Zodiac Academy: The Awakening As Told By The Boys

I sat listening to the sound of the other Heirs laughing and joking between one another around the table we’d claimed for ourselves outside one of our favourite haunts in Tucana, but I wasn’t really paying attention anymore.

No. My attention kept wavering back to the text Lance had sent me fifteen minutes ago and my gaze kept crawling along the street as I hunted for the subject of it with a mixture of hope and confusion.

I glanced at my Atlas for the hundredth time, not even sure what I was expecting from it as I read over his message again.

Lance:

The Vegas are in town tonight.

That was it. One dumb sentence. Yet it was all I could damn well think about as my gaze slid past the groups of girls trying to garner our attention in search of the only one whose interest I was looking to grab.

But she wasn’t here. I was tempted to ask Lance where exactly he’d seen them, but I had no good reason to do that. Maybe I could convince the other Heirs to come searching for them with me, but I wasn’t really looking to spend the night terrorising them. I just wanted to see her. By the stars, what was I even doing? I kept fantasising about her, dreaming about her and jerking off over imagined scenarios of me dominating her with every inch of my body and now I was hoping to see her on a night out like some desperate little fan boy hoping to try my luck. Who even was I right now?

Seth made some joke which had the others cracking up and I forced my attention back onto them as I grinned like I was in on it and drank a healthy measure of my beer.

But as if my wandering thoughts had summoned her, a sudden commotion and rush of movement drew my attention across the street to an alleyway as the Vega twins came tearing out of it looking utterly terrified for some reason.

A few people called out in surprise as they spotted them too and the rest of the Heirs swivelled in their chairs to take in the sight of them racing across the road.

I drank in Roxy’s long legs clad in jeans that looked like they were little more than a second skin with a low cut cami that drew my attention straight to her tits as they bounced while she ran across the road, her hand locked with her sister’s.

I lost sight of them as they joined the crowd in front of the bar and Seth flashed a malicious grin at the rest of us.

‘Looks like our night just got a whole lot more interesting,’ he said.

‘Why don’t I invite them to join us?’ Max offered with a dark grin as he got to his feet and I felt the allure of his Siren gifts flooding over me as he kicked them up to the top setting in preparation of luring a couple of Vegas our way.

My night had just taken a decided turn for the better, so I smiled into my drink as I took another mouthful and waited for my girl to come to me.

‘Hell yes, this is going to be all the right kinds of fun,’ Caleb said as he leaned back in his chair and tried to get a look through the crowd to see where Max had gone. ‘I’ve been looking forward to seeing what Tory looks like when she cuts loose.’

The upturn of my mood took a hit at his words as I realised I wasn’t the only one of us looking forward to spending more time with my Vega, but I wasn’t going to be letting him steal her from me without a fight.

Mine.

‘Well I doubt she feels the same, seeing as she’s clearly not a fan of the whole biting kink you go in for,’ I said, setting my drink down and draping my arm over the back of my chair. 

I looked the epitome of relaxed, but the look I shot Caleb’s way made it clear I wasn’t going to be backing down over this easily.

The asshole raised his chin at the challenge and Seth chuckled. 

‘I wonder if Darcy’s a real screamer in the sack?’ he mused. ‘She has that deadly kind of calm about her which just promises to be all the right kinds of interesting when she’s naked.’

‘I don’t get the impression she’s a fan of orgies,’ I pointed out because there hadn’t been a single rumour of the Vegas hooking up with anyone since they’d arrived at the academy which was a pretty sure sign that they hadn’t. Those kinds of secrets spread like wildfire around here, especially if they were to do with someone interesting like those girls.

‘I can go monogamous,’ Seth said defensively. ‘One night at a time anyway. For the right Fae.’ His eyes slid to Cal who was tussling his hair with the hand which wasn’t holding his drink and I had to fight a scowl at his dimples. 

‘The day you go monogamous will be the day I start sucking cock,’ Caleb joked and I laughed along while Seth pouted indignantly.

Before we could continue that riveting conversation, Max reappeared with two stunning princesses in tow, and we quickly shifted our attention onto checking them out.

Roxy was wearing a pair of killer heels which did all the right things for her legs and I couldn’t help picture them wrapped around my head while I made a feast out of her which would make her scream so loud she’d lose her damn voice. 

Seth made a show of pretending to be shocked by the arrival of the twins and we played along, acting as if we hadn’t been expecting them as Max kept his arms around the two of them and herded them right up to our table.

