by Rachel Angel
Kingsley chuckled as he reached her door and knocked lightly. He heard movement from inside.
“Are you in there, Harley?” he called out.
“Just a minute,” she replied.
A second later, Harley opened the door.
“Sorry guys,” she said, wiping the corner of her mouth with a paper napkin. “We’re having supper.”
“Oh,” Kingsley said. He was about to reach in for a hug and kiss but held back. “Sorry. I didn’t realize how late it was.”
“No problem,” she said, opening the door wide. “Why don’t you guys come in and join us.”
Kingsley looked up to see April at the table.
He shot a questioning glance at Harley but said nothing as he entered.
Oak quickly rushed to Harley and pulled her into his arms for a warm embrace. “Damn, I’ve missed you,” he said as he looked into her eyes.
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“Oak,” Harley said. “I’m so happy to see you. I’m surprised you were able to make it over here, but I’m happy you did.” She pulled away from him and looked up at him, her gaze admiring his strong physique.
Oak whistled as he took a good look around.
“Kingsley said you’ve been busy glamouring up the place. This is fantastic, Harley. You’ve really outdone yourself.”
Harley shrugged nonchalantly. “I did what I had to do.” She went to the kitchen and pulled two plates out of the cupboard. “How about some spaghetti?”
“Sounds good,” Oak said, his eyes remaining on Harley’s backside as he took a seat beside April.
“Sure.” Kingsley sat down and glanced sidelong at April then tried to capture Harley’s gaze, but she was concentrating on piling spaghetti onto a plate.
“Hey, guys,” April said with a grin. “Nice to see you back. How are things in faery land?”
“Quiet,” Oak said as Harley set a plate in front of him.
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“Smells good,” Kingsley said when his plate arrived. Again he tried to catch her eye, but she seemed determined to avoid his gaze.
“Dig in, boys,” Harley said with a terse smile.
“There’s also a green salad, if you like.”
“Everything looks and smells delicious,” Oak said with a grin. “What great timing. I’m starving.”
“You boys must have been working pretty hard,” Harley said, her gaze soft but strangely distant. “What with the wars and all.”
Kingsley glanced at April and wondered what was going on. Did April have some kind of hold on Harley?
Oblivious to it all, Oak dug in, eating the spaghetti like there was no tomorrow. “I sure am happy you remember me, Harley. You really had me worried back there when you acted like you didn’t know me at all.”
Harley frowned. “Well, of course I remember you, Oak. How could I ever forget you?”
She reached out to lovingly pat his hand. “You’re my big, strong man.”
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Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) Oak shrugged as he shoveled in more spaghetti. “I don’t know,” he said with his mouth full. “The last time I saw you, you were just so… I don’t know… weird. It broke my heart.”
“Aw,” Harley let out with mock sympathy.
“Poor baby. I’m so sorry.” She eyed him with overt hunger. “Maybe later on I can make it up to you. I have missed having those big strong arms wrapped around me.”
Smiling, Oak looked at her and nodded.
“That sounds great.”
No, Kingsley thought. That didn’t sound great. Nothing sounded great. Something was going on. April and Harley exchanged a strange and secretive glance and he knew they were up to something, but what?
He had to find some way of getting Harley away from April. He had to speak to her in private to find out what was really going on.
What was April holding over Harley’s head?
Harley finished her meal and stood.
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“Hey, Harley,” Kingsley said, no longer interested in eating his spaghetti. “Can I see you alone for a minute?”
Her eyes narrowed into two erotic slits. “Oh, baby,” she cooed. “Give me a minute.” She brought her plate to the kitchen sink and rinsed it off, then returned to the dining room.
Kingsley stood, eager to talk to her. He reached for her hand. “Let’s go into your room for a minute.”
“Hey!” Oak called out. “That’s pretty rude, man.”
“We’ll just be a minute,” Kingsley called out.
“Or a little longer if you like,” Harley added with a playful grin.
Kingsley followed her to her room and closed the door behind them.
“What is it, lover boy?” Harley said, her hands already tearing at his clothes.
Grabbing her hands in his, he stilled them and looked into her eyes. “What’s going on, Harley?”
he whispered.
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“What do you mean?” Harley said with a teasing giggle. “I thought you brought me in here because you were so eager to be alone with me.”
“I am eager to be alone with you, but I have to know what’s going on? I thought you and April weren’t getting along. You said she had sided with you father and was a dark fae. Why are you sitting at the table having a nice and convivial meal with her as if nothing had ever happened?”
Pouting, Harley looked up at him. “Oh, Kingsley,” she sighed. “It’s just too complicated. I don’t want to talk about April. I want to be with you. I want to touch you, to taste you. Don’t you want me?”
