Corviticus University: Family Ties

by J. E. Cluney

We yipped and chased one another, dashing madly through the trees and bounding over the hills.

  We ran for what seemed like ages, and when the sun began to set in the distant, I let out a joyous howl.

  Ollie joined in with me, our voices mingling into one as we released our pure happiness into the air.

  I laughed inside as Ollie leapt into the air, his body morphing quickly into that of an eagle.

  I raced below him as he soared and swooped, and the sheer euphoria I felt from him thrilled me.

  I howled at him, and he dove down to playfully tug at my fur, his wings beating powerfully right by my head. I snapped lightly at him in response, and he just whistled at me before soaring back up into the sky.

  I watched him fly, diving and soaring overhead, calling out with delight as the sun set behind us.

  We headed back to where we’d left our clothes, him calling out as I let out short howls.

  By the time the sky turned dark, we were back at our piles of clothing, laughing and panting as we redressed.

  I was still giddy from the run, and I knew his adrenaline was still pumping from flying.

  I could only imagine how amazing it was to soar through the sky, to feel the wind in his feathers and feel completely invincible.

  “It’s pretty damn amazing,” he chuckled as he slid his arms around my waist. I had just been about to tug my shirt on, but I faltered, holding it in one hand as I leaned back into his bare chest.

  He’d pulled his pants on, but that was as far as he’d gotten.

  Excited shivers coursed through me as he kissed my shoulder, then my neck, his warm breath washing over my skin like wildfire, leaving hot tingles behind.

  “I had fun this afternoon,” he murmured against my skin, holding me tight.

  “So did I,” I sighed, lolling my head back against him so he could kiss more of my neck. God, his lips on my skin felt amazing.

  “I love shifting, even more when I’m with you. Running with you, being free and wild, it’s something special.”

  “It is,” I agreed, closing my eyes as his lips continued to dance across my skin.

  Heat was burning through me now, and I was beginning to ache for more.

  He chuckled knowingly, and I turned my head, capturing his tender lips.

  He kissed me sweetly at first, our mouths moving gently against one another, but then I was twisting in his arms, running my tongue over his bottom lip, begging for more.

  I didn’t care that we were out in the open. It was dark and no one was around.

  ‘We can’t do it outside,’ Ollie said, stunned that I was willing to.

  I mentally groaned as I continued to kiss him, my tongue tasting his and exploring his mouth.

  ‘I have an idea,’ he said, his voice low and tinged with desire too.

  I could feel his excitement straining against his jeans now.

  Our little run had definitely fired us up, and we had too much extra energy running rampant inside us. Wild energy.

  He broke the kiss to gather up his shirt, then he grabbed my hand, giving me a devilish grin before taking off, dragging me with him.

  I giggled as I ran with him, glad that we’d at least put our shoes on, and I had my shirt and camera in my hand.

  He led us to the stables, and I tried to giggle softly as he led me into one of the side rooms.

  The moon was out now, and it was enough to light the darkened room through a high window.

  The hay room.

  I snickered at this.

  Of course we were going for a roll in the hay.

  He laughed at my thought before coming to a stop and spinning around.

  I set my camera down on the nearest hay bale with my shirt only moments before he tugged me against his chest and claimed my mouth passionately.

  I moaned as I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his bare back, holding him tight.

  His hands explored what bare skin they could, trailing down my back and sides and leaving goosebumps in their wake.

  He moaned as he kissed me, his hands finding the clasp of my bra and working it undone.

  He slid the straps down my arms, his fingers brushing my skin and making me quiver.

  And then he broke the kiss, grinning at me as he turned away and reached over some saddles near the front of the room.

  He turned back, and I just chuckled as he splayed the picnic blanket out and set it down on the floor amongst the hay.

  I drew in the sweet scent of hay, glad he’d had the picnic blanket here. But why? Had he planned this?

  ’No, it’s here to cover the saddles in wet weather, otherwise the leather can get moldy,’ Ollie said as he closed the gap between us and kissed me once more.

  So we were going to do the deed on a moldy blanket protector?

  Ollie just laughed as he pulled back, falling down to the blanket and tugging me with him.

  “It’s clean, trust me,” he snickered as he rolled us over so that he was leaning over me.

  I traced his lean, smooth chest, before moving my hands to run down his taut arms, loving the feel of his muscles beneath my hands.

  Ollie watched me silently as I explored his torso with my hands, a soft smile playing at his lips.

  And then I found those gorgeous hazel eyes, locked onto mine with complete adoration and love.

  “Love you,” he murmured, making my heart squeeze at the words.

  “I love you too,” I breathed, cupping his face in my hands and pulling him down to kiss me.

  It was a sweet kiss at first, playful and light, but then our lips continued moving against one another, our tongues battling and exploring as it deepened.

  I moved my body against his, my fingers running down his back as he moaned into my mouth.

  I was getting hot, desperate for things to move to something else.

  Ollie chuckled against my lips, one hand trailing down my stomach and then teasing along the waistband of my shorts.

  I groaned, then decided to return the torturous teasing, my hands sliding down to his waistband.

  The bulge I was met with made me quiver in anticipation, and I rubbed against it, loving how he moaned and kissed me harder.

