Dark Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  Jackpot.

  That was the name of my professor and the voice had come from somewhere on the floor below mine. Close enough to make me think it was beneath my feet.

  I reached the best fucking bannister to slide down in the academy, glanced around, gripped it in my palms and - shot down the steps with my Vampire speed.

  Chicken shit.

  I tried to convince myself it was about speed not a lack of balls but the gap between my thighs was conspicuously mocking. Next time. Maybe.

  I hurtled around the stairs, spotting a door hidden in the shadows behind them and sighing in relief as I found the numbers 1201 in shiny brass hanging on the door.

  I opened the door and discovered another stairwell which I quickly descended before reaching the Potions Lab at the bottom.

  White tiles shone everywhere; walls, floor, ceiling, making me think this place was set up to be hosed down and I wondered why in Solaria they would need to do that. My high school dabbling in potion brewing had been admittedly tame, but I had to question just what I was letting myself in for in this place as I looked around at the vials, test tubes, fluorescent liquids and jars filled with all kinds of dark and disgusting things.

  “Miss Callisto, I presume?” a husky male voice called from the front of the room and I lifted my chin to look over the sea of students in the huge classroom and found Professor Titan looking right at me.

  He had a warm smile on his ruggedly handsome face and bushy sideburns flecked with silver running down his cheeks. Blue eyes observed me keenly as he beckoned me forward and I had a sudden vision of one of those lame high school movies where the teacher drags the new kid up in front of the class and gets them to make a speech about who they are and how much their life sucks while everyone looks on and laughs.

  Hi everyone, I’m Elise, but you can call me Ella, like my brother did - you know, the dead one who I’m here to avenge. I’m looking at a few pricks in particular if you wanna stand up and take a bow?

  Yeah, I didn't think so.

  I tapped two fingers to my forehead and tipped the Professor a salute before shifting through the bodies without really looking at anyone and dropping into the first empty seat I came to.

  I spilled my books onto the desk, flicked on my Atlas and pulled a pencil from my pocket, twirling it between my fingers just so that I had something to do.

  Everyone was chatting casually, the Professor seeming in no hurry to start the class.

  I felt weirdly warm, like embarrassment was crawling up my chest but I had no idea why. I tapped my pencil against the desk impatiently and looked up, needing to know where that sensation was coming from.

  My gaze fell directly into the depths of a guy’s sitting three rows ahead of me on a desk to the left of mine. I knew him instantly. The fourth King. Ryder Draconis, leader of the Lunar Brotherhood at Aurora Academy.

  He was tall and broad, his blazer abandoned and his white shirt sleeves rolled back to reveal bronze forearms thick with muscle. One fisted hand lay facing me on the desk, the word lust spelled out in individual letters across his knuckles.

  His black hair was shaved down so hard it was barely there at all and his mouth was set in a firm line. As I fell captive to his gaze, my eyes locked with his and I gasped as I realised his pupils had transformed from a sea of cerulean green into reptilian slits with a brighter hue.

  I wanted to look away but I was caught, trapped in the net of his gaze and unable to pull myself back.

  A shaky breath spilled between my lips and I raised the pencil to my mouth on instinct, biting down gently on the eraser.

  A heavy blink curtained my vision and all the sound in the room seemed to fade away.

  My heart thumped solidly in my chest and heat built between my thighs, aching for this creature before me to satisfy my desire.

  Holding my eye, he stood from his chair, sliding his fingers into the knot of his plum coloured tie as he loosened it off so slowly that it was torture to watch.

  My breathing was growing heavier and I could only observe, begging him to hurry with my eyes while my body stayed glued in place as he began to ease open his shirt buttons.

  None of the other students seemed to have noticed that Ryder was stripping and he only had eyes for me as he took a purposeful step towards me.

  The eraser flexed between my teeth as I exerted a little more pressure on it, my fangs lengthening as desire spun through my veins like an inferno.

