by Eva Ashwood
There was no logic.
There was no reason.
Hell, there was no tomorrow.
There was just this.
Just the feel of Lachlan filling me with every stroke, of my legs shaking as I worked to keep my balance, of my clit throbbing as pleasure surged inside me.
“Do ye believe me now, Ari?” he grunted. “That yer mine?”
My pussy clenched hard around him, a groan falling from my lips.
Gods. How the hell could I deny it? I couldn’t even fucking speak.
The answer was written all over my damn body. In the bruise marks on my ass I was sure his fingers were leaving, and in the cream sliding down my thighs from the place where he impaled me.
I would never admit it later, but in this moment, Lachlan fucking owned me.
Maybe he could read the confirmation in my silence, because the tempo of his thrusts grew even more brutal and demanding. I swore I could feel him thickening inside me, and I dropped my head, my arms shaking as much as my legs as the bed squeaked from the force of our movement.
Keeping a firm grip on one hip, he released the other and slipped his hand down to massage my clit.
“Gods. Fuck. Lachlan!”
The words burst from me as my world exploded into sharp splinters of pleasure. My body shook, and Lachlan growled low in his throat as he pounded into me, finally burying himself to the hilt and grinding his hips against my ass.
I could feel his cock pulsing and throbbing inside me, and I clenched around him, milking every drop as hot jets of cum filled me. When the rush of sensation finally faded, we were both breathing like we’d sprinted all the way here from the fight ring.
Lachlan looped his arms around my waist, lifting my upper body and pulling me up to stand. His broad chest pressed against my back, and he tilted my head so he could kiss me, his tongue sliding sensually against mine.
“I love to hear ye scream, lass,” he rumbled as we broke apart.
Then he slid out of me, scooped me up, and tossed me onto the bed. I let out a yelp as my back hit the soft, slightly springy mattress, but before the sound was even all the way out of my mouth, Lachlan was on me again, his large body draped over mine, his narrow hips pressing my legs apart.
“Ye didn’t think I was done with ye, did ye?” A wicked smile curved his lips as he slid back inside my still throbbing core.
He hadn’t softened at all, and we both groaned as he bottomed out inside me, his pelvis grinding against my clit. Our rough fuck earlier had taken a little of the desperate edge off, but I could feel need building steadily inside me again, a fire rising up from the ashes of my previous orgasm.
“Gods, are you always this fucking good?” I groaned, arching my back to get more pressure on my clit as Lach captured my wrists, pinning them to the mattress beside my head.
He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he dropped his head and lapped at my nipple, his warm tongue sending jolts of pleasure sparking through me. When he closed his mouth around my breast and sucked, flicking my nipple with his tongue, I bit my lip, wrapping my legs around him.
His thrusts were long and deep, and even though I pressed my heels against his round, muscled ass, urging him to go faster, he kept up the same pace. He was as stubborn as I was—and I fucking loved it.
He kept up his delicious torment of my breasts until I was writhing beneath him, lost in a haze of sensations. When he finally released my wrists, I wrapped my arms around him, holding on tight as the bed rocked beneath us. My fingernails dragged down his back, and he gave a low growl, shifting upward to capture my lips in a fierce kiss. His tongue plunged into my mouth as his cock drove into my pussy, each thrust driving me higher and higher.
As my entire body began to shake with my impending orgasm, Lach broke our kiss and braced himself on his forearms, finally picking up his tempo as he pistoned his hips hard and fast.
Fuck, yes.
My shitty little short-term rental, which had seemed small and cold when I’d first arrived, had been transformed into a little slice of paradise by the man who moved above me, his large frame covering mine as his sweat-dampened skin gleamed in the dim light coming through the window. His coppery brown hair appeared almost black, and his features were cut by deep shadows. He looked powerful and dangerous and so fucking sexy.
And he’s mine.
The thought surprised me almost as much as the wave of emotion that followed it, and as my eyes widened in shock, I came hard, my pussy walls clamping around his cock as bright lights danced at the edges of my vision.
