Academy of Sorcery: Term 2: Fallen Master

by Alexa B. James

  I slide a hand over his cheek, feeling the roughness of his stubble, and pull his face down to mine again. “Can we move this in the shower?” I ask. “I’m getting a little chilly.”

  “I can see that,” he says, a smile on his lips as they meet mine. He cups my breast, his thumb stroking across my erect nipple. Walking me backwards, he steps us into the shower stall without breaking our kiss. He fumbles behind me, and a moment later, hot water rushes down on my back. I moan in pleasure, palming his cock through the front of his jeans. Water splashes onto the shoulders of his T-shirt, soaking it and making the fabric cling to his muscles in the most delicious way.

  After a minute, he pulls back, cupping my face between his hands. “This is just to return your magic, right?” he asks, his piercing sapphire gaze searching mine.

  “Yeah,” I say. “Totally.”

  “Good,” he says. “I don’t want you to get any ideas about us being together.”

  “This is so romantic,” I say. “It’s really turning me on.”

  Ryker offers a small smirk. “I know you’re into my brother,” he says. “And he’s into you. So there can’t be anything else between us. This is strictly business.”

  “Oh, stop,” I say, arching against him and making big, fluttery eyes at him. “You’re getting me so wet.”

  Ryker shakes his head. “I mean it, Jade.”

  “If you’re really so worried about my relationship with your brother, how come you’re about to fuck me?”

  He shrugs. “Rocco knows fucking doesn’t mean anything,” he says. “He fucked Bella. Why shouldn’t I fuck you?”

  “I don’t see any reason whatsoever,” I say, looping my arm around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss. I run my finger gently over the angry red scabs where the vampire bit him last night, and he sucks in a breath and kisses me harder. His hands move down my body to my ass. He kneads my flesh, spreading my ass cheeks and touching the knotted entrance while he grinds his cock against me. I tense up, and he chuckles into our kiss. I run my hands down his back, over the soaked fabric, and grab the hem of his T-shirt. When I start to pull it up, he pushes my hands away and breaks our kiss. He stoops to run his lips along my jaw to my ear. “Take your time, princess,” he whispers, flicking his tongue into my ear.

  Shivers run down my body with the hot streams of water, and I sigh and let him take over. He drops lower, then grabs me around the waist and picks me up. I wrap my legs around his hips and shiver as his hot lips latch onto my nipple. He sucks hard, and I yelp, but he doesn’t let up. He sucks harder, and pleasure races through me along with the pain. He grabs my ass with both hands, squeezing hard and yanking me against him while he grinds the ridge of his cock against me. My clit throbs with every suck of his hungry mouth, and I let out wordless sounds of pleasure as he devours me.

  I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into, but fuck it feels good. I run my nails over his scalp, his neck, the shoulders of his soaked shirt. I can see darker patterns beneath the wet fabric, and I’m dying to see his tattoos, but I can only pull his shirt up halfway because he refuses to let me go. He spreads my ass cheeks wide and slides his fingers lower, opening my pussy. He plunges two long, wet fingers deep into me without warning. I cry out, pleasure and pain darting through me at once. He drives them into me harder, until I’m sure I’m about to burst.

  I cry out his name, begging him for more, for more of him. I love what he’s doing to me, but it’s all for me. I want him, too. I want to make him lose control the way I am.

  Ryker grabs me around the waist and with one powerful motion, lifts me all the way up onto his shoulders. He buries his face between my legs, and I forget everything else. My thighs clench around his head, and I gasp in ecstasy as his tongue owns me.

  With his hands supporting my ass, he feasts. I cling to the wall with one hand and the ceiling with the other, forgetting everything as he takes me higher and higher. He licks and sucks and bites, stroking my clit until I’m panting frantically, and then I’m cresting the waves of pleasure so high I don’t know if I’ll ever come down. I flail, my hand wrapping around the shower head where it comes from the wall, my body jerking in helpless spasms.

