Page 11 of Radiant Shadows

“She needs military supervision. She needsmysupervision.”

“She’s seventeen years old, Arthur,” I argued. “She belongs here in the school with other students her age.”

“Arya is an orphan,” the general refuted. “As such, there are no legal issues with her joining the military at her age.”

I wanted to explode with the revelation that Arya was not entirely an orphan—that her father still existed, and that he was the very being she was prophesied to destroy. But I held mytongue, not wanting to give General Dracul another reason to pull Arya away from the Dome.

I pointed my finger under Arthur’s nose. “Stop looking at Arya as a tool for the military. Your complete disregard and disrespect for the girl as a person is disgusting. The prophecy saysnothingabout her and military involvement.”

He smirked. “On the other hand, the prophecy says nothing about Arya attending school.”

I slammed my hand on one of the wooden tables, causing dozens of flats of plants to shake.

“Arya is a ward of the school, and she will never—I repeat,never—be in military custody as long as I am director of this school. Is that understood, General?” Chest rising and falling, every muscle in my body went taut.

His features clouded in the dim light of the UV lamps. “You’ll regret those words, my friend,” he hissed.

Lord Dracul studied me for a few moments, then moved past me, brushing me out of the way in the process with one of his sturdy arms. The door of the greenhouse opened as he approached, the sensors within triggered to let him out.

As the general disappeared onto the grounds, I turned and looked at the nearby basil plant. Lord Dracul had been wrong: Arya wasn’t like the plant. She was the lamp shining above, the light protecting the life beneath it from being swallowed in darkness.

I nearly failed to protect Shea from danger, but I was determined not to fail in protecting her best friend from the monsters on both sides of this war.

Chapter 5

Ashlyn

My mouth was on Jackson’s before we even got his bedroom door closed, my tongue happily losing a wrestling match against his as I clawed at his muscular body. Fire coursed through my veins, making me so deliciously hot and even more eager to strip out of my dress.

Fuck Niko. I was so angry and so turned on at the same time, I could no longer tell the two apart or discern which was fueling the fire inside me. I only knew that I wanted to fuck it out of my system.

If only I could get Jackson’s damn pants off!

I pried blindly at his zipper as he fought the same war with my bra clasp.

“Ow!” Jackson gasped, jerking back slightly and looking down at my hands at his waist.

“What?” I asked, startled and a little frustrated by his sudden withdrawal.

I looked down between us to see that my fingertips were glowing like embers in a fire pit, and there were holes burned into the fabric of his pants, as well as a welt growing just above his hemline.

“Oh shit! I’m so sorry!” I blurted, taking a step back.

But he caught my upper arms and kept from receding any further. “Don’t be. I kinda liked it.” The grin he flashed was pure sin, making my insides melt and churn like molten lava.

I willed my phoenix back in, determined to keep her locked down, and descended on him again. Tonight, I didn’t want to be a phoenix. Tonight, I wanted to be a wolf.

Our lips locked, he unbuttoned his pants while I took care of my bra. The instant his cock was free, he gripped my ass cheeks and hoisted me up to straddle him.

I opened my mouth to protest that my panties were still on, but with skilled fingers, he hooked the material off to the side and guided his cock inside my slick opening, delivering me a jolt of pleasure that turned my words into a moan.

Like I weighed nothing, he effortlessly held me aloft, lifting and lowering me up and down his rigid shaft with frenzied speed. I gripped the tops of his shoulders, digging my nails into the firm muscles as I threw my head back and surrendered to this ecstasy.

The ease with which he manipulated my body, so consistently and seemingly without fatigue, drove me wild with lust. I wasn’t usually one to be subdued, but being manhandled like this was liberating in the best way.

But it didn’t stop me from trying to regain some manner of control. I tightened my thighs around his waist, anchoring the insides of my knees above his hips, and began to change the rhythm, adjusting the angle of his cock to hit the spot I so badly needed.

Jackson growled a chuckle, lifted me straight off his cock, flipped me around so I was facing away from him, and slid me right back down onto his cock. I fell forward, bracing myselfwith my palms on the wall, my protests once again dying on my tongue as his cock repeatedly slammed into that needy spot and forced groans from my throat. I closed my eyes, my entire world reduced to only the pleasure of his assault.

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