Page 35

THIRTY-FOUR

FREYA

I waited for him in the library, making my way through the maze of tall bookshelves. There were books with words in languages I couldn’t even recognize, their spines whispering secrets that I would never hear. The air was mixed with the smell of old paper and ink, wrapped in silence. I moved deeper, past the dimly lit alcoves, killing time until the final bell rang.

But there was a soft thump. A book fell from the shelf.

I froze, my pulse quickening as my gaze darted around. No one was there.

Another book fell.

A flicker of movement caught my eye, and my breath hitched. This wasn’t Lucius. It couldn’t be; his class wasn’t over yet.

A chill ran down my spine. No chances. No second guesses. I just ran.

Whoever was behind me did the same.

Freya, you dumb bitch.

The words reached my mind as I ran, winding through the maze of bookshelves. My lungs were burning, and my heart was beating so hard it was thundering in my ears. I didn’t dare look back. I couldn’t.

Footsteps pounded behind me, closing the distance. But then, his hand caught mine, pulling me.

I gasped as my back slammed into a bookshelf. My eyes squeezed shut, I expected the worst. This was it. This was how I die.

“Lucius.” His name left my lips as I opened my eyes, and I found him there, smirking.

I shoved his chest hard. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“I was starting to think you ran on purpose.” His laughter was low, teasing, as he stepped closer. One hand curled around my waist, pulling me into him. In his other hand, he held a gas mask.

I arched a brow. “I thought you were waiting until after class.”

His lips ghosted my neck, making me shiver. “My balls turned blue, so I dismissed them early.” His smirk was wicked, and before I could react, he pushed me off the shelf, slapping my ass.

I turned. “Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we?” I bit my lower lip, stepping closer, watching the way his pupils darkened.

“No. Besides,” he placed the gas mask atop a stack of books, “what I have planned for you today is far more important.”

My hand trailed down his abs, fingers pressing to his hard outline through his pants. “And what might that be?”

Instead of answering, he pulled a thin, silk red rope from his pocket.

He clicked his tongue.“Patience, Little Star.”

He walked past me, tying a rope to a sturdy beam behind the bookcase. When he turned to me again, his voice commanded. “Hand.”

Between the shelves, there was a piece of wood that connected the sides, and since the shelves were hollow, it was easy for him to thread a piece of string between the joints and make a firm knot. I walked towards him slowly, holding out my right hand. Then he walked to the other end and did the same. I offered him my left hand, and he tied my hands to each corner of the bookcase, spreading them wide. I tried to move, but the knots were too tight to wriggle free.

Then, he took the gas mask from one of the shelves where he had left it and pulled it over my face. The glass was tinted, making it hard to see what he was doing, but the thought of what he might do next sent shivers down my spine, making my heart pound faster.

I felt his hands on my ankles, spreading my legs, then sliding down to my inner thighs. His fingers slid under my skirt, and when he realized I wasn’t wearing underwear, he moved closer and spanked my pussy.

“You’ve been such a bad girl, Miss Sinclaire,” he murmured.

I swallowed hard as his fingers parted my lower lips, pressing against my sensitive skin, sliding down towards my inner flesh.

“You’re so damn wet, Little Star, and I haven’t even started,” he whispered deeply against my neck.

His hand withdrew, and he began to unbutton my shirt, peeling it off until my red lace bra was completely exposed. But instead of taking it off, he pushed my breasts out of it, making them rounder and fuller. He then pressed his lips to my skin, leaving a wet trail down to my nipples, nibbling them with his teeth before sucking them into his mouth.

He traced kisses from my breasts to my stomach, his hands lifting my skirt higher. I felt his breath against my skin, and then he slowly reached my clit. He spread my lower lips with his hands. The skin stretched against his fingertips, making my clit pop before his tongue worked across it, teasing before gently sucking. A violent shiver ran down my spine, a gasp escaping my lips.

