Bloodwood Academy Shifter: Semester Four (Bloodwood Year One Book 4)

by Rae Foxx

  That was exactly what he wanted.

  Well, there was no better way to tell the Queen that Saxon was mine than to fuck him right in front of her messenger.

  “The queen has requested your presence,” Valor said, his voice catching as I ground my pussy against Saxon, letting him sheathe himself deeper.

  God, it felt so good. I couldn’t help the depth of the moan that escaped from me. I was getting close. So close, and with the way Saxon was also twitching, so was he.

  “We will be there shortly,” Saxon said with a grunt, his grip on my hips increasing.

  “Now.” Valor demanded and I smirked, leaning over Saxon and baring my ass to the guard behind me.

  “Come inside of me,” I whispered as Saxon continued to fuck me. “Let your cum drip down my leg as we stand before the Queen. Let her know that you are mine.”

  “Good lord,” Valor said, clearly having heard as he moved to leave, as the rest of my men circled back around us.

  “We’re coming!” Saxon yelled as Valor opened the door, and my vampire announced to everyone exactly what was happening.

  Chapter 6

  The boys pulled on the sleek clothes that they had worn when I had first woken up. Well, all except Saxon. I had shredded his and unless we were going to fashion some kind of Adam and Eve loincloth getup we were out of luck.

  Which I guess was exactly what we were doing.

  "These will have to work for now," Finn said handing me his clean boxers to wear, Howl doing the same for Saxon. Which left my nipples to account for. What I wouldn't give for some red lace right about now. Black velvet from the shirt thing Saxon had been wearing would have to work. Thank god I knew how to make a crop top out of pretty much anything.

  Valor stood outside the door, waiting to escort us to her royal majesty of bitchface. He was somewhere between offended and entertained as I sauntered toward him, boxers and boobs’ strip in place, cum dripping down my legs.

  With the way his nostrils flared I knew he could smell it, Saxon's concentrated aroma, his amazing flavor, seeping from me.

  "We've been summoned?" I prompted, hands on my hips as I waited for him to get out of the way. The disgusted curl of his lip increased as he stepped aside, displaying the hallway like goddamned Vanna White.

  Saxon took my hand in his, his palm hot as it slid against mine, every line and groove of his skin obvious against my own as he pulled me out of the room and down the hall, the others right on our heels.

  When we had first arrived here I had labeled the long hallways as smelling like blood, with the blood of the first vampire running through me that tinny, coppery aroma was heightened, mixed with the scent of rain and chocolate and something so sugary that it was making my mouth water. Howl cleared his throat beside me, giving me a side glance as he smelled my arousal.

  Damn. All this orgasmic blood was causing problems. I had a feeling that Saxon wouldn't be the only one I was going to feast from before these my time was up.

  'You're next,' I mind-whispered to the wolf who was giving me a knowing grin. I could hear him swallow, taste his blood as his pulse accelerated. God, I was pretty sure that this blood was equivalent to Viagra.

  Saxon turned the corner, leading us closer to the source of the beautiful tang of blood that was flooding my senses. I could even hear the low gurgle of blood as it dripped down the steps below the queen's throne, as it pooled and poured and pulsed from something.

  Glug.

  Glug.

  Glug.

  I had never heard a sound like that before. I didn't know where it was coming from or even how blood made a sound like that.

  Then Valor stepped past us, swinging the wide door to the throne room open, Mama on the other side, pulling it the rest of the way and revealing the Queen atop the raised pedestal of her throne, hunched over something out of a horror movie. Her dress was streaked with blood and she lapped at the blood that pooled and gurgled from the massive gash in the neck of a man that she had thrown over her crystal throne. Judging by the blood that streaked over her chin, she had bitten the man wide open.

  "Ah, there you are!" she beamed, playing with the hair of her victim as the door shut behind us, her eyes flicking from Tommy to Finn to Howl and then speeding right to me and Saxon. We stood hand in hand.

  Or rather, to glare at the long lines of Saxon that were coating the inside of my thighs.

