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Nothing at this point would stop me from finding and tackling Jaxon. I had never missed anyone like I’d missed him. It had become an ache deep in my gut that would only relax when I finally saw him with my own eyes. And today was the blood moon. We were cutting it finer than I would’ve liked. Yes, it was hours before moonrise, but I wanted to make sure that Jaxon was handling the blood moon well.

With my bag slung over my shoulder, I bolted toward the dorms. I returned the greetings that were shouted at me, but I didn’t stop. I needed to get to the dorms. Right now. A loud caw made me look up. I was fairly certain the raven judging me was Reginald—he was the seeing-eye bird for the transfer student Arie—but I could’ve been wrong, because he wasn’t wearing his scarf. I wasn’t close with the music student, as nice as he seemed.

“Fuck,” I snapped when I collided with something—or rather, someone who squeaked loudly.

“Shit,” they cried as we crashed onto the hard sidewalk.

Wincing from my scraped elbow and throbbing knee, I opened my eyes. Tate lay beneath me. I didn’t know him well, having only really talked to him at the bonfire and Chuseok. But Carter liked him a lot, which told me all I needed to know. Tate was blinking dazedly, and I swore again. I touched the back of his head. Had he smacked it on the sidewalk? Fuck, Reginald. He’d distracted me. Tate stared up at me, blushing. Poor dude.

“Tate, my man,” I said, as I untangled our legs. “You alright? Did you hit your head? Should I call someone? Like Dr. Lee or an ambulance? Or… Carter?” Please don’t make me call Carter, I silently begged. My older brother would never let me hear the end of it.

He blinked again, blushing even more, and averted his eyes—not easy to do with me on top of him. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?” I didn’t wait for him to respond as I jumped to my feet and yanked him up, ignoring his subsequent squeak. “I can walk you to the school nurse. Or call someone.” Someone who wasn’t Carter. “That’s right.” I clapped my hands together. “You’re with that transfer. The demon, no, devil. Luc, right?”

“Did he say that?” Tate asked, his voice breathless.

“I can call him.” I might not have his number, but it shouldn’t be that hard to track down.

“N-no,” he said, shaking his head. “You don’t need to bother him. I’m fine.”

Somehow, I doubted it would bother Luc for me to call him about Jonthan. Yeah, I didn’t know him well either, but I’d seen how Luc looked at my fellow human. Still… I shrugged. It was Tate’s decision. “If you’re sure?”

“Yep. All good.”

I watched as Tate left, his freckled cheeks still bright red. Looking up at Reginald, who was still staring at me in the most judgmental way, I pointed at him. “Not cool, dude. Don’t distract people.”

Someone twittered, and I flushed. I was lecturing a bird. In the middle of campus. Yeah, I’d officially lost it, but in my defense, Reginald had distracted me. I pointed at the bird one more time and hissed, “Behave, or I’ll sic Carter and Sam on you.”

Reginald cawed, almost bored-sounding, then began picking at his foot. Apparently, he wasn’t afraid of my house-cat-shifting siblings. Couldn’t say I blamed him. They were more likely to get distracted by a patch of sunlight and take a nap than chase a bird, especially one as large as Reginald.

Shooting him one last glare while ignoring the people who were chuckling at me, I headed toward my dorm again. This time I didn’t race. It was too dangerous; I didn’t want to crash into anyone. Again. Still, I didn’t linger. I wanted to be back in Jaxon’s arms sooner rather than later.

I bolted up the stairs, then shoved our door open. Jaxon’s head jerked up. He was sitting at his desk, working on his laptop, probably doing homework. “Baby,” he breathed, pushing his chair back.

I hurled myself at him, and Jaxon snagged me close without hesitation and drew me onto his lap. Straddling his thick thighs, I curled my arms around his neck and squeezed. “I missed you.”

His arms were nice and tight around me. “I missed you too.”

Groaning, I buried my face against his neck to breathe in his earthy scent. He was so warm. I snuggled as close as possible, and Jaxon pressed a kiss to the top of my head as he tightened his grasp even more. The way he was holding me made me feel as if he didn’t want me to be away from him any more than I wanted to be away from him.

Normally, I loved away games. New place. Chilling with the team. It was always fun. But now… I was really dreading each one. Being apart from Jaxon was painful. At the same time, I didn’t want to make my whole life about whomever I was dating. Not that Jaxon and I were dating. No. There was too much risk involved. We were still friends. I would cling to that relationship description until my fingertips were bloody. It was safer. Familiar.

I pulled back enough to meet Jaxon’s eyes, and my heart thumped. Gently, I cupped his cheeks, running my thumbs over his smooth cheeks. With every pass of my thumb, his eyes grew heavier, heat blooming in their golden depths. My breath began to speed up, my chest heaving. Swallowing, I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his.

Jaxon groaned. His hands slid down my sides and rested on my hips, gripping me tightly. His fingers dug into me enough to leave bruises, ones I would relish. I wanted to see him on me. I wanted him to mark me. Fuck. What would it be like to be his mate? To have him bite me and tie me to him for the rest of my life? I definitely wouldn’t mind that.

I curled my fingers into a fist around one of his braids, dragging his head back, and deepened the kiss. His lips were warm on mine. I sighed into his mouth. I’d missed him so damn much. The tip of his tongue traced my lips, and I groaned. I opened my mouth in invitation, one he was more than ready to accept. His tongue plunged inside and tangled with mine. Fuck. He was so damn perfect. He tasted so good. I ground against him, my dick starting to swell. His large hands moved toward my ass, squeezing almost tentatively.

“Yes,” I grunted. He could touch my ass. I was all for that. But could he touch it without me wearing clothes?

My cock at full mast, I started rocking my hips on his stomach to get more friction on my needy shaft. It wasn’t alone. Jaxon was hard beneath me, and he rutted up into me as he grunted. Pressing kisses over his cheek, up the line of his jaw, to his pointed ears, I nibbled on them. When I sucked on the tip, Jaxon gasped. I grinned. Well, that was nice to know.

“We should move to one of our beds,” I whispered in his ear, then pressed a kiss to it, making him shudder. “Or I could kneel between your legs. I’d be more than okay with that.” A low groan rumbled in his chest. I smirked, nuzzling his cheek. “I think that’s a yes.”

Before I could slide off his lap, Jaxon said, “We really shouldn’t.”

I paused. I’d raced across campus, skinned my elbow, bruised my hip, and slammed into Tate, but we shouldn’t? Why the hell not?