Second Chance Soul: a paranormal reverse harem steamy slow burn academy adventure (Second Chance Academy Book 2)

by Ella J. Smyth

  18

  Ms. Farkas stared at me as Mr. Whitehall walked up and down in the small office. His face bright-red, he was gesticulating as his anger infused his voice. “I’m absolutely infuriated with this girl, Head Witch. I just can’t believe you’re allowing somebody that dangerous to attend the academy. It’s bad enough she’s constantly interrupting and whispering with her... her lovers”—I cringed. He made it sound vulgar and dirty—“but I asked her to do a simple spell in class and look what happened. She attacked me. It’s only by chance she destroyed the desk instead.”

  Ms. Farkas’s eyebrows had lifted gradually as she listened to the enraged teacher. When he’d finally run out of steam, she turned toward me. “Is that true, Amber?”

  Mr. Whitehall looked as if he were about to explode, but the head witch raised her hand and stopped his protest. “No, it’s only fair if we hear Amber’s side of the story, don’t you think?”

  Taking a deep breath, I said, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to blow up the desk, and I definitely didn’t attack Mr. Whitehall. He asked me to erase the hard drive, but something went wrong. I’d only meant to heat the inside to melt the electronics, but…”

  My hands shook, and I was fighting back tears. The explosion had scared the living daylights out of me, and having to justify myself to the head witch didn’t help. “I’m very sorry. Please don’t send me away. It won’t happen again.”

  I hated the pleading note in my voice, but Ms. Farkas nodded as if my words had confirmed what she’d already suspected. “I don’t think Amber’s actions were directed against you, Mr. Whitehall. It’s far more likely she misjudged her own power.

  “Amber,” she said, turning toward me. “Why did you not use your lightning magic to short-circuit the hard drive?”

  The question caught me off-guard. What was I supposed to say? Should I explain Mrs. Palmer had cautioned me not to? While I considered my answer, Ms. Farkas leaned forward on her desk, waiting for me to speak. There was something in her posture that set me on edge. I didn’t know what warned me against telling her the truth, whether it was Mr. Whitehall’s presence or something else, but I suddenly knew with absolute surety that I couldn’t be honest with her. “I’m trying to develop my secondary powers. That’s why I didn’t use the lightning magic.”

  Ms. Farkas nodded, apparently satisfied with my explanation. “Well, it certainly looks like you need to practice more. I’m going to arrange for the classroom to be cleaned and repaired by tomorrow. Unfortunately, I’ll have to deduct the damage from your living allowance, Amber.”

  I nodded. Since I was one of the few students at the school deemed too dangerous to leave the grounds, I had nowhere to spend my allowance, anyway. When I was finally dismissed, I was late for Elemental Magic.

  Mrs. Palmer accepted my apology with a nod, and I took my place next to Lance. He put his hand on mine and asked, “Rough day?”

  I nodded. “I’ll tell you later.”

  At the end of the class, Mrs. Palmer made an announcement that we were off for the rest of the day. She didn’t give an explanation, but she seemed tense and uncomfortable. Just as the teacher was about to leave, Luke called out, “Mrs. Palmer. Is Lillian sick? She hasn’t been to any classes today or yesterday.”

  Mrs. Palmer stopped in her tracks, and the color drained from her face. She suddenly looked ten years older. Without answering, she shook her head and left the room.

  “What was that about?” Lance asked.

  “No idea,” I answered. That was a lie. I’d seen Lillian’s room and witnessed Lawson’s men roaming around the campus. This was all connected.

  I needed some time and space to make a plan. The unexpected free afternoon was perfect for that. Julian was busy with a project, and Kiernan had rushed off right after class. I hadn’t had a chance to speak to him after his no-show last night. And my so-called best friend Beth disappeared whenever Kenzy, or Luke, or both, were around. I sighed. Don’t be bitchy. The three of them are adorable together.

  While I sat in the library with a legal pad in front of me, chewing on a pen, I thought about them. How did it work? Did Luke make out with each girl at the same time? Did they take turns? Did the girls get involved with each other? At that point, I shook myself to dispel those images. If I were honest, thinking of them that way turned me on a little, but also made me feel like a stalker.

