I opened my mouth to say something, but Gabriel flipped the pages again, turning to one of the sketches which had always seemed so random to me, just a morbid image with no hidden meaning but as I stared down at it, I felt my eyes widening.
The sketch was of a graveyard at night, a fresh grave dug before a nameless headstone. There was a coffin laying open in the bottom of it to reveal that it was empty.
My heart was thundering as I put all of it together, my gaze slipping from the empty grave to the fake passports which were laying on the blankets beside us.
"Gabriel," I breathed, hardly able to hear my own voice over the thundering pace of my heart. "Am I insane or does it look like...Gareth was preparing to fake his own death so that he could run? Do you think he had those passports made for me and Mom to follow once he was sure he was safe?"
Gabriel was tense behind me and it took me a moment to realise that he was lost in a vision.
I wanted to turn and look at him, but his arms were locked tight around my waist and I didn't want to risk shoving at him in case it tore him away from whatever he was seeing.
He finally loosened his hold on me, drawing in a harsh breath and I spun, moving onto my knees and gripping his face between my hands as I forced him to look at me.
"Don't let me hope for this if it isn't real," I begged him, my voice cracking. "Because it will break me, Gabriel. And I can't survive that twice."
"I can't see it, Elise," he said, his voice rough. "I did everything I could, I tried to force the vision. I can see us hunting for answers, looking into this, maybe even finding more clues…but I can't see him in any version of the future that's open to us right now. But that doesn't mean he isn't either. I just don't know. He could be cloaking himself or the stars could be doing it, or this could all just be a dead end. I’m sorry."
The tears sprung free as he failed to give me the answers I needed and he pulled me close as I buried my face in his neck and just let them fall. I didn’t know what to think. It hurt too fucking much. Did I dare to let hope creep back into my heart while knowing it could all be for nothing? I’d seen Gareth's body, kissed his cold cheek, squeezed his unresponsive fingers in mine. I'd watched them place his coffin on the ceremonial pyre and seen the way their fire magic had consumed all that was left of his flesh in a matter of minutes. They'd handed me his ashes and they were currently sitting on my nightstand downstairs. How could that be fake?
"I don't think I can believe in this," I breathed. "I'm too afraid to."
"If there's any truth to it we'll find out," Gabriel swore. "I won't stop looking for him with The Sight. I'll dig deeper into the Black Card. Maybe we can figure out the rest of his plan for how he was going to run and work out where he wanted to go. We won't stop until we have all the answers there are to find. Do you trust me to do that?"
"Yes," I agreed, looking up at him between lashes thick with tears.
Gabriel leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my lips, tasting the salt of my tears which covered them and making me a silent promise.
He broke away again without deepening it and kept me cradled against his chest as he pulled me down to lay in his bed with him before tugging a blanket over us.
I didn’t know what tomorrow held for the two of us, but tonight I needed to be in his arms and for once we seemed to agree on that. So I'd take it. And I'd just have to figure out the rest when it came.
I bounded out of my last lesson of the day, running down the hallway as Elise called out my name in confusion. I waved goodbye over my head, grinning like a kid as I shoved through the doors of Altair Halls and pulled my clothes off, tossing them aside while a few Mindys ran to pick them up. I threw my bag to one of them who squealed in excitement then passed my Atlas to another.
"Everyone hide and you record this, Mindy," I directed the one with my Atlas and they hurried to obey.
I leapt forward and shifted into my Lion form. I was magnificent, a fucking king of beasts. Beautiful, regal -
"What are you up to, Leo?" Elise laughed as she shot out of the doors. She was about to blow my cover so I knocked her off of the path with my large paw and she squeaked in surprise as I hurried past her, pushing her along with my nose. She rolled over and her legs went over her head, baring her panties to me. I released a low growl of a laugh as I nudged her behind the tall bush beside the path.
I ducked low to hide and she got the message, moving into a crouch and pouting at me as she pulled twigs from her hair. My butt wiggled as I readied to pounce, peering through the bush as I waited for my prey. She watched with a grin pulling at her mouth then pushed a few leaves aside so she could look too.
