Threat (Academy of Unpredictable Magic Book 4) Read online

  They ride me through it, wrapping their arms around me and bringing us all so close together that no daylight can fit between us. Asher’s cum on my stomach is now smeared across his too, but I don’t give a shit about what kind of mess we’ve made.

  I’d do it again in a fucking heartbeat.

  Chapter 2

  We stay like that for a few more moments, the two men’s bodies pressed tightly against mine, and Cam’s cock still buried inside me. I’m definitely not cold anymore. In fact, I think I worked up a little bit of a sweat.

  Cam’s face is buried in my hair, his warm breath tickling the back of my neck, when I hear him mutter thickly, “Did I win?”

  “Of course you didn’t win,” Asher shoots back, his voice amused and contented. It’s also a little muffled, since his face is pressed into the crook of my neck. “If anything, I won. You definitely finished first.”

  I chuckle, and Cam groans, rocking his pelvis harder against me.

  “I’m gonna call it a tie,” I say. Then I lift my head, stealing lazy kisses from each of them. “But if you guys ever want a rematch…”

  “Fuck yes.” Now it’s Cam’s turn to laugh and my turn to groan.

  He secures the condom and pulls out, then disappears into the bathroom for a second before returning with a couple of small towels. He crawls back into bed as Asher and I clean ourselves off a little, then pulls the blanket back over all of us as we collapse back into a pile of limbs and warm bodies.

  We’re lying here, catching our breaths, when I hear a knock at the door.

  Shit, there goes my idea of us hopping into the shower. Unless it’s one of the other guys outside. Hmm. I could use a round two…

  “Who is it?” I call out.

  “Ellie?”

  Oh, shoot, it’s Maddy.

  She’s the only one who can get away with calling me Ellie. Not that the guys don’t have nicknames for me because, oh boy, do they ever. Cam calls me Sin, for example. Long story. But a lot of people over the years have tried the “Ellie” thing on me, and they all quickly realized their error.

  “Coming! Just one sec, Mads!”

  I’ll be the first person to admit that I melt around Maddy. I’m not always the friendliest person to be around; I’ve been described by more than one person as prickly, and my social calendar isn’t exactly bursting at the seams. But my little sister is the sweetest person I know, and she’s never going to get anything but love from me, dammit.

  I disentangle myself from the guys, who are playfully tugging at me, and climb out of bed. Cam swats my ass as I do, making me yelp as the heat that got me all flushed earlier returns. I flip him off, but I’m laughing as I duck into the bathroom to quickly wash up.

  “Did you forget?” Maddy calls through the door. Her voice grows suspicious. “Are you having sex in there?”

  “No, I’m not!” I call from the bathroom as I crank the nozzle on the shower. Even over the sound of the water, I can hear Cam and Asher snicker because, well, I’m not having sex right now, but… “And of course I didn’t forget, I just overslept!”

  Maddy and I are having a girls’ day out in Portland. Roman’s house is about an hour outside of the city, which is great for privacy and all that—his closest neighbors are miles away, which makes it easy to forget the rest of the world even exists. But even though we’ve all been having a great time hanging out together in this huge house, I don’t want Maddy to feel lonely or isolated. I don’t ever want her to feel like I’m neglecting her or that she’s coming in second place in my affections or anything.

  I’m completely falling for these guys, and even though they’ve pretty much adopted Mads as their sister, I want her to know the bond she and I share is really important to me.

  After Mom died of cancer five years ago, Maddy and I were on our own. I had just turned eighteen, and I had to fight tooth and nail with child services to keep her. It helped that Maddy was already fourteen—if she’d still been a young kid, they might’ve insisted I couldn’t take care of her.

  But we were each all the other had for a long time. I didn’t have many friends, and it only got worse when I had to let go of the idea of going to college and pull doubles at The Den instead so I could pay rent and stuff. We lived in a small one-bedroom apartment, even sharing a big bed since Maddy had nightmares for a few years after Mom died.

