Twisted Ties (The Arrow Hart Academy #2)

by Hannah Haze

“I feel like I’m caught up in a whirlwind,” I murmur. “Like I’m being thrown from one crazy emotion to the next. Like I want to scream at you and claw your eyes out one minute, and make you moan and fall apart the next. Like I can’t stop thinking about the things you do to me.”

“How is that possible?” “For one person to have two fated mates? Why wouldn’t it be possible?” “Do you have another?” I ask him. “Do you?” I ask Stone. They both shake their heads. “Then–” “You’re our core.” “Core?” “Like the spokes on a wheel. You are our core.”

How can I be the fated mate for these two men? Powerful, strong, beautiful. “You’re all those things too, Rhi,”

“No, I have a desire to share my mate with her other fated partner. With my best friend. With a man I’ve always known would share my fate.” “What?” “Phoenix and I have always shared a connection. A platonic connection,” he adds quickly, seeing my eyebrows rise up my forehead. “I knew if I ever found my fated mate, that mate would be Phoenix’s too.”

“Do you like when he kisses your cunt, Miss Blackwaters?” “Yessss,” I moan. “Have you been dreaming about me kissing your cunt?” he whispers into my ear. He knows I have. He can see the fantasy right there in my mind. “Ahhh, in the classroom, huh? You wanted me to lie you on my desk and eat you out?” Azlan groans, his mouth vibrating against my clit and making me moan. I can’t help myself, I grind against his mouth and this time it’s Stone who groans. “Shit, such a dirty, little brat.”

Do you know how many times you’ve made me hard? How many times I’ve wanted to bend you over my desk just like you imagined? How much I’ve wanted you? How much I’ve wanted to taste your sweet pussy, just like he is doing now? How does it taste, Az?” The man in black growls possessively. “Time you were a good girl, Miss Blackwaters,” Stone says. “Time for you to do what you’re told. Time for you to come.”

“It’s erotic, Miss Blackwaters,” he says, sweeping his fingers over me. “Really erotic. Seems like you’re a good girl after all, making yourself all nice and wet for us.”

“Well, this is proving a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday morning,” he says as he drags his fingers from me, looking at the mess I’ve made all over them. I prop up on my elbows, feeling flushed and light-headed. “Better than watching me shovel shit?” He laughs. “It’s a close second.”

They say it’s all the more potent with your mate. That it’s addictive. Now I understand the change in my friend. Now I know I’m as doomed as he is.

“There was a memory in her head …” I say, turning slowly to face my friend. “Yes?” His face is flooded with curiosity. He watched his mate writhe on the floor when I unlocked those memories. He must be dying to know what lay inside. “Of crimson magic.” “What are you saying, Phoenix?” “History,”

mean I think I remember one old fairytale from this book Nonny had but I don’t remember the details beyond the fact she had several fated mates.” “Several?” “Four? Or maybe it was five.”

“What were you searching for in these books, Professor?” “A way to undo or to remove the fated mate bond,” he says with no emotion at all. I flinch, trying my best not to show it, but his words sting, sting like he just slapped me hard around the face. “You said no more lies,” he says more gently. “You didn’t want to be bonded to me?” “You just said you didn’t want to be bonded to me, Rhianna.” “I said I didn’t choose it. I didn’t say I didn’t want it.”

“So now you’ve decided, as you can’t remove it, you may as well embrace it?” “You came on to me yesterday. I didn’t initiate anything. You’re with my best friend. You’re bonded to him. I didn’t even know if you felt this connection.” “How could I not?” I shout back at him. “How could I not? It’s there in my core, pulling me, dragging me towards you all the time. It wants you. It wants to make you mine. How could I not feel that, Stone?”

“I want it and I want you. That’s the truth of it.”

There is something special about her – and it isn’t the hole she blasted in Spencer’s stomach. It isn’t the way her magic matched mine pace for pace out there in the meadow. No, it’s something more. The way my magic wanted to combine with hers. The way I’m pulled towards her by that hook in my stomach. The way she’s captured my goddamn attention. The way she’s invaded my mind. The way I’m here telling him all this when I shouldn’t be.

“What’s he saying?” Winnie asks, taking the dress off the hanger. “He’s being a dick.” “You should punish him then. Take a photo of yourself in your underwear and tell him you may be awhile.” “Winnie! I am not doing that.” Although the thought of teasing Stone like that is kind of hot. “You should,” Winnie insists.

“Oh shit. What did you write?” “I wrote: I’ll be right along, Professor.” “He’s going to kill me.” “He’s going to pound you into the nearest mattress. Him and the man in black together.”

“Blackwaters,” his tone is no longer tender, “delete that damn photo.” “Have you deleted it from your phone, Professor?” I say snarkily. He leans forward so his mouth is by my ear. “No. I’m keeping it.”

“Rhianna,” he growls. “Tell me: do you want my come? Do you want me pumping you full of it?” “Yes,” I whimper. “Yes,” he repeats, his voice so deep, so low, it’s almost lost to a rumble in his broad chest. “Yes, you do, don’t you? Because you’re mine. All mine. My mate. My pretty girl. And my cock is just what you need.”

He looks entranced, beautiful. I know I’m falling for him. I always was, regardless of the bond.

“I wish we could be together like this all the time,” I whisper, even though I know it’s my fault we’re apart. That I chose it, chose to return to the school. “We will be,” he whispers, nuzzling my neck. “We will be eventually. You, me, and Stone too. Together.”

She’s already missed the first quarter, missed me take out three of their players and dodge a combined attack aimed right at me. She missed all that, but now she’s here. And I have a desire to impress her. To show that I am the best.

