Page 44 of Is It Wrong to Escape My Fate? (Dealing With Fate #1)

“I don’t like how this turned out,” Winston announced as soon as everybody moved to the pseudo-throne room, as I liked to call it, also known as the parlor. “We had him by the neck. It would’ve taken only a little squeeze to end him once and for all.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I huffed. “I’m glad no one had to die tonight. If it’s possible to end things peacefully, I would choose it every time.”

Robin smiled at me. “My lady, you’re one heck of a good girl.”

“Reckless and stupid with it,” Reuben grunted, but I laughed because I knew he was only worried about me.

“I agree with reckless, but stupid?” Vincent raised an eyebrow, studying me.

“Everything was calculated, wasn’t it? Watching you earlier …

you moved with precision, controlling your distance.

You led him right where you wanted him, to copy you so you could surprise him at the last moment. It’s fucking genius!”

“It was luck,” I insisted. “Besides, that’s not me being a good girl. I wanted him to suffer. Dying was no torture. A year of his life disappearing, however, now that’s terrible for a noble heir like him.” Pouting, I added, “I should’ve held him longer. Maybe it would’ve been two years or more.”

“No,” to my surprise, it was Winston who reacted first when I could see Claude opening his mouth already. “Don’t touch others unnecessarily.”

“But it was necessary, wasn’t it?” I walked over to where he sat on his throne-like chair. “What would you have me do, Your Highness?”

“Not call me that , for one thing.” He met my eyes with his purple ones. “You belong to the Champions. Don’t ever forget that.”

I smiled only at him. “I’m not an object to be owned. How many times must I tell you that, Tony? But I am truly grateful for everything you've done during this kidnapping incident. We can finally close this chapter in our lives.”

“You are infuriating. Why in the stars above are you saying that? As if it’s a goodbye?” The words didn’t match the sweet smile on his face.

I glanced back at the other men in the room, listening to our conversation with curiosity and anxiety.

I only had to say the truth as the answer to Winston’s question.

“It’s the common goal we had with this mishmash of a group, isn’t it?

Brought together because of my disappearance, or, as it turned out, a kidnapping.

But now that it’s over, we can finally move on. ”

We could go back to what we were doing; return to our usual programming. I could resume my research, and these men could continue whatever it is they do.

Claude laughed out loud. “Baby girl, you are adorable. This is why I like you! You make everything more enjoyable.” I had no clue what he meant.

“We’ve only just begun, Bea. Of course it’s not over,” Amos scoffed, and those words felt like he meant something else. The only explanation was our relationship as lovers without the “love” part. In modern parlance, our arrangement as fuck buddies.

It didn’t help how obvious Uriel was in reading Amos’s mind before studying me. For sure he had read the minds of these men by now, maybe figured out my relationship with some of them. Curiously, he’d remained silent about it so far.

I had to set the record straight. “It’s not like I’m leaving. I’ll be around. If we had continued with sending Compton to court, I’ll be pulled out of school; it’s more likely you’ll never see me again. As if none of you considered that.”

With the silence that followed my statement, it did seem like none of them thought of it. I pushed back against that option because I didn’t want to leave the academy yet, but somehow it didn’t cross their minds?

“I confess, I would’ve killed him before we had to go through that path.” Eli mumbled, lowering his head. “I know you care a lot about studying, and if that monster ruins it — I can’t let it happen.”

“Have you ever killed anyone?” Theodore scoffed as he produced a knife in each hand. “I would’ve done it before he even left the room. Bastard deserved to die after what he promised to do to my wife.”

“I was already about to kill him,” Vincent muttered quietly, slouching in his seat.

Wow.

Talking about murder shouldn’t have surprised me anymore, in this world full of actual monsters and wars, but my non-magical mind was still stunned. In my world, any talk of killing was hyperbole for the most part; but with these men, I truly believed they were set on killing for me.

My heartbeat thumped faster. From fear or excitement, I didn’t know.

“Like I said, if nobody had to die, then all the better. Besides, with what I did? I get to stay and continue my education.” I flipped my hair out of my face, and as a joke, I added, “You’ll get to see me every day in the foreseeable future. No more whining.”

“Is that a promise?” It was Uriel who asked, surprising me again with his intense stare. He took my joke seriously!

