Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

I slipped back into the room I shared with Darcy and Orion – well, the one I had shared with them until they’d kicked me out when she came back from the Palace of Flames. But I was tired of sleeping on the floor in Max and Xavier’s room even if I had made myself a nice cushy, moss nest in there. I couldn’t talk to Max about my issues. No, I needed to be around two people who knew the truth and would wanna chat away the rest of the night with me about it until I felt a bit better.

But as the door opened a beat later and Orion and Darcy came crashing into the room, half ripping each other’s clothes off as they kissed, I wasn’t sure they’d seen me.

I waited for them to notice me, my arms hanging at my sides as Orion pushed Darcy down onto the bed and hitched her dress up, the two of them acting like they were addicted to each other. But they’d done plenty of fucking, and I had to get this off my chest.

I opened my mouth, but wasn’t sure what to say so I closed it again as Darcy encouraged Orion to roll onto his back then tore his shirt open and started kissing her way down his body, his eyes on her as lust sparked in his eyes.

I considered fetching some of the snacks I’d stashed under my bed and waiting this out, not wanting to be rude considering this was their mating night and everything, but as Darcy undid his fly and I took a step backwards towards my snack stash, the movement caught Orion’s attention and his gaze shot onto me like a bullet.

“Seth!” he roared and Darcy’s head snapped up but she squeaked as her hair got snagged in Orion’s fly.

“Ow, ow, ow,” she hissed as she fought to get it free and Orion sat upright, trying to help her.

“Oh, that’s a tricky one. I’ve dealt with it a bunch of times though, I can get it free for you.” I hurried forward, reaching out to help but Orion smacked my hand away and I whined.

“Why’d you do that?” I demanded and he growled at me.

“Because I don’t want your hand near my cock,” he spat.

“Well then I guess I’m gonna go snippy snip on Darcy’s hair like old times,” I joked but the two of them didn’t like that joke.

“You are not snipping my hair, Seth Capella,” Darcy warned. “Or I’ll snip your balls off.”

“Then let me jiggle it free. I have the magic touch,” I promised and Darcy sighed, nodding to Orion to make him back off, but wincing as she made her hair pull against the zip.

I leaned in close, my face right in front of Orion’s cock which was still rock hard and bulging against his jeans.

“For the love of the moon,” Orion sighed as I took hold of Darcy’s hair and gently did a twist and pull move which had saved many a Fae’s hair. There was nothing worse than a hair snag when you were trying to get down and dirty.

“That’s it,” I said as it loosened.

“Maybe pull it that way,” Darcy suggested, my head knocking against hers.

“Just get it over with,” Orion encouraged.

“I need to slide it this way then use my teeth a little,” I said.

“Yeah, like that,” Darcy said excitedly as the hair started to come free.

“Almost there,” Orion said as he watched us and my head bobbed up and down as I tugged it softly between my teeth while wiggling the end of it which was snagged.

“What in the love of fuck is going on in here?” Caleb’s voice rang through the room.

“What does it look like?” I said through a mouthful of hair.

“It looks like you’re sucking off our old professor with his fucking mate,” Caleb barked and strong hands latched around me just as I got the hair free.

Darcy squeaked with joy as she sat upright and I was dragged across the room by Caleb and thrown against the wall. He pinned me there by the throat, his eyes full of hostility.

“Cal,” I choked out, trying to get his hand off of my neck as he stared at me with something burning deep in his navy blue eyes. And it looked a lot like hurt.

“My hair got caught in Lance’s zipper,” Darcy explained, grabbing Caleb’s arm and trying to pull it away from my throat.

Caleb’s grip slackened as he glanced over at Orion whose cock was still very much in his pants as he shifted up the bed.

“Do you really think I’d let the mutt near my dick?” he scoffed.

Caleb dropped his arm, releasing a long breath and I realised his shoulders were shaking.

“Cal, what’s going on?” I asked, my voice thick as awkwardness descended on us fast.

I had no idea how to talk to him anymore, like the moment I’d put his cock in my mouth had changed everything. And I wished I could fucking take it back. Because my worst fears had come to life and I knew I was losing him more with every day that passed. But now he’d shown up here. and I couldn’t figure out what the hell he was thinking.

“You’re my Source,” he barked suddenly, wheeling around and looing to Orion. “I’m taking my Source,” he announced and Orion’s eyebrows arched.

“Sure, sanguis frater,” Orion said easily. “Enjoy.”

His eyes moved hungrily to Darcy and Caleb suddenly picked me up like a fucking baby, one arm under my legs and his other around my back.

“What are you doing?” I whispered in confusion.

“I’m hungry,” he muttered then stepped out of the room.

“C’mere you,” Orion growled, shooting towards Darcy who laughed giddily as he threw the door shut behind us, the sound of a lock clicking following us.

Caleb put on a burst of speed and the next thing I knew, I was being tossed down on his bed and he was pacing before me like a wild animal.

“Are you looking to fight me?” I asked, my shoulders squaring as my Alpha instincts raised their head, responding to the fury in his eyes.

“No,” he seethed. “Just shut up and listen to me for a second.”

“Okay, but-”

“Seth,” he snarled, rounding towards me as I moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “You’re my best friend and I don’t want to lose you. We grew up together. We’ve been there through the good and bad for each other, so one meaningless blowjob doesn’t get to ruin that.”

I nodded slowly, my throat so tight it hurt, the word meaningless circling in my head like a vulture come to feast on my broken heart.

“So how do we move past this? How do we get back what we had?” Cal demanded, leaning down so he was nose to nose with me and I suddenly couldn’t draw any breath at all. Because I knew there was no way for me to go back, I was done for, a damned Wolf who’d already pledged his heart to his best friend and there was no taking it back. But I had always been so very fucking good at pretending.

