Savage Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 2)

by Caroline Peckham

  Felix bowed his head in that mocking way again and the other Wolves all followed suit as Dante drew me away from him.

  We didn’t say anything as we walked away but Dante released a heavy sigh which spoke of his irritation.

  We stepped out of the bar and into what I guessed was the main room in the club. Little tables filled the space around a huge, T shaped stage with three poles on it, one at each point of the T. My gaze was instantly snagged by the three dancers on the stage and I fell still as I stared at them.

  “Take a seat if you want to watch the show, bella,” Dante offered, leading me to a booth which was on a raised platform to the side of the room. A red curtain was pinned aside before it which I guessed could be lowered if the occupants decided they wanted privacy.

  A bouncer was standing with his arms folded before the VIP space but he obviously recognised Dante despite his mask and let us pass.

  I dropped into a red cushioned chair, my eyes still on the stage and Dante headed away to get us drinks.

  The girl swinging from the pole closest to me was in her Medusa form. Her legs curled around the pole and she swung herself in a graceful loop, the snakes which made up her hair reaching out to twirl around the pole too.

  Beyond her on the other side of the stage, the girl there had transformed into her Sphinx form, her golden cat body gyrating against the pole while her rhinestone bikini stayed in place over her fur.

  But the girl drawing most of my attention was at the front of the stage. She was a Vampire like me so the only sign of her Order form was the elongated fangs she was baring as she danced.

  Men and women in the front row of the audience were offering up their wrists for her to bite between moves and she let their blood spill out of her mouth to trickle over her chest. She was beautiful with dark skin and seductive eyes which turned my way as she felt my gaze on her. She hissed at me in challenge, recognising another of her kind and I bared my teeth right back. My heart beat a little faster as she smirked, dropping down the pole and removing her bra so that blood could run straight over her perked nipples.

  “See something you like, carina?” Dante asked as he fell into the seat opposite me.

  I shifted my gaze away from the stage with a knowing smile.

  “I mean…the idea of your blood running over my naked body doesn’t exactly turn me off,” I said in a low voice.

  His gaze passed to the stage then fell back on me and he pushed his tongue into his cheek as he looked at my chest for a long moment.

  “It doesn’t exactly turn me off either, bella,” he teased.

  Heat ran through my body at that implication and I sighed dramatically. “But you can’t touch me, Dante.”

  “No. I can watch you though.”

  “Watch me what?”

  He shrugged, his gaze sliding back to the stage as the three girls finished up their set and members of the audience started bidding for time alone with each of them.

  “Have you ever given dancing a go?” I asked, taking a sip of the cocktail he’d brought me. It was strong and the fruity taste of it was punctuated by the roll of burning along the back of my throat.

  “You want to see me get up there next?” he asked with a laugh. “Do you have a Dragon fetish?”

  “Sometimes,” I replied with a grin. “But I was thinking more of a private dance.”

  Dante laughed and the sound of it was deep and dark, making me want to bathe in the sin filled promises it held. He took a long drink from his golden chalice which apparently he brought everywhere and I smirked at him.

  “I’m sure I could give it a decent try for you, bella,” he replied. “I’ve spent my fair share of time here to know how it goes. But what would I get in return?”

  “What do you want?”

  “Well if we’re trading lap dances…”

  “Who said anything about a trade? I just want to get hot under the collar for you.”

  “Tit for tat, amore mio.” Dante grinned, his eyes sparkling with a dare I couldn’t refuse.

  “Okay… So who goes first?”

  Dante’s eyes spilled over me for a long moment and he pushed himself to his feet.

  He knocked back his drink and pointed at mine so that I followed suit.

  While the alcohol continued to burn its way down my throat, Dante placed my glass and his chalice on the floor. He leaned close to the bouncer who was still lingering nearby and murmured something to him that sent the guy striding away.

  I looked up at him expectantly across the table and he caught the edge of the wooden tabletop, lifting it so that it folded against the back wall where he secured it in place with a golden chain.

