by Coralee June
He laughed. “Impatient?”
My Void was nearly satisfied, and I was shaking all over, climbing to my peak. I reached down and started rubbing my clit, my fingers dancing over the swollen part of me.
“Yeah, keep doing that, greedy girl. That’s insanely fucking hot,” he said, gripping my hips as he started to fuck me harder. With every thrust, I nearly toppled over, but his hold on me kept me in place.
My Void drank, my body buzzed, and then Gritt’s hands started to glow where they touched me. The shifter bond pulsed to life, and this time, there was no stopping it. And right then and there, I didn’t want it to stop.
“Keep going,” I begged. “I’m so close.”
“I’m going to cum so much inside of you that I’ll be dripping down your legs all fucking day.”
I exploded around his cock at his dirty words. His dick was so far inside of me that I was sure he was hitting my cervix. I felt my pussy constrict around his hard length, and then he was roaring out his own release, and I could feel hot ropes of cum spurting inside of me.
My chest collapsed against the top of the teacher’s desk, utterly exhausted but totally satiated. My Void had dispersed with my release, and the constant arousal and hunger I’d felt since the vampire attack was finally gone.
But we didn’t have time for post-coital bliss or even awkward detaching. Because suddenly, we heard a mass of footsteps heading our way—dozens of student voices filling the hall.
“Shit!”
Gritt straightened, slipping out of me, making his seed drip down my thighs. He yanked his boxers and pants up, and then grabbed my arm to help me stand. But when I stumbled on shaky legs, he gave up on letting me stand on my own and picked me up. He snatched up my bag and ran for the exit on the other side of the room. We barely got the door open and slipped out before we heard the professor and students enter in at the other side.
“Who the hell was having sex in my damn classroom?” the professor yelled, sounding annoyed. Clearly, he was a shifter or vampire to be able to smell it.
I had to slap a hand over my mouth the keep from laughing as Gritt rushed us down the hall. He smirked down at me. “Think that’s funny?”
I nodded, beaming. “Yep.”
“You won’t think it’s funny when I take you up against the wall while my cum is still inside of you.”
My face flamed with heat. “We...we’re fully bonded now, aren’t we?”
He slowed his steps to a stop, and then set me down on my feet. My skirt was askew, so I twisted it and pulled it down, noticing that my panties were completely missing. There was no way in hell I was going back in the classroom to get them.
“We are bonded,” Gritt finally answered, seeming unsure how he should feel about that.
All of the previous lightheartedness was gone, replaced with tricklings of dread. His expression...the way he wouldn’t quite look at me, it made the fullness of my Void churn with nausea.
“I gotta go,” he said abruptly, pushing away from the wall and walking away.
I frowned. “But—”
He rounded a corner, disappearing from view before I could even get a whole sentence out. I stared in shock at the space he’d been, my mind running a million miles an hour.
I could feel the bond in my fingertips, like little warm pinpricks. I wasn’t sure how I knew what it was, but I did. The intense pull—the attraction, it had been unstoppable. I think my Void would have lashed out with or without me if I hadn’t given in and fed from Gritt eventually, and my body would’ve snapped from its need for him. It was ludicrous, but that’s how it had felt. Like I’d needed him in every possible way. I didn’t understand any of this. My life was turned upside down.
Did I have a new shifter mate who regretted me? I thought he’d decided he was past all of that, but maybe not. We’d obviously both been driven to each other from powers outside of our control, and our lust had been off the charts, but fuck. For once, I thought I’d actually been wanted. Chosen. And now, I was left behind again.
Chapter 19
“Did you get my note?” Quade asked before sitting beside me. His tray was stacked high with food, and he started lifting up forkfuls of spaghetti and distributing it on my plate, which only had—surprise, surprise—oatmeal.
“The ominous I’m coming for you stalker letter you left on Betty? Yeah, I got it. Also got a restraining order, too.”
