Headmaster Simmins bursts open the door to our dormitory, his chest heaving as he tries to gather his breath. I move Katrina off of me, setting her down gently beside me on the catch, before I stand up, crossing my hands over my chest. I don't like people coming in unannounced. "What's going on, Headmaster," I ask, angling my head to look past him and through the crack in the door, scanning to see if anyone was coming up behind him. Simmins hurries through the door and shuts it the rest of the way before turning the deadbolt and spelling the door with a silencing barrier. "I've just received word from one of my scouts that the BOUA is headed towards the campus now." He states breathlessly. Fuck, I had been worried the BOUA would get word of Katrina's existence, but I was hoping I had shut everything down at Hectate quickly enough that word wouldn't spread to them. "Do you know why they're coming?" I ask as I pace the floor, glancing over at Katrina, still per
My breathing was ragged, my heart was pounding in my chest, and I felt like the weight I felt on my chest would suffocate me. With each hour that passed, it felt like the room was closing in on me, and I would never be able to leave this fallout shelter. My hands were covered in sweat as I nervously fiddled with them while pacing the floor."Kitten," Miles growled, "Can you stop that? You're going to give me anxiety just by watching you." Miles had tried to help calm my nerves earlier, but with the room getting smaller and smaller with each breath, it felt like I would suffocate, and I had to push him away from me. He told me it was okay and to stop apologizing for it, but it's hard not to feel guilty each time I picture the sad look of rejection on his face/ "Can't we just go outside for a little?" I ask, batting my big blue eyes at him. "Kitten, I've already told you how dangerous it could be for us out there." "If I don't leave this room now, I'll die from a panic attack," I re
The inner depths of Tartarus were not what I expected. From the stories I'd been told as a child, I'd always imagined Tartarus as a black abyss, an abyss so dark that even shadows couldn't be seen. I expected to smell the decay of rotten corpses and hear the whispers of the lost souls. But there was none of that here. Tartarus looked like a more twisted version of the underworld. The tones across the land were more of a muted gray, and whereas our rivers looked translucent in color, Tartarus rivers were a deep blood red, making the black sandy beaches look like they were leftover ashes from the destruction of the blood rivers waves. Luka walked silently ahead of me; he hadn't said anything since I'd let him know that Miles and Katrina were going into hiding. I couldn't tell if he was mad at me for denying the pull we were feeling toward each other or if his thoughts were elsewhere. I also didn't understand why I cared so much; I'd never felt this sort of pull or connection with anoth
The additional weight of Luka throws off my balance somewhat, and I find myself hovering at a weird angle above the lava, my arms are wrapped around Luka tightly, and the urge to wrap my blue flame around him to keep him bound to me runs through my mind. My blue flames would hurt him, but the lava below would surely kill him. "You need to distribute the extra weight evenly." Luka states, always the teacher, "We can line our bodies up evenly; my eyes staring into the depths of your soul through your eyes, our lips almost touching, our chest evenly matched against each other, our thighs gently caressing, our..." Dear Almighty Luka, please don't dare finish that sentence; I can feel myself beginning to harden; it's hard to concentrate with his warm breath against my neck and his lucid description of disturbing our weight."Luka moves his face from my neck, smiling at me for not continuing what he was about to save; my rapid breaths evident that he'd caused my body to react towards him.
As another feeling of pleasure runs through my body, I decide that I want to let down my walls and take what I want to Instead of stepping back, I step toward Luka and plant my lips on his His lips are softer than I imagine them being I can feel Luka smile against my lips. It sends a spark of warmth through me. Luka reaches up with his other hand, cupping my face and tilting my head opposite his; he wants to take control of the kiss, and I let him, knowing he has more experience in this than me.His tongue softly grazes my lips, asking to be let in, and I oblige him, parting my mouth, allowing him to enter. My tongue gently grazes against mine, swirling the tips together and caressing the inside of my mouth. His grip on my face increases as he tilts my head up, wanting further access to my mouth. He deepens the kiss, coxing my tongue into his mouth; when I enter, he curls his lips against me, sucking my tongue, causing me to let out a groan. I imagine his lips curled on a different pa
I rush out of our shared quarters, not wanting to say something out of anger and hurt Katrina's feelings even more than I already have. As I storm down the stairs, I find myself angry at Katrina for not caring enough to talk to me before completing the mating bond with Luka, after I asked her not to, but also angry at myself.If what Miles said was true and Luka was the heir to the Kingdom of Tartarus, and what Samael found out about Katrina's bond with Luka, it would make sense that he was her mate. I wanted to turn around and apologize for my burst of anger, but I was too ashamed of my behavior toward my mate. I know my anger toward Katrina is slightly misplaced. I do understand the pull of the mate bond and how hard it is to control, but I also know that I've been wanting to mate with Katrina since I first glanced at her, and I've been holding myself back, waiting for her to accept me as her mate, not wanting to force a connection on her. It feels like Katrina doesn't have the sam
"Beckett, my boy, rumor has it that you've found your mate." My father called to me as I walked into the throne room. "Rumor would be right," I replied, acknowledging my father before looking around to see if my mother was anywhere in sight, but of course, she wasn't; she was more than likely out shopping with the twins. My mother couldn't stand being around my father and usually avoided him. My parents were not a love match but a match of convenience instead. When Lilith killed Parenthenope, Poseidon swore never to let something so frail as love get in his way again. According to legends, my father was never the same. The day Parenthenope died, my father brewed a storm in the ocean, one so strong that it caused an iceberg to appear out of nowhere in what the humans named the North Atlantic Ocean, causing the unsinkable ship, the Titanic to sink. It was chaos like no one had seen before. The sirens who mourned their beloved Parenthenope's death wouldn't help the sinking ship; they
Waking up with Samael cradled in my arms was one of the best feelings imaginable. I stared down at him, watching his nose crinkle with each breath and how his lips were slightly parted. I hadn't pegged him for a mouth breather, but he sure was a cute one, even with his gentle snoring. I was utterly smitten with him. Last night had been beautiful. I didn't regret a single decision I had made, and I hope in the light of day, Samael won't regret anything either. "I can feel you staring at me," Samael grumbled as he nuzzled his face further into my chest."You are cute when you're asleep," I reply, causing him to grumble as he sits up, pushing himself off me. "I am not cute." He growls. "Katrina is cute." I chuckle at his ridiculousness. He doesn't seem shy about last night, but he also wants to establish that he's not a bottom. That is completely fine with me. No one ever said two Alphas couldn't enjoy their time together. I was already looking forward to our future fights for dominanc