  For the past year and a half, we’ve been separated a lot of the time—Maddy at her academy and me at mine—and even on our break, we’re with the guys. And thanks to an anti-Unpredictable asshole sending me into a coma at the end of my first year at Griffin Academy, I didn’t even get to spend the summer with Mads. I only woke up with a week of time left before she had to go back to Neptune for the fall semester.

  Finding time for just the two of us is really important, so today we’re going into town—shopping for Maddy for the upcoming semester, seeing a movie, all that fun stuff.

  Freshly showered, I throw on my clothes and step out of the bedroom, closing the door behind me so Cam and Asher can get ready.

  “You good to go?”

  Mads rolls her eyes fondly. “Yeah, Ellie, I was up at a decent hour.”

  “It’s only nine a.m., that barely qualifies as sleeping in.” I wrap my arm around her shoulders and lead her downstairs to the gigantic kitchen.

  Roman’s cooking something. I can smell it as we come down the steps, and my stomach rumbles. Dammit, he needs to stop being so amazing, it’s completely unfair.

  “Omelets,” he says, flipping one over in the pan. “What do you want in them?”

  Maddy makes her request and I make mine, and soon we’re digging in.

  “Where’s Dmitri?” I ask around a very unladylike mouthful of food.

  “Went for a run. He should be back soon.” Roman fixes an omelet for himself and sits down next to me, our knees brushing under the table.

  I snort a laugh, because no matter how much Cam and I try—and believe me, we have tried—we can never convince Dmitri to come with us on our runs through the woods that make up part of the Griffin campus. Probably because when we’re at school, we have to get up a hell of a lot earlier than nine a.m. to go running.

  There’s the sound of elephants thumping above us, and then Cam emerges down the stairs, swinging over the banister.

  His eyes light up at the sight of breakfast. “Sweet, thanks, Roman.”

  Bounding into the kitchen, he grabs some jam and makes himself an omelet with jam in the middle because Cam is a heathen that way.

  Asher comes down the stairs like a normal person and makes himself oatmeal instead of the offered omelet since he’s not really fond of eggs, and soon everyone’s chatting about this and that as Maddy and I finish our meals and get ready to go.

  It strikes me, as Cam steals a bite of Roman’s omelet and Roman gives him a death glare and Asher starts reading the news on his tablet, just how… domestic this all is. How comfortable I am. This doesn’t just feel like a special treat or a holiday. This feels normal. Like it’s how life should always be.

  It both elates me and scares me a little.

  Still, I’m glad I have this. I missed out on all the bonding the guys did while I was in my damn coma all last summer, and even though winter break is only three weeks long, it manages to feel like forever and only a day at the same time.

  It’s been possibly the best time of my life.

  Dmitri bursts in from his run, giving us all a cursory wave as he heads for a shower, moving up the stairs as silently as a cat.

  “When do you have to leave by today?” I hear Cam ask.

  I was distracted by Dmitri—don’t judge me, he looks damn good all sweaty from his run—but I turn back in my chair to see that Cam’s talking to Roman.

  Oh, right. Of course. As a professor, Roman has to be back on campus early to prepare for the start of the semester. Unlike the students, who just have to arrive by the time classes start, Roman has curriculums to prepare, meetings to attend, and all th
at jazz.

  “I’ll be heading out this afternoon,” Roman answers, running a hand through his dark hair. “Probably around one o’clock.”

  “We’ll be gone,” I note, pointing to Mads and myself and trying not to sound sad. I’m not sure how successful I am though.

  I know I’ll see him again in just a week, but it won’t be the same. I won’t be able to just sleep with him whenever I want, or wake up to him making breakfast, or tease him and hold his hand in public. We’re not technically breaking any rules by dating, but it’s heavily frowned upon. So for the sake of his professional reputation, we’re trying to keep our relationship under wraps—or as under wraps as possible—until after I graduate.