Oh, how he wanted her. His body suddenly raged for the sensation of her skin against his. His groin was already aching as his shaft stood begging for attention.
“You’ve been gone for so long,” Harley whispered, leaning into him. She pulled open her shirt to reveal a bright pink bra and her exquisite cleavage. “Take just a taste.”
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Kingsley pulled in a long and shaky breath as he dove in between her breasts and breathed in the intoxicating scent of her.
“Oh, Kingsley,” Harley said with a sigh. “It’s been so long… too long. Had I known you were coming, I would have found a way to send April away.” She pulled him out of her bosom and looked at him. “But we’re alone now… here. Let’s take advantage of it, Kingsley. Let’s make up for lost time. Let’s make love all night.”
She kissed him, holding him close with a degree of desperation that she’d never had before.
But there was something else. Her kisses were frantic and sloppy, and while Kingsley longed to fall into bed with her, he knew that something wasn’t right.
“Harley,” he said through her wet kisses. He pulled back. “I fear for you, my love. What has April done to you? You’re not your usual self. Is she playing tricks on you?”
She smiled then sobered. “No, Kingsley.
April has not been able to put any kind of spell on 230
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) me. But I’ve decided to keep a close eye on her, and this is the best way to do it.”
Kingsley heard Oak’s awkward chuckle out in the dining room. “I think we should go back now and see what’s going on.” He grasped her hands in his and looked lovingly into Harley’s eyes. “We’ll talk more about this later.”
She nodded demurely and followed him back to Oak and April who were now clearing the table.
“I’ll make some coffee,” April called out.
“Or do any of you prefer tea?”
“Coffee sounds good,” Oak said. He sat on the sofa, running his hand over the soft leather.
“I started baking recently,” Harley said as she headed into the kitchen. “It’s funny how something so basic can be so soothing. It’s also quite rewarding.”
She opened a cupboard door and pulled out a platter filled with
delicious baked goods.
“I’ve even been thinking of selling some on campus. You know, homemade stuff. Kids like that kind of thing.”
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Kingsley sat in the recliner and smiled as Harley brought the platter to the coffee table and set it down in front of them.
“It sure smells good,” Oak said as he reached for a brownie and devoured it in one bite.
Harley giggled and Kingsley once again had the profound sense that something wasn’t right.
“Please, do me the honor of trying everything,” Harley said. “I have brownies, cookies, muffins and these French macaroons. Do you know how hard it is to make those darn things?”
April sat beside Oak and smiled at him as he wolfed down a chocolate chip cookie.
Harley picked up a blue macaroon and sat on the arm of the recliner beside Kingsley. “This is my third batch. The other two were awful, but I think I finally got the hang of it.” She brought the delicate concoction to his lips. “Now, be honest and tell me what you think.”
Kingsley looked up into her eyes. While her lips smiled, her eyes told a different story. They were dark and growing darker by the second.
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“I’m not really hungry anymore,” Kingsley said. “That spaghetti really hit the spot.”
Putting on a pretty pout, she ran the macaroon over his lips. “These things are so light and airy…
please,” she said in a baby voice. “Taste it for me.”
“I’ll taste one,” Oak said as he reached for a green macaroon.
In the instant that Oak popped the macaroon into his mouth, Harley forced Kingsley’s mouth open and popped the macaroon in.
Stunned, Kingsley looked at her, trying to comprehend what had just happened. The room began to spin, and a thick fog seemed to obliterate everything around him. As he continued to look into Harley’s eyes, he finally saw what had been troubling him.
Her beautiful skin turned to ash, her gleaming white teeth turned to coal and the loving eyes took on the hatred of the devil itself.
“Surprise,” Cici said in a scratchy voice.
Kingsley looked through the fog to see that Oak was similarly incapacitated. Beside him sat Ashley in all her bleak and ugly dark fae glory.
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“What the hell is going on?” Oak said.
“You guys are just so blinded by your love of that little human,” Cici said. “You almost make it too easy.”
Kingsley looked at her. “What do you want?
Where’s Harley?”
“Ah,” Cici said, patting his cheek. “Harley is off with two new lovers, if you must know.”
Kingsley frowned.
“And as for what I want, well, I want you two out of the way.”
Through the thick and blackening fog, more dark faes arrived. Kingsley finally realized that they were no longer in Harley’s room. They were no longer on campus. The stench was intolerable and he knew they had shifted to another world.
His heart pounded with that realization.
“Welcome to the dark fae realm,” Cici said with a sardonic snicker. “Welcome to my world, Kingsley.”
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Chapter 18
Harley
“What has you so morose this morning, Harley?” Ethan said as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
She’d been up for nearly an hour, staring out of the second floor window at the far end of the mezzanine. She had a perfect view of the campus she’d glamoured.
