Page 28

I snorted. “Because people like my fucking family and those from my house look down—literally look down on everyone from Stormcrest—and they drive the greater populace further into the ground. ‘House Jupiter weeds out the weak’. Our motto says it all.”

“I’m sorry,” Kendra said. “I may have grown up without parents, but I got by with the support of people around me. Your family and your blood do not define you. Coming from nothing doesn’t mean I am nothing. The same goes for you. You’re not your parents.”

I looked at my friend’s lifted chin and the passion burning in her brown eyes and felt a spark of pride. “You will make a great leader, Kendra. Regardless of who wins the crown, I know you’ll find a way to make things better for your people.”

She beamed at me, then her gaze shifted to something behind me. “Likewise, girlfriend. We’ll talk later, okay? Looks like someone’s here to see you.”

I looked over my shoulder to see Ace leaning against a tree, looking gorgeous in his usual black attire, his hair freshly washed and tousled. His lip curled up in a half smile, and I turned back to face Kendra. “Lunch at the cafeteria today?”

“It’s a deal.”

She walked back towards our dorms, and I turned to face my approaching shadow with a raised brow. “Stalking now, are we?”

He smirked. “You should be so lucky. Actually, I had a feeling you’d be flying or outside somewhere this morning. So, I brought you this.” He handed me a breakfast wrap and a bag with a cinnamon donut inside.

I sniffed the sweet treat like an addict on crack. The man knew the real way to a woman’s heart. “So, you did come looking for me,” I pressed with a grin.

“Couldn’t let the princess go without her breakfast. She tends to get a little hangry,” he quipped. “You also need your strength. All things considered, though, you look—”

“Like trash?”

“I was going to say beautiful.”

My heart did an extra little blip. “Ace Warner, are you okay? Did you hit your head during the trial? Maybe inhale a little too much toxic gas?”

“I’m serious.” His sharp grey eyes assessed me from head to toe. “You could be on the cusp of death and nothing would change that. But that’s not what I came here for. I… I’ve had some time to think about things. About us.”

“Us,” I repeated slowly. “What happened to hating me? To our little game?”

“That was bullshit, and you know it.” He stepped closer until his face was just before mine and his hand closed around my neck. “I told you I wanted you a while ago. I just didn’t know how much.”

“And? How much of me do you want now?” I looked up into those cold grey eyes, softened now in the dappled sunlight that streamed through the branches of the tree overhead.

He shuddered like this truth he was about to spill might burn him.

“I want all of you. Every fucked-up part, every jagged piece. Our crooked edges can fit together until we’re whole inside.

You are mine, and I want to be yours. I don’t care what happens after these trials are done, but I want you, Princess.

All of you.” He kissed me deeply, squeezing the hair at the nape of my neck.

I gasped as he tugged sharply, revealing my throat, and his lips found the sensitive skin, his teeth grazing it. “What do you say, little bird?”

“I…” I gasped again as the cool metal of his bionic hand slipped under my hoodie to grasp a hip. “I say yes. You can have me.”

He pulled my head back abruptly, his eyes hooded with lust. But there was an earnest quality there, too.

A rare moment of vulnerability. “I need you to be sure of this. Because I don’t just want a small part of you.

I am all in, Princess. I will be gentle with your heart, but I make no promises for the rest of you.

I don’t… let people in very often. So, think hard about your answer. ”

Was this really happening? My pulse was racing, my thoughts going haywire.

Was Ace Warner really declaring this to me?

He must have hit his head, to be so open and vulnerable.

Hells, who fucking cared? I wanted him, too.

I always had. A moth to a flame, only, he would make me burn brighter, not burn out. “You have me. All of me.”

“Good.” He shot me a cocky smile. “I hope you’re not in any rush then, because I plan to keep you to myself for at least a few hours.”

He backed away, and I protested the instant loss of warmth until he slid his fingers between mine—after grabbing my donut, of course—and led me silently into the area of the grounds that resembled Damascon Hollow.

I didn’t question his motives as we bypassed ramshackle buildings and debris littering the streets.

I knew damn well what we were doing when we got wherever we were going.

Knowing him, he probably had some strategic holed-up location where he could be away from everyone else at the academy.

But gods, the anticipation was killing me.

I was just about to open my mouth to huff about the time it was taking when he dragged me inside one of the shabby buildings.

“Oh. My. Gods.” I eyed off the room and chuckled.

“This is where you’ve been laying low since the little fire incident that took place not too long ago?

” The room was bedecked with tech, followed by creature comforts that had no business being in this place.

Numerous pillows, blankets, and other loungewear took up the whole space.

“A dragon does so love to hoard,” I mused.

“You’ve been stealing these from Potentials, haven’t you? ”

“Only the dead ones. It’s not like they’re going to miss them.”

Harsh but true. I noticed a lone wooden chair propped in the middle of the room and raised a brow as I turned to Ace. “What’s this?”

He gave me the most devious grin I’d ever seen. “Sit.”

