by Callie Rose
The fire demon stiffened in surprise for a moment, but my kiss wasn’t fierce or violent. It wasn’t a demand.
It was an offer.
And he took it.
His arms wrapped around me as he kissed me back, a kiss so deep and consuming I thought we both might drown in it. The succubus power that laced my body rejoiced in the connection between our lips, but this was about so much more than that. It was about making sure Xero knew he was wanted and trusted, cared for and desired.
He reached out with one hand to shove the door closed behind us, and when I heard it hit the frame with a dull thunk, I pushed on his chest lightly, guiding him back toward his bed. He sat down, and I climbed onto his lap, our mouths still moving in a slow, languid kiss that was fueled by a deep river of desire.
Xero was the most fascinating blend of softness and hardness, of gentleness and strength. Of violence and peace.
He’d been through hell—literally—and had come out the other side changed by his experience.
But it hadn’t made him a worse person. It had made him a better one.
He had seen evil, lived with it, and he had chosen the opposite. He was probably a way better man than I deserved, but the succubus magic that bound us together didn’t care about that. And maybe Xero didn’t either, because he held me flush against his body and kissed me like I was the most precious thing in the world.
I pulled away and framed his face with my hands, my fingers pale against his dark skin. His beautiful, dark eyes, full of so many colors up close, sparked as he gazed up at me.
“I want you, Xero,” I murmured. “So much. But only if it’s what you want.”
Jayce had thrown himself headfirst into the bond we shared, eager and willing to explore what it meant. Kai still seemed like he’d be willing to consider gnawing off a limb if it got him out of the bear trap of my succubus bond, and Kingston? That fucking man was impossible to read—hot one minute, cool as a fancy glass of ice-water the next.
Xero had neither actively resisted the bond nor given in to it. He had stayed close to me, feeding my succubus power with his mere proximity, and over the past several months, we’d gotten to be… friends.
But that didn’t mean my body had ever stopped craving him, that sparks of heat didn’t flare every time he touched me. And it didn’t stop nerves from churning in my gut as I waited for him to answer.
His dark eyes seemed to peer right through me, down to layers of my being no one had ever seen or even looked for until now. The arms that were still wrapped around me tightened, and his beautiful features softened.
“I want you too, Piper. I have since the day I met you. Before I even knew you were a succubus.”
Relief flooded my body at his words.
He wanted me. Thank fuck.
“God, I’m glad you said that.” I couldn’t suppress my smile. “But I meant it,” I added, still holding his face, gazing down at him seriously. “I won’t seduce you into anything. You’ve given me so much already, and I want you in my life—in whatever capacity you can be. I’d rather have some of you than none of you, and if you’re not—”
I didn’t even get to finish the speech I’d mentally rehearsed on the way to his room, the one all about how I wouldn’t let my succubus powers dictate the terms of our relationship, because Xero’s lips met mine again, cutting off my words.
And his answer was in his kiss.
Our lips danced as our tongues chased each other, and even though fierce need rampaged through my body, we didn’t rush.
I couldn’t rush.
Not with Xero. Not for our first time.
When my lips were swollen from kissing him and my head felt like it was in danger of floating away, he turned me in his arms and laid me down on the bed. Then he carefully removed every article of clothing on my body, working his way up from my feet. Every inch of skin he bared was then covered with soft, burning kisses until it felt like he’d lit my whole body on fire with his lips.
He was still wearing all his clothes though, and that was totally unfair. So I pushed him away from where he was lavishing attention on the skin of my neck and breasts, rolling him over onto his back.
Then I followed his lead, stripping off his clothes like I was unwrapping a fucking gift from the universe. When I finally had him completely naked, I blinked down at him in shock, sitting back on my heels.
He was solid and strong, with sculpted muscles rippling beneath his dark skin. His broad pecs led down to a carved six-pack, and the V at his hips was so defined I wanted to trace it with my fingertips—with my mouth. His cock was thick, so heavy and erect it brushed against his stomach, and my mouth and fingers longed to touch that too.
