Chapter 16
CAT
If I ignored the fact all my men sat in the wooden row with me, and the professor spoke in stilted language in a mechanical tone, the day was…
normal. No body parts, no corpses for us to dissect, and we didn’t even see Cruelty and Violence for the rest of the day.
I didn’t take any notes on the lesson, didn’t even know if I’d finish my course when this was all over. If it was ever over.
I shifted in the wooden seat, itchy to be sitting still when Tor was here somewhere, trapped in that mirror, tormented by the psycho siblings.
I hated that the smell of this room was so familiar, hated that the old books, dust, and ink scent of it lulled me into thinking Honey sat with us, that Byron would grumble about inconsistencies he’d found in the course books or the two of us not paying attention.
I missed them so much it hurt, right behind my ribs.
And that monster had the nerve to steal Honey’s body, to wear her face like a mask.
“Calm down,” Pain murmured, resting his hand on my knee.
The warm weight of it distracted me enough that my anger stumbled, but it was the electric charge that ran through my skin at his touch that stole all my focus.
I expected to see shadows when I looked down, but it was just his hand, and this was just the effect he had on me.
“We’ll find him. We just have to get through this day. ”
Just one day, because we had to look like we’d follow their rules.
But I would try to find Tor again the second we were back in my room—the same room I lived in before I fled Nightmare to Death’s domain.
It felt surreal that everything still looked the same, sounded the same, smelled the same.
Except for the robotic professors, the dean and deputy dean—Violence and Cruelty, naturally—and the way every student wandered around in a daze, dressed in those blazers like Cruelty wanted us to fit her academia aesthetic.
“Twenty minutes left,” Pain murmured, his thumb stroking my knee and narrowing all my focus to that one spot. He had to be aware of the effect on me, but he showed no sign of it. “Just get through this. Just twenty minutes.”
“I have a really great idea of how to pass the time,” Madde whispered on my other side, leaning across to grin at Pain.
“No,” I said immediately.
“Why not?” He leaned closer, brushing aside a lock of white hair so he could fit his lips to my neck. “It’s not even a real lesson.”
I shot a look at Death, the voice of reason, but his eyes were heavy lidded and sultry. Oh. They could all feel my reactions. “They never said we had to pay attention in classes, little bride.”
“We’re surrounded by people,” I hissed, because even though Cruelty had used her twisted magic to program them into being her perfect pupils, they still sat around us, and there was a chance they could hear everything we said.
“You’ll just have to be quiet then,” Miz said, his stare intense when our eyes met. So they were all in on it.
“Bastards,” I whispered, but I widened my legs. “All of you.”
I kept my gaze forward, as if I was paying attention to the droning lecture. I couldn’t even tell you if the words the professor said were accurate, if like Madde said it wasn’t a real lecture.
Let us take care of you, Madde’s voice wound through my mind like a tendril of smoke, his lips brushing my neck once more as Pain’s fingers wandered, cupping the slick heat of me over the long silver dress I wore.
The wardrobe in Bridestones House had been full of them—pale dresses of silk, lace, and taffeta, with sweetheart necklines or plunging drops, modest hems or thigh slits.
Wedding dresses in a dozen different styles.
This one had a high neck but a slit that allowed Pain’s fingers to slip under the silken material and easily pull my underwear to one side.
I sank my teeth into my lip at the slow stroke, patient but gods, the pressure. Perfect in every way.
His shadows wrapped around my ankles and climbed higher, the touch of them like cool velvet to my skin. They teased the sensitive backs of my knees, then encircled my thighs as his fingers made a slow exploration, sending tingles through every spot he touched until my teeth drew blood.
Give me a taste, Madde begged, breathless even in my mind.
People will see, I protested.
He kissed me quickly and began to stand. I’ll fix that real quick and be right back.
I caught his hand and yanked him back into the seat, a little thrilled but not surprised when he immediately obeyed my wishes. You can’t scoop all their eyes out, Madde. That’s too many eyes, and besides, they’ve done nothing wrong.
The gaze he gave me was nothing short of adoring. You know me too well.
I kissed him quickly while the professor turned to write something on the old-fashioned chalkboard, giving him a taste before anyone noticed. When I drew back, his eyes had darkened to dangerous sapphire, and he looked inclined to steal another taste.