“Fuck, yes, Ari. Fuck. Ye’re so damn tight.”
He pounded into me harder—short, choppy strokes as he neared his own release. Then he threw back his head on a roar, his hips grinding against mine as his cock lashed my womb with jets of cum. The corded muscles of his neck stood out in stark relief, and my orgasm rolled on and on as I gazed up at the shadowy beast of a man above me, my bottom lip clamped between my teeth.
Finally, the flood of sensation began to fade, and my body went limp, my tight muscles loosening as I sank into the mattress beneath me. We were both breathing hard, our bodies warm and slicked with sweat, cum leaking from my pussy. I was thoroughly fucked and completely relaxed for the first time since I had overheard Dean Frost and Miss Avery speaking in that meeting room back at Magic Blessed Academy.
“Well, I’m glad to see you too,” I drawled, and Lachlan barked a laugh before dropping his head to kiss me again. He rolled us so that he was on his back and I was draped over him, his cock still buried inside me.
“Oh, I’m more than glad, sweetheart.” His smile flashed in the darkness. “And I’m still not done with ye.”
I grinned, my sated body sparking to life again as I wriggled against him.
“No complaints here.”
Chapter Four
“Merrick and Trace both went back home, right?” I asked, raising my voice a little so Lach would hear me in the other room. I was sitting at the dining room table, my feet propped up on another chair.
The tall Irishman walked from the bathroom, rubbing his hair with a towel. “Yeah, they both went home.” He grinned sinfully at me. “My choice to come to Boston was a last-minute change of plans, but maybe I was bein’ a bit selfish too. I wanted some time alone with ye.”
His words made my body ache pleasantly as a barrage of memories flooded me. I was sore in the best places and still ravenous for more.
More of him.
More of everything.
“Although…” Lachlan tilted his head to the side, considering. “Now that I think about it, maybe they should’ve come too. It would’ve given us a chance to come up with a plan.”
I shrugged. “We’ll have time when we get back to school, we just have to be careful about it. The Gods’ Challenge and the preliminary competition won’t happen for at least a month.”
We only had one week left before classes started, and Lachlan and I had pretty much been inseparable since we’d found each other at the underground fight ring. It was strange for me to want to spend that much time with someone, but I hadn’t had any desire to leave his side—and I was pretty sure he felt the same way. He didn’t cling, but I could tell he wanted to keep me close. I never thought that I would feel comforted by a man wanting to protect me, but things were different now. Besides, if any bad shit went down, I would protect him right back, so that made us even.
We were stronger together, and it’d taken me way too long to realize that.
Lachlan grunted in acknowledgement of my words, then strode over to me, grabbing a fistful of my hair and tilting my head back so he could devour my lips in a searing kiss. My body sparked to life instantly at his touch, and I pulled my feet off the chair and looped a hand around his neck, stroking his tongue with mine.
“Why don’t we head back over to the club,” he murmured when he pulled back. “I want to get a change of clothes, and the guys are having a cookout today.”
I wrinkled my
forehead. “It’s cold outside.”
He chuckled, releasing his hold on my hair and grabbing his keys. “They open the garage and cook out, and then we all hang out inside. It’s kind of a thing that they do. I think they cling to the idea of summer so that they don’t feel so depressed when the Boston snow comes and makes ridin’ a drag.”
We headed out on his bike, cold wind whipping over us even as our combined body heat created a bubble of warmth between us. The clubhouse was about thirty minutes from my squat little rental, on the outskirts of Boston. I had met several of the guys over the last week, and they were all very welcoming. There was nothing but laughter inside the place—and a whole bunch of macho personalities just like Lachlan’s.
It’d been eye-opening to meet his club brothers, and it gave me a different perspective on how non-magical people handled it when their friends suddenly developed magic. Vincent had tried to be accepting and supportive when I’d been “blessed” with magic, but as I’d been reminded when I’d visited the fight ring, he just couldn’t look at me the same way anymore. It hurt more than I wanted to admit that my old life had rejected me so thoroughly just because I had magic now.
