Dark Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  “Double our eyes on Inferno,” I grunted. “He’ll want blood for blood.”

  Bryce nodded, sweeping a hand through his dark locks.

  I wiped my face with the back of my hand, smearing the word pain in red. I couldn’t walk onto Oscura Turf without taking on fifty rabid Werewolves so I hoped new girl wasn’t there.

  Devil’s Hill rose up at the far end of no man’s land, thronging with unallied students. And there she was, sitting next to the hot Sphinx who bunked with Inferno and Gabriel Nox. Nox was as absent as the fucking moon right now. I swear he lived in actual shadows that fucker. But if you ever pissed him off, you’d know it like a murderous clown stepping into your living room.

  I nodded to Bryce in dismissal and walked toward her.

  “New girl.” I pointed at her as I strode up the hill, causing students to scatter from the bloody, shirtless monster who roamed between them.

  She was halfway through a cheese sandwich, mid-bite, pausing to look up at me with a slightly pissed off expression. Didn’t look like interrupting her lunch was a good move. But I didn’t do courtesy. Pain and lust. That was it.

  “I wanna talk to you,” I commanded, curling a finger to beckon her to stand.

  The girl beside her threw Elise a fearful look, but new girl got up, finishing her sandwich as she walked toward me. “I don’t like being beckoned,” she said flatly, brows raised.

  “What do you like? I’ll give it to you right now,” I purred, causing her friend to splutter into a coughing fit.

  She thought on that for a moment, drawing a crumb from the corner of her lip and sucking it off her finger. My dick felt it all.

  “Orange soda,” she announced. “Can’t seem to find that bliss anywhere in this place.”

  “Done.” I offered her my hand and she eyed it with as much distaste as if I’d just whipped out my junk. “Take it.”

  “No thanks. You do know you look like you just stepped out of a horror movie, right?”

  I glanced down at my bloodied flesh then shrugged, turning away from her. “If you want soda, come the fuck on.”

  I marched back down the hill through no man’s land and into the nest of cliques that filled Acrux Courtyard. I felt new girl’s presence, the heat of her skin prickling against my back. I was cold blooded through and through. And that wasn’t some fucking metaphor. Basilisk blood ran ice-cold. The only way to warm it up was by laying in the sun or rubbing hot flesh against my own. The latter was something I was gonna achieve with new girl once I jumped through the hoops she laid out for me.

  Orange soda was easy. It was step one. Step two was mind-fucking her into oblivion to figure out her hard limits. I didn’t have hard limits. Unless you counted cuddling, spooning and heaven fucking forbid canoodling. Frankly, anything that ended with an ing that didn’t start with fuck was a solid no from me. I didn’t kiss, I tongue-fucked. I didn’t caress, I clawed. I didn’t go down on girls, I feasted on them.

  I led her over to the Kipling brothers, the three of them in varying years at the academy. All of them were Griffins and were clever as shit. They weren’t very powerful magically so they’d made themselves invaluable to every student in the school instead. If you needed something you couldn’t get yourself, illegal or otherwise, they could get it for you. Mostly, they set themselves up as a snack store to keep the professors from looking too closely when money was exchanged. But I reckoned the Kiplings could get a fucking elephant into the school and no one would be any the wiser.

  “Orange soda,” I demanded as we arrived under the small marquee they called the Kipling Emporium, holding out my hand. I didn’t pay for anything with money, what I gave them was protection. Pretty sure the Oscuras gave it to them too. So essentially, the Kiplings got a free ride in this school. No one messed with them. Ever.

  The skinniest one, Kipling Junior, turned to the well of ice his brother had created with his water magic right on the flagstones. He fished out an orange can and handed it over. I passed it straight to Elise and her hand closed around it before I let go. Our fingers skimmed and she shuddered as my frozen skin met her warmth.

  “What do you say?” I growled, my eyes falling to the rise and fall of her breasts as she inhaled. Yeah we were definitely gonna fuck. I didn’t give orange soda to just anybody. And she knew it.

