A Tail of Woah: A Reverse Harem Academy Tail (The Fox and the Hounds Book 1)

by Jacquelyn Faye

  As soon as she was free, I rolled her over and the rip in space vanished with a pop. The front of her shirt was soaked in blood, but luckily, she was right-handed. My blade pierced her chest on the opposite side of her heart. My flames had even cauterized the wound. She wasn't dead, but she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, either.

  The walls fell and everyone rushed into the room. The twins converged on their sister, checking that she was still breathing. I was worried they would hate me–Rome even more than he already did–when they both looked up and nodded, knowing I had little choice. I gave them a sad smile before running over to David.

  He was warm to the touch and breathing normally. I cried out in happiness as I leaned down and kissed him. When my lips touched his, they started moving and he kissed me back. "Kaede?"

  "You better not be surprised it was me kissing you, Sleeping Beauty."

  "Where am I? How did I get here? Why are you bleeding?"

  "Long story. For later. Let's get the hell out of here," I said, chuckling at my own joke.

  Helping him up, I slipped under his shoulder and walked him to the others. "Geri, help him."

  "Yes, Kaede." She slipped under his other arm and he blinked in surprise seeing Sabine's buddy helping me.

  "Long story," I said again to quell his confusion. "Let's get out of here."

  The temple began to rumble, feeling like an earthquake had spawned beneath it. The sound of the ground tearing prodded everyone to run. One of the twins scooped his sister up and led the way.

  "What in the hell?"

  "Exactly." Hiroki nodded and grabbed my hand, dragging me behind David and Geri.

  Please don't let me have woken Fenrir. Please don't let me have woken Fenrir.

  "It's Hel," the other twin said from the ledge of the temple, looking down at the ground below. One giant paw had sprung from the ground and the other was trying to tear its way out. They weren't wolf paws. They were the paws of a hellhound. The largest hellhound I could have possible imagined. It had torn a quarter of the city apart as it tried to free itself from beneath.

  "Is there another way out?" I asked, but the only person who might have known the answer was passed out in her brother's arms.

  "Maybe," the other twin said and pulled a box from his blazer jacket. "A little insurance for a safe retreat, your uncle said." He opened the box and reached inside, pulling out a flute carved in the likeness of a dragon. He put it to his lips, dropping the box, and blowing a pure tone that echoed through the entire cavern.

  "What do we do now?" I asked after he finished playing the dragon whistle.

  "We wait? He didn't say what it did, just to blow it if we needed it."

  For the first time in my fucking life, I refrained from making a joke. I was too scared to be funny. Hel had ripped open the earth enough to fit her big ugly doggy head through and I didn't want to end up god puppy chow.

  I doubted the whistle would work. We were in a cavern, kami knows how deep, below an active volcano. There was no way Uncle Tatsuo would be flying in to save our asses from the jaws of doom.

  "Look," the twin holding Sabine said, nodding at Hel.

  With a resigned sigh, I looked over the ledge. I expected her to be ready to pounce, but she howled in rage as serpentine coils wrapped themselves around her, pulling her back into the earth.

  "Jormungandr?"

  They both shook their heads. "Fafnir," they answered reverently.

  The story flooded into my brain. Fafnir was the son of a dwarf king that had been turned into a dragon when he donned a cursed ring… Made sense why there was a dragon underground in the pits of Helheim.

  "Let's get the fuck out of here," I said deadpan and headed for the stairs, wanting nothing more than to get back to school. Even I saw the irony in that.

  Epilogue

  "Come on in," I said and held the door open, too tired for words.

  Remy walked in, smiling at me, and I could almost feel the love pouring off him in waves. "You were amazing."

  I blushed. I couldn't believe we had actually done it. Thanks to Uncle Tatsuo. He had beamed and pumped his fist as we sat in his office, regaling him with our tale. He simply nodded when we had told him about Hel emerging from the ground, almost as if he had been expecting it. That had been the reason he had sent along the Flute of Fafnir.

  Of the twins' mother, there was still no trace. But Uncle Tatsuo seemed to still not be worried about her absence. I chalked it up to him sending her somewhere and not wanting to tell us about it. Not that I liked her or anything, but the twins were worried, and that bothered me. Especially with their sister locked up in the school dungeon, a dungeon I didn't even know existed. I might have been a little more well behaved if I had. Good deterrent. "Go to class, don't be an asshole, or we'll throw you in the dungeon." Way better than detention.

  David was resting comfortably in the infirmary wing. He had woken up but was still suffering side effects from whatever spell Sabine had him under for so long. The nurse, whatever she was, seemed to think he would be fine but wanted to keep him under observation. I was a little disappointed. I wanted my David spoons. And forks. Thankfully my wounds were quick to heal and I was more than ready for him to be released. Once I got a good night's sleep.

  Geri's roommate, Steph, would be having detention from now until the end of the school year, but she wasn't going to be expelled or thrown in the dungeon. She counted herself lucky, apologized again to me, almost earnestly, and swore not to have anything to do with Sabine again until the day she died. She also would be on guard duty for a very long time. They'd even contracted another couple of hellhounds, not wanting to rely on the students since Fenrir was much more coherent than he'd been in the history of forever. I thought it was a damn fine idea, especially since it freed one of my boyfriends up at night.

  "You wish to be alone?"

  I sighed and kind of wanted to throttle Hiroki. Sometimes, he was just too damn considerate. "Hiroki, I never want you to feel like you have to run off. You're a part of me, too."

  He nodded and relaxed on his bed. I was too tired to get frisky, anyway.

  "Sit," I told Remy, motioning to my bed.

  He plopped down, just as tired as I was, and leaned back against the headboard. I crawled back against him, leaning back against his chest and sighing comfortably, wishing my bathrobe was a little thinner. The heat from his chest was almost overwhelming and I was still a little damp from the shower.

