by Ginna Moran
Berkeley kneels in front of me, his eyes darting over every inch of my exposed torso, assessing the damage. He probes at the rod impaling me with his fingers, his face twisting in rage, his fangs extending longer than I’ve ever seen them.
“Give her blood, Aspen,” Berkeley commands.
“But the headmistress is—”
Berkeley snarls. “Do it, now.”
Aspen bites his arm and holds it to my lips, the scent of his blood prodding at my very nature. I latch my fingers to him, sucking harder, making him moan in the process.
“Surrender, brother,” a masculine voice calls through the air, distracting me from Berkeley lacing his fingers around the rod. “If you surrender, we can salvage our standing.”
“We won’t need to. I know something that’ll change everything,” Dawson says, grinning from Hudson’s arms. “Just look at her. Look at Fiona. See it for yourself.”
Panic tightens my chest. This is exactly what Ivo wanted. He wanted everyone to know what I was so that I’d have to fight. There is no way in hell that I’ll just accept a fate other than one of my choosing.
Hudson unsheathes a blade and holds it to Dawson’s throat. “Shut up.”
“You’ll have to kill me,” Dawson says with a growl.
A figure materializes behind Hudson. “Mr. King, release Mr. Knightly to me. His indiscretions will be heard of in front of the board. As leading coven of the Academy of Vampire Heirs, the Knightlys have given me word that they will do what is necessary to maintain their status. I will take over from here.”
Dawson snaps his head back and releases a loud laugh at the same time Berkeley pushes the rod completely through me. My screech draws everyone’s attention my way, and I squeeze my eyes shut in case my dhampir side decides to reveal itself.
Hudson shoves Dawson away to help Torrance from his place on the ground. More vampires materialize out of nowhere, surrounding us in a small circle, mostly security personnel. I heave a breath, fury pulsing through me at the sound of Dawson chuckling again.
“See, Fiona. Look how many it took to save you.” Dawson’s mocking voice digs into me. “Come on, now. Open your eyes.”
Aspen doesn’t have the chance to tighten his grip before I break free. I move faster than I have ever before, the movements enough to stop anyone from reacting. Hudson tries to intercept me, but Dawson thrusts the headmistress out of his way to beat him to me. I crash into Dawson, sending him back, but he flips over and crushes me to the ground.
“Fi!” Berkeley yells.
Dawson grabs my hair, yanking my neck to the side. His fangs extend, and he jerks down to bite my throat. Swinging up, I punch him in the face so hard that one of his fangs lodges in my knuckles, and I break it free, causing him to scream. I shove him off, only to launch on top of him. I pin him to the ground, catching my eyes flashing silver in his wide gaze.
Warmth engulfs my hand, and the scent of Dawson’s blood leaves me gasping. Silence falls over the world around us.
“Fiona, please,” Berkeley says, coming closer. “You can’t kill him. It can’t be you.”
“Control Ms. King, Mr. King. It seems Mr. Knightly and his coven have a lot of explaining to do.” The taps of heels click across the pavement. “Now, which one of you was it? Who transitioned Fiona?”
Transitioned me? Shit. She doesn’t know what I am. She’s assuming like the Kings first did that I’m a vampire.
No one says anything to her.
“Who transitioned her?” Headmistress Rasmussen repeats.
“No one. Now get her off me, and I’ll explain,” Dawson says, locking his fingers around my wrist.
Headmistress Rasmussen inches closer to me. “Ms. King. Let him go. If you do not, you’ll face some consequences that I’m sure you’d rather die than experience.”
“Fiona, please,” Hudson says, helping Torrance move closer. “We will take care of him. We have laws. His coven surrendered. If you do this, we might not be able to protect you.”
Except I can’t just let Dawson go. He knows too much. The Kings have too much faith in their laws, laws I never expected to follow. This is more than about me and them. This is about the future everyone wants to use me against. I can’t let that happen. I won’t. I don’t need protecting. I need someone to stand with me. And I’d like for it to be the Kings. I want it to be them.
I shake my head. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“Ms. King!”
