CHAPTER 17 - MEDRA

"Florence! Stop!" I shouted.

I ran towards her and stood in front of her, putting my hands on her shoulders and pushing gently.

But it was like going up against a wall. A moving wall that just kept coming.

Florence was surprisingly strong. I stumbled as she collided with me.

For a moment, she met my eyes and I saw the confusion there.

Then her eyes clouded. She tried to pull out of my grasp and step around me.

"Theo!" I called. "A little help here."

He was by my side in an instant, looking at Florence, his normally easygoing features marred by worry.

"Fuck," he said. "Someone's thrallweaving her."

I glanced around. Regan was still on the other side of the fire. She had her hand over her mouth and was laughing as she watched me try to stop Florence.

"Regan, so help me, if this is you, I will fucking kill you," I shouted over to her.

She put up both hands and shrugged, as if to say, "Not me."

Some of the other highbloods around her were looking at Florence and I with curiosity, but most looked bored. Clearly they'd seen this kind of thing before. None of them seemed about to take the credit.

I gritted my teeth. "Who is it, Theo? Can you stop them?"

Theo was scanning the crowd. I followed his gaze.

There. Further back from the bonfire, a group of students were sprawled in the sand laughing hysterically.

One of them pointed at Florence and said something. Their laughter grew even louder.

"Who the fuck is doing it?" I hissed. "Which one? Can you stop them?"

Florence was a weight, pushing against me, trying to pull out of my grasp. I doubted she was this strong normally. The thrallweave must have been making her exert herself beyond her limits. I wasn't sure how much longer I'd be able to hold her.

Just as I had that thought, Florence lifted her hands and, clasping my wrists, started to dig her nails into my skin.

I yelped. Her fingernails were sharp and she wasn't holding back.

"Florence," I begged. "Please. Stop. This isn't you. You're hurting me."

But looking at her face was like looking at a ghost. Florence wasn't there. She was gone.

Was this what I had looked like when Regan had been controlling me?

I felt furious and helpless. How could this be allowed? If I let go of Florence, I knew whoever was doing this was going to make her walk straight towards the bonfire. Would they let her walk right in?

"It's someone from Kage Tanaka's crew," Theo whispered to me.

Sure enough, I caught sight of a familiar face. The boy with blond, spiked hair who had tried to grab me in the hallway when I was with Blake.

"Kiernan," I shouted, remembering his name. "Leave her the fuck alone, you big bullying asshole!"

Kiernan leered in our direction, then said something to his friends who laughed even harder.

Florence pushed me, catching me off guard, then darted to one side.

"Shit!"

I moved to grab her but she was fast. She darted towards the bonfire and I caught her at the last moment, my hands wrapping around her wrist just as she'd nearly reached the flames.

I didn't want to hurt her, but I held her as hard as I could, terrified she'd manage to break away again.

Then, as quickly as it had started, Florence collapsed to the sand.

She looked up at me, her eyes unclouded, her expression dazed. "What happened?"

I looked over at Kiernan. Theo stood in front of him, a furious expression on his face. He was clearly telling the other boy off. Kiernan didn't look repentant whatsoever. But at least he'd stopped.

"We need to get you out of here," I said shortly. I didn't want to tell her what she'd almost done. Not until we were away from these people. "Now."

I linked my arm through hers tightly and started marching across the sand.

"Was that... Was it real?" Florence whispered.

I glanced at her. Tears were streaming down her face and she was biting her lip.

I was going to fucking kill Kiernan, I decided.

"Hey, don't leave so soon!"

It was Kiernan again. The spiky-haired boy was blocking our path.

"The fun's just getting started. House Avari wants you to come party with us." He gestured back at his group of friends and I saw Kage Tanaka had joined them. The tall boy stood at the back, his arms folded over his chest, watching us silently.

Kiernan leaned in towards me. "I have a very special invitation from Kage himself. We hear Blake's not making you feel very welcome in House Drakharrow. Well, we'd like to change that. Bloodwing can be a very welcoming place. If you know the right people."

I'd just opened my mouth to speak when Florence broke free from my grasp. With a choked sob, she flew across the sand back towards the castle.

"You fucking bastard." I shoved Kiernan, hard.

I was shaking with anger.

I didn't know what I was going to do. Only that I had to do something.

Kiernan looked surprised. Then he grinned. "Oh, so you like it rough, do you? So do I." He reached for my wrist but I was quicker than him. I raised my hand and slapped him, hard across the face.

Instantly I realized it had been the wrong move. My wrists were bleeding from where Florence had scratched me. My hand left a trail of blood across Kiernan's face.

Kiernan's eyes lit up strangely. He sniffed, then reached a hand up and touched his cheek. When his finger came away wet, he lifted it towards his mouth.

A gleam formed in his eyes. My breath caught in my throat as I watched him pause, his nostrils flaring slightly as he scented my blood.

"Don't," I started to say, my hand already lifting again to grab at his wrist and stop him.

A shadow darted between me and Kiernan, knocking me backwards.

"I thought I told you to keep your fucking hands off her," Blake snarled. I hadn't even seen him arrive. He'd come out of nowhere. " You are not to taste her. She is mine. "

I flinched as the words hit me with a power I'd never felt before. Thrallweave. He was using it on Kiernan.

"Wipe it in the sand," Blake growled, his voice dripping with fury. "Now."

