24. Linden
Linden
For three days, there was nothing to do but wait.
Elder Briar Hall made it seem like there was a lot of preparation to be done.
And maybe there was on his end. But as far as Cass and I, there was nothing to do.
At first I thought going back to the grove to assess the damage would be a good idea, to try to heal the wound with my magic.
But the Elder Council had forbidden both Rose Development and myself from going to the grove under any circumstances.
They claimed they were still conducting their investigation and any interference from either party would render their argument null and void.
So, for the first two days, I sat in the infirmary with Cass, making sure he was recovering from his magical overexertion. As soon as he seemed well enough, the nurses sent us back to my dorm room to recuperate there.
The waiting was agony. I’d never been good at sitting still, and the forced inactivity was driving me up the wall. My dorm room felt smaller with each passing hour, the walls seeming to close in as I paced back and forth, my mind spinning through a thousand different scenarios.
Cass was recovering faster than the healers had predicted.
And now he was complaining about being bored, which I took as a good sign.
His color was better, and his magic had stopped crackling erratically beneath his skin.
But there was a tension in him now that hadn’t been there before, a coiled readiness, like he was bracing for impact.
“Stop pacing,” he said, watching me from where he lay sprawled across my bed. “You’re making me nervous.”
“I can’t help it,” I admitted, running a hand through my hair. “I keep thinking about what happens if we lose. If the Elder Council sides with Rose Development.”
“Then we’ll figure something else out,” Cass said, though I could hear the uncertainty beneath his words. He didn’t believe it any more than I did.
I sat down beside him on the bed, and he immediately pulled me against his chest, his fingers finding their familiar place in my hair. We stayed like that for a while, just breathing together, trying to find some semblance of peace in the chaos.
My anxiety had reached a fever pitch. The hearing was scheduled for tomorrow morning, and Elder Briar Hall had sent word that we should meet him at the teleportation circle outside the school gate an hour before the proceedings began.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to survive the night. Or get any sleep for that matter.
“It’s going to be okay, Linden,” Cass said, his hands moving down to the tight knot of muscle that was my shoulders. “We’re gonna get this figured out, one way or another. And Elder Briar Hall seems confident.”
“He’s a fae,” I grumbled. “Have you ever met one that wasn’t confident?”
“Okay,” Cass grinned. “I thought being grumpy was my job?”
“Yeah, well, you’re rubbing off on me,” I said, leaning back into his touch.
His fingers worked at the knots in my shoulders with surprising skill, and I felt some of the tension begin to ease.
“Besides, fae confidence doesn’t really help when we’re dealing with human property law and Elder Council bureaucracy. ”
“True,” Cass conceded. “But at least he seems to know what he’s doing. And Elias seemed pretty sharp too, even if he doesn’t talk much.”
I closed my eyes, trying to let Cass’s touch soothe me.
The weight of everything was pressing down on me.
All I could see was the destroyed grove, the lost trees, and the possibility that centuries of my family’s legacy could be erased by a piece of paper and a legal transaction. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair.
“Hey,” Cass said softly, his lips pressing against the back of my neck. “You’re spiraling again. I can feel you tensing back up.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I just... I keep thinking about the heartwood. If they destroy it, I’ll lose my connection to the grove entirely. It’s not just about the land or the trees. It’s my family, Sparks. Part of who I am.”
“I know,” he said, and I could hear the understanding in his voice. “But that’s exactly why we’re going to fight this with everything we’ve got.”
I turned around to face him, needing to see his eyes, needing that physical reassurance. He was already watching me, those green eyes soft with concern and love in equal measure. I reached up and cupped his face in my hands, drawing him down for a kiss.
It started gentle, almost tender, but quickly deepened into something more desperate. I needed him. Needed to feel grounded in something real while everything else felt like it was falling apart. His hands came up to grip my waist, pulling me closer until I was practically straddling him.
“We should probably sleep,” Cass said against my lips, though he made no move to actually let me go. “Big day tomorrow.”
“I can’t sleep,” I admitted. “Every time I close my eyes, I see those trees falling. I feel them dying.”
“Then let me take your mind off it,” he said, his lips pressing against mine once more. “Fuck me and forget about all of this, even if it’s just for a little while.”
I didn’t argue with him. Couldn’t, really, when he was looking at me like that. We’d both been floating in uncertainty for three days, and maybe what we needed was this. Something physical and real to anchor us back in reality.
I let him pull my shirt over my head, let his hands map the planes of my chest like he was memorizing me all over again. His touch was gentle despite the urgency I could feel thrumming through him, and I appreciated that. Even in his need to distract us both, Cass was careful with me.
“I love you,” I murmured against his collarbone, needing to say it again, needing to ground myself in that truth when everything else felt uncertain.
“I know,” he replied, his fingers already working at the waistband of my pants. “I love you too. Now shut up and let me help you forget about this for a while.”
I wasn’t sure I could actually forget. The weight of what was coming tomorrow was too heavy.
But as Cass stripped away the rest of my clothing and began to plant kisses down my neck and chest, the thoughts became quieter.
For now, at least, I could just focus on him and the feeling of his lips pressing against my skin.
I stared down at him, watching his tongue trail down my abdomen, through the dark hair above my cock, and then finally back up the underside of my cock. I let out a soft groan, savoring the way my magic flared under my skin, filling me from head to toe with pleasure.
“Fuck,” I breathed, my hips already beginning to thrust upward even as I tried to maintain some semblance of control. “Cass, that’s—”
He pulled back just enough to look up at me, that cocky smile playing at his lips. “That’s what?” he asked, his hand stroking the base of my cock while his mouth worked the sensitive head. “Too much? Not enough?”
“Perfect,” I managed, threading my fingers through his dark hair. “It’s perfect.”