Sinking my hand deeper into Dawson’s chest, I lace my fingers around the squishy organ lodged with bone fragments. Dawson’s eyes widen, fear stealing away his cocky smile. The Kings surround me, not letting anyone come near. They don’t stop me either.
It’s in this moment that I realize that they’re truly on my side. They know the repercussions of my actions. They know what can happen. Yet still, here they are, backing me up.
I remove Dawson’s heart and squeeze it between my fingers, my strength pulverizing it into mush. The weight of my actions catches up to me at the sound of cacophonous growls reverberating through the air, sinking into my body to vibrate deep in my bones.
I fall over into Hudson’s arms, and he cradles me against him, automatically biting his arm to give me some of his blood. No one moves near, but I feel the burning stares scorching across my skin.
“Mr. King, that will not work,” Headmistress Rasmussen says to Hudson, her voice piquing with curiosity. “She needs donor blood, though I’m not sure I should allow it.”
“Allow me to explain, Headmistress.” The tenor of Mr. Jimenez’s voice cuts through the air, setting me off. “Fiona is not a vampire. She’s a dhampir, and more lethal than I have ever imagined. She has killed three of our best students on this campus, and according to Mr. Nowak, she was sent here to destroy the academy.”
“What?” I say, breaking away from Hudson’s arm.
Mr. Jimenez flashes his fangs at me. “You have to kill her. If you don’t, I will.”
Chapter 22
Not a Donor
BERKELEY, TORRANCE, AND ASPEN RUSH Mr. Jimenez. He doesn’t even have the chance to react before Berkeley holds him by the hair and Torrance severs the instructor’s head with the discarded sword. Blood splashes over me, and I stare in shock. Hudson catapults us to our feet, and his brothers return to surround us.
“Head to the west wall,” Hudson whispers. “We’ll leave through the tunnel.”
Headmistress Rasmussen appears in front of us, flashing her fangs. She places her hands on her hips instead of unsheathing a hidden weapon. Despite her small frame, the Kings don’t try to attack her.
“If you leave, you’ll be expelled from the academy. Blood Life Corp will outcast you from the territory,” she says. “All inherited assets will be given to the school, including Ms. King’s contract.”
“We won’t let you hurt our girl,” Aspens says, releasing a growl.
“If you try to take her, I won’t be given a choice.” She meets my gaze. “But if you stay, perhaps we can work things out.”
“How?” Berkeley asks.
“Return to your suite and wait for my call.”
The headmistress disappears with the guards and the rest of the Knightly brothers, leaving us alone with the two vampires we killed. The four of them quickly engulf me in the best hug of my life, sandwiching me between their arms. My muscles loosen, my breath finally slowing. While I’m confused as hell, I can’t help but feel relief.
The four of them finally let me go after a quiet few minutes, the night air making me shiver as it cools my clammy, sticky skin. Hudson unbuttons his dirty shirt and drapes it over my shoulders while Torrance helps me stick my aching arms through the long sleeves. Berkeley hunches down in front of me, doing his best to wipe away the blood staining my skin to get a better look at my beaten, bruised, and wounded body.
“This is incredible,” he says, touching the small hole from the wrought iron bar. “She’s healing faster than a donor given blood does.”
�
��I still think she should drink more,” Hudson says, shifting closer. “Now. From me.” Opening his arms, he meets my gaze like if I don’t hurry, he might die from anticipation.
I wobble a bit, my injuries and exhaustion catching up with me. The adrenaline coursing through my veins dissipates, leaving me feeling weak and utterly human despite the burning swirling through my stomach, begging me to throw myself at Hudson.
I don’t have to because he scoops me off my feet and picks me up. Our bodies meet, our bare stomachs touching together as he adjusts my legs around him. He brings his lips to mine and kisses me softly, combing his fingers gently into my hair to hold me to him for a moment longer.
“If that asshole wasn’t already dead, I’d murder him for his blood coating your chin. I need to get you cleaned up immediately,” he says, wiping his hand across the smear of blood my kiss left on his face.
