Ensnared: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Academy Bully Romance (Royals of Sanguine Vampire Academy Book 2)

by Sofia Daniel

“What?” I blurted. “You can’t—”

  “Alicia, don’t interfere,” said Raphael. “As soon as Lava kills me, we’ll be even.”

  Sweat broke out across my brow. Was this a bluff to get Ponytail to release me? It could so easily backfire. “What about Dante and—”

  “You’ll have to stop them from taking their revenge,” he said with a tremor in his voice. “I killed Kush and Micalla because they framed me for the werewolf. Make sure everyone else knows that, so Lava doesn’t get into trouble.”

  Tears sprang to my eyes. Why was Raphael so noble when he could overpower her and get rid of the problem?

  Raising his palms, he took a tentative step toward us. “I need an oath from you that you won’t hurt Alicia once I’m dead.”

  “What’s wrong?” she said. “Don’t you trust me?”

  “I won’t proceed otherwise—”

  “I, Lava of the Noble House of Preta, do solemnly swear not to kill, maim, or harm Alicia Stephens after exacting my revenge on Raphael of the Noble House of Stryx. This I bind with the blood of my ancestors.”

  A shudder ran down my spine, and I glanced in the direction of the door. Someone, anyone needed to come in right now and stop this ridiculous bargain.

  “Raph.” My voice broke. “Please don’t—”

  “It’s the only way to keep you safe,” he said. “Please take care of my brothers when I’m gone.”

  In all the shock of Raphael volunteering to die, my magic had retracted back into my body. I squeezed my eyes shut and poured all my energy into Lava’s empty, star soul chakra.

  But nothing happened. Despair filled my heart, and I choked back a sob.

  “Give Alicia to me,” said Raphael. “I need one last kiss before I die.”

  “Take her.” Ponytail released my neck and shoved me toward Raphael.

  As I stumbled forward, a rush of air knocked me aside, and Raphael screamed. I landed on my hands and knees, scrambled around to see what had happened, and met Raphael’s wide, green eyes. His face froze in a rictus of horror, and he stumbled back against the wall.

  A broken chair leg protruded through his chest.

  “Alicia,” he croaked.

  Lava stood back and gaped at Raphael. “Sorry.”

  I rushed toward him, tears filling my eyes. In a moment, he would burn from the inside-out, just like Micalla had when I had plunged the stake in her heart.

  But Raphael continued to stare at me.

  I closed my eyes and examined the magic in Raphael’s chest. A tiny ball of fire swirled around his heart chakra, and the barest glimmer of light appeared in the soul star chakra above his head. His soul was returning to his body. A sob tore from my throat, and tears spilled down my cheeks. He didn’t deserve such a slow, torturous death.

  Fury filled my heart, fast and black and incandescent. I turned to Ponytail. “Your sister was a worthless, vindictive rapist who didn’t deserve an ounce of compassion.”

  The other girl’s eyes hardened. “But she was my sister.”

  “Raphael didn’t deserve to die!” With every ounce of my rage, I sent power into her empty soul star.

  Ponytail flew across the room, her heart chakra spinning like a fireball. She screamed, but the sound morphed as flames tore through her insides. Flinching at the onslaught of power, I pulled my magic into my body, but it was too late. The fire spread across her insides, reducing her to embers.

  Dante and Nero burst into the hut, their eyes blazing. Their rapid movement caused the husk of what used to be Lava Preta to fall into a pile of ash.

  “What the hell happened here?” asked Dante.

  “Lava…” Raphael slumped against the wall. “Alicia… killed… her.”

  Nero stepped into the room. “We need to get him to the infirmary.”

  “No!” I shot out both palms. “If that chair leg grazes even more of his heart, he’ll burn from the inside-out.”

  Dante’s nostrils flared. “Then we’ll get Dr. Grannus to come here.”

  Nero grabbed my arms, his desperate, dark eyes staring into my soul. “The only way we can save him is if you initiate the mating bond. Right here, right now, and in blood.”

  Chapter 19

  Nero’s proclamation hit me like a fist to the gut. The thought of a vampire’s fangs piercing my jugular vein made sweat break out across my skin.

