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"Lamia blades are illegal. I'm not even sure it's legal to read this volume, to be honest," he says disapprovingly. "You're also not allowed to take books from this room. I wonder if it's being repaired or something...'

I hesitate and chew my bottom lip, wondering whether to tell him or not. I don't want to get Salvador in trouble, but Oro is my mate. I trust him and his judgement. If I told him not to say anything, he wouldn't.

'Um, I think I saw Sal with it the other day," I tell Oro. "Doing some research for a paper or something, probably. Don't get him in trouble, though."

Oro's eyebrows draw together in a frown. "Salvador Whitlock? What the hell does he want with that book?"

I shrug. "Like I said, research, probably."

"He shouldn't have taken it from here, though. I didn't even know that he had a key."

"I don't want to get him in trouble-"

"You won't, Em, don't worry," Oro replies, but he looks deep in thought.

I keep browsing the book titles.

"Maybe it has something to do with his prophecy."

Oro's musing makes me freeze. I hadn't thought of that. If you have a prediction for your death, you might be tempted to defend yourself. If someone is going to kill Sal, he might be making a Lamia blade to protect himself.

"But isn't it almost impossible to make a Lamia blade?" I ask Oro. "You need the blood of another vampire. They need to die, and the blade has to be soaked in their blood for days, I thought."

Oro nods grimly. "Two days, to be exact. I don't think Salvador is going to be making one."

He forces a smile and shakes his head. "It's probably nothing, Em. You're right, he's more than likely writing a paper on it."

But the mystery hangs between us, strange and unspoken.

I shake it off like Oro and try to forget about it. He locks up the room behind us and we walk back to the dorm, eager to move past the strangeness surrounding that book.

When we get in, Oro kisses my forehead and then goes to the kitchen to start prepping for dinner. Mal, Lucio and Esteban are in the living room. Es grabs his keys and tells me that he wants to show me something in their old dorm.

We walk back to the junction and through the double doors to the male dorms. He unlocks the door and lets us inside. He grabs my hand and pulls me through to his room.

"Let me show you what I drew this afternoon," he says excitedly. "The guys kept talking so I came back to my room for some quiet."

I gasp when he shows me the beautiful sketch of me and Castaño. We're in the woods and I'm knelt at his side, smiling widely and petting his fur.

"Es...I love it," I tell him honestly.

"You can keep it, if you like."

"I'd love to, thank you so much!'

I place the drawing on his desk to keep it safe. My eyes are drawn to another sketchpad left open on the side. It's different to the one I saw before.

"Can I?" I ask Es, gesturing to the pad.

He takes it and sits down on his bed. He pats the space next to him and I take a seat. He flicks through the pages, talking me through each drawing.

He's drawn a few abstract pieces of students in the quad. He's done portraits of each of the four doing random things. Oro cooking, Lucio doing press-ups and Mal jogging.

"Could you draw me?" I ask him. "Not now, just some time. Maybe draw the two of us together?"

His eyes light up at the idea. "Sure, I can."

He puts the sketchpad to one side and leans in to kiss me. Our lips collide and he pulls me onto his lap. I straddle him on his bed and feel him grow hard beneath me. Unable to resist, I grind on his lap.

Es groans into my mouth and squeezes my hips. His thumbs slip under my top and rub the bare skin of my hips. I can feel myself getting wet at his touch.

A knock on the door startles us both. We fly apart like we've been burned. My eyes shoot to the door, which opens to reveal Lucio and Mal.

"Dinner's almost ready, you need to come back to the dorm," Lucio orders bluntly.

I know he isn't being deliberately rude, it's just his leader persona.

"What were you two doing?" Mal asks, grinning cheekily and wiggling his eyebrows.

With my face burning, I get up off the bed and leave the room. "Nothing."

Es chuckles behind me. "Something. Definitely, something."

After Oro's delicious dinner, we all pick a movie and get settled on the long sofa. Blankets are draped across all of us because the temperature has dropped dramatically since the Sun set.

