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Anna
The big man stumbled backward, one of his flailing arms nearly taking out the Master as he recovered. But Damien was already charging at him.
Anna ducked out of the way as he breezed past her, trying not to scream as the two dragons grappled and fell to the ground, exchanging punches, elbows and knees. Damien was flung backward into the stone wall, cracking the stones with a thunderous crunch. He dropped to his feet, shaking off the blow and went back at Rokh, picking the fire dragon up and flinging him down the hallway.
She desperately hoped the two of them would maintain enough composure to refrain from using their powers inside. The last thing they needed was a firestorm, or sheets of lightning bouncing down the hallways.
Other doors were opening now, heads peeking out as the commotion reached a peak. It was tough to tell who was winning, because the dragons were moving like a blur, the blows faster than she could keep up with. Every now and then, one of them went flying or was slammed into a wall, but the tally seemed about even between them.
“What a pair of imbeciles,” Master Loiner said, speaking up at last. “I bet they don’t have five brain cells between them. This is why you don’t need to sully yourself to being with them, Initiate.”
Anna just looked at Loiner in shock, amazed that this woman could be so dense.
The Master shuffled around to place herself between Anna and the thunderous sounds of the fighting dragons. “I sure hope you didn’t soil yourself by doing anything physical with him, like a slut.”
Blood pounded in Anna’s temples. She leaned to the side, looking past Loiner at the shifters. Then back at Loiner. Then at the dragons.
“Now don’t you dare—” the woman began to say, but Anna had had it.
She was tired of everyone telling her what to do. Of people judging her on her decisions. The events that had already happened were all but guaranteed to see her remain an Initiate forever. There was no more hope for her to advance. There was nothing left for her to lose at this point.
Anna leapt at Loiner, taking the smaller woman down. She shrieked in anger, flailing with her fists, letting all her emotions out. No magic, just a straight-up parade of blows.
Loiner wasn’t going down that easily, however. She rolled to the side, Anna’s head nearly slamming into the wall as Loiner got the high position. Now it was her turn.
“You’re going to regret that, you insipid little bitch! You should never have been admitted here. You’re a stain on Winterspell’s reputation!”
Anna’s fist rocketed up, connecting squarely with Loiner’s nose. The older woman slumped backward, blood beginning to drip from her nostrils.
I did that, Anna crowed to herself, sitting up and throwing herself forward before she lost her advantage. Loiner got her right across the cheek, but Anna didn’t let up. She grabbed Loiner’s head and slammed it back against the stone floor.
A vicious punch caught her in the midsection, and she rolled off, coughing to try and regain her composure as tears threatened her sides. She’d not known the Master could hit so hard!
But Anna wasn’t done yet. Although she possessed magic, her lack of strong natural talent meant she’d always relied on her other assets as well. She worked out regularly, and the thickness of her body meant she carried around more muscle naturally than Loiner did.
The power began to work in her favor, but Loiner was a wily one, and she wormed around until she was on top. Anna, however, was in a fit of rage, and she reached up, grabbed the Master by the collar of her robe and threw her aside like a ragdoll.
Getting to her feet, she rushed at the other woman, lowering her shoulder right into her jaw.
Something cracked and Loiner’s eyes rolled up into her head. She slumped back to the floor and lay still. For a moment, Anna feared she’d killed the woman, but the slow rise and fall of her chest indicated she would be okay.
Anna backpedaled, falling back to sit on her butt, arms out behind her to support her as she breathed heavily, trying to recover her composure.
Footsteps walked up to her side. She looked at the giant feet, craning her head all the way up.
“Did you do this?” Damien asked, also breathing heavily, his skin split open in several places, his shirt ripped to shreds.
“She had it coming,” Anna started to say before realizing that Damien wasn’t judging her negatively. “Yes.”
“I’m impressed.” He bent down, helping Anna to her feet.
“I’m surprised,” she said. “I didn’t know I had it in me. But she was just being such a bitch, and the things she said about you, I...”
Anna was stopped as Damien kissed her.
Shocked gasps sounded up and down the hallway as the watchers saw.
“Come on,” he growled, taking her hand. “Time to go.”
And like that, the two of them were off, running down the hallway, some of the students smiling and cheering, others still in shock, while a notable few, those who supported Master Loiner, simply glared at the pair.
Anna didn’t care. Not anymore. After all, what more did she have to lose? She was going to be kicked from her studies at Winterspell anyway.
I may as well explore whatever else there is to explore with Damien.
They raced out of the tower and across the courtyards, well ahead of any pursuit that might be organized, smiling and laughing maniacally at each other.
“I am in so much shit,” Damien said, seemingly still in disbelief over what he’d done.
“Me too,” she said. “Can we slow down? I’m not really a runner.”
“Of course!” He pulled her behind a building, out of sight of anyone. “We’ll hide here,” he said, taking her down an alleyway between a pair of two-story stone buildings.
Anna was with him, at his side, when something thudded against the wall next to them. She yelped and flattened her back against the other wall. Damien was there in a flash, putting himself between her and whatever had made the noise.
Then they both heard the soft snorting sounds of an animal from a nearby open window and they shared some relieving laughter.
“Just a barn animal,” she said.
Damien turned, still right in front of her. “You okay?”
“I’m just fine,” she said softly, suddenly aware of his presence. He was right there. To touch his chest, all she had to do was lift her hand like that, and then lay it on his pec, feeling the strength of his heart beating behind it.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
“It’s beating so fast,” she remarked, her gaze moving upward. “Are you nervous?”
A thick, heavy palm settled over her chest, resting on the top of her breast.
“So is yours,” Damien returned, gazing down at her, his eyes thick with the tension she heard in his voice.
“I was just running,” she pointed out.
“Me too, but that’s not why mine is beating fast,” he said, leaning in a little closer. “And I don’t think it’s why yours is either.”
“No?” she all but squeaked. “Why is it then?”
“Because you like me,” he said softly, dipping his head until he was a couple of inches away at most. “And we’re all alone. Nobody to find us. We’re free.”
“Free?”
“Yes,” he whispered, his hand caressing down over her breast with the lightest of touches. “Free. Free for me to touch you the way I’ve longed to. Free for you to open yourself to me.”
Anna gasped as he grabbed her breast. It was rough, but not hard. Just pointed enough to rob her of a breath.
“You can tell me to stop if you want,” Damien growled, his mouth now at her neck level.
Anna shivered as his breath washed across her skin, raising goosebumps in its path. How was it that something so simple as him breathing on her could turn her to putty in his hands?
“What if I don’t want to tell you that?” she managed to get out, biting her lip as his fingers slipped between the folds of her robe, finding her nipple through the soft material of her shirt.
“Then don’t. Tell me what you do want,” he rumbled, kissing her neck now, drawing a constant series of quiet moans from her mouth.
“I want you,” she said, not believing her own forwardness. “I want you, Damien.”
He growled his assent and that was when he kissed her, a fiery, burning thing that snapped all of her restraint, opening the doors of her body to him. To his touch, to his presence.
She gasped as he picked her up in his arms, walking the length of the alley to a wooden door at the far end. It opened easily to his strength and he walked her right into one of the barn buildings.
“Hang tight.”
She clamped down, having no idea what he was going to do, when Damien suddenly jumped. The force of it elicited a yelp of surprise from her throat as they landed evenly on the second-floor loft.
“I didn’t realize you were so strong,” she gasped as he set her back down on her feet. Glancing around his thick shoulder she looked down at the floor, stunned at how easily he’d gotten them up there.
“Well, now you do,” he growled.
He kissed her then, and her brain hit overload.