  Ryder was watching me with dark promises in his gaze, passion and heat and danger wrapped into one. This was the kind of guy nice girls ran from. The type who shattered dreams and stole virginities and left a trail of broken hearts behind without ever feeling a single second of remorse for it.

  And I wanted him to break me too. I wanted to worship him on my knees and give my body up to his torture only to be left ruined when he cast me aside.

  He continued undoing the buttons on his shirt, the words scrawled across his knuckles taking up all of my attention. Pain. Lust.

  Fuck, I wanted him to make me feel those things more than anything in the world right now.

  The hint of a moan escaped my lips and I pressed my thighs together in a desperate bid to sate some of the need he’d awoken in me.

  Ryder released the last of his shirt buttons and my eyes widened as he pushed the fabric aside. The perfect angles of his chest called to me, but almost all of my attention was caught on the huge bulge pressing against the confines of his zipper.

  I took in a breath, about to beg him to take off the rest of his clothes just as a hand landed on my thigh beneath the table and something was thrust in front of my face.

  I bit down on the eraser between my teeth, breaking it as the hand on my leg tightened its grip. The cool bite of metal rings contrasted to the warm flesh of his palm as he tightened his hold and the need in my body made me tip my leg towards him to allow more access. I blinked at the textbook which was now blocking my view of Ryder, confusion tugging at me.

  “Has no one ever warned you not to look into a Basilisk’s eyes, carina?” Dante whispered in my ear, his breath against my neck heightening the desire in my flesh. My fangs ached, my back arched. I needed an outlet for all of this energy that had pent up inside of me.

  “What?” I murmured, unable to fully grasp what he’d said.

  Dante lowered the textbook and I found myself looking at the side of Ryder’s head as he sat facing the Professor with the faintest shadow of a smile playing around his mouth. He was fully dressed, still in his seat, like none of it had even happened at all.

  What the hell?

  “They can hypnotise you into seeing fantasies. You shouldn’t hold that stronzo’s eye.”

  I’d never met a Basilisk Shifter before; I knew they were crazy rare but not a whole lot else about them. I guess I’d just imagined a huge snake and not given a lot of thought to whatever powers he might possess. More fool me.

  Dante’s hand was still very much on my thigh and as I dropped the pencil, spitting out the severed eraser, I turned to look at him, finding him very much in my personal space too.

  “Back up,” I breathed, trying to shake off the lingering effects of the desire Ryder had made me feel.

  Anger was burning a line through my limbs as I started to fully comprehend what he’d done. He’d invaded my mind, my thoughts, my fucking libido. What the hell was wrong with him? We hadn’t even said a single word to each other!

  “Or what?” Dante asked, all possessive with his Dragon macho bullshit.

  But I wasn’t in the mood to be used in a pissing contest for some gang war I gave zero shits about. He wanted to know ‘or what’? Okay then dipshit, you asked for it.

  I shot into motion with my Vampire speed, catching his chin in my hand and forcing it aside half a second before my fangs found his neck.

  His palm splayed across my stomach, ready to cast magic to fight me off if I’d taken a moment longer, but I wasn’t a fool. And the second my venom met with his blood, t
he fight was won.

  My power immobilised his magic and his limbs lost their strength as he fell under my spell. This was the true strength of Vampires. Once our venom was in the blood of our prey, no matter how powerful a Fae they were, they were beat.

  I pressed my fangs deeper and his blood spilled over my tongue like the sweetest taste of heaven.

  I groaned, drunk on the lusty energy coursing through my body and the elixir of blood and magic I was sampling now.

  I’d drunk from powerful Fae before but fuck Dante Oscura tasted good. His magic poured into me like a tempestuous storm, filling my reserves in a way that made the hairs raise along the back of my neck and my toes curl with wanton desire.

  He tasted like thunder and freedom, rage and uncertainty and the brush of his skin against my lips awoke a shudder of pleasure which splashed down my spine.

  Dante’s hands slid around my waist and I was surprised to find him dragging me closer instead of pushing me back. Sure, everyone knew that once a Vampire got their fangs in you, you couldn’t fight them off magically or physically. But a lot of people still tried to push at me when I bit them. Giving just enough indication of how much they hated what I was doing to them to let me know. Of course I’d been pulled closer before too but that was usually by Fae who consented to my bite or desired me for other reasons.