“Look who I just found running from shadows,” Max said, his arm dropping down to Roxy’s waist and making a snarl build in my chest, but she shrugged him off before I let the noise escape me.

“We weren’t running from shadows, someone was chasing us,” Gwendalina said, eyeing Seth warily as he leaned closer like he was planning on sniffing her.

“You really must be scared if you thought we were a better option,” he teased.

“They are. I can taste their fear,” Max said enthusiastically. “And they were just about to tell me all about it.”

Caleb released a breath of laughter, running a hand through his blonde hair and heaping on the charm as he gave the two girls flirtatious looks. Stupid pretty boy.

Max dropped back into the only free chair at the table and yanked Gwen down into his lap, pulling her against his chest as he leaned close to her ear and made sure she was well and truly locked in the grip of his Siren gifts.

“What was the worst part?” he asked, his gifts flooding over all of us and bringing a smile to my lips as I watched these powerful girls fall under his sway oh so easily. 

“They kept making this horrible noise,” Gwen replied. “Like a growl or a rattle…”

I leaned forward, my brows lifting with interest as looked from Gwen to Roxy, taking note of the genuine fear that was clinging to them and remembering how suddenly they’d burst out of that alleyway.

I glanced across the street cautiously, my mind going to the Nymph we’d seen close to town the other day as a growing sense of dread pooled in my gut. We still had damn good reason to think there was a nest close by and if I found out there really had been one of them trying to prey on Fae in town, then I was going to be seriously pissed at Lance for stopping our hunts.

“We aren’t staying,” Roxy said sharply, leaning forward to pull Gwen out of Max’s grip, but that wasn’t going to work for me.

“Hold on a moment,’ I said, snatching her wrist into my grasp and causing her to whip around and look at me instead of trying to pull her sister free of Max’s hold.

She turned to meet my eyes with a glare and my heart leapt as I found her so close to me, the fire of her aura wrapping around me and drawing me closer as I breathed her in. She looked ready to bolt, to curse me out and to head off somewhere for the night which was anywhere other than here. But I didn’t want that. Especially not if there really was a chance there had been a Nymph close by. But even if there wasn’t, I still wanted her here, her lips close to mine, skin hot where I held her. 

“What if we call a truce on our issues? For one night only,” I offered, my fingers shifting on her wrist like I just couldn’t get enough of the feeling of her flesh brushing mine.

“Why would we believe that?” she asked dismissively, but there was something in her eyes which almost seemed to challenge me to convince her.

“We just want a fun night,” Caleb added, his gaze landing on the place where I still held Roxy’s arm. “We can leave our political situation out of it.”

“Our political situation?” Gwen echoed with a frown.

“Yeah, you know. The little issue we have with you rocking up out of nowhere to steal our birth right and upsetting the balance of power in the entire kingdom,” Caleb teased.

“We don’t want your stupid birth right,” Roxy muttered bitterly before trying to jerk her hand out of my grip. But she was going to have to try harder than that if she expected to break free of a Dragon’s strength and I smirked at her before tugging her right back.

She gasped as I knocked her off balance in her towering heels and in the next moment, her ass landed in my lap and the beast in me raised its head in contentment as I claimed the treasure I’d been aching for.

Mine.

Caleb met my gaze with an irritated scowl and I gave him a taunting grin as I wound an arm around her waist and repositioned her so that her ass was firmly seated on my crotch and her side pressed to my chest.

I laughed as she gripped my thigh in an attempt to balance herself better and her back arched against me at the sound, giving me even more ideas I shouldn’t have been indulging in over her. But that was damn hard with her round ass currently grinding against my cock and giving it plenty of encouragement. 

“Drink with us,” I insisted, moving my mouth to her ear and feeling her shiver as my stubble grazed her neck. I waved at the bartender through the glass window beside us and the girl who had assigned herself as our personal bartender for the night nodded to show she’d seen me. “I swear we won’t lay a finger on you unless you want us to,’ I added to Roxy in a low voice, letting my mouth graze against her ear for the briefest moment and loving the way I felt her body react to that despite her trying to hide it.

“Well I didn’t want you to drag me into your lap but that didn’t seem to stop you,” she muttered, but she wasn’t going anywhere and I wasn’t holding her tight enough to force her to stay if she didn’t want to. 

I laughed again and she glanced up at me from beneath dark lashes like she wasn’t sure what to make of me when I wasn’t scowling and working to intimidate her.

I could feel Caleb’s attention still on us and I suppressed a growl as he moved closer to us, reaching out to brush his fingers against her arm, despite the fact that I’d clearly beat him to claiming her tonight. Asshole. 

