Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts)

by Caroline Peckham

  “I’ve got you, Roxy,” Darius growled, his hands moving again as he used his water magic to pull the rest of my blood up out of my lungs so that I could breathe again and I sucked a breath down immediately as my vision focused once more.

  I gasped as pain continued to blossom through the rest of my body and panic consumed me as I realised I still couldn’t move at all.

  “Where does it hurt?” Darius asked in a deadly voice as a tear slid from my eye.

  “Everywhere,” I hissed, biting down on another scream as Caleb started calling out more apologies.

  “I managed to soften the ground a bit before we hit it with the magic I’d taken from her, but it wasn’t much,” he called. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to. I swear I didn’t mean to.”

  He was cut off by the arrival of a huge white Wolf. I hissed in disgust as Seth shifted right beside me and flashed me a view of the underside of his dick.

  “What the hell happened?” Seth gasped, dropping down next to me as Darius slid his hands over my hips and stomach, growling beneath his breath.

  “Caleb knocked her off the roof and bit her real bad,” Max muttered as he dropped down too.

  “He’s broken her fucking spine,” Darius growled and the terror in his eyes would have frozen me in place even if I could move. “I’ve never fixed something this complicated before.”

  “You can do it,” Max said confidently, placing a hand on Darius’s shoulder to lend him magic if he needed it.

  Seth released a worried whimper and placed his hand on his other shoulder to offer the same and Darius’s brow furrowed in concentration as I felt his magic pouring beneath my skin.

  The pain began to ebb away and I drew in a shaky breath as the feeling slowly returned to my limbs. First my fingers and toes tingled before the sensation slid further up and up until everything felt normal again.

  Darius looked down at me with a sea of agony in his eyes and I reached for him, my fingers brushing across his solid jawline in the gentlest touch. Just long enough for him to be sure that I was alright before he lurched away from me with a roar of utter fury.

  I gasped as he leapt at Caleb, throwing him down into the dirt before slamming his fist straight into his face.

  “You will never hunt her again!” he roared as he battered his fists down over and over. “You will never put your fucking mouth on her, never sink your fucking fangs into her ever again!”

  Max and Seth leapt on him with panicked curses, somehow managing to rip him off of Caleb who lay bleeding in the dirt beneath him.

  “I’m sorry, man, I’m sorry, Tory,” he gasped as he looked between me and the Dragon who looked dead set on killing him.

  “Get the fuck out of here, Cal,” Max snapped just as Darius tore his arm free and elbowed him straight in the face.

  Caleb hesitated for half a second, but I was willing to guess he could see his own death shining in Darius’s eyes. He threw one more, desperate apology my way before turning and shooting off through the trees.

  Darius dislodged Seth with another roar and looked like he was about to take off after him just as Max leapt into his path.

  “Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Max demanded, pointing over at me as I managed to get to my feet.

  I still felt shaky, a bit of an ache radiating through my hips, but it was endlessly better than it had been.

  Darius whirled around, his face painted with emotion as he looked at me like I was the most precious thing in the world to him.

  He moved towards me suddenly, backing me up against the huge tree which housed King’s Hollow as he stood before me, looking like the whole world was caving in on him as he refrained from touching me.

  “I’ll go after Cal,” Seth murmured, giving me a final glance to check I was okay before shifting back into his Wolf form and speeding away through the trees.

  Darius didn’t even spare him a glance, his gaze fixed on me as his dark eyes danced with emotion and terror.

  He reached up tentatively, his hands painted red with my blood as he brushed the tips of his fingers along the lines of my face with the gentlest of touches, like he feared he’d break me.

  I watched him in silence and my skin tingled from the feather-light caress of his fingertips tracing my jaw, my cheekbones, nose, brows, neck and lips like he just had to be sure it was all there, safe and accounted for.

  He leaned forward slowly until his forehead was pressed to mine and I could feel a slight tremor in his body which betrayed just how much he cared, how frightened he’d been, how concerned.

