Dante started shuffling the cards again, seeming amused by my response. His gaze slid over my shoulder to the table I’d been sitting at before I’d approached him. I could feel Harvey and Cindy Lou looking this way but I didn’t turn to look at them.
“I didn’t catch your name,” Dante said.
“Gareth Tempa,” I supplied.
“Is that your girl...Gareth?” he asked slowly.
I turned and followed his gaze to Cindy Lou who started blushing as she realised we were looking her way.
“No. Well, I mean...we’re kinda starting something,” I said, unsure what he wanted me to say. “She could be,” I finished lamely.
Dante’s gaze lingered on her longer than I would have liked and he thumbed another card from the deck, offering it to me again. As I took it, he finally looked back at me and I had to hope that his interest in Cindy Lou would end there.
The Fool looked up at me this time, wearing a flowery dress as he stood beneath the sun at the edge of a cliff.
Dante snorted a laugh despite the fact that we both knew The Fool wasn’t a card meant to ridicule anyone.
He snapped his fingers for Tabitha again and she pushed a hand through her frizzy, crimson hair as she explained its meaning for us.
“New beginnings and experiences. Taking a leap of faith,” she said, her eyes wandering over me with more interest now.
“There you have it then. I’ll be in touch with your first assignment, Gary.” Dante pushed himself to his feet and the wolf pack stood too, following him as he strode from the room.
“It’s Gareth,” I called, refusing to let that stand and Dante’s dark chuckle called back to me as the wolves circled close to him again.
I watched as they walked away with a smile playing around my lips. I’d just managed to land myself work from the Oscura Clan without having to declare myself one of them. It looked like Old Sal’s second payment would be ready too.
If I could just figure out what the hell Gabriel Nox was up to too then maybe I’d even be able to put some money aside for our new start as well. Things were starting to come together. I was going to get my family the life they deserved if it was the last thing I did.
I woke like glass breaking in reverse. The shards jagged and slicing, drawing back together piece by piece. But they never fit together the same way. Crumbled dust lay between them like diamonds; the parts of me which were lost forever.
The nightmares still lingered and my mouth was desperately parched as I drew in a ragged breath.
“Can you be brave for me today, Ryder?”
“Always, Father.”
“You will have to be braver than you have ever been this time.”
I forced the memory away through sheer will, dragging myself out of bed and falling to the floor to complete my morning routine. Push ups till the pain burned me from the inside out. Sits up until my gut was so tight it felt like I was about to bust an organ. Pull-ups until my arms were numb and pain was nothing but an old friend I missed the caress of.
I stood, naked, dripping with sweat, the memories long gone. Pain devoured them. It was the one thing she had taught me which had ever been worthwhile. Pain was my ally. It gave me freedom from the cage of my mind. But most of all, it gave me power.
I didn’t have to be stronger than anyone in Solaria, I just had to outlast them in a fight. And that was something no one could beat me at. It was what made me the most frightening motherfucker in this place. Because you can’t break a man who has no breaking point.
My Atlas buzzed again and again, demanding I read my horoscope. I growled under my breath, snatching it from my bed and tapping the screen. I only read the damn things to try and decipher whether Dante was plotting against me. But the stars were never too clear so they often set me on edge for no reason.
Good morning Capricorn.
The stars have spoken about your day!
Even the strongest walls have cracks and you may find today it is a good day to embrace those weaknesses. A Libra may slip under your defences with or without your permission so it is the perfect time to open your heart and show your romantic side. With Venus moving into your chart, you may find your body tingling around the object of your affections.
Beware of giving in to the stubborn urges of Uranus and sabotaging yourself today.
I shook my head in dismissal, tossing the Atlas back onto my bed. My body does not fucking tingle.
I headed to the bathroom at the end of the hall and everyone in there ran out like rats down a drain. Didn’t matter if they were mid-shit. If I was in there, they weren’t.
I showered in one of the private units then returned to my room without a towel, giving zero fucks if anyone saw me.
Back in my room, I tugged on my uniform and stuffed my Atlas in my pocket before heading out the door.