He took me deeper, and I felt my magic respond instinctively, golden light dancing across my skin in those familiar patterns.
The air around us grew warmer, more humid, and I could hear the faint sound of wind picking up outside my window.
Our magic was already intertwining, responding to each other the way it always did.
I wanted to let him continue, wanted to lose myself completely in the sensation of his mouth on me. But after three days of sitting in that infirmary room, after three days of anxiety and uncertainty, I needed more than this. I needed to be inside him. Needed to feel our connection on every level.
“Come here,” I said, gently tugging him upward. “And sit on my face.”
He didn’t protest, just grinned and crawled up my body, straddling my head as I pulled him down.
The moment my tongue licked a long stripe over his hole, I heard him moan, his head thrown back in ecstasy.
His cock was rock hard, leaking against my forehead as I worked him open with my tongue.
He tasted musky and incredible, his own unique flavor that I’d come to love over the past few weeks.
My hands gripped his thighs, holding him steady as I pushed deeper, feeling him relax around me with each deliberate lick.
“Oh fuck, Linden,” he gasped, his hips rolling slightly as he put his full weight on me. “That’s so fucking good.”
I hummed against him, the vibration making him shudder.
His magic was crackling around us now, responding to the pleasure I was giving him.
I could feel it dancing across my skin, mixing with my own golden light until the room seemed to glow from within.
Either that, or it was about to start raining above my bed.
Either way, I didn’t care. I just wanted more.
After a few more minutes of this exquisite torture, I felt him shift, felt him trying to move away. “No,” I murmured against his skin. “I want you to cum like this. Then I’ll fuck you.”
“Linden—” he started to protest, but I was already intensifying my efforts, my tongue working him with single-minded focus. His hands gripped the headboard, his knuckles turning white as he fought against his own pleasure.
“Cum for me,” I urged him. “Cum all over my face, Sparks.”
It didn’t take much longer. His entire body went rigid, and just before he came, I backed up, sticking my tongue out.
His cock pulsed against my tongue, his sweet liquid filling my mouth.
For one brief second I wondered if I looked ridiculous, like some guy in a porno.
But then I realized I didn’t care. All I cared about was him, about making him feel as good as he made me feel.
When he finally collapsed beside me, his breathing ragged and his body trembling with the aftershocks, I pulled him close. He nestled against my chest, his fingers tracing lazy patterns across my pecs.
“So,” he murmured after a moment, already shifting to position himself on his back. “Are you going to fuck me or what?”
I didn’t need to be asked twice. My cock was already hard, straining with need after two days of forced celibacy in that infirmary. I reached out, drawing on my magic to summon up the lube that we both liked so much.
“What is that stuff made of?” he asked. “I keep forgetting to ask.”
“Mostly aloe,” I said, smearing it between my fingers. “Pretty handy, huh?”
He nodded. “Are you still sore at all?” I asked, positioning myself between his thighs. “Tell me if anything hurts, and I’ll stop.”
“I know the drill, big guy,” he said, his voice already taking on that breathy quality that meant he was ready for me. “Just fuck me.”
I worked him open slowly, carefully, fucking him with my fingers until he was relaxed enough to take me.
His magic was still crackling around us, responding to every touch, every whispered word of encouragement.
The storm outside had picked up now and I could hear sleet pelting against the window.
Hopefully no one would notice the storm was anything but natural.
When I finally pressed my cock against his hole and began to push inside, I watched his face contort with pleasure.
His hands came up to grip my shoulders, his nails digging in slightly as he adjusted to my size.
Even after all these weeks, the stretch was still intense for him, and I loved that.
Loved knowing that he never got bored of me.
“Okay?” I asked, pausing halfway inside.
“Yeah,” he breathed. “Yeah, keep going. I want all of that thick cock inside me.”
I sank deeper, groaning as his hole clenched around me. The feeling of him surrounding me, the warmth and the tightness and the absolute perfection of it was almost too much to bear. But I loved it too much to stop. And so did he.
I started slowly, letting him set the pace by how much he wanted me to move.
But it didn’t take long before he was begging me for more, his hips rolling up to meet mine, his voice breaking into gasps and moans that I was pretty sure the entire dorm could hear.
I didn’t care. Let them hear. Let everyone know that Cass was mine, and that I was going to spend the rest of my life making him feel this good.
“Harder,” he demanded, his eyes going dark with lust. “Fuck, Linden, don’t hold back.”
So I didn’t. I drove into him with more force, my massive frame dwarfing his, my magic singing in harmony with his.
The bed creaked beneath us, the headboard banging against the wall in a rhythm that was probably going to draw complaints, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
Not when Cass was making those sounds, not when I could feel him getting close to the edge.
His orgasm hit without warning, his entire body going taut as he came between us, his hole clenching around my cock like a vice.
I followed right behind him, my entire body shaking as I emptied myself inside him, filling him with everything I had.
My magic flared, my entire body looking like molten gold.
The storm outside intensified, thunder cracking overhead as the sky reacted to our mutual orgasm.
We collapsed together in a tangle of sweaty limbs, both of us gasping for breath.
Cass’s arms wrapped around me, holding me close as our magic slowly settled back down to a gentle hum beneath our skin.
The wind outside began to ease, the sleet tapering off as his weather magic calmed along with his racing heart.
“I love you,” I murmured against his neck, pressing a kiss to the sensitive skin there. “No matter what happens tomorrow, I need you to know that.”
“I know,” he said, his fingers trailing through my hair. “And I love you too. We’re going to be okay, Linden. I can feel it.”
I wanted to believe him. Needed to believe him. But as I lay there in the darkness of my dorm room, listening to the wind gradually die down outside, I couldn’t shake the feeling that tomorrow was going to change everything. One way or another, our lives were about to shift on their axis.