But not everyone was like that. Lachlan’s motorcycle club hadn’t kicked him out—and no one seemed to look at him with distrust or fear. They treated him as if he was still one of them, no different than any of their other members.
It was nice.
The cookout was freezing but fun. There was loud music, free-flowing beer, but mostly friendship and family. I hoped that whatever the hell happened at Magic Blessed, I would be able to come back to Boston to be around people like this again. My old life was gone, and I needed to start building a new one.
Maybe even one that includes Lachlan, Merrick, and Trace, and the people in their lives.
As I brought my beer bottle to my lips, Lachlan wrapped his thick arms around me from behind, pulling me in close against his body. Once, such an overt display of possessiveness and public affection would’ve made me stiffen in panic, but instead, I sank back into his touch, smiling as he brushed his lips over the curve of my neck. We both watched his club brothers and their women talking and laughing around us, and Lachlan lifted his head to whisper in my ear.
“I’m glad ye’re here with me, lass. Thank ye.”
I turned my head a little to meet his gaze. “For what?”
“For letting me show ye this part of myself.”
A little thrill ran through me at his words. At the realness of them. He was serious about this—serious about me.
Turning a little in his embrace, I lifted my chin and pressed my lips to his. I could feel him getting hard behind me, his cock pressing against my ass, and I grinned.
“Take me back to your room.” I rolled my ass against him. “I kinda want you to show me more parts of yourself.”
He tipped his head back and laughed, the deep, boisterous sound filling the large room. I swore the sound traveled straight to my clit.
Gods. A girl could get used to this.
“You got everything?” Lachlan asked as I zipped up my bag.
I nodded, tension already gathering in my muscles.
The second week of our break had flown by, and I was torn between dragging my heels and rushing as Lach and I got ready to return to Magic Blessed Academy. Part of me wanted the break to last forever, but now that school was starting back up, I found my focus sharpening, resolve growing in my chest.
“Where’s your portal gonna be?” I asked, shooting a glance at the tall redheaded man. “Back at the club house?”
He’d slept over at my little rental last night, although we hadn’t done a lot of sleeping.
“Nah.” Lachlan pulled an envelope out of his pack, cocking an eyebrow at me. “Representatives from the school must keep an eye on all the students who go home for the break. They’ve obviously been watchin’ us. When I left the clubhouse to come here yesterday, I found this note on the door telling me that our portals would be near each other. Yers and mine. Thought that was interestin’.”
“Huh.” I shook my head and walked over to stand next to him. My portal was due to appear any moment, and I supposed his was too. “Doesn’t surprise me all that much, I guess, even though it’s creepy as hell.”
“Yeah.
We both glanced up at the clock and then over at the space where the portal was to appear. This time there was no delay, and the swirling and hissing of the magic arrived quickly. I nodded at Lachlan, who pulled me in for a hard kiss before stepping through his own portal.
Gritting my teeth, I stepped through mine too. I was getting used to the feeling of my feet leaving the ground, and this time I didn’t stumble as badly when I was spat out on the other side. Looking to my right, I caught sight of Lachlan as he arrived. He shook himself, brushing off his arms and rolling his shoulders as he stood straight. We were in a large open chamber, and there were multiple other students arriving at the same time as us.
“Welcome, students! Welcome!” Miss Avery, the woman who worked in Student Affairs, was greeting everyone as they arrived, ushering returning students out of the portal room and greeting new first-years with a short, prepared speech.
As Lachlan and I followed the flow of students out the door, Dean Frost’s voice resonated throughout the chamber, magically amplified as if on a PA system.
“Welcome back, Magic Blessed students. We’re glad to see you. Please check in and then find your way back to the dormitories where you were housed last semester. If you are a new student, please speak to Miss Avery or one of her staff members to receive your room assignment. As always, get a good night’s sleep. Classes will start first thing tomorrow.”
