Chapter 5 Zayn
~Zayn~
He’d fucked him.
Winter had fucked that bitch-ass snake guy.
That royal, elitist asshole had taken and played with what was mine.
And yeah, I’d fucking followed them after they’d left. And maybe that was a little stalkerish, but it was what it was.
I’d felt Vaxan’s privacy ward being down as I’d made it onto the corridor where his room was at—one of the areas of the dorms that was set back a little from the rest. Like the suite belonging to the ice dragon princess over on the other side of the expansive floor.
A privacy ward was something magic-wielders like us added to their dorms on top of the automatic safeguarding enchantment that was instituted by the administration through each room to prevent damage. And if a being didn’t possess magic, they could have a faculty member sort it for them.
The snake had likely sensed me outside and probably wanted to fucking torture me with the sounds coming from within.
I could’ve just walked away, but… urgh. Maybe I’d tortured myself.
The thudding and rocking of the bed, indicating Winter was getting rough like he’d always resisted with me as he’d been afraid of hurting me.
All their damned talking—sex talk and all. Worse, the bonding.
The growling and snarling of them taking it the primal route.
The slapping of flesh as Winter had let that fucker rail him.
And worst of all, the strangled cries from Winter, him being so fucking into it and immersed, and satisfied beyond anything that had come before.
Roars of ecstasy, then the soft murmurs of contentment afterward… dammit… they were deep in my head, replaying over and over again.
I clenched my fists as I paced up and down my room in front of my mussed-up bed where I’d been tossing and turning all fucking night because of this.
I glared at the black sheet I’d covered that fucking enchanted oil painting with that hung above my headboard courtesy of Win.
I knew what I’d see right now, and it was bad enough feeling it without having it displayed in undeniable visual form.
Winter Nox was mine.
My friend, my lover, my… everything.
I was his first. And I knew that damn well meant something to him.
Fuck. That was the problem with this turn of events as well—Winter didn’t just fuck. He got emotionally attached. Deeply. It was never a one-nighter to him.
Although he’d never admit it, it was a massive part of why he only did the feed part of the fuck-and-feeds he took part in at Polaris.
Yeah, I knew about that.
He didn’t know that I knew. But I damn well did.
I’d had to keep an eye on him. He was new to the world, after being protected and coddled in his family home for two decades, which existed inside a Rifted Cradle—couldn’t get more protected than being inside that magical construct of a place.
He might be really fucking smart, but there was a difference between intellectual intelligence and street-smarts.
Plus, with his whole savior and white knight complex, he was making himself more vulnerable to being taken advantage of, to having his good nature and powers being used for the personal gains of others.
So, a few times I’d headed that off for him.
Again, he didn’t know about any of it.
“That was just… rage relief.”
“You really can’t process that you enjoy a little submission? Not wanting to lead, but to receive instead doesn’t make you—”
“Stop. Just fucking stop, Win. We’re not having a heartfelt moment here. It was just some rough and raw fucking.”
My words many days ago in that bathroom stall.
Lies.
All fucking lies on my end.
I’d even let Sylas Morgrave’s accusation stand as truth.
“Now, Zayn, if you’re finished using my son like a fleshlight, I’d teleport out. Right now.”
It had disgusted me when he’d uttered those words.
It had disgusted him too. I’d heard it clear as fucking day in his tone. Thinking his son was being used like that by me, as nothing but a thing to get off with… dammit! It wasn’t true.
But I’d let it stand.
I’d thought it would be better that way.
For Win.
“Fuck me while I play with your lovely dick. Pulsing in my hand… I can’t wait until it spurts hot cum all over me.”
Oh, shut up. Just shut the hell up, Win!
I couldn’t get those words I’d overheard spilling from Winter last night out of my head.
It wasn’t supposed to be like that. His connection with that shithead was… it was deep. Already!
“Exquisite ass.”
“Exquisite creature.”
That was Winter’s word during intense fucking. Exquisite.
And he’d lavished it upon him, on that damned snake! It was my word! Only for me!
I hissed as the pain in my right arm intensified again. I grabbed it with my left and brought it close, examining the deep fucking frostbite there on my outer forearm. Courtesy of that piece of shit, Keuric. Actually, it had happened because of the dragon princess’ interference as well.
