Savage Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 2)

by Caroline Peckham

  I scratched the stubble on my jaw, making my way to Potions Class before the end of lunch bell rang. I needed to have a private word with Professor Titan.

  I made my way downstairs of Altair Halls and into the basement before pounding my fist on the door. Titan always ate lunch in his classroom. He spent the time marking papers but I suspected he really did it to avoid lunch duties and keeping the students under control. Couldn’t really fault him for that. There were too many assholes up to too much dodgy shit in this academy. I preferred to keep away from it all too.

  The door wrenched open and Titan’s expression betrayed his fear of me for half a second before he shielded it behind professionalism. “Oh Mr Draconis, can I help you? You’re a little early…”

  I stepped forward and he backed up, giving me room to kick the door shut behind me.

  He had a bib stuffed into his collar and mayonnaise on the corner of his mouth. He quickly tugged the bib off, wiping his lips and balling it up in his hand. He cleared his throat, folding his arms and giving me his sternest expression. “Is there a problem?”

  “Yes actually,” I growled and he leaned back against his desk, crossing his ankles as he tried to look casual.

  “What can I help you with?”

  “Elise Callisto. She’s my lab partner again as of today.”

  Titan’s jaw clenched and some protectiveness flashed through his gaze. “She chose to be partnered with Mr Night. I’m afraid I can’t put her in a position she isn’t comfortable with.”

  “We’ve resolved our differences,” I hissed. “And this isn’t debatable.” My rattle sounded through the air and Titan shifted nervously. The hair on his face began to thicken as his Minotaur Order rose to the surface. But he wouldn’t shift, he wouldn’t dare.

  Titan cleared his throat, nodding. “If you’re sure things between the two of you are settled...”

  “They are.” I turned my back on him, walking to the store cupboard and opening it. I started thumbing through ingredients, taking what I was low on while Titan tried to ignore the fact that I was openly stealing school supplies. When my bag was full, I headed to my desk, dropping into my seat just as the bell rang.

  Titan was grading papers at his desk, firmly keeping his attention away from me. I flexed my fingers, clenching and unclenching my fists. Pain and Lust shone on my knuckles and I frowned as I stared at the blank spaces on my hands. Those empty parts of me seemed fuller than usual, like more emotions were trying to crawl out of my skin and brand themselves on me.

  Students started filing into the room and I lifted my chin, my eyes landing on Elise as she shot to her seat at Mufasa’s table. The Lion wasn’t present yet. He’d turn up late or not at all. Since he’d been paired with my girl he hadn’t missed a class though. But maybe it was time he started skipping lessons again because I was about to reclaim her.

  The girl I’d been re-paired with dropped into the seat beside mine, throwing me a nervous glance before reaching into her bag with trembling fingers. I shifted my gaze to Professor Titan and captured his eyes. I cast my hypnosis and I was suddenly in his face wielding a meat cleaver at him. “NOW!” I bellowed and he nearly fell out of his seat in the vision.

  I withdrew from his head and he leapt to his feet, pointing at Elise. “Miss Callisto, I’d like you to re-pair with Mr Draconis again.”

  The girl beside me – whose name I hadn’t cared to learn – jumped up from her seat like there was a fire under her ass, smiling her head off as she practically ran across the room and hovered behind Elise.

  “What?” Elise questioned. “Why?”

  “Now, Miss Callisto, or I’ll start docking rank points,” Titan commanded and I smirked as she rose from her chair, gathering up her shit with a huff and trailing toward me. The other girl dropped into her seat, practically hugging the table as she laid out her things.

  Elise fell into the chair beside mine and I hid my smirk by resting my thumb on the corner of my mouth.

  She looked to me with her brows raised and her head tilted. “Did you do this, Ryder?”

  My emotional spectrum was having a pissing meltdown. I didn’t feel pain or lust right then. But the airy feeling in my stomach wasn’t something I had a label for. If I had to name it though, I’d call it cloudfuckery.

  “What if I did?” I grunted, flipping open my textbook and glancing away from her.

  She continued to pout at me until I finally dragged my gaze back to hers.