Students poured past us on the path and I waited anxiously with my heart beating harder. Dante appeared with his head tucked down as he read something on his Atlas and my butt wiggled faster in anticipation.
Just as he stepped in front of the bush, I leapt over it with a deafening roar, my paws outstretched, my jaws wide as I planned to scare the shit out of my bro.
He shifted before I hit him, tearing through his clothes and his Atlas went flying as he knocked a bunch of students to the ground with his huge Dragon tail. I landed on his scaly back and latched on tight as he beat his powerful wings.
He roared in warning, but I wasn't letting go even when a bolt of electricity shot through my paws and made my hair stand on end. Asshat.
He took off into the sky and I clung on for dear life, a growl of laughter leaving me as he struggled skyward with the weight of a ton on his back.
He swirled around in the sky, flipping over and I scrambled wildly, trying to hold on. My stomach lurched and I lost my grip, tumbling from his back with a roar of panic as I realised I was over two hundred feet up in the sky. Shitshitshitshitshit-
Dante spread his wings wide, twisting around and nose diving towards the ground. I fell like Mufasa from the cliff, my paws wheeling in the air and I hoped to the fucking stars Ryder was watching this to make my death worthwhile.
Dante swooped beneath me and I crashed clumsily onto his back, rolling fast and grabbing onto his scales, my ass end still hanging off him.
He roared in pain as my claws dug in and he shot toward the ground, landing hard as he hit the lawn beside the path, tearing a great hole in it as we rolled and rolled. I tried to pin him down and he swiped at me with his talons, his tail lashing out violently and Cindy Lou screamed as she was almost beheaded by it, dropping her things and darting for cover. I landed on top of the beautiful bastard and he electrocuted the shit out of me. I went rigid as I fell off of him, crashing to the ground so hard that a tremor rang through the earth.
Dante lunged at me and I shifted the same time he did, his naked chest crashing into mine as he pinned me down in his Fae form.
"Stronzo!" he barked, but he was laughing as I shoved him off, wrestling to try and pin him down.
"Mr Night, Mr Oscura!" Coach Mars bellowed and Elise's laughter sailed through the air. I looked up from Dante as my junk pressed into his thigh and he half choked me. "Detention tomorrow night and you can head to the Pitball pitch right now and start doing laps until the rest of the team show up in an hour! And get your naked asses off the ground and fix that ruined lawn before I decided to throw you in detention for the whole week." He scowled furiously and I bit back my laughter as I pushed to my feet, offering Dante a hand to get up. He was still grinning as we turned to Mars, covered in claw marks and mud.
Cindy Lou was amongst a bunch of ogling girls beneath a tree, a few of them snapping photos and clapping excitedly. Elise raced towards them, slapping their Atlases out of their hands with a protective snarl and I beamed at my little monster. Shit she was hot when she was jealous. She shot toward us with my pants and tossed Dante his Pitball bag which he'd dropped on the path.
“Get dressed,” she commanded and I bit my lip as I did as she asked, covering myself up for her but fully intending to give her one hell of strip show later in private.
Dante pulled on his fitted Pitb
all shorts which didn't leave much to the imagination anyway and rearranged his junk with a smirk.
"What are you waiting for?" Mars growled as he tried to usher the crowd away. "Fix the grass."
I gave Dante the side eye and he returned it.
"But we've only got air and fire magic," I said with a shrug.
"I don't care how you do it, but you will fix it or you'll pay the price." Mars strode off, waving his hands at Cindy Lou and her friends to make them disperse and Elise slung her arms around me and Dante.
"You idiots," she taunted, placing a kiss on my cheek then one on Dante's. "Good luck fixing this mess."
"Easily done, my little monster." I caught her by the hips, shoving her back against Dante and pinning her there as I kissed her deeply, my pulse racing for a whole different reason than tumbling through the sky to my near-death. Nothing like a fight then a fuck...
"Mr Night!" Mars barked from the end of the path, apparently still able to see us and I huffed dramatically as I looked over at him, finding him tapping his watch impatiently. "Less kissing, more fixing. Then get to the Pitball pitch stat."
