Page 199 of House Ignis

Ember's cheeks burned as she eventually shoved him away, laughing but looking completely wrecked.

He smirked like the magnificent bastard he was and sat back down, smug as a cat in a creamery.

I rolled my eyes, leaning back into Asher's heat.

Then came Ember's turn—her dare was to take a body shot. From a stranger.

She rolled her eyes but went for it with a defiant toss of her hair, choosing some random third-year with abs that looked like they had been carved by the gods themselves.

She leaned down and completed the body shot without hesitation, and the entire tent screamed in a frenzy.

Except Ezra.

His jaw locked into a rigid line.

His shadows were seething, snapping at the air around him like whipcord.

The second Ember came back to the table, flushed and laughing, he lunged.

He grabbed her by the waist and kissed her like he was going to eat her alive, a kiss fierce enough to silence the girls for a split second before they shrieked even louder than the music.

“You Umbra males are very possessive,” I teased through the bond, biting my lip as Asher's shadows tightened around my thigh.

His laugh was like dark silk sliding through my mind. "You have no idea, darling. We don't share what's ours." He kissed me then, hard and deep, until my toes curled against the soles of my shoes.

Ember was just about to grab the bottle for the next round when a sudden, violent gust of wind shoved it.

Ember was just about to grab the bottle for the next round when it suddenly jerked away from her hand.

The glass scraped harshly across the table, spinning until it slowed and pointed directly at the end of our circle.

"Well, well, well. A dare's a dare."

The voice cut straight through the thumping bass.

My head snapped up, the alcohol-induced warmth in my blood turning to ice in a heartbeat.

Jeremy.

He stood at the end of the table, hair a windblown mess, green eyes blazing, a jagged grin carved across his face.

"Jeremy," I breathed.

His eyes didn't leave mine. They were hard, cold, and entirely too familiar. "Ava."

My heart seized.

Fury slammed through the bond, dark and suffocating.

I was still sprawled over Asher's chest, his hand heavy on my thigh.

His fingers tightened in a warning grip, his knuckles turning white as shadows began to coil up my skin, mirroring his rising temper.

Jeremy's gaze tracked the movement, his jaw ticking.

"Sore loser, Eldrethine?" Ryven drawled, his voice dripping with mockery as he leaned back into the shadows of the booth.

Jeremy didn't even look at him, but the muscles in his neck strained.