Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

Seth howled as he ran, his hands cupped around his mouth and the sound making adrenaline spill through my core as I raced back and forth alongside him, casting more and more illusions of people running from the ruins of the Nebular Inquisition Centre as I prayed to the moon that Max, Xavier and the others had managed to get the real prisoners away.

“Long live the rebellion!” Seth yelled, a laugh tumbling from his throat as Lionel roared so loudly the earth rumbled beneath our feet.

The jade green Dragon released a powerful stream of Dragon fire in our direction and I shot towards Seth as it was directed his way, catching his hand and lending him my magic as he threw a powerful air shield up at our backs, shielding our false crowd of escapees as well to maintain the illusion.

The rush of his magic tumbling through my veins made me suck in a sharp breath as I felt the solid power of his earth magic along with the pure and wild freedom of his air.

Seth threw a grin my way as I kept hold of his hand and I pulled on the connected thread of our power and urged it my way instead. He followed my lead, pushing his power into me and the rush of it made me heady as I threw a hand out and blasted Lionel with the full force of my fire magic, hiding sharp arrowheads cast from stone within the flames as he rushed towards my attack without even trying to avoid it, believing his fireproof hide would be enough to protect him.

A furious roar burst from his lips as the arrowheads pierced the scales lining his face and I whooped in victory as my Phoenix blade was knocked free and I shot beneath his scaley belly, catching it before it could hit the ground.

I tugged Seth on, glancing back and finding blood dripping down the Dragon king’s face as he turned and wheeled away from us, charging across the night sky with a bellow of rage as I caught sight of the Nymph army taking chase after us.

My victory crow was short lived as I caught sight of the shadow bitch tearing through the sky behind him on a cloud of darkness, her hair and shadowy clothes whipping out around her and revealing her naked body in flashes of pale skin piece by piece. There was a black crown upon her head which seemed to seep darkness deeper than the night itself into the air surrounding her.

Her face was set in a furious mask, and I gritted my teeth as I drew on all the magic in my possession, holding it ready for an attack as she swooped closer.

I called fire to my fist once more, using the added might of Seth’s power to make it burn hotter and hotter and yanking him around to stand and face her as she flew closer.

“Let’s see her burn, Cal,” he growled, his tone all Wolf as he drove the power of his magic into me even harder and she swept straight for us.

Lavinia shrieked as she raised her hands too and I launched the fireball at her just as she threw her shadows at us.

The combination of the attacks collided with a tremendous boom, the shockwave slamming into us so hard that we were flung from our feet and tossed backwards into the air.

Seth kept hold of me as we were thrown away and he took hold of the air which surrounded us at the last moment, slowing our fall just enough for me to throw my hand out and command the ground to soften at our backs.

We hit it hard and bounced against the spongy texture of the soil, our hands wrenched apart by the impact as I was sent rolling away across the ground.

My concentration broke for a moment and the illusion of the escaping crowd flickered in and out of existence. It was only for a fraction of a second, but the roar of feral fury Lionel emitted was enough to let me know he’d seen it.

I cursed as I realised I’d fucked our entire plan, but before I could figure out how the hell we were going to keep the attention of our enemies now, Lavinia released a shriek of agony so loud that I swear the sky rattled from the force of it.

“Our Heir!” she screamed, shadows wrapping around her as she launched herself up and into the air, shooting towards Lionel and abandoning her fight with us like she’d forgotten it entirely.

I pushed to my feet and raced over to join Seth, offering him a hand and tugging him upright as Lionel turned his furious gaze our way once more. But as he beat his wings and bared his fangs at us, he suddenly jerked around, turning away again, his shadow claw held out before him like there was some invisible tether lashed to it which forced him to head after Lavinia instead of pursuing his fight with us.

“Oh my stars,” Seth breathed. “We just scared them away.”

Half a laugh tumbled from my lips as we watched our enemies retreating, Lionel roaring furiously as he flew away, but I didn’t get the impression that that was what had happened.

As Lionel made it to Lavinia’s side there was a flash of stardust and the two of them disappeared into the grip of the stars, the oppressive feeling of the shadows lifting as she disappeared and leaving me to draw in a ragged breath of relief.

“I’m guessing they just figured out that the palace is under attack,” I muttered, concern for our friends eating at me as I watched the sky for a moment before the howl of a Wolf caught my attention and I looked back towards the ruins of the Nebular Inquisition Centre where the FIB were still on the hunt.

Nymphs raced towards us too and my heart lifted as I realised they were all still fooled by the illusion we’d created and that the others must have cloaked the real rebels and made it away from here as planned.

“Wanna lead the authorities on a merry little dance?” Seth asked, his eyes glimmering with mischief as he looked at me in the starlight and I smirked at him as I nodded, turning back towards the illusion of our escapees who were all still running and screaming in the opposite direction to the real Fae who were hopefully well on their way to The Burrows by now.

“Let’s see how well I do as the prey instead of the hunter,” I agreed, concentrating on my illusion and raising the volume of the sound they were making so that any Vampires who happened to be working for the Fae Investigation Bureau would be sure to hear them.