“I’ll even promise not to bite you tonight if you want?” he offered and I scowled at him while he flipped me off behind her back where no one else could see. I was going to punch him for that later.

Roxy looked across the table to her sister, the two of them entering into some kind of silent twin communication and I took the opportunity to slip my Atlas from my pocket and shoot Lance a quick message.

Darius:

The Vegas just showed up here looking terrified and saying something was chasing them. They said they heard a rattle too.

Lance:

Stay with them. Keep them safe and I’ll scout the area with Francesca.

I wasn’t going to complain about staying as close as I needed to to the girl currently perched on my ever more solid cock, so I slipped my Atlas back in my pocket and turned my attention back to the girls.

“I guess we could stay for one drink,” Gwen said hesitantly as Max stroked her arm, his gifts pushing against all of us as he worked to make them feel amenable to the idea. 

I shifted Roxy on my lap before she got a really clear idea about how much I wanted her to stay from the feeling of my cock trying to punch a hole in the ass of her jeans and she released a shaky breath as my skin brushed against hers.

“One drink then,” she agreed finally and I relaxed as I got what I wanted just as easily as that. 

The bartender appeared with a smile and a notepad ready to take our order and Seth perked up with a look in his eyes which promised he would be getting utterly shit faced tonight.

“Better make it a big one then if you’ll only stay for one,” Seth said as he ordered for all of us.

I leaned back in my chair, pulling Roxy closer so that I could steal a moment with her for myself and brushing her hair away from her ear so that I could speak to her alone. 

She leaned in to listen to me and my grip on her waist shifted so that I could hold her even closer, the fingers of my other hand stroking against the bare skin of her shoulder where I’d smoothed her black hair aside.

“Do you want to tell me about what happened in that alley?” I asked, wondering if I really should have been worrying about Nymphs or not.

A shiver moved across her skin and I was filled with a protective kind of anger as I felt that echo of her fear.

“Is this the part where you laugh at us for falling for some prank you set up?” she asked. “Was that one of your friends back there? Did you get someone to send the messages too?”

I was tempted to push her for more information, but Lance and Francesca were already hunting for any signs of a Nymph and I didn’t want to fall into the trap of arguing with her again while I was holding her like this. I just wanted to steal this moment from the universe and forget about all the shit that was hanging between us outside of right now.

“I don’t need to recruit anyone to do my handy work,” I replied dismissively, dropping the subject. “Maybe I’m concerned for your wellbeing.”

She snorted in disbelief, shifting away so that she wasn’t pressed against my chest anymore and I fought a sigh at how quickly I’d managed to fuck that up. Though as she was currently still in my arms, I had to think it wasn’t a total lost cause yet, not that I had any real idea what I was trying to achieve with her here.

The bartender returned and I pulled a roll of auras from my pocket which was more than enough to cover our tab, pressing them into her hand as she finished laying the drinks out for us. We’d been planning to move on after this drink anyway and I was keen to get Roxy and her sister away from the place.

Roxy reached out to claim her drink, my gaze moving to her mouth as she lifted the glass to it and tipped the whole thing back, swallowing over and over until every last drop was gone.

“There you go,” she announced. “One drink.” 

She pushed out of my lap so suddenly that for a moment all I could do was blink up at her in confusion before my brain caught up to what was happening and I reached out to pull her back again. But she stepped aside, offering me a mocking smile which made it more than clear how much she disliked me.

Darcy smirked as she got to her feet too, not even bothering to touch her drink. “See you later, guys,” she agreed and the two of them turned to walk away.

Caleb shot into Roxy’s way with his Vampire speed before she could actually escape and I was glad when she cut him a glare just as acidic as the one she’d offered me, even while he tried to throw the pretty boy charm on with his gleaming smile. 

“I guess your word means shit then?” she demanded as he gave her throat a look which said he was thinking about biting her.

“No. I said I won’t bite you tonight and I meant it,” he promised, acting all alluring and pissing me the hell off as she hesitated. “I’m just wondering where you’re going now?”

“Dancing,” Roxy replied moving to brush past him, her hands landing on his waist for a moment as she nudged him aside and irritation flared through me at the contact. “You can always join us if you think you can keep up.”

My anger grew as she offered him that invitation and I scowled at the two of them openly, wondering why she was so much more willing to fall for his bullshit than she was for mine.

Roxy gave Cal a flirtatious look and I ground my teeth before shoving to my feet the moment she was out of sight. 

My fist slammed into his bicep as he turned to look at me and he barked a laugh as he shoved me in return.

