Page 137 of House Ignis

I captured his mouth in a kiss that was slow, deep, and desperate. I dragged my lips along his jaw, down the column of his throat, and across his chest, savoring the way his rough, real groans filled the small room.

My hand slipped beneath the waistband of his shorts, my fingers curling around his length. He let out a deep, guttural growl, his hips jolting upward into my touch, seeking more. The rest of his clothes vanished under our frantic hands and breathless need. Then he grabbed me—strong, sure—and pulled me flush against his heat, guiding me down until he was deep inside me.

A sharp cry escaped my throat—I wasn't sure if it was his name or a prayer to a god, but it was raw.

He gripped my hips, his thumbs pressing into my thighs as I began to move. Slow at first, then gaining a frantic momentum. Each rise and fall pulled a broken sound from his lips. His hands slid upward, cupping my breasts, holding me as if he were trying to anchor his soul to mine.

Then, the bond woke up.

It didn't just hum; it thrummed with a low, pulsing electricity that made my vision blur. For the first time in an entire week, Asher's iron walls didn't just crack—they dropped.

Just for a moment, I felt it.

Lust. Need. A staggering wave of pleasure. It wasn't coming from me; it was coming from him.

He could feel this. He could feel us. He could feel me.

The realization made me moan louder, my body arching as I moved harder. Knowing he was a silent witness, knowing that my pleasure was feeding his own, made everything hotter. Deeper. More dangerously real. I didn't stop—and neither did the bond.

Jeremy's hands gripped me tighter, his lips marking my throat as his body rocked beneath mine, responding to every frantic movement. But the bond... gods, it was a wildfire. Asher was there. Not physically but woven into the very marrow of my bones through that molten magic. He wasn't shielding anymore.

To make matters worse, I felt the shift. He was projecting. He was doing it—projecting his own solitary moment into the bond, entwining his arousal with the act I was performing with another.

I came undone the second it hit me.

He was pleasuring himself—I could feel the sharp, dark ache of his rhythm folding into mine, sending jagged sparks up my spine. He wanted me to feel every inch of his hunger. And gods help me, I wanted him to feel mine. It drove me to move faster, riding Jeremy with a fierce, burning need that bordered on possession. My breath hitched with every thrust, every flicker of dark approval and predatory lust that pulsed through the tether.

Jeremy moaned beneath me, his hands everywhere, but it was Asher's presence—wicked, forbidden, and consuming—that made my body shatter.

Heat coiled tight, tighter, until the world exploded into white light. I was gone—convulsing around Jeremy, a scream ripping from my lips as I drowned in the wave. And through the connection, I felt a surge of delighted, wicked approval. He felt everything.

And then, I felt him come undone, too. His pleasure flooded through the link like a tidal wave of shadow, colliding with my own in a shared, stolen echo. It was dark, it was wrong, and it was the most intense thing I had ever felt.

My moan turned into a broken gasp.

When it was finally over, Jeremy pulled me into his chest, his heart thudding against mine as he kissed my cheek gently. He was smiling, his eyes soft with a peace I didn't share.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't even move. Because, gods help me—it didn't feel like I'd just been with one of them.

It felt like I'd been claimed by both.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"You basically just had a metaphysical threesome!" Ember squealed, practically bouncing on my mattress.

Gods, I regretted opening my mouth.

Jeremy had slipped out at dawn. All quiet kisses and lingering touches, but no words.

Not long after, Not long after, Ember had stormed in with Luna trailing behind her. Just as sassy as her, the lynx flopped dramatically onto the rug. Ember had demanded every single detail of my week.

And like an idiot—suffocating under the weight of it all—I told her.

Now she was clinging to every sentence like it was the most scandalous scroll of gossip to hit the Academy since House Ventus streaked through the dining hall.

"Ugh, don't use that word," Aether muttered, his voice thick with feline disapproval as he padded across the room and flopped onto the couch.

Even Zya emerged from the balcony shadows, stretching like a dark queen on her perch.