Second Chance Heat, a reverse harem magical academy HEA paranormal romance: Book Four of the Second Chance Academy Series

by Ella J. Smyth

  Kiernan took charge. “Amber and Lance—check whether the back of the house is clear. Then get out of the window and run. Macha and I will be right behind you.”

  The sound of a branch breaking sounded like a gunshot through the early morning quiet. Kiernan and I checked through the window. There were five men approaching the front door, guns drawn. “Shit, they mean business. We need to leave. Right now.”

  Kiernan ran to the back of the house where Lance was already outside and helping Amber through the window. Macha went next.

  * * *

  Amber

  * * *

  Macha landed on his hands and feet, ready to run. Kiernan was right behind us. We waited, getting more nervous by the second.

  “What’s keeping him?”

  “Let’s go. He’ll join us,” Lance said. Macha didn’t wait and took off for the safety of the dense undergrowth.

  When we heard a crackling sound, Lance and I exchanged wide-eyed looks. We knew the sound of augmented tasers well. After all, we’d spent months in class learning about how to magically alter their mechanism. And somebody had just discharged one inside the house.

  If they hurt Kiernan, there’d be hell to pay. I’d protected my friends before, and I’d do it again. Turning a person into a charcoaled piece of meat might not be my favorite, but I’d do it if I had to. I focused my anger at the area just below my stomach. The lightning writhed inside of me, ready to erupt.

  But it wasn’t enough. I needed more. I remembered the video I’d watched. How they’d ripped the power from a student my age, watching her scream in agony until the life had been drained from her. I recalled Julian’s labored breaths as the blood flowed from his body. Each new image stoked my fury until the heat in my body was unbearable.

  By the time the agents came around the side of the house, I was ready for them. I fed my power through my arms into my hands and created an arc, charged with millions of volt. When a ball of lightning the size of a basketball sizzled between my palms, I was ready.

  That’s when the leader stopped. “Amber. Amber Whitman. Do you remember me?”

  I couldn’t control the lightning any longer. The power zinging through my cells was so large, it would burn me up if I didn’t discharge right away. But the man in front of me was somebody I recognized. He was the agent who’d sent me to the Academy. He hadn’t been cruel, and if anything, he’d shown me more kindness than my own parents after they’d found out about my powers.

  He might be an opponent, but he wasn’t my enemy. I couldn’t murder him in cold blood. So instead of watching him go up in flames, I directed the ball away from us. Which was a huge mistake because the energy didn’t ground itself harmlessly, as I’d expected, and hit the house.

  The ball penetrated the wall with a huge bang. As we stared at the hole, there was no sound for several long seconds. Then, all the windows blew out with an almighty explosion, followed by leaping flames.

  “Kiernan!” I stared at the inferno, horrified at what I’d done. Where was he? Had I killed him?

  The man approached carefully. “He’s okay. He wasn’t in the house. May as well give up now, Amber. You’re not going anywhere.” I shook my head, relieved I hadn’t lost another boyfriend. “No way.”

  Pulling more power from my abdomen, sparks danced on my skin, indicating another magical buildup. I’d never used that much magic in one go, and the second discharge wouldn’t be as strong as before. But the guy didn’t know that. Maybe I could bluff my way out.

  “I can hurt you plenty without killing you.” I made it sound as menacingly as possible. The four men behind the agent stepped back warily, lifting their guns.

  The agent raised his hand to stop them. “I promise we won’t hurt you. We just need to talk about Farkas.”

  Oh, great. They probably wanted to know why she’d disappeared, or maybe they were sent here to take us down. Either way, I didn’t want to be interrogated by government agents. “Ain’t gonna happen. Give back Kiernan, and I promise I won’t hurt you.”

  I threw a tiny bolt at his feet, scorching the ground under his leather loafers.

  “Too much,” I added.

  “She attacked us,” one of the agents shouted, and before his boss could stop him, he took aim at Macha. The shot discharged, but Macha was too quick on his feet. Hissing loudly, he threw himself sideways and disappeared in the forest.