“I’ll kiss her. I don’t fucking care if she bathes in our enemies’ blood. I just want her close,” Torrance says, stepping behind Hudson. He leans over his shoulder and sees if I’ll meet him halfway for a kiss. I do.
“Are you okay? I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him sooner,” I murmur against his mouth.
He groans. “You’re not apologizing to me for my failure to protect you.”
I smile. “No, I’m apologizing for not saving your ass like I should’ve.”
Chuckling, he kisses me again. “Let’s not make a habit out of this. What happened to staying out of trouble so that I could enjoy my time with you?”
I shake my head and roll my eyes. “You can’t ask such impossible tasks of me...which leaves me wondering. What now? Why didn’t they force us to go with them?”
“It’s a test,” Berkeley says.
“A test? How can we be tested on something with tasks that force us to fail no matter the answer we pick? She said if you leave, our lives are basically over. But if you stay...I can’t. I can’t stay. She knows what I am.” I rest my head on Hudson’s shoulder so that I don’t have to look at any of them. “I have to go.”
“Fiona,” Aspen says softly. “We have to talk about this.”
“I’m not letting you leave and ruin everything you guys have worked for. I’ve ruined enough of your lives.” I close my eyes, my heart clenching with my words. It screams at me for saying such things out loud. For daring to put it through something I don’t want to happen.
“Come on, love. Don’t make me get all sentimental on you,” Hudson says. “You didn’t ruin...much.”
Laughter bubbles in my throat. “Back at you, Hudson.”
He hugs me closer. “And you can’t expect us just to let you go. We already planned a future together. I’m pretty set on you giving me your virginity.”
I lean away and pat his cheek. “How much time do you think we have now?”
He play-growls at me. “Don’t tease me.”
Four chimes ring through the air as their com devices go off. Berkeley pulls his out of his pocket and looks at the screen. His face twists with his worry, and he glances from his brothers to me and then to the broken fence behind us.
“Fiona,” he says, touching his hand to the small of my back. “I’m sorry for this.”
I puff out my bottom lip. “It wasn’t your fault. I’m healing. I’ll be okay.”
He swallows, his Adam’s apple bouncing with his nerves. “That’s not what I’m apologizing for.”
Cool dread runs down my spine as his unsaid words ignite panic inside me. I press my hands into Hudson’s chest, but he only shifts me to grip me tighter.
“Hudson, please. Put me down,” I say.
He buries his face in the crook of my neck. “I’m sorry, love. I can’t do that.”
I wiggle in his arms, not wanting to full-on fight him. “I need to go. Please. Please. I can’t stay here.”
“We’ll figure this out,” Aspen says. “The headmistress—”
My heart falls into my stomach at his words. “She’ll kill me.”
“We don’t know that,” Torrance says. “All we know is that if we go, it’ll be worse.”
“And you’re our girl.” Berkeley takes me from Hudson. “We’re not letting you leave without us. I’m sorry, Fi. You have to stay.”
***
The second my feet touch the floor, I shove Berkeley to get him away from me. He doesn’t even budge an inch while I nearly eat shit, ricocheting off him. Torrance grabs me before my ass hits the floor and hugs me to him, restraining my arms in the process.
“If you don’t put me down, I will bite you,” I say, my nose pressing into his sweet skin.
“Then bite me,” he says. “Whatever you need to do to calm the hell down, do it.”
I groan and graze my teeth to his shoulder. I don’t actually want to bite him to punish him or anything, but I’m fucking upset. “That makes me not want to bite you.”
He relaxes a bit. “Good, because I’m injured as hell and don’t know what to expect.”
“Give her here. She can bite me,” Hudson says, extending his arms out. “I need to make up this bullshit to her.”
I swing my attention at him and glare. “Biting you isn’t going to make much of a difference if I get killed or caged.”
“We won’t let that happen,” he says.
I struggle in Torrance’s arms until he relents and puts me on my feet. “And what do you plan to do? That asshole Ivo ruined my life. The elders ruined my life. I don’t think you understand the extent of this. Mr. Jimenez knew things I didn’t. So did the Knightlys. They called me an eternal blood source.”
