Second Chance Soul: a paranormal reverse harem steamy slow burn academy adventure (Second Chance Academy Book 2)

by Ella J. Smyth

  “Have you had sex before?” I wanted to make sure one of us knew what they were doing.

  He shook his head. “Yes. But it was a few years ago and didn’t last long. This feels totally different.”

  He was right. When he touched me, it was as if sparks flashed across my skin, making the little hairs on my arms stand up. Julian’s lips brushed across mine again, his breath choppy as if he’d been running. And then he moved his hand in my pants, and I was lost.

  11

  Julian’s fingertip seemed to create an electric circuit where it touched the sensitive skin of my sex. My breathing sped up, and my pelvis undulated under Julian’s touch. I tilted my head back, tearing my mouth from his, and moaned. My body felt tingly and overheated.

  “Come on, sweetheart, let go,” I heard him murmur. His lower body ground against mine, wave after wave of rolling pressure that drove me crazy. The feeling between my legs grew higher and higher as his finger slipped over my clit, touching, circling.

  And then, as my eyes rolled back and colors burst behind my eyelids, my orgasm exploded from under his exploring hand. My whole being tightened, and I opened my mouth in a silent scream. Julian sucked on my neck, the pinch of his teeth driving me even higher. My hands fell on his ass and pulled as he rocked against me. A moment later, a groan accompanied his climax. He stiffened and collapsed on top of me.

  For several minutes, we held on to each other, breathing heavily, until he became too heavy. I pushed at his shoulders, and he rolled to his side, shifting his weight off me. He hid his face in my neck and chuckled. He’s adorable. Smiling, I turned my head to look at him. “That was amazing.”

  He kissed me on my earlobe. “I aim to please.”

  Pushing himself up on his elbows, he looked down and wrinkled his nose. “Next time, I’ll take my pants off, though. This feels disgusting.”

  “Feel free to use the bathroom. I think we scared Sharon off. She won’t be back anytime soon.”

  Julian got up and disappeared in the separate tiny room. There was no sign of Slug. He was probably crouching under Beth’s bed where he usually hid when things became too hectic for him. I wanted to call him, but I could barely move my mouth.

  I was suddenly so tired, I couldn’t even pull the cover over my exposed body. No matter how hard I tried, my eyes wouldn’t stay open. I was vaguely aware of Julian coming back and pulling the blanket over me. Maybe he kissed me as he left, but I’d already drifted off.

  Beth shook me so hard, the bed sounded like it was collapsing. “Amber, come on. What’s going on with you? Did you party last night? You’ll be so late.”

  When I opened my eyes, Beth stared at me in total exasperation. “Seriously, did you take anything? I’ve been trying to wake you for a full quarter of an hour.”

  I shook my head to clear the cobwebs, but it didn’t help. When I finally managed to stumble to the bathroom, I recoiled from my image in the mirror. Beth wasn’t wrong—I looked like I was suffering from a massive hangover. There were blue shadows under my eyes, and my skin had a grayish tinge.

  “Shit,” I muttered. “What happened to me?”

  The last thing I remembered was Julian and I having a great time. The memory drew a smile from me. But then I must have passed out or something. I stared at my hand. It trembled like a junkie’s.

  Beth had followed me. “Are you okay? You seriously look like you’re sick. Should I call it in?”

  I shook my head. “No, I just need some breakfast, and I’ll be fine. I stayed up late last night.”

  That was a lie, because I had no explanation for my exhaustion. After I’d splashed cold water onto my face and inhaled several chocolate bars, I felt better. I rushed through my morning shower, but by the time I returned to the room, Beth had already left.

  Mr. Whitehall had started the class when I opened the classroom door. His back was turned as he wrote a list of items on the whiteboard. As stealthily as I could, I crept to my usual seat.

  Kiernan broke into a broad grin as I sat down. He bent toward me and whispered, “I heard you had an interesting evening. Wanna tell me all about it later?”

  Julian chuckled on my other side and took my hand. Is this what this is going to be like? Them gossiping about me? What have I let myself in for? My face heated up so fast, I could feel my skin burn.

