Shadow Magic: Year 3

by Alexa B. James

  With a burst of courage, I knock on the tall wooden door. From inside, Darius calls out. “It’s open. Come on in, but watch where you step. The office is still a bit of a mess.”

  I push the door open, stopping when it catches on a stack of books. Papers and books cover every square foot of the office as he replaces Headmaster Orville’s stuff with his own collection. Darius sits behind his new desk, but he looks up to greet me. When our eyes meet, a hot rush of memory and emotion fills me, and butterflies tickle inside my belly.

  “Jade,” he says, his voice softer and his eyes warm. “I’m so glad you came. I didn’t have a chance to welcome you back during orientation.”

  My core throbs at the sight of his broad shoulders, his tan forearms below his rolled sleeves, his big hands that have caressed and coaxed pleasure from my most intimate places. Just looking at him fills me with indecent urges.

  “Yeah,” I say. “Not exactly the best place to do that, though.” I give him an inviting smile, pushing the door closed behind me and leaning back against it.

  Darius chuckles, closing the drawers so his full attention is on me. “Is that right?”

  “That’s right,” I say, stepping around the piles of books until I reach his desk. Darius stands to meet me. My heart hammers in my chest, my breath coming quicker. I feel so intensely vulnerable, but simultaneously powerful as a flicker of magic licks between my thighs. I rest a hand on his chest, emboldened when I feel the heavy thud of his own rapid heartbeat. Standing on tiptoes, I let my lips skim along his stubbled chin.

  His Adam’s apple bobs, and his hands fall to my hips. “Jade,” he says firmly. “We can’t. We agreed to wait until you graduated.”

  I give him a playful pout, trying to keep the vibe alive between us. “I mean, sure, back when you weren’t king of the hill. Now you make the rules.”

  “Jade…”

  I reach out, brushing my hand across that perfect face of his. Instead of leaning into it, Darius flinches. I straighten, feeling like he’d just slapped me. “What’s wrong? You’re in charge now. You could revoke that stupid rule in seconds if you wanted.”

  He grimaces. “Perhaps, but it wouldn’t reflect very well on me if my first act as Headmaster was to revoke a long-standing rule and then jump in bed with the most special student on campus. It would be obvious I had done it just to be with you—if not that I was already seeing you before that.”

  “But you’re the Headmaster. It’s your school, your rule.”

  He smiles a bit. “I still answer to the Society of Supernaturals. I’m sorry, Jade. If I thought you’d be safe with me gone, I’d take the chance. But I can keep you safest by being right here where I can keep an eye on the campus.”

  Damn. That stung a lot more than I thought it would. “I understand,” I say, trying to save whatever scraps of dignity I have left now that I looked like a stupid fangirl throwing myself at him like his powerful position is all I care about.

  “I want to be with you as much as you do,” Darius says gently, taking my hand. “But I also don’t want to risk either of our reputations.”

  I squeeze his hand and nod, trying my best not to cry when faced with the apologetic look on his face. Of course he’s right. I don’t want to be a reason for a man’s tarnished reputation. But fuck, I want him so much it hurts.

  Darius lets out a sigh and releases my hand. “I’m glad you came to visit. I want to know you’re safe and happy. That will always be my number one priority. You will always be my number one priority, Jade.”

  “Yeah.” I turn away and blink hard to keep tears from forming. “Well, I’ve got a class soon, so I better go.”

  “Jade…”

  “I’ll see you around.”

  I just about vault over his books to get out of there. No fucking way am I going to cry like a bitch in front of him just because he doesn’t want to be with me right now. In the hall, I make a beeline to a bathroom, only to bump straight into the chest of a fairly fine-looking dude. And hanging on his arm is Bella, with a triumphant sneer on her face like she’s just dug up the juiciest gossip.

  Well, fuck me. It better not be about me and Darius. I mean, sure, I emerged from his office a bit red-eyed, but for all she knows it’s about a class, or a grade, or a trip off campus… Anything but the truth. Because if Bella finds out, by the end of the day, there will be no secret left.

