by Cara E Holt
Mistress Isolde steps forward and smiles. “Thorne Shadow academy is delighted with the match. Both Mr Black and Miss Latimer are outstanding students and we wish them every happiness in their future together.”
“Now if that will be all, I’ll feedback on what has been agreed with the Alpha council and then we’d like to enjoy some private celebration. My son and his fiancé will be doing an interview with the Wiccan Herald.” Mr Black announces and then he moves onto to talk politics.
“Well that went well.” Mr Black states some five minutes later, as they all pile back into the other room.
I nod and smile. I’m still shaking inside from the whole experience. I lean up on my toes to speak into Drayce’s ear. “We are doing an exclusive interview?”
Drayce looks down at me and nods. “It’s expected. They will want to know when we first met, first kiss, date, etc.”
“They will?” I ask him, feeling sick inside. “But we haven’t done any of those things?”
He leans into my ear and talks so only I can hear him. “Yeah we have, we went dancing in a club for our first date.” He reminds me of the other night at the club.
“Oh okay, sure.” I nod, patting my chest as I struggle to get my breath.
“Dad, I’m just going to take Elara out for some air, she’s feeling a little overwhelmed.”
Mr Black looks over from where he stands chatting with his advisors and nods and ushers us away with his hand.
“Come on.” Drayce takes my hand and leads us out through some patio doors. He leads us down the path until we come to small secluded area with a pond. “You okay?”
I stand and take some deep breaths. “Yeah, I think so. Everything is just happening so fast.”
He nods and gestures for us to sit on the wall around the pond. I look at him and search his face. “You must hate me?”
He laughs off my suggestion. “I don’t hate you Latimer. You drive me insane, but I don’t hate you.”
I scoff. “The first words you said to me were that I didn’t belong and that you would do everything you could to rid the school of me.”
He grimaces. “I did. I guess I can’t do any of that now you are my fiancé hey?”
I raise a brow. “This isn’t funny Black.”
He bobs his head side to side. “It kind of is. I mean we have done nothing but piss each other since the moment we met and now we are engaged.”
“It’s a fucking nightmare is what it is.” I reply, with a deep sigh. “This isn’t how I imagined my engagement would go. And that press conference wasn’t the worst of this. We have to do an interview and lie about how we have kissed and gone on dates and..,”
He stops my words by pressing his lips against mine. I freeze still as he softly kisses my lips before he pulls away. “There we go. Now it’s not a lie, we have kissed.”
I sit there my lips tingling from where his lips just where, and I am rendered utterly speechless. “You kissed me.” I state touching my lips with my fingers.
A smile tugs at Drayce’s lips. “I did. Shall I do it again?”
He leans in, and I stop him with my hand. “Don’t. I don’t want someone to kiss me because they have to.” I tell him frowning.
“Look.” He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Like it or not we are stuck with each other now.”
I wince inside at his words, ouch. Say it like it is Black.
“Besides you’re not ugly.” He grins.
I scoff in response. “Well jeez, thanks. Are you trying to tell me that you find me attractive Black?”
He arches a brow in response. “Are you fishing for compliments from me little raven?”
I give him a dramatic eye roll. “You should be so lucky. Come on we should get back inside.”
He nods as he takes my hand in his. “Yes, we don’t want anyone thinking we are getting up to naughty stuff out here. After all we are newly engaged, so I should be touching you up at every opportunity.” He slaps my arse making me yelp.
“Elara and Drayce. It’s interview time.” Katriona appears at the door, ushering us Back inside and into a room where an eager female journalist waits.
I don’t know how I manage it but I somehow make it through the interview. I remember to smile and I let Drayce take the lead and answer most of the questions. The interviewer asks me at one point what is the quality I admire most in Drayce and I smile widely at him as I tell her it is his honesty. I see Drayce’s mouth quirk in amusement at this.
We arrive back on the school grounds at around midnight and thankfully the senior house is in darkness. Today has been an absolute roller coaster of a day. If someone had told me at the beginning of the day that by the end of it I would be engaged to Drayce Black I would have honestly wet myself laughing.
“You want to use the shower first?”
I sigh and throw myself down on the sofa. “I just want to sleep if I’m honest. Just show me where your spare covers are and I’ll get comfy for the night.”
Drayce leaves the room and comes back a few minutes later armed with a fleece blanket and some pillows. “Look I’ll take the sofa tonight, you look worn out. I think you need the bed more than me.”
I feel I should insist on taking the sofa, but the thought of that big inviting bed of his is too much to pass up.
“Actually that would be great, but just for tonight though.”
Drayce nods. “Just tonight.”
I head into his bedroom and strip down to my undies and slide straight under the covers. The bedding smells of him, like vanilla and cedar. I’m gone before I can even blink. I wake up in the morning to the sound of my name being called. I open my eyes and freeze when I don’t recognise where I am and sit up with a jerk, rubbing my eyes.
Drayce is standing at the side of the bed wearing nothing but joggers that hang real low on his hips. His body really is a work of art, chiselled abs, without an ounce of fat in sight. What a sight to be woken up by.
