by Callie Rose
Gravity righted itself once more as we all landed in snow up to our knees. I had to resist the impulse to bury myself up to the neck in the wonderful earthly white stuff.
“Ahh, there it is.” Jayce let out a contented sigh. “Right where it’s supposed to be. Looks a little rough, but at least it’s back.”
I gazed up at the massive school building.
He was right. The ice crystals hadn’t quite reformed over the windowsills and ledges, and the burn marks and scrapes were way more obvious out in the sunlight, but it was good to see it surrounded by snow and mountains again instead of being buried in a giant cave in the underworld.
I inhaled the sharp, cold, fresh Mönkh Saridag air and savored every molecule.
“Just like the first time I saw it,” I commented. “Except that Hannah was with me then. And Sonja. God, she was a bitch.” I bit my lip as guilt socked my gut again. “I’m sorry she’s dead though. She didn’t deserve that. An ass kicking maybe, but not that.”
“We missed our exams,” Jayce said quietly. “What are the chances the Custodians will be reasonable about that?”
I shook my head grimly, still staring up at the school. “Slimmer than an haute couture model at fashion week.”
Kingston’s face fell. Jayce looked confused.
“It’s not gonna fly,” Xero translated. “Doesn’t matter the reason. Actually—the fact that you went in there after me might make things worse. They didn’t exactly like me to begin with.”
“So what I’m hearing is we should take a portal to Madagascar, change our names, and lie low until this all blows over,” Kai said.
He was only half joking. Maybe less than half.
“With Gavriel and the Custodians both pissed off at us? How long do you think we could stay undetected?” I was trying to be reasonable, but honestly, the idea of retiring to an island sounded way better than going inside the castle-like school building to face the music.
Kai shrugged. “My record’s fifteen years.”
“Willing to bet your life that you can break that record?” Xero asked. “”Cause I’m pretty sure we’d be betting those against the fury of two armies.”
“It’s not worth it.” I shook my head. I’d almost lost my mind seeing what Gavriel had done to my fire demon mate. I wouldn’t risk him or any of the others again. “Come on. What’s the worst they can do?”
We all knew the answer to that, but none of us were willing to say it out loud. Being banished back to the underworld just sounded exhausting.
I told myself that I could persuade them to let us stay, and I clung to that thought against all reason as we walked through the gates and made our way back to the school.
We’d arrived late in the afternoon. The break in between school years was short at Fallen University—maybe because none of us were allowed to have contact with our families anyway, so they figure we had no place to go—so school was back in session already.
I expected to walk into the after-class hubbub as people laughed and joked in the halls or headed toward the common areas to chill.
Instead, we stepped into an empty hallway.
The castle was quiet. Not silent, exactly; there were muffled voices in the hallways around us, and the distant noises of people moving about the halls. But it was very subdued, as if the student body had been reduced by half.
“Let’s try to get to our rooms without being seen,” I whispered. “We should at least look presentable when they confront us. It couldn’t hurt to be clean and well-groomed.”
My three men and I had found ways to stay clean in the underworld, mostly with the help of magic, but it was nothing compared to a hot shower. And Xero looked particularly rough. His clothes were little more than blood-soaked tatters.
The guys all nodded their agreement, and we quickly crept through the halls. We managed to avoid being seen until we were nearly to the stairs, but before we could head up to the next level, I heard a muffled scream behind me. Preparing for the worst, I spun around.
My eyes went wide, and I barely had time to brace myself before my vision was obscured by a wave of white-blonde hair as Hannah tackled me with a hug.
“Piper! You’re back!”
“Yes,” I said with a laugh as I returned her embrace. “We made it. Missed you.”
She jumped back, her honey eyes shining. “Oh my God, I was so worried. Are you okay?”
I quickly filled her in, condensing our weeks in the underworld to a few short sentences. I could tell her more later. The main point was, we’d gotten Xero back—and she could see that for herself.
She smiled happily and waved at him, holding off on the enthusiastic hug like she’d given me. She was probably worried about hurting him, which I appreciated. Then she turned back to me.
“Come on, I’ll walk with you and fill you in on what’s been going on around here.” We started moving again, heading up the stairs, and she gestured around. “So you’ll notice it’s basically empty.”
“Yeah, we were wondering about that,” I said.
“So basically the third years and fourth years—well, I mean, the third years who got stuck with us in the underworld and had to stay even though they should have graduated—are all out with the Custodians. And there are no first years, because the Custodians have been too busy mitigating fallen activity on earth to do much recruiting.”
“So everybody they encounter is getting shafted,” I said with a frown. “They’re just sending them straight to the underworld without even offering them another option. Fantastic.”
“Right? It’s disgusting.” She lowered her voice, leaning a little closer. “This place feels like a ghost town some days. I know there’s been a lot of dangerous fallen activity on earth, but I don’t know if the Custodians are—”
Before she could say anymore, a voice rang out behind us.
“Piper!”
Hannah’s jaw snapped shut as her eyes flew wide.
Oh, shit.
