Blood Legacy

5

"Looks like there's some drama in paradise." Robyn flipped her red hair over her shoulder and glanced from one of her friends to the other. "This might be an interesting class today."

I hated those three with a passion. They were the other students who’d joined Tripp and me on the tour. We'd all shifted to run behind the school so Kai could show us the areas we were free to use.

They had rushed back and poured skunk piss all over my clothes.

Before I could reply, Professor Walker breezed into the classroom, ending the conversation.

LATER, when I walked out of Comp one, I was a little surprised not to find Liam there, waiting for me.

Maybe something came up.

I took the back stairwell, and as I walked through the door, a voice at the bottom stopped me in my tracks.

"Amber, how much clearer do I need to be?" Liam's voice was low and angry.

"You've got to be kidding me." A girl's voice raised. "You know both me and Dad were banking on you mating with me."

"Well, it's not going to happen." His voice was clear like he was making sure to enunciate each word. “I’m already taken.”

"Liam, we can still salvage this."

Oh, hell no. I headed down the stairs, and when I turned the corner, blondie came into view. Is this why you didn't meet me outside my classroom?

Dammit, I'm sorry. He turned, and his blue eyes landed on mine. I had a problem come up.

That's an awful pretty problem. I wasn't jealous, but the girl was gorgeous. Her blonde hair was long and straight, and the girl rocked our school uniforms. She somehow managed to turn a plain button-down shirt sexy. She even had her skirt pulled up high enough that there was little left to the imagination. She was the same girl Liam had used to taunt me after we kissed for the first time right here in this stairwell, heading for the same class I was going to now. He’d had her plastered against him, allowing her to rub her fingers all over his chest.

The b***h needed to get a clue and fast.

Liam made his way over to me as I took the last step and grabbed my hand. "Wait." The girl's aquamarine eyes widened. "This is who you dumped me for?" What now? He had a girlfriend?

"We weren't dating; it was more of a business arrangement. You knew that as much as I did." Liam pulled me closer. She didn't and doesn't mean anything to me.

"Business arrangement?" What did that even mean? It was insane how they thought of mates as assets and not as actual soulmates. Something was really wrong with these people.

"Of course, he didn't tell you." She rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her immaculately styled hair. "We were engaged."

Whoa, what? Please tell me she's joking. I wanted to pull my hand from his, but it would give her too much satisfaction.

"No, we weren't." His eyes landed on mine. "We'd talked about it in the future after college. Then we broke up because well, hell, she was already showing me rings to buy her." She meant nothing to me.

"My dad is a regional alpha who reports to Mr. Croft." She paused and stuck her nose in the air. "You know, the council member representing the south. Obviously, I need to spell all this out for you

… especially since you don't know your place, but Liam will wake up soon."

"In case you didn't see the bite marks, he's mine, so back the f**k off." All of these entitled people were really pissing me off. Though, my role was getting clearer every day. When I took my place on the council, these assholes were going to have one hell of a rude awakening. I'd make sure of it. I had to be strong, not only for Liam but for myself. "It's a sealed deal, so why don't you take your skanky ass away from us."

Her plump bottom lip stuck out. "This is who you chose to be your mate?"

"Yup, the one and only." He bent down and brushed his lips against mine. "She's my fated mate, the love of my life."

"But we would've benefited each other greatly." She stomped her foot a little, placing a hand on her hip. "And the s*x wasn't bad."

She was trying to hurt me and get me riled up. Her obvious goal was to cause us problems. "Well, at least you have those memories to keep you warm at night while I'm the one who is under him."

I love you so much. His words echoed in my ear as his shoulders shook ever so slightly. "Hmm

… Sometimes I'm under you."

"That's pretty mind-blowing too." I winked at him.

"You've made a horrible mistake." She opened the door to head out. "I'll just have to get with Evan or Simon, then." She paused as if she was waiting for Liam to beg her to stay or say that he had changed his mind.

"Evan won't be interested. He warned me a while ago that you were a little too ambitious." Liam turned toward her and shrugged. "Simon would be down for a lay a time or two. Good luck with that." She didn't even bother to respond but rather slammed the door behind her.

"You didn't think to tell me about a crazy ex?" I arched an eyebrow as he pulled me into his strong arms.

"It was nothing." He leaned his forehead against mine and took a deep breath. "She wasn't into me, not really. Only the power of what my future title would hold."

"You know that's also the only reason I'm in this." I had to tease him. We hadn't had time to just be two people who were into each other. We either had someone fighting the bond or a crazy heir trying to kill one of us. "Damn … It better be worth it."

The corners of his mouth tilted up into one of the most genuine smiles I'd ever seen on him. Hell, I wasn’t quite sure if I'd ever seen him smile before that moment; it almost took my breath away. Honestly, he always looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Is that so?" His fingers began to dig into my waist.

A giggle escaped before I could rein it in, which only encouraged him further.

"Stop." The words were only a breath as I collapsed into his arms in a fit of laughter. "Please, stop?"

"Fine, but only because you asked so nicely."

One of the doors opened from above the stairs, and I glanced at my watch. "s**t, I need to get to class. I want a minute to talk to Tripp."