  Roman gives me a warm smile. It transforms his whole face when he does that. The dark-haired, blue-eyed man has a slightly dangerous look to him, like he’s the kind of guy who could be leading the mafia, but he looks so very soft and warm when he smiles at me. Like a completely different person.

  “Going to miss me?” he teases.

  “Oh, yes, terribly. I’ll go out brooding along the beach like a romance novel heroine. Weeping and wailing.” I press the back of my hand to my forehead dramatically even as I scoot my chair a little closer to Roman so more of our legs are touching. I like the contact.

  “You’ll catch a cold,” Asher points out with an arched brow, moss-green eyes still focused on his tablet.

  “Then I’ll languish in bed,” I shoot back with a shrug.

  “Yeah, I really can’t see you languishing anywhere, Sin,” Cam notes, laughing.

  We finish up breakfast, and Dmitri comes down to start eating just as we’re cleaning up our own dishes. He pulls me into his arms and gives me a soft kiss on the top of my head as I pass. The man isn’t really one for words, but he shows a lot through his actions, and that’s always been the way we’ve communicated best.

  With pleasantly full bellies and the buzz of caffeine in our veins, Maddy and I throw our jackets on and get ready to head out. It’s Oregon, so even though it’s early January, it’s not freezing, but it’s far from t-shirt weather. As Maddy struggles to get her boots on, I take the opportunity to pull Roman aside into the alcove we use to hang our coats.

  “Hey. I wanted to thank you,” I whisper.

  “For what?”

  My hands are on his upper arms, and I find my thumbs idly swiping back and forth, feeling the softness of his dark red sweater, the warmth of him, the firmness of the muscle underneath. “For letting us all stay here. You didn’t have to. Even just Maddy and me; you didn’t have to let us stay all this time. Never mind the guys—”

  Roman’s hands fall to my hips, and he slowly draws me into him, his head bending down until his lips are brushing against mine. “As if I could do anything other than take care of you,” he growls, soft and dominant at the same time, and I shiver at both the sound of his voice and his touch.

  “You take care of me extremely well,” I reply, grinning against his mouth, knowing he’ll catch the innuendo.

  Roman’s hands tighten on my hips and he pulls me completely against him, his mouth catching mine. Being with Roman has been like playing with fire since day one when we hooked up outside the bar where I worked.

  I tighten my grip on one of his biceps and slide my other hand up, holding onto the back of his neck for balance as I rise up onto my tiptoes to kiss him back properly. Roman kisses like he’s laying siege, no quarter, no mercy, and I love it. It makes me shiver and melt and beg.

  His dominance isn’t the dangerous kind though, although I’m sure it might look that way to those who don’t know him. I’m pretty sure Roman projects that kind of air to keep himself safe, to keep people from getting too close.

  Which reminds me.

  I reluctantly drag my lips away from his. Our kiss leaves heat thrumming through my veins and reminds me of just how good he can make me feel—and just how safe I feel when I’m with him, like I can lean on him literally or emotionally, and he’ll always be there to hold me up.

  But no matter how safe I feel with him, there are times when I still get the sense he’s keeping me at arm’s length a little.

  The other three guys are open books where their families are concerned. Even Dmitri, who was tight-lipped about it for a long time, finally spilled the beans about the business deal his dad made that involved promising his son’s hand in marriage to the daughter of a colleague. He still hasn’t figured out quite what to do about that, but at least I know about it now. I can help Dmitri, be there for him however he needs me to be.

  But with Roman, it’s different. There’s stuff in his past I’m pretty sure he hasn’t shared with anyone. His ex-girlfriend, Josephine Tamlin—another one of my professors, just to make this whole thing even more awkward, yippee—warned me that he might not ever let me in. He certainly didn’t ever let her in all the way.

  I’ve tried to be patient. But I can’t stop thinking about that picture I saw on his mantel of his family. He was so young in that photo, and there aren’t any others of him with his parents or sister from after that point. I think maybe his family died soon after that picture was taken—but how? And why is that the only photo I’ve seen of them at all?

