by Callie Rose
“Oh, I’m not denying that one bit, beautiful.” He draped his torso over my back to kiss me thoroughly, his sweat dampened skin sticking to mine. “Now, come on. Let’s get you ready for Xero.”
After one more kiss, Jayce wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned back, laying down on the bed with me draped over him, my back still pressed to his front. His head was propped up by my pillow, and he helped me kick my leggings off before he hooked his legs around mine, using that leverage to open my thighs wide, presenting me to Xero.
The darkly handsome fire demon’s eyes flashed in the dim light, and the hand that’d been slowly pumping his cock stilled. Then he moved forward, tugging his full bottom lip between his teeth. I was higher up than I would’ve been normally since there was a body beneath me, so Xero stayed on his knees, lining up his cock with my slick entrance before sliding into me.
He let out a low, satisfied noise, and my head dropped back in pleasure. That gave Jayce the perfect angle to lick and suck my earlobe as my head rested on his shoulder, and he reached up to run his hands over my breasts, stomach, and clit as Xero fucked me. Jayce never lingered on one spot too long, and the flurry of his hands combined with the steady rhythm of Xero’s cock built me up step by sweetly agonizing step toward another orgasm.
Between the two of them, they controlled my body completely, but that just freed up more of my energy to focus on how fucking good it all felt.
I didn’t think.
Didn’t worry.
Just appreciated the feel of Xero’s thick cock stretching my inner walls, the press of Jayce’s already hardening length moving against my ass with each thrust, the sounds the three of us made in the small space.
“Look at him, baby,” Jayce whispered in my ear, darting his tongue out to lick the sensitive flesh of my earlobe. “Look what you do to Xero. It’s what you do to me too. You’re driving him fucking wild.”
The fire demon’s pace had stayed steady and strong, but I could feel an almost unnatural heat coming off him, as if he was having a hard time keeping the flames that lived inside him contained. Even his cock felt hot as it pounded into my pussy—not enough to hurt, but enough to heighten the sensations.
I wasn’t sure if he’d heard Jayce’s words, but his gaze flicked down to the two of us, darting back and forth between our faces as we both watched him fuck me, and that seemed to sever the last of his self-control. His thrusts grew shorter and wilder, and he batted Jayce’s roving hands away to take over massaging my clit, pushing me toward another orgasm even as he chased his own.
They hit at the same time, and Jayce wrapped his arms around me to keep me secure as Xero and I both cried out and groaned, our bodies shuddering together.
Ropes of hot cum spurted into me, making every inch of me tingle with power and strength.
Xero leaned down to kiss me, and for a moment, I was completely encased by the two men. Then he withdrew and collapsed to his side on the mattress. Jayce rolled us so I was between the two of them again, and we rested in a tangle of sweaty limbs and breathless gasps.
“These are the kinds of times when I think getting bit by that hellhound was the best fucking thing that ever happened to me,” Jayce murmured sleepily, pressing a kiss to my hair.
Satisfaction strummed through my limp, thoroughly used body, and my eyelids fell shut. I was vaguely aware of Xero pulling a blanket over us. Good. Hannah had been incredibly understanding about my frequent trysts with Jayce, but I didn’t think she’d be thrilled about walking in to the sight of three naked bodies sprawled on my bed.
The last thought that filtered through my mind before exhaustion pulled me under was, Kingston should’ve stuck around.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I hate finals, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them.” Hannah clutched her head as she stared hopelessly down at the pile of notes in front of her.
“Have you ever even failed a test?” I arched a skeptical eyebrow.
“No!” She looked up at me wild-eyed. “That was my worst nightmare when the consequence was just a bad report card. These consequences are just… just… I can’t even deal. Banishment for failing a test. Like. No pressure, right?” She chewed on a pencil hard enough to leave deep grooves in the wood.
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Jayce said, tossing his blond hair back. “Worst case scenario, we all fail.”
Hannah emitted a high-pitched squeak, then started to hyperventilate.