  “Wow, they’ve really thought of everything here,” I joked as the space between us was left empty.

  Dante only smirked at me as he moved to drop the red curtain outside the booth so that the two of us were hidden within the small space.

  The light dimmed as the red glow of the club was cut off and the sounds beyond the thick curtain were muffled so that it felt like we were completely alone.

  Dante reached out to touch a panel on the wall which I hadn’t noticed and glimmering golden lights brightened above us just enough to see him properly. Not that I needed help with that but I guessed he did.

  He hit another button and music started up as Dante turned to look down at me with a dark smile.

  I laughed as I instantly recognised the song that came on from the very first beat.

  “You gonna channel Channing Tatum for me?” I purred as Pony by Ginuwine conjured images from Magic Mike to mind.

  “I thought I’d go with a crowd pleaser,” he confirmed, stepping back.

  I bit my lip as he held my eye and started moving to the music. Pushing his hands back into his hair as he thrust his hips in time to the beat.

  I almost laughed but he was actually really good. Good enough to make me think this wasn’t the first time he’d tried this.

  Dante’s knowing smirk had heat rising through my body as he teased me with his movements and his fingers fell to the top button of his shirt.

  I drank in each slip of his fingers as the buttons fell open to reveal the stacked muscles hiding beneath. Dante rolled his hips, his muscles flexing as he gyrated in a way that was so damn sexual I had to press my thighs together to try and fight down my desire.

  The cocky smirk on his face never slipped as he kept his focus on me, clearly finding this whole thing amusing as fuck but that only made it hotter somehow. He was so confident, not at all embarrassed or worried about what he was doing.

  He released the final button on his shirt and spun in a circle, making the material part to reveal more of his body.

  As the music hit the chorus he was suddenly right in my face and I gasped as he leaned over me, his hands gripping the back of the chair either side of my head as he ground his hips inches above mine.

  I sucked in a breath as the scent of him caressed me, cedar and ash combined with something almost spicy.

  Electricity crackled in the space dividing us and my nipples hardened in response to its touch, rubbing against the lacy material of my bra in a mockery of the way I wished he’d touch me.

  I couldn’t resist the urge to reach for him, my fingers trailing down the perfect curves of his abs as he writhed above me.

  The moment my fingertips brushed his waistband, he was gone again, cool air brushing my cheeks in his absence.

  Dante smiled tauntingly as he rolled his shoulders back slowly, drawing the material of his shirt back off of his huge arms. My eyes were glued to his movements as he peeled it off of him before taking the material between his fists and stalking closer to me.

  I giggled as he hooked the shirt around the back of my neck, drawing me to my feet and trapping me in a cage created by it and his arms.

  Dante continued to roll his body in time with the music and my pulse pounded headily as his chest brushed against mine.

  I reached out to touch his abs again and he whi
pped the shirt back over my head before winding it around my arms, shaking his head teasingly. He dropped down to his knees in front of me and I bit my lip at how good he looked down there.

  Dante pressed his hands to the floor, grinding his hips as he leaned back, looking up at me with a dare in his eyes. I shook the shirt from my arms, tossing it away as I watched him.

  He stood suddenly, catching my thighs in his grip and hooking them around his waist before driving me back against the wall.

  Dante growled as he leaned close to my ear and a soft moan of longing escaped me as he pressed his hand to the wall beside us and thrust his hips against me in time with the music.

  I could feel every hard inch of him pressing against me between our clothes and my nails bit into his shoulders as I panted with desire.

  The song came to an end and he stopped suddenly, a cruel grin lighting his features as he leaned back to look at me.

  My head was spinning with the closeness of him and I pouted in protest to the sudden end to my fun.

  “What’s wrong, bella?” he teased. “You look like you were only moments from me finishing you off.”

  I laughed, tipping my head back against the wall as I untangled my legs from his waist.

