Chapter Five
Vynessa
When I yank open the front door of the library and cross through, I find myself in a spacious foyer with stone corridors leading from the left and right, a stone staircase visible past the doorways on each side.
My breath is coming out fast, and for some strange reason, I still can’t seem to convince my heart that I’m not in danger. The guy wasn’t chasing me. He’s actually a student here and he’s probably in the room straight ahead.
The light pours out the open doors of the library. Books line the walls in every direction, and I can feel them calling to my soul, but I’m just not ready.
A glance at my timepiece shows I have five minutes until class starts, and I look for a washroom sign, finding it pointing toward the doorway on my right.
I head in, running up the stairway and into a long stone hall with a single door at the end.
The hallway is dim, and the door isn’t labeled, but it’s the only one in here. I try the knob, and it turns easily.
The room is definitely not a washroom. I’m standing before an office with a thick wooden desk and bookshelves lining the walls. The word opulent comes to mind.
The much more important thing of note is that there are people in this office.
Not only are there people in this office, but they’re fucking.
A woman bends over the desk, her hands grasping the edges for dear life.
She’s naked, legs spread, upper body pressed into the desk.
The door has to be soundproof because she’s moaning so loud that the Scholars downstairs can probably hear her, and there’s a wet suction sound that seems to echo around the space.
The man standing behind the woman is fully dressed saved for his fly being a down.
His lean body is clad in a pair of grey slacks and a lavender shirt with a few buttons undone at the collar.
The color complements his tawny complexion, angular features and chiseled jawline covered in a few days’ worth of stubble.
His black hair is combed back, leaving soft waves around his ears and at the back of his neck.
It works. Oh boy, does it work. He pumps into the woman, his purple, veined cock impossibly long and glistening with her slick.
I can feel my panties going wet as my core tingles.
The man’s head lifts, and a pair of startling purple eyes fix on me. He doesn’t miss a beat as he continues to fuck the woman, his gaze on me, his hands digging into her hips.
She bucks back against him while he pumps into her with wild abandon. His lips form a word, and I swear he’s mouthing my name, which is obviously a hallucination since I’ve never seen the guy in my life—or a very weird coincidence if his lady friend shares my name.
I gasp, stumbling back when I realize I’m just standing there watching.
The man roars like a beast as he slams deep into the woman.
She shrieks like she’s dying, her back bowing and her ass rising to receive the pounding he’s delivering.
He pumps into her so fast his hips are a blur of motion, slapping her ass and making it ripple like an earthquake is going through her.
She lets out another ear-piercing scream, then suddenly collapses in a boneless heap on the desk.
Damn, maybe she did die.
Death by orgasm.
What a way to go.
Maybe this man can make Sadie’s dream for me come true.
Leaning down, the man rests his head on the dark-haired woman’s back to catch his breath, still watching me intently. A little smirk tugs at the corners of his full, luscious lips.
The woman stirs, and reality hits me like a slap upside the head.
What the fuck am I doing?
I slam the door, spin on my heel, and race down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
“Holy dragon eggs,” I whisper on repeat under my breath. I skid through the foyer and into the main section of the building and stop in my tracks.
The building looks impressive from the outside—tall, round, and large with palatial columns and a sculpted facade.
It is nothing to the inside. I have never in my life seen so many artifacts.
The statues are so exquisitely rendered it looks as if marble gods are standing right here with us.
An off shoot of the main building has a room full of armor.
And the books. I swear on a moon dragon’s second dick, if I wasn’t already wet from what I just witnessed, the number of books in the room would do it.
They’re stacked in cases as high as the eye can see in all directions. The building is round inside, and the main rotunda reaches up at least five stories. On the balconies above, I can see glimpses of other galleries.
“Does that turn you on?” A chuckle sounds behind me, and I spin around to find myself face to face with the delicious beast from the office upstairs.
Not a hair is out of place from the wild sex he was just having in his office.