  “Why?” she whispered, leaning in close so I got a taste of her on the air.

  “I’m the best potions student in the whole fucking school. You need to catch up, don’t you? So it makes sense for us to be paired.” I shrugged.

  She laughed, shaking her head as she retreated. “You can’t just say it, can you?”

  “Say what?” I asked stiffly, flicking the page over and picking up my pen to correct a mistake in the recipe for the Elixir of Regeneration.

  “That you liiiike me,” she sang, prodding me in the ribs.

  I glanced up with my lips pressed into a tight line. She was right in a sense. Why was it so fucking hard to admit that? So what if I liked her? Was that really such a goddamn crime?

  Bryce entered the room the moment my mouth opened to say the words. I closed it tight as he nodded at me and I gave him a stiff nod in return. His eyes narrowed at Elise sitting beside me and he gave me a questioning look that said why is she back there?

  I cleared my throat, ignoring him. He was my second in command not my fucking babysitter. But I couldn’t let him see me with any weakness precisely for that reason. If he figured out I had a soft spot for Elise, he might start to think I wasn’t a strong enough leader. Of course, I’d just beat his fucking head in if he tried to suggest that to the Brotherhood. But I still didn’t like the way he was looking at us.

  “Ryder?” Elise pressed, her brows pulling together with concern.

  I couldn’t say the words now that Bryce was here. He was a Vampire just like her and if his ears were trained this way, he’d catch it.

  Inferno swept into the room, his eyes seeking out my girl in an instant. I was getting challenged left, right and centre for Elise and it got my back up. Especially when Nox walked into the room and sought her out too. I bared my teeth, my hackles rising as the Lion King walked in too.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Leon snarled, making a move toward me.

  “Mr Night, if you don’t take your seat this second, I will ensure you lose your spot as twelfth on the leaderboard. Do not test me,” Professor Titan demanded.

  The Lion moved to his seat, dropping into it with another growl. None of Elise’s other stalkers said a word. It was done. And I wasn’t going to have her taken from me in this class again.

  “Today we’ll be learning a new potion,” Titan announced as he moved to the board and wrote the name across it.

  Everlasting Adhesive Balm.

  It wasn’t new to me; I’d been making potions practically since I could walk. My father had taught me everything I needed to get a grasp on the art. He told me I’d inherited my mother’s talent. It was the one thing about myself I valued above all else. That piece of her that lived in me was still intact. Even after Mariella.

  The rest of the good either of my parents had given me was lost. Though sometimes Elise fixed a few of my broken shards, holding them together long enough for her to get a glimpse of that person I’d been. And I hated to admit it, but those times when she did draw my shattered parts back together felt like breathing a lungful of the purest, crispest winter air. It felt like none of it had ever happened.

  But it had fuckwit, so live with it.

  The most excruciating thing about Elise was that she reminded me of that whole person, triggered memories of him. I’d spent too many nights drowning in them recently, suffocated by the reminder of what I’d lost. But I was starting to relish those glimpses too.

  Elise fetched the ingredients and I corrected her as she started brewing the glue. She d
idn’t seem to mind, adding notes to her page where the textbook made a mistake and I filled in the gaps. When she had to stir it three hundred and thirty eight times clockwise, I checked my Atlas for messages from my Eyes. There was a bunch of trivial shit. Dante’s movements this week, how his new recruits were performing and which of them might pose an actual threat. When I was done, my thumb drifted to my photos and I brought up the one of Elise and I as fucking bunny rabbits. A softness filled my chest which I decided to mentally term Elisery.

  Elise suddenly plucked the device from my grip with her free hand, tapping something on the screen. “If you’re going to stare at it, you might as well set it as your screensaver.”

  “What? Fuck no.” I snatched my Atlas back, finding she’d already done it and my heart crashed into my ribcage. “How do you undo it?” I’d never set a fucking screensaver in my life. How was I supposed to get rid of it?

  Elise started laughing, clearly having no intention of telling me.

  “Elise,” I snarled in warning.