Seth cast an illusion around us, making it appear that we were nothing more than a patch of long grass to the side of the road, and my fangs tingled as I waited for them to come.

It took no more than a few seconds for the Vampires to arrive, six of them shooting across the open field towards the town where I’d sent my illusions running, their uniforms marking them out as first line agents.

But as they got close to passing us, I closed my fist, making the ground fall away from them in a massive crater, the screams of one of them filling the air while the others fought to save themselves instead of panicking.

Seth took full advantage of their distraction, flicking his fingers and stealing the air from their lungs as he raised them up to hang before us and we stepped out of our hiding place.

The agent closest to us widened her eyes as she thrashed and kicked against the magic which held her while the man to her right had the cheek to throw a spear of wood our way.

I dismissed the attack with a flick of my wrist and grinned at the six of them with my fangs on show, reminding them that they were in the presence of the most powerful Vampire of my generation as I tied them with vines of my creation.

The moment they were fully restrained by my earth magic, Seth let them breathe and dropped them on their asses on the far side of the huge crater I’d torn into the ground.

“Y-you’re Caleb Altair,” one of the men gasped, looking all kinds of fucking terrified which was actually a pretty nice ego boost.

“We’re just doing our jobs,” a woman pleaded, her wide eyes fixed on me.

“I’m also here,” Seth growled, drawing their attention for a moment but they all quickly looked back to me.

“Don’t take offence, buddy. It’s a Vampire thing,” I teased him and he growled like a Wolf, letting me know he was less than impressed about that. But I’d been with him around Werewolves plenty of times and had literally been shoved aside as they fought over the opportunity to suck his cock first, so this was nothing.

“Seems like everything’s a Vampire thing these days,” he muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked with a frown.

“You know what I mean. Me and Lance were supposed to be building a BFF moon friends bond and you and me already had our special only for us bond, but then you two had to go getting cosy in that temple and now I’m the odd Wolf out while you giggle about blood and biting and…fangs all the damn time.”

I arched a brow at him. “Are you jealous?” I asked and he huffed out a breath.

“No. What gave you that impression?”

“Umm…Mr Altair?” one of the FIB agents breathed and I turned back to look at them. “Are you going to kill us?”

A howl sounded from across the field and I looked past the agents we’d caught to see the second wave racing our way, Werewolves, Nemean Lions, Monolrian Bears and Manticores charging towards us in shifted form, taking up the hunt. Beyond them the Nymphs were charging our way too, but they were cumbersome and built for strength over speed so I wasn’t too concerned about them reaching us.

“No, we aren’t going to kill you,” I said, looking down at the agents before us once more. “I’m passing on a message. The false king will fall and those who stood beside him will be remembered. If you want to keep your positions once we reclaim our kingdom then I suggest you give some serious thought to aligning yourselves with the rebellion.”

“And you can tell that to your boss as well,” Seth added.

They all stared up at us in wide eyed fear like they didn’t believe we were really going to just leave them there, but I wasn’t going to start killing FIB agents when I had a choice in the matter. Besides, they were just doing their jobs by following the rule of the king, so I figured they could have this one chance to realise that they needed to follow more than just the line of command if they wanted to end up on the right side of this war.

I flashed them a grin which was all fang and they blanched as they were forced to bow their heads to my position of power above them then I shot towards Seth, tossed him over my shoulder and sped away into the night before the second wave could arrive – or worse, the Nymphs.

I raced away into the streets of the town where we’d sent our illusions running, taking control of them again. I made them scatter so that they didn’t all just disappear at once and the FIB would be kept busy trying to hunt them down for long enough to be certain that the others had time to escape and make it to The Burrows.

Once I was sure the false trails had been left well enough to keep them distracted, I took the small pinch of stardust we’d brought with us from my pocket and tossed it over our heads.

We arrived back at The Burrows in a flash of starlight and I let Seth down again, my attention caught by the sight of the Storm Dragon breaking through the clouds overhead and coming in to land.

I spotted my cousin riding on his back before noticing the countless tiny creatures who covered his scales too.

Dante landed on the hill beside the forcefield and I watched as what must have been a hundred Tiberian Rats in their shifted forms all scrambled to climb off of him, scurrying down his legs and making it to the ground in a wave of rodents so thick that I was afraid to move in case I stepped on any of them.

A flash of light drew my attention and I turned as Geraldine, Darius and Orion appeared, looking more than a little worse for wear with blood splattering them all and black ichor coating both Darius and Orion, but the victorious looks on their faces let me know this whole thing had been a success.

Gabriel swept overhead, his smug grin telling me all I needed to know about how well that had just gone, and as Washer started calling out for all the new arrivals to follow tight on his tail to get inside, I decided I didn’t need to linger out here any longer than was necessary.

I jerked my chin to let the others know where I was headed, and Darius nodded his agreement as I caught Seth’s arm and nudged him towards The Burrows.

