Page 15 of Stormbringer (Tracthesian Academy #1)

D isbelieving, Wave watched Salis jog down the street. He seriously just left her here alone with Mr. Growly Ass? She so did not have things in hand, no matter what he said.

She glanced at Marc from the corner of her eye. He stood still, waiting, and some of the emotion on his face moments before was gone. He couldn’t have been… jealous? Wave narrowed her eyes and turned to fully face him again.

“What exactly is your problem?” she huffed.

He had the decency to look sheepish. “I may have overreacted.”

“You think?!”

“Yeah.” He nodded, and if Wave had to guess, he was going for contrite now.

“For fuck’s sake,” she harrumphed. “What’s wrong with you lot?” She had a hard time staying mad when he looked like a kicked puppy.

“I could give you a detailed list,” he said, and a self-deprecating smile flashed over his lips. “But I’ll settle for saying I’m sorry. I was way out of line.”

“You know it’s hard to stay pissed when you do that apologizing and taking responsibility for your actions thing?

” Wave crossed her arms over her chest. She was feeling defensive now.

Her emotions swung from one extreme to another too much around these guys—nothing like the easy-going camaraderie she had with Salis.

“I wasn’t doing it to manipulate you.”

“Well, there you go again,” she complained. Now the smile that flashed over his face was genuine.

“So, can I walk you to your dorm?”

“Fine, whatever.” She was mad at him, wasn’t she? She should be. Right? So, he hadn’t exactly said anything wrong before, but he hadn’t said anything right either.

“Where do you live?”

“Sparkle hall,” Wave deadpanned.

Marc snorted. “That doesn’t narrow it down that much.”

“The Whitney House,” Wave sighed.

“Ah, I get the sparkle reference now. It was actually glitter bombed for Halloween some years back.”

“Really?”

“No,” Marc deadpanned in return.

Wave reached over to punch his arm. Then she yelped and shook her fingers.

“Damn, I’m sorry,” Marc gasped and reached out to cradle her hand between his. “I wasn’t joking about those shields. I have one that activates with certain parameters.”

“Uh-huh,” Wave hummed. “Note to self, don’t punch the mountain.”

Marc massaged her fingers gently, bringing feeling back to them. “I can turn it off.”

Now it was Wave’s turn to snort. “Why would you do that?”

“I don’t like to see you getting hurt.”

Well, that shut her right up. Owlishly, she blinked up at him. He wasn’t that tall, so she didn’t need to crane her neck too badly. When the silence held, Marc inhaled slowly.

“That’s what I actually wanted to talk to you about. You need to enroll in one of the combat classes.”

“Why?” Did she sound out of breath?

“You need to learn better shielding. I teach several classes.”

“You?” Again, what was it with that breathy tone? Wave bit her lower lip.

“Me. There are other teachers, but with shields, I’m the best. Grant is the top for offense, but you can’t take his courses before passing the basics on shielding and defense.”

“Defense. Like hand-to-hand, or spells?”

“I teach both,” Marc said easily.

“Could I learn to punch through that shield of yours?” Now Wave was intrigued. Marc blinked up at her, and a small smile played on his lips.

“In time.”

Wave narrowed her eyes. “How much time?”

“Not in the basics class.” Marc laughed.

“Damn.” Wave pouted.

“I could give you private lessons though.”

“What’s with all the private tutoring I’m being offered? I heard a rumor, the Powerhouses don’t do that .”

“Well…” Marc hesitated. “We usually don’t, that’s true. But most of the time when someone comes looking for private lessons, it has nothing to do with the actual subject and everything to do with power plays and all that stupid shit.”

“And… why me?”

“Because you’re hot?” Marc grimaced immediately and rubbed his temples, before tugging her next to him as he started to walk toward The Whitney House. “I can’t get my mouth to behave around you,” he muttered under his breath.

“Well, you’re hot too, that doesn’t—”

Wave found herself mashed against a muscular chest, her toes hanging in the air as Marc’s lips slanted over hers. She expected him to be harsh, but the kiss he gave her was feather-light. He pulled back just the tiniest bit and leaned his forehead against hers.

“That’s why,” he whispered.

“Well, fuck,” Wave ground out. Marc was already pulling back when she wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and pulled his lips back to hers. That tiny taste was nowhere near enough.

“Wh—”

Wave cut him off with her lips. Where he had been soft and delicate with her, she crushed her lips to his and slipped her tongue into his mouth. She had kissed Jarred on a whim, and it had been exciting and fun. Kissing Hellion had been hot as hell until he opened his mouth.

Kissing Marc was like coming home. He was steady as a rock, strong enough to hold her up and gentle enough to soothe her edges. She tangled her tongue with his, desperate for more.

Air wasn’t important. One more taste of him was.

Someone whistled. Wave didn’t care. She pulled back just enough to nip at his lower lip and then lick over it, before going in deep again.

More, more, more.

The chant pounded at the back of her mind. Marc had wide shoulders, but his waist was narrow enough that Wave could cling to him easily enough. Now, if she could slide down just a bit and grind herself against him, this would be perfect.

Opposite to her desire, Marc slid one hand under her ass and hoisted her higher. Sure, it was a better angle for her to kiss him, but still. His hand on her ass felt good, though.

“Is she trying to go through all of the Powerhouses?” Someone’s snide remark filtered through her haze. Marc clearly heard the same, because he started to pull away, and Wave chased his lips shamelessly. She didn’t give a fuck what they thought about her.

“Wayla,” Marc murmured against her lips. She shook her head, not letting go of him.

“Don’t care,” she murmured back.

“… perfect…” Marc’s full reply was muffled by her mouth. She realized that at some point her eyes had slid shut and hurriedly, she blinked them open. She didn’t want to miss the look in his eyes.

He didn’t disappoint. Despite having his eyes half-lidded, his gaze was intense and fully focused on her. A needy whimper crawled out of her throat that made Marc lean back and break the contact.

“Fuck, honey. If we don’t cool this off now, I’m going to come in my pants,” he panted, eyes still devouring her wet and swollen lips.

Wave tried to convince her limbs to let go of him, but had no success. Her hips tilted, and she ground her pussy against his stomach and whimpered again.

“Wayla, stop making that noise or I’ll lay you down on any available horizontal space and eat you out right now.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat?” she panted, but managed to still her hips.

Marc gave a pained groan. “It was, before that. I’d love to give a show.”

“I don’t mind being watched,” Wave murmured.

“Good. And afterwards, I can poke all of their eyes out for seeing you,” Marc growled.

“Well, then we can’t have Salis watch. He’s my friend and I like his eyes.”

“Friend, huh?”

Wave wrinkled her nose. “Yeah. Got a problem with that?”

“As long as I’m the one doing the touching, I think I can live with it.”

“How noble of you,” she snarled.

“Honey, I can be reasoned with. If you want to show off, I’m your man.”

“Hmph. He’d probably be looking more at you than me,” Wave pouted.

“He’s into guys?”

“Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Uh-huh.” Marc squeezed Wave’s ass and made her moan. “You have a very nice ass, Ms. Spinwell. I’d like to be inside it someday.”

“Thanks. Sure, anything,” Wave panted. The seam of the pants rubbing against her clit, and she was seconds away from combusting. “I want to come,” she whined when Marc stilled her movements.

“Not out here. I wasn’t joking about the eyes, and the mountain of paperwork that would cause is just not worth it,” Marc replied. He cradled her even closer and kissed her throat before he leaned back and started to walk again.