  “You wish, amore mio,” I replied, smiling as his language on my tongue set a fire blazing in his eyes. “But if that’s a challenge, I’m sure I can rise to it.”

  “You think you can dance well enough to get me off?” Dante taunted. “I’d like to see you try.”

  “Challenge accepted.” I ran my tongue over my lips as I laid my hand on his bare chest and pushed hard enough to make him walk backwards.

  I shoved him down into a chair and backed up as I turned to choose a song from the controls on the wall.

  Dante may have spent enough time in this club to learn a few moves but I’d grown up helping my mom choreograph her dances. I knew exactly what worked and what didn’t, the crowd pleasers and the things that earned her hundred aura tips.

  If Dante Oscura wanted me to show him what I was made of then he wasn’t going to be disappointed.

  I tried not to notice the excited whinnying going on in the booth next to ours, but all distractions left the goddamn building as Elise picked a song to dance to. She gave me a look which was as hot as a volcano and sent liquid magma pouring into my core.

  The intro to Dirrty by Christina Aguilera brought a wicked grin to my lips and I leaned back in my chair, spreading my legs and resting my hands on my thighs. I gave her an expectant look as her gaze whipped to me beneath that lacy mask, the burning heat in her eyes driving a line directly to my already hard dick.

  Oh mie stelle…

  The beat dropped and she dropped with it into a low squat, her hands on her knees and spreading her legs wide enough to give me a glimpse of her little black panties.

  I groaned, my boxers growing tighter as she rose upright again, tilting her ass out and planting a hand on her hip. In a flash of Vampire speed, she was straddling my lap, holding her weight off of me as she pressed her hands to my bare shoulders and arched forward to rub her tits up my chest then right into my face. I leaned in to graze my tongue over her cleavage but she spun around and I was gifted her ass instead as she danced to the beat. Her dress grazed my crotch and I grabbed hold of her hips with a needy breath, pulling her down onto me.

  My dick was so hard I was practically busting out of my pants and Elise ground against it so perfectly I had to bite down on my knuckles, trying to force my mind onto pain rather than how close I already was to blowing my load.

  “Merda santa,” I breathed and Elise was gone, retreating to dance for me while a hungry growl rumbled through my chest.

  The static in the air was intensifying and Elise’s eyes danced with flashes of my power as it scattered over her skin. Feel it all, carina. That’s how much I want you.

  She danced like a fucking pro and I had to wonder how she’d gotten so good at this. With moves like that and a body that made me ache, she would have made top aura in this club. Not that I’d ever have let her dance for anyone but me.

  I took a deep breath and a heaviness filled my lungs. The electricity in the air disbanded suddenly, but I was too heady with desire to wonder why.

  Elise fell to the floor in time with the music, crawling along and licking her lips, making me breathe out curse words in my language. I hated Ryder in that moment more than I ever had. Because he was keeping me from her. The fucking deal prevented me from kissing her, fucking her, even jerking off over her while she was right in front of me.

  Her hand slid up my thigh and ran over the hard ridge of my cock, making my head spin as I instinctively snatched a handful of her hair.

  She gazed up at me with want in her eyes, her gaze slipping to my zipper and I was ready to fuck the deal. Fuck everything to let her follow the line of thought she was on.

  A scream hit my ears, the shrillness of it telling me something was wrong. Really fucking wrong. Another scream and I was on my feet, dragging Elise up beside me. Her eyes were wide as she looked to me for an answer but shit, there was only one that came to mind.

  I hurried to the curtain, pulling it open just enough to glimpse out into the club. Men and woman were pouring through the entrance, their faces covered by gas masks and their hands swirling with magic. My jaw locked tight as Ryder appeared amongst them, his eyes endlessly dark. He was the only one of the group without a mask in place. It took me a second more to figure out what the fuck was going on. There was some poison here I couldn’t see, something in the fucking air.

  A snarl tore from my lips and I ripped the mask from my face. Elise followed suit, revealing the anxiety creeping into her expression.