“Are you good?” he asked me as we carefully stepped over Tiberian Rats and passed through the protective barrier, almost colliding with Hamish Grus as he came jogging out with boxes of clothes ready and waiting for the Shifters to use once they returned to their Fae forms.

“Yeah man, thanks to you,” I said, knocking my arm against his and he smiled as he bumped against me in return, nuzzling his head against the side of my chin and bringing a smile to my face as we walked.

“I was pretty heroic, wasn’t I?” he mused, pushing his fingers into his long hair which was tangled with at least as much dirt as I could feel clinging to mine. 

“Shall we head to the bathhouse?” I suggested as we walked through the farmhouse and he opened the hidden door behind the grandfather clock, holding it wide for me to pass through before moving to walk right beside me again once we entered the tunnels.

It was weird how much I accepted his Wolfy ways really, enjoying the feeling of him brushing against me as we walked instead of distancing myself from him like I would have done with pretty much any other Fae. But with Seth it was different. I liked it. And as I thought about the risks we’d taken today and how many more we would likely face before the end of this war, I couldn’t help but fear losing him. 

We made it to the bathhouse and I yanked off the torn remains of my shirt, dropping my pants next and glancing over my shoulder at Seth as I didn’t hear the sound of him undressing behind me.

My gaze locked with his and my skin prickled at the heat in his eyes as I caught him running his attention over my back, trailing it down to my ass before snapping his gaze up to meet my eyes.

“Are you checking me out?” I teased, my blood heating a little at that idea.

Seth’s lips twitched then he raised his chin, jerking a nod at me and just owning his behaviour like it didn’t mean anything.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know how hot you are, Cal,” he said. “I doubt there’s a man or woman in Solaria who hasn’t fantasied about you.”

“Including you?” I asked, the words coming unbidden to my lips and making Seth’s brows rise as I caught him off guard with the question.

But before I could get my answer, Darius, Orion, Xavier and Max strode into the room, all of them loudly discussing what they’d been through tonight as they began to strip down and Seth tore his attention from me, placing it on them instead.

I moved across the pool, sinking into the hot water and sighing as tension ran from my flesh as I let myself relax.

I dipped beneath the surface, grabbing a washalilie and scrubbing it through my curls as I worked to get the muck and dirt free of them.

By the time I came up for air, the others were all in the water too, scrubbing the evidence of battle from their skin and still swapping tales.

I listened to Max and Xavier describing the panicked dash across the wilderness to get the bigger Shifters back here while my gaze trailed to Seth who was struggling to scrub all of the dirt from his long hair. A frustrated whimper escaped him as he worked and the third time he swore at the tangles, I took pity on him, knowing he was used to his pack grooming him and shit like that and I knew he’d been missing them a hell of a lot since we’d arrived in this place.

“Come here,” I said, catching his elbow to get his attention and tugging him towards me as I took the foaming flower from his hand and turned him away from me so that I could help him.

“Seriously?” he asked, giving me the puppy eyes over his shoulder and I nodded indulgently, casting a brush into my palm with my earth magic and coating that with the suds from the washalilie before starting work on combing the tangles from his long, dark hair.

“There was some fucked up shadow creature in the palace,” Darius said as he scrubbed at the black ichor which seemed to be clinging to his skin like oil and Orion was struggling with the same problem.

“Really?” Seth asked curiously. “Like a big hairy shadow beast that likes to prey on the souls of the irritating? Killing Karens everywhere and bringing an end to their reign of boring fucker nonsense?”

“That might have been less creepy,” Orion replied dryly. “This thing was the size of a man with a face that looked weirdly like Darius and Xavier. It was scuttling about like some kind of spider, clinging to the ceilings and shit.”

“What the fuck?” I asked, yanking a little too hard on Seth’s hair and quickly apologising as he whimpered.

“What was it?” Max asked, his brow furrowing.

“I don’t even want to know. But we killed it good so whatever it was, it isn’t anymore,” Darius said, his lip curling back in distaste.

“Lavinia and Lionel left the fight in a hurry and she was screaming like a stuck pig on Christmas Day,” I said thoughtfully. “You think that thing was connected to her? Like a manifestation of the shadows?”

“Well, if it was then that’s only more evidence of her power growing. So thank fuck we got hold of that shadow eye. Hopefully now we can track down the rest of the rifts and close them, cutting her off from her power and leaving the two of them vulnerable at last,” said Orion.

“Yeah. Then I can kill my father and Roxy can get her ass back in my arms where she belongs,” Darius said with a growl.

“Shit man, you’re taking this possessive stuff a bit far. I mean, I know you’re missing her and I’m guessing going cold turkey on all the sex you guys had been having has to suck, but you need to hold it together,” I said. “What’s a few months in the grand scheme of things?”

Darius pushed his tongue into his cheek, smoke coiling from between his teeth before he blew out a harsh breath and banished it.

“I just spent a long fucking time thinking I’d never be able to have her,” he said with a shrug, his hand going to his shoulder where the flames of the Phoenix tattooed on his back were just visible. “I don’t like wasting the time we’ve got.”

