Zodiac Academy 3: The Reckoning: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts)

by Caroline Peckham

  Her lips tightened for a second as she surveyed me. “Darcy Vega doesn’t want you, you know that right?” She stormed off and I waited until she was gone, downing the last of my beer before throwing the bottle against the cliff wall so it smashed into a thousand pieces.

  Bitch.

  I locked my jaw, heading back along the beach on a hunt for the girl who was driving me to insanity tonight. I was gonna prove Kylie wrong and myself right. Darcy wanted me, she just had trouble admitting it because it was hard for her to look past what I’d done to her. But she’d liked me once. When she’d first come to Zodiac, I’d had her. Why did I have to go and fuck that up? The hair stunt hadn’t worked anyway. She could have been mine by now and I wouldn’t feel like my heart was constantly trying to bash itself to death on my ribcage every time I saw her.

  Why is being bad so fucking hard when it comes to her?

  I asked every member of my pack - who were way too moon-high to be pissy at me tonight -if they’d seen her until finally Frank pointed to the path that led back up to campus.

  “Think I saw her head that way.” He caught my arm before I could leave, his fingers brushing down my chest. “Forget the Vega girl, come have some fun. We can put aside our issues for tonight...Alpha.” His voice was full of lust and I could practically see the moon in his eyes as he stared at me. I imagined I was at the top of a lot of people’s moon lists tonight, but I wasn’t interested. Even if it did feel euphoric to be called Alpha again. I glanced past him to the orgy my pack were shamelessly having in front of the entire party.

  I’ll probably win them back if I stay. But...Darcy.

  I pulled free of Frank’s grip and picked up a bottle of rum, heading away without a word.

  “We’ll be here when she rejects you, Alpha!” Frank called, howling to me as I went but I refused to look back.

  Maybe she won’t this time.

  I headed up the path, jogging all the way to Air Territory and searching the horizon. I looked to Aer Tower, my eyes travelling up to her room on the eleventh floor where the light was on. I bit down on the inside of my cheek, knowing she was up there fucking some douchebag.

  I huffed, pacing back and forth at the top of the hill. She had to come back this way eventually if she was gonna re-join the party, so I dropped down onto the path and leaned back against the sandy bank on one side of it. Then I’ll see who said douchebag is.

  I opened the rum, taking a long swig as I waited.

  When she heads back to the beach I’ll make her see that whoever this waste of space fling is, he’s not gonna satisfy her like I can.

  I took another long drink.

  I bet his name’s Brody or something just as lame. Fucking Brody.

  I spotted Darius at the bottom of the path, alternating between sipping on a bottle of beer and pacing. He kept looking across the beach then returned to drinking and pacing. He was too far away for me to shout out to him and frankly he looked like he was having his own personal pity party. If we teamed up, it would be the most pathetic Moon Party we’d ever thrown.

  Go get laid, man.

  He eventually headed off down the beach again and I frowned, wondering if I should go after him. But the moon was encouraging me to sit my ass there until the girl I craved came to me. So that was just what I was gonna do.

  I’d made it through three quarters of the bottle by the time Darcy arrived. I heard her laugh and wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it or not. I tried to get up but shitballs I was drunk. I crawled forward, poking my head out of the pathway. She was in some muscular guy’s arms, his mouth was against her neck and her eyes were swimming with delight as she clawed at his shoulders. They thought they were alone. But they weren’t fucking alone.

  “Brody,” I growled, dragging myself to my feet ready to knock him out. The guy lurched back a step and my vision doubled for a second.

  What? My head spun as I stared at the guy standing there. I must be seriously fucking drunk.

  “Orion?” I slurred.

  He glanced at Darcy then me. “Thanks for the drink,” he shot at her and I frowned.

  Oh yeah…Vampire.

  “You’re not Brody.” I waved Orion aside. “Go back to your cave.”

  “You’re drunk, Capella,” he said in warning. “Go back to your House.”

  I stumbled toward them and found Darcy looking at me with something that might have been concern. Or maybe I was just being hopeful.

