Fury (Institute of Unpredictable Magic Book 2) Page 5

  I already came so hard I’m gonna have a welt on the back of my head later, but this is more than that. More than the need to come again.

  It’s an overwhelming need to be connected to this man as closely as possible.

  “Condom,” I rasp out. “Bedroom.”

  He makes a strained noise in his throat, picking me up like I weigh nothing and carrying me toward the bedroom. His cock is still sandwiched between us, and I unabashedly hump his body as he strides through my small apartment. The second we’re in the bedroom, he sets me down, and we both tear at the remainder of our clothes, yanking it all off and tossing it aside as we stumble blindly toward the bed.

  Logan lifts me up again and tosses me onto the mattress, then crawls up onto it too. He kisses me, nipping at my bottom lip. “Where?”

  “Nightstand,” I pant. “Top drawer.”

  He leans over and opens the drawer, grabbing a little foil packet out. Kneeling between my splayed legs, he tears it open with his teeth. Then he grins and hands it to me.

  My eyebrows shoot up.

  Not gonna lie, I’ve never done this before in my life. But I’ve also never been one to back down from a challenge, which is what this clearly is.

  Scrambling up to my knees, I take the condom from him. It takes me a second to figure out the right orientation—I haven’t done this in a “field situation,” so to speak, but I do remember my sex ed class—and once I’m sure I’ve got it right, I let my gaze fall to Logan’s cock.

  Damn, it really is fucking beautiful.

  I remember thinking that was a weird reaction to have to a man’s dick, but I guess I’ll just have to accept that I’m a little weird, because I stand by my initial assessment.

  Logan has a hot as hell dick.

  Unable to resist, I dip my upper body, bracing my free hand on the mattress as I run my tongue over the smooth skin of his shaft. Logan lets out a strangled noise, and when I close my lips around the broad tip, he grabs a fistful of my hair.

  “If you keep doing that, Rae, I’m gonna come. And while I normally wouldn’t have any objections to that, I need to come inside you tonight. I just… fucking need it.”

  The raw honesty in his voice makes wetness seep from me, and I only tease him a little bit, running my tongue over his slit to lick away the precum there. Then I draw back, looking up at him through my lashes. He swallows, making his Adam’s apple bob, and my hands shake a little as I rise back up and roll the condom on over his hard length. Once I’m sure it’s secure, I trail my fingers up over the hard ridges of his abs and chest, then loop my arms around his neck.

  He drops his head to kiss me at the same time his arms wrap around me, and he settles us both on the bed. His cock finds my entrance, and as if he just can’t wait anymore, he plunges inside me, bottoming out in a single stroke.

  My muscles go tight, my legs locking around his waist.

  “So good,” I whimper, and I don’t even care that it sounds like I’m about to cry.

  Maybe I am. Because it is so good.

  It’s everything I needed.

  After giving us both a moment to adjust, Logan draws out and then drives back in, making the whole bed rock with the force of his thrust. I cling to him, finding his lips in a messy, desperate kiss as he begins to fuck me with hard, steady strokes.

  Considering how close we both were to coming, I don’t expect either of us to last long, but I never want this to end. I mutter meaningless words against Logan’s lips, too delirious to string together a proper sentence. I can feel the muscles in his shoulders tensing up as he keeps fucking me, our skin growing damp with sweat.

  The bed is smacking against the wall, punctuating the grunts and groans that fall from our lips, and when Logan sits back, lifting my hips off the bed a little to get a deeper angle, white spots dance in my vision.

  “Touch yourself, Rae,” he murmurs thickly. “I want to see you get yourself off with your pussy clenched around my cock. Show me what you like. Make yourself come.”

  If I still had the power of speech, I’d tell him that what I like is him fucking me. What I like is the heated look in his eyes and the way his cheeks are flushed with arousal. What I like is the feeling of his big hands and strong fingers digging into my hips.

