by May Dawson
“Shut up, Maddie,” he ground out. “I’m not done. Do you know what happens to the planets when you take away their star?”
I studied his furious face as he hovered so near mine, aching to touch him, to trace my fingers over those sharp cheekbones, those soft, kissable lips above a hard jaw.
“They grow cold, they spin out of control,” he said. Then he added, savagely, “You’re my fucking gravity, my heat, my life.”
“Why do you say that like you hate me?” I couldn’t hide the faint smile that crossed across my lips.
“Maybe I do.”
“Maybe you want to,” I corrected. “But I came back to you, Jensen. I’ll always come back to all of you.”
I finally reached up and captured his face in mine.
“You could’ve died out there,” he said. “You could’ve died with your lie still lingering on our skin, poisoning how we felt, twisting who we are.”
I shook my head. “Never would have happened. There’s no magic that can break the bond between us. You were always going to find me. When I needed you, you were always going to come.”
“I’ll always find you,” he growled, and his hand cupped the back of my neck, his fingers threading in my hair.
He kissed me, a punishing, furious kiss that left me gasping. But I still couldn’t get enough of him, and I kissed him back wildly, my leg stroking up his, my hands roaming his body.
Even as he stole the air from my lungs with those savage kisses, I breathed him like he was all I needed to survive.
Chapter Sixty-Six
Jensen broke away suddenly, as if he had just remembered the other guys were still there.
“Brothers, huh?” Silas asked, leaning against the wall beside him. “Does that still include me?”
“I can go back to kicking your ass if you want to ask stupid questions,” Jensen said. “And yeah, brothers. I’m not embarrassed to admit it.”
I glanced at Penn, remembering how he had shouted at me in the hall. “Did you want to yell at me too, Penn?”
“I have a feeling someone else already had a talk with you about your misdeeds,” he said. His hand stroked across my thigh, pushing my skirt up, revealing how bare I was beneath.
My breath hitched, even though his fingertips had barely raced across my thigh.
He moved around me, his hand stroking up the curve of my ass as he lifted my skirt. I could almost feel his gaze studying Rafe’s handiwork, and Jensen moved to stare at my ass too, and my cheeks blushed hot.
Penn said slowly, “Someone gave you the spanking you desperately deserved, hm?”
“Rafe.” I admitted.
He almost laughed. “And then he sent you off? What a sadistic bastard.”
His fingertips caressed me roughly. I bit my lip at the feel of his touch across my heated skin. The pulse of heat across my clit as he toyed with me was almost unbearable, and my chin lifted, a faint moan slipping out between my lips.
He added, “I do admire that about Rafe.”
“Are you still mad at me?” I asked, my voice coming out breathy.
“Furious,” he said, his fingertips sinking into the curve of my ass. “But I’ll get over it.”
My eyes drifted shut, lost in his touch, and some of the tension fled my muscles. “Really? I was afraid I’d broken things forever…”
“Not a chance.” He pressed his body against mine, the hard length of his abs against my back, his cock pressing between my thighs even through his shorts. “You can’t break what’s between us, Maddie. All you did was hide our feelings in layers of lies, resentment and regret and hate, and I’m livid about that.”
He pressed a kiss to my shoulder, his hand slipping across my thighs and sliding under my skirt, but stopping just short of my aching clit. “I hated who I was when I hated you.”
My hips swayed forward, seeking more of his hand, but his fingertips skimmed down my thigh as if he were teasing me on purpose.
“I am sorry,” I murmured. “I realize that I took something I had no right to take, for what it’s worth.” I raised my chin, studying their handsome faces in turn. “Never again. I promise.”
“Better not,” Jensen said. A faint playful smile touched his lips. “Keep secrets from me again, and Rafe won’t be the only one to spank your ass.”
“Promises, promises,” I said archly.
“Well, if someone needs to finish the job that Rafe started…” Jensen caught me around the waist and slung me over his shoulder.