  “What is that thing?” asked the second agent.

  “Stand down, dammit,” his boss shouted. “The next man to shoot can pick up his balls off the ground when I’m done with him.”

  I grinned and cringed at the same time. If I hadn’t liked the man in the black suit before, now I definitely did. There were fewer sparks on my skin, and my electrical power was definitely running low. One of the agents had moved around to the side, keeping himself between Lance and me and the burning house. Soon, our escape route would be cut off.

  I kept a wary eye on him while getting ready to run after Macha into the forest. The main agent lifted a taser. Before I could warn Lance, my boyfriend gasped as the spikes embedded into his skin. He fell like a tree, twitching violently.

  I was too shocked to react, frozen to the spot. Lance had stopped moving. The agent had used one of the augmented tasers that knocked its victims out cold. That was all the proof I needed that the FBMA worked with Farkas. I never should have trusted that agent. He’d taken me off guard with pretending to be on my side.

  My anger had been replaced with naked fear. They had Kiernan and now Lance as well. Macha had run off. I couldn’t face down five highly-trained federal agents by myself with my lightning magic depleted.

  The first agent pointed his taser at me. “Come on. There’s no way out. We won’t hurt you.”

  “Fucking liar,” I muttered. I shook my head violently, spun on my heels, and ran. The agent, who’d worked his way around to cut me off, grabbed my arm. I had hardly any power left, but what I had, I shot into him. He yelped and let go.

  That was enough to give me space to reach the forest’s edge. The men shouted, but I wasn’t going to stop. As I ran at top speed, somebody kept track with me, separated by trees. Without slowing down, I glanced sideways.

  It was Macha. He shouted, “Follow me. I know where to go.”

  He took the lead. Within minutes, we’d cleared the forest and entered the academy grounds. The campus was thronging with students. Classes were about to start. We slowed down to a walking pace so we’d blend in with the students.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “We have to get to the library. Keep your head down and don’t look up.”

  He put his arm around me and nuzzled my temple. The maneuver hid my distinctive hair and covered our faces. From a distance, we were indistinguishable from any other lovey-dovey student couple. Macha whispered, “There are two agents, but I don’t think they’ve spotted us. We’re nearly here.”

  He pushed the door open to the building. Just as it closed, somebody shouted, “There they are.”

  Macha’s eyes grew wild. He took my hand and pulled me along the hallway. Denholm watched us from the desk, his eyebrows meeting his hairline. I stared at him as we passed, pleading with my eyes to not betray us. He placed a finger on his lips. Maybe we had an ally after all.

  I didn’t expect Macha to enter the staff door. I certainly didn’t expect a spiral staircase leading us to a secret circular room. Macha walked to one of the bookshelves and pushed against the wood. I gasped when a small door sprang open, revealing another, larger room. “Holy crap. How did you find this?”

  Macha shrugged. “I’m a cat.”

  I frowned. “No, you’re not. You’re a person. But you have cat instincts. They probably saved our lives.”

  Macha looked like he was about to protest, but then thought otherwise. “Thank you.”

  * * *

  Julian

  * * *

  I tried to help them. I really did. I swooped down from the ceiling, attacking th
e agents. I punched them in the head and tried to tear out their throats. They didn’t even notice.

  I got so frustrated, I could feel myself solidify. I tried again, dive-bombing the men. This time, the agents reacted. They rubbed their heads where I’d collided with them. It was infuriating.

  The rage crept over me like black tar, suffocating all other emotions. I welcomed it, hoping it would make me more solid, like a bullet to penetrate human flesh.

  I witnessed Kiernan being knocked out. When Amber got ready to kill the leader of the team, I cheered for her. But for some reason, she didn’t go ahead. He seemed to know her. I couldn’t understand why she hesitated, especially after what he did to Lance. And Macha ran off into the forest, leaving Amber defenseless.

  My fury had been replaced by despondency, even though Amber finally got away. Of the five of us, I was the only one left behind, floating next to the burning house. I could still feel all four of my friends, tugging on my soul, so at least they weren’t dead.

