"Roxy?" I called and she laughed somewhere off ahead of me to my right.
I hurried past the rows of expensive cars, looking for her between all of them until I finally found her in a dark corner, crouched down beside a bright red Ducati Panigale V2.
"What are you doing?" I asked as she failed to look up at me from her position on the floor by the motorcycle.
"You promised me a ride, dude," she said, cursing beneath her breath as she kept fiddling with the engine. I couldn't really see what she was up to, but it looked like she'd made some tools using earth magic to assist her.
"What are you doing?" a voice yelled and I turned to find a guy dressed in a grey and black guard uniform pointing a gun at us. There was a radio at his hip but it was impossible to say if he'd been in contact with anyone else.
"Nothing. Leave us alone," I Coerced him and he turned away instantly, lowering his weapon and walking off.
I looked back to Roxy with a smug grin but she pointed up at a camera by the roof which was angled right at us.
"Ah, shit," she cursed a second before a blaring alarm sounded all around the parking lot and I raised an eyebrow at her just as she got the bike started up.
"Is this what you like to do for fun then?" I teased as she hopped up and swung her leg over the bike, revving the engine at me enticingly.
"Jump on and I'll show you what I like to do for fun," she offered, patting the seat behind her.
"How about you shift your ass back and I'll drive?" I countered because there was no fucking way I was going to be her passenger.
"Oh, you can steal a bike for yourself then?" she taunted, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
"Just start one up for me," I growled, refusing to dignify that with a response.
"No," she replied with that stubborn set to her jaw which always riled me up so damn much. "Now or never, Darius, jump on the bitch seat or stay here to get caught by the cops."
"Why do I get the feeling you seriously would just ride off and leave my ass here?" I asked irritably.
"Because I would," she replied simply, shrugging one shoulder like there wasn't an alarm blaring overhead and she was in no rush at all. "Now hop on and let me show you how a real Fae rides."
I cursed as I swung my leg over the back of the bike and Roxy barely gave me time to wrap my arms around her waist before she dropped the clutch and tugged the throttle back.
My grip tightened on her before I could fall off the back and she laughed wildly as we shot away.
Roxy rode like a pro, weaving around parked cars and squeezing through a pedestrian entrance to the underground parking lot before racing out onto the street.
Her hair whipped back in the wind, catching against the stubble on my jaw as I placed my head beside hers to watch the road. The sweet scent of her skin rose up around me reminding me of the few times I'd held her close like this and my irritation over her making me be the passenger melted away as I just enjoyed it.
The heat of her body against mine had my mind filling up with ideas of all the things I'd fantasised about doing with her more times than I could even count. I'd imagined having her in each and every way conceivable and had dreamed about her every night for so long that I couldn't even remember when it had begun. And yet all of that paled into nothing when compared to the reality of actually holding her.
Rain poured from the sky in a sudden torrent and I tipped my head back, catching sight of the Leo and Gemini star signs illuminated in the sky above us before the clouds swept over to conceal them again.
We weren't free of our curse. Not even here. But Roxy didn't seem inclined to stop and move away from me either.
The flash of red and blue lights caught my eye before I even heard the sirens and Roxy laughed wildly as she put on another burst of speed.
She ducked and weaved around traffic and pedestrians, narrowly avoiding a collision with a yellow taxi as it ran a red light right ahead of us.
"The stars are trying to part us," I called over the roar of the engine and she nodded, pushing back into the cage of my arms as she kept going.
Her ass was practically riding my dick as we pressed closer to each other and I couldn't help but turn my head and press my mouth to that soft spot of skin beneath her ear. A shiver ran right through her body and she leaned back into me a little more as she sped through the streets of New York City so fast that the cops had no chance of catching up to us.
But the further we went, the heavier the downpour got until it was hard to see much ahead of us and the hazards appearing in the road were getting more and more dangerous.
