Chapter 27
Terra
“Terra. Wake up.”
I wake from a dreamless sleep and meet Raine’s soft blue eyes.
“Raine? What are you doing?” I sit up and rub my eyes, groggy. It’s still dark out and feels much too early for class. Four weeks at Alkrose is enough to get a schedule computed into your system.
He tosses my white cloak at me and I barely catch it before he mutters, “Arthur’s study is next. Do you have the note?”
I yawn and try to shake the tendrils of drowsiness that tug at my mind. “Yeah, give me a second.” Arthur would likely have told me if he was the one who wrote the note, and I doubt it’s him since he’s the one who sent me looking in the library. Unless this is all some game to him and he’s a sadistic bastard, but I really doubt that’s the case.
I clasp my moon brooch to secure the cloak around my shoulders and turn on my desk lamp as I rummage through the top drawer. The note is tucked between my anatomy and Shadow riding books.
Raine smiles when I hand it to him and we sneak out into the hallway as quietly as we can. The entire tower is silent. The crackling, flickering light of the eternal blue fireplace gives us barely enough luminance to see.
I’m pretty sure Arthur’s study is the first door I passed when Elias took me to his room. We silently make quick work of the staircase, stopping at the first door we reach. Raine presses his head to the wood and listens for a few agonizing minutes.
I’m so tired—between private tutoring with Arthur, classes, finally breaking into the Ekko House and crossing Nekane off the list, and practicing after dinner each night with the boys, I could sleep for an entire year. Not to mention rebuilding my relationship with Finn, avoiding Edgar, and messing around with Elias and, apparently, Arthur. But above all is the stress and lingering dread that each passing day brings us as we inch closer to the second-semester exam.
Ugh.
“There’s no one in there,” Raine whispers and tries the doorknob. To our surprise, the door opens. He glances at me and I nod. We’re already committed to doing this, so we’d better do it quickly.
We slip inside and quietly shut the door behind us. It’s pitch black and I feel around the room until I stub my foot on something and muffle the ow that instinctively comes out of my mouth. My hands fumble upon a lamp a moment later and a dim light illuminates the room.
“Well, this isn’t what I expected,” Raine says a little louder than a whisper.
The room is completely empty, with the exception of the oak desk and a meager lamp in the corner. The room is devoid of dust but there’s nothing in here that would lead me to believe it’s Arthur’s study or that he even uses it.
“I guess he has another office where he keeps his things,” I mumble as I check the two drawers on the desk, both empty. I try not to think too much about the professor and what he and I did together. My cheeks are already warming at the mere mention of his name.
Raine groans and slides his hand over his head as a troubled look spreads across his face. “Sorry I woke you up for this.” He looks at me with weary eyes. He never tells me if he’s in pain. I know he doesn’t want me to worry, but still.
I shake my head. “It’s fine. I was hoping you’d stay with me tonight anyway, so let’s go back. And maybe we can use this room for something since it’s empty, you know?” I try to see the positive side to the situation since I’m still mildly annoyed with Finn for saying I’m a negative person.
Raine tilts his head and looks around at the four blank walls. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. In Barkovah, I had a room that I used for all the operations and to keep things straight with the lookout swaps.” His eyes are heavy and dark underneath. I slowly lift my hand to his cheek, waiting for him to pull away, but he doesn’t this time. My palm presses against the cold hollow of his cheek and he shuts his eyes. “Every time we try to find information, we take ten steps back,” he says in a defeated tone.
“We’ll find something soon. We can’t give up. Are you okay?” I gently try to get him to open up to me. The torment behind his eyes hurts deep inside my chest.
He considers me for a moment. “It’s nothing—let’s get back to your room.”
I don’t take that as an answer, maybe because I’m tired or even because I think hell feel much better if he just says it. Holding darkness inside only allows it to fester and infect parts of you that aren’t yet broken.
He steps toward the door, but when I don’t follow him, he glances back at me, his brows pulling together in question.
“Stop icing me out, Raine. You don’t let anyone in. Doesn’t it hurt? Aren’t you tired of protecting the things that infect your mind so feverishly?” I ask with bated breath. He stares at me like an empty man, offended and scared of the feelings he’s buried within himself. “Let me in.”
Raine takes a significant step toward me. I take a couple back until my legs bump into the desk. He leans over me, setting a hand on each side of my body and bringing his face close to mine. Our noses touch and I inhale his crisp scent, a cold, damp storm.
“You want in? The dark isn’t for pretty little things like you, babe.” His lips coast mine softly, sending goosebumps up my arms.
“I’m adept in the dark—you aren’t the first man to take me for a walk through it.” My lips curl into a soft grin. Raine raises a seductive brow as his fingers gently glide up my stomach and back over my ribs. My skin comes alive with every brush of his fingertips. Heat coils inside my core and I swallow eagerly as he chuckles, pressing his lips to mine.
His hands maneuver under my thighs and he lifts me up, setting my ass on the edge of the desk and moving closer until his torso is pressed against mine. Our kisses are starved, each of us demanding more with each nip, suck, and coax of our lips together. My fingers glide over the scar on his lower jaw and he groans as my tongue urges his lips to part.
“I’ll let you in, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. I trust you, Terra,” he says in a low, raspy voice as he scoops me up and carries me to the stairwell. Our lips crash together as he takes me to the homeroom. “Dont be sad when I’m gone. Promise me,” he whispers as he lays me down on one of the sofas and kneels above me, his forehead pressed against mine.