  I turned to Raphael, who slumped against the storeroom’s stone wall, his arms slack, his green eyes glassy. The chair leg protruding from his chest moved with each labored breath.

  I didn’t need to use my third eye to know he was close to death. Not when the veins beneath his skin darkened to a shade of fiery red. He had sacrificed himself to Ponytail’s wrath to save me.

  Dante stood at the doorway, his aquamarine eyes stricken. He held onto the frame as though it was the only thing keeping him upright.

  I turned to Nero, whose ebony eyes bore into my soul. “What do I—” The words died in the back of my throat. “How do we do this bond?”

  Nero held my forearm. “Raph needs to drink your blood, and you need to drink his. Then you exchange vows. I’ll give you the wording.”

  Fear rippled through my insides, the force of the emotion so intense, I swayed on my feet. But I clenched my teeth, pushed aside those feelings, and raised my wrist to Nero’s lips. “Bite me.”

  With a nod, he retracted his fangs and wrapped his hands around my forearm. My frantic heart jumped into my throat, and I jerked my head away, not wanting to see him pierce my flesh.

  Two scratches later, he said, “It’s done.”

  I rushed toward Raphael, watching blood bead on the twin puncture marks. By now, a network of darkened veins crawled across his face, glowing and pulsing as though the merest breeze would set everything alight.

  His rasping breaths filled my ears, the sound making my flesh pucker into goosebumps.

  “Drink.” I pushed my bleeding wrist to his lips and clenched my teeth.

  Raphael didn’t move forward to feed on my blood. Nero stood behind me and wrapped his hand around my forearm. He held the back of Raphael’s head, pressed my wrist into his mouth, and gave my arm the kind of hard squeeze that would send blood flowing out of my wound.

  A gasp slipped from my lips, and I forced myself to stand in place, waiting for Raphael to suck. Some of my blood dribbled onto his lips, and some spilled down his chin.

  “Raph.” My voice broke. This wasn’t working. He was too far gone to even recognize my blood. “You have to drink it.”

  Dante appeared on Raphael’s other side and wrapped one hand around his brother’s jaw and forced Raphael’s lips open. More of my blood drizzled into Raphael’s open mouth, and I held my breath, hoping this would work.

  When Raphael’s lips clamped around the wound, and he sucked on my wrist, I nearly collapsed with relief.

  I swayed on my feet. Nero’s strong arm around my waist held me upright as Raphael drew on more and more of my blood. Intellectually, I knew that humans gave blood all the time, but something deep within me couldn’t abide the thought of feeding a vampire.

  But this wasn’t feeding. Raphael needed my blood because he had put himself in the way of an enraged vampire who wanted to kill me. If people could donate blood to the Red Cross to save the life of an anonymous person, couldn’t I give my blood to Raphael to help him survive a chair leg to the chest?

  Of course, I could.

  Sucking in a deep breath, I straightened my back and turned my head to Raphael. The veins marring his beautiful, pale skin receded, and a faint flush colored his cheeks.

  Warmth spread through my chest. “It’s working.”

  “Raph,” said Nero. “Do you think you’ll be able to say the vows?”

  Still feeding on my blood, he gave us a soft nod.

  “Alicia,” said Nero. “Repeat after me: I, Alicia Stephens, do by blood and magic accept Raphael of the Noble House of Stryx to be my mate.”

  While Raphael continued to feed, I stuttere
d out my vow and turned to Nero for direction.

  Nodding his approval, he added, “In doing so, I will accept no other save those of Stryx blood and only those of Raphael’s choosing.”

  Without pausing to decipher their meaning, I repeated the words.

  “Hold him steady.” Nero paused for Dante to brace an arm around Raphael’s neck and another beneath his ribcage. Then Nero pulled my wrist away from Raphael, who tried to lurch forward after my blood. “Raph, repeat after me.”

  Raphael’s eyes rolled around in their sockets. “The blood—”

  “No more blood until you do as I say!” Nero’s commanding voice made me jump. “Repeat after me. I, Raphael Striga of the Noble House of Stryx, do by blood and magic accept Alicia Stephens to be my mate.”

  Raphael’s tongue swiped at the blood that had spilled on his cheeks. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

  “Raph!” Dante barked. “Do you want more blood?”

