggy looking for truffles.”

I stifle a snigger at the image that metaphor conjures and strain to hear Madison’s reply.

She sighs dramatically before she answers. “Just meet me outside Urania Hall Saturday night at ten.”

The employee comes back and shoves a brown paper bag at me. I snatch up my lunch and pay before hurrying out of the dining hall, my mind buzzing with questions about Trials and secret societies. And I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t see him until I literally walk into—and subsequently bounce off of—his solid chest. I stumble backward, but he stops me, circling his strong fingers around my wrist. Goosebumps break out over my arm.

“Watch it, Cupcake,” Xavier says, his lip curled in a faint sneer.

“S-sorry,” I stammer, trying to wrench free of his grip.

He licks his full lips, flashing me a hint of his fangs. An unexpected and frankly unwelcome shiver of excitement runs up my spine, and he laughs. It’s mocking and cruel, and my cheeks flush pink. I yank harder, desperate to get away from him.

He rubs the pad of his thumb over the pulse point on my wrist, and I swear my veins fill with electricity. “I can feel your blood racing through your veins, Cupcake. I bet you’d come in your pretty little panties if I bit you right now.”

I squawk a feeble protest that only makes him laugh harder. “Let me go!”

He releases my wrist but continues to loom over me, fixing me with a fierce glare. His eyes smolder and darken like coal from the pits of hell, and he steps closer. His solid form is mere inches away, and the heat from his body warms me all over, enveloping me. The flush on my face races down my neck and chest, and his eyes follow the path before landing on my boobs. I suck in a shaky breath.

“You’re hot,” I whisper, by way of explanation for the heat spreading across my skin.

He licks his lips, his eyes still on my chest. “Thanks, Cupcake.”

I roll my eyes. “I didn’t mean … I expected vampires to be cold.”

His gaze travels back up to meet mine. “Nope. Hot-blooded. Hot-tempered. Hot-as-fuck in every way.”

“Humble too, huh?”

That earns me another dark laugh. He dips his head, skimming his nose along my jawline, and I remember what Axl said about vampires being driven by scent. And how I stink. My aroused flush turns to shame, and I shrink back from him.

His growl is low and deadly. “Watch where the fuck you’re going in the future, Cupcake.”

I draw in a shaky breath but lift my chin. “I could say the same about you.”

He hisses, and his warm breath dances over my neck, causing my heart rate to spike alarmingly. It feels like time has stopped and there’s no one in this entire world but him and me. And now my legs are trembling too. The space between my thighs is growing hotter and wetter with each passing second, and he’s going to know.

“Tell me about the Trials,” I blurt.

He steps back, his face a mask of confusion, and I take the much-needed opportunity to regain some self-control. “What do you know about the Trials?”

I shrug. “I heard someone talking about them is all.”

His eyes narrow. “Who?”

I hesitate for a second, but then I realize I have no reason to keep Madison’s secret, so I tell him what I overheard her saying to Penelope.

It’s his turn to shrug. “Never heard of a Madison or any Trials.”

A strange swell of contentment encompasses me at the knowledge that he doesn’t know Penelope well enough to know her friend, but I don’t buy his ignorance of the Trials for a second. “So there isn’t one happening Saturday night, then?”

He grinds his jaw until the thick vein in his neck throbs. “You stay away from anything to do with any Trials, Cupcake. They’re not the place for little girls like you.”

Well, now I only want to know more. “But you just said you didn’t know⁠—”

He grabs my jaw tight, cutting off my sentence. Tears leak from my eyes. “You will forget what you heard, or I will make you forget.” His dark eyes bore into mine so deeply I feel like he’s piercing my soul. “Do I make myself clear?”

Not a chance in hell, I think, but I nod meekly.

“Words, Ophelia,” he growls.

My breath gets caught in my throat. I don’t think he’s ever used my actual name before. “Yes!”

He lets go of my jaw and taps the side of my face with his palm. “That’s a good little cupcake.”

Before I can say anything else, he strolls off, and I stare after him, rubbing at the ache in my jaw.