Bound in Blood (Broken Bloodlines Book 3)
Bound in Blood: Chapter 36

“You smell so good, princess.” Axl trails his lips down my neck as he pins my wrists on either side of my head.

I giggle, squirming against his grip, trapped between him and the floor. “You’re supposed to be teaching me to fight.”

My protest was feeble at best, and his hand snakes under the hem of my sundress. “So fight me, princess.”

“Ophelia.” Alexandros’s deep voice makes Axl and me bolt upright. Am I in trouble?

He sounds mad, I say to Axl, who mumbles his agreement as we both quickly jump to our feet.

Alexandros arches an eyebrow. “I can hear you.”

I press my lips together and watch him stride purposefully through the room before he takes a seat, and we do the same. “Where are Xavier and Malachi?”

“Hunting,” Axl replies.

Alexandros hums, sucking on his top lip. “I suppose we will tell them later.”

I scooch off Axl’s lap and sink onto the sofa cushion beside him. “Tell them what?”

His dark eyes narrow on my face. “Have you ever met Lucian before you saw him in the cave that day?”

I shake my head. “No.”

He frowns. “Think carefully, Ophelia. This is important.”

“I don’t need to think. I have never met him. I mean, I think I’d remember if I did. He’s kind of …” I chew on my lip.

“If you say he’s hot, I will spank your ass, princess.” Axl’s growl contains only a hint of playfulness.

I roll my eyes. “I was going to say he’s intense.”

“Can we focus, children?” Alexandros barks, and Axl and I turn our attention back to him. I sink farther into the sofa. What have I done to make him think I’m hiding something about Lucian?

He pinches the spot between his brows and sighs. “I am sorry. But I spoke with Lucian a moment ago, and he told me you and he have met many times before.”

“I really don’t remember if we did. Maybe I was too young to remember?” I offer. But why would Lucian lie about that, and why does Alexandros seem so mad at me because of it?

“He also said he tasted your blood.”

The room falls awkwardly silent, and both Axl and Alexandros stare at me. “He has never tasted my blood, I swear!”

Axl snarls. “Fucker.”

Alexandros runs a hand over his beard. “It is possible he made you forget afterward, but I am sure I would have detected his scent if he had ever bitten you before, no matter how long ago it was.”

“And wouldn’t he have had to bond with Ophelia? Or he would’ve gotten sick like I did, right?” Axl asks.

“Not if he tasted Ophelia’s blood before her first menstrual cycle. Elementai cannot be bonded with until they come of age. An evolutionary tactic to prevent babies and children from being bonded for life.”

Ugh! I was twelve when I got my first period. Hardly of age. But I have more pressing matters to deal with. I feel confused and angry and like I’m being accused of something I didn’t do. “I have no idea what the hell he did to me or whether he used his vampire Jedi mind tricks on me afterward, but I am telling you that as far as I am aware, the first time I met him was in that cave in Peru!” I seethe, my breathing growing heavier.

Alexandros walks around the coffee table and sits beside me. After taking my hand in his, he dusts his lips over my knuckles. “I am not accusing you of anything, little one. Nor am I angry with you. But it is an alarming development.”

“Can’t believe he fucking tasted you,” Axl grumbles.

I shove him in the arm. “Hey, jerkwad. It wasn’t like I asked him to.”

He winces like he’s only just realized what a dick he’s being. “I know, princess.” He looks over my head to Alexandros. “Did he say anything else?”

“He was frustratingly vague.” Alexandros focuses his attention on me. “But he did tell me it was the Skotádi who killed your parents. They wanted to indoctrinate you into their cause, but you killed them all before they could.”

“They’re like the evil version of the Order, right?” I ask.

Alexandros tilts his head back and forth. “That would be an overly simplistic yet accurate way of describing them, yes.”

Axl rests his hand on my thigh and squeezes. “Wasn’t Lucian the head of the Skotádi?”

Alexandros leans back against the sofa and rests his arm on the cushion behind me. “He claims he never was and that on the day of Ophelia’s birth, he was trying to stop the Skotádi from taking her.”

“Do you think he’s telling the truth?”

He blows out a breath, looking incredibly tired all of a sudden. I slip my hand into his and lean into him. He drops a tender kiss on the top of my head, and a little of the tension seeps out of him. “I did not detect any deceit in his answers, but then I have learned not to trust my instincts when it comes to my family.”

“Fucker,” Axl says again, his hand still firm on my thigh.

“I suspect he has more answers about Giorgios and his intentions, but for now, it is best not to push him. Whatever the truth, it is clear he has been aware of you for some time.”

“How, though? Did he say anything else about the day I was born? Or how the Skotádi knew I was an elementai?”

His muscles tense, although it’s so subtle I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I weren’t so in tune with him. “What is it?”

He sighs and runs a hand through his thick hair. “It was not that they thought you to be an elementai that drew them to you, Ophelia.”

Sitting up, I search his face for a clue as to why he’s become so evasive. “Then what was it?”

“You have to understand that this has no basis in fact. It was written thousands of years ago and is nothing more than the vague notions of a madwoman.”

Panic settles in the center of my chest. “What notions? What madwoman? What are you talking about?”

“There is a prophecy.” He clears his throat and shakes his head.

My conversations from last week with Enora and Giorgios come back to me, along with what Nazeel Danraath said about how I was something more than an elementai. “About the Chosen One?”

He frowns. “You know about this?”

I explain how Lucian called me that when I met him for the first time and about Enora and Giorgios and Nazeel. With each new piece of information, he grows more tense.

Axl’s mouth hangs open. “So, there actually is a prophecy? About Ophelia? That wasn’t Giorgios making up bullshit to justify what he did?”

Alexandros lets out a weary sigh. “There is a prophecy.”

“What the fuck does it say?” Axl demands.

“I do not accurately recall the full text, but essentially, it speaks of a child borne of fire and blood who will be the world’s ruin or redemption.”

“And they think that child is me?” I whisper the words because the thought of being some kind of savior is insane. Insane!

He nods. “Yes.”

My stomach rolls, and I fight the urge to be sick. This is too much to process. I long for the time when deciding whether to have beef or chicken burritos for lunch was my biggest dilemma of the day.

Axl lets out a low whistle. “Wow. No pressure, princess.”

Alexandros wraps me in his arms and rests his lips on my hair. “You are not anyone’s Chosen One but ours, little one.”

I bury my face against his shirt and inhale his familiar scent while he runs his hands over my hair, and it works to soothe me a little. I had no idea Enora and Nazeel were referring to such absurd notions when they spoke of me being chosen, of being something more than an elementai. Alexandros’s and Axl’s concern emanate from them, and it only makes me feel worse. A few short months ago, I didn’t even know magic existed. And now I’m hiding out in a werewolf’s house with my four vampire mates, trying to learn how to use my powers, speaking to people in other countries with the power of my mind, and being watched over by two dragons. So, if the last six months have taught me anything, it is that anything is possible.

And that is completely terrifying.