Phoenix Academy: Freed (Phoenix Academy First Years Book 5)

by Lucy Auburn

  Chapter 12

  "We're going to Hell." I announce this standing in a tiny clearing covered in goo, ickor, and various pieces of hacked-up demon. There's blood on my clothes, some of it mine, some of it belonging to a bison shifter, a bit of it mysterious. "That pit where those things crawled out of? It's where we have to go to free you guys, and to close the door, all at the same time. We'll all have to die to do it. And it won't be easy, for all the obvious reasons. So let's hope you're ready."

  We're the only fighters left on the field; everyone else has fallen back to rest, regroup, and have their injuries tended to. As soon as I was done with Malavic, our deal sealed in mutual blood, I rejoined the battle, my hands full with demons to kill. It took until now for us to get a break in the wave of the fighting, along with my only chance to tell them the plan for what comes next.

  They don't look too excited about the thought of returning to the place of their rebirth. Ezra and Lynx exchange a look of shared worry; Sebastian silently broods, while Mateo seems to be counting his remaining bullets and grenades, unconcerned.

  "We drove the demonic horde away from campus," Ezra points out. "They've been thoroughly beaten. Only minor injuries were sustained. This might be the last of them."

  Behind us, Auerbach strides onto the battlefield, looking wizens and tired. "It won't be." He pulls a thin silver circlet out of his collection, and approaches the gates as he speaks to us. "I've managed to strengthen the wards, now that demons aren't thrusting their variously hairy and scaled appendages through, but they'll come back through that gate. Make no mistake: they fell back to regroup and fight again, just like us. That means there's likely a leader among them, which means they'll come back with a strategy next time. Fighting a faceless horde of teaming demons with no particular plan is one thing. This next battle may very well overwhelm our forces permanently."

  Worrying at my lower lip with my teeth, I ask him, "How is Ari? Were you able to wake her?"

  "No." His voice is grim as he drops the bracelet, releases its magic, and draws runes in the air to strengthen the wards near the campus gates, which face the cracked-open gate to Hell. "She's deep in a magical slumber. I believe she has to wake herself. We won't find out what opened this gate, or why, until she's finished with her own battle."

  "How long until the wards fall again?" Ezra asks.

  "About two hours, a little more if we're lucky. After that... I'm not sure I'll be able to build them again." Holding up his hands, he tells us wearily, "I'm almost out of magical stores. And while the Council of Mages may send someone out here to help me, by the time they arrive..."

  Turning towards the guys, I tell them grimly, "It sounds like ending this is up to us. We have some time to talk about it, and to regroup, but I think... I think the four of you are going to have to close the door."

  Mateo asks, "And then what? We just... die?"

  "We go to Hell," I tell him. "The five of us. Together. And we end this thing for good—freeing you guys and protecting the campus from invasion all at once. Forever."

  Because we have a brief respite, and a lot of things to think about, my quartet and I wind up back in my dorm room. The only thing is, now that all four of them are corporeal all the time, it feels much... smaller.

  "Think one or two of you could go all ghost-like?" I ask, as Mateo nearly upends my bookshelf with a wayward brush of his shoulder. "I mean, no offense, but you don't fit."

  "I seem to remember fitting pretty well on your bed," Mateo says, a glimmer in his eyes. "And in other places."

  "Yes, me as well." His blue gaze full of desire, Sebastian pushes me up against the window and cages me between his arms, smirking down at me. "One last fuck before we die sounds like a good idea."

  From over his shoulder, Lynx calls out, "Showers first! We're covered in ick."

  "I kinda like it." Mateo lifts an arm and sniffs his armpit. "All manly and tough."

  Rolling my eyes, I shoo him towards the bedroom, plant a brief kiss on Sebastian's lips, then duck under my blue-eyed demon's arms.

  "I call first shower." Striding towards the bathroom, I toss over my shoulder, "Come with me, Seb. Unless you want to be dirty?"

  Ezra growls, "I think we all want to be very, very dirty."

  The flash of his green eyes makes it clear what he's thinking of, and before I can make it past him into the bathroom, he puts an arm around my waist and draws me against his chest. Heat emanates from every inch of him, along with the clear lust of his hardened cock brushing up against me from beneath his pants.