  This felt different...almost like he was enjoying it in its own right.

  My magic stores filled to the brim and a deep well of power thrummed within my chest.

  I drew back, retracting my fangs and releasing my grip on his chin, stubble grazing my palm as I pulled away.

  My heart beat a little faster as I found his dark eyes pinned on mine.

  Dante turned towards me before I could pull all the way back, pressing a kiss to my cheek, so close to my lips that it brushed the corner of my mouth, leaving a line of electricity on my skin.

  “Calm down, carina, save it for our bedroom,” he said, loud enough for half the class to hear him.

  “Okay, settle down,” Professor Titan called, seeming amused as my cheeks flushed red.

  I decided to ignore Dante’s comment, reaching out to heal away the wound I’d given him. Before I could brush my fingers against his skin, he caught my hand.

  “Leave it,” he said, loudly again. “Let the whole school see that when the King of the Lunar Brotherhood uses his seduction techniques on a woman, she instantly leaps on me instead. Let everyone see where you’d rather get your satisfaction. From a real man.”

  My lips parted to protest what he’d just said. I was about to announce to everyone that I’d simply overpowered him instead of it being the lust-filled experience he’d imagined up, but the dark flash of warning in his gaze made me pause.

  Dante knew what had happened. He was also one of the most powerful Fae in this academy. More powerful than me. I’d caught him off guard in a moment that was unlikely to repeat itself and he was willing to give me this chance. Instead of punishing me with his magic to prove to everyone that he was the more powerful Fae of the two of us, he was giving me a free pass. All I had to do was let him twist what had happened against his enemy and use it to ridicule him.

  I leaned away from him slowly, breaking the last inches of contact between us as I carefully swept a finger across my bottom lip, gathering a final bead of his blood onto it.

  I sucked it from my fingertip and Dante watched me with enough desire in his gaze to make my heart beat faster all over again.

  Perhaps this was a way for me to win an inch of his trust. Maybe then I could get close enough to find out something about what had happened to my brother. It was worth a shot. I just hoped Ryder wouldn’t take my cooperation as a declaration of loyalty to the Oscura Clan.

  One look at the Basilisk Shifter told me all I needed to know about that hope though.

  He’d turned towards me again but instead of the heat that had sparked in his eyes when he’d used his hypnotic powers to toy with me, I found a cold, hard wall.

  His jaw was tight and the other fist was resting on the desk now, the word across his knuckles seeming like a threat and a promise all in one. Pain.

  Well shit.

  “I want everyone’s eyes on page eight-thirteen of the textbooks. You should all remember this potion from the end of last term. I’m going to be reassigning lab partners and you will be working with this person for the rest of the term so please try to be friendly,” Professor Titan called over the chatter and the students slowly settled down as they began hunting through their textbooks.

  “I’m not going to be working with any Oscura trash,” a deep voice said darkly. He hadn’t shouted it out but somehow every word was heard clearly despite the size of the classroom.

  I glanced up from flicking through my textbook to see Ryder looking at Professor Titan in a way that was at once totally laid back and yet somehow entirely threatening too. His arm was resting over the back of the empty seat beside him and he leaned right back in his chair with his legs spread wide like he didn’t have a care in the world. And yet despite that, he still seemed to give off the impression of a cobra poised to strike.

  “No Oscura would even work near you, scum, let alone with you,” Dante tossed back even though Ryder wasn’t looking at him. He threw an arm around my shoulders and I frowned at him slightly as I shrugged him off again.

  “No need to worry, I’m well aware of the gang divides within the school,” the Professor replied wearily. “There will be no Oscura-Lunar pairings.” He went on to start calling out names and rearranging the class as I cast my gaze over the potion we were going to be working on.