  But then my train of thought took a detour, and I imagined my boys. Would we have dates together, all three of us? Would I have sex with each of them in turn? Would the boys seduce me and share me between them? This time, a shiver ran through me, and I had to squeeze my legs together to stop myself from getting aroused.

  And then, like on cue, Kiernan appeared from behind a bookshelf. “Hey, Amber. I’m so sorry I had to skip our date the other night.”

  I stared at him incredulously. When I spoke, my voice sounded pissed. “It’s not just the one date, though. I feel like you’ve been avoiding me. You know where my room is, so why didn’t you call by, I don’t know, any evening for the last two weeks?”

  His gaze dropped, and he looked like a scolded little boy. Nope, don’t feel sorry for him, Amber.

  He said, “I really don’t want to neglect you. But I’m under a lot of pressure. More than you can imagine.”

  “From your mother. Julian told me.”

  His eyes flashed angrily for a moment before he replied. “I suppose Julian has the right to talk about it. He was there when the whole shitshow went down. I’ll tell you about it another time. But my mother… She’s got high expectations for me. My dads aren’t worried about what I’m going to do after the academy, but my mom has my entire future mapped out.”

  I would have missed the split-second of pain in his eyes, had I not stared at him so intently. When he smiled at me, it seemed a little forced. He took a deep breath and continued in a conciliatory tone. “It wasn’t an official date, but I really wanted to see you last night. So, since we have the afternoon off, what do you think about a picnic?”

  With a flourish, he pulled a tablecloth from behind this back and laid it on one of the free tables. Then he disappeared around the shelf and returned with an old-fashioned wicker basket. He took two plates, cutlery, and several containers out of the hamper. Within seconds, he’d set the table to look like in a restaurant.

  Oh, wow. He planned it all. That’s awesome. I grinned across my whole face. “I’m so impressed. How did you get this past the librarian?”

  He winked at me. “Don’t worry about him. I left a tip for the library team, and he won’t be back here for at least an hour, maybe more.”

  I knew he came from a wealthy family, but I couldn’t believe he’d bribed the librarian of all people. The guy in charge of the educational resources on campus was an older gentleman who tended to frown a lot when people didn’t treat books the way he thought they should.

  “Come on, sit down. Unless you aren’t hungry?” He sounded unsure, unlike his usual cocky self.

  I laughed. “You know damn well the cafeteria is closed because whatever teachers’ meeting is going on. Of course, I’m hungry.”

  For the next thirty minutes, we dug into the meal Kiernan had brought. It was basic stuff, but tasty. Cold chicken drumsticks, potato salad, and for dessert, vanilla custard.

  “This is delicious,” I said after we’d cleared our plates. “Where did you get all the food from?”

  “Lance has a microwave in his room. And one of the senior dorms has a small kitchen.”

  I was both amused and happy about the trouble he’d gone through to feed me. “Thanks, Kiernan. That was really nice of you.”

  He bent down to stack the dirty dishes into the hamper, but I could tell by the redness of his ears that he was pleased. When he’d cleared up, he sat back down and took my hand. Playing with my fingers, he murmured, “God, I missed you.”

  Then he pulled me into his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and enjoyed how solid his body felt under me. His gre
en eyes were sparkling with suppressed laughter, but his lips found mine with unbridled passion.

  19

  Everything about this felt good and right. My heart beat double-time as he devoured my mouth. I allowed his scent, the feel of him to carry me away. I loved the way his arms enveloped me, and the green-sap smell of a forest spring invaded my nostrils. My awareness focused like a laser on his tongue exploring me, pushing against mine. But then the sound of steps a few aisles away from where we sat pulled me back into the present.

  “We’re in the library,” I whispered after tearing my mouth from his.

  “I know. Don’t worry, hardly anybody ever comes this far back.”

  He was right. I’d sat and studied on what I considered “our” table for nearly half a year, and in that whole time, nobody had bothered me unless they knew to find me here. I smiled and returned to the pleasant business of kissing this beautiful boy to within an inch of his life.