  “More,” Raphael rasped.

  “Then repeat after Nero.”

  Nero had to repeat the vow, this time, breaking it down into smaller chunks, so Raphael could say the words. Eventually, Raphael finished, and Nero grabbed his brother’s wrist.

  “You have to take his blood.”

  “How do I—”

  Nero bit Raphael’s wrist and held it to my lips. Two drops of blood beaded on his pale skin. “Do it.”

  I clamped my mouth on the wound and drank. Unlike Nero’s blood, which had tasted spicy, Raphael’s blood reminded me of wood sap, strong and stable and sweet-smelling, much like an ancient forest. I lifted my gaze to meet his green eyes, which shone with both recognition and admiration.

  When I closed my eyes, the soul star chakra over his head shone like the sun. I dropped his wrist and staggered back into Nero’s arms. “That can’t be right.”

  “What’s wrong?” asked Dante.

  My gaze roved over Raphael’s peaches-and-cream complexion and down to the chair leg protruding out of his chest. I swallowed hard. “Raphael has a soul.”

  Raphael tilted his head down to the wood and frowned. “That really hurts.”

  “Don’t move,” said Dante. “We’ll get the doctor to—”

  Raphael yanked the chair leg out of his chest and flung it across the room.

  A scream tore from my lips, and I jerked back into Nero’s arms. Blood seeped out of Raphael’s wound, then an iridescent layer formed over the blood, which turned papery, and then transformed into flesh. I glanced up at Raphael, who gave me a warm smile.

  “Thank you, Alicia. Without your blood and vow, I would have burned into ash.”

  Dante stepped back, his eyes wide. “Are you sure you’re al—”

  “Fucking hell,” Nero snapped. “You could have killed yourself!”

  Raphael’s smile widened into a grin that made his forest green eyes shine like a leaf reflecting the sun. “Thanks, brother. You always know what to do.”

  I turned to Nero, my heart still galloping a frantic beat. Something so simple shouldn’t have pulled Raphael from the brink of death, but it had.

  “How did you know it would work?” I asked.

  Shaking his head with disbelief, Nero drew a trembling hand through his dreadlocks. “The most powerful vampire bonds require blood. Tanar confirmed this when he offered to exchange blood and vows to make you his mate.”

  My throat dried. “If you knew this, why did you—”

  “Why did I let you spend those evenings trying to bond with your magic?” He placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and squeezed. In a softer voice, he added, “It was our threat of drinking your blood that frightened you into expressing your power. I couldn’t demand it of you.”

  Dante wrapped his arms around Raphael, his voice hoarse. “You needed to come to that conclusion by yourself.”

  “Thanks for giving me time. Being bitten wasn’t so bad.” I raised my wrist to Nero’s lips. “We may as well complete the bond before returning to the academy.”

  Nero strode to the door, at the exit, he turned around and said, “It won’t work.”

  “Why not?” My arm flopped to my side.

  “You and Raph bonded because you’d previously had sex,” said Dante.

  My throat dried, and I glanced out of the storeroom. The sun hadn’t completely set, and the faintest hint of orange glowed behind the trees outside. I licked my lips and thought fast. We had less than an hour or so before Captain Tanar would be ready to give the werewolves an audience.

  “Then we’d better have sex.” Remembering that Dante had once joked about anal, I turned to him and said, “We don’t have much time to waste, so you two will have to do it at the same time.”

  Dante frowned. “Are you sure?”

  “I don’t know how Captain Tanar is going to react when he discovers Lava is dead. But things will be better for us if we have our full powers.”

  In the blink of an eye, Dante scooped me into his arms and held me to his chest. “We’ll need lube for what you’re suggesting.”

  I gave him a sharp nod, and he sped out of the storeroom into the much warmer woods. As the cold, pine-scented wind rushed through my hair, I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder.

  The next thing I knew, we stood in front of the marble fireplace of their suite. Huge flames flickered and popped over half-burnt logs. I pulled off my blazer and tossed it on the fire.

  Dante slid off my tie and threw it on the flames. “Take everything off, and I’ll clean all traces of Lava from the room and hallways.”

