Page 55 of Black Wing and Shadows
You had more stones to climb, each small enough to grip tightly, none larger than a few inches across. These stones extended about eight feet upward, leading to another platform you needed to reach. My eyes widened as I looked up at the top, which appeared increasingly difficult, making the climb even more complicated.
Once on the platform, there was another plank starting about four feet from it. This plank differed because logs hung from the plank above, making it harder to cross. After crossing, you climbed a hanging ladder atthe end to reach the plank with the hanging logs and crossed again. In the last fifteen feet, another plank was attached, forming a steep ramp upwards. It extended only eight feet, with a five-foot gap and a two-foot ledge to land on. The final part of the obstacle was a series of small ropes to cross, leading to stone ledges that brought you up to the bridge spanning the mountain opening. As you looked up the mountain, the obstacles swung more wildly as they rose higher.
This would not be an easy feat. I was one of the shortest females in the entire Rider’s branch, standing five feet three, which I inherited from my mother. My father was six feet tall, and my mother was five feet two inches. I inherited most of my features from my dad—sandy blonde hair with streaks of platinum blonde, emerald-green eyes, paler skin with a peach undertone, and light freckles across my face and arms. My mom had a darker complexion, dark brown hair, and blue eyes. Why did I inherit her short height? I needed my father’s height for some of this. I had never let it hold me back before, and I refused to start now, so I focused my thoughts.
“In eight weeks, every Rider will attempt this challenge. While you'll run it as a team, it is an individual event, meaning you won't be allowed to physically help each other. Each person will be timed, and the combined times of the squad will be recorded. Your timing will determine the order you're released on bonding day. The sooner you are released into the Flugblatt Forest, the sooner you and your flier can be bonded. You can practice in the evenings. However, there may be other squads practicing here, and I won’t be here,” he told us.
The seven of us walked closer to the obstacle together, all staring at it in silence.
“Well, I guess let’s go practice our death,” Micah said. He was usually the quietest member of our group. We all turned our heads and looked at him in unison.
“Well, I always wanted to be a groundbreaking artist,” Clara said. We all lost it. I was glad my squad had a sense of humor. We could all die laughing.
“Alright, let’s be serious for a minute—” Jackson started to say.
“I’m serious as a heart attack,” Micah said. Now we were all howling.
“Are you all going to stand there laughing, wasting time, or practice?” Professor Quillet asked us. We all went silent.
“Alright, I’ll go first, I have the height advantage,” Jackson told us, and he wasn’t kidding. He had a whole foot over me. He headed to the bottom and began climbing the stones that protruded from the mountain, moving at a smooth pace. The first plank was about eighteen inches wide and definitely required some balancing to cross.
He made it to the end, climbed up the first rope, and started swinging, creating momentum to reach the next rope. He almost made it to the end, and as he went to jump to the next rope, a gust blew the rope, causing him to miss, and he fell to the ground. It was a loud thump.
“Oops. The invisible ward is only after you get past the second level,” Professor Quillet said.
We all took turns going. Once someone made it past the first rope course, the next person would take their turn. I fell so many times that my entire body screamed at me with every step I took back to my chambers. I never made it to level five. First, I struggled with the jump on level three. Once I got that down, the jump on level four kept taking me out. I made it across once, and then a log swing hit me right in the back, knocking me down. That wall that Professor Quillet was so proud of was absolute bullshit. Sure, I didn’t hit the ground from twenty-plus feet up, but it was like hitting water. It hurt every single time. I guessed that beat having broken bones.
***
By the time I reached my room, my entire body was sore. Every joint hurt. On the plus side, I was so exhausted that my brain wasn’t racing twenty miles an hour.
“I have good confidence that it’s been a long day for you. You should sneak your way down here, and you can use my shower,”Zane said mind to mind, in such a teasing tone.
“Only your shower?”
“I mean, you can use whatever you want in my room.”
I didn’t waste any time thinking about it. My muscles ached, and going down seven floors would absolutely suck. I also couldn’t pass up the chance to touch him. The past week had been exhausting for both of us, as he was busy getting all of his cadets in line due to his position. We only saw each other in the mornings during current events and a few different times passing by. Somehow, the thought of touching him made descending the stairs feel less painful than I expected.
I opened the door and stepped through, feeling the tingle of the shield around the room. He sat on his bed, leaning against the backboard. He was shirtless, and damn, he looked so fucking incredible. The tattoos swirling down his arm, the messy golden waves, those baby blue eyes. Our eyes met, lightning shot through my body, and I was instantly turned on. I crawled onto his bed and moved toward him, never breaking eye contact. I slid over him and straddled his lap. He held onto my hips, pulling me closer. His hand moved to the back of my neck, and he pulled me in until our lips were almost touching.
We were both intently staring into each other’s eyes. He tenderly pulled me closer before kissing me passionately, as if it was our last kiss. I felt a pulse of electricity run through my body, lighting me up from head to toe. My cheeks and neck flushed as we desperately swirled our tongues together. He reached down, gripping my tee on the sides and pulling it up, breaking our kiss to slip the tee over my head.
He flipped me over, putting me under him, and he started to kiss down my neck, gently biting it along the way. He continued down, stopping at my nipples, teasing them. Swirling his tongue in a circular motion, he then flicked it back and forth. My skin prickled with excitement, and I immediately felt wet between my legs. He moved down, kissing along my stomach, gently and slowly, building my want for him. He made it to my leather pants, unbuttoned them, and moved off the bed. He swung my legs towards him, putting me sideways across the bed, and he pulled my pantsoff. I propped myself up and pulled at his pants, because damn if he was going to take my pants off, he was taking his off too.
I unbuttoned his pants and pushed them and his underpants down to let them fall to the ground, freeing his beautiful and very hard cock. Before I could even start to touch, he pushed me back down onto the bed gently. He pushed himself away from the bed, my eyes watching him as he walked around to the other side of the bed. He gripped under my arms and gently pulled me to him, positioning my head at the edge of the bed, right under him.
I don’t know what position this was, but I was undoubtedly looking forward to it. He reached forward and trailed one of his fingers gently down my stomach. I could feel everything getting wet in between my legs in anticipation of him. I gripped onto him, pulling his cock downward and towards my mouth. I swirled my tongue around the tip, slipping my tongue into the slit every couple of swirls.
He let out a desperate moan, moved his fingers down, taking his thumb and rubbing the most perfect circle on my swollen clit. We were both teasing each other with our tongues, both of us letting out moans, in between our ragged breathing. I reached back with my right hand, and I gripped his ass cheek into my hand as the perfect leverage to move him back and forth into my mouth.
POP
The noise startled me for a moment. He had unmasked his wings and spread them out. They weren’t fully tucked in, but also not completely spanned out. Gods, I wished I could touch them too. Something about being vulnerable for me made my heart yearn for him more.
Instead, I reached my other hand down and cupped his balls into my hand gently. I alternated taking him all in my mouth and licking the tip and down his shaft. Each shift, he let out this guttural moan that nearly sent me. He, too, was playing a dangerous game. He slipped two fingers in while keeping his thumb right on my apex. Moving them in and out, putting the perfect friction on my clit.
“I want you to cum with me,”he told me in my mind, “and love, I am about to shatter.”