  "You smell amazing," he said into my ear.

  I smiled, leaned back, and kissed his chin.

  We might have been tired, but not too exhausted to kiss. His hand cupped my cheek and tilted me toward him. I rolled on my side and let him devour my mouth with his. I couldn't help myself, with the excitement of everything coming to a temporary close, I was giddy and happy.

  There was a knock at the door. Of fucking course, there is.

  "I shall get it." Hiroki got up from his bed and answered it. A moment later, he was back into the room with Rome.

  Embarrassed, I rolled back over and made sure I was covered with my robe. Didn't need him seeing my drooling Kaede bits. The kiss was hot. "Hey, Rome. How you feeling?"

  He blinked at me in confusion and looked up at his brother questioningly. I felt him shrug beneath me.

  "Remy?"

  Faux-Rome nodded.

  I turned around behind me and Rome had a startled look on his face. "I thought you knew it was me?"

  "You asshole!" I pinched his nipple.

  "Kaede… I swear to you upon my very soul, I thought you knew it was me! I would never impersonate my brother to get closer to you."

  "Wait. So, kissing me. You thought I was into you, too?"

  "You're not?"

  Oh, boy. "Rome…"

  He blushed but didn't get angry. "I'm sorry."

  "Rome…"

  "Please, Kaede. Don't make this any more embarrassing than it already is. I don't think I can take it. I am truly sorry."

&nb
sp; "Rome!"

  "Kaede!"

  "Rome!" I was done playing and locked both of his nipples between the thumb and forefinger of each of my hands.

  He stared at me blankly.

  "It's okay."

  "Could you let go of my nipples now?"

  Remy was sitting on Roki's bed, next to him. They had parked their butts to watch the Kaede and Rome Show. They were both wiping their eyes. They both seemed to have trouble breathing.

  "Well, I need to get going." Rome almost gently pushed me away from him and stood up, heading for the door. His retreat just caused Roki and Remy to laugh harder.

  "Laugh it up, Jerky Boys," I said after narrowing my eyes at the pair.

  "Jerky boys? As in dried meat?" Remy looked so confused.

  "No. As in…" I made a male masturbatory gesture with my hand. "You can use lotion, so your meat doesn't get dried out, but you ain't getting nothing from me tonight!" I lurched off the bed to stop Rome from running away. He had already made it through the door and I shot out behind him, grabbing a fistful of blazer in my hand.

  The door clicked shut behind me and we were alone in the hallway. I didn't know what to say to him. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine."

  Closing my eyes, I shook my head and let my forehead press against his chest. I couldn't look him in the eye. "I didn't know."

  "I know. We're twins. It's not your fault."

  "That's not what I'm talking about. I didn't know you were into me. You caught me completely off guard."

  "And you don't like me…"

  "Want the truth?"

  "No. It's okay, little fox. I understand… I wasn't exactly nice to you."

  Hearing the hurt in his voice, I finally did lift my head. "I wasn't exactly nice to you either. You tripped my asshole sensors the first time I met you. But don't run away mad. It's not that I don't like you, and I mean that in a purely I don't want to stab you in the face with a rubber dick kind of way. We went from enemies to frenemies. Somewhere along the lines we finally became friends, and I was actually really happy about that. With that said, I wouldn't be opposed to becoming…something more."

  "You wouldn't?"

  "Why would I? You're hot, when you're not scowling at me in frustration. You're nice, when you're not being mean to me. You're sweet, when you're not being a sourpuss–"

  "I get it!"

  "Do you? I know the Rome under all that crusty exterior and grumpy interior, is someone I could definitely see myself kinda falling in love with. One day. Not, today. Maybe next week, maybe next year. Maybe before we graduate. Maybe before global warming floods the planet and we all drown–"

  It was hard to continue when he leaned down and silenced me with a soft kiss. "You talk way too damn much, little fox."

  "And you don't talk enough, you dumb dog."

  "Fair enough. So, friends for now and we'll work on things before we go any further?"

  "That's a good plan. I like this plan." I stood on my tiptoes and grinned at him. "We'll call that plan 29-D!"

  "I thought 29-D was you fall madly in love with me."

  "Silly dog. That's 29-E. We have to get through the D first…"

  He smiled at me, turned and headed for the stairs. I was grateful that I had run after him and we'd gotten through our little misunderstanding. He was learning. Never rush a kitsune. We did things at our own pace, in our own time. Leaning against the door to my bedroom, I smiled at his retreating back. There were also things I needed to learn. Like which Lateran brother was which. That was causing way too many embarrassing, make Kaede blush moments.

  I fucking hate being embarrassed, I thought as the door to my bedroom opened and I fell inside.

  Author's Note

  Reviews are important for new authors and I greatly appreciate everyone who takes a moment to leave one, even a line or two! Thank you so much for reading my reverse harem series! I'm writing away and more books will be out soon!

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  About the Author

  A late comer to the writing game, Jacquelyn had always been a fan of romance novels and lately become addicted to the reverse harem category. I mean seriously, who wouldn't? Sitting alone one night she flipped open her laptop and said, "I'm going to give this a whirl." And thus, the Lovin' the Coven series was given life. She has designs on other series as well, but only time shall tell.

  As for her, she is five-foot-something, with graying hair, wicked eyes, an eager smile, and an annoying laugh. She lives at home with her dog, a cat, and that is about all she is comfortable sharing.

  Connect with Jacquelyn

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  Other Works

  Lovin' the Coven Series

  First Moon

  Second Blood

  Third Charm

  Fourth Rite

  Fifth Essence

  Sixth Sense (Coming Soon!)

  The Fox and the Hounds Series

  A Tail of Woah

  A Tail of Two Kitties (Coming Soon!)