Page 5 of These Unhallowed Halls (Equinox Seasons Duet #2)

Three-Dark Dreams Portend Vibrant Visitors

Lizzie

I could still smell the bonfire clinging to my skin even as we walked back inside the dorm room and shut the door.

Turning the lock over, I watched Temps finish off the dregs of her apple cider, spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and a healthy pinch of damiana.

She wobbled slightly as she leaned against her bed, a long twin that sat on the wall across from mine, and pulled off her boots, letting them drop at the foot of the bed.

I wasn’t cold, my skin still humming from the feeling of being so close to so many people intimately involved with magic. I could sense it dripping from them like a pungent perfume, thick scents of witch and wielder mixing with the incredible smell of an enormous campfire.

Walking over to the window that sat between our two beds, I pushed the pane open a crack on my side, letting in the fragrance of the fall night air.

“Lizzie, I’m going to get cold.” Turning, I raised my brows at Temps, smirking just a hair. “Do we have to have it open?”

“Pull on an extra blanket.” I needed out of my own shoes and clothes, so I hit up the closet to change, not bothering to hide shit because I wanted Temps to look. “Or climb into bed with me.”

It was quiet as I kicked off my Docs and then pulled my shirt over my head, tossing the black fabric of the lacy tank on the floor of the closet.

I wasn’t wearing a bra, never really needed one, so it was the skirt next, which wound up in the same pile as everything else.

Reaching into the small dresser that sat inside the closet, I pulled out a white tank top for sleeping and considered whether I wanted to wear my socks.

I decided to go without and pulled them off, chucking them into the closet behind me as I turned and sauntered back to the bed.

Without looking up, I could feel Temps’ eyes on me, the way my skin felt warm and humming with electricity whenever she did, particularly when we were in one of the “changing room” moments.

A breeze wafted in from outside, coasting over my skin and making my nipples harden.

Gods, I hope she’s looking. Eat me up with those pretty brown eyes, Temps. Better yet, come over here and—

“Your first class is at nine, right?”

I looked up to watch Temps hurry over to her separate closet and stand just inside it with the door angled over to hide her from view. Sighing to myself, I gave up fiddling with my tank and pulled it on over my head, mentally cursing the damned propriety that kept her from being mine.

Because she was. Temps was all fucking mine, and one day soon she was going to realize that.

There wasn’t a chance in hell I was letting anyone else get their hands on her. Not that Temps was big into dating or anything like that, but if some “Chad” thought he was going to try something with the hot new girl, he’d have another thing coming.

“Yeah. You?” I asked, stretching out on my bed with my hands behind my head.

“I have one before that at eight.” The closet door still hid Temps, and I stared at it, trying to work those telekinetic muscles and make it swing open just a hair further. “Do you need me to wake you up before I leave?”

The dark wood panel, so similar to the elaborate trim of the entire college, moved silently just enough for me to get a glimpse of Temps’ back.

My being ached to touch her skin, so soft and delicate, these graceful lines and curves that made up her form, and went straight to the core of who I was.

From the first moment I’d seen her three years ago, I knew one thing.

Temperance Anne Montgomery was meant to be mine.

Everything about her was crafted in perfection, sent down from the angels above, or maybe delivered by demons to tempt even the heartiest of souls.

I wasn’t hearty. I went after what I wanted.

I delved deep into the worlds of sex and kink, had as soon as I learned about it.

Sure, I hadn’t gone as far as actually fucking someone yet, just platonic sessions at a kink club in Salem, but that had everything to do with the sweet piece of ass I was staring at right now.

If it wasn’t going to be Temps, I had a damn strong feeling that it wasn’t going to be anyone.

Her deep, brown-black hair slipped over her shoulder as she stooped to pull out a pair of sleep shorts from the bottom drawer of her dresser, making that plump little ass of hers stretch the fabric of her boyshort panties—mint green with little white polka dots.

“I’m sure I’ll be up.”

My eyes were pinned to Temps. If I were a dude, I’d be rocking a massive boner. As it was, I was wet as hell, and I had to adjust in the bed, rubbing my thighs together to ease some of the near-constant strain I dealt with on the regular thanks to my stepsister.

