My voice turned darker. “We must remain popular. Scandalous, saintly, it doesn’t matter. The only way we can avoid Elijah’s dagger is by remaining in the public eye, and becoming a favorite of the people… even if we’re just puppets for their own amusement. If we’re celebrities, Eli can’t hurt us. He can only push so far before his actions start a war, and he knows that.”
“And what about Gabby? She’s cleverer than Elijah is. She’s likely to take our newfound fame as a threat.”
“She can’t touch us. Not until she connives some scheme to get rid of us, and that’s going to be exceptionally hard for her now, seeing as how the public knows you worked for her as the White Rose. The whole thing already makes her look bad.”
“Why do they care? Their main goal is to get rid of us, and find the Crystals,” Emma said.
“Yes, but we have an advantage they don’t have. We don’t have to worry about the people,” I pointed out. “Gabby and Elijah’s attention is focused on preventing an uprising. They changed things too fast. And they’re at the point where one false move is going to cause a revolution. They can’t afford that at this point in their rule.”
Emma bit her lip, and I found the movement sexy. It immediately distracted me from any talk of politics. I felt my wolf stirring, and through our bond, Emma sensed it.
She was cautious. We hadn’t been intimate since before I was imprisoned. I needed a lot of space after what had happened with Lord Lucien. She didn’t know if I was ready.
I reached out and drew her to my side. She took the invitation and trailed her fingers up and down my chest. “Should we go somewhere more private?” I asked.
Her look was wily. “I have a few hours before Illusion class.”
“I’m certain we could come up with a good way to spend them.”
Emma packed her things away. “I’m all in.”
I couldn’t truly tell her what was on my mind, because the only fathomable thought that I had coursing through me was that I wanted her, and I wanted her now.
I took her hands, and we wandered back up to the dorms together. The moment we were inside my room, she let her bag fall to the floor, and was upon me in an instant. I had to reach behind me and fumble with the lock as we kissed, but it was difficult, because Emma was already yanking down my waistband. We had the contents of our uniform off in mere seconds, naked flesh pressing up against each other with desirous need. We were like ravenous wolves hungry for a feast, after going without a kill for far too long.
I reached my hand between her legs and fondled her there. She gave a groan against my mouth that made my heart kick, and I rubbed her with a passion greater than what I’d felt before. The noises of students walking outside in the hallway permeated through the door, but when Emma gave a slow jerk to my cock, it brought my attention right back. I couldn’t care if the whole school heard us, for all I cared about was that Emma was mine, and the entirety of Malovia needed to know it.
We stumbled backward, unable to wrench our mouths away from each other, or keep our hands from touching intimate places. My skin burned against hers, shifter heat colliding with her cool skin. She put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me onto the bed. I fell backward, and she began unfastening my prosthetic for me. Her movements were gentle and tender, though when she pulled off my prosthetic, she barely suppressed a gasp. The flesh there was still mottled, splotched angrily with purple.
“Ethan, this isn’t healing right,” she began, with a worried look up.
I could hardly give a damn about that now. “Leave it,” I said. “I want you.”
She gave another concerned look down, but that ended when I seized her forearm and pulled her forward. She fell on top of me, and I nearly growled with pleasure when I felt her breasts press against my chest. Her nipples brushed my skin, and it caused a shudder to wrack through my whole body. I grabbed her hips and yanked her upward, until her breasts covered my face. Paradise infected my system as I took one of her nipples into my mouth and sucked. Emma let out a groan, and I felt her slickness as it seeped across my hip.
“You taste like a goddess would,” I groaned. I couldn’t imagine a more heavenly presence than this. I was infected with delirious need. I took her other nipple into my mouth, lavishing attention on her perfect body. She ran a hand through my hair, and the way her fingernails drew lightly over my skin made even my soul quiver.
When I dared to take my mouth away from her breasts, she turned around, straddling my hips. My mind went wild with the possibilities as I eyed her ass.
“What are you up to?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine what myonawilkehad conjured up this time.
“There’s something I want to try,” she said. I certainly gave no objection.
Emma knelt between my legs, tucking her feet underneath my thighs. Then she sat back. I hissed with pleasure as she sunk down onto the entirety of my dick. Slowly, she began riding me. I got an incredible view of her perfect ass as it moved up and down, and her wetness slicked my cock. My eyes rolled in the back of my head, and I reached out to squeeze her ass. She let out a moan, and her pace increased faster until I felt the urge to thrust upward. I grabbed onto the sheets and held on as Emma panted above me, and gods, every time I sank into her, it nearly killed me.
In the cell underneath the palace, I’d all but forgotten what sex was like. Not so now. My shifter scent absorbed Emma’s heat like it was meant only for that purpose. She rode me in circles, until I could take no more and had to grab onto her hips. I lifted her up and down with my thrusts, the sound of our bodies colliding mingling with the musicality of her moans. My eyes were glued on that beautiful body of hers, bouncing up and down against me. I was aware that every shifter within a twelve foot radius of this room would smell sex, and I didn’t give a damn, because I was only sinking further and further into this endless ardor that was Emma’s body, and what I wanted to do to it.
Emma let out a whimpering cry, and I felt her clench around my cock. That’s when I let go, and a wolfish noise emitted from my throat as I emptied myself into her. I gave a few more long, precious strokes. Emma’s back shuddered, and she pulled herself off of me. She fell against me, our skin glossy with sweat and lust. We’d more or less soaked the sheets.
Emma brushed back a sticky strand of red hair that was stuck to her forehead. She tried to roll off my chest, but I pinned her there with an arm.
“Now where’d you learn how to do that?” I asked, skimming my lips against the edge of her chin. She gave another delightful whimper— one of my favorite sounds.
“I read Delmare’s romance novels,” she said in a mischievous purr.
I gave a throaty laugh. “Keep reading them. I like these little ideas you have.”
“I wanted to do something special,” she said. “For when you were ready to come back to me.”