  “Atlas away, Mr Draconis,” Titan called over to me, his eyes threatening a rank dock. But I was currently beating Inferno on the leaderboard and the stubborn part of me simply couldn’t allow him to take the lead. Dante glanced over at me hopefully and I shoved my Atlas into my pocket with a hiss.

  “Um…P-professor?” Eugene called from the front of the class.

  “Yes, Mr Dipper?”

  “I th-think someone m-maybe accidentally spilled their potion onto my seat when I went to the supply cupboard.” The kid looked ready to cry as Bryce burst into silent hysterics, clearly the culprit.

  “Oh,” the Professor breathed in concern. “You’re entirely stuck?”

  Eugene stood up to prove his point, his chair firmly stuck to his ass. The class lost it as laughter filled the air and I glanced at Elise, finding her frowning.

  “Well you’ll have to take your pants off,” Titan said, not bothering to try and quieten the class.

  “It’s s-soaked through!” Eugene wailed and Titan sucked in a breath.

  The Professor swept toward him, planting a hand on his shoulder. “I’m afraid you’ll have to go to the ward, Mr Dipper. But the Everlasting Adhesive Balm is, well, everlasting. If it’s stuck to your skin there may have to be some…removal of the area.”

  Eugene stumbled, looking ready to faint as Titan led him to the door. The chair swung back and forth on his ass like some screwed up duck tail, smacking into tables and other students as he went.

  Bryce recorded the entire thing on his Atlas and I smirked, serving me with an elbow from Elise.

  “Oh don’t tell me you like the rat kid?” I rolled my eyes.

  She folded her arms. “I just don’t think there’s any need to bully him,” she snipped as if I’d fucking done it.

  “Bryce-” I started but she cut over me.

  “Is your second in command, right?” She raised an eyebrow then turned to face the potion as she continued stirring.

  I gawped at her, but she didn’t turn to face me again. I racked my brain as I stared at her, confused as fuck. And I realised that confusion was officially going to join pain and lust on my emotional scale. Because Elise Callisto left me feeling fucking perplexed every time I ‘hung out’ with her.

  ***

  The Kiplings had delivered my order at last and I finally had the powdered red cinnabar crystals I needed to get on with my potion. It was complicated as shit but I was more than able for it.

  I fetched the Hawthrax bone that I’d left baking in the sun for seven days hidden in a grove on the edge of the Empyrean Fields. I wanted this potion finished. Because as soon as it was done, I could finally put my plan into motion. Death was coming on swift wings and I was its deliverer.

  I returned to the Vega Dormitories, stalking through the students who were milling about after class and making several of them scatter away from me with nothing but a glare. I soon stepped into my room, locking the door and heading to my desk, switching on the lamp there and leaving the rest of the space in darkness. The potion I’d been brewing in my cauldron looked like tar and was just as thick.

  I pulled on a pair of gauntlets, checking to make sure my window was still cracked open for ventilation as I lowered into the chair, taking out the stockpile in my pocket. The thick bag of crushed cinnabar crystals shimmered like blood in the low light. Just one of those crystals was powerful enough to stop a Fae shifting into their Order form for a full hour. But the amount I’d bought could take down a fucking army for an entire day. It was mainly used in prisons like Darkmore Penitentiary to stop inmates from transforming and it wasn’t something that was easy to get hold of legally.

  I carefully poured the contents into the blackened sludge within the cauldron, stirring slowly as I folded the glittering powder into the mix. When all of the crystal powder was added, I took out the Hawthrax bone and broke it in two. I dropped the two pieces in at the same time and the potion sizzled, devouring the bone. I started stirring anti-clockwise and the brew became less viscous, thinning out, colour draining from it by the second until it was entirely clear. Odourless too.

  I smiled darkly, checking my watch. My test subject was about to arrive. Not that he knew what he was coming here for.

  I used a pipette to syphon some of the mixture into a cup and set it aside, placing the iron lid on top of the cauldron to seal it. The fumes slid out of the window while I placed the utensils into a metal box for my people to clean for me.