  He moved away from my lips, kissing down my neck and then nibbling along my collarbone.

  I closed my eyes, focusing on the sweet sensations as he continued down to my breasts.

  He took his time there, cupping one as he kissed the other, his thumb running over my nipple before he began suckling.

  I arched into him, hissing as his teeth grazed me. God, I loved it.

  ‘I know you do,’ Ollie murmured into my mind, his voice husky and full of desire.

  I knew I was wet, my underwear was a goddamn mess for him now.

  He chuckled into my mind at this, and then he switched boobs, making me moan and run my fingers through his hair.

  He took his time working on my body, and I savored every touch and caress, every gentle kiss and nip.

  He finally moved down, trailing kisses down my belly as my heartbeat quickened.

  He paused at the burn scars on my belly, and I shuddered as he kissed each of them tenderly.

  All my guys had accepted my scars, they understood that they were a part of my story, of how I’d become who I now was.

  ‘You’re perfect just as you are,’ Ollie said softly as he continued kissing down my belly.

  My body tingled and twitched as his lips found the edge of my waistband.

  “You smell so good,” Ollie groaned as he nuzzled my belly.

  His fingers worked at the button on my shorts, and then he was sliding them down along with my underwear.

  He kissed down my thighs as he did this, and continued on down my legs as he slid my shorts and panties off.

  I was practically panting by the time he shimmied up my body to kiss me once more.

  And to my delight, he’d taken his own jeans off already, along with his briefs.

  He kissed me passionately as he gently rubbed
against my inner thigh.

  I couldn’t help it, I was hot and desperate for him, and I flipped us over, drawing a startled sound from him as he just looked up at me in shock.

  I kissed along his jaw, nibbling on his earlobe as my hands explored his chest as I straddled him.

  He was moaning as I slid down his body, kissing him all over and running my hands down his body.

  I finally reached what I was after, and I kissed around his arousal, loving how it twinged and he stiffened beneath me.

  I trailed my fingers down his sturdy thighs, massaging the muscles as I bobbed down.

  He drew in a sharp breath as I licked the tip of his length teasingly, before moving to drag my tongue down the side of his arousal, stroking it a few times. I loved how he moaned beneath me, but he stayed completely still.

  After a few moments of torturous teasing, I finally took him inside my mouth, my own body aching with need as I began sucking and bobbing my head.

  I knew he was fighting the urge to buck into my mouth, which I was grateful for.

  I savored his moans and hisses as I worked him, playing with his balls with one hand.

  I continued pleasuring him until my own desire grew to be too much, and I pulled back, looking up at him through my lashes.

  He was watching me, his eyes dark and his chest heaving.

  We both needed more.

  I positioned myself over him, guiding his length into me, loving how easily he slid inside.

  I moaned as my walls stretched to accommodate him, and the ache that had become almost unbearable was finally letting up.

  His hands gripped my hips as I slowly rode him, grinding myself in the perfect way against him.

  I reached out mentally, loving his pure thoughts of how gorgeous I looked on top of him, and how amazing it felt.

  I gasped and moaned as I bounced and ground down on top of him, and he began thrusting up to meet me, moving in sync with me.

  The tightening of my core was building, and I began quickening my pace, desperate for that utter bliss that awaited me.

  I gasped as the waves hit me, rolling over me gently and yet burning through me all at once.

  Ollie followed quickly, his fingers digging into my hips as he climaxed with me.

  I threw my head back as the tingles tore through my body, the pleasure exploding in every nerve-ending as our bodies were unified.

  I rode the orgasmic cloud, my chest heaving as I sucked in air, enjoying the perfect moment.

  Once the bliss began to pass, I wondered how best to remove myself from him. I didn’t want to leave a mess on top of him.

  ‘I don’t think it can be avoided,’ he sighed into my mind.

  I knew he was right. We didn’t have a towel or tissues or anything.

  “Sorry,” I chuckled, finding the thought hilarious of our joint orgasmic juices flooding out of me as I stood.

  He just snickered as I awkwardly rose, and I tried to cup myself underneath to save him.

  We both ended up with it on us, and I automatically pulled a face at the puddle of liquids in my hand still dribbling out of me.

  Great. Just what I wanted.

  Ollie stood up, reaching for his clothes. The picnic blanket had gotten rather scrunched up as we’d had our fun, and I wondered just what I intended to do with the mess I was holding.

  Hell, he was looking at the sticky mess on himself in dismay.

  I grinned, unable to stop myself from laughing as he wondered which piece of clothing he should sacrifice to clean us both.

  He chose his briefs, wiping himself clean before offering them to me.

  “Thanks,” I said with an eye roll as I tried to clean up my hand a bit. At least my handbag was in my car, and I had some wipes in there thankfully.

  “Ollie!” I gasped.

  He froze midway through pulling his jeans on, glancing around him as he realized what was going on.

  Bits of sparkling hay were rising up from around the picnic blanket, and I watched dumbly as they began soaring around us.

  We’d clearly not been as clean and careful as we’d thought.

  Ollie just laughed as I groaned inwardly.

  And then he was crying out, and I realized our error.

