Fallen University: Year One

“She?”

He was millimeters away now. His animal eyes burned into mine, and his hot breath dusted my mouth. My body screamed at me to take him, whether he liked it or not, and I trembled with the strength of the conflict.

“Don’t ask questions,” he growled. “Just listen. I don’t want you. I don’t want this school. I don’t want to be a goddamn Custodian, and I certainly don’t want to work for Gavriel. I had a good life, Piper. I had food. A career. Everything a person could ask for. I went unnoticed for years. Years!”

“And you fucked it up,” I murmured. That must be the mistake he was talking about. He’d stayed under the radar on earth for years, avoiding the notice of the Custodians as he’d built a life for himself in secret. But eventually, he’d gotten himself caught. Revealed himself.

I wanted to shove him away, but my body wouldn’t let me. It ached to press against him, to rub all over his skin like a cat. My lips were nearly touching his. Another second, and I wouldn’t be able to stop myself.

His eyes softened back into a human’s. “Yeah, I fucked it up. Now fuck off.”

It was his room. I was the intruder. But that didn’t stop him from turning on his heel and storming out.

“Shit.” I flattened one hand to my chest where my heart crashed against my ribs as the other slid down to press against the ache between my legs. “God-fucking-dammit.”

Chapter Thirteen

“It’s driving me absolutely fucking nuts,” I told Hannah a few weeks later.

We were sparring together in Combat as Beedle walked around the massive training room, adjusting students’ form and technique and presumably making sure no one took a piece of rebar through the torso.

I’d been getting better at sparring, but Hannah, despite being a sweet, generally non-violent person, had taken to combat like a fish to water. She was keeping me on my toes.

“What is?” she grunted, slipping out of the headlock I’d tried to put her in and darting away.

Instead of answering her, I found my gaze inexorably drawn to the four men who were sparring in matches on their own on the other side of the room.

That’s what’s driving me nuts.

Them.

“Isn’t that what love is supposed to do?” She shot me a teasing grin then blasted an energy ball at me, probably aiming wide since she could see I was distracted. Still, my outer thigh tingled as the ball passed by too close for comfort. I snapped my attention back to our fight, trying hard to focus. She was gearing up to do it again. I shrank into a child-sized version of myself with too-big eyes.

“You don’t want to hurt me, do you, Hannah?” I asked, looking up at her pleadingly.

She hesitated, her eyes hazy as my persuasion clouded her mind. In a flash, I was my usual size and shape again—I darted forward and caught her lightly in the gut with my fist.

“Damn it!” She snapped out of her daze as soon as the blow landed. “That’s so not even fair.”

“Neither are those energy balls.” I backed up to reset, wiping a drop of sweat off my brow.

She grinned and waved a hand. Next thing I knew I was hanging upside-down in the air. It felt like an invisible giant had grabbed me by the ankles and picked me up.

“How ‘bout that?” she asked with a smirk.

“What?” I twisted and writhed in the air, trying to do an upside down crunch so I could reach my ankles—not that it would do me much good. There was no invisible giant to fight, just Hannah’s magic. “When did you learn how to do this?”

“Remember the feathers? I’ve been working on this move for-freaking-ever. See, from here I could just let my enemy plummet and break their neck.”

“I’m not your enemy,” I said, giving up on the crunch—my abs were screaming at me already—and pushing out toward her with my power. “You want to set me down gently.”

“Of… course I do.” Her eyes went unfocused again, and her head bobbed up and down in a continuous nod. She brought me gently down until I was about six inches off the floor. Then she shook her head hard, grimacing as she fought off my persuasion. She bared her teeth and finally ripped free of my charm, letting me drop the final few inches. “Damn it, Piper!”

I collapsed in an undignified heap on the floor, but at least my neck was intact—not that she would’ve actually dropped me from a dangerous height. Rubbing at a bruise on my elbow, I rolled over onto my back, shooting her an impressed look. “You’re getting good.”

“So are you.” She helped me up. “Want to call it?”

“With you in the lead?” I poked her in the ribs. “I think not!”