Cindy Lou was putting on a show with a couple of her friends, the three of them half dressed and grinding up against each other and earning the attention of a fair few of the wolves but they didn’t interest me.
I leaned back against the huge mound of cushions behind me, sipping on my fourth beer of the night which I’d poured into my golden chalice.
Where is she? Vieni da me, carina.
I took out my Atlas, tapping the screen in hopes of finding a message there then clenched my jaw. I wasn’t the type of guy who pined for a girl; I was the type who had girls pining for him. And there were a lot in that category throwing me hopeful glances between the writhing bodies.
I clicked on my horoscope having only skimmed over it this morning.
Good morning Gemini.
The stars have spoken about your day!
Today you’ll find yourself at a fork in the path of your fate. Choosing well could lead you to your heart’s desire. Though it may feel like foreign territory, stepping into the unknown might give you a taste of something exciting to come. Be wary of your choices though, Venus is playing a dangerous game with your heart and it is unclear yet as to whether she wants it broken or whole in the end.
I contemplated that in my half drunk state. I liked the sound of the heart’s desire part…
The moon was bright tonight and the wolves were getting excited. We always threw a party on clear nights and it tended to get wild. Their Order form made them overly tactile as it was, but their often polyamorous nature meant that there were probably already several orgies happening in the woods around me.
Another fifteen minutes passed and another chalice of beer was drained, I figured fuck it and got up, the sound of howls hitting my ears as the wolves noticed me rising.
I slipped into the crowd, letting their movements guide mine as I fell into a tipsy dance and tilted my head up to face the moon. Electricity crackled along my skin as I lost myself to the music and started to enjoy myself at last. Static built around me and the wolves brushed their fingers over my body to draw my energy into themselves.
A small hand wound around my wrist and my heart lurched with hope as I spun toward its owner.
My gut sank as I found Cindy Lou there, her eyes hooded as she sashayed forward in a way I guessed she thought was seductive. Maybe I’d thought it was once too.
I glanced over her head hopefully, but there was no one else there.
“Hey, sugar,” Cindy Lou purred, taking hold of my chin and tipping my head down so I looked at her.
I batted her hand away with a half-hearted smile. “Hey Cindy.”
“Me and the girls were thinking you might wanna come for a walk with us..?” She arched a brow, toying with a lock of ebony hair. She licked her lips, stepping backwards and trying to tug me with her.
“I’m good, cara mia.” I flashed her a smile but she didn’t return it.
“Is she coming tonight?”
“Who’s she? The sun’s mother?” I mused and Cindy Lou’s scowl deepened.
“You know exactly who I mean: Elise,” she hissed her name like a curse.
“Are you still mad at her because she beat you up in front of everyone at the Spring party? And then you burst into a Centaur and ripped your dress off?”
“And then Elise made her say her name was Cindy Poo!” my Beta, Tabitha, cackled as she appeared at my side. Her usually frizzy red hair was straightened and sleek and there plenty of wolves around vying for her attention.
“It wasn’t funny.” Cindy scowled and Tabitha nudged me with a smirk.
“It was a bit funny, right Alpha?”
“It was like one percent funny,” I said with a slanted grin.
Cindy Lou looked at me like I’d slapped her and I shrugged innocently.
“Oh come on Cindy, it’s about time you got over one little Fae on Fae fight, isn’t it?” Tabitha said with a look of disdain. “How do you expect to survive in life if you can’t cope with getting beaten sometimes?”
“She didn’t fight me like Fae,” Cindy countered. “She jumped me like some common underground street fighter.”
Tabitha folded her arms and I pursed my lips. “My sister happens to be an underground street fighter, you think you’re better than her?” A growl escaped her throat and I stepped aside, wondering if Cindy had just bought herself another beat down.
“No, I mean – obviously that’s not what I meant,” Cindy spluttered and my Beta tossed her hair over her shoulder, walking away.
“Cindy Poo, Cindy Poo,” Tabitha started chanting drunkenly and I couldn’t help but release a laugh as more of the crowd joined in.
