by Eva Ashwood
“I’ll tell you what. Maybe one day, I’ll let you fuck me while I suck Merrick. You can feel what having his cock in my mouth does to me.”
Trace’s hooded eyes flew wide open, and his hips jerked under me, filling me completely in one stroke. He wrapped his arms around me and flipped me onto my back so fast the world spun, drawing out and plunging in again so hard the bed shook.
“You’re a dirty fucking girl, you know that, Snow White?”
“Yeah, I’ve been told.”
He stole the grin from my lips as he kissed me again, thrusting over and over as his body settled over mine. The friction against my clit, the feel of him inside me, of our bodies pressed together skin-to-skin, made pleasure burn through me.
When he broke the kiss, he rested our foreheads together, still thrusting hard as we both gasped for breath. “What about Lach? Huh? Where’s he during all of this?”
My legs wrapped around him, and my whole world seemed to shrink down to just the space our bodies occupied as we both chased our pleasure.
“He’s in my hand,” I murmured, my voice hitching with every hard thrust. “I’m jerking him off. Or maybe he’s watching us and jerking himself off. Or maybe…” My pussy clenched hard around him, and I tilted my lips up to steal a kiss. I was about to lose it. About to explode. “Maybe he’s inside me too. At the same time you are. In the hole no one’s ever fucked before.”
“Oh, fuck!”
Trace’s whole body tensed as he came hard, slamming into me in uneven strokes as his cock pulsed, emptying himself inside me. I followed right on his heels, holding onto him for dear life and grinding my hips against his, drawing out my orgasm until we were both limp and spent.
He collapsed on top of me, his breath ghosting over my neck as he panted. “Fucking hell. Warn a guy before you go saying shit like that.”
I smiled weakly, letting my eyes drift closed as I ran my fingers up and down his back. “Watch out.”
His shoulders shook as he chuckled, and he let out a contented sigh. “Too fucking late for that, Snow.”
My heart gave a little tha-thump in my chest.
Yeah. No kidding.
Chapter Twenty-Six
It took us a while to disentangle our bodies. Neither of us seemed to be in any hurry to separate, and even when he finally pulled out of me and flopped onto the bed beside me, Trace’s fingers threaded through mine, our shoulders touching as our breathing finally returned to normal.
There was a sense of peace as our worn-out bodies rested together. We’d each been cooped up in our own minds since we’d left the godly realm, unable to even talk to anyone about what was going on. I hadn’t even talked to him yet about what I was thinking, and I already felt better, just sharing space with him.
My heart was still beating wildly fast, so I closed my eyes for a moment.
That was a huge mistake, because as soon as I did, everything that’d been plaguing me all week seemed to rush back in with a torrent of images. I winced.
My movement caught Trace’s attention, and he turned his head to look at me. “Ah, fuck. Is it time for us to get serious already?”
I smiled at him, chuckling as I ran a hand through my hair.
“Yeah, ’fraid so. As incredible as that was, I have to be honest, that’s not actually why I came here. I wanted to tell you something.”
He laughed. “Dammit. And here I thought I was just a booty call.”
“Never.” I rolled over, draping my body over him and pressing my lips to his.
I knew he’d been joking, but I kissed him hard anyway. I’d decided to stop running from my feelings, and that included making sure Trace knew I wanted all of him—his wicked humor, his intelligence, and his wild streak that called to the wildness in me.
“Oh, I didn’t mean for that to sound like a complaint,” he murmured with a grin when our lips broke apart. “You can call my booty anytime you want, Snow. I guarantee you’ll come.”
I bit back a grin at his flirtatious wink. “Thanks, Mr. Rock Star. I’ll keep that in mind.” Then I shook my head, trying to organize my thoughts. “I just… had to talk to someone. I know things have been weird since we got back, but I guess I wasn’t sure what was real in the godly realm and what wasn’t.”
“This was real.” His arms tightened around me, his hands sliding down to cup my ass.