From his clothes and the fact that he looks to be in his early thirties, I’m guessing he’s not a student.
“Professor Mitchel?” I squeak.
“No,” he says, his voice a low, smooth bass. “But if you’re looking for her, I’m guessing she’s recovering right where I left her. You know the way.”
“Sorry.” I gulp. “I didn’t realize you were there.”
A smirk creeps onto his perfect, dark lips, and he drags his gaze over my body with a thoroughness that has my nipples pebbling and my thighs clenching. “Glad I made an impression,” he murmurs. “You know what they say. You never forget your first.”
“I—I’m sorry?” I blurt out, my face heating at the double meaning of his words.
“Don’t let me stop you,” he says, gesturing to the huge room looming around us and raising his voice. “That goes for all of you. Have a look around, satisfy your curiosity. You’ve spent your whole lives trying to get here, don’t be shy. We’ll return here at thirty past the hour and start class.”
That’s when I become aware of the fact that we are not even close to alone in the space.
A long table stands to one side of the atrium, and nine students are sitting there, clearly my cohorts.
Sharp Tooth isn’t there, making me guess that he’s an upperclassman.
My classmates stand and scatter into the library, clearly more than excited to explore.
I’ve been waiting my whole life to explore the dragon kingdom’s many troves, but now I don’t even know where to start.
I turn in a slow circle, letting myself gape in awe at the shelves lined with seemingly endless tomes filled with so much history and lore.
It would take a lifetime just to learn all of human history, and every single supernatural race has a history as rich and varied as that of humanity.
The professor steps up right behind me, until he’s so close I can feel heat crackling between our bodies. He dips his head, whispering against my ear. “Don’t hold back, Vynessa.”
His fingers graze my hip, urging me forward, and my body is suddenly molten. I want to bend over the table like the brunette did and let him make me scream that way. His position behind me only reminds me how similar theirs was, that his dick that was just inside her is only inches from my ass.
“Go on,” he whispers, his voice a purr that makes me even wetter. There’s an edge of challenge in his tone, as if he read my thoughts and is urging me to strip myself bare and offer myself up to him instead of exploring the library.
My breath hitches. I should be skipping away, but I can’t seem to move.
This entire building is one enormous, cavernous room full of artifacts and history.
There are more than books on the shelves that stretch from the marble floor to the domed ceiling, where high windows let it light.
There are treasures from so many civilizations that have fallen throughout time, human and vampire and shifter; fae and monster and spirit.
I think I’ve died and gone to the Sky Dragons’ legendary palace in the clouds. I’d trade all the gold and gems they own for this.
The dragon trove at DLSA is actually considered the least valuable of all of the Queen’s treasuries, but knowledge is my passion.
I stride along between rows of bookshelves lined with dusty tomes of all sizes and colors, looking up to marvel at the walls.
It’s all I can do not to spin in circles and whoop with excitement, reveling in the world of knowledge and stories around me.
Yes. Nerd alert. I know. I’ve been hearing it my whole life, but history has always fascinated me.
So much of it was lost to humans. In the last great war, entire cities were wiped off the planet, and ethical or not, dragons collected the world’s artifacts in order to protect and hoard them, as is a dragon’s nature.
This library is a gateway to thousands of stories—fiction, nonfiction, told, untold. The artifacts tell their own histories, from ancient times to the present, from arrowheads to amulets, from fangs to furs, potions to pixie dust.
The room is laid out like the academy, the aisles between the shelves all leading to the center.
In the center, I find a cluster of tables with chairs, surrounded by a row of plush sofas.
The circle is flanked on each side by several sofas set up facing each other with little tables set at the ends of each one, a few students gathered in debate at one of them.
On the far side of the circle is a little island with some snacks set up and a coffee pot, the scent of a fresh brew wafting up and making my mouth water.
Okay, this can’t be real. I must be dreaming. It’s absolutely everything I could ever have wanted or imagined when I applied for DLSA.