  Macha was going to take Amber to the new hiding place. They’d be safe for now. I followed the agents as they dragged Lance and Kiernan to a waiting truck, secured with zip-ties. Maybe I’d be able to follow that special pull to wherever the FBMA were taking them, but I didn’t want to risk it. So when they drove off, I kept pace with the truck for hours until we arrived at a military complex.

  There were uniformed guards at the gates, concrete barriers, and ID checks. The gate opened, and the vehicle was waved through.

  Lance and Kiernan were dragged out and taken into a building. I followed them into an elevator. Several floors below the surface, the agents carried my friends past labs with gleaming steel tables and surgical instruments. Kiernan and Lance’s bodies were thrown into a cell. It wasn’t dirty and damp like the one in Faerie, but it was still a prison with a locked door and bright overhead lights.

  I focused on my bond, and to my relief, I still felt Amber’s and Macha’s pull. They were okay, and I’d have no problem returning to them, if I needed to.

  But before getting back, I was going to search the facility for clues what was going on. Because this? This seemed above Farkas’s pay grade.

  16

  Amber

  Once we were inside the hidden room in the library, the events caught up with me. The room was dark like an oppressive blanket. I stretched out my hand, but was too weak to even conjure up a little flame to light the way. My magic was exhausted, and after little sleep the night before and the sprint to safety, my adrenaline had peaked and was dropping rapidly. I found the wall, put my back against it, and slid down until I sat on the floor. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I bent my head and allowed the fatigue to run through me.

  Macha sank to the ground next to me. He sat still for a moment. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

  It was too dark to see his expression. But I hadn’t run out of anger yet. “You don’t know that. You have no idea because you ran off and left me all alone against five guys.”

  A whimper escaped him, and when he spoke, his voice was so quiet, I had to strain to hear him. “I know. I'm not proud of myself. I panicked. I thought if they were mages, I might be turned back into a cat.”

  We sat so close, I felt a shiver run through him. “I can't go back to that, Amber. I can't. It was fine when I was Slug. After a while, I didn’t miss being human anymore. When I first met you, I thought you were the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen.”

  His hand found mine in the darkness. I wrapped my fingers around his, waiting for him to continue. “But as the weeks went by, I stopped seeing you as beautiful. You became just Amber, my owner. My world was shrinking. I stopped wanting to be a person. And when Farkas called me Macha, at first I didn't know who she meant. Because I was Slug the cat, and I was content.”

  A sound, sounding suspiciously like a sob, escaped him. “But now I'm a person again. I got to make love to you. I don't want to be an animal. It took me days to stop wanting to scratch Lance or rub against you.”

  I got it. He’d panicked. His explanation made me ache for him.

  “I would die for you, Amber. But there are things worse than death. And to me, being turned back into a cat? Losing my humanity? That is the worst thing that could possibly happen to me. That's why I ran. I'm sorry.”

  I squeezed his hand. He shuffled even closer, and the next thing I felt was his raspy tongue licking over my hair the same way Slug had tried to groom me a few times.

  I laughed. “Stop it. I thought you didn't want to be a cat anymore?”

  His lips pulled into a smile against my cheek. “There are some things I'm really good at.”

  Now it was my turn to shiver. I remembered. He’d never lost his rough cat tongue. And ever since he’d fucked me, there’d been a question in my mind. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “When we had sex, there was something different about your cock.”

  Macha drew back. “Did it bother you?”

  “No,” I said quickly. “Of course not. I just wondered why it felt so different?”

  “Because it isn’t just my tongue that didn’t turn back all the way.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have barbs on my cock.” He sounded ashamed.

  “What?”

  He took a deep breath, exhaling on a sigh. I tugged on his hand to get him to move closer. Macha resisted at first. He asked, “Did it feel bad? Did I hurt you?”

  I giggled. “No. In fact, it felt amazing. And now I really want to see your cock.”

