Chapter 14 Sylas
~Sylas~
“That fucking Immortal bitch-ass—argh!”
Lazriel’s tirade ended with him smashing his fist into the wall of his dorm room.
Fortunately, the brutal force he’d used didn’t crack it or so much as dent it.
The dorm rooms as well as the common spaces were formed and protected to withstand such outbursts and losses of control from students.
With Lazriel being a member of Umbralis Circle, that included enhancing the structural integrity of each room and making it invulnerable to even the strongest of blows, and resistant to magical surges as well.
Lazriel resented being classed as Umbralis, believing himself to be suited to Bestia Circle that consisted of shifters like werewolves, dragons.
But while he identified more strongly with his wolf side and had trained it into dominance over the years, he was still inherently hybrid by birth, emotionally conflicted about his vampire side, which made him volatile in ways he hadn’t even yet fully explored
Umbralis Circle was for hybrid beings, mixed-blood supernaturals, power-splintered beings, of which he most definitely qualified.
“He won’t even respond, let alone actually set that meeting with me!” he continued on—and another fist slammed against the wall.
“Cassius can be quietly infuriating, especially when emotion—that he is not yet well-equipped or learned in order to deal with properly—is involved.”
He threw his hands up in the air and let out a growl.
“I can approach him if you like.”
“Just like when you first offered it, I’m turning it down, Sylas. If it happens that way, he won’t respect me right off the bat. He’ll see me as weak.” He screwed up his face. “As submissive.”
“Then I suggest you go to him, regardless of a meeting being set. It will make a dominant statement. But should you take this approach, you must maintain control and calm or it won’t land well, and the whole thing will prove utterly fruitless.”
“Argh!” he uttered, pulling at his hair. “It wouldn’t be so frustrating if Velra hadn’t canceled our bike riding hangout. The very day she agreed to it.”
“She didn’t cancel, she postponed. That’s an important distinction.”
“Because she had an assignment to do, though? That’s a blow off if I’ve ever heard one.”
“In this case, it’s not. I told you that Selix gave her an extra assignment following what happened in our class.”
“I know… I get that… I do. But—”
“She’s doing this to heal herself, empower herself, finally find her footing outside of survival mode and everything her brother put her through, and to come back to you in the way you both really want—romantically.”
He scoffed. “Romantically? Really?”
“Should I have said to fuck each other’s brains out, like you’ve clearly both been fantasizing about for a long while?”
He screwed up his face. Interesting. “No,” he ground out. “Don’t put it like that.”
“Because she deserves better than that?”
“Of fucking course.”
It was actually incredibly sweet, not just that he viewed it that way and was so protective of her when it came to all of that, but that he—a rough and tumble wolf-vampire hybrid who constantly had blood dripping from his hands from his Graverun activities—had actually openly admitted it aloud.
“It’s been several days, though,” he spoke, this time without aggression. With hurt and uncertainty.
“That’s no reflection on you or your friendship.”
He nodded, my words at least managing to penetrate, to start to sink in.
And then he started pacing the space, something that I knew from the time I’d brought him to my home to calm down meant it was the tail end of his anger outburst.
The dorm room had the raw, grounded elegance of the man himself. The stonework, the wolf motif, made it feel like it was really his space.
The walls were warm-toned and there was a hearth in the corner, a sturdy bed draped in dark sheets, along with a worn-in leather chair in front of an arched window.
His boots were by the door where he’d left them when he’d come in, tipped over and set down haphazardly—mostly because he’d basically just ripped them off when we’d walked in here.
Unlike my polished and impeccable leather boots which I was still wearing, mine hadn’t been caked in mud—or blood.
A pair of deep-green and black checked pajama pants were tossed on the bed beside several books, one opened and held in place with a spare tactical glove.
It was certainly something.
And, somehow, despite the chaotic nature of it all, I found it rather endearing.
As I leaned against the door to the ensuite bathroom, arms folded across my chest, he finally ceased pacing, then spun to me, rubbing the bracelet that Velra had gifted him.
“I’m good,” he told me. “And I’m sorry.”
“Expressing your emotions doesn’t require an apology.”
“I punched the wall like a maniac—twice.”
I lifted a shoulder. “It’s better you’re doing that and in spurts, rather than letting it all bottle up to a full-on decimating implosion, as I’m aware you’ve done before.”