  The longer we made out, the more his hands wandered over my body. When his palms slipped under my shirt and up my shoulder blades, I arched into his touch. His mouth felt hot against the skin of my throat as he pressed me forward against his lips. I closed my eyes at the sensation of his teeth nibbling along the tendon on my neck.

  Then he reached my collarbone, and I was so distracted by the feeling of his tongue against, I didn’t notice he’d deftly unclasped my bra. His thumb brushed against my bare nipple, and I gasped. The sensation was both gentle and arousing. Every pass of his finger shot a jolt of lust through my body.

  My hips rolled on his lap, first unconsciously in tiny circles, then in determined ellipses as I became more aware of how good it felt. Kiernan moved his hand from my chest to my hip and held me still. My eyes flew open, and I stared at him. “Why are we stopping?”

  His eyes were molten jade as his gaze bored into mine. “I want you, Amber. So much. But we need to talk first.”

  Really? Now? Suppressing a whine, I asked, “Talk about what?”

  “If we want to try being in a relationship with four people, we need to establish limits and some ground-rules.”

  I laughed out lout. “Ground rules? I’m not joining a kink club, am I?”

  His intense expression broke into a wide grin. “No, of course not. But my parents preached this until they were blue in the face. Relationships with two people are hard enough. If you have three, four, or five, communication is key.”

  Huh. That did make sense. “So what rules do we need to talk about?”

  “How do you want your first time to be?”

  A hot flush crept into my cheeks and down my neck. “Who says I haven’t had sex before?”

  “Julian told me.”

  I sat up, cringing a little. “Oh, come on. You two are like the worst gossips ever. Why did he tell you that?”

  Kiernan didn’t take the bait. Instead, he sounded amused when he answered. “Because he thought I needed to know. And that’s why we’re having this conversation now. So who do you want to sleep with first? Me? Julian? Lance? Two of us? All of us?”

  I knew he was teasing me, but my shyness suddenly reared its ugly head. He was right. We needed to talk about this. Preferably after half a bottle of Scotch in the dark so I wouldn’t have to see his stupid face. I tried to get up from his lap, but his arms tightened as he held me close. “Hey, acushla. I don’t mean to embarrass you. But seriously, we want to do it your way. So what do you think? I promise I won’t laugh.”

  Reluctantly, I relaxed against him. For a moment, I kept my ear against his chest and listened to the steady du-dum of his heartbeat. Then I said, “I’d like to do things with each of you, not all at once. I think that would be a bit much. And yes, I’ve never had sex with a guy. Well, not full sex anyway.”

  Kiernan brushed the back of his fingers over my cheek. “There are no rules in a poly-relationship. Whatever we agree on is fine. If you want to play with each of us, we don’t mind. And if at some stage, you want all of us to get together, that’s fine, too. We’ll follow your lead, Amber.”

  Then he kissed me again. And the temperature rose as quickly as it had cooled earlier. His one hand was on my lower back, holding me steady. The other continued its maddening swipes over my nipple. First one, and when I squirmed, he moved on to the other. I didn’t know what to do—push closer into his hand, or pull away and demand he do something about the pulsing between my legs.

  “You are so beautiful when you’re turned on,” Kiernan whispered into my ear as he spread my legs wider with his. Then he ran his hand up my inner thigh and brushed against the thick seam of my jeans.

  “You feel so hot here.”

  I moaned at the intimate touch. The way I sat, straddling his legs, pushed the pants against my clit. Tilting my hips forward and backwards in tiny movements, I rubbed myself against the fabric. Kiernan stroked up my leg and over my clit. Again. And again.

  Breathing harder with each pass, I clutched his shoulders. My mouth fell open, and instead of kissing, we gasped against each other. Kiernan’s eyes were half-lidded as he watched me spiral higher and higher. He wasn’t unaffected. His hips canted forward so that his bulge rubbed against my groin.

  “Don’t stop. It feels so good,” I murmured.

  “I won’t. You’re so sexy.” His voice was rough, as if he could barely control himself. His hand had stopped its stroking. Instead, it focused on where it felt best. I threw my head back and moaned loudly, pushing hard against his palm.

