Gemini Heat (Dark Witch Academy)

Chapter One

Chapter One

Neo

Lord, I’m burning up.

Even though this is literally the exact experience I’ve been dying to share with my queen and the rest of our warlocks, you know, forever. Which is amazing.

Having me go into my very first mating heat at this precise moment? When there’s still so much in our newish harem that’s all unsettled?

Let’s just say, all my newly awakened sex hormones kicking in at this exact moment isn’t totally a good thing.

Which isn’t to say I don’t appreciate the upside of having five insanely hot mates and suddenly being this out-of-control horny.

But for an awkward bookworm like me, a shy guy who was literally a virgin until, like, yesterday? A guy who only just figured out I’m actually bi instead of straight?

Am I allowed to admit my first heat has been kinda… overwhelming?

Right now, I mean, I’m just trying to take the edge off this whole intense experience.

I’m stripped down to my skin and immersed to my chin in the cold plunge pool in the caldarium .

That’s part of the Roman bath under the domus in our residential college at the witch academy.

At this late hour, I’m alone in here, and that’s by choice.

Just trying to focus on the icy water encasing every inch of my steamy, twitchy, super-sensitized skin.

And trying not to focus on the molten column of hot need pulsing through my rock-hard junk.

Basically, my relentless boner is totally unfazed by this whole ice bath I’m immersed in, all the way to my chin.

Wow.

This freaking heat.

It’s, like, unstoppable.

I shift around on the submerged stone bench and, ugh, I just can’t help it. I let out a groan.

That raw, needy sound echoes off the dripping tile walls with their Roman-era frescoes (blurry, because I’m not wearing my glasses). The sound of my own need bounces off the crumbly antique mosaic floor.

Despite this long solo soak in the thermae , my well-stretched and pounded hole’s definitely tender with the aftermath of what all’s been going on down there, really intensely with both Lucius and Ronin (plus Zara, who’s definitely loving the whole scenario), since I started my heat.

Oh, wow. Zara.

My cherished one.

Just the thought of my precious fated mate… with her bedhead of teal curls tumbled down her naked back… and her turquoise eyes glowing with witchfire… and that sweet longing written all over her sultry Marilyn Monroe face…

Another breathy little moan leaks out of me.

The sound ricochets off the glass that separates this little room from the big underground pool where we all soak together on the weekends. This late at night, way after midnight on a school night, the whole complex is still and shadowy.

Facets of green light glimmer on the walls.

At least it’s nice and quiet, except for the gurgle of water bubbling up from the hot springs under the island.

Trying like heck to ease all my assorted discomforts at once, I breathe in deep the familiar reek of sulfur and minerals, laced with the musky residue of Lucius’ mating scent.

Huh.

Our wolf shifter headmaster must’ve been in here earlier. And judging by the warm spice of ambergris I can just sniff out with these sharp shifty senses that come with my heat—even though I’m not a shifter myself—Lucius was in here earlier with Ronin.

Probably reaming him up against the wall. Or maybe bending him over the bench in the locker room next door. Or, you know, both.

My neglected dick throbs at the visual.

“Oh, sugar,” I moan softly.

Usually Zara giggles and Vasili sneers at what he calls my pathetic Sunday school swearing.

Too bad. That’s how I was raised.

I’m just hoping I can soak the ache out of this brand-new mating bite—the first alpha bite I’ve ever taken—that Vasili sank into my shoulder last week. And really hoping I can cope with this whole mating heat.

Because the last thing I need tonight, as in the very last, is for Vasili to see the way I—

“Mercury?” Like I’ve summoned him with my thoughts, Vasili’s voice curls through the caldarium like a whiplash. The sound of my last name snaps against my senses from behind.

“What the everloving fuck do you imagine you’re doing in here?” he demands. “You’ve been soaking in that plunge pool so long your precious balls must be shriveled to the size of raisins.”

I heave a sigh of resignation and let my head fall back against the basin.

“If only,” I say glumly.

Actually, my balls have not shriveled to the size of raisins, dickhead, thank you very much. They’re swollen to the size of plums and starving for attention, like the rest of my junk.

But Vasili Romanov, a.k.a. the Goblin King, because he’s a dead ringer for the frosty perfection of David Bowie in Labyrinth and the unapproachable top-dog alpha in our cobbled-together polycule, definitely doesn’t need to know that.

Since, you know, the two of us were enemies all the way from freshman year—when Vasili bullied and hazed me so bad I almost quit—pretty much till the exact moment I lost my mind and asked him to bite me.