  I couldn't help it, smug-ass bitch that I was, I smiled. She had clearly thought that she could intimidate us, could scare us with the bleeding male that was now twitching on her throne, the last pulses of his heart turning him into a jumping fish. Freaky.

  The undead woman's blood-red glare that was flicking between my thighs and Saxon's cock, however, was freakier. Oh, she could smell him, and she was pissed. Read it and weep, Queen bitch of the undead. Saxon is mine!

  "Did you really need to taunt the Vampire Queen?" Mama asked from behind me, causing me to jump. Her face was pale and her eyes gaunt. Howl had said she had stayed with the Queen to bargain or some shit, but she looked more like she had been forced to watch horror movies with her eyes sewn open.

  Considering what we had walked in on, and what the Queen had clearly meant to shock us with, I didn't think she had seen anything close to sane.

  "I'm not taunting. I'm telling her she can't have what's already mine," I hissed under my breath, certain that the Queen could hear me, especially considering that I could hear the last stuttered beat of the mortal’s heart, hear his blood come to a stop in his veins. I swallowed, trying to push the sudden hunger from my mind as I turned back to the Queen, ready to throw eye warnings at each other from across the room.

  It seemed like the logical next step with how many movies I had seen. Instead, I jumped out of my skin and shrieked with a sound that was close to a whimper. The Queen was right there, leaning toward me, licking her fingers like they were blood popsicles.

  "Your Majesty," I recovered as quickly as I could, speaking nice and slow as I gave her my best bow. Nice and low, resulting in more dripping down my legs, and one of my boobs popping free. So much for the strip of fabric holding anything back. As if he could read my mind, Saxon reached over from where he stood beside me, carefully replacing my breast back inside the strip of fabric. The queen's lips twitched, her already protruding fangs dripping like she was a venomous creature.

  “Oh, so you do know how to bow," she drawled, giving me and then Saxon a glare that might as well have been made from daggers. "You would think, seeing as you know how to bow, you would also know how to thank those responsible for saving your life."

  Pissed as hell and she still wanted her ego patted down. You would think she was a baby with diaper rash or some shit.

  "Thank you," I forced a smile and her own spread. Both of us knew that she was not the one who was deserving of the thanks.

  The woman, clad in a red velvet halter dress looked at me, the tip of her tongue grazing along the edge of her fangs. “Hmmm, how are you, dear, with your new power? It’s addicting, is it not? The power that flows through your veins?”

  Saxon’s Adam’s apple bobbed as Katarina leaned in, nostrils flaring as she continued to scent me. A grown-ass woman was smelling me. Okay, that was some weird-ass shit. Katarina ran a pointy-nailed finger down the length of my arm, her tongue running along the edge of her teeth as she did. Moving her finger from my arm to my throat, she leaned in. Still smelling, still tasting. I sucked in a breath when her tongue flicked along the rim of my ear and then down to my collar bone.

  She inhaled and stood back, shivering, like she’d had a fucking orgasm from licking me. My eyes flicked to Saxon who didn’t seem pleased at all about the situation. Join the club, Saxon.

  "You smell delightful. You smell like something that belongs to me."

  "Belongs to you?" I prodded, hand on my chest in feigned shock. "Not sure. It's just me and my guys." I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say, but it had the right effect.

  Katarina his
sed and stepped back; long dress flung behind her. I half expected the lightning storm that Mama had conjured before to surround her and drip blood from the ceiling or some shit. They both seemed like big enough drama queens for that to be a thing. She flung the skirt of her dress around like it was a cape.

  "You would think you didn’t have any gratitude. I should have let you die. Perhaps I still will." And she was back over me, and I was back to smiling.

  God, she was fun to play with.

  Too bad Saxon wasn't going to let it continue.

  “I apologize, my Queen," Saxon drawled like he was some recorded line for a porn star. "We will all be sure to thank you appropriately in the future."

  Dude was lucky I was trying to play this game with the queen, or I might have smacked him upside the head. Instead, I turned and pulled him out of his bow, plastering my body against his in preparation to kiss him... only to have him pulled from my arms like he was little more than a gust of wind. Or controlled by one. I guessed the vampire was as much of a drama queen as I thought.