‘Come on, assholes, if the two of you waste time in a dick measuring contest then we’ll lose them before you finish,” Max said.

‘Especially when Cal starts sobbing inconsolably,’ I added, making Seth laugh loudly while Caleb cursed me out.

We headed into the club after the twins and I looked around at the packed room, spotting them over by the bar with a couple of douchebags closing in on them.

‘Me and Darius will go get the VIP table, you two go fetch the Vegas,’ Seth said, catching my arm as I made a move towards the bar and practically dragging me in the opposite direction.

‘Get off of me,’ I growled but he didn’t, leaving Max and Caleb to go get rid of the assholes closing in on my girl.

‘No. You look about ready to start a bar fight and as fun as that might be, it would also be a whole scandal and my mom has said I can’t go on my family moon march next week if I get wrapped up in any more scandals this month.’

I gave in reluctantly, my gaze following the others as they cut off the men who had been introducing themselves to the girls and Seth tugged me into our VIP booth.

‘Is this because of that story they ran about you peeing on that parking warden’s car last week?’ I asked, tearing my eyes from Roxy as I took my seat and trying not to give too much thought to what her and Cal were saying to one another. He was probably being all ‘do you like my dimples?’ and hopefully she was responding like ‘no, they look like two buttholes on either side of your face.’

‘I told you guys, I thought it was a lamppost,’ Seth huffed.

‘It was parked on his drive, dude and it was the middle of the day.’

‘Well maybe if he doesn’t like things being put on his car when he parks it, he shouldn’t do it to me,’ Seth retorted, his indignation over that whole thing clearly still fresh.

‘It was like fifty auras, why do you even care?’

‘It’s not about the money, it’s about the principle of the thing. He told me to pay the fine and I told him to make me. He couldn’t. So why the hell should I have to pay it? Are we Fae or field mice?’ Seth shrugged, still maintaining his innocence on that basis.

I shook my head and glanced away, catching a glimpse of Roxy and Caleb through the crowd but it was so brief that I couldn’t get a read on how it was going. On the one hand I wanted him to convince her to join us again, but on the other I didn’t want her coming over here for his benefit.

‘What do you think he’s saying to convince them to come over here?’ Seth asked. ‘He’s probably just saying ‘come on, I’ll buy you a drink then you can be my drink.”

‘Roxy isn’t into him biting her,’ I grunted.

‘Yet,’ Seth said, rolling his eyes at me. ‘Think about it, he’s grabbing her all the time, his mouth on her neck, pinning her up against things. It’s only a matter of time before he’s slipping more than his teeth into her-‘

A growl escaped me and I shoved to my feet, done with waiting around for Caleb and Max to bring the girls to us. There was a good chance that there could be a Nymph hanging around here which meant I was supposed to be sticking close to the twins and that was exactly what I intended to do. In fact, I’d probably have to shove Caleb out of my way so that I could get closer and make sure he didn’t accidentally put them in danger of having their magic stolen by a dark creature determined to destroy us all. He might even fall against a table and break his pretty nose. Doing so was basically me saving the whole of Solaria from the wrath of the creature in question though, so it was my duty to do it.

But as I looked across the top of the crowd to where they’d all been standing just a few moments ago, I only found Max and Caleb there, no sign of the twins at all.

I mouthed ‘where are they?’ to Max and he rolled his eyes before pointing to the dance floor.

Roxy and her sister were in the centre of the floor, arms in the air and bodies moving to the beat of the music as countless Fae closed in on them from all sides, some of them seeming to have realised who they were while a few guys just seemed interested in them for reasons of their own. Or reasons of their dicks.

No. No fucking way.

I shoved away from the table and strode across the room, sensing Seth on my heels as he joined me in my Vega hunt. 

I made it to the dance floor and people backed away, giving us space as we strode through the crowd towards them.

I fell still as we found them there, my intentions to drag them back over to our table whether they liked it or not falling away as my gaze found the movements of Roxy’s body and fixed on them instead.

Her eyes were closed, head tipped back and body moving to the seductive beat in a way that had me drawing closer automatically. I should have just been grabbing her and towing her away, but instead of doing that, my fingers brushed over her waist instead, the rough skin of my hands meeting the softness of her flesh beneath the hem of her shirt.

She turned her head to look around at me, her eyes fluttering open and surprise filled her gaze for a moment, but I just held her eye and tugged her closer.

Her blood red lips parted and I fully expected her to tell me to fuck off, but instead the barest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth and she inclined her head just a little as if to say okay.

