Page 126 of Bound in Blood
Oh heavens. Those words, watching these two kiss, and Axl’s hard length nudging into my back… Not to mention the pure heat in Malachi’s eyes as he looks at me like he owns me—which I guess he kind of does. All of it combined has me about ready to implode.
Alexandros releases Xavier’s mouth and immediately captures mine. It’s as if he’s trying to remind us all who’s in control. Not that there’s any doubt. He is always in charge, and we know it. It’s how our happy family unit functions, and we are happy. More than happy, in fact. It took no time at all for all of us to adapt to our new normal—all five of us together and me not being the savior of the universe, just a regular ol’ elementai.
“Can we at least run?” Xavier asks with a groan.
“Moving too fast makes Ophelia feel sick,” Malachi reminds him.
Axl pulls me from Alexandros’s lips and tips my head back so he can kiss me too. The professor growls his frustration, but he has become surprisingly good at sharing. However, he is not one to be outdone. He slips his hand underneath my skirt and tugs my panties aside before dragging a finger through my wet center.
“Always so soaked for us, little one.” He dips the tip of his finger inside me, and my knees buckle so hard, he and Axl are the only things holding me up.
If we must go home, can we please leave now? I’m about to melt into a puddle here.
Axl releases me with a laugh. “Let’s get you to bed, princess.”
The five of us walk hand in hand over the quad toward home. We gave up caring what other people thought about our relationship a long time ago. And our ability to be open about our situation hasn’t been hurt by the fact that the students at Montridge are a lot more diverse than they used to be. The university has been swamped with magical students the past three years: Witches whose powers lay dormant for their whole lives until recently and wolf packs who previously shunned other magical creatures. Even demons have returned to the university. Alexandros thinks it has something to do with the destruction of the Skotádi and all the dark magic they hoarded. Like the removal of so much negative energy has allowed other pockets of magic to flourish. He also says it’s because of me, and that the rebirth of the elementai has restored a balance to the magical world that was absent for half a millennium. I don’t know that for sure, but things definitely feel a hell of a lot calmer than they used to. And my life is a whole heck of a lot simpler now that I’m no longer the most powerful being who ever lived.
My life is unbelievable. I, Ophelia Ilyria Hart—orphan and lover of literature and unicorns, who didn’t have her first friend until the age of nineteen—am adored by my four mates, about to get my degree, and pregnant with a baby girl of our own. So happy I sometimes feel like I might burst.
Of course there are times when I miss the friends I lost, but I focus on the friends I have. Sienna and Osiris; Melody and Shannon, the witch twins from my English class; Jenny, Sasha, and Aaron, the wolves Sienna introduced me to on my second Halloween here; and I can’t forget my best human friend, Emma.
Then of course there’s Lucian—he visits when he’s not traveling the world, more frequently than I think any of us expected he would. Although his soul has found a measure of peace and he is much happier now, I don’t think he’ll ever losehis restless need to wander. He cried when we told him I was pregnant and expecting a daughter, but they were tears of joy, and I have never seen such happiness in him as in that moment. And the most unexpected friends of all, Elpis and Anikêtos, remain in the mortal realm. No matter how far they roam, I am still able to talk to them whenever I need to.
And, if you promise not to tell, I will let you in on a few little secrets, faithful reader.
It still rains when I’m sad.
I can still heal bites from my mates without the need of their saliva.
And sometimes, when I really concentrate and flick my wrists in exactly the right way, I can still summon Dragonfyre.
THE END