  Chapter Six

  It’s a relief once the day finally comes to an end. I barrel into my room and flop into bed, letting out a huge sigh. The semester’s barely begun, and I must have cursed it by thinking it was working out so well, because now it’s a giant clusterfuck. Best friends at war, Bella up to her usual head games, Darius pushing me away. The worst part is the lack of people I can go to for advice, specifically about Darius and the worst-case scenario. What if Blonde Bella knows?

  I’m stuck running all the possibilities in my head by myself. The cute boy must be the boyfriend she mentioned during orientation. She said he’s a freshman. Maybe they were just there to get his schedule squared away or something equally harmless.

  A knock on my door drags me out of my spinning thoughts.

  “Come in,” I call, sitting up on the bed.

  “Hey, Jade.” Thorn’s head pokes in, those beautiful emerald eyes taking my breath away. God, I missed him. Just seeing him brings back all the confusion and yearning from my freshman year.

  “Hi,” I breathe. I berate myself for my airheaded, Bella-worthy response, but dammit if he’s not even more swoonworthy than last year. God, I could just eat him with a spoon.

  “I just wanted to let you know I’m your guard tonight. Let me know if you need anything.” He shows no emotion, no happiness to see me again, no resentment that I’m Rocco’s girlfriend now, nothing. He’s just a big, infuriating, breathtakingly beautiful statue.

  “You know I don’t have a guard anymore, right?” I ask. “I’m not in any danger.”

  “I thought, just in case, it might be a good idea.”

  Then a thought hits me. Damn if I don’t need to take him up on his offer. Thorn is the only one who has an inkling about my relationship with Darius, as well as the bonus of being Bella’s fixation. I can’t think of anyone else to talk to about his situation.

  “Actually, if you have a minute,” I begin. “I do need to talk to you about something.”

  Thorn gives me a careful once-over. “Does this have anything to do with your magic?”

  My face flushes as I sit up on my bed. “Not that,” I say quickly. “I want to ask about Bella.”

  “Okay…” He steps into my room, all six-foot-something of lean muscle and gorgeousness that makes my pulse spike. I cross my legs to contain my excitement. “What is it, Jade?” he asks, his brow furrowed with confusion.

  “We met up during orientation, and I kinda thought we… Had something?”

  Thorn raises a brow, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. “Not that I’m judging,” he says. “But I didn’t think Bella was your type.”

  “I’m serious,” I say, rolling my eyes. “We got along for like a day but…” I take a deep breath, ready to go through with this. The words burst out in a rush. “I think she might know about my feelings for Darius.”

  Now I have his attention. He pushes off the wall, closing the door firmly behind him to give us privacy. Then he takes the desk chair, spinning it around and sitting astride it in a way that’s so sexy it makes my head spin. Damn it. I seriously need to see Rocco tonight to relieve some of this tension, but I can’t do that with Thorn outside the door. He’d definitely hear.

  “Start from the beginning,” he says, giving me his full attention. “What happened?”

  “We just sat together at orientation,” I say. “We even called a truce. But then she got mad when Darius was named Headmaster, and she stormed out.”

  “I saw that,” Thorn murmurs, his green eyes intense on mine.

  “I went to talk to him today, a
nd when I came out, Bella and her guy were there. I have a feeling she knows, Thorn. What am I going to do?”

  Thorn nods, arms resting along the back of the chair as he leans in. “Were you fucking?”

  “What?” I ask, my voice catching in my throat and making it come out as a very unladylike squawk.

  “When you went to ‘talk’ to him, did you fuck him before you came out and saw Bella standing there?”

  My face has never been so hot in my life, not even the time I fell asleep on the beach as a kid and had to spend half the night in a bathtub full of ice. “No,” I say, nearly yelling the word.

  “Hm,” Thorn says, looking thoughtful. “Well, that’s good. She definitely would have overheard you. You’re a screamer.”

  I want to crawl under my bed and die. This was the worst decision ever. What made me think I could talk to this guy about anything without him tormenting me in return?