Quade twisted to look at me and frowned. “Yeah, okay. I deserved that. I’m sorry for the kiss. I wanted to talk, but then your Dad showed up and—”
“And you had to run away like your ass was on fire?” I supplied helpfully.
“You know he could have literally set my ass on fire, right? Your Dad is one scary motherfucker,” Quade replied while stuffing noodles into his mouth. “You forget, I saw what he did to that door-to-door salesman in third grade when he’d stopped by to visit you.”
“Oh gods, the one selling vacuums?” I snorted before tipping my head back in laughter.
“Your father set every damn vacuum he had on fire and then convinced him to join in on a risky business venture,” Quade added, making my laughter kick up a notch.
I nodded. “The guy ended up being a millionaire. Owns sex toy shops across the country.”
We both spoke at the same time, “The Fiery Suck and Blow!” We both broke out into a fit of laughter.
Quade’s muscular shoulders shook as he chuckled, and I had to use a napkin to wipe the tears escaping the corners of my eyes. This was nice, joking with an old friend. It almost felt so normal that it caught me off guard. I didn’t even care that everyone was staring at us or that the elementals looked particularly pissed off at Quade giving me nice attention. I wasn’t going to let them spoil this moment.
“Are we actually having a pleasant conversation?” I asked before picking up my fork and digging into the pile of spaghetti on my plate.
Quade calmed his laughter and gave me a warm once over, his eyes traveling over my bare shoulders, thanks to the tank top I was wearing. I hated the school uniforms, and the moment the last class for the day let out, I ran back to the cabin and changed. “I think we are,” he replied in a husky voice.
A commotion at the front of the cafeteria caught my attention, and my eyes were drawn to Gritt, who was standing in front of the shifter table, clutching his silverware so tightly that it bent. “He’s a jealous one,” Quade observed before waving over at the angry shifter with twinkling fingers.
“Yeah, that’s probably going to be a problem.” I turned my attention back to my food and started chewing. I didn’t want to think about my newly bonded shifter who’d abandoned me in the hallway with his cum still dripping down my legs.
Quade and I didn’t speak again until most of our plates had been cleared, and I took a sip of his drink, surprised to find that it was wine in his glass and not juice. Gritt got up from his table and stormed out of the cafeteria, making me roll my eyes.
“Why is he so melodramatic? If he wanted to sit by you, he could’ve come over here.” Quade’s words made a resonating anger billow up in my chest.
“You’re one to talk. Why are you over here, anyway?” I asked while looking over at the elemental table. They all were staring at us in confusion, shocked that their fearless leader would stoop so low as to sit with me. “Did you tell them you had to come babysit me? Or did you admit that we were once friends? That we are friends again now?”
“I didn’t tell them shit,” he said heatedly. “Maybe I’m tired of letting prejudice get in the way of me being with you. Maybe I’m tired of always having to answer to someone.”
My mouth dropped open in shock at his words. “Is this you talking or whatever weird pull you feel?” I asked carefully. “Because I don’t want this to turn into something you’ll resent me for.”
“I won’t,” he answered adamantly, and I melted a little at the fierce way his dark eyes locked on mine.
“But I don’t understand what’s happening
with my Void. It’s like we’re all…”
“Bonded? Yeah, I know. But that only happens with shifters. Maybe your Void attracts the powers it wants, somehow. Lures them in.”
“You think I’m trying to lure you?” My voice was incredulous, and I shoved my plate away before standing.
“Shit, that’s not what I meant, Devi,” Quade replied before standing and giving a cautious look around the cafeteria. Around us, everyone was staring, mouths gaping open and full of food as I seethed with anger. My eyes glanced down, and sure enough, my amulet was glowing.
“Then why don’t you explain to me what exactly you mean,” I replied before crossing my arms over my chest. I didn’t care if we had an audience, didn’t care if everyone saw the blow up between us. If he really wanted to be my friend, then he shouldn’t care about admitting it in front of everyone. I wasn’t going to be anyone’s dirty little secret.
