Page 170 of Malcroix Bones Academy

I stared up at him, shocked, in spite of myself.

He’d never leveled that particular threat before. Moreover, the magic that rippled around him made my teeth hurt. The hairs on the back of my arms stood up.

I didn’t feelafraidof him, not exactly, but?

“You should.” His chest moved faster as he glared into my face. His eyes brightened with that sharp, shocking, fiery gold light as he took a step nearer. “Youshouldbe afraid of me, mongrel. I keep fucking telling you that.”

He bared his teeth.

“…Don’t make me prove it to you. Again.”

He glared at me for a few seconds more.

Then, abruptly, he closed the gap between us.

He wrapped a leanly muscular arm around my waist.

He yanked me to him, and I sucked in a breath, even before I saw him lower his head. He kissed me, hard, on the mouth, and I softened against him instinctively, leaning into his chest before my mind could catch up. His magic swam into mine. His tongue was shockingly hot. The urgency behind it, the possessiveness I felt on him, that careening, out of control feeling, made me gasp. His fingers dug into my hip as his other hand fisted in my hair.

My knees shook, but I softened more in his arms, coiling my own arm around his neck. My fingers gripped his wet hair when he kissed me again, and he groaned into my mouth, then deepened the kiss, pulling me roughly against his bare skin.

Before I could catch my breath, or make sense of why he was doing it, he released me, all at once.

Without a word, without so much as a look, he turned and walked away.

He left me there, wet and half-naked by the fountain, panting from the kiss, my face hot and my legs still shaking, now from his mouth as much as the cold.

He didn’t look back.