I gave him a thumbs up as I gripped Elise's hips and grinned stupidly at her.
"Come to the Pitball pitch with us, carina," Dante purred into her neck.
She giggled lightly, grinding her hips back against him then shot away from us, spinning around to face us on the path. She twirled a finger in her hair, cocking her head to one side. "Nah, I'm a good girl. Have fun with your sprints and I’ll see you at practice.” She mock saluted us and shot away, her laughter carrying back to us.
"Fucktarts, why does that make me so hot?" I growled, leaning hard to one side as I tried to see past Mars's glowering face in the direction my little monster had taken, but she was long gone.
"Because she's a bad girl and we both know it." Dante smirked at me, clapping a hand to my shoulder and turning me to face the destroyed lawn. "My pack or your Mindys?" he asked lightly, looking between the Wolves loitering close by and the Mindys peeking out of the bushes.
I whistled and the Mindys came running. "I started the fight, so I'll clean up."
The Mindy who'd recorded the whole thing for me handed me my Atlas and I grinned widely as I watched it back. I freezeframed the moment before Dante had shifted, a wild, terrified look in his eyes and his lips parted in a yell as I came leaping toward him like a feral beast.
"You pezzo de merda, gimme that." He lunged for my Atlas but I was faster, posting it to FaeBook with the hashtag #scaringiscaring before he could stop me and laughing wildly.
His fist connected with my jaw and I only laughed harder until he started chuckling too. I directed an earth magic Mindy to fix the lawn and we headed off towards the Pitball pitch.
"I guess I should thank you for the distraction, stronzo. This day has been merda."
"Felix again?" I asked in a dark tone, my hackles rising as he nodded.
That fucker needed to die hard. I wanted to cut his balls off and stuff them down his throat. And yeah, that shit was dark. I didn't daydream about cutting just anyone's balls off. That psycho stuff was saved for the worst of the worst. AKA Felix the unfriendly fuckface. I couldn't bear what Dante was going through because of his shithead of an uncle, it tore me up inside.
I rubbed my arm against his and he gave me a sad sort of smile. I needed to take his mind off of things so I turned our conversation to the Pitball try-outs this evening.
"Do you know any of the freshmen showing up? What are we dealing with?" I asked and he shook his head.
"I don’t know but Coach Mars keeps taking about that asshole Lunar, Shadowbrook, trying out, but I swear if he shows up tonight, I’ll kill him. I made it clear to him that I don't play with fucking Lunars."
"You just occasionally screw Elise with them," I taunted, arching a brow and he growled dangerously, electricity sparking off his skin.
“Watch it, stronzo."
"Hey, I only speak the truth," I said innocently. "I bet she looked hot beneath Ryder though, right? Or was she on top?" I sucked my lower lip as I pictured it and Dante elbowed me in the ribs.
"You’d better not be getting friendly with him, Leone," he warned and I shrugged.
"I'm not an Oscura, dickface, I can do what I like.”
We reached the pitch and headed into the changing rooms to dress in our Pitball uniforms while Dante gave me the silent treatment. We were soon jogging around the pitch and I hurried to catch Dante as he tried to put space between us, snarling under my breath. He didn't pull that crap on me, ever. I may have been his best friend, but that didn't make me one of his Wolves who he could control.
“Don’t freeze me out, dipshit,” I demanded.
His jaw tightened. "You're my best friend and he's - he's -"
"Got no one," I finished sharply, my heart pounding harder. "He's got no one, Dante."
"Vaffanculo! He's got his whole filthy Brotherhood," he spat.
"Dude, he has to act like the biggest asshole all the time in front of them so they don't lose faith in him. They’re not his friends. He's lonely." I pouted at him and he tried to elbow me in the face.
"Stop defending him," he snarled.
"The guy needs someone to defend him," I pushed. "And I don't care what you say, I know you know that. I know you understand him. Alphas need other Alphas or they're all alone. It's one of the reasons we're drawn to each other, and Elise too. He needs us. All of us."
Dante winced, shaking his head. "Stop it, fratello, I don't want to hear it."