“Hey!” I protested, but I didn’t struggle as he carried me off across the dojo. The room was an upside-down blur, and then I caught a glimpse of the leather-and-wood pommel horse at the edge of the dojo. I’d never seen anyone actually use the thing; we didn’t do a lot of gymnastics around here.
But suddenly I could imagine many uses for it.
Jensen tossed me over the pommel horse onto my stomach. I kicked him in the stomach, but he just laughed. “It seems Rafe did a pretty thorough job,” he commented, and I flushed with desire.
His fingers ran over the curve of my reddened ass, then delved lower, gliding through my wet heat. My body jerked to have someone touch me the way I’d longed for.
“Mm, I don’t think we’re quite there yet,” Jensen murmured, before he spanked me, igniting fresh heat not just across my ass but also between my thighs.
“She’s so wet.” Penn’s hand stroked up my thigh, slowly, so slowly that I made a low, desperate sound of need low in my throat.
The four of them pressed around me, toying with me, touching me. My muscles went taut, trembling with longing.
When Penn reached my center, my hips jerked forward, and he smiled faintly, self-satisfied. He toyed with my clit, his long, slender fingers caressing me deftly, playing me like a violin as my body rocked against his hand.
Then his abruptly stilled, his fingers pressing against my mound. When his other hand smacked my ass, re-igniting the heat, a moan burst out of my lips.
“Please…” I murmured. “God, I need you. All of you…”
That whispered confession seemed to push them over the edge, too. Chase moved in front of me, his fingers threading through my hair to hold me steady as he tilted my head up towards him, and he pressed a kiss to my lips.
I pulled away just enough to murmur, “Chase…” as I reached for him. He was already hard for me as I drew him out of his shorts. I pulled him toward me, and he gasped when I flicked my tongue against his tip.
Jensen slid deep inside me from behind, no hesitation, and I hissed in a breath as he filled me and stretched me. But I rocked my hips back against him until the curve of my ass met his chiseled lower abs, seeking more of him. He hurt me in the best of ways.
I was so close to coming, so wild for them all, and so restrained by the position I was in. I drew Chase into my mouth, channeling all that intensity of my desire into the way I sucked his cock, feeling his breath give, his thighs begin to tremble as his fingers threaded in my hair. Silas knelt, massaging my breasts in the rough way I liked best, toying with my nipples. My whole body was alive with sensation as they played me the way they all knew I liked best, and the intensity of my building orgasm rippled through my muscles.
Jensen’s breath was against my hair as he pumped inside me over and over. Then Penn's fingers found my clit again, and I almost screamed at the rush of sensation when I’d been so close for so long. He stopped, his cock buried deep inside me, as he teased his fingers across my clit.
My core tightened around his cock as his fingers pulsed over my clit.
I moaned around Chase’s cock as heat washed over my body. Jensen’s cock drove deep into me as he kept toying mercilessly with my clit even though my orgasm was so building so intensely now that it was painful, my clit throbbing, my muscles beginning to tremble.
Chase let out a moan as he shattered in my mouth. Jensen’s hands hooked my hips, holding me still as he plunged inside me, both of us panting now. The sterile white wall in front of me blu
rred, and the academy itself seemed to fade away. It was just the five of us alone in a sparkling universe.
My muscles squeezed around Jensen’s cock over and over as I came, the world around my shattering as I let out a scream that I couldn’t resist. He pressed his lips against the back of my neck, his moan humming against my skin as he came too.
I sagged limply over the pommel horse, spent and gasping, my muscles still trembling.
Jensen wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged me back against his body. I pressed my head against his shoulder before I turned my face up to his, and his lips swept across mine.
“We love you, Maddie,” he murmured. “Always have. Always will.”
“Some things are unbreakable,” I said, finally daring to believe it.
“Some things are unbreakable,” Silas promised, leaning over to kiss me.