I tugged her body against mine, tits pressing to me and damn near making me groan with longing before she slid her hands up my chest as we began to dance with one another.

My body fell into a rhythm with hers so naturally that I swear even my heart was pounding to the tune. Her chest brushed mine, fingers skimming up my neck as my hand fell to the round curve of her ass and I tugged her closer.

My gaze was on her mouth as the heat between us built in time with the movements of our bodies and our breaths mingled in the small space left dividing us. But just as I was starting to give serious consideration to an absolutely terrible idea, she turned in my arms, her ass pushing back into my crotch as she hooked one arm around the back of my neck.

A real growl escaped me then as she ground herself against me, making my cock swell and my thoughts scatter as I lost all sense of everything other than this fucking girl in my arms as we danced together.

I was vaguely aware of Seth dancing with Gwen beside us, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from this perfect temptation in my arms.

It was hotter than any sex I could ever remember having and neither of us had removed so much as a single item of clothing.

Roxy kept dancing with her hand clasped around the back of my neck, the arch of her spine giving me a view down her shirt which I was having a damn hard time tearing my attention from. The fabric shifted and slipped across her skin, offering me the barest glimpse of her hardened nipples with every thump of the music and I licked my lips with the desire to suck on them.

My dick was definitely letting itself be known as she continued to grind herself against me and as much as I was enjoying that friction, I really needed to make some effort to control myself.

I grasped her hip and turned her around, the beast in me purring as she instantly looped her arms around my neck to draw me closer.

I didn’t even know how many songs had played while we’d been dancing and I didn’t care because I knew it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.

My gaze met hers and the fire in her was enough to set me alight too as she tilted her chin up and bit down on that full bottom lip. My attention was instantly hooked on her mouth, our bodies still moving together in this hot, endless friction which was begging for some relief.

My resolve was snapping, all the reasons I had to pull away falling from my mind like flakes of snow trying to land on an inferno and I found myself leaning in, devouring the distance that parted us like I wanted to devour this beautiful creature in my arms.

I tightened my grip on her waist, letting her feel the throbbing press of my dick driving into her and making it more than clear what I wanted to spend the rest of the night doing to her. I didn’t care if she was a Vega, a princess, the architect of my fall from power, none of that mattered. Because all there was in that moment was her and me and the press of the heavens above us driving us together like we might burn up in the fire which blazed between us if we didn’t just dive into it now.

I slid a hand up her spine, moving it towards the back of her neck as I watched her mouth and prepared to claim it. Claim her. Claim everything that went with that choice, because it didn’t even feel like a choice at all, more like an urgent need which demanded to be answered.

“Drink!” Caleb demanded suddenly from beside us, snapping the tension that had been building and destroying the moment before I could claim her in any of the ways I ached to.

Roxy turned away from me to accept the shot he was holding out for her and I took mine without once looking away from her face, tipping it down my throat and wishing something else was gracing my lips.

There was a question hanging between me and her. A want which we both felt and ached to satisfy. But there was a whole chasm full of reasons for us to deny that need too. Not that I gave a shit. Because every fibre of my being was screaming for me to claim her and make her mine with an urgency that made my head spin. I swear I could practically hear the universe holding its breath like there was so much hanging on the choice we made now. But before either of us could make it, Caleb interrupted again.

“Orion’s looking for you,” he said to me, pointing back over to the bar where I had to assume Lance was. “Something about an assignment you haven’t handed in. I told him to chill the hell out and enjoy his drink but he gave me that look, you know the look where you’re not sure if he’s trying to set you alight with the power of thought alone or if he’s just super constipated, so I said I’d tell you.”

Roxy snorted a laugh, and as she looked away to search the crowd for Lance, the spell between us was broken.

I scrubbed a hand down my face, wondering what the hell I’d been thinking. The girl might have been hot. Scorching fucking hot and endlessly intoxicating. And I might have wanted to fuck her more than I think I’d ever wanted to fuck any girl I’d ever met. But she was a star damned Vega. And that meant me and her were over before we could ever even consider beginning. 

“I guess I’d better see what he wants,” I said, knowing that the moment I stepped away from here would be the moment this opportunity left us. I cast a final look at Roxy, not really knowing what I expected to find there but she seemed to have forgotten me already as she moved away to place her empty shot glass down on a table.

A growl rumbled through my chest and Caleb grinned widely, slapping me on the shoulder as I passed him and making me want to punch his fucking face all over again. No doubt Lance’s appearance had made his fucking night. And it had definitely ruined mine.