“I won’t,” I lie.
Raine laughs quietly and presses back down into me. His kisses hold weight now. In Barkovah they had a loose, careless feeling behind them; these are covetous.
I sip in a short breath as one of his hands dips beneath my pant line. He caresses my inner thighs in a teasing motion, breaking our kiss and pressing his lips down my neck, collarbones, and sternum until my shirt won’t allow him to kiss any lower.
“Does your Shadow burn where we touch? Like the second we connect, we’ll ignite and never part again completely?” His voice is raspy and hushed. I try to focus on his words, but he’s lifting my shirt and swirling my breast with his tongue, squeezing my thigh once more before his fingers find my clit and stroke me gently.
“Yes. It yearns for you so fiercely,” I whisper as I press my lips to the top of his head. He smells like the forest. If I shut my eyes, it’s just us, far away from everything else in this life. In a different time.
He groans when he finds how soaked I am. A breath gets caught in my throat and I stifle a moan as he pushes his fingers inside me.
“Raine,” I whisper to the shell of his ear and he lifts his head. Those blue eyes melt my soul. He kisses me again and I try to reach for his belt before I recall how in control he needs to be when we’re intimate. My hands stop midair and I bring them back to his chest.
“It’s okay,” he mutters, looking at me with trusting eyes, and somehow that hurts because I don’t feel like I deserve it.
I smile weakly and gently remove his belt and unbutton his pants. He pulls down mine as well, sliding his wet fingers up and down my slit and making me writhe beneath him. His cock is already hard—I run my hand over his shaft a few times in rhythm with his fingers.
Raine groans and kisses up along my neck, showing his affection with those soft, desperate touches. He moves in closer and rubs his dick along my core. The sensation makes my entire body jerk and I can’t help but wiggle my hips eagerly for him.
He presses his tip into me slowly, spreading me open at a tortuous pace and filling me completely. He presses his forehead against mine and lets out a groan that reverberates through my chest.
“What is the dark to you? The dark for me… was Mara. She was one of the leaders in our misfit group,” he murmurs with his forearms pressed to the cushions around my head. “She was two years older than I was and she was a vicious woman. Cruel and greedy.”
I stare up into his beautiful eyes. They’re filled with vulnerability and pain.
“She took a liking to me and would beat me relentlessly. As we got older, she also took other things.” He stops and I know. He doesn’t need to say it. He lets his body fall into mine and he hides his face as he whispers, “She gave me the scar on my jaw when I finally told her no. I was so angry and blind with rage—I took that blade she always cut me with, and I stuck it right into her fucking skull.”
I inhale sharply at the gore, picturing how hard he must’ve swung to pierce her skull.
“She didn’t even cry. She knew how sinister people like her were bound to die,” Raine says darkly. I’m disturbed that he still has an erection after talking about it, but then again, Raine enjoys the morbid things. He looks down at me with a small smirk. “I told you that you wouldn’t like the dark—the wicked things of the past.”
I hold him tightly, afraid to let go. His broad shoulders are so tense and strong beneath my hands, yet he trembles, his soul weak. “I’m… so sorry, Raine.” What else can one say?
He nods. “She took everything from me, but that didn’t mean I had to take it out on the world. I’m sorry for my cruelness, Terra. You’ve shown me that kindness, warmth, and trust can exist in my heart again.” Raine kisses me dearly, pressing into me slowly.
Raine, Elias, Finn, Arthur. They’re already finding their chambers inside my heart, locking themselves in. I’m not sure there’s anything I can do to remove them.
Amser and Raine’s Shadow merge in our chests and it feels as if his blood has entered my veins. We’re never to be separated again.
Our kisses are silent. An amber flicker of light catches my eye. I glance to the side of the homeroom and notice a figure on the couch across from us. It’s hard to make out who it is in the dim light and the ecstasy of Raine inside me; the Shadows mingling so fervently makes my vision blurry.
Raine’s thrusts are long and deep, pumping into me and drawing short breaths from my lungs. His hands smooth over my body and wrap around my lower back as he ruts into me harder and faster.
“Oh fuck, Raine,” I whisper, wrapping my hand around my mouth to keep in the moans. His brows pull together and the veins in his neck protrude as he grinds into my pussy a few more times before spilling inside me and groaning. His teeth clench and his hips softly pump into me.
I ride out the end of the orgasm with him, completely taken with how different sex is with two Shadows. It adds an entirely new sense to the experience.
Raine pulls out of me and helps me slide my pants back up before he fixes his own. Then he looks over to the couch across from us and levels a calm look at the person sitting there. I’d almost forgotten. Passion like ours makes everything around us insignificant.
I blink a few times to clear my vision and am mildly surprised to find that it’s Elias. Of course it’s Elias. I’m astounded he didn’t intervene; he’s not even chained up this time. I think Raine really is growing on him.
His cold gray eyes don’t let any emotion slide past them.
Raine and I watch silently as Elias slowly stands up, walks to his stairway, and ascends without a word.
I look at Raine and he shrugs. A slight grin pulls at his lips. “Let’s get to bed. I don’t think we’ll get another weird pass like that again.” He laughs as he helps me up. We sneak back into my room and crawl close to each other in bed. Raine finds rest quickly, but I stare at the lit-up novas and stars on my ceiling as I think about Elias.
Since when does he pass up a chance to say something snarky? I wonder what’s distracting him.