“Yeah.” I smiled, assuming he was talking about the thing between us and not my actual ass. “I’m starting to realize that.”
Trace pulled me a little higher on his body, then propped his head up with one arm. “Good. So, hit me with it. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Unease churned in my stomach, but for the first time in days, I didn’t feel quite as lost and helpless as I had when we’d returned from the godly realm. I wasn’t alone anymore.
“I overheard a couple of admins talking outside the school a few days ago,” I said quietly. “I missed the first part of their conversation because I was having a minor mental breakdown, but what I did hear was really strange. They made it sound like something had gone wrong with the challenge. That it’d been ‘sloppy,’ whatever that means.”
He regarded me seriously for a moment. “So what do you think is going on?”
I pressed a kiss to his shoulder, my lips brushing over a patch of bare skin where his tattoos had been burned away. Then I took a deep breath and finally spoke my suspicions aloud. “I think there’s something off about the whole Gods’ Challenge thing. Maybe it’s a test of some sort? I don’t know. But I don’t think those four students were supposed to die. I think something happened to Brielle and Shane.”
Trace’s hand roamed over my back as he puffed out his cheeks, his gaze going out of focus as he fell into his thoughts.
Then he let all the air out of his lungs and met my gaze again. “I’ll be honest, I’ve been wondering something similar. I keep thinking about those last few minutes of the challenge. Brielle was right behind me. She was right there. Then the portal yanked me back through space, and the next thing I knew, I was back on earth. And she was dead. What could’ve happened in that split second that killed her? Or did she die inside the portal somehow? I dunno. It doesn’t add up.”
“No. It doesn’t.”
A weird sort of relief combined with a deepening dread in my chest. It felt good to share my fears with someone, to know that I wasn’t crazy for thinking this. But at the same time…
If I’m not crazy, then what the fuck is going on around here?
I sat up, flipping my hair back and getting up out of the bed. “We need to talk to the others.”
“Yeah.” Trace sat up too, completely unabashed at his nakedness. “Yeah, we should. Four heads are better than one. And much better than three.”
He shot me a meaningful look, and I rolled my eyes, grinning like an idiot. Except, I wasn’t an idiot. I’d stopped being an idiot the second I’d stopped trying to deny my feelings for these three men. When I’d admitted that I wanted them by my side.
We both dressed in a hurry, and I could feel his gaze roving over me. If I hadn’t been so horrified by what we were discussing, I probably would’ve tackled him and gone another round. Or three.
As it was, we needed to talk to the other men. Now.
I shook my head as I pulled my robe back on, tying it at one side. “I shouldn’t have waited. I should’ve come to you guys right away. I was just… fucked up in the head.”
Trace pulled the shirt over his head, tugging it down. Then he crossed the small room and took my hand, drawing me toward him. He brushed my hair back from my face before dropping a small, sweet kiss to my lips.
“Hey. We were all pretty fucked up. No shame in that. But I wasn’t kidding, Snow. The one thing in this whole mess that I’m sure of is that I care about you. That’s real.”
I placed my hands over his, keeping us connected for another moment as I fell into the bright blue of his irises.
“Yeah. Me too.”
“G
ood.” He kissed me again, then slapped my ass. “Now let’s go get Lach and Merrick before they accuse me of trying to steal you away from them.”
We slipped from his room and made our way down the hall, stopping first at Lachlan’s room. I knocked loud enough to wake him without disturbing the whole hall, but he must not’ve been sleeping yet, because footsteps started immediately toward the door.
As he opened it and caught sight of me, his eyes lit with heat, and a slow grin spread across his face. Then his gaze shifted over to Trace and a frown of jealousy sparked.
I rolled my eyes. These guys had all agreed to share—and judging from Lach’s response as they’d all made out with me in the cave, he’d been one hundred percent into it—but I had a feeling old habits died hard.