  She took the can, pulling the ring. Click-hiss. She brought it to her lips and took a long swig, her throat bobbing as she swallowed and making me hard as rock. She kept drinking, chugging the whole can before crushing it in her palm and releasing a breath of satisfaction.

  “Thank you.” She tossed the can at my feet and walked away. And that, ladies and gentleman, was going to cost her big time.

  Eighteen Months before the Solarid Meteor Shower...

  Everything changed at Aurora Academy the day term started and a new batch of freshmen arrived. The school was ripped apart into two factions more clearly than ever before.

  Ryder Draconis was the infamous son of the Lunar Brotherhood founder and his mortal rival Dante Oscura was the Dragon born of Werewolves – also a direct descendant of the founding family of the Oscura Clan. To put it simply, they were at war. And they were determined to drag the entire school onto the battleground with them.

  They’d only been attending the school for a few weeks and the atmosphere in Aurora was already more dangerous than it had ever been before. No one wanted to piss off the gangs, but they constantly pressured everyone to pick a side. Barely a day went by without fights breaking out in the halls and the teachers dealt with it by turning a blind eye or bowing to their whims.

  The dormitory tower was now firmly divided, the top half belonging to Oscura Clan and the bottom to the Lunar Brotherhood. With my room on the ground floor, I was solidly in Lunar territory. Going for a piss in the communal bathroom at the end of the hall had become a genuine fucking threat to my day.

  The other three Fae in my dorm had already signed up to the Brotherhood, but I wasn’t budging. I didn’t want to be part of any gang. And no one would tell me otherwise.

  I headed to the bathroom just before midnight, shirtless with a toothbrush and toothpaste clamped in my hand. I didn’t leave my stuff lying about anywhere. And I certainly wouldn’t be leaving something as precious as my toothbrush about for someone to screw with - I’d learned that lesson the hard way in freshman year.

  I pushed through the door and almost stopped in my tracks as I spotted Ryder standing before the mirror, his jaw slathered in shaving foam as he scraped a fucking knife down his face like a savage.

  “There’s a spell for that you know,” I said before I could stop myself.

  The muscles of his bare torso flexed and I tried not to lose my nerve. I’d spent my summers working at Old Sal’s bar and I knew how to charm my way around the meanest of bastards.

  “Did I ask for a fucking fact of the day?” he spat, his cold green eyes scraping down me like he was considering shoving that knife somewhere into my body.

  Abort mission.

  I mock saluted him in the way my sister and I always did to each other, heading to a sink a few down from him and squirted toothpaste onto the brush, stuffing it in my mouth. Ryder finished his shave, rinsing the knife in the sink and wiping his face on a towel. He tucked the blade into his pocket then just stood there, glaring at me in the mirror. I didn’t want to be afraid, but I’d heard the rumours about Ryder Draconis. Backing down wasn’t in my nature though. I was Fae.

  Pressure was mounting in my chest as that asshole just kept staring at me until I washed out my mouth.

  “You chosen yet?” he demanded like that was a perfectly normal question. I knew what he meant though. It was what every unallied student was asked daily.

  I gave him my best smile which probably could have made the devil soften to me. But apparently this guy’s heart was harder than his.

  “I don’t do gangs, freshman,” I said, reminding him I had a solid year of magical training on him. “So I’d appreciate it if yo
u and your little friends stop asking me that.”

  I moved to head past him and he lurched forward, throwing his shoulder into mine so hard I stumbled back.

  My heart juddered as his eyes flashed, turning to snake-like slits. I knew his Order, but I hadn’t witnessed it yet. Something told me I didn’t want to either.

  I lifted my chin, refusing to bow to the challenge in his eyes.

  Ryder cracked his neck, curling his right hand into a fist and I noticed the word pain tattooed across his knuckles. Was he for real?

  “I’m going to bed.” I moved to step around him and he blocked my path, ramming his whole chest against mine. His fist came at me so fast, I almost didn’t have time to throw up a shield of air. But I managed it a second before his fist collided with it. He slammed his knuckles into it again and again until they split open on my magic. I watched in shock as he sucked the blood from them then spat it on the floor at my feet.