  Before I got even more embarrassed, Mr. Whitehall’s voice rang out. “Amber, since you came in late, would you remind the class what we covered last week?”

  Oh, crap. So much for stealth-mode. Julian squeezed my hand before letting go. I cleared my throat and gave a quick summary of the different ways to magically enhance electronic equipment.

  When I was finished, Mr. Whitehall nodded. “Better than I expected. Today, we will put theory into practice. Josh, please distribute these sticks so that everybody has one. Let’s see how far we can push the boundaries on this.”

  The devices looked like ordinary memory sticks. I picked mine up and pulled the lid off. Yep, a normal USB connector—no different from any you could buy in a store for twenty dollars. There was a little label on the bottom, describing the stick’s capacity as 128 gigabytes. I shrugged and dropped it, wondering what we were going to do with them.

  “Lillian, please come here and demonstrate how to expand the storage capability of the device.”

  Under the teacher’s guidance, Lillian picked up the stick and focused on it. A blueish light emanated from her hand, penetrating the USB drive. After a few moments, Mr. Whitehall took the device from her palm, but asked her to stay where she was. Then he plugged the drive into an electronic notebook sitting on his desk.

  The display showed a storage capacity of four gigabytes. The room erupted into murmurs of, “Did he say four gig? How is that possible?”

  Mr. Whitehall smirked. He handed the drive back to Lillian. “Try again. This time, close your eyes and push as hard as you can.”

  Lillian took the device and did as instructed. Her face turned red with the effort. Then she exhaled shakily. “That’s as much as I can do, I think.”

  The teacher nodded, took the stick, and plugged it into the notebook. He shifted the screen so the first few rows could see. This time, people gasped.

  “What’s the capacity now?” Kiernan asked.

  Somebody called out, “It’s three terabytes.”

  “What?” Kiernan’s voice was incredulous. “That can’t be right.”

  “No, seriously. It says it here. Three terabytes.”

  The noise level was increasing steadily as the students expressed their astonishment. Mr. Whitehall pulled the stick out of the notebook and held it up. When the class had calmed down, he said, “Lillian has done a great job with this. Now let me show you how far you can take this if you practice.”

  He stared at the storage device, and the light surrounding it went from blue to blinding white. The intensity increased until we had to close our eyes. An electric hum grew louder until I could feel the vibration through my feet. Grinding my teeth, I groaned out my discomfort. Then it stopped.

  12

  I opened my eyes carefully, just in time to watch Mr. Whitehall stick the USB device back into the notebook. Craning my neck, I waited for the result.

  “No fucking way.” It was the kid who’d spoken earlier.

  “Language,” came the quick reprimand by the teacher. Mr. Whitehall was grinning as he said it, though. “Would you let the class know what the capacity is now?”

  The student shook his head. “It says one PB. What does that mean?”

  “PB stands for petabyte. That’s the equivalent of 1,024 terabytes. I know these are just numbers to you, so let’s make this clearer with an example. You can literally store 340 million MP3s on this tiny stick. That’s how powerful Tech-Mag is. Imagine the possibilities for copying, storing, or preserving data.”

  My mind was whirling. What we’d witnessed was incredible. I’d never need to buy expensive hard drives again. It all fit onto this device barely as
big as my thumb. But what did he mean by “copying data”? Mr. Whitehall had put a strange emphasis on that term. I remembered my conversation with Lillian a few days ago. Who needs to copy data? Spies do, that’s who.

  When the class was over, I grabbed Julian’s and Kiernan’s hands as we walked toward the cafeteria. Being flanked by the boys felt right to me. I’d gotten used to the idea of having two boyfriends and was now at the stage where I enjoyed the hell out of it.

  Kiernan and Julian bantered easily to and fro as I swung our hands like a kid. The sun was out, although it was still bitterly cold. Julian carried my bag, and I allowed the boys to pull me along as I lifted my face to catch a few rays. They warmed my skin with the promise of spring. For a few precious moments, I forgot all about weird Mr. Whitehall and his even stranger class.

  And there I’m thinking of it again. I opened my eyes and stopped walking. “You know, there’s something really strange about Tech-Mag.”