  “Nothing sexual happened between me and Darius,” I manage, taking a breath to steady myself. “Because nothing is happening between us.”

  “Okay.”

  “And even if something had happened, it’s none of your business, and you have no right to ask me what we were doing.”

  “Okay.”

  “Stop saying okay.”

  “Okay.”

  “You’re incorrigible.”

  He gives a little grin and leans back, resting his wrists on the back of the chair. “Fine, I’ll be nice. You’re asking me how to… Deal with the problem?”

  I make a face. “You make it sound like I want her dead.”

  He gives me a serious look, and a bubble of nervous laughter slips out of me. I have to remember I’m dealing with a dark, dangerous sorcerer, even if he’s bound to protect me. The same can’t be said for Bella.

  “I’ll say this,” he begins. “Bella’s nothing if not ambitious. If she wants something, she won’t stop until it’s hers. I don’t doubt for a second if she has something on you, she’ll use it.”

  “Okay, that’s both horrifying and somewhat of a relief,” I say. “I don’t know what I have that she’d want.”

  I roll onto my stomach, lazily swinging my feet in the air behind me while I consider further. I wait for him to answer, but when he doesn’t, I go on musing aloud.

  “I’m not rich, I didn’t make friends with anyone she wants in her squad, and I think she knows better than to ask for my magic.” My voice trails off as I stare up at Thorn. God, but he’s handsome when he’s deep in thought. And Bella’s been crazy obsessed with him for years. If she thought I could get him to like her…

  Thorn must see the thoughts racing around my head, because he quickly holds up his hand. “Not doing it.”

  “I would never ask you to,” I say, stung that he thinks I’d whore him out to that witch.

  He looks at me a long second before seeming to decide he can trust me. “She seems happy with her new conquest, anyway.”

  “Really?” I ask, putting my hands under my chin to prop upright a bit more. “You mean she’s leaving you alone? Are you sure you’re talking about the same Bella?”

  Thorn chuckles darkly. “In case you thought otherwise, it’s a relief that she’s finally off my back.”

  “I’m sure.”

  He shifts on the chair, his intense eyes locking on mine. My belly flips, and I quickly change direction like the coward I am.

  “That poor, poor freshman.” I shake my head, sitting up so I can cross my legs on my bed. “He has no idea what he’s getting into.”

  Whatever he was going to say, it can only complicate things in more ways than I can handle right now. He hesitates before taking the bait, like he knows exactly what I’m doing. “Better him than me,” he mutters.

  “So, she has no ambitions we can pin down at the time.” Somehow, that’s worse. If she’s coming at me, I can fight back. It’s killing me that I don’t know what she heard or when she’ll strike if she heard anything. I can’t help but feel anxious. “What do we even know about this guy?” I muse. “Maybe she’s dating him to make you jealous.”

  Thorn shifts in his seat, looking uncomfortable. “You know that doesn’t work on me.”

  Actually, I believe his exact words were that it didn’t work because he didn’t like her. As I learned last semester, he can’t exactly deny being the jealous type. Not after he followed me and Rocco on a date and made an ass of himself. The memory makes me smile a little. Thorn rarely shows his emotions, but that was a pretty obvious display, even if he never came right out and said anything.

  Still, his denial of feelings for Bella sparks a warmth in my chest. I know he doesn’t like her very much, but hearing him so openly push her aside reassures me after so long of not hearing him say anything even approaching an admission of feelings for me. And god, I like him so much. Yes, I’m with Rocco, and he makes me happy. But Thorn… Thorn would give me something else.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks, his voice low and as intense as his eyes. His gaze drops to my lips for a second, and my pulse spikes. He wants to kiss me. I can feel it in the air between us, the crackling energy of our attraction that is a magic of its own that has nothing to do with actual magic.

  I swallow hard, forcing out the truth. “I guess maybe I was nervous it might work,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “That she might make you jealous.”

  One corner of Thorn’s lips twists up into a tiny smile. “You’re worried about my feelings?”

  Worried? No.

  I’m fucking terrified.

