Neck-Romancer: A Neck-Romancer Novel Read online

  I dropped my bag and sat across from him by the headboard. “It wouldn’t be so bad if Alec and Pierce weren’t kissing me every five seconds. Pierce left for a few hours, and Alec has to study for an exam until the dance tonight, so they got me all worked up and left me high and dry. Assholes.”

  “I’m surprised Alec is studying for anything,” Gilbert joked, and I laughed as I spread my legs across the bed, putting my hands between them to pull my skirt down. “You could always…” He stopped and almost looked sheepish, but he quickly started perusing my body in a way that was so unlike him, I was instantly short of breath. He met my eyes and leaned forward on his transparent legs. “You could always take care of it yourself.” He got up on his knees and stalked towards me like a cat on the prowl. “I’ve been watching you for years, but there’s always been one thing I wanted to watch you do. Even if I could’ve said the words, I was too shy to ask because I knew you didn’t feel the same, but now…” Gilbert stopped between my spread legs and got so close to my face, I would’ve felt his breath if he was alive. “Touch yourself for me, Jaz.”

  Ahh, fuck me.

  I lifted my skirt and easily slipped my panties off, exposing my wet heat to the cold air he was creating. He moved back just a bit so he could look down and watch as I slowly brought my fingers to my clitoris and circled the sensitive area around it. Inhaling deeply at the sight of me pleasuring myself, he looked up at me from the curtain of his lashes, his features heated enough to catch me on fire.

  Holding my gaze, he reached to his belt and unbuckled it, moving his transparent tunic aside so he could pull his hard erection out of his pants.

  Could a ghost jerk himself off?

  The corner of his mouth pulled up in a grin and he answered my question by wrapping his hands around his cock and giving it a firm twist up and down its length. He watched me watching him, my eyes glued to the way he thrust his hips up into his hand, exactly the way I wished he could thrust into me.

  “I didn’t say stop,” he said with a gasp, trying to maintain control of me while he was clearly enjoying himself.

  I crooked my finger at him, and when he was leaning over me again, I started to rub my clitoris, my mouth falling open in a gasp as my fingers expertly drew pleasure with every movement. My nub was already swollen and sensitive from the entire day of foreplay, but I didn’t want to climax yet, not until he was close. I went back to circling it, every so often brushing my fingers across it, making my hips jerk forward.

  Gilbert sucked his lip into his mouth, biting down on it as he stared into my eyes. “I can’t wait until I can finally have you. Until then, I’m going to watch Pierce and Alec fuck you. I’ll watch you come for them, and learn all the things you like them to do to you, so when the day comes that I can claim you as mine, I’ll know exactly how to drive you insane. I’ll make you beg to come, and then I’ll make you do it over and over until you beg me to stop.”

  “I didn’t…” I moaned, cutting myself off, and I had to shut my eyes to get enough control to not orgasm instantly. “I didn’t realize you were like this. You were so timid, so whiny. In an adorable way, mind you.”

  “Mmm,” he said, half moaning through the word. “I can be both.”

  I opened my eyes and grinned as my mouth opened with another gasp. “I like it.”

  “In that case…” He gave me a devilish look and sank down to between my legs, watching me flutter my fingers over my clitoris. “You’re going to come for me, don’t hold it off. I want to watch it happen.”

  I got closer and closer with Gilbert observing the way I enjoyed touching myself, and watching his hand slowly going up and down his hard cock was bringing me up to the edge.

  With my moans growing louder and my body on the verge of exploding, Gilbert looked up from between my legs, met my eyes again, and he blew one puff of cold air onto my clitoris, sending me off into a climax so intense, I grabbed the headboard to steady myself so I wouldn’t fall over as my chest heaved and my eyes squeezed shut with waves of pleasure running over me.

  When I was finally able to open my eyes, Gilbert was studying my face with a grin.

  “It’s my turn.”

  Still partly frozen in place with the last bit of my climax rushing across me, Gilbert sat up on his knees in front of my legs and continued running his hand up and down his cock. He could see the way my eyes glossed over when I watched him thrust into his closed palm, so he kept doing it, over and over, his thrusts growing rougher as he got closer. I almost thought I saw sweat dotting his transparent skin, if such a thing was possible.