“Dante,” Cindy gasped. “You can’t let this stand. Tell them to stop!”
I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled sharply and the crowd immediately quietened.
Cindy Lou blinked back tears and I frowned. “Elise started all of this. No one would hate me if it wasn’t for her.”
“Elise was on Killblaze,” I explained. “She didn’t mean it. And no one hates you.”
“She did mean it, she bullies me all the time.” She sniffed and my brows knitted together. I couldn’t imagine Elise bullying anyone. But Cindy did seem genuinely upset.
“Do I?” Elise stepped out of the crowd with Leon’s arm draped over her shoulders. She was wearing low-riding skinny jeans which hugged her hips and a black crop top which showed off a stomach I seriously wanted to lick. My heart twisted at seeing them together. Arriving at my party which I’d invited her to. To-fucking-gether. It felt like a punch to the gut. And even though I loved Leon with his stupido muscles and stupido nice shirt and stupido man bun, it was getting harder to accept seeing Elise spending all of her free time with him.
Are they a couple now? What happened to Fae before bae, Leon?
Cindy stepped away from Elise, glaring at her with eyes so narrowed I wasn’t sure how she could even see. “Stay away from me.” She pressed against me, looking for support. It was so unFae it made me kind of sick.
“Fine by me, I only came over to talk to Dante anyway,” Elise said, shaking her head so her hair danced around her face. I noticed it had been recently dyed and shone with a brighter lilac colour under the firelight.
“Belissima,” I breathed and her eyes widened. “You look beautiful.”
“Ergh,” Cindy shoved away from me, heading back into the crowd but I couldn’t drag my eyes away from Elise to stop her.
Leon raised an eyebrow as a thoughtful look passed through his gaze. He dipped his head to Elise’s ear. “I’ll go get us some beer.”
She nodded, her eyes still locked with mine as he released her and walked away. The crowd had formed a circle around us and I was kind of pissed, wishing they hadn’t so we’d be pressed together by their bodies.
“So you and Leon…what’s the deal, carina?”
She stepped forward and I remained in place, anxious about the answer to that question. But I needed to know. If they were together now, I had to do the right thing and let my friend have her. Even though that would feel as good as driving a rusty nail into my balls.
“There’s no deal.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I like him. He likes me.”
“That sounds like a deal,” I pointed out as she continued to drift closer until I could taste cherries on the air. My throat thickened and I half wished I hadn’t had so much beer because all I wanted to do was grab her and devour the kiss I’d craved since we’d first met.
“He knows I don’t want to get tied down to one guy,” she said, her gaze dipping to my mouth.
I cleared my throat, considering that. Seemed like a dick move to shove my tongue down her throat though. She might have told Leon that, but it didn’t mean he’d be happy with his friend trying it on with her. It simply wasn’t cool.
Leon returned with three beers, handing them out and I twisted the cap off mine, pouring the whole lot into my chalice. It wasn’t that I thought my friend would poison me, but I knew never to take the risk of
drinking from anything but my own poison-proof cup. I wouldn’t have put it past Ryder to figure out a way to get a deadly dose of aconite into a sealed bottle of beer destined for my hand.
One of my wolves took the empty bottle from me as I drank a long swig from my cup.
Yeah, more alcohol is a great fucking idea right now, idiota.
“Elise!” Laini appeared with thick eyeliner and a low-cut dress hugging her figure, her hand locked around an equally hot girl’s. “Come dance with us.”
Elise threw us a glance then shrugged, letting Laini guide her away deeper into the crowd.
Leon and I turned to watch as the two girls started dancing with Elise and my dick twitched as she fell into a rhythm with them, her hips swaying and her crop top riding up.
“What are the chances that will turn into a threesome?” Leon asked hopefully, moving close to speak in my ear.
“In your dreams or in reality?” I laughed.
“In reality. It’s a hundred percent happening in my dreams tonight, dude.”
I took a long drink of my beer and Leon glanced at me out of the corner of his eye when I said nothing.
