Broken Fae

by Caroline Peckham

  It wasn’t my usual style to pull off a robbery of this calibre with less than a month to plan it, but as Dante had been invited to spend New Year's at old Asscrux's manor, it was the perfect opportunity for us to get in. So we simply couldn’t waste it. The Dragon family would all be distracted by their guests and meanwhile, I'd slip in the back door and steal the spyglass right from under Lionel’s nose. Well, me and Roary would. I'd sulked for a whole day when Dante had suggested my brother come too, but I'd eventually swallowed my pride when I'd seen the concern in Elise's eyes. This wasn't about me. It was about taking down King. And to have a chance at doing that, Gabriel had assured us we needed to see what was in that book. I needed help to ensure this went off without a hitch. So Roary was coming on this job, the first we'd actually worked on together since Father had stopped teaching us the trade when we were kids. We'd been so competitive back then that working together had never occurred to me. But now, I realised it guaranteed the chances of pulling this off. And this crime would be fucking infamous. We'd make sure of it.

  I strode downstairs in my house after changing into black jeans and a black long-sleeved sweater with a hood, an empty pack on my shoulders and a smirk stitched onto my lips. My hair was tied up in a tight knot to keep it out of the way too.

  As I stepped into the entrance hall, I stretched my limbs, preparing for this job, ready to make my pride proud. My whole family was gathered there and Roary mirrored my appearance right down to the smirk.

  Elise wore a sexy little dress that was green like her eyes and I swept forward to crush her against me and kiss away the worry in her features. Though that apparently didn't work as I slackened my grip so she could look up at me and I found a frown still on her face.

  "Just get in and out, Leon, no theatrics," she growled and I ran my thumb across her cheek. She was going to the party as Dante’s date so I’d be leaving before her.

  "There'll be like ten percent theatrics," I promised.

  "No. None. Don't fuck around, that Dragon asshole rules the kingdom with his pals. He'll destroy you if he catches you." She set her jaw, her eyes flashing with passion.

  I sighed. "Alright, alright," I agreed, kissing her again. "Five percent," I whispered then turned to my Moms and Dad who were beaming at me and Elise let it go despite the pout on her lips.

  "My sons working together on the biggest job of their lives. It makes me so happy." Father's eyes brimmed with actual tears and he moved forward to drag me and Roary into a firm hug. I became a cub in his arms, nuzzling into him as a deep purr rolled through me which was echoed by Roary.

  "Make the Nights proud, boys," he said, looking from me to Roary with an emotional smile.

  We hugged our moms in turn then headed out the door side by side and onto the drive. Roary clapped a hand to my shoulder as we turned to face one another. Father had lowered the stardust wards for tonight so we could head straight off from here, but as I took the pouch from my pocket, Roary pulled me into a hug himself.

  "Love you, little brother," he said in a deep tone.

  "I love you too, Roary," I sighed, a heaviness lifting from me. Maybe we didn't need to be in competition with each other all the time. If we really pulled this off tonight, perhaps it would be the start of something new, something bigger and better than we ever could have achieved on our own.

  He let me go and I gave him a slanted smile. For a moment I saw him as that long-haired kid with dirty knees who I'd always looked up to. We'd been close as cubs, but our competitiveness had driven a wedge between us eventually. Perhaps it was time to put that to rest.

  "Let's sock it to the big man, huh?" I smirked and Roary's golden eyes swirled with a dark mischievousness that got my pulse pounding as he nodded.

  I took out the stardust, focusing on our destination and threw it over us, the magical powder dragging us away into the night.

  My boots hit dirt a second later and I bumped into Roary who steadied me as I took in our surroundings.

