Chapter 23 Raiden
TWENTY-THREE
RAIDEN
The bond burns.
Not like fire, more similar to acid threading through every vein, every nerve, every stupid protective instinct I’ve spent months trying to leash.
I feel it the second her shadows flare in that cursed classroom—sharp, jagged, possessive rage spiking straight into my chest. Jealousy so raw it tastes like copper on the back of my tongue. Then fury. Then the sick lurch of her power slipping its collar, lashing out, hungry for blood.
And then—him.
Auron.
His presence slides into the bond like black oil, cool and deliberate, and I can feel it as he pulls her darkness into himself. Absorbing it. Calming it. The way only someone who’s already drowning in shadows can.
My tails lash once, hard enough that the stone bench I’m sitting on cracks. I don’t care that I’m shifting. I’m already moving.
The stairwell that leads up from Forbidden Magic is narrow, dimly lit, lined with those same silver containment runes that never quite work on her. I plant myself at the top, arms crossed, one shoulder braced against the archway. Waiting.
Every heartbeat drags. But I know she would hate it if I burst into that classroom and carried her away. Which I am seconds away from doing.
I feel the moment she starts climbing—her pulse still racing, breath uneven, the faint echo of Auron’s touch lingering on her skin like smoke I want to snarl at.
My canines ache. My fox wants out. Wants to drag her somewhere high and hidden and mark every inch of her until no one else’s scent clings.
The door at the bottom groans open.
Footsteps are light. Too light. She’s trying to look composed, I can sense it through our bond.
She rounds the last turn and stops dead when she sees me.
Blue hair mussed. Cheeks flushed. Lips swollen and faintly red—like someone bit them. Like someone tasted her anger and gave it back.
My growl starts low in my chest before I can stop it.
“Raiden,” she says. Her voice is still edged, still carrying the aftershock of whatever just happened down there. But there’s a spark in her eyes when she looks at me. Teasing and dangerous while I feel like this. She tilts her head, one brow lifting. “You’re blocking the doorway.”
“You’re wearing his scent,” I rasp. The words come out rougher than I mean.
Her mouth curves.
“Jealous, fox? You weren’t jealous of Nolan.”
I push off the wall in one fluid motion. Three steps close the distance. She doesn’t back up. Of course she doesn’t. She never does.
I tower over her, close enough that I can feel the heat rolling off her skin, smell the faint ozone of spent magic, and the sharp bite of Auron’s cursed blood still clinging to her.
“Yes,” I say. No point in lying. The bond doesn’t let me. “I felt every second of it. Felt your darkness rise up and Auron step in to absorb it.”
Her chin lifts. Defiant and beautiful.
“And it’s probably a good thing he did, no one else was going to help me down there.”
My tails—still half-shifted—snap behind me like whips at her words.
I lean down until our mouths are a breath apart. “You think I can’t handle your darkness?” My voice drops to gravel. “I can carry it. I can be your storm.”
Her breath hitches, just barely.
“But you weren’t there,” she whispers. “You couldn’t be.”
“No.” The word tastes like ash. “The containment wards would’ve shredded me the second I crossed the threshold. Kitsune don’t play nice with silver runes etched in blood.”
Her eyes soften for half a heartbeat—then the tease returns.
“So you just… sat here? Pacing? Tails lashing? Poor puppy.”
I snarl. Actually snarl. Low and dangerous and entirely too animal.
Her laugh is breathy. “You’re adorable when you’re feral.”
That does it.
I scoop her up in one motion—arm under her ass, other hand splayed across her lower back—hoisting her against my chest as though she weighs nothing. Her legs wrap around my waist instinctively. Her hands fist in the front of my shirt.
“Raiden—”
“Quiet,” I growl against her throat. My canines graze the soft skin there—not breaking, just reminding. “You’re done playing with nerdy warlocks, bloodborn, ice princes, and shadow demons for the day.”
She shivers. But her fingers slide up into my hair, tugging just hard enough to make my scalp sing. “And what are you going to do about it?”
I start walking. Long strides. Away from the stairwell. Away from the whispers growing around us from the other students. Toward the western wing where the old observation tower sits mostly forgotten.
“Take you somewhere no one can provoke you,” I mutter. “Somewhere no one can touch what’s mine. Somewhere I can remind you exactly who you belong to when the darkness rises.”
Her thighs tighten around me. Her breath fans hot against my ear.
“You’re growly today.”
“You let him kiss you.” The words scrape out. “And you liked it.”
She doesn’t deny it.