My reaction to the dean’s voice was a bit different this time than it’d been the first time I had heard it. This time, it sent chills down my spine.
“Watch out,” Lachlan commented mildly as we turned a corner in the hallway.
“Wha—?”
Before I could finish the word, I was bombarded by a body. I tensed for a second, my fighter’s instincts putting me on alert. But blonde hair flashed in my vision, and I recognized the scent of Eden’s lavender shampoo. I smiled as I hugged my friend back, surprised at how happy I was to see her.
“I’ve been waiting and waiting for you!” The petite girl was smiling from ear to ear as she leaned back. “I was seriously waiting for my portal for about two hours before it arrived. I couldn’t wait to get back. My family was driving me absolutely crazy.”
I laughed, although I honestly couldn’t relate to what she was saying. I hadn’t had a family to drive me nuts in years. My dad had died when I was twelve, and it’d been only the two of us for years before that. My mom had passed away when I was really young, leaving me with pretty much no memories of her.
“How was your break?” Eden asked, her gaze flicking curiously from Lachlan to me.
I could feel the unspoken questions hovering in the air. Up until right before the break, the guys and I had been sort of avoiding each other—well, I’d been avoiding them. Eden knew things had changed between the four of us, but I could tell she was dying to ask just how much they’d changed.
“It was… good,” I said evasively.
Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure what to tell her, and I definitely didn’t want to talk about it in front of Lachlan. I wasn’t big on “girl talk,” but I knew I’d have to tell Eden at least some of what was going on. There was already so much I couldn’t tell her. I hadn’t told her what I’d overheard Dean Frost and Miss Avery talking about, or suspected about the school. She was so innocent and sweet, and her magic wasn’t nearly strong enough to face some of the things that we had faced in the Gods’ Challenge. I figured keeping her out of the loop would keep her safe—or at least safer—for the time being.
“You should’ve seen the place I rented in Boston,” I said, sticking to a safe, easy topics for the time being. “I’m pretty sure someone died in there, or maybe several someones.”
<
br /> Eden wrinkled her nose, giggling. “Next time you need to just come stay with me. You can help me avoid my parents, and you won’t have to live in a murder house.”
Lachlan chuckled at that, stepping a little closer to me until his arm brushed mine. He didn’t mention that we’d spent our entire break together either, and I was glad he followed my lead on that. I’d tell Eden when I was ready.
As the three of us spoke, a large group of students elbowed their way past us in the hall. My gaze lifted as one of the guys at the front, Wesley Marshall, muttered something under his breath.
He was tall, with dirty blonde hair and a sneering look on his face. There hadn’t been a time since I’d arrived at Magic Blessed when I’d seen him smile, at least not in my direction. After the other competitors and I had returned from the Gods’ Challenge last semester, he had made it perfectly clear that he wanted nothing to do with me. He’d made sure not to be my partner in anything, and he’d glared at me from across the room pretty much every day.
I had never paid much attention to it, not giving two shits what he thought about me—and too distracted by my own shit as I tried to process everything that’d happened in the godly realm.
It looks like nothing changed over the break.
“Ugh. Wesley. He’s kind of an asshole,” Eden said in a quiet voice, noticing me watch him walk past. “I’m not really sure who his friends are, but whoever they are, they have to be assholes too. I’m convinced of it.”
“Yeah.” I shrugged. I had real things to take care of this semester, actual life and death stuff. I didn’t have time to get dragged into petty high school bullshit.
As I turned back toward Eden, my gaze caught on two figures striding toward us. My heart seemed to skip a beat in my chest, as if my whole body had frozen in time for a second.
Merrick and Trace were each a perfect counterpoint to each other. Merrick had white-blond hair, a lean, muscled frame, and shining amber eyes. Trace, on the other hand, had black hair that flopped down over his forehead, piercing blue eyes, and enough tattoos that I could spend hours poring over them, examining each one. Some of them had been partially burned off when he’d been attacked by a fire dragon in the godly realm, but that didn’t detract from their allure.