“You good?” he asked.
“Perfetto. How are things going with you two?” I asked him, unable to hide the jealousy in my tone. But fuck it, I’d never hidden my desire for her. Leon knew it. And if things had been the other way around, I knew deep down I would have done the same as him.
“Well…” The doubt in his voice made me turn toward him and raise a brow. “They’re good, man, but…”
“What?” I tried not to sound too hopeful but it was fucking impossible.
Leon smirked at me as if he knew exactly where my mind was at. “We’re doing fine, but she keeps saying she doesn’t wanna be tied down. I ignored that shit at first but now I’m starting to think she really means it.” He drained his beer and a girl emerged from the crowd as if out of nowhere, taking the empty bottle from his hand and replacing it with a new one. He barely reacted to the entire interaction and I shook my head at him.
“So what are you gonna do?” I asked with a sigh, accepting that Elise would probably never be mine either even if she did break things off with Leon.
“Well…” He said conspiratorially, shifting closer to lay his arm over my shoulders. He leaned right into my ear and I frowned as the scent of his beer breath encased me. “Maybe she’ll stick around if there’s two of us keeping her satisfied.”
I barked a laugh, pulling away and turning to him. “That’s fucking hilarious, stronzo,” I deadpanned.
“I’m serious,” he said and his eyes said he really meant it. “Think about it. A girl like her clearly needs a change of scenery from time to time.”
“Are you seriously suggesting we share her, caro mio?” I laughed again, the beer in my gut making me heady. “Who says she’d even want that?”
Leon grinned darkly. “Tonight’s the perfect time to find out. You just need to go in for a kiss and see how she reacts.”
“Sei pazzo,” I laughed. “You’re crazy.”
“Yeah, but I reckon my little monster needs some crazy.” He turned to watch her dancing and I followed his gaze, my throat constricting at the thought of kissing her. Of really trying this out.
“She might tell me to fuck off,” I said, but excitement flickered in my gut and made electricity dart along my skin.
Leon brushed his hand over my arm with a smirk. “Looks like you wanna try though, stormy,” he taunted.
I pressed my tongue into my cheek, throwing him a grin. “Okay I wanna try.”
Leon smiled like I’d just made his fucking day and I tried not to think about how weird that was. He clapped a hand to my shoulder and we made our way toward her through the crowd.
The slight haze of alcohol around me made this easier to consider doing. Besides, the worst that could happen was her saying fuck no and she’d said that to me plenty of times before anyway.
Leon drained another beer and by the time we reached Elise, he had a new one in his hand.
Laini was making out with her date and Elise was dancing beside them, not seeming remotely bothered about dancing alone as she shut her eyes and tilted her face toward the sky. The beer she was drinking hung loosely between her fingers and my gaze scraped across her flat stomach which I ached to run my hands over. The way her body moved in time to the music was fucking poetry. The stars only knew what song was playing right then, all I could hear was the electricity humming in my blood.
Leon slipped behind her, winding his hands around her waist and plucking the empty bottle from her hand, passing it to a Mindy. Elise leaned back into him, reaching her hand up to graze the stubble on his cheek. A girl drew me into a dance next to them, but my gaze never faltered from Elise.
Her eyes became hooded as she tilted her head to capture Leon’s lips in a kiss. His hand splayed across her stomach, brushing the hem of her waistband and a deep growl emanated from me.
The girl I was dancing with yelped as electricity bounced off of my body and she quickly retreated in alarm.
I turned to apologise but she was already gone and I was still hypnotised by Elise as she swayed, grinding up against Leon as his tongue slid into her mouth. It felt like a damn sales pitch, like he was showing me how good it would be to stand in his place. And hell was I buying it.
Leon broke the kiss, moving his mouth to her ear and murmuring something to her. Her eyes snapped to me and he pushed her forward, his hands resting on her hips as he walked her toward me. She gave me a questioning look, giggling at something as Leon whispered to her again.
