“Me neither,” I gasped, feeling that familiar pressure building again, somehow even more intense than before. My shadows pulsed with each thrust, darkening and lightening in rhythm with our bodies.
Silver shifted his angle slightly, and suddenly every thrust was hitting that perfect spot inside me more intensely than before. I cried out, my hand moving faster on my cock as the pleasure built to an impossible peak.
“Silver,” I moaned, my free hand clutching at his shoulder. “I’m gonna?—”
“Do it,” he commanded, his hips snapping forward hard. “Cum for me, baby.”
His words pushed me over the edge. My orgasm crashed through me even more intensely than the first, pleasure exploding behind my eyes as I came hard across my stomach and chest. My hole clenched around Silver’s cock, and I heard him curse as his own rhythm faltered.
“Fuck, Ash,” he groaned, thrusting deep one final time before I felt him pulse inside me. A sudden heat filled my insides, his cock delivering another burst of warmth with each throb. I’d never felt anything so wonderful.
My shadows exploded outward in a spectacular display, and distantly I heard more things crash and shatter around the room. But I couldn’t focus on that, not when waves of pleasure were still rolling through my body, not when Silver was collapsed on top of me, both of us breathing hard and trembling.
We stayed like that for several long moments, neither of us willing or able to move. Silver’s weight was comforting, grounding me as I slowly came back to myself. My shadows gradually receded, though they remained more active than usual, swirling lazily around us.
“You okay?” Silver asked eventually, lifting his head to look at me with concern.
“Better than okay,” I admitted, feeling a dopey smile spread across my face. “I feel… different.”
“Yeah?” he chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to my lips. “Thanks for letting me take your V-card. It was beautiful.”
He carefully pulled out, and I winced at the loss. I felt empty, sore in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Silver disappeared into the bathroom for a moment, returning with a warm washcloth to clean me up.
The tenderness of the gesture made my chest tight. He was so careful, so gentle as he wiped away the evidence of what we’d done. When he finished, he tossed the cloth aside and pulled me into his arms.
And I’d never felt so at home in my entire life.
Chapter 16
Ash
“Well Mr. Vale,” Professor Blackwood said the moment I stepped into her office. “I’m surprised it took you and Mr. Erestolal so long to test the bracers capabilities.”
I froze in my tracks, my cheeks burning instantly. “I… I don’t?—”
She held up a hand to stop me. “No reason to be embarrassed. But you did keep the security team on their toes for nearly an entire week. They are not happy.”
“I… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. It’s not like we could command you and Mr. Erestolal to have more…physicalconnections.” She cracked a small smile. “But that’s not why I called you in today.”
I let out a sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure I would’ve survived the embarrassment of giving my professor more details about what Silver and I had done the night before. My body still ached pleasantly and just the thought of him made my shadows wriggle. I tried to force them back. Now wasn’t the time for that.
“What did you need me for then?” I asked, taking a seat in front of her desk. “Is the locker room not clean enough?”
Professor Blackwood shook her head, a slight smirk playing at her lips. “The locker room is spotless, Mr. Vale. No, I calledyou here because it’s time we addressed your shadow walking abilities properly. Those bracers were never meant to be a permanent solution.”
My stomach dropped. “You’re not taking them off, are you? After last night, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“On the contrary,” she said, standing from her desk and moving toward a cabinet in the corner. “I think it’s the perfect time. Your magic has been fighting against the containment for days now. It needs an outlet, and more importantly, you need to learn control.”
She pulled out a velvet-lined box and opened it, revealing a pair of simple silver bands. They looked almost delicate compared to the heavy obsidian bracers currently weighing down my wrists.
“These,” she explained, “are suppressors, not containers. They’ll dampen your power to manageable levels while you learn, but they won’t cut you off from your magic entirely like the bracers do.”
“I don’t understand the difference,” I admitted.
Professor Blackwood set the box on her desk and gestured for me to approach. “The bracers are like putting a lid on a boiling pot. The pressure builds and builds until eventually something has to give. These suppressors are more like turning down the heat. Your magic will still flow, but at a level you can actually work with.”