I had to take it back, but I couldn’t anymore; everybody else now shared his sentiment with their earnest faces. Couldn’t a girl joke sometimes? Now I had to take it seriously. “Sure, I guess,” I mumbled with as much nonchalance as I could muster.

They looked relieved after.

What, did they think I was going to run away or something?

I mean … I planned it. That plan hadn’t changed one bit. But they didn’t know that, and technically, it wasn’t Bea running away.

It was me.

Bea.

I meant Bianca. Bianca Guzman.

Fuck.

Arriving back at the dorm with Mia’s tired face greeting me felt like home, honestly, as strange as that sounded. She’d been with me since my first memory in this world, so in a way, maybe I’d imprinted on her. Like a baby chick.

It was past midnight, and while I’d wanted a good fuck for a while, because I think my hormones were slowly affecting my mind, I couldn’t let my knights lose sleep.

I even had to order them to sleep or else they’d spend the entire night watching over me, as if Compton would come exacting revenge when he didn’t know who I was anymore.

My hand would do. Again. Like almost every night.

The other strange thing; whenever I was alone in my bedroom like this, sitting in the dark, it always felt like someone was watching me. Just … curious. It made me nervous but oddly comforted at the same time.

I lay on my bed only in a nightdress. Parting my legs, I brought my hand down between them, imagining what it would be like to give Claude a chance.

Would he accept my non-negotiable terms?

He had shown possessive tendencies from the moment we met, even made a spectacle of it, but I managed to change his mind.

Would I be able to convince him of this too?

Would he also be unpredictable in bed like his usual self?

A knock on my window took me out of my haze as I pulled my fingers out of me. My heart thumped in panic; who could be knocking at this time of night?

Getting out of bed, I walked over to see Eli, leaning on one arm by the window frame.

I unlocked the latch and lifted, and he climbed in without a word a second later.

Something seemed off about him, aside from seeing him in casual clothing when he was usually in uniform or hunting gear — his golden eyes were glowing. Was it the lighting?

“Eli, what’s going on?” After I latched the window again, I found him staring. Mortification shot through me when I realized he could definitely smell what I had been doing.

And then he pulled off his shirt.

Oh, my god. I knew these men trained a lot. Add the fact that he was a shifter. But I never expected him to have these muscles. He seemed leaner than Amos, and —

Wait a second. Eli took his shirt off!

I couldn’t believe my luck. Was I getting sex?

I hurried to the bed and waited.

Elias didn’t waste any time. He took off his boots and pants next. I didn’t have enough time to ogle him when he climbed on the bed and leaned over me, completely naked, his golden eyes never leaving my face and body.

He smiled. “Gadreel.” I returned his smile, eyebrows raised; it had been a while since he last called me that name, where the “Ela” nickname came from to match his “Eli”.

I tried to hide how much this excited me. I was getting sex!

But of course Elias could sense it anyway, smirking. He stroked my thigh gently; my leg trembled in anticipation. Then he pushed my legs apart, moving his head down, and I swallowed a whimper when his fingers parted my folds and a tongue swiped over me, tasting me, fucking me.

Stars.

He didn’t miss a beat, even as he switched between his tongue and his fingers and thumbed my clit, like we had been doing this regularly.

I definitely want it to be a regular thing because holy fuck. Just the feel of his kisses on my thighs was enough to end me.

Tingles shot up my body when I almost came undone, but he stopped. What? Confusion warred with my lust. Why did he stop? I was about to ask when he only smiled, reached up to pull down the neckline of my dress, grabbed a breast and flicked a nipple. A fresh jolt of pleasure zinged through me.

“Say yes,” he mumbled, hints of a growl despite his smiling face.

I obliged. I was desperate for this man. “Yes, Eli.”

With a groan, he plunged his fingers inside again, fucking me with them. He fondled one breast gently, contrasting the rigorous thrusting of his fingers. When he pressed his thumb on my clit, my breath stopped to make way for my moans as he sent me over the edge. Fuck .

He rumbled in satisfaction as he positioned himself between my legs, his cock hard and twitching as it teased against my pussy.

I peered up at him. Surely we weren’t stopping now, right? Like how my twin knights thought I was inexperienced. I didn’t have the heart to tell them yet how they could fuck me into next week and I would request a week more. I was that thirsty.