A truck stopped suddenly right in our path and my heart leapt with fear for the girl in my arms as she narrowly avoided it, the tyres skidding on the wet road and only her level of skill saving us from spinning out and crashing.
"We have to stop," I called to her, hating to cut this short but fearing what would happen if we crashed. It was all well and good having healing magic, but if we died on impact that wasn't going to make a bit of difference.
Roxy growled something at me which I couldn't make out over the engine noise, but she turned off the main road and started speeding down a slightly quieter street.
I held on tighter, knowing I was going to have to let go really soon and wishing I didn't ever have to.
She pulled up sharply by the waterfront close to the Brooklyn Bridge and I climbed off as thunder boomed overhead and lightning lit the sky for a moment.
"Admit it, I ride better than you," she said as she backed up, putting some space between us.
I groaned aloud as I took in the way the rain was making her clothes stick to her frame while the adrenaline of the ride pumped through my limbs, demanding an outlet which I knew I couldn't claim.
"I already knew how well you could ride from the time you climbed into my lap on the throne," I said and her eyes widened at that reminder as I fought with everything I had to hold my ground. I knew it wasn't enough though, there was no one around us and the stars weren't going to stop until they'd driven us apart.
Roxy bit her lip, her gaze moving over my chest where my white t-shirt was clinging to every curve of my muscles. "Show me your new tattoo," she demanded and I smirked at her, loving the fact that she'd been thinking about that.
"No. You'll have to come see it for yourself," I teased and she glanced up at the sky with concern as the storm picked up even more.
She seemed tempted to come closer but the way the storm was building made it clear it was probably a bad idea.
"I guess that's our cue to head back," she said and the disappointment on her face was enough to make me want to shift and start flying huge circles through the sky.
"Come here then," I beckoned to her and she gave the bike one last, wistful look before abandoning it to come and join me as I pulled the stardust from my pocket.
I tossed it over us and we were wrenched out of the storm and into the grasp of the stars who seemed to be buzzing with even more energy than usual as they hoisted us across the divide between realms and deposited us back outside the Zodiac Academy boundary.
The sudden quiet as we landed made the energy between us crackle expectantly as I glanced up at the cloudless Solarian sky and got my bearings again.
Soft fingertips landed on my waistband and I sucked in a breath as I looked down at Roxy as she unbuckled my belt with a taunting smirk on her face that said I should have known better than to challenge her. Not that I had any complaints about her taking my pants off. I watched as she tugged my jeans down just low enough to show her the tattoo which curved over my left hip and sank down close enough to my cock to make it harden for her instantly. Not that it took much for it to do that for her, but having her hand beneath my waistband was a sure fire way to achieve it.
I watched her as she looked at the tattoo, tracing the words with her fingertips and breathing them into the silence. "There is only her." She continued to paint the marks that made up the Gemini and Leo constellations followed by the
lines of the geometric design that charted the pattern of the moon and stars the night she’d said no to me. It was pretty complex, an interlinking design of triangles and interlocking lines that mapped out the alignment of the heavens on the night that had changed everything. Gabriel was the one who’d told me to get it, showing up at my room and telling me he’d seen it. The moment I laid eyes on the design he’d sketched out I’d known in my soul that he was right about it being destined to mark my flesh.
Distant thunder was closing in on us and I knew we'd find ourselves in yet another storm if we continued to linger here, but it was just too hard for me to pull away from her. I needed to know if she felt this too. I needed to hear the words she'd never spoken to me even though I knew I'd never deserve them.
"Are you still afraid of me, Roxy?" I asked in a low voice as her fingertips traced the tattoo and she followed the lines of the ink right along the length of it.
"Yes," she breathed, raising her eyes up to meet mine and making my gut twist with a hurt so sharp it stole my breath away. "But it's a good kind of fear."
I stared down at her with my heart pounding at those words, wanting nothing more than to pull her into my arms and taste the sweetness of her lips against mine, but she was already backing up.
And as the thunder boomed overhead once more and the earth trembled beneath our feet, I knew she had to go.