The sound of Toland’s voice made ice unfurl in my belly. He sounded pissed as hell.
Chapter Nine
We all froze on the stairs, then turned slowly to find the headmaster standing behind us. His gray mustache seemed to bristle, and his eyes flashed.
“Come with me,” Toland said curtly. “All of you.”
We exchanged worried looks, then followed him without a word. He descended the stairs and strode down the hallway, leading us to his office. As soon as we were all inside, he poked his head out, looked left and right, then closed and locked the door.
Damn. This is looking worse by the second.
Silence reigned as he sat in his chair behind the desk and looked us over. He grimaced, shaking his head.
Something flashed in his eyes that I hadn’t expected. Pity. Maybe even… worry.
I knew our appearances were pretty alarming. To be perfectly frank, we all looked like hell. Despite our efforts to stay clean in the underworld, our last few hours in the savage plane of existence had been particularly rough, what with the sewer and deadly fights and all. Dirt and grime covered us from head to toe, and all of us had battle wounds which hadn’t quite healed.
For as much of a hard-ass as Toland was sometimes, he cared about us. I sometimes dared to think he actually liked us.
I could only hope that would be enough to save us from whatever he was so worried about. Because I was pretty fucking sure it wasn’t our hygiene.
He breathed a heavy sigh, scrubbing a hand over his chin. “You know I’m sworn by oath to make you take your exams.”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“You know that giving you those exams late two years in a row has already put me in hot water with the Custodians, and that they are hyper-vigilant about ensuring that I am not playing favorites with the five of you.”
“Yes, sir.”
He nodded. His jaw moved, and he shuffled and re-shuffled the papers on his desk. “I want you to know that I have no choice here. The consequences are
too dire. If I had it my way—” He cut himself off, pressing his lips together. “Well, that doesn’t matter.”
He put the papers down and laced his fingers together, then looked up at us. He met our gazes one after the other. When his focus reached me, I saw sorrow in his eyes. My heart sank.
“It’s not up to me. I am bound by my oath, and I must report your absence to the committee. I can tell them your reasons, but it is up to them to decide what to do about your transgression. Whatever their choice, I must honor it.”
“I understand,” I said.
“I don’t know how long it will take them to make a decision.” He rubbed his temples. “The Custodians haven’t had much time for oversight recently. There was once a time when they would have already noticed and laid the hammer down—but things have changed. They have other, more pressing priorities right now. While we wait for them to decide, you are all welcome to continue your studies here. I don’t consider you a threat and have no wish to handicap you. As the headmaster of this institution, I still have that power, at least.”
“We appreciate that,” Kingston said, his voice sincere. “Really. Thanks for giving us the chance to keep studying. The more we know, the better.”
“Especially if they banish us to the underworld.” Jayce grimaced.
“Didn’t have to say that out loud,” Kai said with a scowl.
“Maybe they won’t do that,” Hannah offered hopefully. She’d followed along when Toland had summoned us, and he hadn’t tried to stop her.
But despite my friend’s optimism, the headmaster’s face was unreadable, which told me everything I needed to know.
“Don’t count on that,” I said grimly.
A pensive silence fell over the room. Then Toland nodded sharply, bringing our little meeting to a close.
“Yes. So. Make it a point to learn all you can. You will find your class schedules in your rooms. Dismissed.”
We all headed back to our rooms in a sort of stunned silence.
It felt like we’d been condemned to a sort of limbo. Things would continue on as normal for now, but the normalcy was just an illusion. We were criminals awaiting conviction, and just because our sentence hadn’t been handed down yet, that didn’t mean it was going to be any lighter when it did come.
But at least we hadn’t been punished yet. At least we had a small reprieve, a chance to breathe and study and fucking shower for the first time in way too long.
That was the first thing I did, actually. And afterward, I sat on my bed in the room I shared with Hannah and told her more about what’d happened. She sat next to me, resting her head on my shoulder and occasionally lifting it to stare at me in shock over something I said. But mostly, she just listened in silence.
Then she filled me in on how things had been at school, although there was less to say about that. All the students had been well aware of our absence, and rumors had flown around like angry sprites, a new story popping up every week about where we’d gone and why.
None of the stories sounded good, even though I was sure Hannah tried to spin them in the most positive way she could.
Exhaustion was finally starting to hit me, weighing down my eyelids until it was a struggle to keep them open. Hannah went to get dinner, but I told her I wasn’t hungry.
It wasn’t exactly true, and I knew she knew it. But I wasn’t ready to have to act like things were totally normal. I wasn’t ready to face the stares of all the other students.
She gave me a hug and then slipped out of the room, and I lay down on my bed, trying to let sleep pull me under.
It wouldn’t come though. No matter how hard I pressed my eyes shut, no matter how often I reminded myself how tired I was, my brain refused to shut off.
It didn’t take me too long to realize why. I could feel the pull in my middle, as if a string was connected to the spot right behind my stomach, tugging at me gently. I had been highly attuned to that pull for weeks, following it everywhere it led, and I followed it again as it drew me toward the one thing I wanted right now.