“What time is it?” I groan, as I pull the covers back up to cover my chest, remembering I am just wearing a bra.
“It’s time for you to get your arse beat in the training gym.” Drayce tells me, giving me that cock-sure smirk of his. He claps his hands together loudly, “Come on, get up, get dressed.”
I groan, and roll my face into my pillow. The last thing I wanted to at this ungodly hour was train.
“You have two minutes to be in here or I’ll drag you out of bed.” He shouts to me from the other room and even though he can’t see me I raise a single middle finger to the door.
I decide I’ll just have thirty more precious seconds in here and then I’ll get dressed. Smiling contentedly I close my eyes.
“You were warned.” The covers are wrenched off me and I am scooped up and thrown over Drayce’s shoulder.
“God damn Black! Put me down right now!” I demand, as I hang from his shoulders and he walks me to the wardrobe.
His answer to my demands to be put down, is to slap me on my arse. He takes out the academy training wear and opens a draw and grabs a pair of my black boy short undies.
“Now, do I need to dress you or can you manage that yourself?” He asks me, as he carries me back over to the bed.
“I can dress myself thank you.” I confirm, and with that he launches me up back over his shoulder and I land with soft thud into the soft mattress.
He holds up a finger. “One minute or I’m coming back in here to get you.” He warns before he strides out of the room.
Arrogant arse! Dragging me out of bed and throwing me over his shoulder like some kind of caveman. Deciding I don’t want to piss him off any more, I get changed at record speed and walk into the living area to find him stood there waiting for me. He makes a point of looking at his watch.
“Training should have started two minutes ago, so that’s an extra 200 burpees for you to do when we get down there.” He turns and walks to his door and orders it open with his magic.
“Is it true?!” Stood in
the doorway is a pretty girl with long blonde hair and big brown eyes.
“Sereia.” Drayce says in surprise.
She looks over his shoulder and sneers at me. “Her! A nobody, from a nobody coven.”
“Now look here...,”
Drayce turns briefly to me. “I’ll deal with this.”
That was me well and truly told.
Sereia surprises us both when she barges past him, elbowing her way through and comes charging towards me. She yanks my hand up and inspects the giant jewel on my finger.
“That should have been mine!” She glares at me with such ferocity that it is damn near psychotic. She looks like steam is about to come out of her ears at any moment.
“Look Sereia, or whatever your name is. I’m sorry if you feel I’ve stolen your spot, but well you need to get over it.”
Sereia looks ready to explode and her face burns redder at my response.
She whirls back around to face Drayce. “I don’t get it. It was always unspoken, but the understanding was there between our parents. It was a match everyone foresaw.”
Drayce sighs and looks apologetically at me, before he places a hand at Sereia’s back and guides her towards the door. “Let’s talk about this outside.”
Not knowing what to do with myself, I sit down on the sofa and start flicking through the channels. I wonder what he is doing out there with her. He returns seven minutes later. Not that I was counting.
Sighing he takes a seat beside me and puts his feet up on the footstool. “I’m sorry about that. Sereia can be intense.”
I cock a brow. “Intense is one way to describe it.” I pause and turn sideways to face him. “Is she right? Were you two to be matched?”
Drayce shrugs. “There had been some speculation around that her parents and mine would announce a match one day, but that is all it was, speculation.”
“It sounds like you have known each other a long time?”
“We have known each other since we were babies. She will get over it.”
I scoff. “I’m not so sure. She could be in love with you I think.”
Drayce winces. “I hope not.”
“Drayce the heart breaker huh?”
He grins. “What can I say? It must be my alluring personality.”
I shake my head. Jesus he was confident in himself. Deep down though, I could understand why the girls fell for him, with those alluring bright pale blue eyes and that body.
“And you a witch from an unknown coven, get to wear my ring.”
I turn and glare at him. I was getting sick of him saying that in a tone that suggests I should feel lucky.
“I didn’t ask for this you know? The thought of being matched in three years terrified me, and then to find myself engaged at just eighteen, and to someone who regards me as beneath him and makes me feel like he has done me a favour.” Angry, I stand and attempt to stomp away, but he grabs my hand and stops me.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel like I was doing you a favour.” He stands, still keeping hold of my hand. “Like it or not Latimer, we are in this situation together now. Out there,” he points towards the door, “we have to act the part.”
I look down at where he holds my hand and then back up at his face. “I know the part I must play Black, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
I needed to remember that every time he smiled or touched me it was done so in necessity and not because he wanted to. I had to remember the way he had addressed me when I first arrived here.
We silently walk down to the training rooms together, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
“Okay.” He tells me as he folds his arms across his chest. “Let’s start with those two hundred burpees.”
I glare at him with my hands on my hips. “Tell me you are joking?”
He shakes his head firmly. “No Joke. Get started.”
No one Controls Me.
Twenty minutes later, I’m sweating profusely and cursing Drayce Black every name under the sun inside my mind.
