Page 37

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

Bloom

Three Spanks

N ero Ravencrux’s eyes glinted with savage amusement at my defiance.

His gaze dipped to my chest, and I suddenly realized my dress clung to every curve of my body, courtesy of Kingsley’s water attack.

My nipples hardened under Ravencrux’s attention, pressing against the wet fabric as if remembering the sensation of his mouth on them.

Stop it, I ordered myself, immediately folding my arms over my chest. The other immortals also stared at my dripping form, their expressions unreadable.

“You understand I must punish you for tonight’s transgressions,” Ravencrux purred, stepping closer. “Don’t you, Bloom?”

I lifted my chin, pulse hammering in the back of my parched throat. “Do your worst, Professor .”

What more could he take from me? I steeled my spine and stood straighter against the wall. The worst had already happened—I’d seen him with Morrigan, showing me exactly how little I meant to him.

“Oh, I intend to.” His smirk was sadistic. “Sincethat fuckerinsists.”

Kingsley growled, the air vibrating with his menace.

“Enough theatrics, Nero.” Headmistress Stardust pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just get it over with.”

Ravencrux closed the distance between us in half a second.

No one had the right to move that fast. Before I could react, his scent blanketed me: scorching sandalwood and raw male power, cutting through the club’s smoky atmosphere and the stench of alcohol.

I couldn’t help but lean in to inhale deeply while bracing for what came next.

Would it be a punch? Like how men with little worth beat women?

The punch never landed.

My breath hitched as his knuckles grazed my throat. Would he choke me again, like in the forest? Would he show his brutality until I crumpled to the ground?

His fingers didn’t circle my neck. Instead, they gripped my waist and lifted me off the ground with disturbing ease.

He propped his boot up on a chair, and suddenly I was on his lap—more precisely, my belly landed on his knee as he bent me over.

“What are you doing?” I yelped in alarm, blood rushing to my head.

“Setting an example, of course,” he said. “Punishing you properly in front of everyone. And what else did you expect, little rulebreaker? If you didn’t want this, you shouldn’t have left the tower during curfew, gone off with a rat, and lured a water viper here.”

Both Sebastian and Kingsley snarled, but whatever insults they hurled at Ravencrux faded into background noise, as all I could focus on was the impending humiliation.

His large hand slapped across my bottom, and a hot flash of pain bloomed across my backside, radiating up my spine to my breasts. Worse— far worse—was the answering throb between my thighs.

In an instant, I was wet with pleasure, unwanted but undeniable.

He’d spanked me before in foreplay, but never this hard. I would certainly find bruises in the bath tonight if I still had any strength left for it.

A fresh slap landed, and my breath hitched as pleasure pulsed hot beneath the sting.

I caught the betraying clench of my thighs, the way my body arched into the pain.

I bit my lip to stifle a moan. Through the parted flap of his trench coat, I glimpsed the hard outline of his thick arousal straining against fabric.

Then his shadow touched me.

An invisible finger traced my aching crest in slow, torturous circles before dipping lower, teasing my swollen flesh, fondling and caressing.

I jerked my legs at the unholy sensation, teeth sinking into my lip to trap the moan threatening to escape.

No one else seemed to notice I was unraveling in front of them—a mercy.

Only I felt the way his darkness curled inside me, coaxing me toward ruin.

The entire room fell silent except for the sounds of slapping bouncing off the walls. I lost the battle as a groan of pleasure escaped my lips. I prayed those immortals would interpret it as a cry of suffering.

His third spank arrived while the shadow finger speared into my heated passage.

Pain and pleasure coiled tighter until there was no line between them.

With every ounce of willpower I possessed, I fought not to let another moan leave my throat, not to beg for more in my utterly vulnerable state.

I was desperate for release yet terrified of coming apart.

Nero Ravencrux was displaying that I was at his mercy, and he’d succeeded.

My body burned with need, lust, and pleasure at the worst possible moment, with all eyes on me.

“Let me go,” I hissed. “Please.”

“Say thank you for spanking me,” Ravencrux crooned.

Bastard!

“Th-thank you for punishing me, Professor ,” I spat.

There was no win with him in this situation, as I could feel his rage still rippling off him, even though he was aroused.

He let out a low laugh, menacing and amused. Then, suddenly, I was off his lap.

The room tilted, and my knees buckled. My sex ached with need, a strange emptiness filling it. Strong arms caught me before I stumbled to the ground.

“There you have it,” Ravencrux said, his unforgiving gaze locking on Kingsley. “Justice is served. Satisfied?”

I dropped my gaze to the floor, shamed and dazed and still feeling the aftershock of pleasure.

Shame won’t kill you, and you’ve survived another day, I acknowledged, then lifted my gaze and chanced a glance around the room.

Kingsley’s face twisted with fury, his teeth bared like a wolf denied its kill. Sebastian watched with a mix of fascination and displeasure; the idea of my spanking thrilled him, but he resented not being the one to do it.

And there was an odd look of longing on the headmistress’s face, gone in an instant as they all schooled their expressions to practiced indifference, except Kingsley, who still seethed. This wasn’t the victory he’d anticipated.

Ravencrux had just delivered a spectacular “fuck you” to his rival.

“That wasn’t the punishment I demanded!” Kingsley spat, his eyes nearly bulging out. “That was utterly depraved!”

“Well,” Headmistress Stardust interrupted. “You didn’t specify the method, Kingsley. It’s done. Let’s move on.”

Dante and Orren appeared, flanking Ravencrux like twin shadows with flesh and teeth.

“Escort her back. Tuck her in.Keep her there,” Ravencrux ordered, his voice cut from ice, no longer amused. “Read her all the fucking rules, so she won’t run around with bad company again.”

The alcohol was turning sour in my stomach, and my body remained in a frustrated state of denied release. All I wanted now was to escape this disaster, hole up in my room, and hide from everyone, especially the man whose touch both destroyed and rebuilt me in the same fucking moment.

Sebastian flashed that golden-boy smile. “I'm excellent company. The kind every student fantasizes about.”

He’d just issued a veiled threat. Student-professor relations were a cardinal sin, yet Ravencrux danced along that razor's edge, openly twisting and bending the rule under the disguise of disciplining me.

“I’m watching you!” Kingsley barked before storming off, still fuming.

I wasn’t exactly sure if the threat was aimed at me or Ravencrux.

Probably both.

Fuck him.

Fuck all of them.

Fuck this academy.