  “I’d take death over life without you,” he breathed, his voice rough and broken by fear.

  I reached up to lay my palm on his jaw too, my other hand landing on his arm. “Darius,” I murmured, unsure what I was even going to say just as thunder crashed in the sky above.

  “I miss you too,” he interrupted. “More than any words could ever convey.”

  Thunder crashed again and he stepped back so suddenly that I almost fell.

  Max moved to take his place, reaching for me calmly as Darius backed up. “We need to take you to the infirmary to get those bones checked out, little Vega,” he said softly. “I can carry you if you can’t walk.”

  “I can walk,” I protested, glancing at Darius again as he watched me with nothing but horror in his eyes, like he was somehow responsible for what had just happened.

  “Come on, let me. Or Darius is only gonna chew me out for it.”

  I sighed in acceptance as Max lifted me into his arms and the three of us headed to the infirmary in the centre of campus.

  Darius followed on silently, not saying a word even when I goaded him about giving me a necklace worth a small fortune. But when I’d made a move to take it off and return it to him, he caught my wrists and shook his head firmly. “It’s yours.”

  And something about the tone of his voice and the way he’d looked at me made me relent even when he went right back to silence.

  I shot into my room in Terra House in a blur of speed and threw the door closed behind me as my heart thundered with this mournful kind of panic.

  My hands were trembling and my breaths coming too fast as I reminded myself over and over again that she was okay, Darius had saved her, she was going to be fine.

  But, fuck. I’d just thrown a Solarian princess off of a roof and damn near ripped her throat out with my teeth for good measure.

  I glanced down at my trembling hands, spotting the wet gleam of Tory’s blood coating my fingers. I’d been trying to save her. I’d wanted to help. But I was tapped out and run dry and weak. I had to admit that much to myself. I’d been jittery all day, Mom had messaged me several times to remind me about Mars being in my chart, but I’d chosen to ignore her. I’d chosen to fuck up completely and risk someone’s life.

  My fangs snapped out as I looked down at my bloody hands and a snarl ripped from my throat as I fought against my desire to lick them clean. This hunger in me, it was a cruel and heartless monster. It relished pain and suffering and bathed in blood. It didn’t feel remorse or regret, it never hesitated in taking what it wanted. But I’d lived with it for years, bending it to my will, forcing it to only ever be wielded as a weapon when I desired it. And I’d clearly fooled myself into believing that that meant I had utter control over it. That I ruled it and it didn’t rule me.

  What a pretty lie that had been.

  Because even now, after what I’d done, I could hardly stop myself from licking every drop of Tory’s blood from my fingers.

  With a determined snarl, I shoved open the door to my en-suite, reaching out to set the water running in my walk in shower before ripping my shirt off and kicking my shoes aside.

  I took a step towards the shower, but fell still as that ache in my fangs made me look down at my bloody hands again.

  I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply as I tried to force the desire away from me, but the scent of blood tinged the air and made my mouth water with need. My own blood coated my face
from Darius’s attack on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to heal the wounds. I deserved them. Each and every one and more.

  Just wash it away.

  With a grunt of determination, I opened my eyes and stepped into the shower, not even caring that I still had my sweatpants on. All I needed to do was rinse it off. Once it was gone, this would all be over.

  Steam coiled around me as the water continued to pour down the drain and with a groan of hunger, I reached out to push my hands beneath the hot flow.

  The second the water touched my skin, the blood began to run away and I yanked them back with a ferocious snarl as I stumbled out of the shower and my back hit the tiled wall.

  I slid down it as I pushed my fingers into my mouth, groaning loudly as the taste of Tory’s power touched my tongue.

  I gave in to the beast in me as I sucked and licked my hands and fingers, running my tongue down my wrists and catch every last drop as a trickle of her power washed into my veins.

  My chest was heaving, my muscles trembling and my eyes closed as I lost myself to my demon and feasted on what it required.

