Chapter 16 Evira
~Evira~
Our little hellion had me giggling.
Me. Giggling.
He had my little stuffed polar bear cub dancing on my stomach, using that cute tone he had during his first time in my suite weeks ago to make him talk, giving Nuvri a voice.
He went to slide my tank up, but I slapped my hand down over it. “Nuh-uh. He can’t see me like that.”
Zayn chuckled. “What about when you undress to get in your pajamas, or getting dressed after a shower?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I do it in the bathroom.”
“He’s been here when the four of us have fooled around and fucked before.”
“Yeah, but never facing it or being in view of it.”
“That’s right. Come to think of it, whenever we’ve found him in the bed afterward, he’s always been turned toward the pillows, or sometimes under the bed itself.”
“A flick of my magic gets it done.”
“You’re too cute, you know that?”
“Me? Cute? Never.”
“Hey, that doesn’t take away from your fierce dragon warrior status. You can be cute alongside that.”
“Maybe just between the four of us, then.”
“Deal.”
He put Nuvri down and settled him on the bed against a pillow.
Then as I pushed up against the headboard, Zayn situated himself between my spread legs and placed the papers I’d given him against my jean-clad thigh.
With a clear of his throat, he took on a very serious tone and said, “All right. Back down to business, then. Exalt’s modus operandi.
Mission statement? Sounds more chill, right? The second one?”
“Yeah,” I said, beaming out at him.
He’d been so considerate when I’d told him I was a little nervous about the meeting I’d set today.
Exalt was moving into some new territory, escalating, basically.
And it had to be perfect. I had to get this down.
So he’d sat with me for the last two hours talking it out, coaxing me to practice with a mock meeting run-through.
He was supposed to be studying while I read over my notes and prepped quietly, but when he’d noticed my nervous state, he’d insisted. Such a sweetheart.
Vaxan wouldn’t be attending today. He was making space for me to assert a surefire leadership position and he felt him being there would interfere with that in these early stages.
I suppose he had a point. He did have a natural commanding edge, a very powerful leadership aura, and combined with him being six years older, and everyone knowing and respecting that fact at a place like Loxley full of younger students, it carried a lot of weight.
He was off campus instead right now, investigating for Winter. Again.
Winter was conducting a Ruminat again, something he’d been doing a lot of since he’d begun training with his dad. He was really pushing himself. Zayn, Vax, and I would be convincing him to take a break soon, though, even for a day.
“You get that you’ve actually already got all this stuff down, right?” Zayn said.
“Almost, I think. We did spend two hours on it.”
“No. Fuck, no. Even before that. When I was testing you on it, you didn’t falter once.
You even gave a whole paragraph-long answer each time, not just the one-liner that would’ve been sufficient.
And Vax told me and Win about the other couple of meetings you’ve already led.
He said you were “commanding the room in a firm, powerful, but approachable way, and demonstrating passion and a deep knowledge of the intricacies involved in spearheading such an initiative”.
Those were his exact words. And even though he's ours and obviously deeply into you, he doesn’t just throw out stuff like that.
I’m saying that’s how impressive you are and that you’ve got this. Big time, Evira.”
I stared out at him.
Wild pink hair, all those chaotic tattoos on display with him in a silver-and-gold checked tank.
And of course, the tight pants, these ones black jeans with tassels all over them.
And then the fuzzy white socks, his shoes by my door.
Winter had told me that Zayn only took his shoes off when we hung in my dorm room.
“What?” he asked.
A grin spread over my face. “Thank you, Zayn. That was amazing.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Just calling it like it is.”
I reached out and took his hand in mine.
So warm, so lovely. It was the way he always gazed at me.
“Icicle?” he asked, looking so worried, his eyes darting all over, trying to figure out my behavior, my emotions.
“You know the way I feel about you isn’t conditional, right?”
He tensed. “Uh… what?”
“Just… why did you never end up sexting me like you threatened so deliciously?”
“I don’t know. I guess I forgot. A lot is going on.”
“You forgetting about something sexual?”
A small smile played on his lips.
But he still looked far too ill at ease.
I stroked his fingers. “I promise that you don’t need to play it so safe with me. Remember how it started out with you being abrasive and hardcore flirting and calling it like it is?”
“Yeah, I know, but…”
“But?”