Standing again, Temps finished pulling on her sleep shorts and then grabbed a similar tank as mine from her drawer, getting it over her head and pulling free the long layers of her wavy hair.

I wanted to run my fingers through it, grip those strands as she tasted me.

Another hard cut of arousal washed over me, and shit, I didn’t know if it was the equinox or what, but I was dying over here.

“Okay.” Temps turned, stepping past the door of the closet and closing it before climbing into her bed and throwing the covers over herself. “I’ll see you at spellcasting after, yeah?”

“Yup.”

“Well…night, Lizzie.”

Glancing over at her, Temps offered her classic too-cute smile, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Night, Temps.”

C rreeeaaakkk .

I bolted upright in the bed, my heart pounding a million miles a minute as I glanced around for the source of that noise.

This was a new place, and yeah, I wasn’t used to any of the sounds that filled the hallway just beyond our room, but something felt off.

It was nearly pitch black. The light of the moon cutting in through the curtains just above my head was the only source of light.

This academy was gorgeous, but it was also kind of spooky. Our room was wood floors and squeaky closet doors that you had to push on a little to get latched, the Montgomery-Chamberlain household not so much.

But there was no sign of that noise or what made it.

I waited in the dark, leaning up on my elbows in bed and peering into the black of corners.

I didn’t know what it was, but my instincts were telling me something was up.

Psychic bullshit wasn’t one-hundred percent, though.

I couldn’t rely on my visions and feelings like a crystal clear map.

They were more like suggestions, accurate but vague.

Unease. Just this sense of dread that wouldn’t let go.

Still, I couldn’t get even a generic reading. It was just this “vibe,” and while I did run on those, they weren’t exactly useful right now. There was no use forcing it either. That’s not how my visions worked or my intuition. I needed to let things percolate sometimes.

A total pain in the ass.

Rolling onto my side, I flopped back down onto my pillow, not exactly content to just wait things out but not given much of a choice either. What was I supposed to do with “the air feels weird, too tight” anyway?

Nothing, that’s what.

I closed my eyes, sucking in a deep breath through my nose to try and recenter myself.

As much as Temps and everyone else, for that matter, though my insomnia was because of my high energy, it was actually the result of being too keyed into people’s minds and emotions most of the time.

It was hard to get your shut eye when a couple few doors down was fighting and spewing their hatred into the air like a cloud of noxious fumes.

“Mmm…”

An eyelid popped open, and I looked across the room at Temps, who was thoroughly asleep. She was dreaming, going by the vibes she was giving off, and I could just start to pick up on the invisible heat in her aura as she lay on her back in the bed.

The weird vibes weren’t coming from her, which was good. And that should have been enough of a relief to let be go back to sleep. But my pretty little Tempy was breathing a bit hard, and the more I focused on her, the more I could sense the distinct nature of her current REM cycle.

“Oh, hell, yes. That’s a sex dream.”

I kept my voice quiet, not wanting to wake her up, and then extended my awareness to Temps’ mind.

It wasn’t exactly invading her thoughts like she’d yelled about before.

It was just a small vibe check, just a tiny, baby little peek at what kinds of thoughts might be rumbling through her head during this particular type of dream.

What’s in that head of yours, cutie?

Pleasure, arousal, and enough pent-up desire to not have me flat on my ass. And that was just a cursory, surface glance. Damn, my step-sis was in desperate need, it seemed, and there was no way in hell I was going to let some piece of shit take something that precious.

Oh, no, no. That belongs to me.

It wasn’t until I was leaning over Temp that I realized I’d gotten out of my bed and gone over to her.

I was in way too deep to her aura now, damn near being animated by her dream’s vibrations.

Sure, there was my own desire for her, the cloying ache inside me that demanded I taste and touch and fuck every goddamn part of her, but it was the combination that was proving especially potent right now.

Standing there, I hovered my lips over hers, breathing her in without touching her.

My fingers moved without prompting, gliding over her sleeping form just above her skin.

Her energy hummed against my flesh, the lust pooling right at her sacral core. I could taste her desire on my tongue, working the heated waves of her essence right over her pussy, mournfully hidden from me by a blanket and a set of shorts.

Gods, to fucking touch her for real…