His tongue slid down, then back up, before dipping inside me. He moved back to my clit, working his tongue faster, up and down.

“Oh, fuck,” I moaned, my knees betraying me.

He moved his hands, lifting my right leg onto his shoulder. With one hand, he spread my lower lips wider; with the other, he formed two fingers, pressing them inside me.

He curled them deep, then loosened, sending waves of pleasure through me that made my thighs shake. He smiled against my skin as my moans came in soft, desperate breaths.

Then, he thrust his fingers faster, harder, first with two, then with three, spreading and curling them until he hooked me onto him, his fingertips pressing deep inside.

“Oh, God,” I gasped inside the mask, “don’t stop.”

He worked faster, pushing me closer to the edge. My whole body trembled, knees weak, hanging against the knots. My moans poured from my lips, my thighs shaking, my inside flesh tightening around him, trying to pull him in deeper.

He didn’t stop. He pushed inside further, deeper, until my body shattered completely, leaving me gasping, undone, entirely his.

He stopped for a moment. I could hear the sound of pants coming down, the belt clicking against the floor, and then he came closer, teasing me with his cock before thrusting inside me with a single thrust.

My back arched, my body moving with his, feeling him go deeper and deeper, leaving me breathless.

He then moved the mask from my face, letting it fall to the floor, and pushed harder against me, pressing his lips against mine. He kissed me so deeply that I could taste the salty traces of myself on his lips. His hands held my hips in place as he thrust faster and harder, making my whole body throb underneath him.

He was so good at this, and I was addicted to becoming like his.

He stopped for just a moment, untying my right hand, then my left. My hands fell to his neck, fingers tangling in his hair as he continued thrusting deep inside me.

Then, abruptly, he pulled out, turning me around. He pushed books from the fourth shelf, making them fall on the other side, and then he pressed me in between the shelves. My hands clutched the wood, knowing I had to hold on as he spread my ass cheeks apart.

He teased his cock from my pussy to my tightest entrance, bringing my wetness with him, then sliding back to my clit, making me glide along his entire length before thrusting inside me again.

“You feel so good, Little star. I just can’t stop,” he groaned between breaths and moans, thrusting faster. “I am so fucking obsessed with you.”

He held my hips firmly as my ass cheeks bounced against him, his thrusts becoming rougher, making me moan again.

I held onto the wooden shelf so tightly my knuckles turned white. I was clenching around him again, but he kept going until I felt him pulse inside me.

I couldn’t take it anymore. My moans turned desperate, my body tightened, and then I felt him throbbing, filling me, still moving, his thrusts slowing but still deep.

He slowly pulled his cock out, his release sliding down my inner thighs. He then gently pulled me out of the bookshelf, turning me around.

“I can’t get enough of you,” he whispered against my lips, out of breath, before kissing me again.

My whole body was still feeling him, still trembling from the aftershocks of his thrusts. I wrapped my arms around him, leaning closer.

“You will have to see Luna after class,” he said. “She can give you some pills since we didn’t use protection.”

“Oh,” I murmured, realizing I hadn’t even thought about it. “That’s good.”

“And ask her for the day-after pill too.” He kissed my forehead. “I hate myself for not being more careful with you, but I can’t help myself. I’m addicted to you.”

He made me smile. “Do you overthink everything?”

“Maybe,” he chuckled.

“Does Luna know?” I asked, my eyes shifting to the right.

“Yeah,” he breathed out. “Cass too.”

“Blue and Ava know,” I said. “Stella too.”

He kissed my forehead again, buttoning my shirt. “A and O, too.” Then he adjusted my skirt before crouching down and pulling his pants on. “We have to be more careful.”

“Don’t you think they would do something about it?” I asked, tucking my shirt into my skirt.

“I don’t know,” he said, cupping my cheeks between his palms. “But I can’t risk losing you.”

Then he pressed his lips against mine again before parting from me. “I have to go, but don’t forget to go to Luna’s office.”