Xero.
Our escape from Gavriel’s fortress had been so chaotic, and between leaving Michael’s house and getting hauled into Toland’s office, I hadn’t had a chance to truly reconnect with my bond-mate.
To make sure he was okay.
To offer him my love and support if he wasn’t.
And honestly, how could he be? I had seen the state he’d been in when we’d found him in the fortress dungeon. He had been kept prisoner for weeks, tortured and put through hell, kept alive as a tool for Gavriel to use and nothing more.
I needed to see Xero.
Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I rose and padded quickly to the door. It’d been weeks since I’d walked the path, but I still remembered the route to Xero’s room by heart.
As I neared his room, the tug in my middle grew stronger, practically dragging me down the hallway as if it could sense how close I was. But when I lifted my hand to knock, I froze suddenly.
Should I do this?
What if he needed space? Time alone to recover from what he’d been through?
Xero had been through a lot of shit in his lifetime. More than I had, that was for damn sure, and my life hadn’t exactly been sunshine and roses. I wanted to help him, but I was suddenly struck by a fear that I wouldn’t know how to.
I just need to see him. To make sure he’s still whole and alive. To make sure I didn’t dream all of that. Then I can go.
My heart slammed hard against my ribs as I knocked twice, and I heard the soft sound of footsteps before Xero opened the door.
He had showered too, and he’d thrown on a fresh tunic and a pair of pants. His feet were bare, and although his dark skin still bore a myriad of scars and some fading bruises, his face wasn’t quite as sallow and gaunt as it had looked when we’d found him in the underworld. The warm, comforting smell of fire wafted from his skin, and it took everything in me not to grab him and bury my face in his chest, to breathe him in until I couldn’t hold any more air in my lungs.
“Piper.” His eyes warmed slightly, but his face remained taut and strained. “What are you doing here?”
The thin veneer of control holding me back snapped, and I gave in to the primal, overwhelming need to be close to him. In two steps, I was pressed against him, my softer body molding to the hard planes of his as I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.
It was a kiss of homecoming, of binding and affirmation. A kiss that could’ve gone on forever, slow and deep and consuming.
His arms wrapped around my waist automatically, and his lips moved against mine, meeting me stroke for stroke as I let myself drown in him.
It almost felt like I couldn’t stop. Like I had thrown myself off a cliff, left solid ground behind, and was falling, falling, falling endlessly. I rose up onto my tiptoes, pressing my mouth harder against his as my hands gripped his head, fingers sliding over the short strands of his curly dark hair.
He took a step back to keep from overbalancing as I pressed all my weight against him, and that movement jerked me out of the haze of desire I’d fallen into. I blinked, pulling back as I shook my head slightly. I felt breathless, almost weightless, and it was hard to get my brain to function well enough to speak.
“I’m…” I swallowed. “I’m sorry. This isn’t what I came here for. Not to have you power up my succubus magic or anything. I don’t want to weaken you.” My gaze lifted to meet his, and the haunted look in his eyes made me want to cry. I tightened my grip on him a little, trying to give as much comfort as I was taking. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. To see if you needed anything.”
Xero gazed at me unblinking for a moment, his expression unreadable. I could feel tension gathering in his body, like a snake about to strike or a storm cloud about to release a bolt of lightning. Then something in his features shifted, and he used his grip on me to haul me inside the room.
He moved so fast that my feet barely touched the
floor, and as soon as the door closed, he slammed me back up against it so hard that the wood seemed to shake.
Then he devoured me.
His lips found mine in a kiss that made my head spin, and he shoved a leg between mine, pinning me against the door as he ground against me, making me ride his thigh. I could feel the bunched muscles of his thick leg, hard as steel against my clit, and I cried out into his mouth as a jolt of pleasure tore through me.
Breathing hard and fast, he pawed at me desperately, rocking into me over and over as he lifted me to straddle his leg even more fully. He was grinding hard against my clit with every movement, and the sudden assault of pleasure was too much.
I hadn’t been prepared.
And it had been far, far too long since I’d been touched by Xero.
The orgasm hit me like a speeding car, making my vision dim around the edges as I clawed at Xero’s back, crying out with naked relief.
He drew back and blinked at me, his expression desperate, almost tortured. Then he was tearing at my clothes, yanking my tunic up and over my head before shredding the seams of my leggings and tossing them aside. As soon as I was naked, he shucked his own clothes, a wild look in his eyes. Then he pinned me to the door with his body again, sliding his hands down my hips and over my ass to lift me in his arms.
His thick cock slid between my folds, big and angry and just as desperate as he was. I could practically feel a pulsing heat coming from it as he coated himself in my slick arousal, kissing and biting my lips, his hands squeezing my ass cheeks so hard bruises formed and healed in an instant.
I was pinned between him and the door, my legs wrapped around his waist, heels resting on his firm ass, and when his cock finally found my entrance, I sucked in a gasping breath, as if it might be the last one I would ever take.