But what had made me sit back on my heels wasn’t any of those things. It was the large, raised scars that slashed across his body from wounds long-ago healed but never forgotten. And given that most demons had some form of advanced healing, the wounds must’ve been horribly deep when he’d received them.
“Xero…” I breathed his name, my gaze flying to his face. “What—?”
His smile was sardonic and sad. “I spent more than twenty years in the underworld. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses.”
The words were easily spoken, but they punched right through my sternum anyway. Tears stung my eyes as I reached tentatively toward him. But Xero’s hand flashed out, quick as a striking snake, and closed around my wrist. His grip was firm, and his expression hardened for a second.
“You can touch me, Piper. I want you to touch me—but only if you can do it without pity. This is who I am. I’m not afraid of my scars anymore, and I don’t run from them.”
I found his eyes again, and I knew, somewhere deep in my soul, that he was still afraid of his scars—that he was more haunted by the past than he wanted to be.
But he was fighting his fear. And that was one of my favorite things about him.
Keeping my gaze locked on him, I nodded. His fingers slowly unwrapped from my wrist, and his expression softened again, his eyes warming. He let me run my worshipful hands over his shoulders, across his chest and stomach, and down the thick muscles of his thighs. My fingertips brushed over the bumps of his scars, but I didn’t linger on them or avoid them, simply taking in and appreciating the man in his entirety. Scars and all.
But when I reached for his cock, dropping my head to take him into my mouth, he stopped me again.
I glanced up at him, about to protest, but he shook his head, a mischievous glint in his eye.
“You can put your mouth on me, Pipes,” he murmured, echoing his earlier statement, his voice a little lower and thicker than it had been before. “In fact, I want you to. But only if I get to put mine on you too.”
My clit spasmed at his words, and a thrill of anticipation shivered through me.
Fuck yes. I can get behind this rule.
Xero must’ve seen my face light up like it was Christmas, because his soft smile widened, and he licked his lips. “Come over here, beautiful. Come sit on my face.”
Holy shit. With an invitation like that, the only ladylike thing to do was accept, right?
I moved higher up the bed and then turned around, crawling down his body until my knees were just above his shoulders and his cock was in front of my face. I looked back down through the small space between our bodies and found Xero gazing up at my pussy like he was fucking entranced.
Then he lifted his head off the bed and ran his tongue up my slit, and I lost sight of him as my head whipped back, pleasure tearing through me. He grabbed the backs of my legs just below my ass and dragged my hips toward his face, burying his tongue in my pussy before lapping at me like a cat.
My hand was shaking as I reached for his cock, fisting the base and holding it in place for my mouth. Xero was a damn god with his tongue, and the ecstasy of being touched by him for the first time made it hard to concentrate, but I channeled every bit of pleasure I was feeling into working his cock with my mouth, as if we were both made of p
ure electricity and this would complete the circuit. Every time he speared me with his thick, unbelievably long tongue, I sucked harder. When he fluttered the tip of his tongue over my clit, I swirled mine around the head of his cock.
He responded to every move I made, and I responded to him, until it almost felt like we were already fucking.
When I came on his face, he growled against my pussy and banded his arms around my back, pinning me down even as my hips shifted and jerked. He rode me through another orgasm, then another, and when a fourth broke over me, I screamed so loudly around his cock that I knew he felt the vibrations all the way down to his balls.
My whole body felt simultaneously relaxed and buzzed, and I renewed my efforts on his shaft, bobbing down so low that his head hit the back of my throat. I swallowed around his thick length, and he grunted. Then he tapped my ass lightly.
“Up. I need to be inside you.”
I rolled gracelessly off his body, already reaching for him as he turned and crawled up between my legs. He didn’t pause, didn’t hesitate. As his body draped over mine, his cock slid smoothly into my soaked pussy, one delicious inch at a time. He was thick, so thick, and my body stretched to accommodate his girth as we both moaned in satisfaction.