  Crushing my lips against his in a tight, needy kiss, Ezra delves into my mouth and stokes a different kind of fire in me. This isn't the fire I used to fight demons on the battlefield or the one that burns within as I come back to life. It's the fire of lust, of need, of an all-consuming love that makes it impossible to imagine a life without them, including the afterlife.

  I open my mouth to him. As I do so, I feel another touch brush against my back, and after a moment Sebastian's lips are sucking lightly at the delicate skin of my neck. In the bathroom, the taps turn on, and Mateo calls out, "Hey—no fair! You guys said shower first. If you're staying out there..."

  Pulling back from Ezra and Sebastian, I shoot them an apologetic look. "If you two don't shower, he'll try to take a whore's bath and call it a done deal. C'mon—the water won't be warm for long."

  We wash up in the shower together, agreeing to go two by two, so the water stays warm. Mateo and I go first, him stripping his explosives belts and grime-covered clothes and dropping them on the ground. He kisses me with his mouth curved up in happy amusement, because despite everything, Mateo will always see the best in things.

  "It's not a bad day to die," he says as we stumble back into the shower, the hot steam stinging my shoulder blades. He draws me against him and presses his fingers into the new tattoos on my back. "We killed lots of shit. I got to use my favorite guns and my favorite explosives. And if we pull this off, we'll be fucking legendary."

  Batting my eyes up at him, I ask, "Aren't we already legendary?"

  "We should be," he boasts, grabbing the soap and drawing his hands across my wet body, making suds wherever he touches me. I shiver as he twists my nipples in deft fingers, his voice drawing down to a low octave. "When I look at you, I don't know what I want to do more: fuck you until you scream, or kill anyone who even thinks about hurting you. Today I get to do both. What could possibly be better than that?"

  "Not dying would be better," I tell him, but he's already running his hands down to my abdomen and getting down on his knees.

  I gasp as he pushes me back against the door of the shower, my eyes going to the three figures standing in the bathroom just beyond its fogged glass. Lynx, Ezra, and Sebastian have undressed and are waiting, watching, their desire clear, willing to wait their turn even as they harden at the sight of me naked. I'll never get used to what it feels like to be worshipped, loved, and desired by all four of them.

  As Mateo parts my thighs and pushes his tongue between them, I tip my head up towards the shower head and let the water sluice down my skin. His mouth is deft, warming me up with clever little flicks and presses of his tongue, starting on my inner thighs and working his way in.

  I moan, my legs resting against his arms as he takes my weight, my lower lips pulsing with desire and my body warming against him. I push myself onto his face and enjoy the burn of stubble, the coaxing of his tongue, warm water all around me as he brings me to a soft and gasping climax with nothing but his mouth and the knowledge of each other's bodies that we have from so much time together.

  When he stands up, there's a grin on his lips, and his cock is so hard it bobs against my abdomen. Grabbing the soap, I slick him up, reaching down towards his shaft and wordlessly meeting his eyes as I stroke it. He lets his gaze travel up and down my body, the lust clear in his eyes.

  Sebastian calls out, "Don't use all the hot water!"

  "Fuck you!" Mateo shoots back.

&nb
sp; "Dani will soon," Sebastian promises, and my pussy twitches at the thought of the pleasure he'll wring out of my body. "Very soon."

  Because the water really will get cold, we move on to washing ourselves properly, grabbing the shampoo and soaping up. I spend extra time with the conditioner, running my fingers through my shortened, bleached hair. Mateo kisses me as he rinses the suds from his dark locks, his mouth making promises.

  "If we die today," he says, low voice for my ears only, "and I mean really, actually, not coming back die, I'll find you again. I swear it."

  "You can't know that." My voice comes out choked with emotion. "You won't have your memories. You won't even know you made this promise."

  "I will." He stares at me, his dark brown eyes sure. "If nothing else, my love for you will lead me back to you, no matter what body I'm in or what memories are in my head. That, and I want to taste that pussy again." Grinning impishly, he kisses me like he's stealing the kiss. "You won't get rid of me, Dani Carpenter. Not in a thousand years."