  He held so still, I wondered if I'd offended him. “Macha?”

  He shivered again. “That… really turns me on.”

  His voice sounded hoarse. I let go of his hand and dropped mine into his lap. Through his sweatpants, I felt his erection. We were all alone, locked away from the world, with no idea how long we’d need to stay here. I squeezed, and Macha mewled quietly.

  “Don't,” he whispered. “I won’t have the self-control to stop. And we have no condoms.”

  I shrugged, even though he couldn't see. “I can still make you feel good.”

  There was another pause. Then his voice sounded in the darkness, so full of hope, my heart squeezed. “Would you take me in your hand and make me come? I can never get enough of you.”

  He didn't have to ask me twice. Quickly, I pushed his sweatpants down until I felt his shaft rise from his groin. I still hadn't seen it, but I’d sure felt it stretch my pussy last night.

  His cock was so thick, I barely managed to wrap my fingers around him. The darkness had sharpened my senses, and there were hard bumps all along the underside of his cock that didn't belong on a human penis. They weren't sharp barbs exactly. More like protruding ridges. No wonder it had felt amazing going into my body.

  I was fascinated with his anatomy, running my fingertips from the root to his cockhead and back again. The top was already wet, precome running down the side. I shifted my butt back so I had space to bend down. Taking his shaft into my mouth, I took my time to lick at the top.

  “Jesus. Amber. What are you doing to me?” Macha moaned with an underlying whine that was more feline than human. And when I took him deeper, his abdomen vibrated with a strong purr. The protrusions on his cock felt strange on my tongue, but only for a moment. They were part of him, and I wanted to please him more than I wanted to come myself.

  Scratch that. That wasn't true. I groaned around his girth, the heat flaring in my belly. His cock was so big, it filled my mouth perfectly, bumping in no time against the back of my throat. Like I'd learned with Kiernan, I relaxed my throat muscles and allowed his head to block off my airway.

  He tasted salty, bitter and musty with an undertone of Slug's body odor. Macha had been afraid about losing his humanity, but it seemed he’d brought more of Slug with him than he realized. There was so many things that reminded me of my pet. The way he moved, the way he looked after me, even when he was scared.

  I moaned again. I wanted to
make him feel good. So good. Lifting my head, I let him slide out of my mouth before taking him even deeper. I was reveling in the feeling of being oxygen-deprived during sex. Pushing him so deep into my throat, white spirals crept into the edge of the darkness behind my eyelids. But the more my body craved oxygen, the wetter my pussy got.

  Macha grabbed my head and pulled me off his shaft.

  “Breathe, sweetheart,” he whispered. I took a deep breath as he instructed and dove back in. It hurt, having my throat stretched so much, but I welcomed the pain. Every time my throat contracted convulsively, trying to push the obstacle out of its airway, my pussy clenched and a shot of arousal made me even wetter.

  I might have passed out if Macha hadn't pulled me off his cock again. “I didn't know you'd be so into this.”

  I hadn't, either. I made a mental note to explore this with the other boys. As I licked off his precome, my thoughts went to the ritual. So far, I hadn't had sex with more than two of my boys together. If it took that ritual to have them penetrate me in every orifice, so be it.

  Imagining one cock in my pussy and another one stretching my ass, I gulped him down again. That was it. Macha groaned, “Oh, fuck, Amber. What are you doing to me? I can't… I'm going to…”

  I impaled myself so hard, my lips touched the springy hair on his groin. Macha’s long drawn-out groan morphed into a horse yell before he flooded my mouth. Spurt after spurt of hot liquid ran down my throat. He was jammed in so deep, I couldn't taste him. His orgasm went on and on. I resisted the urge to pull back, no matter how much my body craved air.

  He held my head in position so even if I’d wanted to, I couldn’t move. My pussy twitched and clenched without coming. But I didn’t need an orgasm to enjoy the waves of lust running through me. All tension left my body as my consciousness waned. And still he held me in position, his come pumping into my stomach. And then everything stopped mattering.