Page 84 of Rose and Shadows
Fuck.
I fisted his silky hair and jerked his mouth to mine, taking him in a hard kiss that he rose to instantly. My cock went wild as he sucked on my tongue, tasting his own blood that I’d drawn from him, and I had to ease away to keep control.
I pushed to my feet and gave him a hand-up, then stepped back.
Needing to focus my mind elsewhere, I addressed a little something that had needed talking about for a while now.
As he leaned against a nearby tree for support, I asked him, “Has Velra said it yet to you? Have you to her?”
I knew her and Sylas had spoken their I-Love-Yous recently, shortly after she and I had.
“Those three words we just exchanged?”
“Yeah,” I said, grinning. “Those.”
“She does not need to. I do not need to.”
“The Soul Brand, right. Just… are you sure?”
“Sure that they do not need to be spoken? Of course. She knows. The Brand could not conceal something of that magnitude between us.”
“Yeah, I get all of that. But sometimes hearing something spoken… it’s everything, you know?”
His brow furrowed and he thought for a moment or two. “Hmm. I see your point.” His gaze flicked to mine. “Thank you.”
I winked at him. “Got your back, Cas. Just like you’ve got mine.”
He smiled out at me. “Forevermore,wild one.”
“Right there with you.”
So,yeah, I’d missed class.
The whole fucking thing.
Inter-Realm Relations: Treaties and Cooperation.
Although Professor Lenos Caldrith was a laidback guy, I was sure he drew the line somewhere—like students at least bothering to show up to his class. Especially one like me who had definitely fallen behind with everything happening lately.
I guess it wasn’t even just that for me.
Things had shifted so much, in so many different ways, some in obvious in-your-face ways, others in smaller aspects but just as profound. And it had kind of resulted in my heart not being in it lately—in continuing to keep my head above water here at Wraeven Academy, in me putting my all into it, being a part of this place, and it being the defining aspect of my life.
Some things that had seemed so important before just didn’t anymore.
Like, did I even need to get through the rest of this year to graduate?
Sylas was done with it. He’d been here under duress, forced by Ryker Morgan, but all that was moot now because of what had gone down.
And Velra had already achieved what she’d come here for—learning how to balance both sides of herself, coming out of hersurvival state and building a life beyond that,andfinding a sense of belonging which she now had in us. She was also pregnant and while that didn’t mean she couldn’t continue her studies at the Academy, it would shift things for her, and changing that up could be a part of it.
I figured Cassius would remain teaching here. He enjoyed it and he was good at it. So there was that. He’d continue to split his time between here and Haven Initiative.
I jolted as a couple of students coming out of Lenos’ class accidentally bumped into me, because I’d been so caught up in my thoughts that I’d had my instincts offline basically. And, yeah, I was still coming down from the intense fucking with Cas. Definitely a factor.
I meandered past another three, then entered the classroom.
Lenos was leaning against the front of the lecturer’s desk at the far end of the room, sipping from a cup of coffee while he read from a leather bound book levitating before him.