I took another swig of Dutch courage then passed my chalice to one of my wolves to look after. I waited for Elise to come to me, Leon’s hands brushing her stomach, sliding up to graze beneath her crop top. She bit down on her lip, halting him and dancing again, swaying her ass against his crotch.
I bit down on the inside of my cheek, figuring this was a no-go as my heart sank. Leon gave her a nudge toward me, stepping back and she glanced over her shoulder in surprise.
I froze in place as her gaze swept over me and my heart hit a powerful beat. Lightning flashed in the air above us and the crowd cried out in surprise.
Elise’s lips parted. She hadn’t even flinched.
Thunder crashed and I felt it right down to my bones as my power built around us in the atmosphere, dark clouds drawing in overhead to shadow the moon.
“Dante,” Elise whispered, moving toward me and suddenly she was all I could see.
Lightning forked through the sky again as she laid a hand on my chest to feel my rapid heart. The hairs on her arms rose to attention and she inhaled deeply, the storm rolling off of me and flashing in her eyes.
“I cieli si scontrano per te, carina,” I purred. The heavens collide for you.
She moved closer, moulding her body to mine, her hands drifting up and over my shoulders. She breathed heavily as I tried to rein in the amount of electricity flooding from my body. I didn’t want to hurt her, and from the look in her eyes I was doing anything but that.
Her fingers grazed my hair at the nape of my neck and a soft groan escaped me. She sucked on her lip, tip-toeing up so her breasts pressed against me. I laid my hands on her hips right where Leon’s had been and she gasped as more power rolled off of me.
“Is it too much?” I whispered against her mouth.
“No, it’s not enough.” Her lips crashed against mine and the full, warmness of them was everything I’d ever imagined.
I groaned as I dragged her against me, sliding my hand up the velvet smoothness of her back.
Her fangs snapped out and drew blood from my lips, a moan of delight escaping her as she pushed her tongue into my mouth. I swallowed her kiss like rain and broke for her like a waiting storm. I stroked her tongue with mine, tasting blood and cherries and the tempest flowing between us.
I grew achingly hard for her as she ground against me and our kiss became filthier, more savage. I didn’t care who wa
s watching, I was getting the prize of a fucking lifetime and I was going to savour every drop of it. Her hands followed the lines of my shoulders, squeezing my hardened muscles as she tried to get even closer, breathy moans sounding from her and sending me into a frenzy.
Thunder crashed heavily in the sky and a cheer went up from my Clan. Someone turned the music up and Elise started to grind against me in time with the pounding beat. I was hard as hell and she knew it, driving me to insanity as friction built between our bodies.
Elise pulled back with a gasp and I found Leon behind her, his hands wrapping around her waist as he pressed up against her. He dipped his head for a kiss and she gave it to him, her hands still firmly locked around me. I knew we had an audience and I gave zero shits. Even when Cindy Lou’s friend, Amira, got her Atlas out and started recording. Because fuck it. I was the King of the Oscura Clan. I didn’t need to explain my actions to anyone. This girl captivated me and if I had to share her with a friend to get her attention then that wasn’t the biggest sacrifice in the world.
Leon chuckled, lowering his mouth to her throat and I leaned in to take another kiss from her. She laughed against my mouth as the three of us danced like we had no fucking dignity and I didn’t think I did right then.
When I was approximately ten seconds away from dragging her and Leon back to the dorm, Elise slipped out from between the pillars of our bodies and turned to face us. Her lips were puffy and reddened and the glint in her eyes made me groan.
“Come back to the dorm,” I asked and Leon nodded hopefully.
Elise started laughing and I frowned, confused and horny as fuck.
“I’m good. But it looks like you guys could use a hand getting off so maybe you should go together?” She darted away into the crowd and I turned to Leon, my gaze falling to his raging hard-on while his gaze fell to mine.
I sighed, looking up at the storm clouds as they flashed above with expectant energy that was never going to be unleashed. “Fuck my life.”
Thirteen Months Before the Solarid Meteor Shower…
Savage Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 2) Page 12