“It doesn’t have to change things,” I said. “I fuck all my friends,” I insisted, feeding him that line of bullshit again. But it was the only one I had which saved my pride. Because if I admitted that I was hopelessly, relentlessly in love with him, then everything would change permanently between us. He’d dance around my feelings, try to say it was alright while withdrawing from me and feeling awkward about getting too close to me again. So if I could convince him it had meant absolutely nothing, then maybe we could find something salvageable in that. Even if the idea of him regretting what had happened destroyed me inside. “I just thought maybe you felt awkward about it, so I was giving you some space, but I mean it. It’s easier for me to count the friends I haven’t fucked than the ones I have. Like I think I’m down to seven now…”

“Right,” Caleb hissed, returning to pacing. “So it was just a one time thing. Just a stupid decision while I wasn’t thinking straight because I was hungry, and you were offering out pity BJs like you do with your Wolf pack whenever one of them hasn’t gotten laid in a long time.”

I hesitated, every piece of my nature wanting to say no. No, it hadn’t been like that for me. I’d wanted to make him feel good because I fucking loved him, and I’d thought for a second that was what he wanted too. But I’d gotten carried away and now I felt kind of sick as I feared what he might think of me for doing that. Maybe he thought I’d taken advantage of him, mistaking his blood boner for something more. And maybe that was what had happened. Maybe I’d wanted him so bad and had dreamed about that moment for so damn long, that all rational thought had abandoned me because of how much I’d wanted to believe he liked me back.

“Yeah,” I rasped, the truth too bitter a thing to air. “That’s all it was.”

I hated those words leaving my mouth. They tasted like ash and soot and fucking death. The death of any chance of anything ever happening between us again. And it hurt, by the stars did it fucking hurt. I could feel that door closing, locking tight never to be opened again. I didn’t know if this was more painful than living with a small ray of hope that he might like me too, or if knowing he didn’t was akin to the absolute shattering of my soul. Either way, I was vacationing in Spain without the S.

“Right,” he said again.

“Right,” I echoed once more and he came to a halt before me, his fingers curling and uncurling, and he was just so achingly fucking gorgeous that it broke my heart all over again as I stared up at him.

“I’m hungry,” he said. “Will you still be my Source, still take part in the hunt with me?”

I almost said no for my own sake, knowing it was going to be ten times worse to feel his mouth on me now knowing how certain it was that he didn’t desire anything from me but my blood. But I was also a selfish, selfish loser and still wanted to steal those moments with him even if they only ended up crushing my heart a little more.

“Sure,” I said lightly like it meant nothing.

He wet his lips, his gaze falling to my neck. “I have a lot of feelings I need to work through tonight,” he said. “Vampire feelings. I’ve been away from you for too long, and as my Source I need to…do some stuff. Okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed so fucking easily that it was sad really. Because if Caleb needed to tie me to the ceiling by my ankles and wrists and drain my blood like a sacrifice to a god, then slap my ass and call me Mr Willing.

His eyes glinted then he lunged at me, his body pressing me down into the sheets as he grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head. My breaths came unevenly as I bucked my hips, not wanting to play victim, my instincts too fierce to let him just have my blood like that.

I rolled us over, wrenching my wrists free of his grip and pinning his wrists to the bed instead.

He bared his fangs at me and I smirked over my victory before he bucked me off of him, yanking his hands free and punching me in the kidney.

“Motherfucker,” I wheezed as he threw me off and I hit the floor face down, rising up onto my knees before a heavy weight slammed down on top of me.

Caleb gripped my hair in his fist, his knees pressing hard against the insides of mine to keep me down and I gave up trying to fight as he wrenched my head sideways and dug his fangs into my throat.

A traitorous moan left my mouth and his hips ground forward at the sound, his cock hard against my ass as I panted and tried not to get confused again.

It’s about my blood. Just my blood.

He drank deeply, holding me at his mercy while I fought not to give too much attention to how much I loved the feeling of his mouth on my skin and he didn’t pull back until I was a little woozy. He stood up, taking my arm and pulling me upright too before tugging his shirt off and dropping his pants.

“Um…” My gaze fell down his sculpted body, my cock throbbing and my head a fog of confusion.

“We’re going to bed,” he said.

“Right,” I muttered, pulling my own clothes off until I was just in my boxers and his gaze skimmed down the outline of my cock which was saluting him, and I cursed it for trying to give the game away. We needed to have a serious dickscussion, because I couldn’t go around visiting boner town while Cal was looking.

Caleb said nothing, leading me to the bed, whipping the covers back and pointing.

“Get in,” he commanded and I arched a brow at him, but did as he said.

He followed me, pushing me so I rolled away from him before wrapping his arms around me and drawing me flush against him, my back to his chest. His fingers traced over the bite mark on my neck and I shivered as he healed the wound, trying to ignore the rush of blood to my dick and the feel of his hard muscles moulding against mine.

“You’re my Source,” he said in my ear. “And you’re my best friend. So you’re gonna stay here with me from now on.”

“Yes, master,” I whispered.

“What?” he snapped and I chuckled.

“Joking,” I said and he broke a laugh, his body relaxing as he kept me firm against him.

It wasn’t like we hadn’t snuggled before, but something about this felt more intentional, and I had to keep reminding myself that this was a Vampire Source thing that I would probably never understand. But I wasn’t going to complain about it, because for the first night in more nights than I could count, I finally felt peaceful, able to drift off almost instantly as I was held by the man I loved, even though I knew he could never truly be mine.