  We were in the forest to the east of the Acrux Manor where we'd planned to meet the others. Dante and Rosa moved out of a magical veil of shadow ahead of us and I grinned. With the help of Orion - despite him warning us against attempting this a hundred times - we'd pieced together a map of the house that would allow us to navigate our way through the house. The main issue was getting into Lionel's office which was no doubt guarded by wards, but after Orion had spent some of the holidays at the Acrux's he'd sent us a few photos of the corridor where it was located and we'd pin-pointed a ventilation shaft that could likely get us into it. The only problem being, me and Roary were about three times too big to fit into the shaft. Hence why Rosa was here. She'd overheard us talking about it at the Oscuras' house and insisted she was the perfect Fae for the job. And not only that, her lack of magical signature meant she could slip past alarms easier than we could. It had taken four hours of arguing to convince Dante to let her come, but now we had our special little Wolf pup teammate onboard and there was no way we'd risk letting her get caught tonight.

  Dante wore a fine button down and grey slacks, his black tie picturing the silver emblem of the Oscura Clan in a small fuck you to the Acrux shitbag who wanted his allegiance. I smiled as he adjusted the tie at his throat and gave us a serious look, raising his hand to cast a silencing bubble around us.

  "I'll text you once I've got eyes on Lionel," he said then gave Rosa an intense look. "You stay in their shadows and do whatever they tell you, capisce?"

  "Yes Alpha," she sing-songed, then rolled her eyes as he stepped past her towards us and checked his watch.

  "I've got about ten minutes until I'm obnoxiously late, so let's make sure this takes fifteen," Dante said with a grin, taking the lead as he headed through the trees where a shimmer in the air spoke of the wards that ringed the Acrux property.

  "Are you sure you can just take out this section without affecting the rest?" Roary asked, knowing our plan hinged on this. If Dante knocked out the wards completely then Lionel's guards would no doubt notice quick enough and we wouldn't have time to get in and out of the house before they were on high alert hunting us down.

  "I practiced it a thousand times at home," Dante growled. "I can do it."

  "He can," Rosa swore and I smiled, having total faith in him.

  "Let's see it then, brother," I encouraged and Dante stepped forward as electricity danced around his body, zapping me in the arm as he passed me.

  Rosa moved beside me as we lined up to watch and Roary folded his arms with his brows raised as my Storm Dragon boyfriend-in-law stepped in front of the wards put there by the Dragon Lord himself. Excitement rippled through me as Dante raised his hands and thunder seemed to rumble from his very being as lightning sparked dangerously over his flesh.

  I backed up with the others as Dante threw out his hands and a bolt blasted out of his body directly into the wards, slicing through them like a knife through butter, the shimmering air vanishing in front of him but nowhere else.

  He glanced back at us with electric blue bolts flashing through his eyes, grinning darkly and I whooped as we ran forward.

  "Enjoy the party," I taunted and Dante sighed.

  "At least I know you'll all be fucking him up the culo while I have him looking the other way. And I’ll have Elise to keep me company," Dante said, brushing his hands over each of us before taking some stardust from his pocket. "See you back here when this is done. Possano le stelle essere con voi." He threw the glittering dust into the air and vanished before our eyes as he transported himself to the front gate to meet our girl as planned.

  "Now what?" Rosa asked, bouncing from foot to foot in anticipation.

  "Now we wait for his text, little pup," Roary said, leaning back against a tree and shutting his eyes like he was going to take a quick nap. Didn't seem like the worst idea in the world, but we needed one of us on the lookout tonight, so I had to be extra vigilant.

  "Is he sleeping?" Rosa whispered to me in surprise and I shrugged.


  "Probably," I said simply. Rosa stared at him a moment longer before catching my eye and blushing deeply. She was so crushing on my big brother and I grinned tauntingly at her as she tried to cover it up by twisting her fingers in her braided hair and looking anywhere but at him.

  My Atlas finally buzzed and I took it out to find a message from Dante.

  Dante:

  Got eyes on Asscrux. Go go go.

  I shoved my Atlas away and bounded over to Roary, smacking his cheek and he jolted awake, immediately moving into action. I headed through the gap in the wards and Roary hurried to my side with his face pinched in concentration. Rosa kept behind us as we used concealment spells to cloak us before we raced across the dark lawn up towards the hulking manor.

  Light poured from the windows onto the grass but mostly on the other side of the house where the party was ensuing.