  “You’re not the boss of me, asshole.” I shoved Orion aside except I didn’t. Because his hand crashed into my chest and I stumbled towards the cliff edge.

  “Did you see that?” I balked at Darcy. “He tried to throw me off the fucking cliff.”

  “Seth,” Darcy said carefully. “Maybe you should go to bed.” She reached for me and I caught her hand, bringing it to my cheek and smiling at her.

  “You’ll come with me though, right babe?”

  Orion knocked me on my ass so hard the sky spun. He leaned over me, teeth bared. “Get out of here or I’ll start taking House Points.”

  I threw air at him but he blocked it, throwing it back at me. I grunted in fury, pushing myself to my knees as he evaporated the spell. “I need to talk to her. You’ve had your blood, now fuck off.”

  Orion’s eyes sharpened like knives. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  I snorted. “Oh you’re not, are you? Well I’ll take Darcy with me. She’s my Omega. I need to have some wolf words with her, sir.”

  Orion put himself between us and Darcy caught his arm, leaning around him. I looked between the two of them with a frown, feeling like I was missing something here.

  Orion pushed her aside and she stumbled back. “Go to the beach, Miss Vega.”

  “No – wait,” I begged. Shit, what was that pleading tone I’d just used? That didn’t sound like me. It kept pouring out though. “Talk to me for five minutes, Darcy. That’s it. I won’t touch you.”

  Orion went to object but Darcy stepped in. “Go ahead, but you can say it in front of Professor Orion, too.”

  I sighed heavily. “Fine. But back up.” I pointed at him and his hands curled into fists. He did not move.

  Darcy gave him a look of encouragement and he growled as he marched away several feet to give us some space. I knew he’d hear us with his fucking bat ears, but whatever. He was just some dried-up-dreams teacher who would bow at my feet one day.

  I drew my shoulders back, the moonlight throbbing against my back. “I broke up with Kylie,” I told her, lifting my chin with a hopeful smile.

  “Oh right,” she said, folding her arms, having barely any reaction to that.

  The fuck was with her?

  “The moon drives you toward the people you want most. I know it’s fucking crazy because I’m gonna be your enemy again tomorrow, babe, but you must feel this too. The moon is making you hot for me, right?”

  Orion shifted in my periphery, but I ignored him. I wasn’t doing shit wrong. He could stand there like a perverted tree listening in on his students if he wanted to, didn’t matter to me. He could stay there while I screwed Darcy into next week too if he fancied. Not my issue.

  Darcy’s eyes widened and I took in her dilated pupils with a deep, burning lust in my core. Yeah, she was so into me right now.

  “I don’t know how to make myself clearer to you, Seth. I’m not interested. The moon is not driving me anywhere near you.”

  Orion released a breath of laughter and a snarl left my throat. Rejection cascaded through me as I took in the hard wall in her eyes. The one that firmly said no to me.

  “Liar,” I spat and she raised her hands to defend herself. Not that I was gonna do shit. Not tonight. But fuck her. Fuck her so fucking hard. I was Seth Capella. How dare she make a fool of me?

  “I know what you did,” I said in a deadly tone.

  Her eyes flickered for a moment. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  I stepped forward, sensing Orion moving in my periphery. I looked to him with a sn
eer. “Why don’t you go back to your fucking job, sir?”

  He squared his shoulders at me and I wondered how much trouble I’d be in if I started pounding on him.

  I moved closer to Darcy and felt her shield press against my skin. I lay my palms flat on it and ran my tongue up the dome of air.

  “That’s the last time you reject me, Omega.” I turned and marched away, heading back to the beach to find someone to get drunk with. Caleb came to mind and I howled to the sky, wishing his mom hadn’t made him go home for the Eclipse.

  I jogged down the track, trying to drag my mind away from Orion and Darcy up on the hill. But it was damn impossible. Something kept circling in my mind and I wasn’t sure if it was induced by the rum or not.

  If he bit her…where was the blood?