I nodded, watching him leave. Even though this forbidden secret made my heart pound, it thrilled me; I wanted the world to know we were together. But no one else could know. If they found out, I would lose him. And I couldn’t let that happen.

I hated having to visit Luna for contraception pills. Not just because of the awkwardness, but because she knew. She knew I was sleeping with a professor who was also her friend. And that made things worse.

I knew it was wrong. I knew it shouldn’t have happened. And yet, I hadn’t even considered the consequences before diving in headfirst. Stupid decisions are made all the time. I just happened to do them all the time.

Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly before knocking on her office door. She must have been expecting me because it swung open almost instantly.

Luna was warm, nothing like Lucius or Cassius. But something about her still unsettled me. The moment she smiled, a shiver ran down my spine.

“Freya, come in,” she said softly.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and stepped inside.

Her office was smaller but longer than any I had been in. Books filled every available space, more than any other professor’s office. A single golden lamp sat on the desk in the center of the room, its glow casting long shadows. Behind it, against the wall, stood a terrarium. Inside, a tarantula shifted lazily. My stomach twisted. I hated that they allowed things like that in their offices. The very thought made my skin crawl.

I lowered myself into one of the chairs beside the desk, watching as Luna moved to sit across from me. She didn’t waste time. She opened a drawer, pulling out a small box of pills and a bottle of water.

She placed one box on the table, pressing her finger against it. “This is the morning-after pill. You need to take it now.” Then, she handed me another pack. “And these—you take one every day, same time, for the next twenty-eight days.”

I nodded, already unwrapping the first pill, placing it on my tongue, and swallowing it down with a sip of water.

“Thank you,” I murmured, screwing the cap back onto the bottle. “This means a lot.”

She smiled, but just as I moved to stand, her hand shot across the desk, gripping mine.

“Freya,” she said, her voice measured, careful. “You might think Lucius is your whole world right now, but he’s dangerous.”

I stiffened. “What do you mean?”

Her fingers tightened briefly before I pulled away.

“He’s obsessed with you,” she said, watching me closely. “It’s happened before. It never ends well.”

My heart pounded. I hated the way her words slithered into my mind, planting doubt, cracking inside me.

“He isn’t like that,” I started.

Luna tilted her head. “Oh, no? He loves you? Takes you to secret spots—maybe even the library?”

I said nothing.

She sighed. “He’s done it before. And when someone new, someone more interesting , comes along, he’ll push you aside. He’ll pull you in so deep you can’t breathe, until one day, you just… disappear.”

I swallowed hard.

“Take my advice,” she continued, “and leave him while you still can. It’ll hurt less in the long run.”

Even if I wanted to, it wouldn’t matter. He wouldn’t let me. If anything, it would only make him want me more.

And the worst part?

I didn’t want to leave.

Even if he had done it before.

Even if he might do it to me.

So I simply nodded, turned my back, and walked away.

But just before leaving, something on the bookshelf caught my eye. A framed photo. My stomach clenched because I had seen this picture before at my grandmother’s house. Adeline and a blonde woman. Luna.

I stepped closer, lifting the frame in my hands. “Did you two date?”

Luna chuckled. “No. We were best friends, even before Blackthorn. That was taken on our first day here.” She sighed. “But we grew apart not long after. She had her group of friends, and I had mine.”

Lies.

I could feel it. I knew when someone was lying to me. My whole life had been built on lies, so I recognized them the second they were spoken.

“Strange,” I murmured, setting the frame down. “From the letter you gave her, I thought you were in love.”

Her lips parted, but no words came out.

I turned to face her, tilting my head. “Or did I misread the L ? Maybe it was meant for Cassius instead? Or am I completely mistaken?“ I shrugged. “If I am, I guess it hurts less, anyway.”

She said nothing.

I walked out, leaving her standing there in silence.

I knew a lie when I saw one. And she hadn’t even tried to hide it.