Page 292 of House Ignis

We started the routine with laps, and gods, I was exhausted.

My lungs burned, and I had to stop after the second circuit, bent over and gasping for air.

"Come on, princess, you had plenty of stamina last night," Asher’s voice rumbled in my head.

My gaze snapped toward the center of the field where he was standing shirtless now, dumping water over his face.

Behind him, a group of girls from our year were staring at his bare back like he was a five-course meal.

I saw red. Without thinking, I flicked my wrist and shot a fireball straight into the grass at their feet.

They screamed, scrambling away and sprinting ahead to get distance. Asher looked down at the blackened, smoking patch of grass and then up at me, his eyebrows arched.

The other guys had stopped to stare, too; Ezra was grinning like a maniac, while Mavrik’s jaw was practically on the floor.

Asher, however, just gave me a look of pure, heated hunger.

“Gods, my cock is twitching at your jealousy, darling,” he purred through the bond.

My eyes snapped to the prominent bulge in his shorts, and fucking hell, the memory of the bathroom last night hit me so hard I nearly buckled. I wanted him inside me, right now.

My desire rolled through the bond in a thick, heated wave, and I could see the exact moment he started fighting the urge to march over and claim me in front of everyone.

He slowly poured the rest of his water bottle over himself, and my mouth went bone-dry.

I watched every glistening drop trail down his neck, over the corded muscles of his chest, and follow the deep V-line of his stomach until it disappeared into his shorts.

His hand followed the path of the water down his body, before his fingers grazed his crotch and gave it a firm, deliberate squeeze—all while staring directly into my fucking soul.

Heat pooled between my thighs, heavy and insistent.

“You like that?” he whispered into my mind.

"Can you guys not eye-fuck each other for five minutes?" Mavrik groaned from beside Asher.

Without even looking away from me, Asher flicked out a shadow tendril. It whipped across the grass, snared Mavrik’s ankle, and yanked.

"What the fuck, man!" Mavrik yelled as he hit the ground with a dull thud.

My hand flew to my mouth to stifle a laugh.

Ezra burst out laughing, and the rest of the girls joined in as Mavrik scrambled to sit up.

Asher just grinned, finally breaking eye contact to offer his friend a hand up.

“You better know what you’re doing by making me wait, princess,” he sent through the bond, the dark promise in his tone sending a delicious chill crawling up my spine.

“Because when I finally get you back to that room, I’m going to make you pay for every second of this.”

•••

The routine was fucking brutal. I spent the entire time trying not to watch Asher, but it was impossible.

Watching him use his magic was my favorite part of being his—he was lethal, a beautiful, dangerous creature that belonged entirely to me.

We spent the hour sending delicious, filthy threats through the bond, and the girls had to snap me back into focus more than once.

They all understood, though; we’d been starved for each other for two weeks, and the hunger was clawing at both of us.