“I just mean that there are things we don’t understand about the Void. Things that aren’t in textbooks. I might be drawn to you for reasons I don’t understand right now, but this isn’t new. I’ve always...” He looked around before taking a step closer and lowering his voice. “I’ve always loved you, Devi. When my parents said the Void took you over, it felt like my best friend had died. I hated you because, in my mind, you were something toxic using the girl I fell for as a shell.”
Girls at the elemental table gasped in shock. I saw out of my peripherals that one even got up and stormed out of the dining hall, but I kept my eyes on Quade. “You should have fought for me,” I whispered. “You should have tried to see me.”
“I was just a stupid kid. It’s why I stayed close to your mom. It was a way for me to check in on you without having to see what you’d become,” he whispered before cupping my cheek and shocking me by his outward display of affection. “I don’t know what this means, or why I feel the way I do, but I’m not going to fight it.”
“And what about your image?” I challenged. “You’re the Paragon Poster Boy. Aren’t you worried what your people will say? Your parents wouldn’t even accept a friendship between us,” I argued, though it felt like gravity was pulling us together. “What are you going to do when everyone finds out that we’re more? They’ll talk, Quade.”
“Let them,” he whispered over my lips before pulling me in for a kiss. If I had any doubt before that he was going to try to keep me a secret, that was swept away the moment his mouth pressed to mine right there in the middle of the dining hall.
It wasn’t like our frantic kiss before. There was no push or pull. It was like both of us were finally giving in, a reunion filled with pain and recovery swirling around our tongues as I moaned into his mouth. It felt like an exhale, like I had been holding my breath for so long, grieving a friendship that I hadn’t realized I’d missed. It just seemed perfect. It seemed...right. Just like it had with Gritt.
Resting my hand on his chest, I smiled against his mouth. That pulling sensation was like a rope being snagged, yanking us together. I didn’t understand it, but it didn’t matter just then. Sinking his fingers into my hair, he groaned against my lips as I dug my nails into his shirt, bunching it up in my grip.
“Gods, I’ve wanted this for so long,” he spoke against my mouth before wrapping both his arms around me.
I was just about to tell him that I wanted it too, when a hard body slammed into Quade from the side, knocking him away from me and making him fall to the tile floor. I gasped up at Gritt.
“You fucking elemental!” he roared while struggling to hold back a shift. Claws appeared where his fingers should be, and he took a swipe at Quade’s face, but a blast of water knocked him back before he could make contact.
I watched in horror as Gritt sailed across the room, hard pressurized water pelting his chest as he slammed into the wall.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Quade replied smugly as he got to his feet, a wall of other elementals lined at his back as they supported their paragon. I was certain they didn’t understand why two of the most powerful supes were fighting over a nasty Void, but I just wanted to figure out how to get them to stop.
Another shifter turned into a jaguar and lunged for Quade, but a fire elemental intercepted him, blasting the shifter with so much power I was worried he’d burn him alive.
“Stop!” I screamed, though no one heard me.
Another shifter slammed into Quade from the left side, distracting him enough to stop the powerful water from assaulting Gritt. The split-second of relief was all that the Shifter Paragon needed. Within an instant, Gritt turned into a massive lion and lunged for Quade, tackling him to the ground. Large, rounded muscles covered his frame, and I screamed when he pinned Quade’s head between his two sets of teeth. Other fights broke out all throughout the room, elementals and shifters going at it like a back-alley brawl. There were no professors, no staff. And the vampires and necromancers were just sitting around watching, not even bothering to intervene. Only Render was trying to break things up, but that just meant he had to start defending himself from both sides.
Not knowing what else to do, I reached behind my neck to the clasp of my necklace and removed my amulet, letting it drop to the floor. My Void billowed around me in warning, and I raised my hands up to direct it. “I said stop!” I screamed as loud as I could.