Seth howled and Max reached out to brush his hand against Darius’s arm, sending a wave of relaxing emotions from his body which struck us even more potently through the water.

I sighed as I let his gifts take effect on me too, dropping my mental barriers and letting him push that feeling into me, wanting to loosen the knot of tension which seemed to have me tied up within it all the time recently. I had so much to worry about with most of my family still so close to Lionel, Hadley being groomed for a position on the Council which he was unlikely to ever take up and my mom in clear danger just because of how powerful she was. I wouldn’t put it past Lionel to turn on all of our families eventually, wanting to wipe out the lines of every Fae who was strong enough to pose a threat to him.

And on top of that, I was worried about my friends here. We were rebels, on the run from a mad man who had already issued each and every one of us with a death sentence if we were caught, and tonight we had come pretty damn close to meeting that fate.

So I let the lure of Max’s Siren gifts sink into my skin and bathed in that feeling of utter relaxation as I banished the brush in my hand and trailed my fingers through Seth’s hair instead. His posture stiffened in surprise as he glanced over his shoulder at me again.

“You want me to stop?” I asked, wondering if I was letting the Siren lure push me too far. It wouldn’t be the first time. When Max had first Emerged, he’d loved practicing on all of us and I’d gotten a little addicted to letting him use these kinds of gifts on me until my mom had realised and forced me to work harder at blocking him out. There was just something so fucking nice about letting a Siren sweep your worries and inhibitions aside though and now that I was confident in my abilities to push his influence back out again if I wanted to, I didn’t see the harm in indulging from time to time.

“Don’t stop,” Seth murmured and I continued to toy with his hair, a smile pulling at the corners of my lips.

Max smirked at me as he read my mood and he shifted, his navy scales rippling along his body and making me groan as the power of his magic intensified and my whole body felt like freaking jello as I relaxed even more, my eyes hooding with the feeling as I leaned against the edge of the pool and continued to play with Seth’s hair.

Seth glanced between me and Max, a grin finding his lips too before he lowered his shields as well and I watched as his pupils slowly dilated and he moved to lean against the edge of the pool beside me.

Max dipped beneath the water, disappearing for longer than he would have been able to in his Fae form as he revelled in the kiss of the liquid against his scales before surfacing on my other side and draping my arm around his shoulders.

“I’m pretty sure I should be pissed about this,” I muttered, feeling high as a fucking kite as he drew even more of my worries from my body, seeming to carve them right out of my bones and leaving me feeling so chilled that I was close to falling asleep.

Max just chuckled as he stole my magic like a total asshole, but I couldn’t summon the energy to care, concentrating on the feeling of Seth’s soft hair as I twisted it between my fingers and Orion started talking.

“Fuck, it’s been a long time since I let myself relax like this,” he muttered.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt this relaxed in all my life,” Darius sighed and that made me feel shitty for him for half a second before Max stole that away too.

“I love you guys,” Seth said dreamily. “Even you, Lance. I know that your snappy snaps are only ever meant with love.”

“They’re not,” Orion mumbled.

I breathed a laugh, my fingers, stroking through Seth’s hair before brushing against the back of his neck and I felt a tremor run through his body where his side was pressed to mine which made my sleepy smile widen.

“I was so cool today,” Xavier said sleepily. “Did you see how cool I was, guys?”

We all murmured agreements, a few snorts of laughter passing between us as we lazed in the fog of Siren magic, drinking in the taste of victory in the air.

“Well,” Geraldine’s voice called to me from beyond my chilled out bubble and I fought to get my eyelids to peel open again. “If I’d known there would already be so many salacious sausages at this party, I wouldn’t have brought more.”

The sound of her heavy metal breastplate hitting the floor made my eyes finally open and my brows went up as she whipped her shirt off and flashed all of us her huge tits without so much as a warning.

“By the stars,” Orion muttered but he was drowned out as a Max lunged away from me, cutting off his Siren gifts so suddenly that I felt like I’d just been punched in the dick as all of my own emotions and worries came slamming back into me with the force of a meteorite crashing into the earth.

“Fuck,” I wheezed and Seth howled beside me as Darius growled angrily.

Max leapt from the water so fast I could have mistaken him for a damn Vampire as he whipped a towel from the pile beside the door and wound it around her so tightly that her arms were pinned to her sides.

“What in tarnation and the name of the solitary sun beam do you think you are doing, you irksome eel?” Geraldine cried. “I need to wash the evidence of battle from my nipoleans and I won’t be ushered away by your flipper dippers!”

“Fine,” Max snarled. “The rest of you are done, so fuck off and let Gerry have a bath in peace.”

“Seriously?” I grumbled. “I’m not interested in her tits, no matter how nice they might be, dude. Does it really matter?”

“Don’t talk about her fucking tits,” Max hissed and I rolled my eyes, sensing defeat in the air as Darius gave in and got out of the water.