Kiernan hesitated, his hand halfway to his lips. There was a flicker of fear in his eyes.

Slowly, he lowered his hand, his fingers trembling a little as he bent down and wiped his hand in the sand beneath our feet.

The fire crackled behind us, sending sparks into the night air. The sounds of the party had faded away.

Blake still didn't move. His body remained like a wall between Kiernan and I. His back was rigid and tense.

"You were warned once before." Blake's voice cut through the night air like a knife. "This is the second time you've come near her. Do anything like this again and there won't be a third."

Kiernan clenched his jaw, clearly fighting the urge to retort.

Finally, the boy took a step back.

Blake turned around to face me.

For a moment, I stood frozen, my heart racing. I could feel the dangerous energy radiating off him.

"You shouldn't be here." His voice was cold. But there was something else there, too. Something dark. Something possessive.

I stiffened as I remembered the words he had used.

My jaw tightened, fury and confusion warring in me. "I didn't ask for your protection. I can take care of myself."

Blake stepped towards me, the heat of his presence suddenly stifling. "It's not protection, little dragon. It's a claim." His gray eyes darkened as they flicked down to my exposed neck, an unspoken reminder hanging between us. "You're mine. No one touches what belongs to me."

My skin prickled. With anger and something else. Something I couldn't admit, even to myself.

A finger tapped me on the shoulder and I jerked, whirling around.

Kiernan. The idiot was still standing there.

"Kage wants her to join us," he said sullenly, as if reminding us he was still there. "I was just delivering the message."

The air seemed to freeze.

Blake stiffened instantly, his body taut once more. Slowly, he looked towards where Kage Tanaka stood, surrounded by his highbloods, watching the scene unfold with an unreadable expression, arms still casually folded as though this was all part of some private game where only he and Blake knew the rules.

I watched as something crossed Blake's face. His stormy gray eyes narrowed. The air around us seemed to grow heavier.

Without a word, he moved. One moment he was standing in front of me and the next he had whirled around, crossing the space between him and Kiernan like a flash of lightning.

His hand shot out, gripping the other highblood by the throat.

Kiernan's eyes widened, his terror showing as his feet left the ground.

My breath caught in my throat. "Wait," I started to say.

But it was too late.

With one swift, merciless motion, Blake hurled the other highblood into the bonfire.

Kiernan's scream was swallowed by the roar of the flames in an instant, his body engulfed in heat. For a split second, the flames surged and the smell of burning flesh tainted the air. Then anything that had been Kiernan was gone. Turned to ash. Consumed by the fire, as if he had never existed at all.

My heart was pounding. I stood there, frozen, staring at the fire.

Blake moved to stand beside me and I glanced up at him. But he wasn't looking at me. His eyes were fixed on Kage.

I looked across the fire.

The other house leader didn't look the least bit upset at the way Blake had snuffed one of his followers out of existence. If anything, Tanaka looked impressed. He raised an eyebrow in silent acknowledgement, then turned away.

I felt sick. Kage was enjoying the chaos he had sparked. The tension between the two men was palpable. There was a long rivalry here and somehow I'd gotten stuck right in the middle of it.

This was worse than Regan.

Blake had just fucking killed for me.

Maybe the worst part of it was... For a moment, I'd liked it. He'd done what I'd wanted to do.

Blake remained rooted in place, staring at the place Kage had been standing, before finally shifting his gaze down to me.

I watched his eyes and for the first time noticed the unfocused glaze. He'd been drinking. He was drunk or at least halfway there.

His eyes lingered on me, moving from my face slowly down my body.

A slow, lazy smirk spread across his handsome face.

"You look good tonight, Pendragon." His voice was low, almost amused. "I think I've changed my mind. You should stay. Enjoy the party."

My pulse quickened. The casual way he spoke after what he'd just done made my skin crawl.

He took a step closer, his tall frame towering over me.

His hand moved, as if he was about to touch my waist.

Instinct flare, quicker than thought, and in a heartbeat I had a knife in my hand–drawn from my corset, from the hidden sheath between my breasts.

The cold steel was pressed against Blake's throat before his hand could reach me.

His eyes widened, ever so slightly, surprise flickering over his face.

Then his smirk widened. My heart sank.

But still, I leaned in, spitting the words with a venomous intensity. "I'll never be yours, Blake Drakharrow. Ever. If you're looking for a girl who will do what you want, you won't find her here. Remember that."

For a heartbeat, the world stood still around us. The fire crackled from afar, casting shadows across Blake's pale face. I spotted the curling swirls of his tattoos rising up from the open collar of the white shirt he wore and I tried not to think about that day I'd first seen them, the way he'd moved, the way his body had looked gleaming with the sheen of sweat. The way it might feel to run my hands over it.

Blake stared down at me, his expression unreadable.

I didn't know if I wanted him to talk or not. I didn't know what I wanted. And that was becoming a problem. A problem I could end–right here, right now. It would be so easy. For a moment, my breath hitched as I thought of sliding the blade across his throat.

Would the other highbloods kill me in an instant for daring to touch one of their own?

Silence was best, I decided. I pulled my knife away, sliding the blade back into my corset. Turning on my heel, I strode across the sand, away from the fire, away from the highbloods, away from Blake.

As the darkness swallowed me whole and I left him standing there alone, I didn't look back. Not once.