“Okay, now we are ready. No weapons today. I want to go over basic attack moves.” He comes to stand in front of me. “I’m going to get you in a head lock from behind, and I want you to show me how you’d get out of it.”
I nod and grin to myself. I knew exactly how I’d get out of it. He comes at me from behind, wrapping one arm around my neck and holding tight. I lift my right leg and go to launch it backwards with the intent of kicking him in the balls, but he foresees my move and drops his knee into the back of mine making me fall down onto the mats. He follows me down keeping a firm hold around my neck.
“Too obvious Raven.” He teases in my ear. “Next move.”
The only way I can think to get out of his hold, is to launch myself to the side and try and roll us. So as quick as possible, I throw myself to my right, but all that does is make me end up flat out on the mat with him on top of me, still with my neck held firm in his arm.
“Now you have nowhere to go.” He tells me delightedly, his mouth is against my ear.
Drayce Black underestimates me though. I clench my right hand in a fist and hit him as hard as I can. My fist hits his face and the shock of it makes him loosen his grip slightly. This allows me to push my bum up to try and buck him off. He wobbles and takes us on to our sides, and that is when I grab his arm that is now looser around my neck, twist it and manage to get out from his grasp. I roll and jump to my feet. Only as soon as I am on my feet he swipes my leg from under me with a side kick and has me flat on my back and pinned to the floor. Straddling me, he grabs my arms and pins them to the mat above my head.
“Completely at my mercy.” He grins. He leans into my neck. “If I was this vampire guy I could rip through your throat in seconds.” He grazes his teeth along my neck and I shudder.
“Except he wants my magic not my blood.” I reply breathlessly.
Drayce raises his head from my neck and meets my eyes. Having him so close to me is doing crazy things to my mind and body.
“We don’t know that is the case. It’s all just speculation as to why he is coming for you.”
“You going to let me up?”
He shrugs his shoulders and gives me that arrogant smile that I have seen too many times.
“I kind of like having you underneath me where I can keep you under control.”
I smirk. “No one controls me Black.”
He cocks a brow. “Is that so? If that is the case, make me move and get free.”
I inwardly sigh. Drayce was solid, there was no way I could buck him off me in this position. My mind races to come up with a way and as the seconds tick by the smirk on his smart-arse face gets wider. An idea springs to my mind and I find myself acting before I really think it through. I lift my face and put my lips on his and kiss him. At first he stills in shock, but then he starts to kiss me back. The kiss takes my breath away; his lips are soft and warm and set every nerve in my body on fire. Then I remember the reason why I am doing this in the first place and as his grip has slackens, it allows me to raise my knee and hit him right in his crown jewels.
“Underhanded.” He groans, as he rocks on the floor.
“No one said I had to play fair,” I tell him with a wink. “If a girl is at a physical disadvantage then she uses what the gods gifted her with.
He recovers quicker than I thought he would, jumping up and assessing me like a predator looks at his next victim. He walks over to the wall cabinet that houses all the weapons.
“Now we practice with weapons. Daggers are your weapon of choice, yes?”
I nod and he hands me two small silver daggers. I am distracted though when he lifts his training vest off over his head and throws it on the bench.
“What are you doing?” I ask him, trying not to ogle his chiselled chest and arms.
“What does it look like, I’m training you.” He replies, with a ghost of a smile that informs me that he knows exactly what he is doing and that is attempting to distract me.
/> He faces me in a fighting stance and holds up two daggers of his own. Both sets of daggers are blunt. Inside the academy we are not allowed to use real weapons. He strikes first, going for a hit on my left side but I react fast and block him. I attempt with my right arm to swing across and get him in the stomach, but he blocks me.
“You’re too easy to read.” He tells me. “Your eyes give away your next move. Look your opponent in the eyes at all times, not to where you are going to next attack.”
I nod and I keep my eyes firmly on him. He was damn distracting. His hair was messy in that sexed up way, his abs were glistening with beads of sweat, and staring into those damn haunting blue eyes did nothing but make me think how much I wanted to kiss him again, when I should be thinking about how to disarm him.
“You drooling over there little raven?” He teases as he circles me with his daggers raised.
“In your dreams Black.” I reply, turning and following his moves and making sure I do not give him my back.
He pounces, taking a strike from the side, but I manage to twist out of the way just in time. I side-step and turn on my heel, and drive my dagger towards his head but he ducks and flips backwards out of my reach.
“The trick is to watch how I move before I strike. Try and learn my tells.” He starts to circle me again. “You for instance, always look to the side before you strike and you clench your teeth.”
I watch him closely as he circles me, waiting for him to make a move. I’m also self-conscious now that he knows when I’m going to make a move. I study his face looking for a sudden eye movement and that’s when I see it, but unfortunately for me I see and realise his tell a little too late. He strikes, looking like he is turning back on himself he drops down and swings down and delivers a hit on the side of my chest and takes my legs out with his at the same time. The second I am on the floor he is on me, pinning me to the floor with his weight. He holds the dagger over my chest.
“One dead little Raven.” He grins, clearly pleased with himself for beating me.
“Why do you call me that?” I ask him curiously.