  But I can’t make my brain-mouth connection work well enough to say any of that, so I just do what he commanded, reaching down to brush my fingertips over my clit. I’ve touched myself before, but it feels so fucking different to do it like this, with my core stretched around his thick length and his cock pounding into me.

  My clit is still sensitive, all my nerve endings firing like they’ve been mainlining caffeine, and it doesn’t take very much work to push myself right up to the edge. I’m not even sure it has anything to do with the pressure of my fingers. It might just be the sight of Logan towering over me like some kind of god of sex.

  “Fuck! Logan, I’m—”

  “Yes. Yes. I’m right there, Rae. Fuck.”

  I’m not sure if he comes first or I do, but the feel of his cock pulsing inside me as an intense orgasm tears through my body is enough to pull another scream from my throat. Logan throws his head back, the corded muscles of his neck standing out as he lets out a groan that sounds like it comes from the bottom of his soul.

  He keeps thrusting through his release, and I fist the comforter beneath me as I clench hard around him. When he finally stops moving and sets my lower body back down on the bed, I feel like a wrung out sponge.

  Logan leans over and kisses me, exploring my mouth with his tongue in a way that’s both hungry and sated. Then he finally pulls out, securing the condom as he does. He slides it off and knots it, then tosses it into the garbage can that sits near my little desk.

  Collapsing to the mattress beside me, he pulls me into his embrace, nuzzling my hair as he lets out a contented sigh.

  “So much for dinner,” he says with a low chuckle. “Not that I’m complaining. That was way better.”

  Chapter 6

  I never thought of myself as much of a cuddler, but with Logan, it just feels natural. Refusing to cuddle him would be like refusing to pet a cute puppy—you just don’t do it. It would feel all kinds of wrong.

  We lie sprawled out together, my head on his chest and my arm slung over his waist. Logan’s arms are around me, his nose in my hair. He keeps taking deep breaths, like he’s trying to soak in my essence. I can feel his chest moving with each breath that he takes, his heartbeat steady and affirming in my ear, and I feel… calmed by it. Reassured.

  His fingers gently work through my hair, untangling it.

  “So…” He chuckles quietly. “How much time do you need before you do the hundred-meter dash out of here?”

  His voice is light, like he’s joking, but when I tilt my head up to look at his face, Logan’s expression is soft and open. Not solemn, exactly, but he’s clearly serious.

  I’m not going to lie—I’m scared. I feel my heart racing in my chest like it has, in fact, decided to do a hundred-meter dash. Like I’m in the Olympics and this is the race for the gold. But I remember Saint, and how he doesn’t get to have a choice in whether or not he connects with someone. He doesn’t get to pursue anything. I have to take this chance and be brave, otherwise that choice might get taken away from me later. I can’t take it for granted.

  “No,” I reply, answering Logan’s question. “I don’t need any time. I’m not running.”

  He strokes my hair. “Are you sure?”

  I nod, biting my lip. “I was really scared, for a long time. I don’t think I realized how scared I was. I’m really dedicated to my work, I love my work. I have my goals. And I’m not going to compromise those for anyone. I’m not going to stop being as smart as I am, or as capable as I am. And not a lot of people liked that. They resented me.”

  A soft laugh falls from my lips. “I think somewhere along the way, I just unconsciously decided that I wasn’t going to get into any relationships. Partly because I didn’t have
the time, but also because I didn’t think anyone would want to be in a relationship with someone like me, someone who was married to their job. Someone who was probably smarter and more capable than they were. And if I did meet someone who was at my level—who could keep up with me—I was so awkward and prickly, why would they ever want me?”

  My fingers trace little patterns on Logan’s skin as I consider my next words. “So I just stopped thinking about it and stopped letting myself feel like it was a thing that could happen. It was such a firm thought in my mind, it was such a truth to me that I didn’t even think about it. Like gravity. You don’t usually think about gravity and how it works, you just accept it as a part of your life. But then I met you, and, well…”

  I give him a small, tentative smile, feeling nervous. It feels like I’ve just laid myself bare—ironic, I know, given that I’m literally naked right now—but I’m trying to trust. Logan’s done nothing but show interest in me and give me affection. He’s been putting himself out there from the start.