  We hurried up to the eastern wall, pressing our backs against it and Rosa mimicked us quickly. I ran along the edge of the house in the darkness, ducking low under windows as we made our way to an ivy-covered trellis running up the wall. I started climbing and the other two followed as we scaled the house fast, our breaths fogging out in the freezing night air. The wooden slats groaned and creaked under my weight and I had to move carefully as we went, but it would hold. Rosa climbed faster than us, racing up to the roof and ducking down behind a chimney stack as she waited for us to join her. The little Wolf was always climbing onto the Oscura Manor roof and though I was used to it too during my jobs, she was as fast as a whippet with its tail on fire and had the advantage of her slender frame to carry instead of the bulk of a full grown Lion Shifter.

  I hauled myself onto the roof beside her and Roary moved onto it at the same time. We slipped into the shadow of the chimney, tightening our concealment spells wordlessly and drawing in the silencing bubble around us. We took a couple of seconds listening for any shouts of alarm, but all was quiet and my thumping heart lifted with the thrill of the game.

  Roary pointed to the skylight which was our next target and we all crawled over to it, crouching around it. I peered down into the dark room below and brushed my fingers against the edges of the pane, using my fire magic to heat the lock within it until a clink sounded it falling off. Roary used his water magic to cool the glass which had heated under my power then he created a handle out of ice and tugged, making it pop open silently.

  He shot me a smirk and I threw him one back as he opened the skylight wide and lowered his head, casting a Faelight in the room below. He swung over the edge, hanging from it and dropping into the room, keeping a silencing bubble around him to quiet the thump his boots made as he hit the floor.

  "After you, pup," I said to Rosa, offering her my hand to help her down but she swatted it away, dropping over the edge and landing on the floor beside Roary in a crouch.

  I chuckled before lowering myself inside then reached up to pull the window closed and kicked the broken lock under a chair. We were in some sort of reading room with a polished oak desk in one corner and a decanter of port sitting on its surface. Beside it was an honest to shit golden harp. I had all the money in the world and I would never build a pretentious ass room like this. I mean okay, I’d probably build an adult sized indoor playground complete with ball pit when I had my own place, but this bullshit? Nah, not for me.

  I followed Roary to the door where he had his ear pressed to the wood and as I moved to do the same, his amplifying spell offered me the ability to hear if anyone was close by. All was quiet so I tried the handle and the door opened smoothly, swinging out into the hall. We were entering the belly of the beast and I was so freaking ready to get all up in its nooks and crannies.

  We stepped into a corridor full of portraits of the Acruxes going back generations in huge golden frames. Each man or woman had their name in shining letters at the bottom and behind them was a painting of their Dragon forms. Blue, purple, red, green, there was every colour of Dragon imaginable. And I swear to the fucking stars, every face staring back at me had the same smug ass I’m the king of the world smile on their lips.

  I snorted, shaking my head, reaching into my pack and taking out the sharpie I'd brought with me. I added moustaches, hairy moles and devil horns to them as I went and Roary and Rosa chuckled at my work. With anti-detection spells on my body, there was no way they could trace anything I did back to me tonight. Not unless I was caught right in the flesh or on camera. But Nights didn’t get caught. It was in our blood. We were uncatchable. The stars themselves had made us with the luck of Jupiter running in our blood. I could stroll right up to Lionel Acrux, slap him on the ass and steal the shoes from his feet and I’d still get away with it. It was just how I was made.

  "I thought Elise asked you to drop the theatrics," Roary murmured.

  "I promised I'd drop them to five percent," I countered and Roary shook his head at me, but he continued to grin.

  He reached a huge portrait at the end of the hall of Lionel himself with his enormous jade green Dragon form behind him. He was draped in blood red robes with a haughty taughty look on his face and chains of gold hanging around his throat. Roary shifted his hand into a Lion paw with sharp claws and slashed it across Lionel's body with light flickering in his eyes. Rosa snatched my pen and scrawled a massive veiny cock protruding from his forehead.

  "The illusive Dragasus, part Dragon, part Pegasus, all dick," Rosa said in a mysterious tone.