  “This is exactly how I’m going to fuck you, Jaz,” he groaned, his breath ragged, signaling his impending climax. “Fuck, I’m going to come. I can’t even remember the last time I—God, Jaz!” He screamed my name and transparent liquid started shooting from his cock, landing all over my body in a shower of ectoplasm and disappearing a second later. Mid-moan, he fell back onto the bed and threw a hand over his eyes as his chest heaved in ecstasy.

  Somewhat recovered myself, I crawled over him the same way he had me, and hovered over his face until he lowered his arm to stare up at me.

  I drew from my powers, focused as hard as I could, and leaned in to just barely brush his lips with mine.

  11

  Crashing the party

  “JAZ NECK OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW OR SO HELP THE GODDESS, I WILL TURN IT INTO A SMOKING PILE OF ASH!”

  Having just nodded off after my escapades with Gilbert, I lifted my head from my pillows and glared at the door. “Oh my god, Alec! I’m trying to effing sleep!” Pierce’s wolfy whine made me get up with a grumble, and I undid the spell I’d put on the door, swinging it open to see a red-faced Alec with his fist raised to pound on the door.

  “I thought…” Alec’s ragged breathing slowed down as he deflated at the sight of me. “I thought you’d been taken again.”

  Gilbert flew down to stand beside me. “I was watching her.”

  Literally.

  Pierce pushed past me and waited until Alec had closed and locked the door on us before shifting back into a human. “I told you she was okay, Alec. Gilbert is perfectly capable of keeping an eye on her.”

  “Except he can’t stop anyone from taking her,” Alec grumbled, running a hand through his hair.

  I stood in front of Alec and held his cheeks in my hands. “I’m safe. Please stop worrying like this. I can’t live with you constantly in fear for my safety.”

  He bent his head and kissed my forehead. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Who knew quitting vaping would make me so moody.”

  “I thought that was just an illusion?”

  “Sure.”

  I glared at him until Pierce swung me around into his arms, kissing me sweetly several times.

  “The dance is tonight,” he announced. “Your dress is beautiful, you’re going to be the prettiest girl there. I only regret that I can’t dance with you.”

  “I assume I’ll be your date?” Alec said, coming up behind me to slide his arms around my waist. Pierce leaned in to kiss my neck, and I looked up over his shoulder at Gilbert who was watching us quite intently with the same glint in his eye he’d had while watching me rub myself to climax.

  I’m going to die of passion before this week is over.

  “Well, I thought I’d ask Gene Pendragon, but with him being a nerd and all, it wouldn’t have worked out.”

  “Adorable,” Alec said, kissing my head. “I’ll be right back, just need to grab my suit from my dorm.”

  “What’s wrong with the one you’re already wearing?” Pierce asked, eagerly taking me fully into his arms as Alec stepped away.

  “This is my school day suit. I need my ‘all the panties be droppin’ suit. It’s much nicer. And quite effective too.”

  I rolled my eyes after he’d left. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a spell sewn in the suit fabric that makes everyone want him.”

  Pierce raised his eyebrows with intrigue. “You can do tha
t?”

  “Yes,” I said with a grin, trailing a finger up Pierce’s shirt. “I have a very special nightgown that has a similar effect. You’re lucky Alec never put it on me on accident.”

  The Lycan’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, and he practically started drooling. “I am very not lucky he never did, and you’re putting it on right now.”

  I put a finger over his lips and winked. “Later tonight. If you three behave.”

  “I will be a saint,” Gilbert whispered from the dresser. “I’ll make the Pope look like a heathen.”

  I winked at him too as I walked past him to my wardrobe and got out the dress I’d altered for the occasion. It still wasn’t very fancy, but I didn’t care. I was going with the hottest, most sought after boy in the school on my arm.

  Everyone could suck it.