To be honest, I really did wish I was just here for sex. But I wasn’t. The reason for this late-night visit was far worse, and unfortunately, far more important than me getting laid.
“Down, boy,” I whispered. “No fighting, remember? We need to talk to you.”
Lachlan’s brows pulled together. “What? Now?”
“Yeah. It’s important. Let’s go to Merrick’s room.” I jerked my head down the hall. “He needs to be in on this too.”
Lachlan sighed and shut the door behind him, his jealousy seeming to fade as he took in the grim expression on my face. As quietly as we could, we hustled down the corridor to Merrick’s room.
My hand hesitated as I raised it to knock. Of all the men, Merrick was the one I was most nervous about approaching again. Over the past week, I had basically pulled a repeat of what I’d done the first time we’d dated, pulling away with no explanation and essentially ghosting him.
Would he forgive me like Trace and Lachlan had?
Before I could lose my nerve entirely, I rapped twice on the hard wood, then held my breath as we waited for Merrick to answer. The two warm, solid bodies beside me soothed me though, and I could feel Lach and Trace shifting closer to me as if they could sense my nervousness.
When Merrick opened the door, his eyes didn’t immediately light with heat the way Lachlan’s had. He looked like he’d been asleep too, although he seemed less groggy than Trace had been. Then again, that was just Merrick. He always seemed put together, confident, and controlled, even when he’d just woken up.
His gaze shifted over the three of us, his brows drawing together. “Is there a slumber party I wasn’t told about?”
“If there is, I call big spoon.”
Without waiting for an invitation, Lachlan strolled inside. Trace followed, keeping his fingers interlaced with mine. I kept my gaze on Merrick as I stepped over the threshold, searching desperately for a sign of how he was feeling.
“So, sweetheart.” Lachlan leaned against Merrick’s dresser, crossing his arms over his chest. “Are ye going to tell us what this is all about? What’s up?”
Tugging my attention away from Merrick, I let go of Trace’s hand and stepped into the middle of the room. Then I glanced between Merrick and Lachlan, filling them in on what Trace and I had talked about.
“It’s been on my mind ever since we got back from the challenge,” I concluded. “Something is weird here. I don’t know if Chetna or Knox feel like this, but I had to know if you guys do. Trace doesn’t think I’m crazy. What about you two?”
Merrick had settled into a chair by the desk along one wall, and now he slumped back in his seat, running a hand through his hair. All the guys had shaved as soon as they’d gotten back to the academy, but I noticed he had a shadow of stubble along his jaw.
His expression was serious as he turned to face me. “I don’t think you’re crazy, Aria. I wish you would’ve talked to us about this from the start though. Trusted us.”
I chewed on my lip, my heart thudding hard in my chest. But I didn’t look away. A surge of hope was slowly rising in my chest.
Merrick was talking to me. Despite my cowardice, he hadn’t written me off entirely.
And he had said “us.”
That was what the four of us were. Us.
We were more than a team. More than partners.
Things I’d never known I wanted but was beginning to crave with my whole soul were within my reach, right there in front of me if I was brave enough to grab hold of them.
If I was brave enough to risk my own heart too.
Keeping my gaze on Merrick’s, I stepped forward, resting my hands on his shoulders as I settled slowly onto his lap, just like I had back in the cave in the godly realm. I studied his face for a moment—his intense amber eyes, the high line of his cheekbones, his long, straight nose.
There was something commanding about him, something that drew my eye and made me want to never look away.
And from now on, I wouldn’t.
“I should have, Merrick. The truth is, the only people I wanted to talk to ever since we got back were you three. I can’t even talk to Eden about this. She doesn’t understand. I need you. And not just because something fucked up is going on at this school, and I need help figuring out what it is. I would want you guys in my life even if everything was rainbows and baby bunnies.”
“Hey. Baby bunnies can be deadly. We talked about this.”
Trace’s comment from the peanut gallery made a snort-laugh burst out of me, and I saw a glimmer of amusement shine in Merrick’s eyes. He leaned forward, catching my face in his hands, his touch light and gentle.