  Strippers were running around naked, all in Fae form darting for the back exit and I suddenly realised what the poison was. I felt it like a missing limb, but I’d been too hooked on Elise to sense the strange barrier drawing up inside my chest.

  I dropped the curtain, turning to Elise and finding her brushing a thumb over her canines with a look of fear. They were short, no sign of her Vampire fangs there at all. My eyes flicked up to the vent at the top of the back wall and anger pulsed through me, a black shadow drawing across my vision as rage enveloped me.

  “The Brotherhood are here,” I told her in a dark voice that made her still. “And they’ve blocked our fucking Order forms with some poison.”

  “Shit,” she hissed as the sound of a table being turned over reached us from close by. More screams followed and the crash and bang of magic colliding drowned out the music in the club.

  My mind whirled as anger stacked up in my gut, building and building until my muscles were bunched and coiled. I’d counted at least thirty of The Brotherhood and more had been pouring in behind them.

  “You said you wanted to see my dark side, carina. So don’t judge me when it’s over.” I gripped the edge of the curtain and Elise hurried to my side.

  “Maybe you’re about to see mine too, Drago.” She tried to move past me, but I threw her down into the seat behind us with a firm stare.

  “Stay out of this,” I demanded before tossing the curtain aside and conjuring a vortex of air between my fingers. I couldn’t capture the power of the storm though and that infuriated me.

  My eyes locked on Ryder across the room, fighting with one of my cousins while blood was shed all around him by his people.

  In my club.

  On my turf.

  Hurting my people.

  I charged forward, catching hold of a muscular man. One of the strippers was dead at his feet and her death had sealed his own fate. Darkness consumed me and I uprooted him with a flick of my hand.

  I rubbed shoulders with my Clan members and snatched a blade from one of their hands before descending on my victim. I drove the blade home before he could move to fight me, slicing through skin and bone with brute force until I reached his worthless heart. His eyes met mine and he mouthed the word Inferno just as he died.

  I wrenc
hed the blade free, spilling blood as the fight surged around me. A fireball shot right for me, but I lifted a hand, stealing the oxygen from the heart of it until it fizzled away into nothing but smoke. I willed the cloud into the eyes of the Lunar Brotherhood, blinding a group of them and racing forward to press my advantage.

  A vine latched around my arm, but I severed it with a hard yank before locating the culprit and cutting her throat. The men beside her fell just as swiftly, my air magic holding them down while I ended their miserable lives. Their blood flowed over their clothes, mixing with the blood of my Clan, my family.

  “Ti ammazzo tutti!” I roared.

  Hooves thundered my way as a dark blue Pegasus charged me down. Adrenaline poured through my veins as I lunged aside, narrowly missing its horn before slamming my blade into its back flank and losing my grip on it.

  Whatever poison had been in the air must have been gone, because almost all of the Brotherhood were shifting, discarding their gas masks on the ground. But it was still in my blood, holding my Dragon down in chains.

  A Minotaur swung for me and his huge fist crashed into my temple. I hit the stage, my limbs bruising as I caught myself and stole the air from his lungs with my power. Despite being unable to breathe, the beast kept coming, all eight feet of him. He lowered his bovine head, aiming his sharpened horns at me.

  I cast air at him full force to keep him back, but the distraction cost me everything as a fist impacted with the side of my face. No pain bloomed; all I felt was cold, hard rage.

  I twisted toward my attacker, aiming the gust of air at them instead. The Minotaur was still choking, but he was free to run at me again as I locked my arm around the Medusa who’d hit me. Her snakes hissed and dug their fangs into my skin, poison blurring my vision as every one of them on her head bit me again and again. Blood rolled along my flesh but I didn’t slow, locking my arm around her neck tighter and tighter until a sharp crack sounded her demise.

  As I dropped her, the shadow of the Minotaur rushed at me. I stumbled away, my limbs weak from the Medusa’s poison as I collided with the stage. I was still choking off his air supply and the beast finally fell to his knees as my power stole his life.