  “It is those you brought into my court that I am worried about," she whispered in his ear, eyes on me as her arms wrapped around him, hand fanning over his back as she pulled him closer. "You already know how to behave. No wonder she is so taken by you, she seems enamored by any male of breeding. Too bad she has none for herself."

  Bitch!

  'Don't Ivy!' Howl yelled into my mind. I hadn't even realized I had taken a step forward. I promptly took one back, giving her the win she wanted. Her lips curled, her eyes digging into mine as her hips swayed and her pelvis rocked in his direction.

  Gag me with a fucking maggot. I hissed with that same vampire wolf sound I had made before. She jerked like someone was trying to squeeze her out of her skin. Yep, I will fight you. Queen or not, I didn't care. She was so not getting away with groping my mate. Did I need to dry hump the air in her direction so she got the point? He was in me, bitch, because he's mine.

  "A prince belongs with a Queen, not the rabble.” She said it like it was a declaration of war, which would have been fine if she hadn’t gone all medieval incest. I about lost it.

  "I'm pretty sure that’s not how it works. I mean, unless this is the kind of court that allows brother-fucking.' I looked around, and everyone else's lip curled in disgust. All but the Queen, who didn't seem to have misspoken at all.

  "Better than whatever you have been doing." Her smile didn't even twitch.

  I had successfully pissed her off. While laying claim to my vampire might have gone unnoticed, I didn't expect her to relinquish her hold. She wasn't going to forget the smell of him dripping from me anytime soon. I would still get him back, but we had bigger fish to fry.

  Which led us right into Stage Two. Extort Saxon's place and power to build us an army. Well, more of an army. We had the Fae. Or a Fae. After the beat down in the cave, we were going to need more.

  "What we have been doing? You mean fighting my father and facing Nicky and the Nascence book?"

  Katarina's eyes widened at the mention of the book, her eagerness dripping in the air and I took a step forward, refusing to shift my eyes from hers.

  "Saxon came here to save me," I began, holding my ground as she stepped closer, moving around me like she was appraising livestock. "But I came for something more. You have your prince, now give me an army to help you keep him. To keep all of your people."

  "My people? They are not at risk, no matter what that wolf is up to..." She laughed, but I cut her off.

  "It does if Nicky has that book, and if she keeps control of my father. I can see the fear in your eyes, I don't have to tell you that. You know with Oberion controlled by Nicky, your days are numbered."

  Katarina said nothing, she raised her eyebrows and sauntered over, hips swaying to sit on her throne, adding more streaks of blood to her ridiculous dress as she stepped over the body of her meal. With all the fucking blood covering the crystal seat, I was certain she would slip off like a fucking gory-ass Slip-n-Slide, but to my disappointment, she did not.

  “Don't play coy, old lady. I know you know the dangers here. You only have one option here,” Mama said from behind me but I shushed her. We were deep enough in the shit without her loudmouth as a shovel.

  "I would say it is your weak mother who is afraid, child," Katarina said, those scarlet eyes almost black from where she sat. The orbs dangerous as they flicked from me to my mother. She sighed and drank from a chalice set on the arm of her throne; the edges lined with rubies. As she put it back down, a fresh sheen of blood lined her lips.

  "We have nothing to be afraid of if we work together." God, who had stabbed me and made me diplomatic?

  “You should be," Katarina said, leaning forward and smiling at me with red-stained fangs. "The book is full of more than a summons for your father. It is etched with spells and incantations that are pertinent to your death as well as my survival, although perhaps not at the same time.”

  Fuck me. I hope Katarina was proud of her ancient witch ass. That book was causing a shitstorm of trouble for all of us. Pretty standard for a wicked stepmother, which I realized was exactly what she was to me. Weird.

  “So, you want the book?” I guessed, Mama and my mates hissing in shock and anger behind me. Okay, so this whole ‘use Saxon to get an army’ thing wasn't working.