  Then he slips out of the shower, leaving me to condition my hair and tilt my face up towards the running water in the hope that it might hide the tears rolling down my face.

  I'm not ready. I never will be. Two hours, two years, two decades, even two centuries—it could never be enough time. Not with them. Heart of my heart, soul of my soul, I will never rest easy until the day they're free. Until the day I know I'll be with them always, here and wherever my soul goes next, into the Great Beyond.

  If nothing else, though, I have to enjoy them while they're still here. So as Lynx reaches out to grab the shower door and lets himself in, I force myself to swallow my grief and my fear, and enjoy another moment with my wonderful, kind, smart, and sexy book nerd of a demon.

  "Nice abs," I tell him, splaying my hand against his rippled abdomen. His skin warms beneath my touch as the steam rises up between us. "Do you read many books with those muscles?"

  "Oh, then and now. I'm just a casual reader, though."

  "Yeah?"

  "Yeah," he jokes, "I prefer Dan Brown novels."

  As the water and soap wash the grime of the day off his wonderful body, his brown skin flexing with the movement of his well-toned arms and shoulders, we kiss like middle schoolers beneath the water's warmth, giddy and breathless. I don't even care that the conditioner is getting washed out of my hair too soon. I barely notice that the soap on his body gets on mine, or that I have to step onto his toes to stretch up and kiss him. All I feel is warmth and happiness in this moment with him.

  Eventually the shower goes from hot to merely very warm, and Lynx murmurs in my ear, "We better get out now. Leave the cold water to those two chumps. They can fight to see which of them goes first."

  "Oh yeah?"

  "Yeah." His hand moves down my side, around my thigh, and between my legs, fingers teasing me. "I have plans for that sweet little body of yours, now that I'm thoroughly clean."

  Kissing me again, he grabs my hand and leads me out of the shower. As Sebastian and Ezra move past us to get the last of the warm water, Ezra smacks me on the ass and Sebastian trails his fingers down my side, his touch leaving a trail of shiver behind on my wet skin.

  "You're cold. Here." Lynx goes over and grabs a clean towel off the towel rack. "Let me help you with that."

  In the other room, Mateo settles in on the bed, watching us with his damp towel pooled on the ground. He watches us with half-lidded eyes, his hand gripped around the base of his erection, water dripping off the dark curl of his hair and rolling down his brown skin to pool on the bed around him. I want to tell him off for being a mess, but all I can think about is how sexy and filthy he is.

  Then Lynx spins the towel around and smacks me on the ass with it playfully. I jump, out of surprise more than anything, and he gives me a look that would melt the polar ice caps. Drawing me too him, he pulls the towel around my shoulders and leans down to bring our mouths together in an incredible kiss.

  My body presses against him, the warmth of his skin driving the chill away, his long, girthy cock rock hard against my belly. Drawing the towel around, he dries my back slowly, then wraps his hand in the soft terry cloth and brings it around to my front. I shudder from something other than the cold as he cups my breasts with his broad, towel-covered hand. The texture of the towel only heightens my pleasure, my nipples growing hard from something distinctly warm, not cold.

  Then Lynx brings the towel between my thighs. His eyes meet mine, an expression of pure lust on his face, those golden irises darkened with lust. I moan as I rub against the towel, my hair dripping down my back, our bodies separated by nothing but a bit of damp cloth.

  In the other room, Mateo strokes his cock.

  "Over here." Lynx twines our hands together, drops the towel, and tugs me towards the bathroom counter. "Enough teasing. I want to fuck you already."

  "God, just do it." I jump up on the counter and wriggle my hips, splaying my legs and drawing him to me. "I can see how hard your cock is. Thinking about what it'll feel like to fuck my pussy?"

  He makes a deep sound in his chest that's somewhere between a moan and a growl, his arms flexing as he slots his hips between my knees. "It's been too long. Damn that cold, cursed Danish island. If I die today, I'll do it with your scent still on me."

  I shudder a little at the primal sound of that, then press my mouth against his in a scorching kiss. He nips my lips as his fingers draw pleasure from my nipples. Then, reaching down, he teases my entrance with the flared head of his cock for a brief moment before tugging me towards him and plunging inside.