  “Cal?” Seth’s voice called out to me as I gave myself to the dark and I peeled my eyes open as he pushed the bathroom door wide. He’d raided my drawers on the way in and had stolen a pair of my sweatpants to cover himself.

  “You should go,” I snarled, my fangs cutting into my tongue as I forced myself to remain where I was on the floor instead of lunging at him. “It’s not safe to be around me right now.”

  “Bullshit, you’d never hurt me.” Seth moved closer and the ache in my chest tightened.

  The few scraps of magic I’d drawn from Tory’s blood was nothing and this all consuming hunger in me demanded more. My gaze skimmed over his bare chest, searching out every point where his pulse flickered against his skin, before settling on his neck.

  “I mean it, Seth,” I breathed, pushing my back against the cold tiles as I fought against the urge to bite him with everything I had. “I’m not myself tonight, I’m tapped out, I’m worked up, Mars is banging a fucking war drum in my head which demands sacrifice and I can’t hurt you too. Please just go.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he replied roughly, stepping closer so that he towered over me. “So you made a mistake? Okay. How many of those have I made over the years? I couldn’t even begin to count the amount of times that I’ve fucked up and you’ve been there for me.”

  “This isn’t the same. If you stay here, I’m going to lose control. I’m going to bite you, and then-”

  “Then you’ll feel a hell of a lot better. You know you can’t function when you’re hangry.” He smirked at me and a hollow laugh fell from my lips.

  “This isn’t like craving a sandwich.”

  “It had better fucking not be,” he said. “I’m no sandwich. I’m like a goddamn triple chocolate sundae with sprinkles and syrup and the juiciest damn cherry on top. Don’t compare me to a basic lunch, Cal, you’ll hurt my damn feelings.”

  He leaned down and caught my arm, heaving me up to my feet and I let him because I didn’t really know what else I was going to do, but the jittery panicked feeling in my bones hadn’t lessened. I still didn’t want to hurt him. I still wasn’t sure I was in control.

  Seth reached out and shut off the shower before pushing me back out of the door into my bedroom.

  “Look how fucking civilised this is,” he teased, moving around me to leap onto my bed. He landed on his back and bounced amongst the cushions as he grinned up at me. “You can have me any way you want me. Usually you’ve gotta fight tooth and claw to get a taste of this and I’m offering myself up on a silver platter here.”

  “Seth…” I began, but I wasn’t even sure what I was going to say. My fangs were aching and that emptiness in my chest where my magic should reside wasn’t going to feel any better until I filled it up.

  “Come on, man. You can pin me down or bend me over or whatever the fuck you want. I’ll be your sub for the night. You can even tie me upside down and drain my blood into a wine glass if you like?”

  I cringed at that idea and he snorted a laugh.

  “Too much?”

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  He slung his hands behind his head and watched me as he waited me out, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t. If I hurt someone else tonight, I felt sure I was going to snap. But I couldn’t deny the desperate need in me for blood either. If I didn’t give in, I’d end up heading out of this room sooner or later and hunting down the closest Fae and taking what I needed by force. So surely this was better than that?

  Seth sighed dramatically and got to his feet before me, moving to stand so close that our chests were almost touching and the earthy scent of him enveloped me.

  “Come on, Cal. I want you to,” he demanded, meeting my eye with honesty shining in his gaze and something else which I wasn’t sure I could put a name to.

  My flesh was burning up with the need to take what he was offering. His body was so close to mine that I could feel the heat of him as if he were actually touching me.

  I reached out slowly and gathered a handful of his long hair into my fist, gently winding it around my hand until I could use it to tug his head aside.

  Seth inhaled deeply as he bared his throat to me and for a moment I was struck with the realisation of just how much he must have trusted me to show such vulnerability to me like that. Especially for a Wolf. They only ever bared their throat as a sign of submission and though I knew he wasn’t submitting to me in any way other than this, the knowledge that I had such a powerful Alpha at my mercy willingly made my heart race.