  Julian asked, “What do you mean? I thought what we learned today was cool.”

  Kiernan and I exchanged a quick look. Julian had never recovered the time when the teacher had mind-controlled him. We’d told him afterwards, but he was convinced we’d made it all up. His faith in the academy was unshakable, it seemed.

  I tried again. “But what is the real life application of expanding a memory stick? It’s not like we’ll sell our upgraded tech to the highest bidder.”

  Julian dropped my hand and brushed his hair back in an unconscious movement. “The term has only started. Obviously we’re just learning the basic principles of Tech-Mag.”

  “I asked Mr. Whitehall what we’re going to learn for the rest of the school year, and he evaded the question every time,” Kiernan said.

  “According to the course description, we’ll learn how to augment mundane technology to suit magical needs.” Julian quoted the syllabus as if he’d memorized it.

  “That’s pretty vague, though.” My comment was met with an irritated glance from Julian. He shook his head, running his hand through his hair again. “I’m sure Ms. Farkas has worked this out with her teaching staff. Do you have to ruin the gorgeous day with your paranoia?”

  Whoa, hold your horses. No need to bite my head off. Trying to keep my voice calm, I replied, “It’s hardly paranoia. First, we learned how to magic-doodle a taser to do weird shit. Then—”

  Julian interrupted me. “Magic-doodle? Is that a technical term?”

  I ignored him. “Then we’re learning how to turn a simple USB device into some kind of super spy gizmo. Can you imagine how valuable this thing would be for industrial espionage? We could literally download a supercomputer onto that tiny stick.”

  Julian stared at me as if he’d never seen me before. “Oh, come on. You’re making it sound as if the academy was a nefarious school for evil wizards.”

  I shrugged and folded my arms. “Your words.”

  I didn’t actually believe that, but his smug attitude pissed me off. He stepped back, his brows drawn together. The anger made his voice sound harsh.

  “Ms. Farkas came through for me when I needed somebody to help me. She didn’t even know me, but she saved my life after…” He swallowed hard, fighting his emotions. “She would never allow anybody to teach classes that would hurt her students. She just wouldn’t.”

  Turning around, he stormed off. I wanted to go after him, but Kiernan took my arm. “Don’t. He’ll calm down. He’ll just need a moment to himself.”

  “Do you believe there’s something weird about Whitehall?”

  He shrugged. “No idea. The thing he did with Julian was fucked up, but no one got hurt. Maybe he’s just a drama queen.”

  I laughed. He wasn’t wrong. It had been impressive, and after word had spread on campus about the demonstration, they’d had to put on a second class. Even the seniors asked to take it, although there was no requirement for them to do so.

  “I’ll talk to him. Want to meet after school?”

  I was about to answer when a man walked by. I only saw his back, but something tweaked my memory. He was tall, broad in the shoulders, and had the cut of a bouncer. He turned his head to look toward a couple of students laughing and jostling each other, and suddenly I remembered where I’d seen him before.

  He was one of the goons who had tased the student and bundled him into the SUV. Matt, the kid who’d had a breakdown, according to Ms. Farkas. What was he doing here? Instinctively, I took a step to the side to hide behind Kiernan’s bulk.

  Kiernan looked surprised, then followed my line of vision. “Do you know that guy?”

  I shook my head. I hadn’t told him about the incident, mainly because we’d barely been alone together, and there’d been no time. Kiernan stared at the man as if committing him to memory, just in case. I had no doubt he’d take him on if need be. Kiernan had already demonstrated he’d put his body on the line for me when Julian had tried to attack me.

  I sighed dreamily, but managed to avoid looking at Kiernan with stars in my eyes. It wouldn’t do to give him a big head. The man had walked further away from us, so I linked arms with my second boyfriend, after my first one had flounced off, and said, “Come on. I’ll tell you over lunch.”

  13

  Beth joined us as we lined up for food. Wednesday was pizza day, and the cafeteria was fuller than usual. Limp slices of margarita, oil pooling on top of rapidly cooling tomato sauce, and rubbery cheese. I wrinkled my nose at the pitiful display, wishing once again a decent pizza chain would deliver to the school. Given our location in the wilds of Oregon, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

  Sighing, I piled on some green stuff onto my plate. Thankfully, the academy had its own vegetable and herb patch behind the main building. Otherwise, we’d probably have been given nothing but canned beans or peas.

