Ignite: A Fiery Paranormal Romance (The Bound Ones Book 1)

by Tricia Barr

  “No, Sebastian, what about my dream, focus,” she laughed, putting her hand against his chest to hold him back.

  “Yes, and what about my dream, of making love to you before breakfast?” he said, pulling her closer and kissing her neck.

  She squealed—he knew her neck was her Achilles’ heel. “But we’re going to be late to our classes,” she whined, trying not to enjoy his feather-soft lips on her second most ticklish spot, and really trying not to think about how they would feel on her first.

  “It’s only English 101, and, as you can tell by my English accent, I’m already an expert.”

  She giggled uncontrollably as he continued kissing her neck, and she stopped resisting. As he climbed on top of her with his perfectly cut swimmer’s body, she figured, Eh, what’s one missed class? It’s not like her professor would notice an empty seat in a room of two hundred students anyway. Besides, sex with Sebastian was way better than breakfast, and way more interesting than Greek Philosophy, which was her first class. She wrapped herself around him and let the bacchanal begin.

  * * * *

  When Phoenyx and Sebastian were finally able to pull themselves away from each other, they both rushed to get dressed so they could make it to their second classes.

  “My Practical Math class is completely on the other side of campus, so I really do have to leave now,” she said before kissing him goodbye and skittering out the door.

  As soon as she entered the hallway, she saw the handsome blonde bespectacled Skylar walking by. She had the walk-of-shame look to her and she knew it, her short orange hair so mussed that it didn’t even fall in front of her face as she bent slightly forward to slip her last ballet flat on.

  “Ah, so I take it you and Sebastian took the morning to study,” he said slyly, giving her a squinted sideways glance as he said the word “study”. “So glad I have my own room.”

  She blushed and tried not to frown. “Why, so you can have your own ‘study partners’ over?” she teased, air-quoting.

  He laughed. “Hardly. I don’t have the time for studying, I’m using all my time for—well—actually studying. Hmm, that didn’t make much sense, did it?”

  “Well, I think if you actually did a little bit of studying every now and then, you might be able to relax,” she said.

  “Who has time to relax? Or study? It’s only a month into the semester and I’ve already got two exams this week.”

  “Oh crap, exam!” she exclaimed. “That reminds me, I gotta go!” She spun around him and waved with a quick “bye” before she sprinted through the hallway toward the stairs.

  How could she forget? She has a quiz today, right now, in Practical Math! She was usually a wiz at tests, so hopefully the fact that she hadn’t studied a single thing wouldn’t completely screw her up. She had just been so preoccupied with Sebastian this weekend—well, for the past month, really.

  Her life had completely changed since escaping from the Four Corners. She had always known of her power to compel people—to make them do or say whatever she wanted just by touching them—but her imprisonment by the Four Corners had taught her that she was one of the Bound Ones. She was Fire magically bound inside a human body. She wasn’t afraid of her powers anymore, although it wasn’t exactly like she went around starting fires everywhere. She had simply accepted that Fire was a part of her, and she now had the confidence that came with it. Not to mention, she actually had real friends now, three of the very best friends, the other three Bound Ones.

  Lily, who was currently away at Washington State University, was Earth, and she had the power to heal wounds and illnesses and to make plants grow. Skylar, whom she just bumped into, was Air, and he had the power to hear the thoughts of others and to move objects with his mind. And Sebastian, her beloved, sexy, wonderful Sebastian, was Water, and he had the power to create illusions, and of course to manipulate water.

  Sebastian was the biggest and best change of all. She had gone from being alone and totally sworn off the idea of love to being in a near storybook perfect romance with her very own real life soul mate. Alright, so maybe meeting while being imprisoned in a dungeon wasn’t exactly a fairytale, and their romance was more like something out of an erotic novel. Ever since the semester started and they were living only a few doors away from each other, they had been stuck to each other like glue. She hadn’t really spent much time in her own dorm room, mostly because her roommate was weird and smelled funny, kind of like Fritos. She couldn’t figure out how Sebastian managed to get a dorm room all to himself, and last minute no less. She may be able to compel people, but Sebastian was just a super smooth operator—in so many different ways.

  She blushed, although that could just be from exerting herself to run across campus in time for her quiz. She got to the classroom three minutes early and used every second of that time flipping through her notes, absorbing every snippet of information like a knowledge sponge.

  The room filled in and silence fell as the T.A. passed out the quiz. There were only ten questions on it, and all multiple choice. She skimmed through the questions and exhaled in relief. This would be a piece of cake. She’d had nothing to worry about. She just needed to make a mental note not to forget a quiz again.