“Ooh, hotdogs!” Seth cried as he noticed the huge platter of food that Geraldine must have brought with her.

“Well, I thought we all deserved a victory feast after our delightful dalliances tonight,” Geraldine purred, her eyes sparking. “I am all of a fluster recounting the way I popped that shadowy eyeball right out of that dastardly scullion’s face and I want to rejoice in celebration.”

“The second you got naked it became a celebration for two,” Max said firmly. “So the rest of you assholes can take your food to go and fuck off.”

“Fine by me,” Orion said, shooting out of the water and wrapping himself in a towel while Max shielded Geraldine’s eyes, and she cursed him for stealing her visage of the man meat on show. He grabbed himself a hotdog and left, and kinda missed my sanguis frater already.

“Does that command include me?” Washer’s voice came from the water and I cried out in shock as I spotted him emerging from the centre of the pool, his cyan blue scales on display and his hair plastered to his scalp as he looked at us.

“Ahh!” Seth yelled in alarm. “How long were you under the fucking water?”

“Only a teeny weeny while,” Washer said, striding towards us with droplets rolling down his scales as Max quickly slapped a hand over Geraldine’s eyes to shield her from the sight of his shrivelled dick. “I hurried down here to wet my willy right after the battle. Did you expect me to announce myself when you all arrived?”

“Yes,” I barked instantly, wrapping a towel around my waist as the others hurried to do the same, and Xavier whinnied in alarm as he lost his grip on his.

“Oh I meant to say, Xavier, that is a mighty man package you have there,” Washer said as he looked right at his dick while he struggled to yank his towel back up, accidentally stepping on it in his haste and neighing in frustration as he fought to cover himself. “I counted all thirty sparkling gems in order of the rainbow front to back while I was dilly dallying beneath the waves.”

“Oh stars no,” Xavier gasped, managing to grasp his towel at last and taking off running out of the room without another room.

“Wait a moment, dear boy!” Washer called as he jumped from the water too, grabbing a peach coloured cock sock which he rolled on to cover his junk before taking off after Xavier and leaving us all behind in horrified silence. “I wanted to speak with you about proper cleaning practices for those shiny baubles!”

Xavier neighed in fright and I laughed as the sound of him tearing away was swiftly followed by a door slamming and Washer muttering something about the ungratefulness of the youth these days.

“Right,” Max said, looking to me, Darius and Seth as he continued to shield Geraldine’s body from us. “You three can fuck off now too.”

“Alright, alright,” I agreed, heading for the door as Geraldine batted his hands away.

“I spoke to dear Gabriel about the shadow eye,” she called after us. “He warns everyone to stay away from it until we can encase it in a night iron spyglass so that we can make use of it. If not, it will crawl right into your face, devour your own eye and take its place just like a wallysnapper in the dew. Be warned.”

“Fuck that,” I muttered, shuddering at the thought and happily taking her warning to avoid that thing until it was contained and even then, I was happy to let someone else look through the spyglass because I wasn’t risking it clawing its way into my fucking face for anything.

I followed Seth out of the room, grumbling about the way Max had just stolen my buzz as I took some hotdogs for myself.

I strode out of the bathhouse with Seth and Darius, the three of us quiet while we ate the food which was damn good, and we slowly made our way back to our rooms.

“Well, I’m gonna go and have a pity wank while cursing the stars for taking my girl away from me for fuck knows how long,” Darius joked as we made it to his room and I laughed, clapping him on the shoulder as I finished the last bite of my food.

“She’ll be back in no time, man. Then you can get back to making the rest of us feel like shit because you’re getting laid so fucking much while we suffer on with the bluest balls in the history of testicles.”

Seth barked a laugh and we walked on alone as Darius headed into his room, looking fucking miserable and making me wonder if there was something else bothering him. Though I guessed we all had plenty to be keeping us up at night, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that he was clearly worrying about things.

We made it to my bedroom door and I opened it, stepping inside and catching Seth’s hand as he tried to say goodnight.

A lump hitched in my throat as I looked down at his fingers caught between mine and I flicked my gaze up to his earthy brown eyes, hooking a smile onto my lips as I tilted my head in offering.

“I may or may not have a bottle of Orion’s bourbon in here,” I said, releasing my grip on his hand. “If you fancy celebrating the fact that we didn’t die tonight?”

“So you’re not just looking for an easy drink from my veins?” Seth teased, though he followed me inside all the same, closing the door behind him with a click that made my pulse spike.

“Not just that,” I agreed, my gaze shifting over his neck as I felt the dull ache in my fangs. Between the fight this evening and Max draining me, I was running pretty damn low, but in that moment, I was more interested in his company than his blood.

I turned away, moving across my room and grabbing some clothes from the closet, pulling on a pair of black jeans and tossing Seth some grey sweatpants. I turned my back on him, dropped my towel and dressed in a flash of speed. I didn’t bother with a shirt because it was always warm down here and as I spun back to face my best friend, my gaze caught on the V of his abs which dipped below his waistband.

