Page 49 of Phoenix Academy: Mayhem

"I'm fucking amazing," he tells me as he pushes my chest down onto the wood and positions himself between my legs. "Don't you fucking forget it, Ari Wolfe. Just in case your memory is fuzzy, here's a reminder."

Lining his cock up, he grabs my hips and thrusts inside my pussy with a single, brutal stroke. I gasp and dig my fingers into the edge of the picnic table, legs spread wide with his weight against me. A whimper leaves my lips as he pulls his length out and fucks it back in again until I can feel every inch of his shaft inside me, my pussy dripping wetness as Reggie makes room for his cock and nothing else.

I moan. He shifts the angle of his body and pummels me with his length. The pressure of his cock inside me, sliding along my walls, makes me body begin to tremble in ways it never has. As pleasure builds up within me, Reggie fucks me hard through it, each thrust bringing him deeper within.

When I feel my orgasm coming, I'm shocked more than anything.

It descends on me like a tsunami. Waves and waves of pleasure clenching my pussy around Reggie's bare cock. Moans and gasps leave my body. He digs his fingers into my hips and moans in pleasure as my body tightens around his girth.

A few thrusts later he's cursing as he comes inside me, and all the while my body welcomes him in. His cock head presses so deep inside me I see stars.

"You see, Ari?" Reggie grunts with pleasure and fucks me harder than I've been fucked before. "If anyone is going to knock you up, it'll be me. Your body knows out."

My only response is a moan.

I've never come like this before, from penetration along. It feels all-consuming from deep within. And I know Reggie loves it, because his thrusts stutter with the tremble of my body as I clench and tighten around him.

"Fuck, Ari. I'm gonna—oh fuck, I'm gonna come."

I whimper. "Do it. Come in me."

He does. Wrenching his cock deep inside me until the head pushes up against my furthest depths, he comes with a low moan and a twist of his hips. I can feel the splash of wetness inside me as it spills out onto my lower lips. My body grabs onto his cock and pull the cum deep inside with the last rhythmic waves of my orgasm.

I've never felt as close to someone as I do in this moment.

When Reggie is done emptying himself inside me, his cock slides out of my slickness, and he flips me over so he can bend down and bring our mouths together. The kiss is warm and soft, deep and passionate. We're both slick with sweat and other things. He collapses down beside me on the picnic table, and I twist to the side to stare at his face.

"I love you," I tell him simply. "So, so much."

"I fucking love you too, Ari." He shoots me a smirk, then sobers. "That thing you were going to do... to keep from getting pregnant..."

"Witches have ways."

His eyes are warm and soft on my face. "You don't have to. If you don't want to."

Those words practically knock me over. Long after we've gotten dressed and all gone back together inside, after we create a makeshift bed on the floor and pile on top of blankets and pillows like puppies, I think about what Reggie said.

I don't have to.

Because I could have a family again, if I simply choose that path.

* * *

In the morning, I wake just before dawn, even though it's only a few hours later. My instincts lead me to do it; this is the witch way. Our bodies cry out for the moon's embrace and the sun's early rays, to help us with certain types of magic that can only be done when the light is right.

Wrapping myself in fresh clothes, I pull my hair up into a low ponytail, blue strands escaping the elastic to tickle at my cheeks and jaw. Then I pull on my boots and venture out into the sparse woods of the Phoenix Academy campus, a mug in one hand, a canister of water in the other.

I find the flowers beneath a pile of orange-red leaves near an old oak tree. Their stems are a deep violet-tinged evergreen, their pistons a bright blue not normally seen in nature, surrounded by bright red petals.

Moon tea flowers.

Carefully picking half a dozen pistons from the flowers, I drop them into my mug and set it at my feet. Then I gather the stainless steel canister of water in both my hands, and suffuse just enough phoenix fire into my palms to bring the water to a roiling boil.

Once it's cooled off enough to be steaming hot, but not quite boiling, I pour the water into the mug and watch the bright blue flower pistons dissolve into a pale blue tea, like the color of the early morning sky.

In the distance, rays of the sun begin to crawl across the earth. The flowers at my feet wither, their petals curling inward. I thank them mentally for their early morning sacrifice, and carry the mug of tea back to my room, where the boys still slumber.

Reggie's words echo in my ears.

We're at war, I remind myself. My father is still alive somewhere. Lizzy... I don't know what Lizzy is up to, but I know that I have to save her. I'm her older sister, and it's my duty.

Now couldn't be a worse time to have a child.

But when, after all, is a good time?

Maybe one day, I tell myself. Soon. Not now. Not yet. With these three loyal, funny, deeply caring men—yes, I will have a daughter. A witch to carry the line into the future. One who will grow up among shifters and phoenix. One who might even have a mage as a godfather.

The tea is bitter on my tongue, but as I swallow my first mouthful, sweetness follows, an aftertaste of magic and a promise to myself that the peace I fight for will be a peace for myself as well as the world around me.

---