  I need to do the same. I’ve got to meet him halfway, or I’ll lose him before he’s really even mine.

  “Meeting you was a bit of a blow to the head for me too, if it’s any consolation.” He sounds unbearably fond, and I’m not sure what I did to make him sound that way, but I don’t want him to ever stop. “I was focused on my job too. Focused on being the best. I had to take time off to help my dad, and I don’t regret it. I’m glad that I could help him. He’s my family, you know? But I care about my job and my career and I’ve been wanting to do something like this for—fucking forever, feels like. When IUM was created and I realized I could actually get to do something like that, as an Unpredictable? It was nuts. None of us would’ve dreamed of getting to do this just five years ago. But here we are. And romance… romance didn’t even begin to play into it.”

  He squeezes me gently, smiling. “And then you came along. And you were able to keep up with me and challenge me in a way that nobody else has ever been able to, and it was intoxicating. And I thought… you know what? Fuck the plan. I want to be with this woman. That was something that helping out my dad did teach me. Fuck the plan sometimes. You’ve got to be ready to change things up if something new and incredible shows up in your life.”

  I nod into his chest, settling back down so I’m not craning my neck looking up at him the whole time. It’s almost more intimate this way, talking without seeing each other, just letting our words float to each other as if on a breeze.

  “Maybe I need to do the same thing,” I admit. My voice is soft. “I didn’t plan for you. Or… or Nick, or Saint.”

  Logan squeezes me again briefly, as if in acknowledgment.

  “It’s so scary though,” I blurt out. “Feeling this way. About one person, it’s bad enough. Not that I don’t trust you, I do, but—it’s still terrifying. And then to feel that way about three people?”

  “Hey, I get it.” I can feel Logan chuckle. “Well, I don’t get it, exactly. But you know what I mean. The way I feel about you scares me sometimes too. And that’s comforting, in a weird way. We’re both in this together, feeling the same way. When you start on a relationship, you aren’t starting on it alone. You’re in it with the other person. Together.”

  Hearing those words starts up the butterflies in my stomach again. They’ve been getting a real workout lately.

  I push myself up to kiss him, unable to stop myself. Logan’s so fucking handsome and open-hearted; I’m not sure that I deserve him, but I’m sure as hell not about to give him up.

  He kisses me back with enthusiasm, and it heats up quickly. His hands slide down my body, warming me up as sparks dance on my skin, and I grin against his lips. I’m definitely ready for round two, all of our serious talk aside. Ready to just fall into Logan’s body again and have him fall into me, the two of us intertwined so closely that—

  Our phones go off, almost simultaneously.

  My heart lurches. I have a specific ringtone set up for work so that I’ll know if it’s IUM calling or texting me, or if it’s my siblings.

  And that’s definitely IUM.

  I scramble off Logan, reaching over to grab my phone and unlock it.

  Ben: You’ll want to come into the lab, we’ve had some unusual activity.

  “Ben says they’ve got something weird going on,” Logan tells me, frowning at his phone. He looks as concerned as I feel.

  It’s the middle of the night on a Sunday, but Ben knows that. He’s not one of those scatterbrained ‘forgets everything’ type of scientists. Lito’s the one who’d forget his head if it wasn’t attached to his shoulders. Ben’s really grounded. So he must know what time it is and how inconvenient this will be. That means it’s really important.

  Me: I’m on my way.

  I quickly hit ‘send’ on the text as Logan taps out what I’m guessing is a similar reply. I almost want to say that ‘we’re’ on our way instead of just myself, to make it clear that Logan and I were together when we got the message, but… this is still new. I’m not sure if right now is the time to come out to our coworker about our relationship. I’m sure Ben would be understanding, since he’s dating Lito, but I don’t want to distract him from whatever’s going on.

  We grab our clothes and try to make ourselves presentable, shoving on our shoes. There’s really not a lot of time to get ready, not when Ben made it sound like this is super urgent. Just before we head out the door though, Logan grabs me again, pulling me in by the waist and kissing me.