Instead, she nips my earlobe—sharp enough to sting. “Maybe I did. Maybe I wanted to see if I could break him, too.”
My growl vibrates through both of us.
“You’re going to pay for that, little flame.”
Her laugh is dark. Delighted. “Promise?”
I don’t answer with words.
I just tighten my hold, let my tails curl around her calves—soft fur brushing bare skin under her skirt—and carry her faster toward the tower stairs.
Because if I don’t get her alone soon, I’m going to shift fully, pin her to the nearest wall, and show every last person in this academy exactly who she answers to when the bond burns this hot.
And I’m not in the mood to be careful about witnesses.
The tower stairs are ancient, narrow, worn smooth by centuries of forgotten footsteps. Each one creaks under my weight as I carry her upward, but the sound barely registers over the thunder of my own pulse.
Lindsay’s legs are still locked around my waist, her heat seeping through my shirt, her arms looped around my neck as if she knows exactly what she’s doing to me. She’s not fighting the hold. She’s leaning into it—chin tucked against my shoulder, breath warm against the side of my throat.
Every few steps, I pause. Not because I’m tired. Because I can’t not taste her.
The first time I stop, it’s on the third landing.
I press her back against the cold stone wall, careful not to crush her, but firm enough that she feels every inch of me pinning her there.
My mouth finds hers without preamble—hard, claiming, all the frustration and possessiveness I’ve been choking down since I felt Auron’s slide into her through the bond.
She kisses me back just as fiercely. Teeth.
Tongue. A soft, hungry sound that vibrates into my chest. My tails curl tighter around her calves, soft fur brushing the bare skin behind her knees, teasing higher under the hem of her skirt.
She arches, hips rolling against me in a slow, deliberate grind that makes my vision flicker gold.
“Raiden,” she breathes when I pull back just enough to let her speak. Her lips are swollen, glistening. “You’re shaking.”
“I’m trying not to rip your uniform off right here,” I growl low.
My canines scrape along her jaw, down the column of her throat.
I find the spot where her pulse hammers fastest and bite—not breaking skin, yet, but hard enough to leave the faint imprint of teeth.
Mine. “You let him taste you. Let him calm your storm. And I had to sit outside like some fucking guard dog.”
Her fingers twist in my hair, tugging sharply. Pain flares bright and perfect along my scalp.
“I like you like this—growly. Feral,” she whispers, voice husky. “Ready to drag me away and remind me who I really belong to.”
The words hit like a spark to gunpowder.
I surge forward again, kissing her deeper, slower this time.
One hand slides up her thigh, bunching the fabric of her skirt until my palm meets bare skin.
I drag my fingers higher, tracing the edge of lace, feeling how damp she already is.
She whimpers into my mouth—small and needy—and the sound goes straight to my cock.
“Say it,” I rasp against her lips. “Tell me.”
“I’m yours,” she says immediately. No hesitation. “Always yours.”
My growl rumbles through both of us. I reward her by slipping two fingers beneath the lace, stroking through slick heat in one long, deliberate glide.
She jolts, head falling back against the stone, throat exposed.
I latch onto it again—sucking, licking, marking—while my fingers circle her clit with slow, torturous pressure.
Her hips buck. Nails rake down my shoulders.
“Up,” I mutter. “More stairs. I’m not fucking you on a landing where anyone could walk by.”
She laughs—breathless and wicked. “You sure? You seem pretty desperate.”
I nip her collarbone in reprimand, then hoist her higher, carrying her up the next flight without breaking stride.
Every step jostles her against me, friction dragging a low groan from my throat.
Her mouth finds my ear, teeth grazing the sensitive point where fur would be if I let the shift take me fully.
“You’re so hard,” she murmurs. “I can feel you throbbing against me. All because I let Auron kiss me?”
Another growl—deeper, more animal. My tails snap once, lashing the air behind us.
“Because you’re mine,” I snarl. “And every time someone else touches what’s mine, I want to tear their throat out and then bury myself so deep inside you they can smell me on your skin for days.”
“But you don’t feel that way about Nolan or Kael,” she says, and it’s not a question.
“No.”
We reach the next landing. I slam her back against the wall again—this time higher, rougher. My free hand yanks her shirt open just enough to expose the swell of her breast. I drag my mouth down, tongue flicking over the stiff peak through thin lace before pulling it into my mouth and sucking hard.
Lindsay cries out, fingers knotting in my hair so tightly it stings.
“Raiden—please—”
I release her with a wet pop, look up into her flushed face, glowing blue eyes, lips parted on ragged breaths.