Page 3 of Fortune Academy: Year Two
I turned and settled my gaze over his utter perfection, my Virtue connection having a field day with all the ways I could seal my bond with him here and now.
Fucking annoying succubus libido. Well, I’m doomed. Death by sex drive. That’s what they’ll write on my tombstone.
A growl rumbled in my throat, part sexual frustration and part self-hatred, as I sat at the desk next to the wall. “Hendrik and Miss Williams are going to hear of this,” I grumbled. Even though Kaito was my main mentor, Miss Williams oversaw my Awakening progress. Kaito said it was good for me to make an alliance with one of the most feared counselors on campus. She was a real hard ass, but I was growing on her, which meant she looked out for me when it came to shit the other cliques liked to pull.
“What’s Hendrik going to do?” Ally countered, drawing her weapon in a slow shift from its sheath. “We’re not touching you, and if you try to leave, well, that’s on you. Class isn’t over yet and we’re permitted to use force to keep you here.” She grinned. “Miss William’s orders.”
What, really? Fuck. And here I thought she was starting to like me.
“Next time you give someone chocolates, try one first,” Orion suggested.
“Why, did you try to poison me?” I snapped, but my stomach had dropped. What the fuck had he done to those chocolates?
Orion chuckled as he got out of his chair. As promised, he didn’t touch me, but he proceeded to torment me as he pressed one hand on the wall and blocked me between his chest and my desk. I wanted to turn into his warmth that radiated at my back, but I locked my spine and refused to look at him.
Nope. Not going to—is that cologne? Or just how a Demigod normally smells? Because it’s like he bathed in strawberries and… liquid sex.
I buried my face in my hands and groaned as Orion’s husky chuckles made my thighs clench.
“I don’t know what kind of spell you put on me, but it seems to be backfiring, little star. I can taste your desire like honey.” I peeked through my fingers, only to find he’d shifted in front of me and licked his lips for effect.
Ally’s sword sang through the air as she tested a swipe. The blade had definitely gotten longer, and maybe shinier. Because slicing people in half needed to be done in style, apparently.
“How long are you going to keep me here?” I asked, my voice having a strain to it that was hopeless to try and hide.
Orion leaned in closer, wrapping me in a blanket of heat and desire as he whispered his answer. “As long as it takes for you to undo what you’ve done to me.”
And there it was. My heart twisted in spite of knowing the truth all along. I couldn’t force Orion into a Virtue bond, not when he was more interested in hosting orgy parties to keep his buddies juiced up. I was just an inconvenience to him. He didn’t deserve me or my desire.
It didn’t change the fact that he was gorgeous, kissable, and very much in the palm of my hand right now. His gold-flecked eyes watched me without blinking, taking in my every move. I felt the beginnings of something more between us, if only he’d open his heart to me, but whatever part of him knew how to love was very much buried, and perhaps a bit broken.
That was okay. I was broken, too.
“I can’t undo it,” I snapped back at him, making him flinch. “It doesn’t work that way.”
He frowned. “You’re telling the truth.” He leaned in a fraction closer as his eyes dipped to my lips. “This is a strange torment Hendrik has crafted for both of us. He’s made me want you more than I’ve wanted anyone, and I suspect you feel the same way, but neither of us are going to give in to this carnal desire.” His gold-flecked eyes flashed up to meet mine. “Because if you hate me as much as I hate you, sex is off the table.”
It was a good thing that Orion was so close to me, because it gave me just enough reach to kick him right in the balls.
Chapter 2
Olivia held a hand over her mouth to smother a laugh. Her entire body shook as she tried to compose herself.
“We’re in a library,” I reminded her, but even I had a goofy grin plastered on my face.
“You’re telling me that you kicked a god right in the family jewels?”
“Half god,” I corrected as I opened up my textbook to the class I’d missed which was Supernatural Psychology, a curriculum with the premise that my memories were blocked by a past trauma. I didn’t see why I needed a class to tell me that. My first memory is being covered in someone else’s blood. Uh, yeah. Something fucked up happened to me. Didn’t take a genius to see that.
“What did you do after?” my best friend asked with her eyes wide enough for me to see the streaks of grey through her irises. She really was on the last leg of her magic and would need to jump into Hendrik’s collective of Dark Mages soon, which meant that I needed to hurry up and repay my debt to him.
“I got the hell out of there,” I answered, mindlessly flipping the page without reading it. “The rest of the Demis were so stunned that they just watched me haul ass. Wish I had a camera. Their faces were priceless.”
Olivia blew a low whistle, only to be shushed by the librarian for the third time. She winced and waved an apology.
I sighed and flipped another page as my free hand went to my necklace again. It warmed under my touch, pleased with the suffering I’d extracted from Orion these past few weeks, yet it wasn’t nearly enough to fulfill its ravenous hunger. Wearing it this long had made me more in tune with its needs, striking me with the disturbing thought that it was a sentient object.
“I think I’ve gotten all the power I’m going to get out of Orion,” I said, focusing on the objective. The sooner I did what Hendrik wanted, the sooner I could get rid of the thing. “It’s time to get to Logan, but I have no idea where to start.”
