Vicious Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, #3)

by Caroline Peckham

Godiamoci questa pace finché dura,” Dante said, his fingers resuming their trail across my skin. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I wasn’t going to argue either. I let my eyes fall shut as I listened to the steady thump of his heartbeat beneath my ear. Had Dante Oscura seriously just told me he loved me? And why the hell didn’t that feel as terrifying as it should have?

“Mamma, mamma, I just found Dolce Drago by the stables playing with his friends. They were catching snakes and Elise won because she caught two!”

Leon Night: Check out the meat in my Lion and Vampire sandwich. Who wants a bite? #liononorion #pitballpals #feastwithelise #doublesausagewithasideofhotsauce

“We’re a pride. But instead of a King with a bunch of lionesses we have a Queen with a bunch of Lions.” “I’m not a fucking Lion,” Ryder disagreed. “You are. You’re Scar, Dante’s Mufasa and I’m Simba and Gabe is…Zazu.”

“Don’t call me Gabe,” Gabriel snapped. “And Elise isn’t your fucking Queen, she’s my Elysian Mate.”

“Dragons don’t share things. Least of all mates. I should know, I once stole my mate Darius’s french fries and he damn near burned my hand off with his Dragon Fire when he shifted over it.”

Heirs were dressed to the nines, all of them standing shoulder to shoulder. I recognised Lionel’s son, Darius on the far end, his dark features nothing like his father’s except for the cold look in his eyes. As a Dragon, he was growing fast, only a couple of inches shorter than me already. Beside him was Max Rigel with ebony skin, broad shoulders and eyes laced with mischief. Next was Seth Capella, a Werewolf who’d Emerged young like their Order usually did. He had unruly hair and a playful look about him as he joked with his friends. The final Heir was Caleb Altair who had dark blonde hair and model worthy features like the rest of them. He was looking at Elise as if he recognised her and immediately stepped forward from the group to greet us.

“Holy shit,” Seth said, moving forward and reaching for Elise’s hand. “Who are you, babe?” His eyes slid over her and though he was five years younger than my girl, the balls on this guy clearly weighed a ton. “Elise Callisto,” she said smoothly, extracting her hand from his before he could lay a kiss on it. Seth ran a hand through his hair, flexing his muscles. “Do you wanna get a drink?” “Are you offering it from the vein? Because if not, I’m not interested,” Elise said lightly, brushing her fingers up my arm. Seth grinned at her and Max slammed a hand onto his shoulder as he stepped forward. “I know you’re about to say yes to that, bro, but if you spill blood on your shirt, your mother will have you castrated.”

“And you’re going to accept and live like a king while Father uses you as another one of his little puppets, I guess?” My brows lifted. Maybe Dragon Junior wasn’t a carbon copy of his papà. “No.” I leaned closer conspiratorially. “I can’t be bought with gold, little Dragon.” “Less of the little,” he growled. “I’m almost your height.” “The key word is almost.” I smirked. “So you can’t be bought with gold, but how about women?” Orion asked with a barely contained laugh, sipping from a beer before gesturing across the room.

“Zodiac cannot be beat, Aurora cannot take the heat!”

“By the stars, you’re hot,” Orion breathed, leaning in closer with a dark expression on his face. “I bet you have a big dick too.” “What?” I balked, leaning away from him as he reached out to cup my cheek. “All those muscles look like they need some attention,” he growled, taking my hand as I slid down into another seat. “Stop running away, Noxy, let me make you feel good. No one can see us here.” “I’m not into guys, dude.” I slid further away and his eyes sparkled with a reddish glow.

“It was pretty fucking funny until you rubbed your dick against my ass,” I said, a laugh tearing from my throat. “Fucking hell.”