Fallen University: Year Three

“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll stay,” Michael said, clearing his throat. He didn’t comment on our little moment, and I was glad as hell for that. “There are people here willing to stand up to him if they have people to stand up with them. I’ll rally them all. If you can send Gavriel running, we’ll try to take him out when he retreats.”

A bright blue rectangle of light shone in the darkness, and Kingston swore. He’d tugged his enchanted cell phone out of his pocket, but he must’ve pressed a button that lit up the screen as he did.

“Stupid phone—here, Michael. I’ve got my private office number set as the only contact. Call us if you ever need to. Once we’re back on earth, I’ll get a new cell and make sure any calls to my office get forwarded to me.”

“Thanks,” Michael said. He took the phone, looking at it with something like awe. “Enchanted, huh?”

“Yep.”

I blinked, watching their exchange with my mouth hanging slightly open. Kingston had bought the enchanted phone before he’d been nabbed by the Custodians, and he’d kept its existence hidden for a year, using it to communicate with people from his old life. He hadn’t even told me about it for a long time, and I knew it was his most valued possession.

“Kingston, are you—”

He cut me off. “It’s important that we have a way to keep track of what’s going on here. We have to try to synchronize our efforts.”

“Looks like the dragons are changing the guard,” Jayce said, glancing up at the sky. “We should move now before they get fresh eyes in the air.”

We scrambled up the hill, back the way we’d come. The short journey to the town seemed to take longer in the deep darkness—or maybe it was the weight of impending doom that made it drag on. Either way, I was glad to see dim firelight on the other side of the tunnel once we finally made it back. Michael led us to a long, low house full of bedrooms.

“This is the boarding house,” he said. “Mostly empty now. Haven’t had many people moving in. But there’s beds enough for you if you want them. I’m gonna get dinner if you want to join me.”

“You guys go ahead,” I said, waving to the men and Hannah. “I want to talk to Kingston for a minute.”

They left, and I took Kingston into one of the empty rooms and shut the door behind us.

“What’s up?” His brow furrowed as he looked down at me.

“What do you mean, what’s up? That phone was your connection to your business. To your old life. To everything.”

He shrugged and leaned against the wall. “Yeah.”

“You know, the one thing keeping the door open for you to go back to your old life?”

He flashed me that cocky half-smile I had come to love so much and swaggered over to where I stood. His eyes drifted over my face and body, and he lifted a hand to brush his fingers over my lips, then bury them in the hair at the nape of my neck.

“Yeah, I know that. But here’s the thing, Piper.” His voice was low and husky, sending shivers down my spine. “Maybe I don’t want to go back. Not as much as I thought. Maybe…” He dropped a kiss at the corner of my mouth. “Maybe I like this life a little bit more.”

His attention kickstarted my succubus power. As much as I wanted to smother it, to see how much of this was real and how much was magic, there was nothing I could do. It twined around us like invisible rope, drawing us irresistibly together.

But when I tasted his mouth, there was more than magic in his kiss. We were more than bonded—and no magic could explain how my heart lifted at his touch, or the depth of emotion in his gaze.

His hands roamed my body as our kiss began to deepen, and I felt him growing hard against me. When I slipped my hands up under his tunic to run my fingertips over the broad planes of his back, he growled into my mouth, the sound possessive and hungry.

I liked it so much that I teased him more, drawing one hand out from under his tunic to squeeze it between us, palming his cock through his pants.

He hummed in approval even as he threaded his hands through my hair, tugging my head back and breaking our kiss.

“Don’t start what you can’t finish, succubus,” he breathed, dropping his head to skim his nose over the soft skin of my neck. When he reached the line of my jaw, he nipped at it gently, making sparks shoot through me.

“I never do,” I shot back, unable to keep the grin out of my voice.

“That might be one of my favorite things about you.”

As he spoke, he released me, but only long enough to turn me in his arms. Then he caught me in a firm hold again, wrapping his arms around my waist and pressing his lips to my hair, right next my ear.

“But we’re guests in this village. Can you keep quiet?”

“Of course I can. Can you?”