As I strode through the halls of the academy, students shrank from me as if the air I exhaled was poisonous. I didn’t have friends in this place. I had recruits. Soldiers who bled for me on command. Friendship was weakness. People were commodities to serve my purposes. They either fought for me, facilitated me or fucked me. And if they did none of those things, they tended to be my enemies. Elise was the first Fae to hold out this long to pick which one of the three Fs she wanted to make camp in. But my patience was wearing thin.
I pushed through the mahogany door into the cafaeteria, scouring the room as I always did, taking a moment to check no Oscura scum were in sight during Lunar hours. They were gone by eight, we arrived at five past.
My gaze snagged on the colour lilac and raked down Elise’s back. She sat beside her Sphinx friend and I triple checked there was no sign of Inferno. Satisfied, I moved to an empty table at the back of the hall. The Brotherhood sat in their ranks to remind them where they stood within the gang, so as their leader, I ate alone.
The second my ass hit the seat, two freshmen appeared, planting down a mug of black coffee and a giant bowl of scrambled eggs with a spoon tucked into it.
They scampered away and Bryce appeared before I started my meal. I sipped my too-hot coffee, the mellow, bitter taste rolling over my tongue and making my mouth burn. I sighed as pain mixed with caffeine and I gestured for Bryce to sit.
He dropped down beside me to give me his daily report. “Word is Inferno’s got new eyes and ears working for him.”
“Unallied?” I confirmed.
“Not anymore.” He pushed a list of names across the table to me and I memorised them.
“Get a full report on them. Star signs, Elements, Orders. I wanna know what they’re capable of.”
“Will do, boss.” Bryce snapped his fingers at one of the freshmen who’d brought my breakfast. “Hey, I have a job for you.”
My hand came down on Bryce’s shoulder and he flinched, turning to me with his fangs popping out.
“I didn’t say him. I said you, Corvus. Do your fucking job or step aside and I’ll find a new second.”
His eyes trailed over me and I glared at him, readying a hypnosis to drive the point home when he didn’t automatically bow his head to me. Before I sent him a vision of me ripping his limbs off, he dipped his head. But the challenge had fucking been there. I wasn’t blind.
“Sorry, boss. I’ll get on it now.”
A deep rattle rolled from me as he hurried away and I made a mental note to keep a closer eye on him. No one hesitated like that with me and I decided to break a few of his bones later today to remind him of his place.
I picked up the spoon to eat my eggs just as a slender shadow fell over my table. I lifted my gaze to find Elise standing there with her head tilted to one side as she eyed my breakfast. “That is the saddest breakfast I’ve ever seen.”
“Well it ain’t crying, new girl.” I stuffed a spoonful of eggs into my mouth. Protein for muscle. Muscle which made me strong. And with strength I could destroy the Oscuras. Every action I took in life brought me closer to that goal. Eating included.
She released a breath of laughter like I was amus
ing the fuck out of her then dropped into the seat opposite me. The Sphinx was staring over at her like she’d just pulled up a chair with a hungry shark.
For one long second, I took in her bright green eyes, the way she pressed her tongue against her fangs, her index finger painting a circle on the table then I dropped my gaze to my food and ate savagely, eating my meal like I wanted to eat her.
“What do you want?” I asked when it was clear she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Just to hang out.” She shrugged and my eyes narrowed to slits.
“I don’t hang out, and Fae certainly don’t want to fucking hang out with me either.”
“I’m not like other Fae, I think you know that Ryder,” she said airily and I swear my dick hit the table from the sound of my name on her lips.
“I do fucking know it,” I growled, placing my spoon down. “Have you come over here to tell me you’re mine now?” I concealed the hope in my voice but her eyes told me she knew how much I wanted that. And shit, I wanted it so bad. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d wanted anything beyond the Oscura Clan dead at my feet.
“No,” she said simply and anger rocked my chest. “Are you his?” I’d seen that scumbag Inferno carry her off the battlefield. Playing the fucking hero, stealing my girl. It was all bullshit. It was his fucking Clan who’d cast the rogue fireball. He was responsible.