  I know it’s unfairly possessive of me, but I want to beat the shit out of anyone who even looks at my men—any one of them. Lilith herself wouldn’t be spared my wrath if she fucked with them. Even Ryker, fuckwit that he is. They might not admit it, hell they might not even know it, but they are all mine. I know it, even if they don’t. I’m not just going to go back to Darius after my schooling ends, leaving the rest of them to go on with their lives. It hurts just thinking about life without them. I’m bound to them somehow. As I stare into Thorn’s mesmerizing emerald orbs, I know I’m never letting him go.

  Thorn slides off his chair and onto the edge of my bed. Right beside me. Practically within kissing distance. My heart does a little lurch, and I can barely breathe. This time, when I lean forward, he doesn’t recoil. He leans in to meet me. His lips press against mine gently, and a shudder of pure desire runs down my spine. His lips are warm and sure against mine, and he sets a hand on my hip, his thumb gently stroking the skin inside my hipbone and making me melt. As pressure builds deep in my lower belly, Thorn sighs into our kiss, and I swoon against him.

  Too soon, he draws back, and it’s all I can do not to cry out in protest. I need more than a taste of this dark and mysterious sorcerer. I need to devour every inch of him.

  “Does that clear things up?” he asks, his voice low and husky.

  Oh, fuck yes. I had no idea how badly I wanted that until now. I lean in for another kiss, fingers already slipping through those beautiful, black curls of his. “It’s starting to,” I murmur.

  Thorn pulls back before our lips meet, though. “Don’t get upset,” he says in that sultry, soft tone of his that makes my heart skip, my belly flip, and my clit throb. “I don’t want to do this while you’re so charged up. I want it to be fully my choice—and yours. Not your magic’s.”

  Fucking. Sex. Magic.

  “Okay.” I slowly pull my hands back to my side as Thorn stands, straightening his collar as he looks to the door.

  “I’ll be outside if you need me.”

  I nod, afraid to speak in case I say something stupid and desperate. He’s had girls like Bella creaming themselves for him since he was in high school. And though it’s easy to see why, I’m not going to be one of them.

  Thorn walks out my door without a backwards glance. I sit on my bed for a minute, flustered and shivering from what almost was. Then, with as much dignity as I can muster, I strip off my clothes and make my way
to the bathroom, a cold shower definitely in order.

  Chapter Seven

  Finally, the end of the week arrives. Never before have I needed a Friday to roll around so badly. It’s only the first week of school, and I’m already in need of a drink and good company. Asher is always down to keep me company, and I’m sure Rocco will be thrilled to take care of my other needs.

  But first, I have to get through my last class of the day. Today, I have my first official class in dark magic.

  As I make my way across campus, I think of the secret lessons I had with Topher and Elowen last year. I haven’t seen Elowen all week, and I need to know she’s okay. Since she’ll be in the same building, I might just be able to ask her myself. She never did come to help decorate my room, and though I wasn’t entirely surprised, I’m a little disappointed. I’m hoping she spent that time with Topher, figuring out their relationship and gaining more confidence in it.

  I pull out my phone, double-checking to make sure I remember where to go. Last year, I had a minor introduction to the darker side of my magic, but we practiced in the dorm instead of a classroom. Just like my secret lessons, Topher Stephens is in charge of this course—Introduction to the Dark Arts. He nods to me as I enter the classroom, finding it mostly unfilled. I look at the clock, realizing I’m a little earlier than I intended, and decide to take a spot in the second row.

  Topher remains sitting at his desk, a black leather-bound book in hand. After a cordial greeting, he keeps thumbing through the book.

  I clear my throat to draw his attention. “So, how’s the first week gone for you and Elowen?”

  Topher’s eyes flicker briefly over the book, but then he turns the page. “Uneventful. Yourself?”

  Topher’s not much for small talk, but I know he’s listening.

  “Pretty hectic,” I admit. “But I’m glad to be here. Hopefully this class will be a little easier, given my past experience.”

  “With your amount of magic, it should come easily enough.”