  Me and Roary burst out laughing as we all jogged along, hurrying in the direction of Lionel's office. We'd memorised the map Orion had drawn us so we didn't need to waste time checking it as we weaved left and right down the corridors. We ducked in and out of rooms, filling our bags with seriously expensive shit to cover up for what our real target was tonight and mine was soon weighing down my shoulders, fit to bursting.

  As we reached a turn in the hall, footsteps sounded from somewhere ahead and my heart pounded with adrenaline, fear and excitement.

  I opened the door to my right and ushered Roary and Rosa into the room, following them quickly and pressing it shut behind us, keeping a silencing bubble around the door as I locked it. As soon as it was shut, we drew the silencing bubbles in tight around us and Roary cast a quick diversion spell which would make anyone coming this way suddenly decide to head in the other direction.

  We were in a smoking room with two crystal glasses sitting by a seriously expensive bottle of whiskey which I promptly tucked into my bag. I also took a box of Rivian cigars and a solid gold clock that was sitting above the fireplace. I picked up a smoking pipe from a small table beside what was clearly Lionel's chair. It was a red leather wing-back with rich, powerful, domineering asshole written all over it. I shoved the pipe down my pants and rubbed it around my junk, making sure my balls were thoroughly wiped over the end he sucked on then dipped one of them into the bowl.

  "Mmm that ball sack flavour is really gonna liven up his tobacco the next time he takes a puff," I said as I placed it back in its spot and Rosa cupped a hand to her mouth as she giggled.

  Roary was in the middle of pocketing everything valuable in the room and when we were sure whoever had come this way was gone, we slipped back out and carried along deeper into the house.

  Energy was bouncing through my limbs. This was too fucking easy. That Dragon asshole had nothing on us Nights. We were going to slip in his back door, bend him over a table and take him for all he was worth. It was just a shame we weren't going to be here to watch the finale when he realised how deeply fucked he'd just been by the best thieves in Solaria without even realising it.

  I practically danced along the corridor as we reached Lionel's office and I cast detection spells at either end of the hall so we’d be warned if anyone came this way and we could focus on getting Rosa inside.

  Roary moved beneath the vent up on the wall and passed her a blade of ice before lifting her up to sit on his shoulders. She reached above her, using the blade to prise the vent open and I moved to catch the covering as it fell to th
e floor. I could practically feel the power emanating from the wards on that office door, but even if the detection spells leaked into the vent above, Rosa had no magical signature to detect so she should slip right through. Like ninety percent probability. And my gambles usually paid off.

  Roary boosted her into it with a hand on her ass and I bet she just loved that shit. She turned around to look down at us with her cheeks bright red, looking to me instead of him as she spoke. "If the alarm is triggered, run."

  "Yeah, like I'll leave you here and let your aunt decapitate me for it," Roary chuckled, but there was a knife's edge in his eyes that said he'd actually cut off an arm before he abandoned her. And I had to agree. I'd vowed to Dante that I'd protect her no matter what and there was no way his kid cousin wasn't getting home tonight.

  Rosa sighed then gave in and turned around, muttering something about boys and their bullshit as she disappeared.

  My throat tightened as we waited, the sound of her movements becoming fainter and fainter. A dull thump sounded in the office and we both rushed closer to the door, but didn't dare touch that shit and set off the alarm that would bring a whole unit of the FIB descending on this place. I'd calculated we had just fifty three seconds to get off the property before we were officially fucked if that alarm was triggered. But I wasn’t worried. We’d be back at Dante’s house eating Aunt Bianca’s famous ravioli and drinking wine before we knew it. Dante and Elise had the really shit deal here, being stuck at some star damned party with a bunch of snobs who probably wanted to compare the sizes of their empires all the while trying to divert attention from their tiny dicks. Although, I’d bet Lionel had a big cock, he was the sort of guy who didn’t just talk the talk, he walked the fucking walk. Bet he could whip out that big ol’ Dragon dick during an argument and that would be the end of it. Lionel won. Point well made.