“No, I don’t mean it like that. It’s just ’cause then we’d all be together still!” Jayce said quickly. “And Xero already knows his way around down there, right, Xero?”
“Yep.” Xero flashed his soft, beautiful smile at Hannah. “I’ll show you where the good torture pits are.”
That made her laugh, which broke the tension.
The truth was, we were all panicking. Me because school was not my strong suit, especially not here, and specifically not this year. There had been way too many distractions. Not that it wasn’t worth it, I amended in my head, looking around fondly at my distractions. Hannah, Jayce, Xero—even Kingston and Kai were studying with us.
Of course, there were also the less than pleasant distractions, like Sonja and her crew. They sat across from us in the library, pretending to be as intent on their studying as we were. Sonja, however, spent more time shooting dirty looks in my direction than studying her material.
“She’s like a bulldog,” Xero commented as he followed my gaze. “Gets her teeth in something and won’t let go.”
“That’s an insult to bulldogs,” I said. “At least she’s stopped spreading rumors about us now.”
“Thank God for small favors,” Kingston said. “Glad she never got stuck on me.”
“Yeah, lucky you,” Kai growled.
“What’d she do to you?” Hannah asked.
Kai blinked at her, then looked down at his book. “Nothing.”
“She told everybody about his old girlfriend,” Jayce supplied helpfully.
“Man, shut the fuck up,” Kai said, but his heart wasn’t in it.
“That’s terrible.” Hannah grimaced sympathetically. “Is that why—?”
“Have a cookie,” I blurted, shoving one in her mouth.
She mumbled her indignation at me even as she finished the gooey chocolate cookie, and I just grinned. It was technically against policy to have food in the library, but after the actual damage the place had sustained this year, I couldn’t imagine a few chocolate stains would be a big deal.
“The why doesn’t really matter,” Kingston said, kicking back lazily in his seat. “Once Kai finally gets around to fucking Piper, she’s going to light up like the Eiffel goddamn Tower.”
“With that much suppressed sexual energy? Shit, they’ll set off another blackout,” Xero said with a grin.
The tips of Kai’s ears turned red, and a little smirk played around his mouth.
Jayce grinned. “Unless it works the other way. It’ll be so explosive that it’ll loop all the way back around to nothing.”
“That’s exactly what this group needs,” Kai said. “An energy sink to handle the pheromone overflow.” He scrunched up his face like something stank and waved a hand in front of his nose.
“Yeah, you act like you don’t like it, but here you are.” Kingston cocked his head and smirked.
“So are you,” Jayce fired back at him. “And you haven’t exactly been first in line to play lately.”
“Yeah,” I jumped in. “What’s up with that, anyway? You’re always running off somewhere.” I gasped in mock horror. “Are you… cheating on me?”
Kingston blinked at me and kept his eyes half-lowered. “How?” he asked flatly.
Everybody laughed, but his joking question made me pause. Were they even capable of seeking out different sexual partners? I knew I was. I didn’t want to—at all—but I knew if I ever ended up stranded somewhere without them, I could charge up with someone else if I had to.
Owen walked by just
as that thought struck me, shooting me a goofy grin as he passed. Exhibit A, right there. I didn’t want him, didn’t even think of him that way. But I still remembered how he’d offered to help me power up if I ever needed it, and I was pretty sure the offer had been genuine.
Ugh. Please don’t let it ever come to that.
Not that Owen was hideous or anything—although his rock demon form wasn’t anything you’d write home about, unless you were trying to scare your relatives—but I really didn’t want anyone but my four.
My body had craved them from the minute I’d met them.
But now? My heart did too.
Xero nudged me. “Hey, Pipes. Where’d you go?”