  Just so we would actually leave on time and not get sidetracked, I closed myself off behind the wardrobe doors and tossed my uniform away to slip my dress on, using a quick spell to zip it up in the back. Then I used my wardrobe mirror and did some quick spell work on my hair, pinning my curls up here and there until they made a nice messy bun with a few loose ringlets. I did a magically perfect eyeliner wing and applied some spellbound lipstick that wouldn’t rub off.

  Alec was back in his panty dropping suit when I emerged, and there was definitely something sewn into the threads because he looked so fine, my mouth started to water. Alec’s smirk dropped as he took me in, and though Pierce had seen the dress before, he had an equally appreciative look, as did Gilbert. Maybe it was my hair, or the perfect eyeliner, but from the expressions they had, I almost wondered if I’d put on the special nightgown by mistake.

  “I’ve suddenly forgotten how to speak,” Alec fumbled out, stuttering several times.

  “Oh please,” I flustered, tucking a curl behind my ear. “I’m not that gor—well, okay. I am that gorgeous. Gape away.”

  “Jaz, you’re…” Gilbert looked me up and down, stopping at my face and staring so intently I felt my cheeks flush. “You’re absolutely stunning. If I wasn’t already in love with you, I would be now.” He held out his transparent hand to me and we were just barely able to brush our fingers together.

  Pierce took my wrist and brought me up to him where he put a warm hand across my lower back and kissed my fingers. “If I end up humping your leg later, please don’t hold it against me.”

  I gave him a playful look of disapproval before Alec whisked me over to him, and he gave me a heart stopping kiss that definitely made me want to drop my panties.

  “She’s mine for the night, gentlemen. We can share her later,” Alec announced, kissing me again to stop my protests. “Let’s go, Pierce. Gilbert, hold the fort.”

  “Have fun, Jaz!” Gilbert said with a wink as Pierce shifted into a wolf and Alec whirled me out to the hallway.

  We arrived at the dance in the dining hall, Alec in his enchanted suit, me in my party dress, and Pierce as a wolf by my side, the Ouija necklace dangling from his furry neck. Everyone stared at us like we had a giant neon sign above our heads that invited them to ogle us as much as they wanted.

  A boring song from several decades ago was playing, and no one was really interested in dancing, mostly because they were too busy gossiping about us. Alec led me to the dance floor and put his arm around me, clasping my hand in his, and we swayed to the music.

  “I should warn you, I’m not really a dancer,” I admitted, and Alec spun me, bringing me up against him, the heady spell woven into his suit making my head spin.

  “I should tell you, there’s nothing special about this suit. I’m just naturally this sexy.” He kissed my head quickly before lifting us off the ground and flying us across the dance floor, his feet still moving to the beat of the song.

  As long as I had physical contact with him, I floated too, and when a better song came on, we started a complicated dance that left us both sweaty and out of breath. We bobbed, we dipped, we spun, and we were the best damn thing that school had ever seen.

  “I thought you weren’t a dancer,” Alec asked when he drew me close again.

  “I said not really. Didn’t say I couldn’t. My mom has two lovers, one of them always needed someone to dance with when there was a good song on the radio.”

  We touched back down to the floor, and I wiped at the sweat on my forehead. Pierce came over and licked at my hand in approval of our display, so I scratched him behind the ears and kissed his furry head.

  “Very impressive, Alec,” someone said, and I turned to see Cole Cauldron approaching us, giving Alec a look of longing before he remembered he hated us. “As I recall, you were always a good dancer.”

  Alec automatically put his arm around my waist even though nothing had happened, and I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “Thank you, Cole.” He said nothing else, and Cole left with a scowl as Alec watched him carefully until he was on the other side of the room. “When I heard you’d been taken, I thought he was the one who did it. I wanted to kill him, I was so enraged. Pierce stopped me from finding him. That little shit is lucky he’s still breathing.”

  For more reason than one.

  Pierce stayed with me while Alec went to get us something to drink. I pet at Pierce’s fur, surveying the room as we waited. More people had come to the dance floor and were attempting to dance. Candace was making a spectacle of herself by twerking in her very expensive dress, and Alec walked right in front of her without even looking, making her give him a very angry look.

  It seemed both of the Cauldron twins had the hots for my soulmate. Sucks to be them.