  I think I’m begging him to stop, that I can’t take it, but he doesn’t. His tongue plunges into my opening, opening me wide and deep, taking me further still. Black spots swim before my eyes, and I feel something building inside me like a scream, threatening to rip me apart from within if I try to hold it back. Orgasm gripping every inch of my body, I finally can’t hold back. I open my mouth and scream.

  Chapter Fourteen

  When I finally come back to reality, Ryker is lowering me to my feet again. Water is spraying out of the wall, and I realize I’m holding the shower head in my hand.

  Ryker swears and smacks a hand over the water, and it stops instantly. He tries to set me on my feet, but I sag against him, my jelly legs beyond worthless.

  “Again, I forgot how piercing your scream is,” he says. “I’m going to need hearing aids when I really fuck you.” He laughs quietly, picks me up, and steps out of the shower. The floor is covered in half an inch of water from the broken faucet. Ryker plucks it from my hand and set it on the sink, grabs a towel, and carries me to the bed. He lowers me onto it, but I slide an arm around the back of his neck. “Stay.”

  “I’m pretty sure I got you charged up again,” he says, a smirk on his lips. They’re still shiny with my cum, which is strangely erotic.

  “What about you?” I ask, refusing to let go of his neck.

  “You really want me to fuck you?” he asks. “Didn’t you say you wanted your first time to be with someone you love or some bullshit like that?”

  “Yeah, but…” I toy with the neck of his shirt. I’m dying to see what’s inked on his skin, the outline of them barely visible through the wet fabric.

  “You don’t love me,” he finishes. Instead of leaving, though, he sinks onto the bed beside me.

  “Maybe we could, you know. Practice other things. So I can be good for that person I love.”

  The smirk comes back to his lips. “You’re saying you want to give me a blowjob?”

  “Maybe,” I say, smiling shyly at him. “I mean, it’s only fair. You got to give me one. Let me give you one.”

  He looks at me a long moment, and then grins. “Not going to say no to that.”

  “Then we’d better start by getting rid of all these wet clothes,” I say, turning and climbing onto him, straddling his hips. I grab the edge of his T-shirt and start to lift it, but he grabs my wrists.

  “Is that really necessary?” he asks. When our eyes meet, I see something strange in his gaze. Almost… fear.

  “Well, you’re wet, and we’re in my bed,” I say softly. “So I’d rather get them off sooner than later.”

  “Just… Don’t stare,” he says, still looking oddly vulnerable lying under me. I wonder if he’s feeling as vulnerable as I would feel under him. It’s an odd sensation, to be the one in control here. I’m also dying to know what’s tattooed on his skin that’s so personal he’s freaked out about me seeing it.

  “You’re a guy with huge muscles and tattoos,” I point out, smiling to try to lighten the mood as he sits up so I can pull off his shirt. “I don’t know if I can help myself.”

  I peel his shirt off and gasp. It’s not tattoos that cover his skin—not only tattoos, anyway. Along with a fresh, pink, raised vertical scar over his heart, are older scars. He’s covered in them, like lightning bolts exploded out of his heart and ripped open jagged furrows in his skin. He’s since inked over his entire chest and abdomen, but there’s no hiding that many scars, that extent of injury.

  “What happened?” I whisper, too shocked to realize I’m staring until he sits up and dumps me unceremoniously onto my mattress.

  He snatches up his wet shirt and drags it over his head and down his torso, covering his skin. “I told you not to stare,” he snaps.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “I
didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry, Ryker. For how I reacted, and for… Whatever happened.”

  He mutters something unintelligible and heads for the door.

  “Ryker, no,” I say, jumping up and rushing to stop him. “Don’t go. I’m sorry. I was just surprised. I don’t mind, and I won’t ask again. You can tell me whatever and whenever you want. Or not, if you don’t want to.”

  He turns the knob and then hesitates, giving me a sour look. “Everyone knows what happened,” he says. “Don’t you use the internet?”

  “I don’t really follow the gossip sites,” I admit.

  “My parents had someone unleash my magic before it was time.”

  “Why?” I blurt, my eyes widening. I didn’t even know that was possible.

  “Gotta get that head start,” Ryker says. “Speaking of which, I need to be practicing, not fucking around with you. You don’t need me here anymore, anyway. You got what you were after.”