I smiled and ducked my head, grateful that even though the guys could pick up on my moods, they couldn’t outright read my thoughts. “Man, I don’t even know. Let’s get back to it. History or Magic?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
A week had passed way too quickly. I didn’t feel remotely ready for finals, even though I had pored over the material until it was coming out of my ears. I was way too aware of what would happen if I failed, and Jayce’s “worst-case scenario” wasn’t even close to the actual worst that could happen. All of us failing would suck, but we’d figure a way out of it.
But what if I was the only one?
I sat with my guys at breakfast and made a point to touch each and every one of them, even Kai—although I was sneakier about that one. If I failed today, there was no telling how long it would be before I could be near them again.
I would die. I would legitimately die. I’d done more research since discovering the truth of what I was, and had found out that the feeling of life literally draining from my body when I went too long without touching one of my men wasn’t in my head. It was real. Leapfrogging off of un-bonded victims would only hold me over for so long. I needed my men with me, or at least close by. Always.
The mood was somber in the cafeteria all through breakfast. The only conversation I heard was the sound of students furtively quizzing one another on the subject matter. Everybody was terrified.
“No pressure.” I sighed.
“None whatsoever,” Hannah said sarcastically. “Oh, no!”
“What?”
She looked at me in wild-eyed panic. “When did the classic fallen wars start? When were the dark ages? I want to say 207 AD, but that isn’t right, is it? Shit!” She pulled out her notes and flipped through them frantically.
My mind went blank. I had no idea what the answer was.
“Ugh,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands. “I’m so screwed.”
The cafeteria began to empty out. Students shuffled along quietly, like dozens of death row inmates headed for the electric chair. God, this is worse than the hysteria. At least that had been active. This was just like a lead blanket crushing everyone at once. It was suffocating.
“Well, guys—” I looked my four men and Hannah in the eyes. “This is it. See you on the flip side.”
Jayce winked at me, then I gathered kisses from all of them. Kai didn’t bother to resist. He was as aware as I was that this could be the last time it ever happened.
When his lips finally broke from mine, stealing his enticing taste of spicy ginger away from me, I took a deep, steadying breath and strode away from them all. We weren’t going to be allowed to sit near each other anyway, and I needed a moment to clear my head. I trudged along behind a cluster of silent students, watching everyone around me act like brainwashed zombies.
I caught sight of Owen ahead of me and picked up the pace. Might as well wish the man good luck before the worst happened, right? But before I could reach him, he split off from the crowd, ducking quickly into a narrow stairwell. That particular staircase led to the basement, but I had only ever used it once. It ended in an awkward place downstairs, where I’d had to work my way through what felt like a maze of corridors to get to the large training room.
Huh. That’s weird. What’s he going down there for?
I knew for a fact that the Combat finals weren’t taking place until the end of the week. With Beedle’s luck, he’d insisted that it go that way, if only to get the rest of the tests out of the way before another disaster struck.
He might have been paranoid, but on the other hand, what the hell was Owen doing?
I couldn’t miss my finals. It would end me. Maybe Owen just wanted to use the bathrooms down there. Maybe he left his notes in a locker or something. I tried to put it out of my mind, but I couldn’t. For one thing, I’d had enough of secrets and sabotage—but for another, if I could just put a couple more minutes between me and my finals, maybe I could remember everything I’d spent the past weeks study. Maybe.
I stopped at the top of the stairwell and waited until I heard his feet on the stones below. Then I crept down after him as quietly as possible, but I couldn’t tell how quiet I actually managed to be. My blood rushed so loudly in my ears that I couldn’t hear anything else at all. I steadied my breathing when I reached the bottom, expecting to turn right, toward the gyms; then I saw Owen disappearing around the end of the corridor to the left.
Now I was beyond suspicious. There was literally nothing that way, not unless you wanted to get lost in the administrative corridors. I raced after him with soft feet, gliding over the stones so my footsteps made barely a whisper. I turned the corner just as he went around another one. I forced myself to go just a little bit faster. All it would take was one short corridor for me to lose both Owen and my way back.
I turned a corner and took three steps before I realized he wasn’t in front of me any longer. Before I could turn around, something hard and heavy collided with the back of my skull.