  Lynx's cock is as familiar to me as my own bedsheets, but I still moan with surprised pleasure at the way it tears inside me and fills me to the brim. He's thick and long, his eyes intense as he balances my weight at the edge of the counter and wrenches his hips to stroke himself balls deep in me. There's a desperation to his movements, one I meet by squeezing my legs around him and drawing him deep, wanting nothing between us at all. Not air, not distance, not death.

  We fuck at the edge of the counter, moaning and gasping, while Ezra and Sebastian each clean themselves up, then leave the shower to watch, water sluicing off their bodies. I can see them over Lynx's shoulder as he strokes inside me with abandon, his cock plunging deep inside my wet entrance, his body drawing me towards orgasm. He puts his fingers against my clit and rubs harshly, bringing me right to the edge.

  Then Sebastian walks over, bends his mouth to my neck, and whispers pleasure against my skin. I cry out in pleasure and agony alike as my climax descends on me like a bolt of lighting. My body pulls Lynx's cock deep within, pulsing around it tightly, and he groans as he comes.

  His deep voice murmurs against my skin, "I love you, I love you. So fucking much."

  "I love you too."

  We kiss sloppily as we come. Then he pulls me off the counter, his cock still pulsing cum inside me, and walks me into the other room. Tossing me down on the bed, his length slipping out of me, he stares down at me with dark eyes.

  "We'll get through this," he swears, as Mateo crowds him out and Ezra stalks into the room. "I won't leave you. Ever."

  "Promise?"

  "Always."

  I must be a fool, because I believe him. We both know that it's not possible; Lynx can't promise that he'll never leave me anymore than Mateo can promise that he'll find me with or without his memories. But his words soothe my soul, just like his body brought mine pleasure.

  Ezra looks at me with desire in his green eyes, his naked body a sight to behold, his brown hair damp and his cock curving towards his muscular abdomen. "You used all the hot water," he says, his brow curving in admonishment. "How are you going to repay me for that?"

  A spark lights up inside me, and I squirm on the bed, my thighs damp. Licking my lips, I suggest, "On my hands and knees?"

  "Sounds good." He leans down to kiss me, his mouth open and giving in this, while in other ways he keeps secrets closer than anything. But he pulls back from the deep k
iss before it can fully satisfy me, leaving me leaning forward wantonly for more. "I think you need something other than a good fucking from behind, though. That mouth of yours has gotten us into so much trouble... Mateo, think of anything Dani could do with her mouth that might be more productive?"

  "Oh, I can think of something," he says, his cock throbbing as he holds it in his hand, a pleasured smirk on his face. "Don't worry Ezra. When she comes so hard she screams, I'll make sure I'm there to keep her quiet."

  "Dani is good with her mouth," Ezra teases me, clearly enjoying this line of things—as am I, because my pussy is already throbbing for more. As I squirm, he notices, and raises his brows at me, lowering his voice. "Get into position, now. Hands and knees. Face the wall, and open your mouth. No complaining."

  I smirk up at him, just so he knows how much I'm enjoying this. "Oooohhh, Bossy Ezra. My least favorite Ezra."

  "Now!"

  He growls, green eyes flaring, and lust rises within me. Turning to do what he says, I enjoy the way Sebastian is watching lustfully from the corner, how eager Mateo looks, and the way Ezra's cock hardens almost painfully as I sway my hips and wriggle my ass in his direction. Watching me crawl across the bed, he climbs up behind me and grabs my hips in a sure and tight grip, his cock head leaking precum against my ass cheeks.

  "Right here. Like this." He adjusts my position, then motions towards Mateo. As the other demon walks in front of me, his crotch at my eye level, Ezra leans down and murmurs, "This is what you get for stealing the hot water from me."

  "I'll find a way to repay you," I promise him, already salivating at the thought of Mateo heavy and heady on my tongue. "Just you wait."

  Ezra grabs my ass cheek and playfully smacks it, then parts my lower lips and strokes his cock inside me. I gasp, and as my mouth opens, Mateo puts his fingers against my lips and pushes his cock head past them. Flicking my eyes up to meet his dark gaze, I enjoy the way he grunts as I suck on the first couple inches of his length, precum spilling onto my tongue.