I thought it was just a necklace.” “It is a cloaker.” I shake my head in frustration. “I don’t know what that is.” “A powerful charm that can keep you hidden. Hidden from anyone you choose. How else do you think I could stand here among all these magicals and not be seen?” “I saw you.” “Yes, strange that.” He tilts his head, examining me. “How do you think your aunt kept you so well hidden from the magicals all those years?”

“Your aunt was a talented witch, Rhianna. But your mother, she … she was something else.” “What do you mean?” He takes another step closer, lowering his voice, even though there is no one around us to hear. “She was a seer.”

“The authorities,” I say. “And the gangs. The leaders in the West. They all wanted your mother. They all wanted her gift.” “A weapon,” I whisper. “Yes, that’s right. A weapon to destroy their enemies.”

“There is war coming, Rhianna Blackwaters. Maybe you can’t feel it, but I can. Your aunt was very kind to me. Aided me when I was most in need of help. I wished to warn her and repay the favor. Now I have passed the warning to you instead, ensured you have her cloaker. My debt, I think, is repaid.”

“Remember, no matter what they tell you, Rhianna, no matter what they say, you are free to choose your side in the fight. If you choose to fight at all. We all have the freedom to choose. No matter who we are.”

“Spencer, you had hundreds of people cheering out there for you today, chanting your goddamn name. Who cares if I was there or not?” “I care,” he says, holding my eyes, his chestnut gaze softening. “I wanted you there.”

“If I found my fated mate, I wouldn’t let her out of my sight. I’d have her by my side every minute of every day. I wouldn’t let any fucker hurt her. I wouldn’t let anyone lay one single finger on her ever!” “Really?” I say, feeling that sensation in my stomach. I’m so damn confused. “Really,” he says. “And yet you stood and watched while she–” “You’re not my–” “No, I’m his.”

Well someone is a liar because he knows damn well she’s his mate

thought expulsion was what you wanted.” She sighs. “I don’t know anymore.” She chugs a long mouthful of beer and I snatch the bottle back. “Easy, we all remember what happened the last time you drank.” She wipes her hand over her mouth and I trace my knuckles down her cheek. “I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay here with me.”

“What happened?” she whispers as the memory fades and I open my eyes. “He was sent to fight in the Western border lands.” I stare up at the darkening sky. “And he never came home. When the time came, when he was asked, he gave his life to protect us, to defend us. While others …” I drop my gaze to hers. “While others?” she says. “Shirked their duty.”

My mom never recovered the loss of her mate. It ripped the soul from her body and she lost her mind.” “But you were meeting her for lunch? The other day–” “At the home, Rhi. Where she’s been locked away for the last twenty-five years.” She doesn’t bother telling me she’s sorry. She leans over me and presses her lips to mine, and it’s exactly what I need. “It won’t happen to us,” she says against my mouth. “No,” I say. I’m damn determined it won’t. Because, damn it, I do love this girl. For all her brattiness and snark, for her sharp tongue and her naivety. I love her. I love her for her smile, her laugh, for the way her cheeks fill with color and her eyes dance with excitement. Fuck, I love her.

You’d certainly never catch me stripping the clothes off my most bratty student and touching her,” I run my knuckles up her thigh, finding her pussy, “here.” She sighs. “That would most definitely be considered scandalous.” “And very naughty,” I growl against her ear. “Especially if that naughty, bratty student let me touch her there, especially if she opened her legs when I told her: part your thighs for me, Miss Blackwaters.” “I’m not sure such a bratty student would do as she was told.” “Oh, she would,” I say, stroking along her seam, “when she knew how good I’d make her feel.” I use my magic to make the water vibrate against her and, with an even louder sigh, her legs fall open. “See,” I say, “just like that.”

“Such a brat. Such a needy brat,” I say, pumping my fingers in and out of her and watching as her body writhes in the water. “Such a goddamn beautiful, fucking irresistible brat.” She moans and I think she likes my words as much as she likes my fingers. “Would you like your professor to make you come?” “Yes,” she gasps. “Manners, Miss Blackwaters,”

“Come on, sweetheart. Use your manners and I’ll make you feel so fucking good.” “Yes …” she hesitates, catching her breath, “yes, please. Please make me come, Professor.” “That’s better,”

“Miss Blackwaters,” I say, ignoring the insult, “let’s not pretend you aren’t always thinking about me, when we both know you are.” “Just because you can’t stop thinking about me, Professor, does not mean I’m thinking of you.” “When you send me pictures like you did this afternoon, can you blame me?”

The moment I answered that call from Azlan. The moment I agreed to help him bring the girl in. The moment I laid eyes on her. From that moment, I was set on a path, my fate, and it was always leading right here. Into my bed, between her legs. This was always where I was meant to be. So damn the consequences. Damn all of it. She’s my mate, my fated mate, and I’m done fighting it. I’m letting go. Falling.

Yes, if I give myself to her – either by magic or by body – that fated-mate bond will be sealed. Forever. “And you want that?” “I want you, Stone. I want you really badly.”

“I want you this way. I want it really badly,” she says. “You’re not going to–” “Regret it? No, no. We still have a hell of a lot to work out, Professor, and you are not done groveling by any stretch of the imagination.” I nod, earnestly. Fuck, I’ll happily grovel for the rest of my life.

But the girl. She’s far more valuable alive than dead. And not just because I want to make her mine. The two of us, the two of us together, we could be unstoppable. Hell, we could destroy the whole damn world.