CHAPTER TWELVE #2
I saw my opening. I slammed into his chest, flipping him with his own move. He hit the mat with a heavy grunt, and I landed hard on top of him.
One knee was pinned between his thighs, my hand pressed to the center of his bare chest. Our breath tangled in the narrow space between us. My lips hovered just above his, and beneath my skin, the bond hummed with a heat so intense it felt like lightning.
The silence was deafening, broken only by the frantic, synchronized hammering of our hearts.
His silver eyes flicked down to my mouth, the mercury depth of them burning.
"Rules," he murmured, his voice a hoarse, wrecked rasp.
Gods.
I blinked, my heart slamming against my ribs like a trapped bird. The tension snapped. I scrambled off him, my breath ragged, and offered him a hand—mostly to prove my fingers weren't still trembling.
He stared at my palm for a second, the blood we'd shared last night long dry but the memory of it humming in the air. Then, he took it. His grip was firm, calloused, and laced with a trace of cooling shadow.
He stood, towering over me again, blood smeared on his temple and a dangerous, dark smile curving his lips.
"That," he said, casually brushing off his leathers, "was hot."
I groaned and turned away, trying to shove the magic simmering in my veins back into its cage. "You're insane, Maddox."
I checked the time on the wall crystal—7:00 a.m. already. Classes started in an hour.
"First class is history," Asher said, tossing a towel straight at my face.
I caught it with a glare. "Thanks for the warning. Great fun." I looked up to snap a retort—and froze.
His eyes were black. Not just shadowed—black, like thick smoke had swallowed every bit of silver, a bottomless void staring back at me. But as fast as I noticed, they shifted, the silver slamming back into place like a shutter. Like nothing had happened.
"Shower time," he said casually, stretching until his muscles rippled.
"Excuse me?"
He strolled past, that maddening, predatory swagger in every step. "Relax, Princess. You can go first…" He leaned close, his voice dipping into velvet-smooth territory. "So I can watch."
My jaw dropped. "You are the actual worst."
He just grinned over his shoulder, unbothered. "Honestly? Regretting this whole thing already?"
"Deeply," I snapped, grabbing my jacket and stalking toward the exit.
Aether padded after me, flicking his tail with dramatic, feline flair. "I cannot believe this is my eternity," he muttered through the bond.
I didn't even respond. I was too busy replaying the image of Asher's eyes turning to pits of onyx. And the fact that my pulse still hadn't slowed down.
Students were already flitting about the halls, books in hand, but the morning chatter died the second we walked past. I realized why a second too late.
I was still in my Ignis sports bra, sweat-slicked and flushed, and the blood bond sigil on my collarbone was glowing like a gods-damned beacon.
Mortifying. Absolutely mortifying.
The morning was officially a dumpster fire, and the gasoline was currently smirking at me.
Their gazes flicked between me and Asher—but the moment they met his eyes, they dropped their heads like prey sensing a predator.
"Hey, Asher," a brunette purred as she walked past, her voice soaked in seduction.
The bond roared—hard. I saw red.
"Ava!" Aether hissed through the bond.
Too late. Flames sparked up my trainers, the heat racing into my bones.
"Darling," Asher mused lazily, clearly enjoying the show.
I blinked—and the girl's face had gone pale. She scurried away, eyes wide with fear. I turned to Asher, whose arms were crossed, looking smug as hell.
"Don't even," I growled, stomping ahead.
But I didn't get far—shadows coiled around my legs, brushing my calves like silk, calming my burning nerves and tugging my heart back from the inferno. Smug bastard.
At the top step, Asher stopped to chat with an Ignis student. I went straight to my door and threw it open. Ember was already inside, perched on my bed like a chaos-gremlin.
"Oh my gods, Ava," she grinned. "How was it with Daddy Darkness?"
I froze. My soul left my body. Because—of course—he walked in right behind me. Silent. Deadly. Ember's smile faltered as she saw all six-foot-whatever of shadow-laced menace.
"…Oops," she muttered, shrinking as Asher's silver gaze flicked her way.
"Ember," he said, his voice like velvet cut with glass.
He didn't stop at the door. He paced toward the vanity, his Umbra leathers creaking softly, his silhouette devouring the morning light. The shadows at his heels didn't just follow; they expanded, licking at the legs of my bed where Ember sat.
"I believe," Asher continued, tilting his head with a slow, predatory grace, "we were discussing the nuances of my nickname."
Ember swallowed hard, her eyes darting to me in a silent plea for execution. "I—uh—it's just a term of endearment! Very respectful! Regal, even!"
Asher hummed, a low vibration that I felt echoing through the bond in my own chest. He leaned against my dresser, arms crossing over his bare, tattooed chest, the sigil on his collarbone pulsing in time with mine.
"Regal," he repeated dryly. He glanced at me, a wicked glint returning to those silver depths. "Is that what you call me when I'm not listening, Firecracker?"
"In your dreams, Maddox," I snapped, though my face was still heating up. I marched past him toward my closet, desperate to put a layer of silk between my skin and his gaze.
"Actually," he drawled, his voice dropping to that intimate register that made my toes curl against the rug, "my dreams are significantly less respectful than Ember's vocabulary."
Ember made a choked, dying noise into her hand. He simply disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door with a soft click. The shower turned on. Ember stared after him, then at me.
"By the gods, Ava," she whispered, clutching her heart. "I've never been more terrified... or turned on."
I collapsed face-first onto my bed. "Kill me. Just kill me now."
Aether padded in from the balcony, tail lashing. "I'm just a celestial panther, centuries of divine power, and now my greatest battle is enduring the two of you."
"I had peace," Aether went on. "Now I share psychic space with a shadow panther who tries to gut me every time I sneeze."
"You sneezed on her tail!" I hissed.
From the balcony, Zya's voice slithered in. "Try it again and I will end you, fuzzball."
Ember was wheezing. "This is better than a gossip scroll."
The shower turned off. We both froze.
"Oh no," I whispered.
"Oh yes," Ember countered.
I practically dragged her out of the room before he emerged. She clung to the doorframe. "But what if he comes out in a towel—"
"Goodbye!" I shoved her into the corridor and slammed the door.
Just in time. Asher strolled out, fully dressed in his fitted Umbra leathers—hair wet, silver eyes sparkling. I grabbed my uniform, rushed into the bathroom, and let the hot water hit my skin. I needed five minutes to find my sanity.
I stepped out, towel-drying my hair, shirt halfway buttoned, when three sharp raps hit the door.
"Ava?"
Jeremy.
My heart dropped. Darkness coiled up the bond like a protective warning. I scrambled forward, panic flaring, shirt still undone—but Asher reached the door first.
He opened it like he owned the place. Damp hair, smirking, radiating smug menace.
"Good morning," he said smoothly.
Jeremy's green eyes shifted from Asher... to me. I froze. Wet hair, flushed cheeks, shirt half-unbuttoned.
Jeremy's nostrils flared. The stone in the corridor seemed to crack beneath his heel.
"I'll come back later," he said flatly, his voice low and dark.
He turned and walked off.
"Jeremy—" I started, but the hallway swallowed him whole.
I turned slowly to Asher. He just raised an eyebrow. "What?"
I rolled my eyes so hard they hurt. "Let's just go to class."
I grabbed my bag, buttoned my shirt, and stomped down the hall—Aether grumbling behind me and Asher's shadows slinking smugly at my side.
Gods save me from this bond.