  The quiz was over in ten minutes, and Phoenyx handed her quiz to the T.A. with confidence.

  The rest of the class was quite basic, and Phoenyx couldn’t help but zone out. Math had never been a particularly interesting topic to her, and the anticipation of going to her favorite class, Mediterranean History, next was enough to draw her attention away.

  Her mind wandered to thoughts of Lily. Phoenyx was amazed at how close they had become, after only having met little over a month ago, and then spending the majority of said month states apart. They talked on the phone every other day, and texted each other sporadically throughout the day everyday.

  When math class was over, Phoenyx had a half hour break before her next class. She decided to call Lily.

  “Hi!” Lily greeted after one ring. “Oh you would not believe the amount of blood a patient squirted all over me this morning!”

  Phoenyx couldn’t keep her laugh from bursting out at Lily’s salutation. Lily was in nursing school, and she always had gruesome stories to tell Phoenyx about her nursing internship in the ER. Though Lily was usually a quiet person, she got really excited about her work.

  “What happened this time?” Phoenyx asked into the phone with a laugh as she strolled across campus.

  “I was giving a diabetic her insulin shot in the belly, and though that spot does tend to be ‘juicy’—for lack of a better word—I never expected the blood to shoot out like it did. I think I even still have some in my ear.”

  Phoenyx was half grimacing, half smiling through Lily’s story. Despite how sweet and innocent Lily was, she wasn’t the least bit squeamish, and Phoenyx always found herself mentally applauding Lily for that.

  “How are things with you and Sebastian?” Lily asked, her tone suggestive.

  Phoenyx smiled and bit her lip. “Dear Penthouse,” was her reply.

  Lily laughed, then hummed sweetly. “I’m so happy for you two. I can’t wait for fall break so I can visit you guys. Just two more weeks!”

  “Me, too,” Phoenyx said, her heart squeezing at the wonderful thought of seeing her best friend again soon.

  “Alright, well, I have to go clean up before my first class, but I’ll talk to you later,” Lily said.

  “Later,” Phoenyx said, then hung up and slipped her phone into the right front pocket of her jeans.

  Knowing that she still had some time to kill before her Mediterranean History class, she zipped into a bathroom on the way there to check her face and fix her sex hair—although her next class was in a large, dimly lit lecture hall, she hated the idea of showing up to her favorite class looking unkempt.

  She entered the bathroom and went straight to a mirror along the wall. She really didn’t look as awful as she had imagined, but she still took a moment
to flatten down her hair and rinse her face. She took a paper towel from the dispenser and gently patted her face dry. She looked at the crumpled paper in her hands and felt a twinge of mischief.

  She took a look around. The bathroom appeared empty. Emboldened by her newfound self-confidence, she often tried to practice her fire-starting skill. It wasn’t as if she were an arsonist, but she felt she should test her power every now and then in case she ever needed it.

  She returned her gaze to the paper towel in her hands. With a sense of authority flaring in her belly, she mentally commanded the paper to ignite. Fire sprang to life at the center of the sheet and speedily radiated outward until there was nothing but ash in her palms.

  She smiled, excited at how easy it had become to call on her element since the episode with the Four Corners. Before that, she had only been able to use it once, when she was irrationally and uncontrollably angry, and now she could command her power whenever she wanted. She still couldn’t quite control how quickly something burned, or how much of it burned, but the progress was still encouraging.

  A gasp sounded from behind Phoenyx, and she looked up at the mirror to the shocked reflection of a girl standing in a stall behind her. Phoenyx could have sworn the bathroom was empty, and she wondered how she could have possibly missed noticing a closed stall.

  Phoenyx wasted no time in approaching the girl before the situation could escalate. The girl’s face was terrified as Phoenyx stalked toward her, and she stepped back as Phoenyx reached for her arm. But Phoenyx latched on and let a warm comfort flow through her touch and into the girl’s forearm.

  “You didn’t see anything suspicious in here,” Phoenyx said in a silky, soothing voice. “Everything is fine, and you can continue about your day.”

  The girl’s shoulders lowered and her stance relaxed, the tremor of fear on her glossed lips being chased away by a smile.

  Phoenyx released her, and the girl went to the sink to wash her hands as if nothing had happened. Phoenyx sighed in relief and frustration. She had to be more careful. No more practicing in public, she declared to herself as she left the bathroom and headed to her next class.

  ***

  Buy Submerge to see what happens next!

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