But it didn't make it hurt any less as I watched her walk away.
H aving Orion’s new number was a treat in itself. I sent him daily photographs of me and Darcy together with captions like #sheaintblueoveryounomore and #teamDeth. He’d blocked my number after threatening to rip my intestines out and strangle me with them – amongst other murderous threats - but then I got a magical app which sent my texts from anonymous numbers so he couldn’t keep me away. It was hilarious. And very intentional. Because I was officially kickstarting Mission: Get Darion Back Together.
It wasn’t a complex or layered plan; it was based on one simple little emotion that made Fae fucking crazy. Jealousy. Orion had shown his cards as clear as day when I’d visited him with Darcy and Gabriel. I knew what jealousy tasted like, looked like and felt like. Just yesterday, I’d made a girl cry when I overheard her planning to sneak into Caleb’s room dressed in nothing with glitter covering her naked body to ask him if he was horny for the horn. Firstly, Cal was not into that shit as far as I was aware (but I’d be the first to paint my body in glitter and strap a dildo horn to my head if he was). And secondly, no bitch. Just no. I made her do a lap of the school while some of my pack chased her with pokey sticks.
So when Orion had thrown me face first into a window, I’d had an inkling he wasn’t over Darcy.
I ran with my pack in the early hours of the morning, the lasting light of the moon giving way to dawn as we made it to the pond out in The Wailing Wood. My pack slipped into the water to bathe and I padded off into the trees to be alone. I knew as soon as they shifted that washing each other would give way to fucking and I’d been avoiding that for a while now. Which made them all kinds of crazy for me, but they knew I liked fucking other Orders.
Now the law was in place to stop that I wondered how long it would be before they questioned me on it. They’d never snitch on me either way, but I actually hadn’t fucked anyone else for ages. Since I’d shared Rosalie with Cal, I was more hung up on him than ever. Even though the one I really should have been hung up on was the powerful Alpha Wolf who was hot as hell and could have fulfilled everything that was expected of me.
One day, I was destined to marry someone of my own kind who matched me in power as closely as possible. Rosalie was a pretty perfect pick for that role, but the idea of tying myself to her or anyone other than Cal just made me feel all kinds of anxious. But I was probably just kidding myself and Caleb would end up with some Vampire bitch I’d resent forever. It was a shitty destiny, which was why I was actively pretending it would never happen. Denial was my best friend who liked to braid my hair and call me pretty. So yep, Cal could definitely be mine inside my head in an alternate reality I liked to call Calaria.
I’d had obsessions before. I loved a challenge. Shit, Darcy Vega had been my desire for a long time. But with her, things hadn’t been clear cut. I’d been torn between my Heir bound duty and a bond between us I couldn’t ignore. Then I’d inadvertently initiated her into my pack and that had let the headfuck get out of control. I was naturally protective of her. I wanted to be around her all the time. And I’d finally realised that the way I felt about her was the exact way I felt about the Heirs. Only it had been hiding under so many layers of bullshit that I’d been confused as fuck about it. She was a Vega. And I’d been told my whole life that Vegas were the spawn of evil. I’d fucked with her so bad that I was going to be beating myself up about it for a long time to come. But now I finally had a way to make up for all the shit I’d done. I was going to get her back together with the love of her life and make Lance Orion my bestie in the process. Like, not at first. Man, he was going to fucking hate me. But long term, he was a bestie to be. Either that or I really was going to end up strangled by my own intestines.
I raced through the trees with a howl toward the morning sun as it split through the foliage overhead. Adrenaline rushed through my limbs and my ears turned left and right as I felt out my surroundings. I couldn’t hear anything unusual, but the hairs were rising on the back of my neck and I slowed as I reached a path, standing in the middle of it and sniffing the air.
A Wolf’s grin pulled at my mouth as a masculine and tempting scent reached me in the air. Caleb.
I padded on down the path, pretending I hadn’t noticed anything as he no doubt stalked me somewhere close by. But if he wanted a drink from me, he was going to have to fight for it.