I couldn’t be pissed at that gorgeous babe of a dragon, though, because she hadn’t meant any threat toward me.
And, sure, she was a hot piece, and I might’ve already added her to my To Pursue mental list. Not just because she was gorgeous and sexy beyond belief, but because of what I’d been picking up from her as I’d seen her around campus.
A soft inner sweetness, a gentleness, which reminded me of a certain somebody else. But that she wore much differently.
Anyway… when her ice had connected with our battling streams, the impact had intensified Keuric’s and hit me.
And the damage it had caused me still hadn’t healed.
Basically, my body was working overtime to prevent it from driving deeper and causing more damage, my natural makeup keeping it isolated, most of its energy focused there. The healing had become secondary and it was moving along at a snail’s pace—or human pace.
I fingered my worry stone bracelet on my left wrist. Then I strode to the far end of my dorm and walked out onto the balcony, needing to distract myself until the pain flare subsided.
At least it was only every couple of hours and lasted for about ten minutes max. Problem was, it would be like that until it fully healed. And with the way it was going, it could be another few days.
I sucked in mouthfuls of the fresh morning air as I leaned against the balcony railing in my pink and black striped boxer briefs, allowing the slight wind to brush soothingly over my skin.
Some dorm room balconies peered over the campus courtyard, but mine was over the rear of the building, looking out over the gardens and the open fields and trees that extended for a couple of acres. There was also a lake at the center of the grounds.
And that was where I caught sight of that motherfucker, Keuric.
There he was walking on water like a trumped-up god, using his ice to accomplish it.
What a pretentious, delusional little shit.
Just like him with that very prominent silver dragon’s head belt buckle that was basically functioning as a neon flashing arrow straight to his dick.
Come the fuck on, man.
His coat was discarded on the bank, and he glided back and forth along the water shirtless, his blue hair whipping wildly about him.
He was trying to take my place here as the big man on campus, something I’d worked hard to establish and managed to maintain for the last three years.
Not through alpha male posturing or attempted domination like he was going with.
But because I was me.
I was fun, adventurous, and I struck a perfect balance between approachable and dangerous mystique. I was a fucking joy to be around. That was what people got from me on the surface. And so long as they didn’t piss me off, it stayed that way.
Him, though?
After his bullshit last night and his intent to supplant me… he’d be getting my nastier side.
I saw him scent the air.
He stilled on the lake.
And then he raised his head, his gaze locking right on mine across all that distance.
He smirked and licked his lips at me. Then he grabbed his cock through his pants and thrust his hips.
Urgh. As if I’d hit that.
In fact, I wasn’t in the mood to fuck anyone.
I was supposed to be getting it on with my vampire fuck buddy, Payton, but I’d canceled. I was in no state for it.
I knew I wasn’t emotionally stable right now. I was on edge. I could actually recognize that despite what some people assumed.
And with the frostbite thing… I didn’t like pain with my sex.
Except when Winter was involved. But he delivered it in the right way, the perfect way.
Nobody else could replicate that. Besides, to endure pain during fucking meant being the submissive one, which was another thing I only did with him. Nobody else knew I even had that in me.
And they never would.
Keuric wasn’t done trying to sexually intimidate me—as if that would ever be possible—and he slid two fingers into his mouth and made a show of blowing them, tongue swirling greedily.
Fucker.
His eyes locked on mine and I could see him trying to sense a change in me—my pulse quickening, my body heating, me flinching.
He got nothing from me.
Again, despite thoughts to the contrary, I could exert intense control over myself—well, my body, anyway—when it was called for.
As for the body heat thing, the fool wouldn’t be able to tell because of my Ifrit nature.
Dumbass.
He clearly knew shit about my species.
Most people didn’t, actually. Sort of like the snake guy, my kind had lived apart from the rest of the supernatural world for ages.
Even though we’d become a part of it in the last twenty years, that still wasn’t enough time for knowledge to spread fully to the masses to the point where it would be automatically known without effort on their part.
I went to turn away, because I wasn’t in a state to respond to his bullshit right now. But once my arm healed and I was in a more levelheaded state of mind, he’d better watch his fucking back. Shitheads like him didn’t crawl back into the holes they’d come from—they had to be shoved back in there.