My legs were still wobbly beneath me from the force of that orgasm after all the teasing. The four of them pressed around me, all hard bodies and tender mouths, heavy hands and sweet words.
And I knew they’d hold me up.
The witches’ world had been dark and magical and seductive, but this plain room, this academy full of rules and hardship, this was where I wanted to be. Even if I wasn’t always happy here. Even though I wasn’t special here to anyone but my men.
This was home.
This was where I loved and was loved.
Chapter Sixty-Seven
The next morning, when our alarm went off, I jolted awake, bleary-headed and confused for a few seconds. The guys were already rolling out of bed and getting dressed for PT. I glanced at the window; it was pitch-black outside.
“You know the one good thing about hanging out with the evil witches is that they didn’t get up stupidly early,” I said. “And there were no push-ups.”
I hated push-ups.
Penn threw my PT shirt at me, and it caught me across the face. “That’s too bad. I’m sure if we mention that to Rafe and Lex, they’ll be happy to make up for it this morning.”
“You’re a jerk,” I said, even as I pulled my t-shirt over my head.
Penn grinned, then leaned over the foot of the bed to kiss me, and I lost myself in kissing him back. No matter how much of a rush we always were in the morning, his lips teased mine open, and two of us shared a lingering kiss even as he began to straighten.
It seemed crazy that the day after the academy was attacked, we were back to PT and classes and training, but maybe there was something to be said for going back to normal.
The guys and I clattered downstairs to find Lex and Rafe already there, of course. Rafe led us off on a run, and Lex fell in alongside me. I was used to him running ahead of me with Rafe, but it was nice to have him there. I glanced at him shyly. Things had gotten so complicated between Lex and me.
Now I knew why he’d been so furious at me when I first came to the academy. I’d told him I wasn’t coming to the academy, and he’d thought it was safe for us to date. I’d forgotten that whole day due to Silas’ magic.
Even though Lex and I had made up, maybe part of me had resented how he treated me when I first came here. The hot-and-cold craziness of our relationship had been ridiculous.
But the other guys had told me how, even though I’d hurt him the worst of any of them, he never stopped believing in me. He was the first one to break free of the curse.
I had to talk to him, and I had no idea where to begin.
Rafe led our workout that morning, but it was typical of one of them to take the lead on PT.
Then Clearborn called us all together after our morning classes to explain the new curriculum at the academy and to remind us that, despite losing our wolves, we’d been able to stand against the witches as one disciplined team. I was still amazed by what we’d been able to accomplish, and I knew I wasn’t the only one.
Without Clearborn’s leadership, as much as we hated him sometimes, there would have been a lot more dead cadets mingled with the witches across the academy grounds.
Rafe dismissed us to lunch. I realized as everyone began to head out of the auditorium that it was only Rafe who took the leadership role in our team now.
Clearborn had made good on his threat to take away Lex’s position in the cadre.
As everyone streamed toward the doors, eager for lunch, I grabbed Lex’s sleeve and yanked him through the door of a classroom.
He came with me, but raised his eyebrows. “Yes?”
I reached past him and closed the door. “What did Clearborn do to you, Lex?”
“I have a funny feeling you already know, Maddie.” His expression was mild as he leaned against the doorframe. “It was less than I expected, for what I did.”
“For what you did?” My voice came out heated. “You were just trying to protect me!”
“I broke the rules. He had to make an example of me.”
“He’s an asshole!”
“Well, yes. But I’ve come to like him anyway.”
I knitted my fingers together on top of my head, taking a deep breath. The guys had told me about what Lex had done. I’d been worried since about what Clearborn did when he called him back, but I’d never had a moment alone with Lex since.
Part of me had thought he wouldn’t want to see me, but he seemed to be taking this all in stride.
“I’m so sorry, Lex,” I said finally. “I know how much being cadre meant to you.”
He cared so much about being a good student here, a good leader, showing his worth even though his parents had never seen it.