Pain mustn’t have liked my attention being elsewhere, because he trapped my clit between two fingers, sliding up and down so sensation crashed through every nerve.
“Gods,” I breathed, digging my fingernails into his forearm, jolting when my fingernails sharpened, lengthened, and shredded the fabric. “I’m so—oh fuck—sorry.”
Pain’s laugh was quiet but no less lethal for it. I clenched, my inner muscles close to begging him for attention. “Don’t apologise for marking me, darling woe. Scratch me up all you want.”
I bit back a groan. My breathing became shallow, rapid as his shadows held me open for his touch, Madde’s kisses trailing down my shoulder, the assault of sensations almost too much to bear. What Pain did with his fingers had my ass leaving the seat, my back arching, pussy spasming hard.
“Pain,” I whispered. “God, I need—can you—” My face burned, and I knew his shadows told him as much because a very smug smile crossed his boyish face, turning him from sweet golden retriever to pure death god.
When Madde’s lips moved back to my neck, Pain leaned in to brush his mouth over the shell of my ear.
“Is there something you need, my darling?”
“Your fingers,” I panted as my clit ached, the desperation mounting until I sent pleading stares to Death and Miz.
Their eyes were rapt on me, Death devouring the sight of my face while Misery watched the slick slide of fingers on my pussy.
I dug my fingers into Pain’s arm, their stares enough to ruin me.
The droning voice of the professor blurred to nothing in my focus, my heartbeat drumming in my ears.
I knew we were quiet and discreet, but gods it felt so dirty, so sinful to be touched like this in the back of a class.
“You have his fingers, little one,” Death murmured, making me gasp when his magic joined Pain’s, a thick tendril sliding over my stomach and up my ribs to brush my breast.
“Inside me,” I managed to breathe as Miz followed his example, shadows touching me all over, driving me wild. I couldn’t take much more.
“Good girl for voicing your needs,” Death praised in a low rumble, his voice like a physical touch itself, pushing me higher. I wanted my Torment, wanted all of them with me. Soon, I promised myself. Soon, they’d all be with me, and we’d all be safe.
I pressed my lips into a tight line to trap a moan when Pain guided two fingers inside me.
Slowly, tantalising every inch as he slid deeper.
It became harder to keep my noises contained when the soft glide of a shadow moved over my stomach, then my hip, and grazed a taunting touch to my clit.
Miz laughed under his breath at the way my hips jerked, and grinned with vicious pleasure when I glared at him.
But my eyes dropped to half-mast when he used his magic to stroke circles around my clit, working me higher. I clenched hard around Pain’s fingers, sensations coiling, tightening, building.
“That’s our good girl,” Death murmured, his words just for me. “I can feel how close you are. Your sweet, perfect little hole must be strangling Pain’s fingers. Any touch would send you over the edge, wouldn’t it?”
I panted, a little sound escaping when Pain scored his teeth down my throat.
“I want to feel,” Madde said, and before I could even guess at his meaning, another finger eased inside me, then he stretched me with a second.
“Oh god,” I breathed, and had to clamp my hand over my mouth as their fingers moved in tandem, driving me to total madness and a release so explosive that I shook all over. Stars exploded behind my closed eyelids.
You’re so pretty when you come for us, Madde sighed through our bond, his tone dreamy.
He kept up a constant stream of compliments as I floated back down, little quivers moving through my core and down my legs.
When sound returned, it brought the professor’s monotone voice droning about the nervous system—when did we even begin studying the nervous system?
I was mortified to remember we weren’t alone. We were in the middle of a lesson.
“You were quiet, don’t worry,” Death assured me, leaning across to catch my hand and kiss every knuckle and claw.
“And I’ll clean up the evidence,” Madde volunteered, sliding off his seat and onto his knees. Eager hands pushed my dress aside to set his mouth to me when Pain gently removed his fingers—and Madde rushed to catch them before Pain could move his hand.
“Jesus,” Pain breathed when my insane mate licked up every shining drop of me left on his fingers, then did the same with my pussy, putting my underwear back to rights and kissing the bow stitched on the soft cotton.
I thought that was it, but then slurping sounds came and I realised he was licking the seat beneath me.
“I can’t tell if that’s clinically fucking insane,” Miz remarked, “or just insanely hot.”
Madde sat back with a grin, uncaring of the full lecture room. “Why not both?”