  Breath of Slumber

  The ingredients seemed simple enough, though there were about twice as many as there had been in anything I’d ever attempted to brew before. I was a quick study though, so with a bit of luck and a half decent lab partner I was fairly confident in my ability to at least put in a valiant effort.

  Dante was singing a song in his native language under his breath, tapping his fingers against our desk so that little sparks emitted from his fingertips. It didn’t sound like a lullaby though, more like a death threat.

  I straightened my spine instead of leaning away from him like I was tempted to. The taste of his blood and power still lingered on my tongue and each tap of his electrified fingers on the desk sent a resounding thrill of energy through the magic coiling inside me now. I’d never tasted blood so potent that it retained a flavour of its original owner once I’d consumed it, but that was what this felt like. As if a little of Dante’s electric energy was living beneath my flesh now.

  Dante reached into his bag, taking out polished gold equipment and laying it on the desk - from a pestle and mortar to a freaking golden ladle. The last item he placed down was a gleaming chalice engraved with the snarling wolf symbol of the Oscura Clan. He opened a bottle of water, pouring it into the fancy ass cup before sipping from it like royalty.

  “Seriously?” I gave him a look of complete disbelief and he smirked.

  “I don’t drink from anything but this, carina. It’s enchanted with the strongest anti-poison spells in Solaria so even if some fucking Lunar scum slipped something in my drink, I’d be fine.” He shot a look over at Ryder which told me that was a genuine concern.

  A shadow fell across my desk and I looked up at the tall girl standing over me. Her long black hair was braided over one shoulder and her full lips were pursed like I was doing something to irritate her. “Professor Titan says I’m with Dante this term,” she explained in a lilting southern accent, casting a hopeful eye at the Dragon Shifter beside me.

  I made a move to gather my things but Dante’s hand came down on my arm, halting me. “No,” he said simply, like it was up to him. “Go find someone else, Cindy Lou. Elise is staying right here.”

  The way he said my name was downright sexual and I looked up at him as he smirked knowingly. I rolled my eyes and started gathering my things but his hand came down hard on top of my books to stop me.<
br />
  “Move your ass, sugar,” Cindy Lou said impatiently and I looked back up at her with an apologetic shrug.

  “I’m trying but there’s a Dragon paw all over my things.”

  Dante chuckled darkly and drew closer to me. “Not yet there isn’t, bella.”

  Cindy Lou sucked in a breath and scowled at me like I was stepping on her toes. But if she wanted Dante it didn’t seem like the feeling was reciprocated to me.

  I remained silent, unsure what to say. Professor Titan beckoned me to join him at the front of the class again.

  “I think I’m supposed to-”

  “No,” Dante repeated simply, his hot hand curling around my wrist possessively.

  Cindy’s eyes whipped between us, halting on me and narrowing to slits.

  “Now, Miss Callisto, unless you want to get detention on your first day. Lab Partner assignments are not up for negotiation, Mr Oscura.” Professor Titan’s face was set in a steely mask which held nothing but impatience.

  “Catch you later, roomie,” I said sweetly, tugging my arm out of Dante’s grip.

  Cindy picked up a notepad I’d accidentally left on the table and held it out to me. “Oh here, sugar. You forgot this.”

  My brows raised and I reached for it seconds before Cindy stumbled forward and it burst into flames. ”Oh my! How clumsy of me.”

  I moved to snatch the oxygen from the flames with a gasp, but she threw it to the floor, stamping her foot on it several times to put out the fire. I scowled down at the charred pad, bending down to pick it up.

  Cindy bent down too and her eyes flashed with a wicked light. She caught my wrist, her nails digging in as she whispered in a voice so low only my Vampire hearing could pick it up. “Keep your ugly purple head away from Dante, sweetie. He’s mine.”

  I yanked my hand free with a snarl, rising to my feet with the blackened pad in my grip.

  Cindy settled into her seat beside Dante with a sugary smile and I scowled. I dumped the ashy pad on the desk in front of her and she jumped, looking to me in alarm.

  “I’m sure you won’t mind putting this in the trash for me. Or in your mouth. Same difference really.”