  “Jesus, Amber. The sounds you make. You’re driving me crazy.”

  He was now massaging my clit in small circles, while his lips descended on mine. With his tongue in my mouth, he rubbed, stroked, pushed, while my arousal grew and grew. He swallowed my cries, responding to the writhing of my hips with pressing his cock against me.

  And then my orgasm tore through me so hard, my eyes must have rolled back in their sockets. The sweet ache suffused my entire body, sensitizing every bit of my skin.

  Kiernan’s hand tightened on my breast, and he pulled me against him so tightly, I thought we might break the chair we were perched on. His pelvis tilted up, and he groaned long and loud as his body curled around me. Then he went limp, and his forehead collapsed onto my shoulder.

  We stayed there for a while, tightly wrapped around each other. Finally, he looked up, and a lazy smile played on his lips. “Goddamn, girl. If that’s how good we are together with our clothes on, imagine what it’ll be like when we’re in bed.”

  And there went my face again, blushing bright-red like a stop signal.

  Kiernan chuckled. “Come on, you can’t be embarrassed with me. You’re going home now, and nobody will know what we did. But me, I’m going to do the walk of shame with come in my pants. It’s disgusting when it cools.”

  “Gross.” I was pretending to wrinkle my nose in revulsion, but I couldn’t hold the expression for long before dissolving into giggles.

  “Did you enjoy yourself?” Kiernan’s voice sounded fond.

  “Yeah. It felt amazing. So much better than when I do it myself.”

  Kiernan laughed. “Glad to hear it.”

  I kissed him before saying regretfully, “I’m so far behind with my studies, it’s not even funny. Especially after blowing up the desk, I really need to read up on my secondary powers.”

  Kiernan grinned. “That’s probably a good idea. Wouldn’t hurt to get back on Whitehall’s good side. Do you need any help with earth magic?”

  “I’ll focus on fire first, but thanks.” Sliding off his lap, I groaned at the ache of my overstretched inner-thigh tendons. When I had both feet on the ground and stood up, the world receded around me. A sudden feeling of nausea overwhelmed me to the point where I doubled up and held my stomach with both arms.

  Kiernan was immediately next to me, holding me up."What’s happening? Are you sick?"

  I didn’t know how to answer that. The nausea stopped, but instead my head swam with the most intense vertigo I’d ever experienced. I barely
knew up from down. Kiernan’s grip on my upper arm tightened, and he guided me to sit down. Once the hard surface was under me, I felt more stable. Breathing deeply, I fought both nausea and vertigo until the world straightened. Then I looked up at Kiernan’s worried face. “It’s okay. No idea what just happened, but I feel much better now.”

  “I’ll walk you back to the dorms. You went white as a sheet for a moment.”

  I didn’t have the energy to argue that I was fine when I really wasn’t. I might not have felt like puking on his feet anymore, but my legs had turned into noodles. Kiernan packed up the remainders of our picnic as well as my pad and pens. He left the books to be tidied by the librarian.

  On the way out, he stopped briefly and explained the situation. The old man looked me up and down before nodding. “It’s not a problem. Look after your girlfriend. Her energy signature is off.”

  20

  The more Kiernan supported me, the stronger I felt. By the time we'd reached the dorm room, I was walking steadily. I still held on to his arm, though. Kiernan was solid and dependable, and I didn't want to let go of him until I had to. Opening the door, the librarian's words came back to me.

  "Kiernan." He looked at me, waiting for me to continue. "What did he mean, 'her energy signature is off'?"

  Kiernan shrugged. "I know Mr. Denholm's an empath. I assume he noticed you're not feeling well. I hope it wasn't any of the food I brought?"

  I walked to my bed and slipped under the cover. Now that Kiernan's body heat didn't warm my side, I felt shaky and cold again. "I don't think so. Otherwise you'd be sick as well, wouldn't you?"

  He sat on the edge of my mattress and stroked my hair. “Do you want me to stay? Or get the healer?”

  I felt a lot better lying down. “No, I’ll just have a nap. I’ll be fine afterwards. Don’t worry about me.”