“No,” she said just as simply and a knot of barbed wire unravelled in my gut.
“So you just want to…hang out,” I stated and she nodded brightly. I lifted my spoon to continue eating and she shot around the table with her Vampire speed, snatching it from my hand.
“Wait here,” she commanded then shot away again before I could ask what the fuck she was doing and why I now had no fucking utensils.
I stared down at my eggs, trying to work her out but I came up short. She sped back to the table, sitting up on it beside me, her long leg brushing against my arm. She placed down a bottle of ketchup, salt and pepper, toying with my spoon in her other hand.
I gazed up at her, pressing my tongue piercing between my teeth. “What are you playing at?”
She answered by snatching up the ketchup and squeezing a dollop onto my eggs followed by a sprinkle of salt and pepper. She used my spoon to mix it all then dangled it before my eyes. “Tuck in.”
“Why would you add that shit?” I frowned, quietly enjoying the attention she was showering on me. I could feel the looks we were getting from all around the room, hear the disbelief in the voices who spoke about us. About her. My little she-devil. But fuck if I cared.
“By the stars, Ryder,” she sighed dramatically. “Just try it.” She scooped up a spoonful and lifted it to my lips.
I stared at her like she’d gone mad and a dare entered her eyes.
Was I going to let this girl feed me like a fucking baby in a high chair? I hesitated on that thought, pursing my lips.
“Hurry up, Ryder, or I start making aeroplane noises,” Elise teased and a single breath of laughter escaped me.
This went against everything I was. Every. Fucking. Thing. Down to my pissing DNA. But for some reason known only to the stars themselves, I opened my damn mouth.
She slipped the spoon in with a bark of laughter and fuck if that didn’t taste like the best thing ever. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten food for pleasure. Definitely not since Father died.
Muttering broke out around the cafaeteria and I shot my people a look to make sure they weren’t fucking laughing. Anyone who so much as twitched a smile was gonna get two broken legs for it.
I snatched the spoon from her as the muttering grew louder from the unallied students. I was fairly sure someone had fallen off their chair when she’d fed me. That was confirmed as Eugene Dipper scrambled to his feet, apologising profusely to everyone around him. Dickwit.
“Food is fuel,” I spouted my own bullshit at her, not able to admit how much I actually enjoyed the change. I continued to eat and she watched me with a satisfied smile.
I devoured every last mind-blowing bite then she leaned in and wiped ketchup from the corner of my mouth. She sucked it off her finger and I grunted in desire, my frozen blood heating up a few degrees. Something happened in my gut. It was like an instinctive sort of prickle only…better. I frowned, wondering if I was getting sick. Better up my vitamins.
“Do you wanna skip Potions Class? I’ll treat you.” I snagged her gaze, throwing a vision at her with her legs wrapped around my neck on this very table, my tongue dragging up the middle of her while she screamed with delight. I could almost taste her, but it was all of my conjuring. I had no idea what she’d really taste like but I reckoned it was even better than my upgraded breakfast.
She blinked hard, throwing off the hypnosis and I smirked at her flushed cheeks and the way she shifted on the table.
“You’re so fucking wet for me, Elise. Just give it up and I promise I won’t bruise you too hard.” I grinned widely.
She clucked her tongue. “You’re all talk, snake boy.” She hopped to the floor, shaking her head at me as she walked away.
Anger pulsed in my veins, all of it aimed at myself.
Well done, asshole. You’ve really got a way with fucking words.
When it came to sex, I couldn’t experience pleasure without pain. On some level, I knew that was fucked up. And on another, it maybe bothered me. It wasn’t like I’d chosen to be this way. And much as everyone just assumed my Order form made me like this, I knew otherwise.
Being a Basilisk didn’t actually mean I had to hurt anyone, including myself. I could feed on emotional pain as easily as I could physical. And in doing so, I could take that pain away from Fae. Just like I had with Elise.