I moved past him, grabbing the bottle of bourbon from my nightstand and taking a swig from the neck before holding it up to his lips. His throat bobbed as he swallowed a measure, taking the bottle from my grasp, his fingers brushing against mine. I released it slowly, my eyes still on him as he lowered the bottle, his lips wet with the liquor and drawing my focus.

“Did you see the look on Lionel’s face when you stuck him with your Phoenix dagger?” Seth asked, smirking at me as he offered me the bottle again and I took it, placing it on my nightstand instead of drinking and nodding as I dropped down to sit on my bed.

“He looked like he was gonna shit a fucking brick,” I laughed.

Silence fell between us and I frowned at the odd tension that grew in it. I’d noticed it more and more often recently, like a question that hung in the air between us, waiting for an answer I wasn’t sure I had. But as I looked at him again, the dark stubble lining his jaw and the strong cut of his muscles, I was starting to think I knew. I just wasn’t sure what the fuck I was supposed to do with that.

“I’ve been thinking of getting a tattoo,” he said abruptly, dropping down to lay on the bed beside me and breaking the silence like it had been assaulting him and he’d just had to do it.

“Oh yeah?” I asked, resisting the urge to look over his body as I considered that. “Of what?”

“A moon,” he said with a grin, and I snorted because I should have known that.

“Where?”

“That’s the problem – I can’t decide. Where do you think it would look best?” 

I ran my tongue over my teeth and slowly dropped my gaze to his chest, feeling like he’d just given me permission to do something I’d been fighting the urge to do since he’d moved into that position.

I reached out and brushed my finger against his pec, frowning as that didn’t seem right and trailing my hand to his bicep instead.

“Oh, I know,” I said as it came to me and I grabbed him suddenly, making him gasp as I flipped him over onto his front beneath me, moving to straddle him and sitting on his ass as I pressed his shoulders down into the bed. “Here,” I said, brushing his long hair aside and drawing the shape of a crescent moon on his skin with my fingertip right between his shoulder blades.

Seth’s skin peppered with goosebumps and a growl escaped him. But not a growl that was warning me off, more like one which was urging me on. But what was it that he wanted me to do?

I hesitated there, buying myself a moment by painting the shape of a moon onto his skin again, my gaze catching on his neck as he buried his face in the pillows and released another low growl which made my cock twitch as he fisted his hands in my sheets.

He looked fucking good like that, pinned beneath me and at my mercy.

I leaned in, my lips brushing his neck as my fangs snapped out and I breathed in the scent of him.

Seth stiffened beneath me as I pushed my face into his hair, my mouth grazing his neck as the need to bite him damn near overwhelmed me.

But before I could follow through on that urge, Seth bucked his hips and knocked me off of him so that I fell back on the mattress at his side.

“Is that what you want?” he demanded, standing suddenly, a growl on his lips as his chest heaved up and down and he glared at me with a silver glint in his eyes betraying the Wolf beneath his flesh. “My blood?”

“You know I want your blood,” I said, tilting my head to one side as I took in the anger in him, and I tried to figure out what had sparked it.

“And what else?” he asked. “Because every time I convince myself that this is enough for me, you do shit like this and I just…I don’t think I can keep on having my heart jerked about like a fucking yoyo not knowing if it means more, or…”

“Or what?” I asked, pushing, myself up to stand before him as he raked a hand through his long hair, his eyes full of anguish.

“Tell me what you want, Cal,” he begged, a whine in his throat which turned to snarl as I frowned, and he turned for the door angrily.

He gripped the handle and made a move to jerk it open, but I shot forward and tugged his hand away from it, stopping him.

“Don’t go,” I demanded, knowing I didn’t want him to leave even if I wasn’t sure about the rest of it.

Seth turned to me, his back pressing to the door as he looked into my eyes and I found myself caught in the intensity of his gaze.

“Bite me,” he demanded. “Take what you need from me and then I’ll go.”

I moved suddenly, gripping his biceps and shoving him back against the door as the monster in me rose to the surface of my skin at that offer, hungering for his blood with an intensity which almost owned me. 

But instead of lunging for his throat, I hesitated there, my gaze roaming over the thumping pulse in his neck before dropping down lower, drinking in the defined cut of his powerful body, skimming past that V which dipped down beneath his waistband and onto the pale grey material which clung to him in a way that made it impossible to miss the swell of his thick cock within it.

Suddenly something in me seemed to shift, something I’d been feeling but not thinking for so fucking long that it was like a light switching on inside my fucking dumb brain as I dragged my gaze back up to his once more, finding him watching me with this guarded look that made my throat tighten.

“I just haven’t been with anyone in a really long time,” he breathed, shifting like he was going to rearrange his dick in his pants, but I tightened my hold on his biceps to stop him. “And with my pack I got used to… Fuck, please don’t let me ruin us.”

I ignored his words, shifting a little close to him, my body eating up the space between us one tiny bite at a time as I leaned in, my attention falling to his throat once more as my fangs fucking ached for a taste of him.