  I continued staring around at the spectacle and noticed some of the teachers had gathered at the entrance doors, talking worriedly amongst themselves. Pierce followed me to the end of the dining hall, and Professor Halace noticed me approaching them.

  “Jasmine, you should be at the dance, dear,” she told me, her gorgeous face wrinkled with worry, and it wasn’t a good look on her, but her gentleness was much more disconcerting. She was never nice to me. Or anyone.

  Wisniewski floated down the staircase in her long robes and came up to me, putting her thin fingers on my shoulder. “Jasmine, please go back into the dining hall. Everything is fine, we just have a small issue outside.”

  The school front doors opened under Cauldron’s wand and he ran in, out of breath. Before the doors closed, I saw across the courtyard what he was running from.

  A herd of Centaurs.

  Before any of us could react, the front doors were blasted open with magic, and the crumbling wreckage where they once stood showed the Centaurs fast approaching. I stumbled back, gripping Pierce’s fur, and took off running into the dining hall, colliding with Alec holding glasses of punch that spilled all over us.

  “Bloody hell,” Alec swore as he grabbed my waist and lifted me to place me on top of Pierce’s back, then they both took off running to the end of the hall, Alec swinging his wand out quickly to send an explosion at the back wall that sent the brickwork flying, opening an exit up for us. “Everyone out!” he shouted as our classmates stumbled over the wreckage to leave, but the Centaurs had arrived.

  They shot a volley of arrows towards us and Alec took off to the sky, spinning as he cast a shield spell to protect the retreating students, and the arrows bounced off the glowing blue wall.

  I jumped down from Pierce, and he grabbed at my dress with his teeth, trying to stop me from running into the battle, but that’s exactly what I was going to do. My skirt tore and I kept running, feeling the cold night air on my legs, and I was very glad I’d worn a pair of gym shorts or I’d have flashed the entire room.

  When I reached the spot underneath where Alec was floating, I lifted my hands and started drawing up every object in the room that wasn’t tied down. Silverware, cups, candles, the arrows that had fallen uselessly to the ground. I brought them up to hover over the Centaurs as they drew their bows again, and I held everything there, waiting until the right moment to let it
all go on top of the herd. The teachers came up behind the Centaurs, wands and spells out, with Cauldron at the head of them, shooting off fireballs from his fists.

  One of the Centaurs raised his hand to delay the next volley of arrows and Cauldron’s fists glowed bright orange.

  “Surrender now, and you will be spared,” the Centaur announced with his deep, barrel-chested voice.

  “We have no quarrel with you,” Cauldron told him. “Highborn has always been a neutral area in the war. Leave now and there will be no consequences.”

  “Consequences,” the Centaur scoffed, tossing back his long braids. “There are no neutral areas in war, Wizard. We will turn this school into rubble and claim another victory for the Magical Beasts against filthy Wizard scum.”

  Rude.

  “DIE YOU DISGUSTING BEASTS!” someone cried out behind me, and Cole Cauldron came running through, building up a spell in his hand that he slammed into the stone floor, disrupting it like an earthquake that tossed the Centaurs and our teachers away amidst the rubble. I was just barely able to keep my hold on all the objects in the air.

  “You stupid little bitch,” Alec ground out from above us, and he floated down to us to no doubt backhand Cole across the face, but the little shit had already run back out of the destroyed wall where he was safe again.

  Everyone else, however, was banged up and bloodied from his actions, including those on our side. Halace helped Wisniewski up while Cauldron was nursing a very large bump on his head.

  The Centaurs were equally hurt, and a weird sensation came over me as I looked around at them, watched them all standing up on their gangly horse legs, until I saw one of them wasn’t getting up.

  It was dead.

  I don’t know how I knew, I just did. I felt it like a beacon, a signal from the corpse straight to my brain. There were no thoughts, no choices, I dropped my hands and ran, dodging all the objects I’d been holding up as they fell to the ruined floor. Alec took off above me, keeping that blue shield around us so the Centaurs couldn’t stop my path, and once I’d reached the dead Centaur, I skidded to a stop so hard that I toppled over and skinned my knees.