  “You wanna see what this freshman can do then, you asshole?” he growled and I stepped back on instinct.

  Shit, this guy is crazy.

  “I’d rather not.” I drew more air around me, ready to knock him on his ass if he tried to attack me again. I had to show a strong front but I could feel it starting to crack.

  He grinned in a way that was anything but friendly then marched out the door, leaving it swinging as he went.

  I ran a hand down the back of my neck, my heart pounding a rapid tune. I glanced in the mirror, locking eyes with myself and falling into a mental pep talk.

  Forget the scary-ass snake. You’ve gotta focus on the real issue here. There’s only one week left until your first payment is due and you have fuck all to show for it.

  The two gangs entering the school had thrown a serious spanner into the works for me. The unallied students were being terrorised, threatened and bullied on a daily basis. I had to watch my own back too so I was pushed for time trying to come up with ways to raise the money I needed. But I couldn’t waste another day.

  I swallowed thickly, heading out of the bathroom as several more of the Brotherhood came in, glaring at me as I headed past them.

  I hurried down the corridor, frowning as I spotted my roommates standing out in the hall.

  “I’m not going back in there,” Rowanda said, folding her arms with an anxious expression on her face.

  “Yeah fuck that, man. He can have it.” Carl headed past me, giving me a look that said turn back now before jogging away.

  Harvey looked my way, seeming relieved as I approached. He was my closest friend in this place, a fellow Pegasus and Pitball player. He scraped a hand through his unruly copper locks as he approached. “Bro, you will not believe who’s in our fucking room.”

  My heart sank like a stone. “Ryder Draconis?” I guessed.

  Harvey nodded, his eyes widening. “Did you know he was gonna do this?”

  “Do what?” I frowned.

  Rowanda pushed the door open with her toe, gesturing for me to go in.

  I frowned at their fearful expressions, pressing my shoulders back as I headed through the door. I nearly shifted in alarm as I found the cause of the fucking disturbance. Ryder was in his enormous Basilisk form, thirty feet of snake as thick as a car coiled around our entire dorm. His scales were inky black as they spread across all four bunks. His head lay on my pillow and he lifted it, his tongue flicking out as he bared row upon row of fangs wet with venom.

  “By the sun.” It took everything I had not to run for my damn life, but I refused to give in to that urge. Refused to cower. “What do you want?” I growled, my skin shimmering as my Order form threatened to come out. He might have been a mean prick but snakes couldn’t fly and they couldn’t kick either. My main threat was those powerful jaws which looked almost big enough to swallow me whole. Order form or not.

  Ryder hissed at me and a deep rattle sounded from within his body. His eyes were two green slits that were void of warmth. A threat. But what the hell for? If he wanted a fight, he would have started it by now. Please don’t freaking start one.

  A ripple ran across his body then he shifted back into his Fae form, laying butt naked on the bottom bunk to my left. My bunk.

  “Get your ass off my bedsheets,” I demanded, moving forward just as Ryder hooked up my journal and my gut dropped. He’d found my shit. I kept that journal under my mattress and behind a concealment spell and he’d fucking found it in less than the time it took for me to get back from the bathroom.

  “Who’s Ella?” Ryder asked, a twisted smile on his lips. I didn’t write much in that journal. It was mostly for sketches and a few notes but pressed between the pages had been a card Elise had given me before I’d come to the academy.

  I clenched my jaw, refusing to answer and Ryder read out what she’d written to me. “Be the man you always wanted to be, Gare Bear. Love always, Ella.”

  “Give that back,” I growled, fury pulsing through my veins.

  “She sounds hot,” Ryder mused, ignoring me as he twisted the card between his fingers all too close to his dick for my liking. “Does she like it on the top or the bottom? I don’t let them on top, I live up to my name.”

  I lost my patience, his meaty fingers wrapped around that card making me feel like his hands were on my sister. That was my line. And he’d well and truly crossed it.

  “Give me it.” I stole the air from his lungs and Ryder choked, his jaw locking as I held his life in my grasp.