“Please, Cal,” he said, the rough edge to his voice making every hair on my body stand on end as I leaned in a little more, coming closer and closer to crossing that divide between us which I hadn’t even realised I’d been yearning to tear apart. “Just take what you want,” he demanded again.

I shifted forward with a growl, dipping my head as I aimed for his throat, my fangs grazing his skin and making him tense in my hold in anticipation of the bite he thought was coming.

But he hadn’t demanded I bite him. He’d told me to take what I wanted and right now there was something I wanted far more powerfully than his blood, no matter how thirsty I was.

My mouth met with his skin as I flattened him against the door, our bodies pressing together in a way that had my fucking heart jack hammering at the newness of it, the promise, the temptation, the fucking danger. Because this was dangerous. This was free falling with no parachute or air magic in sight and hoping to hell there was a soft landing at the bottom because I knew there was no turning back from this line once I stepped over it. But I also knew I wasn’t going to be able to back off now.

I kissed Seth’s neck as I pinned him to the door, my fangs scratching against his flesh without piercing it as I held him there, tasting him and groaning as the most intoxicating feeling ran through my body in response. 

Seth fell still, his back ramrod straight as I kissed him again, running my tongue up the side of his neck and growling with desire as my dick hardened inside my jeans. 

Seth sucked in a breath as I moved my mouth to his jaw, still unmoving as I kissed him again, the rough scratch of stubble against my lips at once alien and exhilarating as I explored this new desire in me and found myself wanting more and more of it.

As I made it to the corner of his mouth, he cursed, the taste of his lips teasing me as I got the briefest brush of them against my own. But it wasn’t nearly enough.

“Fuck,” he murmured. “Stars, please don’t let this be a dream. Make it real. Make it-”

I silenced him as I turned my head and crossed that final barrier, ignoring the fact that he was my best friend and that I’d only ever hooked up with girls before, ignoring the fear that this might break something between us because I needed it too fucking much to let any pointless doubts like that take it from me.

Even so, the kiss I gave him was hesitant at first because I couldn’t help the one doubt from creeping in that could actually ruin this moment. Because if I’d read him wrong and he didn’t want this at all then there was a chance that he was about to push me away, tell me to stop, steal this fantasy before I’d even taken a moment to indulge in it. Maybe it really was a pack need that had been driving that lust in his eyes and it hadn’t been about me specifically, but I really fucking hoped that wasn’t it.

My lips met with his and I swear a fucking explosion went off in my body, every nerve ending firing off at once as a whole lifetime of loving him echoed through the foundations of who I was and twisted itself into this new beast, this perfect possibility which I was afraid to even put a name to.

But I didn’t need a name for what I wanted in that moment, because as my mouth tasted his, I could fucking feel it and all I needed to know was that I wanted more.

I pressed myself into him more firmly, kissing him harder and parting my lips as I teased the seam of his with my tongue. 

But Seth didn’t react at all and as that one terrifying doubt pushed in on me, I drew back, looking at him with my heart racing and my skin burning and my fucking cock driving into his leg so obviously that there was no mistaking it.

I opened my mouth to apologise or ask him why he wasn’t kissing me back or fuck knew what, but it didn’t matter because as I made a move to step away, he caught hold of my belt and dragged me back against him again, kissing me so hard that it was bruising and my whole fucking world caught alight alongside my flesh.

Seth pushed his hand into my curls, fisting them tightly and parting his lips at last so that I could taste his tongue as it swept over mine, and I knew in that moment that I didn’t care if this was terrifying because it was so fucking good that I never wanted it to stop.

He kissed with a hunger that made me think he’d been wanting this for just as long as I had. I’d just been the dumb fuck who had been too blind to notice what was right in front of me.

He turned us, slamming me back against the wall and going all Alpha on me as he growled in a possessive way that got my fangs tingling and my cock throbbing with the desire to put him in his damn place.

His hands were suddenly on my body, roaming down my chest and finding my belt which he unbuckled so fucking fast that I barely had time to consider what he was doing.

My whole body tingled with an urgent kind of need as he rolled my fly down and his hand pushed beneath the waistband of my boxers, fisting my cock and making me groan as he broke our kiss and looked at me.

“You really want this?” he asked, rolling his thumb over the head of my dick in a way that made it jerk in his grasp.

“I want you,” I confirmed, my mind wheeling with what that meant because I hadn’t really thought this through, and I was suddenly thinking about how many guys Seth had fucked and realising that I was out of my depth here because I wasn’t even sure where to start.

“Fuck, I could come from hearing those words alone,” Seth growled, knotting my hair in his free hand once more and kissing me so hard that I forgot about getting this wrong because it felt so fucking right.

His hand worked my cock like he instinctively knew exactly what I liked, and I couldn’t help but drive my hips forward as the feeling of his big hand surrounding it turned me on so damn much that I began to fear how long I could even hold out for.

I pushed all of my hesitation aside as I reached for him too, sliding my hand into his sweatpants and finding him rock solid within them, the tip of his dick beaded with precum which I smeared all around the head of his shaft before slicking my hand down it.