  His briefs had shot out of my hands, screeching as they torpedoed towards him.

  He stumbled, his jeans catching on his legs as he collapsed to his knees.

  The briefs slammed into his chest with a wet squelching sound, and Ollie groaned as he turned his head away from them.

  I was covering my mouth with my clean hand, muffling my snorts of laughter as his briefs attempted to chew on his chest.

  “Ally, please,” he groaned, but his lips had pulled up into a smile.

  “Right, sorry,” I gasped, focusing on my magic.

  The tainted hay fell down from the air, and he caught his briefs as they slid down his chest.

  “Well, it never gets boring,” Ollie sighed as he held his briefs at arms length and scrunched his nose up at his sticky chest.

  At least all the tainted hay had landed on top of the picnic blanket. We’d take it home and throw it out, and wash the blanket. Ollie could bring it back tomorrow afternoon.

  We both ended up snickering and chuckling, shaking our heads at the situation as we dressed.

  We rolled his briefs up inside the blanket too, and then we were headed out and to the car, Ollie keeping one arm around my waist and kissing my cheek softly.

  Life was never going to be boring with mischief magic.

  Skip started snickering as soon as we walked into the kitchen. Ollie had gone straight to the laundry after getting rid of the hay, and now he was with me as we entered the kitchen. Lucas had texted saying the spaghetti bog was on for dinner again, and I’d laughed with Ollie in the car as we joked about our last incident with the dish.

  “Went for a roll in the hay?” Lucas remarked as he waved his hand and two plates whizzed over from the drawer, floating down onto the table before our designated seats. Forks followed quickly after.

  “Excuse me, but I can already tell that you two had fun,” I retorted after prying into Skip’s mind.

  He’d had some fun with Lucy this afternoon when he couldn’t have me since I was out.

  “When you’ve got an itch, you scratch,” Skip shrugged.

  “Besides, it’s just a little fun,” Lucas added as two cups flew over to the table as Ollie and I sat down. “What drinks do you want?”

  “Water,” I said quickly.

  “Juice,” Ollie said as he began serving us both up.

  The juice bottle and water jug came out of the fridge, and I was actually quite pleased to see that the boys had drunk some of the flavored water. I’d made it up this morning, slicing up a lemon and dropping it into the jug before filling it with water.

  “We’ve got dessert too! I bought more ice-cream,” Skip declared.

  The thought of sitting down on the lounge after dinner with the boys and some ice-cream while watching something was perfect.

  What better way to end the day?

  Chapter 7

  Marcus.

  I’d heard from friends that Scott had endured through our pranks, but I doubted he’d ever go near Emma again. Good. That prick had humiliated her and made her feel like shit.

  And Emma was Allison’s best friend, she’d become one of our little group now, along with George.

  We’d all settled down about the whole Walter thing. Nothing could be done, and it seemed he was out of the picture the majority of the time.

  I wasn’t overly fond of the idea that the creature that had tried to kill her and had killed her parents was now somehow a part of her. It was just plain weird.

  But not even Mr Brady could do anything about it. Even Lucas doubted he could.

  Allison had accepted it rather easily, which astounded me. But I also knew she’d been through so much in life that she was just getting used to all the crazy.

  I looked down at her, runni
ng my fingers through her thick brown hair.

  I’d gone to bed with her, having a little bit of fun after her shower before snuggling with her. It was a warm night, and she’d curled into me to cool down and fall asleep easily.

  She looked so serene and calm as she slept, and I sometimes wondered what she dreamed. Hearing her thoughts and prying into her mind as she dreamt were two very different things. If I tried to see her dreams, all I got was a colorful haze and broken images. It was like our link got tangled when it came to dreams.

  Which was fine by me. Dreams were something we didn’t need to share, they were our escape from the real world, somewhere we could hide and rest while going on adventures.

  I sometimes dreamt when I slept, and I enjoyed most of my dreams. Ever since we’d become mated, my nightmares had diminished. I barely ever had a bad dream now. No triggering memories of my family’s death.

  I had my life back again, I could enjoy the sun once more, taste the sweetest foods and even taste the disgusting bitter things too.

  Many people took eating and the sunlight for granted, but they were things I’d come to miss so much.

  Allison had given me back some of my life, and I was eternally grateful. I couldn’t contain the sheer joy I had every time I went out into the sun and it didn’t burn, and the utter delight of eating. It was more than anything I could’ve wished for.

  I watched as she slept, stroking her hair soothingly as I sat beside her, my back against the bedhead.

  I wanted to paint her like this, asleep and looking so peaceful with such natural beauty.

  I smiled as she made a soft sound, reaching out to find me and pulling herself closer to my side.

  She was still fast asleep though.

  I didn’t want to leave her, but I had work to do on Nightwood. So much artwork as well as assisting the other guys with everything else.

  No.

  I needed to paint her first. My fingers were twitching with the need to paint her like this. If I flitted, I could get my easel here without her knowing, and I’d work as quickly as I could.

  Painting was one of the few things that flitting couldn’t speed up drastically. Paint had to dry, so unlike sketching and most other art forms, I had to stick with a slower pace.

  But it was well worth it.