  “What about the storeroom?” I whispered.

  “There’s a stream nearby. Nero will clean it up and make it look like Lava left.”

  I dipped my head and unbuttoned my shirt, not wanting to dwell on why the boys seemed knowledgeable on covering up the murders of vampires.

  Dante also undressed, his blue eyes burning like incandescent flames. The heat of his gaze burned away the anxiety of the day’s events and sent a sizzle of excitement across my skin.

  Once I had removed every scrap of clothing and placed it on the fire, he scooped me into his arms and walked across the marble room and pushed open the bathroom door.

  Warm, humid air swirled around my naked body, making my nipples tighten. I snaked my arms around the smooth skin of his broad shoulders and murmured, “Are we going to wait for the others?”

  “We need to start right away.” Dante continued alongside the pool to the showers at the end of the room. He stepped under the one on the right, next to the teak bench, making water stream out from the sunflower-shaped shower head above.

  My heart pounded—both in anticipation of having sex with Dante and in response to the trouble ahead. I’d killed a vampire with my magic, something I hadn’t known was possible until I had seen Ponytail burst into flame. At the same time, I’d helped Raphael restore his soul. Right now, I couldn’t tell if that meant he was a sun-walking vampire or mortal, like me.

  Dante’s lips crashed onto mine, and his tongue delved past the seam of my mouth, devouring me with an urgency that made my head spin and my knees buckle. His strong, muscular arm held me upright while he continued to plunder me with hot, desperate kisses.

  When I broke away to catch my breath, he nipped and sucked and kissed my jawline.

  “Dante,” I moaned. “Don’t stop.”

  “Not even the most powerful vampire lord could get in the way of me fucking you,” he murmured into my ear.

  The bathroom door opened, and a moment later, Nero’s spicy, masculine scent filled my nostrils. His broad body pressed into me from behind, and the growl that reverberated against my back made my nerve endings shiver with delight.

  He was already hard, with an erection that ground against my ass. I writhed back, imagining that gorgeous length filling, stretching, and massaging me to distraction.

  “Fuck, Alicia, I’ve waited for this moment forever.” His large hands cupped my breasts, and he rolled my nipples between his fingers, send
ing sparks of pleasure to my throbbing clit.

  Dante’s kisses traveled down to my neck, which he lavished with open-mouthed kisses. I threw my head back and moaned. This was more pleasure than I could bear, and the slickness gathered between my folds seeped down my inner thigh.

  “I’m ready whenever you are.” The words slipped from my lips like butter—and they were true. Nothing, not even the thought of the two impending vampire bites, could dissuade me from getting fucked by these boys. I wanted them. Now.

  Their approving growls made my eyes snap open. Up ahead, Raphael stood on the other side of the bench washing the remnants of blood off his body. Water streamed down the contours of his pale, unblemished torso, over the thick erection standing against his tight stomach and soaking into his copper pubic hair.

  One of Nero’s hands slid down my front, and his fingers dipped between my legs. The pad of his finger circled my clit, and I jerked forward, grabbing onto Dante’s shoulders to stay upright.

  Dante dipped his head and sucked my nipple into his hot mouth. His tongue curled around my needy flesh in time with the swirl of Nero’s finger over my throbbing clit. Pleasure gathered around my core, which clenched hungrily, waiting to be filled.

  I opened my mouth to protest. Hadn’t they heard me say I was ready? “Wha—”

  “Cum, Alicia,” Nero growled into my ear.

  All the pleasure the boys had built up fused into a single point behind my clit. It imploded, making my core spasm and pump out sensations that rippled through my torso and to each limb. My legs trembled, then as my orgasm reached a crescendo, they buckled.

  Nero held me upright. “That’s your first climax,” he snarled into my ear. “it will get you nice and pliant for Dante’s cock up your ass.”

  Dante released my nipple with a pop, straightened, and gestured at the bench. “Let’s get into position.”

  I blinked the haze out of my vision and stared into his sparkling, aquamarine eyes. “How?”

  Nero released my waist and guided me around Dante and toward where Raphael stood waiting for us by the bench. He lay his back flat along the bench’s length and beckoned me with both hands. “You’re on top.”