Gradually, people stopped fighting and turned to stare at me with wide, fearful eyes. I knew I must’ve looked terrifying, with smoke coating my skin and pouring from my pores. It wrapped around the shifter nearest to me, making him fall to his knees. I didn’t drink a lot though. Beads of sweat dripped down my cheeks as I stared at the dining hall, trying to maintain control.
It was a hunger I had never felt before. Here, in this contained space, it was like a banquet for my Void. I wanted to lash out and absorb every last drop of every supernatural here. It would be so easy. All I had to do was let go. It was taking everything I had to hold back, and I wasn’t sure how long I could keep the hunger at bay.
“She’s going to drain us all!” Blaire screamed to my right. In my peripheral, I caught her clutching her mouth, her long nails digging into her cheeks as she let out a screech of fear. I took a step closer to Quade and Gritt.
“I don’t want to do this,” I said, noting that my voice had already started to take on that dark ethereal quality of the Void. It was just a matter of time before I lost myself. “I can’t take you hurting each other,” I admitted, feeling the pain of that deep in my gut. “Tell me you’ll stop...don’t make me do this,” I pleaded. I didn’t want to see them hurt one another. I couldn’t. That strange pulling sensation had turned into a protectiveness so fierce that I couldn’t hold back. My entire body was trembling with restraint.
Gritt transformed back into his human form immediately, his naked body backing away from my Elemental Paragon with his hands raised in front of him. “Put your amulet back on, Devicka. We won’t fight,” Gritt promised in a soft, soothing voice. My Void immediately reached out to stroke his cheek, my smoke dancing along his skin.
“Are you both okay?” I asked, my tone was barely hanging on a thread, and so was my sanity.
“Yes, we’re fine,” Quade promised. “You can put your amulet back on now, Devi.”
I stared at them for a second longer, taking in their appearance before dropping to my knees and searching for where I’d dropped the necklace on the floor. When I couldn’t find it, I began to panic, but then a hand was outstretched in front of me, and when I snapped my head up, I saw Hyde holding it out to me. “Here,” he said gently, not even flinching when my smoke curled around his face and started drinking from his lips. I took my amulet with shaky hands, and the moment I clutched the amber stone in my fist, my smoke disappeared.
The entire dining hall let out a collective exhale before that relief slowly started to change to anger and outrage. The whispers and glares and threats immediately started up, spreading around like the small fires that were now burning around the cafeteria from the eleme
ntal magic. This lot sure were brave once my Void was back in its cage.
Gritt and Quade started making their way over to me, but before they could reach me, a booming voice stopped them. “Devicka Cainson! My office, NOW!”
I turned with a grimace to stare at Headmaster Torne and a line of other teachers, all of them giving me various looks of fury and shock from the front of the dining hall. I closed my eyes before flashing a look at Quade and Gritt, who looked oddly guilty. And then, realization sunk in my gut. Was this...had this been their plan all along?
My mouth dropped open and my fists clenched at my sides. I was so fucking stupid. I’d overheard them that night. They’d planned to push me so that the headmaster would have cause to kick me out. And I’d just given them that on a smoky fucking platter. How could I be so stupid? How could I have fallen for it when I’d known this all along? This had all been an elaborate plan to get me to turn on the students, to be a monster in front of everyone. Well, they got what they wanted. After this, I’d be expelled and possibly even imprisoned.
But as I walked behind Headmaster Torne with my head hung low, tears slipping out of the corners of my eyes, I knew that wasn’t why I was crying. No, my heart hurt because of the betrayal of the four paragons left staring in my wake.
Chapter 20
“What were you thinking?!” Headmaster Torne screamed at me, the veins in his head bulging against his pale skin as he stalked from one side of his office to the other. Power was bleeding from his fingertips, dripping flames eating at his nail bits as he stared at me. To say he was furious would be an understatement.
“I was just trying to stop the fight,” I whispered before looking down at my feet and kicking the bottom of my chair. I wanted to scream about how unfair this all was or storm out of there, but old habits die hard, and there was still a part of me that respected him.
