Page 298 of House Ignis

He wiped more blood from his ear and shoved his thumb into my mouth.

I moaned around it, the metallic tang of him hitting my tongue like an aphrodisiac.

"There we go," he whispered. I arched my back against the dirt, wanting more, needing the friction.

He smiled with predatory satisfaction.

Suddenly, his shadows hoisted me up, slamming me against the nearest stone wall.

My back ached at the impact, but the heat between my legs was screaming louder.

He walked over, pinning me with his body, and used his feet to hook my ankles and push my legs wider.

"We can't—" I panted, my breath hitching as his heat radiated off him.

"And why is that?" he asked, his face inches from mine.

"It’s public. Someone could walk in at any time—" I wriggled in the shadows' grasp, my heart hammering.

He gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze.

"Does it look like I give a fuck?"

He definitely did not.

That absolute lack of restraint was what scared and thrilled me the most.

He took his bloodied thumb and trailed it slowly down my chest, over the curve of my breasts to the edge of my sports bra.

In one fluid, practiced motion, he unhooked the clasp.

His lips crushed onto mine, tasting of blood and salt and a hunger that promised to burn the whole Academy down before he let me go.

His hand gripped my waist, bruising the skin as he hauled me flush against him.

I just melted in his arms, the defiance draining out of me.

"Asher—" I pleaded through the bond, the word a shattered whisper in his mind.

"What do you want, princess?" he replied, his voice a jagged rasp as he ground his length against mine.

The absolute, starving need poured from him to me and back again.

I didn’t know what the fuck was happening to the bond lately, but it ached and roared with a new, feral intensity.

We were volatile and perfect all at once.

"I want you, but we cannot fuck here," I moaned, even as his hand slid into my tights to rub against my aching center.

"Yes, we can." He ground into me harder, and my head fell back against the stone. He didn't waste a second, burying his face in my neck.

"I just can’t keep my fucking hands off you," he murmured against my pulse.

I whimpered, my fingers tangling in his damp hair.

“Your scent, gods, Ava… it’s stronger. More potent. It’s fucking intoxicating.”

He bit my neck, and I groaned, the sensation bordering on pain. He was right—everything had changed.