“What are you talking about? Ivo? What did he do?” Berkeley says.
It’s now that I realize we’re not alone in our suite. Rylie sits in utter silence, watching us from the couch. Ivo lays face-first on the floor in front of her like someone mind manipulated him to sleep and just tossed him inside.
Rylie pales at Berkeley’s question, at the fact that she falls under the Kings’ scrutiny.
“If I tell you, you four better stay in control,” I say, sucking my bottom lip into my mouth. “I mean it. If you think I’m mad at you now...”
“Mad? Mad at what? Us saving your life? Us not wanting to see you do something insane? Us refusing to let you break our bond? What kind of mates could we possibly be to let you go so easily?” Torrance’s anger surprises me. It’s not the first time he’s called me out.
“Knock it off, Torrance,” Hudson says.
“I have every right to be angry at her too,” he snaps.
Hudson flashes his fangs. “Well, save that shit for later. We have more important things to deal with than your hurt feelings.”
“Hudson,” I warn. “You need to chill too.”
Berkeley growls. “Everyone, my room. Now.”
One second I’m in the living room and in the next, my back hits Berkeley’s bed as Hudson tosses me onto it. I chuck a pillow at him, and he lets it hit him in the face and glares at me like I’m the one in the wrong. The tension between the five of us nears peak level, and I’m afraid something will happen or they’ll say something that will bring out the worst inside me.
Berkeley hands me a glass of his blood, the scent so fragrant that my stomach complains that I better hurry and gulp it. “As hot as you are feisty and bitey, I need you to stay in control. It’s one thing to attack in self-defense, but to act out in anger is another. You need to be as least threatening as possible, Fi. If the Blood Life Corp board and the academy think otherwise, we’re going to face things we’re unprepared for.”
I chug the glass of his blood, swallowing it so quickly that I don’t even enjoy it. Holding out the empty glass, I say, “I need more.”
“I got it,” Hudson says, biting his arm.
“No, she can have more of mine.” Berkeley fills up my glass. “You’re acting far too...desperate to take care of Fiona that I worry you might do something stupid.”
“Stupid like what exactly?” Hudson presses his hand over his arm to stop the
bleeding.
Aspen looks at him. “Run away with her.”
“Try to murder the headmistress,” Torrance adds.
Berkeley gives up on the glass when I hold it out again and joins me on the bed to pull me onto his lap. “Possibly blow up the academy.”
“Don’t think this will distract me,” I mumble, sucking hard enough that I turn him on in the process. “And I want Hudson next.”
Hudson releases the sexiest noise. “See, look what you guys did. Now she wants to test me.”
I pull my mouth away and smile. “I’m ready for you.”
He flares his nostrils. “Damn it. She’s even sexy with your blood all over her face.”
I can’t stop thinking about what Hudson’s brothers accuse him of. They’re afraid he’ll let our bond get to him. He obviously thinks I’m his weakness, despite knowing that I’ll do whatever I can to get them all on my side.
“If you can convince your brothers, I’ll let you give me blood in the shower.”
“No,” Berkeley, Aspen, and Torrance say in unison.
Hudson fake-glowers at me. “So, so naughty. You better save that thought for later.”
I sigh and flip off Berkeley to land face-first on his bed. “You guys are pissing me off. You know there probably won’t be a later.”
“If you keep wasting time trying to use Hudson’s horny-ass in your favor, then you’re probably right, Fiona.” Torrance turns his back on me.
“Someone’s moody,” I mutter under my breath.
“Because you can’t get that this isn’t just about you. You think you’re the only one in jeopardy, but so are we. We need you to stop thinking like all is lost and remember what you are and what you’re capable of, especially with the four of us here with you.” Torrance growls under his breath. “You might not be a vampire, but you’re also not a donor. If we strategize things right, we might be able to persuade the headmistress into ignoring Mr. Jimenez’s declaration about why you were supposedly here. We just need proof.”
I roll over and get up, feeling like crap for not just hearing them out and assuming the worst. But it’s hard for me to think any other way than the way I was raised. I’ve been told hundreds of times that if my secret got out, it was over.