If my Order was less rare, maybe they’d know that. But I was the standard by which they judged my kind. So I let them think we were all this way, let them blame my psychotic nature on the snake that resided beneath my skin. But I knew the truth; I was fundamentally broken and a lot of my pieces were completely missing. I had the feeling Elise was starting to figure it out too. Which was the first thing that had scared me in half a fucking decade.
By the time I finished my meal, Elise was heading out the door with her friend and I stood, leaving my shit for other people to clean up as I marched after her.
When I arrived at Potions Class, she was already in the seat next to mine and I relaxed as I knew I had her for the next hour. And I was determined to face out this fear in me. If she wanted me to drop the bullshit, maybe I could for her. I’d seriously fucking try anyway. The three Fs were becoming four. Because I needed Elise to feel for me.
I dropped into my seat, slinging my arm around the back of hers and leaning in close as the rest of the class continued to chat. Professor Titan wasn’t here yet so I had a few minutes to get her agree to something I had never, ever offered anyone. A date.
She turned into my body, a smile playing around her mouth that could either mean she was bordering on pissed off, or she was genuinely enjoying herself.
Dante stepped into the room, his shoulders pushed back as he headed to his chair, throwing us a not-so-subtle glare. Ice drove through my veins like a glacier had taken the place of my heart. So maybe Elise Castillo didn’t have to be mine, she just had to not be his. Fucking Inferno’s.
“Do you like dinner?” I blurted and she frowned as if she was trying to work me out.
“Who doesn’t like dinner?”
Right yeah. Fuckwit.
I drew my arm tighter around her so she was pulled into body, breathing in the elderflower scent of her hair. The scent of cherries was suspiciously missing. “What do you like to eat?”
She laughed, pressing a hand to my chest to stop me from reeling her any closer but her touch set off a fucking volcano in my chest – which was saying something for a coldblooded reptile like me. “Are you screwing with me?”
“Take out the with and we’re getting nearer to where I wanna be,” I taunted.
She rolled
her eyes. “Is there a point to this conversation? Because it feels like we’re circling one.”
“Yeah…” I shifted. “Maybe tonight you’d wanna-”
Dante whistled and we both glanced his way, a growl rumbling from my throat.
“Elise, now or never.” He tilted his head, exposing his neck and she sucked in a breath. She was out of her seat in a heartbeat, pushing my arm aside and shooting into Dante’s arms like a fucking lap dog as her ass met his knee. Her fangs dug into his throat and he slid his hand up the back of her shirt. She moaned loud enough for the whole class to hear and something in me snapped.
Fucking – what?! She was Dante’s? Did she lie to my damn face?
She’d chosen. She’d fucking chosen. And she hadn’t picked me.
She released another moan and I lost my fucking head. I stood, upturning the entire desk as my Order form slithered beneath my skin. My jaw ached for Dante’s throat and I was determined to have it. Fuck the consequences. Fuck it all.
I tugged my blazer off and every student in the class lurched backwards as they realised I was gonna shift.
Elise extracted her fangs while Dante continued to smile like he’d won the fucking lottery. And he had. My lottery. She was mine to win. No one else’s. Least of all that Oscura vermin.
Elise was suddenly right up in my face, his blood on her lips. His fucking pain.
I reared away from her, ready to lose my mind, but she wrapped her hand around mine, her eyes begging.
“He’s just my Source,” she said hurriedly and Dante barked a laugh like that was far from fucking true.
I locked eyes with him and drilled a vision into his head he’d never forget. He lay in ten pieces on the ground while I pounded every one of them with a hammer.
Elise tiptoed to get in my way and block the vision. My gaze slammed into hers instead and I snared her in hypnosis. My hand locked around her throat, her feet lifting off the ground as I held her against the wall. “If you’re with them, you’re my enemy. And if you’re my enemy, you’re fucking dead.”
She clawed at my arm and I released her from the vision, finding her face pale as she stared at me. “He’s my Source!” she shouted again and her palm crashed into my cheek. Pain stung keenly, locking me back in the present and finally making me hear what she’d said.
Dark Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 1) Page 26