  Without giving me a chance to protest, he steps out and closes the door in my face. Great. He makes it sound like he’s some kind of escort, and I just got what I paid for. I hate to think that he believes something like that. Yes, I wanted my magic back. I even told him it was nothing more. But I thought he knew I was lying just as I knew he was.

  Wasn’t he?

  I flat-out told him I liked him yesterday in the car. I told them all I liked them, and only Rocco has said it back. Am I arrogant to believe that the others feel what I do, too?

  I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts as I quickly dress.

  What matters now is finding my dad. If what Ryker did was enough to give me even a bit of magic back, it was worth it. I can feel the magic already, the slight hum of its presence swelling inside me. I don’t know how much I’ll get back from that, but it’s something. Enough to make both me and Cleo stronger. I can feel her approval from across the room. She wants to be strong even more than I do. The magic is unwieldy for me, hard to manage. Not for her. When I pick her up, she takes what I give her and preens with the new power.

  “Okay, you little minx,” I say. “Want to go see what we can do?”

  She hums her approval, and I tuck her into the pocket of my leather jacket and head out. When I step out my door, Rocco is standing there. Over the past few months, I’d gotten used to not having a guard attached to my hip, and I pull up short when I see him.

  “Surprised to see me?” he asks with a grin.

  Was he out here the whole time? Super.

  “No,” I say, crossing my arms. “Why would I be surprised?”

  “Ryker’s supposed to be on duty with me,” he says. “But apparently he really, really needed to practice this morning.”

  “Maybe he’s afraid I’ll kick his ass again.” I smile at the thought as I start down the hall.

  “You look refreshed,” Rocco says, falling into step with me. “Or… What’s different?”

  So maybe he wasn’t out here listening to my screaming orgasm. That’s a relief.

  “I’m not wearing my uniform?” I offer, trotting down the stairs.

  “No,” Rocco says. He peers at me a minute and then snaps his fingers. “You got your magic back.”

  I can already feel my face reddening. I’m pretty sure he knows how I spend and recharge my magic. I can only assume they all know by now.

  Rocco grins and wiggles his eyebrows at me. “Wanna tell me all about how you did it?”

  “No,” I say, scowling at him as I push out the front doors. “I most certainly don’t. It’s none of your business, in fact.”

  As usual, he falls in beside me on the walkway toward the main building. “It was Ryker,” he says with a grin. “Wasn’t it?”

  “Why would you say that?”

  He shrugs. “That’s what he always says. So, what’d you guys do?”

  “Oh my god, not having this conversation with you.”

  He gives me an appraising look. “You didn’t fuck him. You’re walking too normal for that.”

  “Oh my god,” I say again, starting to laugh despite myself. Mostly it’s embarrassment, but damn.

  “What?” Rocco asks, the picture of innocence. “You’re a virgin, and he’s a fucking stallion. Just saying.”

  “Well, don’t,” I say. “I did not have sex with anyone, and beyond that, you don’t need to know anything. For all you know, I took care of it myself.”

  “Oh, really?” Rocco asks, running his tongue slowly along the seam of his lips. “I definitely want to hear about that. Every…Last…Detail.”

  “Stop,” I say, laughing.

  “Hey, there’s no shame in it,” he says. “Every guy on this campus is jerking off after spending time with you. If you have to spank the monkey a little after hanging out with me, I don’t blame you. I’m pretty fucking sexy.”

  He flexes his bicep, which is ridiculously sexy even when he’s playing around, and I can’t help but laugh again. I swat his arm, and he takes my hand, linking his fingers through mine. “Seriously, though,” he says. “I told you last night, and I meant it. I don’t care if you fool around with Ryker. I mean, I’d like to be first, obviously, but it’s not something I’d be torn up over. If I get even half your time, I consider myself blessed.”

  We turn and start toward the guys’ dorm, where Professor Darius has his apartment.

  “What if it wasn’t Ryker?” I ask, peeking at Rocco from the corner of my eye.

  He frowns. “I don’t know how I’d feel about that.”