  “Roman?”

  “Hmm?”

  I take a deep breath. “I don’t want to push, and I’m not going to. It’s okay that you’re not ready to share everything with me yet. But… you can trust me with what you do choose to share. I just wanted to make sure you know that.”

  Roman’s cobalt eyes flash, and I know he recognizes the words I chose. They’re the same ones he told me a year ago, when he was first trying to convince me to open up to him. I’m admittedly not great at being emotionally available and vulnerable, and Roman always respected that—but he wanted me to know that whatever parts of myself I chose to share, he would keep them safe.

  I want him to know that the same stands true for me.

  The tall, breathtakingly handsome man kisses me again. This time, the press of his lips is softer, and he pulls away more slowly. “I promise, I don’t want to keep things from you, Reckless. I trust you, and I want to share myself with you. I want to be with you.”

  I nod. I do believe that.

  “Ellie! You ready?”

  “Coming!” I call, not looking away from Roman. He won’t be here when I get back.

  He smiles softly, like he knows what I’m thinking, and pulls me in so he can hold me. I hang on tightly, resting my head against his chest, hearing his heartbeat, feeling his chest rise and fall with his breath.

  Then I pull away, muster up a broad smile, and turn to join my sister. It’ll be fine. I’ll see him in just a few days, and even if it’s not the same on campus, it’s not like he’s going to the Gobi Desert for five years or something.

  Maddy’s waiting by the door, holding my coat for me with an impatient, excited grin on her face. It’s only after the two of us pile into Dmitri’s car and I start up the engine that I realize…

  Roman somehow evaded actually talking about his family again.

  Chapter 3

  Shopping is not my thing, gonna tell you that right now.

  I’ve never cared much about how I look, style-wise. I suppose if I had any classifiable style before I went to school and got too busy to even think about it at all, it was something like ‘90s grunge. And that’s only because it was the laziest “style” I could get away with.

  Maddy, on the other hand, has always cared about how she looks. She loved to play dress up with me as a kid and practice doing makeup on me—with hilariously hideous results. She likes to put effort into what she wears, and when I go shopping with her, it all becomes fun for me too. It’s an activity for the two of us.

  We hit up the shops in Portland, sticking mostly to the area frequented by the magical community. This isn’t Harry Potter, so there’s no secret entrance into a whole shopping district or anything. Most regular people who pass through this part of town probably have no idea of the sec
ret second life that lurks under the surface around here, and we like it that way.

  When Mom died, I stayed away from the magical community. During her illness, the magic users we knew didn’t exactly reach out with open arms to help us. Maybe part of that was because Mads and I hadn’t manifested our powers yet, so people didn’t truly consider us part of the community. But in any case, I wasn’t all that keen on being reminded of everything I was missing out on or being surrounded by people who had turned their backs on us when we needed them.

  Maddy, though? She loves the magical world now that she’s properly a member of it. She enjoys her schoolwork and her friends, and as we shop, she chatters to me all about the careers she’s considering getting into. Her mind is just full of possibilities, and she’s excited and hopeful. It makes my chest warm. I always wanted her to feel like this, like she was on top of the world and could be whatever she wanted.

  We traipse in and out of shops, and Mads takes delight in using her water elemental magic here and there, making the liquid in her glass dance when we stop at a restaurant for lunch. I’ve still got my dampening cuff on, as all untrained Unpredictables are required to. We can take them off for some classes at school, but off-campus, we’re required to wear them at all times.

  As we walk, I can see a few people eyeing the cuff—I don’t think everyone knows what it signifies though, because few people seem to register what I am with either surprise, alarm, or distrust. To most of them, it probably just looks like a fashion statement.

  By early afternoon, Maddy and I have settled into a shopping groove—which mostly involves her trying on a bunch of things and me giving them the thumbs up or thumbs down. We’re in the dressing room of a little boutique, and I’m lounging on a chair while Maddy checks herself out in front of the mirror.