  I lay back on the sand and pushed my hands through it, carving little fissures all over its surface and trying to cool the ache in my flesh. I was hot. Too damn hot. And my back was burning more than everywhere else.

  I wriggled against the sand, trying to ease the feeling of need in my flesh because I didn’t know what I needed.

  Someone changed the music and a heady beat pulsed across the sand just as a shadow fell over me. I blinked up, trying to see who was blocking the light of the fire.

  “Galloping gorillas that sea is as chilly as a chestnut tonight,” Geraldine gasped, shaking her head back and forth like a dog and soaking me in icy droplets of salt water.

  I squealed, rolling away from her and getting to my feet to escape the deluge. She shimmied back into her underwear and started swaying her hips to the rhythm of the music.

  “Come and dance, Princess!” she called excitedly, raising her hands to the stars as the beat pulsed louder.

  Angelica and several more members of the Ass Club were returning from their dip in the sea too and Geraldine drew them all to her like moths to a flame, creating a dance floor out of sand and moonlight.

  Bodies swayed and writhed before the light of the fire and I watched it with an ache in my soul like I wanted to stride straight into the flames.

  I took a step forward, tilting my head as the fire seemed to whisper to me, promising me something I’d been waiting for, begging me to come a little closer...

  A hand caught mine and before I really knew what was happening, I was twirled in a circle, my skirt flaring out around me for a moment before I was pulled into the group of dancing bodies.

  Geraldine, tugged me close, her front pressing to my back as she encouraged me to start moving to the rhythm of the beat.

  A laugh escaped me as I gave in to her demands, pushing my fingers through my hair as I let the moon draw me into its power.

  The more I gave myself to the dance, the sharper the ache in me grew. It needed something...I needed something.

  More bodies shifted closer to me and hands brushed against my arms, my neck, my thighs. The touch was gentle, innocent but desperate too. Like we were all building towards some great crescendo but no one knew what.

  My breaths started to come heavier, my hands trailing over my own body and painting lines of fire on my skin everywhere I touched. But it wasn’t enough.

  Geraldine started laughing and the sound was thick and heady with lust. I turned to look up at her, finding Max Rigel’s arms around her waist. My lips parted in surprise but he didn’t seem to be using his gifts on her, if anything it looked more like he was under her spell.

  They started grinding against each other and I half wondered if this was somehow a part of his plans. But tonight didn’t feel like the kind of night that could be messed with. The moon made the rules, not the Heirs, and I decided to trust in its judgement as I shifted away to give them space.

  I bit my lip as I slipped between the crowd of bodies, my eyes flicking across familiar faces and strangers alike. Some guys reached out to me as I passed them, some girls too, an offer in their gaze which I could have taken up as easily as breathing. But they weren’t what I needed. I needed something else, something darker, fiercer, hotter...

  I was searching and I didn’t know what I was looking for. Only that when I found it this fire in me might be satisfied.

  I closed my eyes, pushing between the bodies and letting the moon guide my feet as the music pounded through my flesh like a war drum. It was setting me free, sending me home, guiding me towards...

  My eyes fell open and I took a deep breath of smoky air, the tang of salt dancing across my lips. I’d left the dancers behind and the fire was to my back as I looked towards the dark cliffs.

  The strangest sense of urgency filled me and I started to move away from my friends. I kicked my shoes off, feeling the sand shift between my toes as I walked towards the water, following the curve of the shore as I walked along the edge of the sea. Waves lapped over my feet, cooling the heat which simmered inside me a little but not nearly enough.

  The sound of the music faded away behind me until I was alone with the crash of the sea and the song of the moon which tainted the air with an almost tangible feeling of expectation.

  The cliffs drew closer to the shore the further I walked, until eventually a rocky outcrop jutted out into the water, blocking my way on as the waves splashed against it.

  A prickle ran up my spine and I was struck with the certainty that I wasn’t alone anymore. The moon had brought someone to me or maybe it had brought me to them.