  “So now you get to tell me who to hook up with?”

  He shrugs. “You get to tell me who to hook up with. Which is you and you alone. That’s all I want, Jade. I don’t need anyone else.”

  “I’m not sure I can agree to that,” I say, extricating my hand from his.

  “It’s Thorn, isn’t it?” he asks with a scowl. “That bastard. I knew it. I shouldn’t have let him tag along on our date.”

  “I thought you were friends.”

  “We are,” he says. “We’re also competitive. And since I’m the fuck-up, and he’s the golden boy, you can guess who wins most of the time. I guess I just thought I might win this time.”

  “You did,” I say, taking his hand and pulling him to a stop. I stand on tiptoes and slide an arm around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss. “I went out with you, didn’t I? I said we could keep seeing each other. We’re dating. You’re my boyfriend, Rocco. No one else has that promise from me.”

  He twists his lips to one side and peers down at me for a second, his hands linked behind the small of my back. “Okay,” he says at last. “I know I fucked up royally last semester, but that’s what I’ve wanted all along. That’s all I’ve wanted. A chance.”

  “How did you go from being the biggest asshole in the world to the sweetest?” I ask, smiling up at him.

  He squeezes me to him and leans down to press his lips to mine. “I was always the sweetest asshole in the world,” he says. “You just didn’t give me a chance to show you.”

  “Fine, you win, I’m the asshole,” I say, laughing. “You are competitive, aren’t you?”

  “A little bit,” he admits, flashing his dimples.

  “We’d better go talk to Darius,” I say before I can get sucked in by his charm.

  We head up to Darius’s apartment. Rocco enters without knocking, and I trail behind, feeling suddenly awkward. I’m not used to traipsing into men’s living quarters unannounced.

  Darius quickly sits up and snaps off the TV. He’s sitting on the couch eating a bowl of cereal, wearing nothing but a robe. It’s so oddly out of alignment with the suave professor I know that I have a momentary stumble. Like the night before, I’m overcome with a swell of love for the man. He’s so normal, so unaffected by his position and status. Under it all, he’s just a regular guy like the rest of us.

  “What were you watching?” I ask, pretty sure I already know and that I love him even more for it.

  He clears his throat. “Just… Some news story.”r />
  “Porn,” Rocco says with a grin.

  Darius frowns and sets his bowl down, adopting his stern professor face. “I assure you, it was nothing inappropriate.”

  Rocco reaches for the remote, but Darius snatches it up. Rocco laughs. “Definitely porn.”

  Darius glances between me and Rocco like he’s trying to decide whether to let us think it was porn or tell the truth.

  “So,” I say, dropping onto the couch beside him. “Who do you think will make it to the Final Countdown? I’m betting on Svetlana and Thomas. But my money’s on Svetlana to take home the vial. I mean, who’s ever heard of a vampire named Thomas?”

  Darius’s eyes widen for a second, and he swallows and glances at Rocco before returning his gaze to me. “What?”

  “Come on,” I say, nudging his knee with mine. “I may not have money to indulge in the luxuries certain other people do, but I sure as hell indulge in trash-TV. You might even call it my guilty pleasure. I know an episode of America’s Next Top Vampire when I see it.”

  Darius allows a small smile before shifting on the couch, adjusting his robe in a way that makes me pretty sure he’s not wearing much, if anything, under it. Damn it. Why did I let Rocco accompany me here?

  Oh, yeah. Because this is a strictly-business call.

  “I assume Ryker told you that Silas didn’t have any information,” he says.

  “He’s lying,” I answer immediately.

  Darius shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Jade. I even called in a telepath. He doesn’t know where your father is.”

  “Then what do we do?” I ask, collapsing back against the couch and closing my eyes, holding back the tears that threaten again every time I let myself think of my father being held somewhere against his will. Who knows who took him, or what sick thing they might be doing to him right now? There are magical tortures I can’t even imagine.

  “For right now, we can only wait,” Darius says, placing a gentle hand on my knee. “I’m sorry, Jade.”

  “Wait for what?” I ask. “For his body to be found?”