  Seeing as she had left Saxon with me, and was staring at me like I was food, it was the book that she had wanted all along.

  Shit.

  I thought that book in Nicky's hands was bad, and that was without the knowledge of all of the spells and incantations that were etched into it.

  "I do, you get the book to me and I will help you defeat the wolf," Katarina tapped a well-manicured red fingernail against the arm of the crystal throne, making a clicking sound. “Bring me the book, let me know what we are facing, and you have my help."

  I wasn't an idiot; I knew that if we had the book we wouldn't need the vampire or her army. This was a wash, but perhaps I could still salvage it. Get Mama, me, and my mates out of here and away from her ridiculously long nails. We still had the Fae after all; it would be enough, especially if I keep bringing down caves like a badass.

  “Deal," I agreed with a nod of my head. "We will retrieve the book. Anything else we can do for you, your Majesty?” There was no point in trying to hide the snark in that question.

  “No," her smile was now taking up her entire face, the half-moon smile glinting as my blood turned to ice and fear smashed against my spine. "And to make sure my needs are met, Saxon will remain here with me, until you find what I need. You understand, of course.”

  I understood that of course, it couldn't be that easy. Screw ice blood, I had turned into a block of ice dread with a one-way ticket to hell. Good thing I had a demon here to get me there.

  My eyes met Saxon’s across the room, and I saw the fury of his irises reflected with the fire and the redness of the room all around us. We had no choice. This woman and her army would have us fanged and fucked before we could take a breath in the other direction. At that moment, I wished I could speak into his mind like I could Howl’s. I would tell him we were coming back for him. That I wouldn’t leave him with the bloody red queen for a second longer than I had to. I would also tell him that his queen was a pile of fucking maggot puss.

  'I think he already knows that,' Howl growled into my mind, clearly as pissed as I was.

  “Of course, you won’t mind if I stay with him, for security’s sake,” Mama spoke up, and for once in my life, she said something helpful. I wasn't ready to brand it as selfless. What little I knew of my real mother made that impossible. At least Saxon wouldn’t be alone with the snake-tongued bitch. The queen said nothing, simply waved her hand in the air as though she couldn’t care less what Mama did. That seemed to be the general consensus, especially for me.

  With that wave of her hand, the entire throne room went into action. The Queen’s guards rushing forward with their sharp pointy sticks drawn an
d aimed at us. Like a wall of death, they moved at us, forcing us back out into the hall and away from the keep. Toward the task that I was suddenly doubting our ability to survive.

  Damn. Could I have one day where I wasn't battling some kind of life-or-death scenario?

  One of these times I wasn't going to bounce back. But not this one, because one sad-puppy-dog look from Saxon as he was being forced to the Queen, and I was being dragged out the door, I knew I would come back for him.

  I knew I would end the damn Vampire Queen one way or another.

  I really needed to stop adding villains; this was getting out of control.

  Chapter 7

  The ground was shifting underneath us.

  Every step felt like we were walking on quicksand. Of course, part of that had to be Tommy's fault. He had used his black smoke to transport us here and had misjudged where the floor was, leaving us to freefall about ten feet before we landed on the uneven rock and sent everything shifting and groaning below us.

  I had always been scared of quicksand since I watched that movie as a child, the one with the boy who lost his horse, but being on a rocky ground, with a groaning ceiling, who knows how far below ground, which may or may not have a school on top of us... I would rather lose my horse to quicksand.

  “The last time I saw the book it was over there.” I pointed into the dark, toward the shafts of dim light that was pointing towards what had been a dais not too long ago.

  "Over there, in the most unstable ground, right below that giant crack in the ceiling?" Howl said, eyeing it, concerned that it was going to come down on us any second. With a groan, the stone decided to give right then, it was sure doing its best to warn us that we were inches away from death.

  "Yeah." I swallowed the word as I stared at the ceiling, waiting for it to shift and end us all.

  "Okay," Finn said, his voice more confident than his face was letting on. I didn't think it was possible to put wrinkles in that perfect face, yet there they were. "Let's go check it out."