  I grab on to him immediately, gasping. I wasn’t expecting a kiss, especially not one as passionate as this. It’s almost enough to make me wish that we could just go back to bed…

  But, no. My job is important. I care about my job, and I know Logan cares about it too.

  We pull away from each other reluctantly, and Logan gives me a small, warm smile. He’s just so warm all the time, I don’t know how he does it—but I want to bask in it forever.

  When we get to IUM though, all thoughts of romance fly out of my head. Ben definitely looks worried.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  He directs our attention to some computer screens. His hair looks like he’s been running his hands through it, and all around the computer are crumpled pieces of paper with equations and notes on them. His lab coat is off, thrown across a chair, and his sleeves are rolled up. Poor guy looks like he’s been at it for hours, whatever it is.

  “I’ve been trying to track that magic that we picked up before,” he explains. “I know we haven’t felt anything since then but it pinged here in Portland and that just doesn’t sit right with me. We don’t know what all that magic is capable of and in a big city…” He shakes his head. “But we just got a really big ping off of it. I mean, big. Someone was definitely using a lot of power.”

  “It couldn’t be the original guy,” Logan says. “Right? We killed him. He was definitely dead.”

  “Maybe he’s got a touch of necromancy to him?”

  “Necromancy doesn’t work like that,” I reply automatically. Roman was one of my professors on occasion at Griffin, and his Unpredictable power is all about necromancy and dead people. He explained the basics of it to me.

  “But how could someone else have the exact same signature?” Ben refutes. “That’s impossible, as far as we know.”

  “As far as we know,” I echo. “Which means there’s something we don’t know. Some part of this we haven’t figured out yet. There’s got to be an explanation for this, and we need to find out what it is.”

  I look over at Logan as I finish speaking, lifting my brows in a silent question. It is late, but this isn’t the kind of thing that we can just let go unchecked. We have to check it out.

  The tall blond man nods as if he’s read my mind, then looks over at Ben. “Can you get us an exact location?”

  “Sure can.” Ben types into one of the computers. “But be careful. We don’t know what this magic can do. I can’t get a read on it.”

&n
bsp; That’s concerning. But I’ll handle it.

  No, we’ll handle it. Logan and me—together, as a team.

  “Let’s head out,” I tell my partner, squaring my shoulders.

  Time to find out exactly what’s going on with this magic.

  Chapter 7

  One small mercy in this confusing mess is that the magic flared up in a magical neighborhood.

  I can all too easily imagine the chaos it would be if the magic had pinged in a non-magical neighborhood with regular people, leaving them wondering what the hell was going on in their apartment building. Things like that are where crazy internet rumors about aliens and ghosts come from. It’s hard enough to keep our existence secret from non-magical people without nonsense like this happening.

  When we get to the apartment building where the magical signature flared, nothing seems to be unusual. There’s a doorman and everything. It’s a swanky place. Well, not like the Ritz, but still. My apartment building definitely doesn’t have a doorman.

  Logan and I flash our badges—which are enchanted to look like regular law enforcement credentials—and take the elevator to the specific apartment Ben narrowed the signal down to. When we ask the doorman if he’s seen or heard anything unusual, he tells us that he hasn’t.

  “What is the magic doing, then?” Logan asks as we step out into the hallway on the fifth floor. “It was something powerful, Ben was certain of that. But I’m not seeing any sign that there was any magic performed.”

  “Maybe it’s just powerful in and of itself, and so even the smallest use of it will make it flare really strongly?”

  Roman’s magic is like that. So is my animal magic, although my telekinesis doesn’t give off the same powerful signal.

  We get to the door of the apartment that the magic is supposed to have come from and stop, glancing at each other. It’s similar to all the other apartments we’ve visited for the last couple of weeks as we called on people who’ve developed new Unpredictable magic… and yet, it also feels completely different. The hairs at the back of my neck are standing up, and I feel like a spider is crawling down my spine.