Half-way through the movie, I feel Mal's hand settle on my thigh. Although innocent at first, it soon inches higher and higher. My breathing hitches when his little finger traces over the seam in my leggings which sits directly over my slit.

He runs his finger up and down, his face impassive and his eyes focussed on the movie. I swallow hard and rub my lips together, trying not to react. Subtly, he slides his hand up to the waistband of my leggings.

I shiver as he slips his hand inside my leggings and then into my underwear. Without any barriers, he dips his finger between my folds. My whole body is tense as he begins to stroke up and down my lower lips.

He spreads my juices out. I surprise myself at how wet I am. The grinding and kissing session with Es got me all worked up. Mal's finger brushes over my clit and it throbs in response.

Mal pulls his hand back and out of my leggings. I have to bite my bottom lip to stop the whimper of disappointment from escaping past my lips. He shifts position, so that his body is facing towards me.

With this new angle, he delves his hand back into my underwear. Oro, who is on the other side of me, faces towards me, too.

Just as Mal pushes two fingers inside me, Oro slides his hand partially into my underwear and finds my clit. Together, the two of them start to stimulate every nerve ending I have down there.

Mal's fingers scissor and curl, making me feel all sorts of things. Oro circles my clit with one finger, rubbing the sensitive bundle until my pussy is tingling and my thighs are clenching.

My orgasm builds steadily. I can already feel that it is going to be intense. I know I'm going to struggle to stay quiet.

When it starts to hit, I give a panicked look at Lucio and Esteban, who are seated on either side of Oro and Mal. Their eyes are on me already and they're both palming their cocks through their joggers.

I can't hold back any longer. I reach my climax and a broken moan leaves my mouth. My head falls back against the sofa and I rock against their hands, riding out the waves of bliss filling me.

I'm vaguely aware of being lifted up into someone's arms. I come down from my high and find myself in Oro's arms as he carries me to the bedroom.

"We would like to continue this, angel," he murmurs. "The five of us."

He sets me down on the bed and my four mates stand before me, stripping out of their clothes with eagerness and confidence. I don't blame them. I'd be that confident too, if I had bodies like theirs.

Esteban reaches for my top to pull it over my head. I hesitate and he immediately takes a step back, looking concerned.

"Is everything alright, Em?" He asks worriedly.

The other three freeze.

"We can stop," Lucio says.

"We don't have to do anything," Mal reassures me.

"It's your choice," Oro confirms.

Could they be any more perfect?

Last night, I was worried because I was lying on my back. But here, sitting on their bed in the light, they will see everything. I play with the hem on my shirt.

"I, um, I have some scars on my back," I confess quietly, not meeting their curious gazes. "They're quite bad."

Es crouches down so that he can look in my eyes. "We don't mind scars, Em. We've all got them."

I close my eyes and summon the strength to tell them my story. They're going to need to find out eventually. I can't keep the most dramatic year of my life a secret from my own mates.

"Last year, I didn't come to the academy because I was attacked by a hunter," I tell them bluntly.

The words come out with more ease than I expected. Shocked silence descends on my mates and they all look at me with unabashed interest.

They move in unison to sit on the bed beside me. I take a deep breath and continue.

"I was coming home from an evening jog when I heard someone behind me. I reacted too slowly. They stabbed me in the back, and I fell forwards." I pause and pull my top off, letting them see the three silver scars that stretch from my thong up to my shoulder blades.

"He got me another two times as I was crawling away. Dragged the blade right down my spine, the bastard," I mutter. "Luckily, someone was walking their dog and managed to scare him off."

"It was a human hunter?" Lucio asks, his voice deceptively calm.

I can see how angry he is. His jaw is clenched, and his hands are fisted on his lap.

"Yes. He was caught and killed during his arrest a week later. All they managed to find was that a lump sum of money had gone into his bank account a week earlier. Someone had paid him to attack me, or so it looks like."

"Why would anyone want to kill you?" Mal asks through gritted teeth.

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