When he was fully seated inside me, he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me as he sat back, bringing me onto his lap. Our chests pressed together and our gazes locked as I rode him like that, grinding my clit against him, sinking down as hard as I could onto his cock, taking him deep inside me.
Like anything Xero did, he didn’t rush—and he didn’t let me rush either. Instead, he helped me find two more orgasms as we moved together in perfect sync, before finally letting go and chasing his own.
When he came inside me, my succubus power flared bright and strong inside me, and every thick rope of cum that pulsed from his cock made me whimper with satisfied pleasure.
He brushed my wild hair back from my face with both hands and kissed me deeply once more before laying me back down on the mattress and pulling out. He drew me into his arms, draping me partway over his body as I rested my head on his chest.
We lay there in silence for several moments, letting our breath and heartbeats return to normal, and I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to move again.
Hell, if I could just talk the other three guys into joining us down here, I’d never leave this room. We could blow off classes and fuck until we exploded into pure light and energy.
I traced his chest with a fingertip, brushing over both smooth and scarred skin. He watched me with a small smile on his face, even though I was sure he could see the effort it took me not to dwell on the scars. I hadn’t realized how damaged he actually was.
“What’s it like down there?” I asked.
“Why, you still not paying attention in class? Gonna flunk yourself to the underworld?” His voice was gently amused, and I snuggled closer to him.
“I don’t think so. My grades have gotten better. I guess I’m asking what it was like for you. All the stories they tell around here imply that once you get turned and brainwashed, there’s no coming back from it.” I tilted my head up to study the soft expression resting on his handsome face. “But you did.”
He looked away from me but held me close to his body and stroked my shoulder. “There’s a lot of different kinds of brainwashing. Magical… which I guess doesn’t work on me. Drugs… also a no go. I had a wild phase back in the day, so I guess I’m immune now. Manipulation… my ma was a master manipulator. I saw through that shit in a heartbeat. No effect.”
I was still absently tracing his scars. He looked down at my hand, then followed my finger with his own.
“If all else fails, there’s torture. If they can get you to at least accept what they’re doing verbally, and then go do it to avoid more of the pain, they know you’ll brainwash yourself eventually. Gotta justify it, right? Then keep justifying it.” He breathed a shuddering sigh.
“Did you?”
“What, justify it? Nah. Never could stomach it. But I watched it happen. A guy went down there same time as me. Just as outraged, just as anti-Gavriel as I was, just as resistant to the softer kinds of brainwashing. Then the torture started.” Xero shifted slightly as if the memory brought him pain. I pressed my palm over his heart and he laid his hand on top of mine.
“He lasted a while. Then he broke. He started recruiting for Gavriel. Didn’t put much into it at first; guess he figured if he didn’t try too hard then the prey would have a chance to get away, and he wouldn’t have to bear the burden of that guilt. Then he caught somebody, and he decided if they really hadn’t wanted to get caught, they would’ve run a little faster. He wasn’t even trying, so it wasn’t his fault.”
I winced. “That’s some devious shit. I guess it escalated from there.”
Xero nodded. “It was the worst thing I’ve ever witnessed,” he said quietly. “And I’ve seen some shit.”
We were quiet for a moment. “What about you?” I asked. “You said you couldn’t stomach it, but wouldn’t they have killed you if you’d been useless?”
Xero smirked briefly. “Had them convinced that I was better at recon than recruiting. That’s how I found out about the school and figured out where it was and everything. Sent them to Antarctica looking for it before I came up here.”
I chuckled. “Nice. You know, for spending a couple decades down there, you seem to have made it through okay.”
