It's exactly the kind of movie I'd usually make fun of, especially because of the thinly veiled humans-are-better-than-legacies shtick they have going.
But oh mygods, I can't focus on any of it with Maven in my lap like this. She smells insanely good, her subtle midnight scent wrapping around me when she brushes some of her dark hair out of her face. I want to lean down and lick her neck to see if I can taste this scent that drives me fucking nuts.
Or I could lick her pussy.
Damn it, I want to taste her so bad.
The only thing stopping me from carrying her back to one of the rooms and begging her to let me make her come untilshe passes out is the fact that she's actually enjoying this movie. She's dressed in the comfy pajamas I picked out for her—a tank top and shorts that barely reach her thighs, which means I can't stop staring at all of her exposed skin. She's not wearing a bra, andfuck,it's so hard to keep my hands off those gorgeous tits.
She's turned sideways, her feet in Everett's lap. Her dark gaze is pinned on the suite's TV. When a handful of the humans in the movie escape the mansion and race into the woods, she boos.
Everett side-eyes her, fighting a smile. "You're rooting for the monster, aren't you?"
"Of course I am. Everyone else in this movie is too stupid to live."
I bury my nose in the side of her neck again, my heart doing double time when her scent engulfs me. I can't get enough of it. My cock is stiff and has been for the last fifteen minutes, but Maven hasn't noticed since there's also a thick blanket in my lap acting as a buffer.
"You're so fucking cute, Boo," I rasp.
She gives me a stern look that makes my cock twitch, keeping her voice low enough that only I can hear her over the movie.
"If you keep calling me either of those things, I'llactuallypunish you."
Gods, yes. Please.
Holding her is doing wonders for me. It's keeping me in my own fucking head when the asshole living under my skin has been wrenching control from me over and over again today. We've had so much going on—First Placement ending in disaster, her and Silas mysteriously bonding, going on the run—that I've been waiting to find the right time to tell Maven that I've started blacking out for a couple of minutes at a time.
Because my dragon is figuring out how to take control of myhumanbody.
This has never happened before. It's freaking me the hell out. So far, the asshole hasn't done anything horrible that I know of, and no one's noticed…at least, not until he killed Gibbons. Ending that annoying-ass mage seems to have quieted my dragon for the moment, but I'm still an anxious fucker as the movie ends and we watch the credits roll.
Maven yawns. "It was good until they killed the monster."
Without looking, I hear Silas wander out of one of the back rooms to store something in the hotel suite's fridge. He's been doing caster shit ever since we got back from dinner. When he moves to stand beside the couch, I catch a whiff of him.
He smells like that colorless herb Crypt found in the Divide. I catch his eye and nod, appreciative that he's still working on something for the next time my mate's shadow heart starts to hurt her.
Maven's gaze slips toward one of the suite windows, and her lips press together. It's a subtle expression since she's still wary of showing her feelings even around us, but it’s clear that she's worried about her psychotic incubus.
I pick up the remote and flip through the channels to distract her. "Should we look for something else to watch, or is it finally Sit-On-My-Face-O’Clock?"
That does the trick. Maven starts to say something quippy when the TV settles on a news channel that shuts us all up.
"—anonymous resource, a former employee of the Immortal Quintet, reported that the Legacy Council has now launched a manhunt for a legacy named Maven Oakley," an anchorwoman is reporting, standing outside of Everbound University with the castle as a background in the distance. My pulse jumps at the mention of my mate's name. "While we have no record, photos, or footage of this legacy, here is the physical description we were given of her."
Everett swears, glowering at the screen as she rattles off a description.
I don't know which idiot went to the human media to spill about Maven—but when the anchor's description makes her sound like some plain, unpleasant frump, I decide I'll let my dragon kill the leak if we get to hunt them down.
"It remains unclear exactly why this manhunt has been launched, but the legacies' premier mandatory graduate school, Everbound University, is now completely abandoned as we humans are left to wonder what in the world is going on. Sources in Halfton, the town closest to Everbound, have reported constant comings and going of special teams sent in by the Legacy Council, which has refused to officially comment on this situation or the whereabouts of the Immortal Quintet. Another anonymous source claims that a bloody massacre of epic proportions took place at this legacy hub of learning, leaving no one behind for the Legacy Council's response team to question."
"An exaggerated report, I'm sure," Silas muses.
Maven shakes her head but doesn't explain.
The news anchor goes on. "The lack of response from the legacy government has greatly alarmed the president and the secretary of defense as we reach a crisis level of surges near the Divide. Local governments have ordered multiple evacuations along the East Coast, so unfortunately, many families will spend the holidays in emergency aid stations and hotels this year. In addition, countless frantic reports have been received declaring the emergence of a new kind of shadow fiend. No video or photo evidence has been submitted yet. Still, reports indicate that this faceless new threat causes terrifying hallucinations and induces extreme levels of panic—so much so that it quite literally leaves victims paralyzed from fear. Hospitalizations from this unknown menace are occurring at a rapid rate throughout South Carolina and Tennessee?—"
I abruptly notice how still Maven has gone. She's got that same poker face she puts on whenever she's hiding a strong reaction to something.