  He glared at me with a dare in his eyes, the seconds ticking by. Tick tick tick.

  My pulse started to race and I frowned as he continued to glare, turning goddamn blue. “Shit,” I hissed, dropping the cast before I killed the idiot.

  He sucked in a breath which turned to a heady laugh like he’d seriously enjoyed that shit and I took a wary step back.

  “Here’s how things are about to go.” Ryder dropped out of my bunk, taking a pair of my folded sweatpants from the shelf beside the bed and pulling them on like he owned them. “You’re gonna take your card and whatever else you can before I count to ten. Then you’re gonna get the fuck out of my new room before I shift again and give you a bite you won’t recover from for a full week.”

  My heart juddered. I did not wanna give up my room. But I also didn’t have a week to sacrifice in the ward. I had a responsibility to my family and okay maybe I was five percent scared of what this guy could do to me if I pushed him.

  “One…two…”

  I stalked forward with fury in my chest, snatching the card from his outstretched hand before scooping up my journal. He continued counting down and I ground my teeth as I stuffed my things into a bag, slinging it over my shoulder and heading for the door.

  He reached zero as I made it there, then called out to me, “I like your attitude, journal guy. You’d thrive in the Brotherhood.”

  I raised my middle finger in answer, heading out the door and slamming it behind me.

  Screw him and his Brotherhood. I was never gonna cave to that bullshit. But I got the feeling that avoiding his gang wasn’t going to be possible any longer. Ryder had forced me out on my ass and he wasn’t even a trained Fae. He knew how to manipulate the people around him so the next time he came for me, I had to be ready.

  A week at Aurora Academy had me learning a lot of interesting things about my classmates and murder suspects. Namely about their routines. For example, it quickly became apparent that Leon and his two roommates always headed outside when the sun was shining. Considering the fact that the dorm allocations were supposed to be random, it seemed fairly suspicious to me that his two female dorm mates were both of the Nemean Lion Order too. I guessed there were some perks to being the resident rich boy.

  Since my brother had died, his bunk in Leon’s room had gone unused so that meant there were only three of them sleeping in there and the girls were in Leon’s pride. I wasn’t sure if he was actually screwing them or if he just used them as weird kinda slaves. I often saw them - and lots of other girls besides - carry
ing his shit for him or bringing him meals from the cafaeteria. Mostly he just seemed to sit about on his ass and let them wait on him hand and foot. Unless he was at the gym or in Pitball practice of course.

  I’d stuck my head into the school gymnasium once, eyeing the racks of weights and smelling the man stench with distaste. There seemed to be some kind of gang schedule which allowed Oscura and Lunar access to it at different times, but there was no handy pamphlet to say when. I didn’t want to risk heading in there during a gang allocation and accidentally making it seem like I was interested in joining, so I’d avoided the place since.

  So far, I’d been keeping both Dante and Ryder at something of a distance while observing their tics and habits as I tried to figure out the best ways to crack them. The problem with them was that getting close to one would infuriate the other. And it hadn’t slipped my attention that the two of them had been entering into a weird tug of war type competition over me since my arrival. I guessed they saw any fresh arrival as a potential member to their gangs but there was no way in hell I’d be joining either.

  I released an irritated breath as I banished them from my mind and focused on the task at hand instead.

  The weather forecast had said sunny intervals and my horoscope had informed me that dedication would pay off for me today too so it seemed like fate would be on my side.

  Gareth had always had a paranoid streak ever since he’d caught one of Mom’s boyfriends stealing his stash of chilli chips one night and he’d gotten pretty damn good at hiding things. In my heart, I just knew that he wouldn’t have wanted to leave stuff out in a communal space in his dorm which meant that I would almost certainly find whatever he’d valued hidden away somewhere in that room.

  I hung out in the corridor, perched in a windowsill as I jotted away at my Cardinal Magic essay so that it wouldn’t seem strange that I was here. Students often hung out in weird places like this due to the lack of privacy offered by rooming with four people, so I wasn’t drawing much attention in my perch.