“And you gave that up for me,” I went on, still staggered by the realization. He could’ve just ignored the tug of his heart. He could’ve let Clearborn’s threats drown it out.
“It’s not all bad,” he said.
I shook my head, wishing he wouldn’t downplay what he sacrificed. It just made me feel more guilty, because he was still trying to protect me in a way.
“Now I can do this,” he said, and he crossed the room to me in a few quick strides, wrapping me up in his arms.
My lips parted in surprise, right before Lex’s lips seared to mine.
I clung to him, my hands stroking up his powerful biceps to his shoulders, before my fingers dug in.
He lifted me easily onto the edge of the desk, and I moaned against his lips, my body responding to him as if by memory.
“There’s no sacrifice I wouldn’t make for you, Madeline Northsea,” he murmured, his forehead meeting mine. “And you don’t have to be sorry for that. I’m not. I don’t have any doubt about choosing you.”
I stared up at him as he stroked my hair back from my forehead, and he grinned suddenly. “So you don’t have to go yell at Clearborn, if you were putting that on your to-do list, Feistypants.”
I laughed out loud, then said, “Actually, I don’t want to think about him right now.”
“Oh?” His brows arched as he stroked his thumb over my cheek. “What do you want to think about?”
“You,” I murmured. I began to unbutton my blazer, then let it slip down my shoulders, and his gaze caught on the shape of my body in my blouse. He bit that soft pink lower lip as if he were holding himself back, even before I added, “And me.”
“Here?” he glanced toward the door. “We’ll get in trouble if we get caught.”
Mm, Rafe would have stern words for me if I were caught having sex in a classroom. I wasn’t exactly put off by his consequences at the moment.
I loosened my tie, pushed it to one side so I could begin to unbutton my blouse. Lex’s eyes tracked each button slipping loose, and his rapt attention, his affection for me, made me smile to myself.
“It’s only fair, Lex,” I said, tugging at his blazer, and he undid the buttons and let it fall down his shoulders. The white dress shirt he wore was very fitted to his broad shoulders and the lean taper of his waist. He loosened his tie and pulled it over his head, and I began to work on his buttons. I said softly, “It’s been too long since I had the chance to undress
you.”
I drew his shirt off his shoulders. Our lips met again and again in quick, wild kisses, and every kiss reminded me of another; tender first- time kisses in the summer sunshine, and fierce, angry kisses in the rainstorm up against his car. When I closed my eyes and his lips were against mine, the relentless flow of time seemed to change; he’d teased my lips with his tongue just like this before, and he’d do it again in a future that seemed to ripple in front of us, as certain as summer itself.
He would always be my rock, and my hands slid over the hard planes of his shoulders and chest, feeling the warmth of his body and his comforting solidity.
His hands stroked over my thighs, drawing my panties down, and I kicked them off until they dangled from one ankle. Both of us moved with deft, frantic movements, as if we’d waited so long for each other and we couldn’t wait one second longer. I pulled his belt loose, unzipped his fly as amusement touched his lips. When I took the heft of his cock in my hand, his smile disappeared, lost to the blaze of need in his eyes.
I wrapped my thighs around his narrow hips, and drew him against me. His breath hitched as I pressed him against the heat between my thighs.
I rocked back as he took himself in hand to press himself into me. My back arched as he filled me, and I caught the edge of the desk with both hands, my thighs tightening around his narrow hips.
He paused, his cock buried deep inside me and his gaze on my face. Warmth glowed in my chest. I’d thought I’d lost his love, but he looked at me like I was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.
He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close to him, his breath stirring my hair. Even though his cock was buried deep inside me, I rocked my hips so I could be even closer to him, pressing my nipples against his pecs.
“You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved,” he whispered into my hair, “and you’re the only woman I ever will.”
I cupped his cheeks as I studied that handsome face that was all mine, his tousled light brown hair above his high brow and his chiseled jaw. His gaze was as full of affection as it was heat. I pressed my lips to his, kissing him with every ounce of passion in my body.