I leaned in to kiss her again, taking her mouth against mine. Her skin was so soft as I slipped my hand up her shirt and gripped her perfect breast in my palm, flicking her nipple with my thumb.
She moaned, arching into me. “Can you make it quick? As much as I love taking our time, most likely, we’ll get called away soon for a mission.”
“You look perfect right now, venom baby. You know what else would look good in you?”
“Isn’t it supposed to be ‘on’me?”
“Nah, because the answer…” I grinned down at her, grabbing her soft shorts and pushing them to her ankles, letting her step out of them.
“Is?”
My gaze met hers as I looked up at her and stood. “Me.”
She huffed a breath, but I knew she was trying not to laugh. “Wow. Clever.”
“Thanks for noticing.” I winked and undid my pants and pulled my throbbing dick out. “Yes, I can make it quick.”
“But not too quickly.” She bit her lip, pulling my lips back to hers.
“Of course not.” I lifted her leg and pushed inside her.
As I made love to my mate in a shadowed alley of my home territory, I felt like everything was going to be okay because I hadher,andI wasn’t ever planning on letting her go.
rune
. . .
No matterhow many times I stepped into Apex Simulator 2.0’s hollow chamber and watched the magical tech knit a world out of nothing, it mesmerized me, but that was how magic was. The control center floated in the middle of the room as a translucent console with shimmering interfaces, as Jarvins stood in front of it the way he always did, twig in his mouth, as if nothing we did could surprise him.
His gaze dragged over our squad in House Cooperation’s final simulated mission before graduation.
“This is yourlastcooperative simulation,” Jarvins announced. “So, the other professors and I decided to make it count.”
An aerial view of a human facility popped up on the interface behind him. The outline was angular and sterile, surrounded by snow-covered terrain and perimeter fencing. Heat signatures pulsed in red across the map. Beneath the primary structure was a labyrinth of corridors that glowed faintly. I already knew they would be the cells, containment chambers, and the lab.
Jarvins tapped the console, and the hologram zoomed in on the interior.
“This is a human facility,” he told us. “This is where the humans will be experimenting on kidnapped supernaturals. The supernaturals are under tourmalyke sedation.”
My fingers curled at my sides.
Dimitri’s hand drifted behind me, barely touching my lower back.
Slater’s hand laced through mine on my other side.
My matebonds thrummed with worry and the desire to comfort me.
It was sweet, but unnecessary. If anything, this mission would be therapeutic for me.
Jarvins's eyes flicked over us again. “Rune and Dimitri will pose as human scientists to gain access with a glamour. You will locate captives, open the facility from the inside, and start release procedures.” His gaze shifted. “Ivy, Solon, and Koa will be stationed around the facility for external extraction and triage. Zuko will acquire additional intel from a lead scientist and ensure anything recovered from the supernaturals is wiped or made useless.”
Zuko’s mouth curved wickedly.“Finally.”
“Sylver will equip the spies with enchanted tools to protect against detection. Katie, Slater, and Eleanor will remain at HQ with blueprints, surveillance, captive location tracking, and diplomacy with the human council.”
Eleanor nodded in understanding with Katie, but Slater pouted slightly, the same way he always did on missions where he couldn’t be near me.
Jarvins leaned forward slightly, twig shifting between his teeth. “This is a stealth-infiltration extraction under a time limit of one hour. You are being graded on coordination, deception, restraint, and crisis recovery. If you get caught inside the facility, you will die. If you cannot extract the captives, you will fail. Ifyou escalate beyond mission parameters, you will fail. If you fail, you will be removed from the academy.”