She hadn’t even bothered to dress but had remained in the simple white button down shirt she’d borrowed from Ethan and her black lace French cut panties.
Despite her damp mood, she chuckled. “And here I was thinking you’d find me sexy.” She glanced over her shoulder at him and forced a smile.
“You’re always sexy,” he said. “You know that.”
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She brought her gaze back to the campus and leaned back against his strong and massive chest.
That morning, she needed his strength more than ever. She felt the weight of the world on her shoulders and desperately needed someone to share the burden with.
“Things seem relatively quiet here,” Ethan said. “I thought that was what you wanted. I thought that was why you wanted Colin and I to stay.”
“It was,” she said. “And you’re right.
Things have quieted down. Since you’ve been here no one has even dared approach me, never mind intimidate me. And while I’ve seen a few altercations here and there, it seems as if the dark faes are laying low.”
“Lying in wait?”
She nodded. “I can only assume. Yes.” She shifted around in his arms to face him.
“I know that face,” Ethan said with a grin.
“You want to ask me to do something. You probably want to ask me to do something that I’m not going to want to do.”
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“You’re getting to know me too well, Ethan,”
she said with a grin. “That, or I’ve become far too predictable.”
“You’re never predictable,” he said. “Easy to read at times, but never predictable. Now, tell me.
What do you want?”
“For the past few days, I’ve felt torn,” Harley explained. “I can’t allow the dark faes to take over the Fallen Fae Academy, but then again, I feel like I’ve abandoned my kingdom. Even though I’ve only learned of its existence recently, I still feel the need to ensure that all is well in the Kingdom of Spring.”
Ethan’s smile faded as he pulled back and looked at her.
She felt his dismay, but knew she had to go on. “It would make me feel a whole lot better if you and Colin could go back to the faery realm and check in on everything at the Kingdom of Spring.”
“Harley…” Ethan began.
“I know you don’t want to leave me,” Harley insisted. “I don’t really want to see you leave either, 237
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but I really think it’s important that we know what’s happening on the other side.”
“And leave you here alone?”
“You said it yourself, Ethan,” she said.
“Things have been quiet lately. Everyone knows you’re here with me. Everyone is afraid of you and they barely dare to look my way.”
“Exactly.”
Harley shook her head. She knew that it would be difficult convincing them to go, but she had to know how her kingdom was doing.
“I’m not saying that you should leave for a few weeks,” she argued. “I don’t even want you two gone for a few days. Just cross over discreetly, like in the middle of the night, hurry to the Kingdom of Spring, make sure everything is all right and hurry back. If all goes well, you could leave a midnight and be back in time for breakfast.”
Ethan looked solemnly at her. “I don’t like it.”
“What’s going on?” Colin said as he emerged from the bedroom.
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Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) They both turned to look at him, their expressions immediately alarming him.
“What is it?” he said. “Has something happened?”
“No,” Harley said bluntly.
“But something will,” Ethan added.
“Don’t be so negative,” Harley argued, feeling agitated by his resistance.
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?”
“She wants us to leave,” Ethan said plainly.
“Don’t say it like that,” Harley said as she sensed her level of irritation grow. “I don’t want you to leave. I just want you to go check in on my kingdom. Is that too much to ask?”
They both stared at her.
“Come on,” Ethan muttered as he lightly slapped Colin’s belly with the
back of his hand.
“Let’s pack a few things and go.”
Feeling badly for having been so brusque, Harley followed them back into the room.
“Hey, guys,” she said softly.
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Colin looked at her while Ethan concentrated on packing a small bag.
“I’m sorry, Ethan,” Harley said. “This whole thing is stressing me out. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you. Besides, I said you should leave tonight.
You should leave under the cover of darkness.”
He gazed at her, still pouting.
“Come on,” she said. “You can’t leave angry.”
He slowly walked up to her and pulled her into his arms. Without saying anything, he leaned in to kiss her, a deep and passionate kiss.
“No,” he said when he pulled back. “I could never leave you angry. But we will leave now.”
“And come back quickly,” she urged as she pulled out of his embrace.
“We will,” he said.
Colin came by and quickly pulled her in for a swift goodbye kiss, before heading out of the room.
Harley followed them down the stairs and to the front door. “Be careful, guys.”
“Always,” Ethan said.
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Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) They walked out and Harley closed the door behind them and leaned up against it as she let out a loud sigh. Though she felt there was still a little tension between her and Ethan as they left, at least she would know how her kingdom was doing.
It was one less thing to think about, and it gave her the opportunity to catch up on her studying. She pulled her textbook out of her bag and sat at the table to open it up. She managed to get through a chapter, but then was blocked. Over and over again, she reread the same page. It had barely been an hour, but she couldn’t concentrate anymore. Her stomach rumbled with hunger and she looked up at the clock.