And then fuck me.

Now I honestly think he’s ruined me.

My non-response to my new alpha’s sudden appearance doesn’t seem to make him very happy, because Vasili gives an annoyed-sounding huff.

Well, too bad.

If that snake had his way, we’d all genuflect whenever he slithers in.

The soft suck of the glass door closing really makes me hope he’s given up and gone away. That for once, he’s decided not to torment me and left me to sulk in peace.

Of course, my temporary spurt of relief (and maybe a teeny bit of disappointment) doesn’t last very long.

The invisible fist of V’s telekinetic witchcraft clamps hard and heavy around my whole body, like I’ve just been encased in concrete.

“Hey! Stop that, you big bully.” I stiffen right up and struggle to break free.

Needless to say, that’s a wasted effort. He’s not even letting me turn my head. He’s annoyed at me and he wants me to know it.

“For cripes’ sake,” I grumble. “Would you please—?”

“Silence.” His ruthless grip crushes my whole body like an iron glove.

Next thing I know—before I even have time to worry about my airway or what I can do to stop him—I’m dragged naked from the pool, spun around to face my nemesis, and dropped hard on the tile floor.

I barely manage to get my legs under me in time to save myself from landing at his feet on my butt.

Now he rears between me and the only exit like a hooded cobra, all slim and sinewy in his silky sleep pants and a black lace cami that clings shamelessly to his sexy body.

The underwater light from the big pool next door glows like an emerald halo in his ice-blond mop of rock-star hair.

That kind of backlight makes it hard to see his perfect face.

Like Zara says, he’s sexy-pretty.

The way I see it, that only makes him more terrifying.

I swallow hard to get some moisture down my suddenly dry throat. I’m a good size and I work out on the daily to stay buff for Zara.

Still, even when he’s barefoot, my new alpha looms over me.

“Jerk.” I simultaneously glare up at him and try to cover up the evidence of my condition down below with my cupped hands. Not easy to do, because I’m not exactly tiny. I’ve got what Zara calls a monster cock. “You’re a real jerk sometimes, you know that, V?”

“Hmmm.” His unamused stare skates over me from top to bottom, which makes goosebumps erupt down my arms and race across my shoulders. Now that I’m out of the water and all exposed, even in the humid warmth down here , I finally start shivering.

His voice lashes out like a snakebite. “Why are you hiding from all of us?”

Resentment lurks in my comeback. “For your information, I’m not hiding from all of you.”

Only you, snake.

In the green-tinged shadows, I can barely see his lip curl in a sneer.

“I thought so,” he purrs. “But how pathetic to hear that particular suspicion confirmed. You’ll have to hide much better than this, First Boy, if you intend to hide from me.”

My face tightens in a wince.

He’s Mogadon and I’m Kryll, which means we’re both warlocks, but from non-telepathic races.

The problem is, when he fell for Zara, V also turned out to be part shifter.

Very appropriately, he now shifts into a giant flying serpent.

Then he bit me and fucked me, which means now we have a mating bond.

Due to that, he’s reading my mind.

Which is, you know, awkward? It makes me feel too exposed. He’s way better than I am at hiding his thoughts. That’s why it’s a problem.

“Look, I’m allowed to be alone if I want.” I start to fold my arms across my chest, till I remember that I’m nakey. Feeling more ridiculous by the second, I decide to keep my hands right where they are, folded protectively over my dick.

By now, Vasili’s not the only one feeling annoyed.

I square my shoulders (as much as I can with my hands in fig-leaf pose) and just brazen it out. “I don’t even know why you’re down here anyway, instead of asleep upstairs with everyone else, or why you care if I’m hiding. It’s not like you’re my real alpha—”

He hisses in warning.

My words dry right up and evaporate like smoke.

If I thought he was scary before, now he’s like pulling back your sheets and finding a rattlesnake in your bed.

“Oh, aren’t I?” His venomous voice coils and strikes. “Perhaps you’ll indulge me. In precisely what manner am I deficient as your alpha?”

Oh, Lord, now I’m in for it. He’s in one of his horrible Vasili tempers.

“Come on, V.” I hate that my voice sounds sulky, but he definitely brings it out of me. “It’s not like you need me to tell you…”

His tone is a razor blade wrapped in silk. “You know I simply live for your critiques, Mercury. Now indulge me with your insights, do .”

I lick my dry lips.

His gaze drops to my mouth, which makes my dick pulse.