He shifted from between my thighs and moved to the side, running a hand over the bedspread. “It’s… I was like that with Win at the start too. But that didn’t exactly work out well, did it? I lost him for a time, all that mess.”
“That’s not the same at all. We all love your abrasive, dirty, chaotic, and wild side, just as much as the rest. You were closed to Winter—that was the issue back then.
A lot of it, anyway. That’s over with now.
You’ve evolved. We all know it. You know it.
And, yes, I promise you if you bring out all the rest, I’m not going to balk. I’m into all that you are, hellion.”
He lifted his gaze. “Yeah?” he asked tentatively.
I pushed up and crawled over to him. “Yes. I swear it.” His eyes were flaming at the sight of me in this position, his gaze dipping to my bralette, this one a white lace number, visible with the front of my tank hanging down a little in this position. “Say it,” I encouraged him.
“Love that thing.”
“That’s not it.”
He shifted and cleared his throat. “If you didn’t have to leave for your meeting in a few minutes, I’d tear that fucking tank off you, and worship all that lace, while I fuck you like a beast.”
“Mmm. There it is,” I breathed, a hot thrill running through me at his words.
His eyes lit up.
And then he pounced on me, knocking me onto my back.
“Wow. Very dragon-esque of you.”
“Nah, it’s all fiery-hot Ifrit, baby.”
“I fucking love it,” I breathed, squeezing his biceps, then running my hands all over his intricate ink, sliding underneath his tank, feeling his abs, around to his back.
“Damn,” he rasped, starting to grind on me.
He leaned in and licked my neck, tasting me, sending a shot of bliss through me, and drawing a moan from me.
And then he abruptly pushed off me.
“I’m gonna have to savor that taste for now, leave it at that.” He backflipped off the bed, and landed perfectly.
A growl of need escaped me.
“No. Down, sexy dragon. You’ve got your meeting. Sorry about the grinding… it got away from me for a second—or several.” He gestured at Nuvri. “He’s also looking. Come on, woman.”
I laughed and rolled off the bed, landing agilely flat on my feet. “Shut it.”
“Make me.”
I started forward.
He held up his hand. “No. I’m fucking around. Don’t… you do that right now and you’re gonna… I’ll descend on you.” A sly smirk played on his lips. “And I’ll fuck, fuck, and dirty fuck you into that bed.”
“I know what you’re doing, and I love it from you.”
“Being myself all the way like you asked? Like I need to be?”
“You’ve got it.”
He winked. “Thanks for doing that, Evira. Seriously.”
“What we all have is special to me. You’re special to me. I needed you to be secure in that.”
He walked to me and threw his arms around me, fully sinking into me and nuzzling my hair. “You’re so special to me, too.”
I stroked his back and held him to me tightly. “Everything’s okay now. You can let go and just be. I promise. I’m here. We’re all here and we adore you.”
“No… leaving?” he murmured against me.
“No. Of course not.” I eased him back to get a look at him. So much emotion, so much raw intensity. “I mean, except for this meeting right now.”
His lips quirked. “Right.”
I squeezed him to me. “But in the way you mean it, absolutely not. No fucking way. Is that clear enough for you?”
“Yes,” he said, nodding against me. “It actually is.” He moved away, a smile playing on his lips now.
“You’re so fierce and full of conviction with stuff like this…
it really sets in deep.” He gestured at my papers on the bed.
“Just bring that same sort of thing during your meeting, and you’ll be golden. ”
I snatched up the papers and grinned at him. “Yeah?”
“There’s not one sliver of doubt in my mind.” He wrapped his arm around me. “Here. I’ll walk you down, then head to my dorm and get down to my studying.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“A sovereign mutual-defense pact between heirs.”
I smiled as River read the founding statement for Exalt, looking all giddy about it.
Octana stroked his back. “I adore it when you get like this.”
He poked his tongue out at her. “Stop. I’m trying to concentrate.”
She chuckled and sat back in her chair, eyeing me. “He gets distracted easily.”
“Only by you, my darling,” River said with a grin, as he focused on the documents I’d laid out for the three of us.
“Well, that is true.”
“Especially lately.” His lips quirked, as he kept his eyes on the papers. “Wouldn’t have it any other way, though.”
Yeah, since I’d recruited them into Exalt, we’d made an initial first move that had served several purposes at once. That move had resulted in Octana finally being able to make her romance with River public knowledge around the Academy.