  I turned slowly, looking back towards the cliff as my skin shivered with anticipation.

  Darius stepped out of the shadows and I stood looking at him as he approached me.

  The wind picked up, my hair billowing around me on a breeze filled with starlight which caressed every exposed inch of my flesh. My dress fluttered against my thighs, heat spiralling along the sensitive skin there as if it was him touching me.

  He stopped about a meter from me, the silver glow of the moon highlighting every sharp angle of his features. His chest was bare and his tattoos almost seemed to pulse for a moment, like the creatures painted on his flesh were coming to life tonight too.

  “I’ve been watching you,” he said slowly.

  My heart beat a little faster at that confession and I tilted my head at him, my hair spilling over my shoulder and drawing goosebumps along my skin in the process. Darius observed the movement like he was starving for it, like anything and everything I did now was fascinating to him.

  “Why?” I asked slowly, needing his answer like I needed to draw breath.

  “Because that’s what I do,” he said slowly. “I watch you and hunger for you and ache for you. It torments me like I torment you.”

  The fire in my veins burned hotter at that confession and I shifted in the sand, biting down on my lip as I looked up at him. His gaze lingered on my mouth and the ache in my shoulders heightened to the point of pain for a moment before fading beneath my flesh again.

  “Then why do it?” I asked. “Why not just look away?”

  “I’d find it easier to carve my eyes out than I would to stop them landing on you.”

  My stomach knotted up and I took half a step closer to him.

  “So don’t stop,” I breathed, my heart pounding recklessly in my chest.

  “You don’t want me to?” he questioned, his gaze burning into mine.

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that. I knew I should have wanted him to look away, I should have wanted him as far away from me as possible but no matter what he did to me I felt like I kept ending up back here. Something about him just drew me in all over again like I was a glutton for the punishment he inflicted on me, like every blow he dealt me was a caress. I must have been insane to want to pull him closer instead of pushing him away but I couldn’t keep denying what I wanted. Even if it did damn me.

  “I want...” I said, unsure how to begin to put words to all the things I wanted from him.

  Darius was watching me like my answer to this question was the only thing that mattered to him in all the world.

  I dropped his eye, turning to look out over
the water at the moon which hung low and fat in the sky. It was whispering secrets on the wind, nudging my heart to accept what it needed even though the thought of it sent fear skittering through me too.

  I backed up a step and Darius followed, his gaze capturing mine as I moved again.

  “Tell me,” he begged, his steps mirroring mine until I found my back against the black cliff wall. Nowhere left to run. And I was glad.

  I swallowed a lump in my throat but I had no words left. I could only look up at him in the moonlight as he drew ever closer, the gap between us narrowing down until I could feel the emptiness of the space dividing us like a great chasm which needed to be crossed.

  Darius shifted closer still, his breath dancing across my jaw, the heat of his body rolling over me and causing my fingers to ache with longing as I held them still at my sides.

  Darius reached out for me and gently brushed a lock of my hair behind my ear. Only his fingertips touched me but the path they carved into my skin was pure sin.

  A breath echoed down into my lungs, the taste of smoke and cedar caressing my tongue as the essence of him enveloped me.

  He towered over me, his fingers flexing to brush the back of my hand in the tiniest touch which sent fireworks bursting through my flesh.

  I looked up at him, my cheek grazing against his rough jaw. My gaze fixed with his. Less than nothing separated us from each other and for a moment endless possibilities opened up before us.

  “Do you think you could ever forgive me for the things I’ve done to you?” Darius breathed, his fingertips trailing up my side and lighting fire in their wake.

  We were barely touching at all and yet my body was alive with need and longing. I arched my back slightly, my breaths coming quicker as his hand slowly moved to cup my cheek.

  I looked into his dark eyes, the sound of the waves crashing heavily behind him and the cold air enveloping us both.

  Perhaps I was wrong, but in that moment every piece of me was aching for him, needing him to be all the things I wished he would be.

  My lips parted but I didn’t speak. I nodded slowly, holding his eye.