“So, what do you say?” I asked softly. “Can we be an us again?”
A slow smile spread across his face, and as it grew, I swore I could feel the knot in my chest unwind.
“Ari,” he murmured, bringing his lips to mine. “I thought you’d never fucking ask.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The three men and I stayed up until almost dawn, talking through everything we knew about the school, the challenge, and our time in the godly realm.
There were so many unknowns. As I searched for answers about this place, I was starting to realize how spotty my knowledge of magical culture was, and the guys weren’t much help in that arena. We’d all been raised in non-magical society, and Magic Blessed Academy focused much more on practical magic application than on the history or philosophy of magic.
We didn’t come up with any groundbreaking insights or figure out what it was about the challenge that had seemed so “off” to all of us, but just talking about it—hell, talking about anything—with the three of them made me feel exponentially better.
We all passed out in Merrick’s bed eventually, and when we woke up late for class the next morning, I kicked myself for not taking the opportunity to push for a replay of our little cave adventure.
But there would be plenty of time for that later.
Because we were an “us.”
With things between me and the guys resolved, the next two weeks seemed to fly by at warp speed. We were all determined to start digging for answers, but studying for finals and making up for all the assignments we’d missed while we were gone took up so much time there was hardly a moment left for anything else.
On the morning of our first final, I stepped out of the shower and was drying my hair when there was a knock on the door.
I was used to the drill by now, and I almost made it to the door before Eden’s second knock. I’d barely even pulled it open before the blonde whirlwind burst inside, pacing back and forth.
“Uh, hey, Eden.” I grinned. “Come on in.”
She stopped in her tracks and spun to face me, as if she’d just realized I was standing there. She blinked at me wildly for a few seconds, then shook her head and sucked in a deep breath. When she blew it out, she seemed marginally more relaxed—which basically meant she was no longer vibrating with anxiety.
“Ari, I’m freaking out. I’m really worried about my finals. I mean, I’ve been studying, of course I have. But I’ve never been very good at memorizing things. What if I fail? What if I just can’t do it?”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “
You’ll be fine. I promise. Honestly, I’m the one who should be nervous. I missed weeks of school, and even though I had to learn a lot of magic in a hurry during the challenge, I don’t know how that’ll translate when it comes to passing tests. I barely got caught up on the classwork I missed while I was gone.”
Eden gave me that look again, the one of worry mixed with a bit of pity.
I put my hand up and shook my head. “Hey, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I chose to enter the challenge, so that’s on me. I just didn’t realize it would be so… consuming.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
She peered at me like she couldn’t quite figure me out, and I wished for about the dozenth time that I could confide in her. But there was nothing to confide, really. Just a bunch of vague, unsettled feelings that something had gone very wrong with the Gods’ Challenge.
Then Eden shook her head, perking up again. I’d never seen her in a bad mood that lasted more than five minutes. She was one of the most perpetually happy people I knew. There was a time when that would’ve driven me crazy, but now, I kinda liked it.
“You’ll do great too! We both will.” She drew in another deep breath, waving her hands near her face as if to waft more oxygen into her nostrils. “We’ll just take each final in stride together, right?”
“Right.” I grinned. “That’s all we can ever do. The best we can.”
As we headed downstairs, I felt a little of Eden’s nerves seep into my body, but I did my best to brush them off. I had practiced and studied my ass off, and while there were some classes I was still a bit behind in, there were others I was way ahead in, thanks to things I’d learned during the challenge.
My first final was in Power and Precision, and although Professor Wist had been warning us all week that it was going to be incredibly difficult, I only struggled with one small section, sailing through the rest of it with flying colors.
I left the classroom flying high on adrenaline, ready to kick the asses of my next several finals and make it through to winter break. We were all allowed to leave the school for the holiday, and I was looking forward to it so much I could practically taste the Boston air.