"Fine," I sighed, panting as we continued to race around the pitch. He looked grumpier than ever by the time everyone else showed up for practice and my heart twisted. I hadn’t wanted to upset him further, dammit.
Sweat was soaking through my shirt as I jogged over to the team and Mars directed the newbies to line up in front of us. There were six in total and Ethan Shadowbrook wasn't among them. Phew.
"Okay, we're trying out for a new Waterback and Waterguard today, our team is going to suffer without decent water players so show us what you've got pledges," Mars barked and a few of them nodded confidently.
Let's see what you've got, suckers.
Elise jogged over to us and Dante perked up immediately, smirking at her in her fitted uniform.
I dove on him, noogying his head and he fought me for one second before laughing and shoving me off. We shared a smile that said our shit was sorted. Nothing could come between us. We were a double act. Leone and Drago. Lee-Lee and Drag-Drag. Catman and Dragin. There should be a damn TV show about us.
"Which ones do you think have a chance?" Elise muttered to us and I eyed up our prey, focusing on the broad-shouldered girl at the end of the pledges.
"Maybe her, but I'm gonna take knobbly knees out in three seconds flat," I answered cockily.
"I'll get him in two," Dante countered and I was pretty sure Knobbles heard that.
"I'll get him in one." Elise smirked.
Mars would put us all on defence for the first half of try outs and they'd have to run for their fucking lives while we all tried to tackle them. Elise might have weighed hardly more than a hundred pounds, but I didn't put it past her to floor some of these freshmen. She wasn't allowed to use her Order gifts though, so she wasn't going to knock them out with the force that me and Dante could.
"You know the drill, team, everyone on the defence. Daxon, you're up." Mars directed Knobbles forward and pointed to the Water Hole. "Over there, I'll put a ball into play and I want you to try and get it in the Pit." Daxon jogged off to the far corner and Mars looked between the eight of us on the team. "I want clean tackles, use this opportunity to impress me and you might earn yourself some leader board points." He pushed his hands into his shorts’ pockets as we fanned out into position across the field.
I jogged up beside Dante and wiggled my eyebrows. "Wanna come back to mine and Elise's room after this?"
He laughed darkly, looking over at Elise who was stretching out her calves, he
r tanned skin all dewy and hot as fuck. I couldn't wait to lick her ankles and run my tongue through the creases behind her knees...
"If I take the kid out, I get her first," he muttered. "And you can sit and watch like a puttana in timeout."
"Deal, and if I take him down – which I will - you can watch me make her come three times in a row and take notes on my magic dick."
He blew out a laugh. "I don't need to take notes, stronzo, my dick is the most magical object in Sol-"
Coach blew the whistle and we charged down the pitch side by side, my shoulder ramming into his then his slamming back into mine as he fought to take the lead.
Elise was ahead of us and she was fast, but we'd been playing defence for years. And regardless of that, her pussy was on the line, dammit. And no incentive was greater than that. Dante threw out a hand, knocking her off of her feet with a gust of air and sending her flying through the sand out of our way. Savage.
"Asshole!" she screamed as he laughed loudly, powering ahead and taking the lead.
Knobbles was running with the icy Waterball, taking a predictable path towards the edge of the pitch as he tried to swerve around us. We were already barrelling in that direction and I smacked Dante over the back of the head as I passed him, whooping as I gained on Knobbles.
Dante's shoulder knocked back into mine a second later and we raced flat out towards the kid who was now cornered at the far edge of the pitch. He screamed like I'd shoved a hot poker up his ass as we collided with him, taking him down beneath us. My thigh was locked over one of his legs and Dante's was locked over the other and both of our hands were weighing down his chest.
I snarled at Dante over our kill - I mean freshman - and he snarled right back.
"I got him first," I insisted.
"No fucking way, my hands were on him a whole second before yours were," Dante countered.
"Ow," Knobbles rasped.
"Shhhh." I placed a hand over his whole face, my gaze still fixed on Dante. "Don't be a sore loser, brother."
"The only sore loser will be you while you're in the corner aching to get your hands on our girl," Dante mocked.
Broken Fae Page 31