Stars exploded in my vision. Then I didn't see anything at all.
The last thing I felt was the stone floor smacking my face.
“Damn it, Piper.”
The plaintive whimper cut through my unconscious haze. I was bouncing slightly, just enough to nauseate me. My head and feet hung limp, but there was a stone vise around my waist. I was lying across stone. Living stone. Owen.
“I didn’t want to do that, you know,” he continued pathetically, his voice a rough scrape. “I really liked you. Not just because you force everybody to like you with those stupid pheromones either. I actually liked you. You could have done this with me. You could have been on the right side of this war.”
He sighed and shifted my weight, the stones of his shoulder grinding against my ribs. I wanted to cry out, to fight back—but I was still groggy as hell, and he could crush me between his massive stone hands. Besides, I was curious. What the hell was he talking about? Do what with him?
“Then those losers showed up, and I didn’t stand a chance. Of course a girl like you would hook up with those alpha pricks. Could have bonded with anybody, Piper. Literally anybody. I was right there! But you couldn’t even see me, could you? Because you were surrounded by assholes. Nothing a cunt likes better than a bunch of big-headed assholes.”
Wow, this kid was bitter. I wasn’t even mad. I was kind of impressed at just how delusional he was.
Then he chuckled, and it was one of the scariest sounds I’d ever heard. Completely cold, and way off-center. “You know, they told me that demon girls were different? That you didn’t have to be a Chadley McChadlerson to get laid by a succubus? Fucking liars.”
Great. He’s one of those. I rolled my eyes and hoped his monologue would wrap up soon because I was getting a wedgie. Of the frontal variety.
“Here we are. Well, Piper, now you get to see what you missed out on. Assuming you ever wake up,” he scoffed under his breath. “Shit. Lazy.”
That was it. Caution flew to the wind. “Oh my God, are you serious right now? You fucking knocked me out, you dweeb!”
“Shut the fuck up, we’re here,” he growled. He tossed me to the floor and pinned me down with one boulder-heavy hand. He twisted a thick wire around my hands and feet with the other, then tied it behind my back so I was arc
hed uncomfortably. We were in a small stone room. I could sense the weight of the castle over us, more oppressive than it had been in the basement. We were farther below ground, I’d bet anything on it.
“Where are we?”
He squinted at me. “I probably shouldn’t tell you.”
I focused, pushing past my fear and anger and the massive headache throbbing in my time to my heartbeat. Persuasion. Throw every fucking thing you have at him, Pipes.
“Come on, Owen, you know you want to tell me everything. Come on. Tell me what a genius you are. I’ll be so impressed.” The words tasted like bile, but I got them out.
It worked. He puffed up and started blabbing. “We’re in the bowels of the castle. The sub-sub-basement. You didn’t even know they had a sub-basement, did you? Well, they do. They’ve cut this stupid school so far down into the mountains, they could have given us all our own rooms.”
Water dripped from somewhere in the distance, and I bit my lip to keep from arguing with him. I couldn’t imagine keeping dorms down here would have been particularly pleasant.
“Why are we here?”
“To finish what I started,” he said proudly. “The magic of this school is anchored to the earth. Ha! You’d think with all the snow around here, they would’ve harnessed ice power. Can’t dispel it if it keeps coming, can you? But they’re all idiots. It’s been so hard, Piper. Can you imagine being a genius surrounded by pleebs for months on end? No, I guess you couldn’t.”
He’d let the stone armor melt away and was moving around the room like a twitchy ferret, rifling through small objects on carved shelves. I wasn’t about to wait around to find out what new horror he was going to unleash on the school.
I summoned up another wave of persuasion, wishing I’d had a goddamn orgy with my men this morning. I could’ve used the extra power.
Plus, I really might not ever see them again.
That thought caused an ache in my heart so intense I almost cried out. I shoved it away to focus back on my captor, concentrating as hard as I could.