  A knock came at the door and I smirked, picking up the cup. One drop of water would turn the liquid into gas. And I had a pipette stashed up my sleeve. It wouldn’t affect me. No poison did. I was fucking immune to all potions thanks to my Order.

  I headed to the door, opening it with a grunt and finding Bryce there in a tank top and sweatpants.

  “You wanted to see me, boss?”

  I swung the door wide, moving to give him access and he strode into the room, glancing around curiously.

  I nudged the door shut, turning to him and finding him investigating my work desk. My Atlas buzzed and the screen brightened, drawing his gaze. Claws ripped at my gut as Bryce snatched it up and rounded on me. “Woah, what the fuck is this?”

  The bunny picture of Elise and I stared at me on my fucking screensaver. I’d forgotten all about trying to change it and now one of my goddamn Brothers had seen it.

  “Nothing, give it to me,” I snarled, striding toward him and holding out my free hand.

  “That girl is trouble,” Bryce hissed, passing it to me, his words causing my jaw to clench dangerously. “She’s making you weak.”

  It took everything I had not to slam my knuckles into his fucking face. I held back for one reason alone: he had more to say on the matter. I could see it in his steely gaze and I was going to get every ounce of the truth from him before he paid for his words.

  “First you let her bite you, now you’re what? A couple who do sappy shit like this? What would the Brotherhood think?” Bryce shook his head and his fangs lengthened, his eyes flashing with some emotion I couldn’t place. Not until he looked up and his gaze raked over my throat.

  Jealousy.

  My muscles bunched and my jaw started to tick. He gazed warily across my expression, dipping his head.

  “I’m only looking out for you, boss. I don’t mean any offence. It’s just…”

  “Jusst?” I hissed, letting my snake rise to the surface of my flesh.

  “Well if someone’s going to feed from you shouldn’t it be…your second?” He glanced hopefully up at me, a hunger in his eyes begging me to allow him to feed from me. The rattle started up in my chest, but he swallowed, looking like he might try and lunge at me, barely restraining himself. If he did, I’d break every bone in his body.

  I squeezed the pipette up my sleeve into the beaker in my hand. I let the fumes fill the air, knowing they wouldn’t affect me. Bryce frowned, glancing at the beaker then gasped as his fangs retracted and the gleam in his eyes faded
.

  I smiled, but it was a wicked, hollow thing. “Good. It works,” I purred to myself, closing in on him and placing the beaker down.

  I caught him by the throat, slamming him against the wall and snarling in his face. He grabbed my wrist, his fire Element searing my skin as he tried to break free but I relished the lick of the flames, sneering at him as he continued to struggle. Panic filled his eyes when he realised his Vampire gifts were gone, stolen by the potion until it wore off. With the strength of the concoction it would be hours before he got them back. And he’d have paid severely by then.

  “Elise is not your concern,” I snarled. “From now on, you don’t breathe her name or even look in her direction.”

  Bryce nodded frantically, clutching at my arm in desperation. “Yes, boss,” he choked out. “I won’t. I promise. Just let me go.”

  “The leader of the Lunar Brotherhood doesn’t show mercy,” I snarled as I drank in his pain, tightening my hand around his neck. I could feel the ache in his lungs, the swelling of his tongue. It caressed my magic reserves and pulled a satisfied sigh from my lips.

  I threw my first punch into his gut, then another to his ribs that made bones snap. He screamed, but no one would come. There was a silencing bubble in place and it had been almost a day since I’d filled my reserves. Bryce had just given me the perfect excuse to punish him and feed on his pain.

  And I’d feed and feed until he got the message.

  I was not fucking weak. And Elise Callisto was not to be used against me.

  If Miss Nightshade didn’t think there was any issue with her using her Siren gifts to dig around in my head without permission, then she really couldn’t complain about me using my Vampire gifts to follow her to her precious secret meeting. Whatever the hell she was up to tonight, she’d clearly felt the need to lie about it to me which was suspicious in itself. Why pretend she was going on a date unless what she was really doing was shady as fuck? So I’d taken it upon myself to find out exactly what the truth of her little evening rendezvous was.