  I touched my lips to his neck, my fangs brushing against his skin and a shiver danced through his flesh as I prepared to take what I needed from him.

  But just as I was about to bite down, the memory of Tory laying beneath me, her throat ripped open as she choked on her own blood overwhelmed me.

  I drew back with a grunt of pain, refusing to risk hurting him like that as I released my hold on his hair and the ache in my chest grew tenfold.

  I fell to my knees before him, fighting with all I had to just tame the bloodlust and refuse its call. My breaths came in harsh pants and I shook my head, refusing my nature as the beast in me howled for his blood.

  “Bite me, Cal,” Seth urged in a dark voice, snatching a fistful of my hair and pressing his wrist to my mouth.

  I slapped his hand away with a snarl as I fought it, but the shaking in my limbs wouldn’t quit and we both knew I was going to snap soon one way or another.

  “Would you sit back and watch me if I chained myself indoors every night to stop myself from running beneath the moon?” Seth demanded, using his grip in my hair to force me to look up at him.

  “Running beneath the moon doesn’t hurt anyone,” I rasped.

  “Maybe not most of the time. But it can. When I give myself to the Wolf, my instincts take over, I’m an apex predator pure and simple. And if I cross paths with someone who runs from me, you can bet your ass I’ll be chasing them down and going for the kill. You’re the most powerful Vampire of our generation, Cal, and maybe sometimes that means you’ll hurt people, but it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It just shows how fucking unstoppable you are. How strong and fierce and powerful. Now bite me before I cut a vein open myself and pour it in a glass for you.”

  The last of my self control snapped at his command and I lunged at him, my teeth sinking into the flesh right above his hipbone as he grunted in surprise.

  His blood washed over my tongue and I groaned in pure, undeniable pleasure as the taste of it swept me up and pulled me out of my own pain.

  My hands grabbed his hips as I held him in place but I didn’t need to, he wasn’t making any effort to escape me. Seth’s grip on my hair tightened as he pulled me closer, his other hand grasping the back of my neck as his fingers slid across my skin and raised goosebumps on my flesh.

  I growled desperately and a groan of pleasure escaped him too as I drank an
d drank, flooding my body with his power and finally finding myself in the dark.

  I took more than I should have and he made no move to stop me as I feasted.

  I managed to gather the resolve I needed to pull back, panting as I ran my thumb over the wound above his hip to heal it, my hand skimming over the tightness of his abs for a moment before I was pulling away.

  With a burst of my Vampire speed, I got to my feet and shot away from him, coming to a halt with my back resting against the slatted doors of my closet.

  Seth groaned as he looked across the room at me, swiping a hand over his face before turning away and taking a deep breath. I watched him as he paced back and forth for a few minutes, wondering what he was thinking as he carved a path into my carpet.

  “You might just be the best person I know, Cal,” he said, turning his earthy brown gaze on me as he moved towards me.

  “Because attacking girls and throwing them off of rooftops is such a glowing accolade?” I deadpanned, my dark thoughts sweeping me up and making me relive everything I’d done to Tory tonight with a terrifying clarity.

  “No. Because you’re so selfless. How many guys do you know who would help their friend get with the girl they liked?”

  “Darius and Tory are meant to be together,” I muttered. “In fact, if I hadn’t been getting in their way all this time then maybe none of this would have-”

  Seth’s hand landed over my mouth to silence me as he closed the distance between us again. “Don’t do that,” he snarled.

  I frowned at him as he moved his hand from my mouth and shifted it to the bruise along my jaw where Darius had punched me. A trickle of healing magic slid beneath my skin and I sighed as he slowly moved on to heal my cheek, my black eye, my busted lip, then dropped his hands to heal the black and red bruises which were blossoming across my ribs.

  “I’m such a fuck up,” I said with a heavy sigh.

  “You’re not a fuck up,” Seth growled. “You’re the most thoughtful, generous, amazing fucker I know.”

  I snorted dismissively. “Maybe you look at me through rose tinted glasses.”