“I… yeah, I guess that’s better.” He looked unsure, not quite knowing what to make of my comments. That was to be expected—at least for now.
And then a sly little look filled his eyes. “What about that decimating implosion that clearly benefitted us both last time?”
I smirked. “Get those clothes off.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Like that, is it?”
“I meant, get out of those bloodied and dirtied clothes from you doing a four-opponent back-to-back bout in Graverun, then take a shower and change so we can get dinner like we originally planned.” Before one brief fight had turned into him needing four.
“Sure,” he said, with a challenging glint in his eyes that I didn’t miss for a moment.
And then he was unfastening his tactical vest.
I grimaced as he tossed the bloodied and dirtied thing on the bed. Lovely.
He held my gaze purposely as he moved to the belt of his tactical pants.
Popping the fly, he then very slowly drew down the zipper, his hard cock not escaping my notice either.
He was certainly bolder than he had been that first time we’d spent together.
So I let him have his fun as I stood there, arms folded and leaning against the bathroom door, watching the show and my cock twitching at the sight, especially as he stilled with his pants and then literally ripped through his tee with his claws and tore it from his body.
He retracted them once he’d tossed it over by the door, but then he smirked at me and dropped his fangs.
Now he was taking things a predatory route, pushing it, trying to push me.
He was biting off more than he could chew, clearly counting on my extreme control.
Well, even I could only take so much.
I bolted forward and wrapped my hand around his throat, jerking him to me, as I growled at his ear, “Bathroom. Now.”
“You know you can’t actually choke a wolf-vampire hybrid, right?” he spoke against my restrictive hold.
“Wrong, youngling. It is actually possible with magic—especially mine.” I was concerned that he didn’t know that, considering his dangerous underground fighting obsession. “Keep that in mind in the future.”
I fisted my hand in the waistband of his pants and forced him against mine, earning a delicious lust-filled growl from him.
“But here and now, my intention isn’t to choke you.
It’s to warn you. What you’re asking for—pushing for, actually—won’t be like last time.
You continue to take it there, you need to be prepared for that.
” I shifted my grip to his ass, palming both cheeks with either hand.
“This will be in play.” I nipped his ear and he turned his head, silently begging for more. “Be certain, Lazriel.”
“Shit… the sexy way you say my name.”
“Just drips off my tongue, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” he breathed.
And then he roughly pulled from my hold and strode to the bathroom door, literally kicking it open so hard that it smashed against the wall.
He dropped his pants as he went, revealing that he wasn’t wearing underwear again.
He glanced at me over his shoulder, dirty, delectable need brazenly apparent. “I’m certain,” he assured me.
Well, then.
He turned the shower on, then slid the door aside and stepped in.
He didn’t get any further than that, as with a couple of flicks of my magic, I was stripped naked and then right there behind him, slamming him up against the door, earning a grunt from him.
He tried to turn his head, but I grasped the back of his neck and held him in place, eyeing his cock pressed up tightly against the glass through the mirror over the sink basin opposite us. Hard, thick, and fucking raging.
I ground my cock over his right ass cheek and his breathing turned ragged, his fingers curling against the glass.
I hissed at his ear as I stroked his nape leisurely, “Ready to melt for me again?”
He startled me as he reached behind him and pressed his hand to my cock. A sexy smile spread over his face. “I’d say that’s gonna be mutual, necromancer.”
Mmm. He was taking more control this time, leaning into it, sinking into it.
I released his nape to encourage it, and slid my hand down to palm his cock instead, earning a delightful hiss from him.
I brushed the fingers of my free hand over his bracelet. “Soon she’ll be here with us like this in more than just bracelet-form.”
I smiled as his cock jerked in my hand at that delectable thought.
“Fuck, yes,” he rasped, turning his head, then capturing my lips.
He kissed me hard and hungrily, stealing my breath.
Fuck, I loved the way he kissed me—so raw and passionate, like he actually couldn’t get enough.
“I want you to know, Sylas,” he rasped, easing back for a moment. “I’m really happy to be here with you.”
“I know you are. I feel it, don’t worry. And you’re certainly not alone in that sentiment.”
“I’m not?”
I chuckled against his lips. “No. You’re not, Lazriel.”
His mouth crashed against mine again.