Seth growled into my mouth, pumping me harder and making my head spin at his expert touch as I kissed him with a demand that I was desperate to satisfy.

He broke away suddenly, his mouth moving to my neck before he dropped it to my collar bone then my chest, working his way down and tugging my pants lower as he went, still pumping my dick even as I lost my grip on his.

He dropped to his knees and looked up at me with a wicked grin, licking his lips and making my cock jerk again. My dick was sliding between his lips in the next heartbeat, a growl of desire escaping him which made my hips thrust forward instinctively, a shiver of pleasure racing through me as I felt the bite of his stubble grazing along the length of my shaft.

Seth gripped my ass in his hands and pulled my hips further forward still, taking me right to the back of his throat and I groaned, his name tumbling from my lips like a fucking prayer.

He started moving then, sucking and licking me like he couldn’t get enough and I was left leaning against the wall, watching him suck me off with my heart thrashing so hard I feared it would give out because I was pretty certain the sight of him taking my dick was the hottest thing I’d ever witnessed.

I let him lead for as long as I could force myself to, but as he shifted a hand to caress my balls, I snapped. My hand took hold of the back of his head, fingers tightening in his long hair as I thrust my hips forward and began to fuck his mouth.

He didn’t even balk at my demand, his eyes on mine as I watched him, wishing I could record this moment to play it over and over again for myself because I knew that this was never going to be enough.

I thrust in harder, deeper, loving how he took me and cursing as I fought to hold myself back, make it last. But Seth wasn’t going to be so easily dominated, and as I drove my cock to the back of his throat again, he shifted the hand which still gripped my ass and drove two fingers straight inside me.

I came instantly like he’d found some fucking switch to my oblivion, and a low groan of ecstasy escaped me as I was overwhelmed by the pleasure he wrung from me, jerking forward with a growl of satisfaction as my orgasm took me by surprise. He swallowed greedily, claiming my pleasure for his own as I slumped back against the door, panting in the aftermath of what he’d done to me as he flexed his fingers inside my ass and somehow made the bliss linger in my flesh as I fought to catch my breath from that explosion of pent up need.

Seth withdrew slowly, making my whole body shudder with bliss as he did so and I watched him as he stood before me once more.

He kissed me again and I tasted myself on his lips, the thrill of that so intoxicating that all I could do was bathe in the feeling of it as I dragged my tongue over his, slower this time like we were both saving the pure perfection of that moment.

Seth pressed himself against me and I felt the keen swell of his erection driving into my hip and I knew we weren’t done. I wanted to do that to him. I wanted to make him feel the way he’d just made me feel.

But as I pulled back and broke our kiss, concern built in my chest and I was left feeling like some fucking virgin as I looked into his eyes with a frown pulling at my brow as I tried to figure out how to tell him that I had no fucking idea how to suck his dick like that. I didn’t want to fuck it up and Seth had a whole lot of reference to compare me to if I was fucking awful at it.

“Seth,” I said, my voice rough as I scrambled for the words. “I…I don’t know-”

“What?” he breathed, pulling back as if I’d smacked him and my chest tightened further as he stared at me like that.

“What you just did to me,” I began, not knowing how to finish that without making myself sound like a fucking idiot. Because now that I’d let that concern creep in, it was all I could think about. I was remembering all the times he’d told us about how hard he’d come when Frank sucked his cock, or how much he’d loved fucking Maurice in the ass when he’d been trying to act like an Alpha all day, telling us how well he took it and how good he was at it, and I felt completely and utterly out of my depth. “I just don’t think-”

“Fuck, I’m so stupid,” he breathed, backing up suddenly and I frowned as I missed the feeling of his body against mine. “I shouldn’t have done that. It’s my fault. I’m just missing my pack and I haven’t gotten laid in a long time, and I shouldn’t have…fuck. Just forget it happened. You were horny and it’s in my nature to satisfy the members of my pack. That’s all.”

“That’s all?” I questioned as my heart crushed to dust in my chest, because that hadn’t felt like it was fucking all. It had felt like waking up after sleeping way too long and finally realising what I’d been aching for.

“Yeah. I literally suck all of my friends’ dicks aside from you guys and that’s just because you’re into girls. It was just a BFF BJ. No biggie. In fact, I’m gonna go and offer Darius one.” Seth yanked the door open and held his hand up with his two fingers extended in farewell.

“Is that the peace sign?” I asked in confusion because he’d just made me come so hard, I’d seen fucking stars and now he was acting like a nineties baby at a Spice Girls concert.

“Yeah. I peace sign all of my BFF BJ buddies. Now you know.”

The door slammed behind him before I could question that, and I was left leaning against the wall with my whole body still trembling in the aftershocks of what he’d done to me and my heart thrashing with the bitter sting of rejection.

“Oh,” I breathed to no one at all because Seth had gotten what he wanted, flipped my entire world upside down and left me with a peace sign and my cock out all alone in my room. “Fuck.”