A little skitter of anticipation snaked down my back. I tossed my bag of breakfast onto a cushion before moving. “Yes, sir.” My feet walked on their own volition, moving me to where I planted my ass into the chair.

“Good girl.” He stalked towards me, his eyes dark in the low-lit space. “You will do as you’re told. You will not touch. You will not move. And you most certainly will not cum until I say you can.”

Oh, fuck. I squeezed my thighs together to stop the need racing through me, sparked by the husky dominance in his voice.

His fingertips shifted my knees apart, then slid up to grip the waistband of my pants.

I lifted my ass slightly and he pulled them, as well as my satin underwear, down my legs, kissing as he went.

Then he did the same with my hoodie, popping it over my head and tossing it across the room.

“This,” he said between kisses through the mesh of my bra, “is sexy. But it’s hiding what I really want underneath.” He pulled the cup on one side down with his teeth, then nipped gently at my nipple.

A small whimper escaped me as he drew lazy circles around the bud with his tongue, then sucked on the nipple before biting it. I yelped, and he looked at me sternly. “You said nothing about making noise,” I offered saucily.

His grin was devilish as he removed my bra. “I’m a generous man. You can moan, baby, and you can pray, but there’s only one God in this room who will answer.”

With that, he shoved his knee between my legs and pried them apart further, then dropped to his own knees before me and dove in, his tongue starting slow and soft on my clit.

Fuck. I groaned, grinding against his face until it disappeared completely.

He latched onto my ass cheeks, pushing his tongue inside me in a rhythm that had me utterly shaking.

I moaned louder, then blinked in surprise as he forced my ass onto the chair and reached up with his hands to grasp both of my tits. He squeezed, sending a jolt of fire through both nipples. I gasped.

“Did you—did you use your electricity on me?” I stared at him, a little dazed, because what he’d just done had felt like every neuron in my body had lit in response. And that feeling… it had gone straight between my thighs.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you unless you ask me to.” He cocked his head, and I drank in the sight of him before me, his mouth drenched from me.

“Yes,” I breathed. “Please.”

“Such lovely manners from my dirty princess. And such a lovely, pretty cunt for me to electrify.” That was the only warning I got before he leaned over my clit and fucked me with his tongue, electricity shooting out from his freaking mouth.

My whole body jolted as pleasure rode through me in waves, one after the other as he repeated the action.

Fuck. I was moaning instantly as my orgasm approached suddenly and I shook over his mouth, my pussy wet and dripping. I was on the precipice, but he stopped, leaving me writhing with need.

“I told you, no cumming until I say so.”

An instinctive cry of outrage escaped me.

He smiled smugly, which turned into a grin as I reached for his cock. “Uh, uh.” He sent a jolt of electricity through my hand, and this time it stung, leaving my fingers numb. “What did I say about touching me? If you can’t follow the rules, you’ll need to be punished.”

He gave me no time to recover as he pulled me up, turned me around, and then spanked my ass with a surge of voltage.

I cried out, then he did it again before walking around me and settling on the chair.

He folded his arms behind his head and leaned back, letting his cock stand proud and tall. “Sit.”

I stared at him in outrage, but okay, fine, the bastard had me right where I wanted to be. So, without hesitation I jumped on, letting him take some of my weight in his hands while my legs remembered how to function.

Those grey eyes stared into mine intensely, his hands cupping my ass as he continued sending small jolts of electricity up my skin, making my body flush with heat.

I rode him like a racehorse until sweat beaded on my forehead and my legs began to wobble from the strain.

But I kept going, tipping my head back as that well of pleasure built and built inside me, until it was nearly overflowing like a dam as this man allowed me to dominate him entirely.

“My Princess,” Ace said reverently as he closed his eyes. “My fucking goddess.”

I sighed, giving in wholly to the feeling of our bodies joining together. I was getting close, and this asshole was not going to stop me from enjoying my orgasm this time. I rocked, swinging my body back and forth in a way that had him groaning.

I closed my eyes, too, and when I opened them again it was to realise we were floating in the air, the chair suspended, along with most other items in the room, from my telekinesis.

“Shit, Princess,” Ace said in admiration. “You really are a queen.”

We fucked in the air, laughing as we hung suspended on the chair in our own dreamland. Ace shook his head, then grabbed my ass again and thrusted hard and fast until I was so dizzy with the movements, I lost control of my power.

The chair came crashing down, and we fell to the ground with a thud, Ace holding me close to absorb some of the fall.

The wood smashed from our weight, but we didn’t stop.

I couldn’t get enough of him. All I could think about was kissing him and biting him while he zapped me relentlessly.

And when I was sure I couldn’t take it anymore, when the pain and pleasure was too much, he looked me dead in the eye and said, “Cum.”

I let go, the dam releasing until I was shaking so hard, that I collapsed against his chest while he came inside me.

He slid his finger through my hair and cupped my head, kissing me one last time before he laid my head against his chest. “My Princess,” he said softly. “My girl.”

“Yes,” I breathed contentedly. “Always.”