I yawned broadly, turning off the path into the trees again and slipping between the boughs. I moved behind the trunk of a huge oak and lowered myself ready to pounce, tucking my huge body in close to the tree.
A rush of air sent fallen leaves swirling up around my paws as Caleb shot into the trees ahead of me. He stopped abruptly, turning his head left and right as he listened for me and I kept perfectly still, my ears flat to my head as I readied to launch myself at him.
I shoved my weight into my paws, throwing myself toward him and he twisted around, spotting me at the last moment. He shot away a split second before I could knock him to the ground and my paws hit the mud.
I kept running as adrenaline tore through my veins, taking off fast into the trees with a bark of laughter. He collided with my side, throwing me to the ground and the air was knocked from my lungs. I locked my jaws around his arm as he tried to pin me down and he growled in pain, but didn’t let go, trying to keep me in place as I thrashed. I rolled hard, throwing him away so he smashed into a tree. I grinned wolfishly in victory but he shot upright again and casually smoothed down his hair as his arm pissed blood.
“Damn animal,” he taunted.
He healed the bite and I took the chance to lunge at him again, my large paws hitting the tree above his head as I caged him in. He punched my ribs and I yelped as I fell back, uprooting him with one of my paws so he was knocked down with me.
I leapt onto him and shifted back into my Fae form, keeping him down with my weight and smirking at him. “Yield.”
His fist slammed into my jaw and he rolled us over with his Vampire strength, though I didn’t even bother to fight. I cupped my hands behind my head as my back hit the ground and he locked his fingers around my throat. His fangs snapped out and he grinned as he leaned down to steal his prize, pulling his hand away and driving his teeth into my neck.
I groaned audibly then bit my tongue as his muscles pressed to mine and I got rock hard for him. Oh shit.
He pressed me into the ground and my magic was immobilised by his venom as he crushed me beneath him. I was definitely not the submissive type, but if Caleb wanted to force me down in the mud and have his way with me, I was game. Of course, the way he wanted me
was to take my blood, nothing else. I thought about what Darcy had said, wondering if I should talk to him, but surely my dick was having a whole conversation with his right now because it wasn’t being subtle.
He lifted his weight half off of me, sucking in a breath and drawing away from me so he was kneeling over my thighs.
He looked down at my solid cock and no matter how many people had seen it before, nothing beat him looking at it right now, exposing me for how much I wanted him. My eyes slipped to his crotch the same time his did and the bulge waiting for me there made my heart pound out of rhythm. Caleb glanced at me in confusion, an awkward silence washing between us.
“Erm,” I began and his brow furrowed just a little as he leaned back.
“Race you back to the Hollow.” He got up and shot away with his Vampire speed before I could stop him and my heart lurched painfully as he just left me lying there in the dirt.
I shifted back into a Wolf, howling after him in a plea to come back. But he didn’t and I had the horrible feeling I’d just fucked up everything.
***
I flexed my fingers, admiring the Phoenix metal gauntlets covering them. I obviously had the coolest weapon of all the Heirs. Darcy had tried to convince me to have something simple like the others, but I’d come up with this design myself after I’d dreamed of having flaming claws of death. The gauntlets were enchanted to expand when I shifted into my Wolf form, so they could pack a spectacular fire punch in Fae form and became flaming claws in my Order form.
We’d been tracking a few Nymphs out this way the last couple of nights. There’d been a bunch of reported sightings of them and we’d only managed to catch and kill three in the past two days. From the tracks we’d found tonight leading onto some old farmland, I was guessing we were about to run into a damn nest.
I moved through the cornfield behind Caleb, the others walking ahead of us following Tory and Darcy. Tory had some serious rage to vent and though it was risky bringing her on this run, it was also damn good for her. She needed to let her Order flourish and be reminded of how fierce she was, so when she went back to Lionel, she’d at least have that to hold onto.
Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne Page 38