  “They wouldn’t feed it to the pigs, am I right?” Beth elbowed me lightly, grinning to show she was joking.

  “At least we’d get some bacon once in a while,” I grumbled. Then I laughed because Kiernan tickled my ear as he made oink noises. When he blew gently down my neck, a shiver ran through me. For a moment, I forgot where I was.

  “Cut it out, you two. You’re making me jealous.” Beth rolled her eyes as she led the way toward a free table.

  “Where are Kenzy and Luke today?”

  Beth placed her tray down before answering. “They’re holed up at the library until Elemental Magic this afternoon. Luke is having trouble with growing seeds into plants. She’s helping him out.”

  I’d stopped listening to her, because two tables over, Lance was having lunch with Sharon of all people. I shouldn’t be surprised they knew each other, given there were only a few hundred students at the academy.

  I narrowed my eyes as I watched him while I pretended to listen to Beth gushing about how great Kenzy was at coaxing the most beautiful plants out of seeds. I was glad my friend was so happy with her triad, but I was more interested to find out what Lance was doing with my other roommate. As far as I knew, he had very few classes with her. Yet they were deep in debate with their heads stuck together. Weird, but none of my business.

  Something soft brushed past my ankle. Suppressing a yelp, I pulled my leg back and checked under the table. Slug sat next to my chair and stared at me with an expression I would have called amused if he were human. “Slug. What the hell are you doing here?”

  Beth and Kiernan both bent down to look at him. “Aw, isn’t he the cutest?”

  “He is, but how did he get out?” I said in response to Beth’s question.

  “He was locked in when we left this morning, so I assume Sharon must have let him out,” Beth replied.

  Slug meowed and weaved his large body around my legs as if he were a kitten. Given his bulk, his antics nearly flung me off my seat. My arms shot out, and I grasped onto the edge of the table as my chair tilted backwards.

  “Whoa, cat. Easy.”

  Kiernan threw his head back and laughed while Beth snickered.

>   “You flea-bitten fur bag, I’ll put you on a diet. You’ve doubled in size since I found you.”

  Slug’s face scrunched into a grimace before he turned and stalked off, tail swishing through the air.

  “You really shouldn’t hurt your familiar’s feelings,” Beth chided me. I nodded, playing along. Students at the academy weren’t allowed to keep pets, but familiars were exempt from that rule. When I first got here, Julian had explained that familiars were animal spirits that helped work magic. They were rare, and there were only a few students who had one.

  Ms. Farkas and Mr. Odwell, the academy’s healer, had found out Slug wasn’t a familiar. At least, I didn’t think he was. He’d never shown any interest in helping me when I was practicing in my room. But they hadn’t taken him away, and that’s all I cared about. I’d grown to love the massive alley cat.

  By the time I remembered Lance and Sharon, they’d left. Kiernan and Beth picked up their trays, and I hurried to follow them. Our next class was in less than ten minutes, and I wanted to catch Lillian to ask if she could help me with our Tech-Mag homework.

  Kiernan held the cafeteria door for us. I stepped outside and stopped so suddenly, Beth walked into me. The man about to enter the building was the same guy I’d seen just before lunch. He stared straight at me, and this time I couldn’t hide from him.

  Cool eyes scanned me from head to toe. He didn’t move a muscle in his face, but I knew he’d recognized me. Kiernan nodded his thanks as the man stepped back to let us pass. I trembled, trying hard not to show how much this brief encounter was freaking me out.

  As we walked away, I kept my expression neutral. Pretending to search for something in my bag, I resisted the urge to look back. But the whole time, until we were out of sight, I felt his cold gaze on me. Kiernan took my elbow.

  “Wasn’t that the same guy we saw earlier?” he asked. I nodded, not trusting my voice. Besides, what was I going to say? That I watched him taser and abduct a student, and that he suddenly started popping up everywhere?