His eyes went hazy and distant. He shook his head. “I left a piece of myself down there. I used to believe that I was a good person, no matter what. If I did something, I had a reason to do it, and my intentions were always pure. I convinced myself of that. I held righteous indignation close and whipped it out whenever I saw injustice. I was loud. I was cocky. I was confident.”
“Xero,” I murmured, pressing my lips to his collarbone. “You’re still a good person. No matter what. Trust me. I can literally sense things like that now.”
He smiled down at me and wrapped me up in both of his arms, rolling me half on top of him to kiss my mouth. Mutual understanding turned sparks into fireworks, and our kiss deepened as the comforting, dangerous scent of fire infused my nostrils.
I rubbed against him, my body already demanding another round with this beautiful man. I’d wanted him for so long, needed him for so long—and now that I truly knew him, cared for him as a person, that need had morphed into something I didn’t even have a word for.
Before we could really get going though, there was a heavy knock on the door.
“Damn,” Xero said, pulling away from me reluctantly. “Who can that be?”
He grabbed a sheet and pulled the comforter over my body, but before he could stand, the door swung open.
“Um, excuse me?” I sat up, keeping the blanket pressed to my chest. “Barge in much?”
If he’d lost his indignation, I had enough for the both of us. But the two assistants ignored me entirely, looking instead at Xero.
“Xero, get dressed. You’re coming with us.”
I expected Xero to ask questions, fight back, or at least make conversation to figure out what was going on. Instead, he stared at them in silence for a moment, shifted his gaze to me briefly, and then nodded. Sadness and resignation burned in his eyes.
It broke my heart.
Now that I knew which piece was missing, I could see the gaping hole.
Chapter Twenty-One
The assistants remained in the doorway while Xero and I quickly dressed ourselves.
“Where are you taking him?” I demanded.
“The headmaster needs to see him,” one of them said vaguely.
My heart thundered with anxiety. There was something they weren’t telling me—I could feel it. They flanked Xero once he was dressed and walked him down the hall quickly, so fast I had to jog to keep up. We passed groups of students in the hall who watched us go by with wide eyes and whispered words. We had clearly missed something huge while we’d been up in Xero’s ro
om. Everyone seemed to know about it but me.
I expected to be led to Toland’s office, but that didn’t happen. Instead, we were brought to the auditorium, which had been arranged like a courtroom. There was a big chair behind the podium with seats on either side. Long tables had been arranged to create an aisle leading to the podium. Instructors sat at the table to the left, Custodians to the right.
I caught Beedle’s eye as we rushed into the room. He looked away instantly, his expression caught halfway between anger and shame. Sonja, sitting just behind the Custodians, smirked at me. Xero was led down the aisle to the left-hand seat beside the podium and was thrust into it roughly. Fire exploded in my chest, burning as hot as anything the fire demon could ever conjure, and I clenched my hands into fists. I wanted to rip the assistant’s hands off for touching him like that.
“Take a seat,” one of them said to me as they walked back down the aisle.
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
The woman took my arm and started to drag me away. I wanted to fight her, but when I looked over my shoulder, Xero met my eyes. He shook his head slightly. Don’t make a scene. The feeling was as strong and clear as if he’d spoken the words, and for his sake, I allowed myself to be led away.
I found Jayce, Kai, and Kingston sitting together near the front of the auditorium. I wriggled in between Jayce and Kai. Hannah and Owen came in together just then, found us immediately, and sat down.
“Will somebody tell me what is going on?”
I muttered the words through gritted teeth and realized I was shaking. I knew what was happening. I just needed to hear somebody say it.
“Xero has been accused of sabotaging the school,” Kai said grimly. “They’re holding an expulsion trial.”
“He didn’t do it!”
“Hush.” Kai pointed at the podium. Toland was arranging himself in the big chair. The room fell silent as he banged a gavel on the podium. Jesus fucking Christ. This was legit. My breath came fast as panic raced through my blood. Even Jayce’s chill energy couldn’t make a dent in the whirlwind of frantic emotion spinning through my soul.
