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

by Caroline Peckham

couldn’t deny how good it felt to have him look at me that way. Like I was cool.

I felt some magical energy sweeping around the base of the well. The light stuttered out and I gasped,

A forceful energy blew over me and horror ripped through me as my magic stuttered out.

I rose upwards just as a snarling beast appeared. Haggard hair and wide, glaring eyes. He was pale and terrifying, his hand outstretched, coated in blood.

Leon held my shoulders then a horrible wailing came from down in the well.

“And if you care about our girl as much as you should then you should want to make her happy. Which means becoming the Nala to my Simba.”

Leon cut the tension by belting out the opening track at the top of his lungs, getting most of the words wrong aside from yelling the chorus so loud that we couldn’t hear the movie.

The tension in his body eased as he looked back at me, his gaze skipping to Leon for a moment like he was surprised I’d say that in front of him too, but I’d never hidden how much I cared about any of my Kings from each other.

“Because Basilisks are immune to poison,”

“That’s just an Order gift though, right?”

“Switch it off?”

“Yeah. You know, like when I switch my Charisma off and the Mindys are a whole lot less obsessed with me…”

“Or like how Elise doesn’t just shoot all around the place at super speed twenty four seven…”

“You want me to switch off my gifts, so that I can get drunk with you?”

“I only want Elise to be happy. And it seems like she needs you to be a part of her life to make that the case so I’m being open to that. If you care about her then you should be too.”

My fingers moved to kiss a pair of flaming Phoenixes who were flying together with a Harpy over his hip.

guess we might as well start with those Phoenixes. I’ve had hundreds of visions about them.”

Wolves chose their mates based on their power level, eternally searching for their equal in every way. Once they did, they didn’t rely on the rest of their pack anymore for emotional support; their mate supplied exactly what they needed.

hissed in pain as something yanked deep in my chest and I spat air through my teeth as I felt someone break the vow of trust they’d made to me over Felix.

“I once got my dick out in front of a girl and she thought I’d shifted.” Dante’s eyes widened and a laugh ripped from his throat.

Her eyes were cracked open, looking up at us as we gripped our sweatpants. Just two fucking idiots about to get our cocks out…

For Wolves, banishment is worse than death. It means being cut off from the intimacy they need, severing the binds that tie them to their kin.

What will you have around you when all is said and done? I have family and people who love me. The people around you are terrified of you. You have no family and you have no one who loves you. Whether you die tomorrow or as an old man, it will be alone and unloved. And that’s a choice you made.”

“That’s why you should give her to me,”

“She’s the closest thing to family I’ve had in a long time.”

His hand released mine and landed on my stomach instead as he shoved my shirt up out of his way before splaying his palm across my skin.

soothing away my pain.

“This flower holds my venom in it. If you’re ever poisoned again, prick your finger on one of the thorns and it will transfer into your blood and save you,” he commanded before leaning forward and hanging the chain around my neck.

so I tipped them a salute and shot from the room instead,

Leon was the only one of my Kings who not only accepted the way I felt about the others, but embraced it wholeheartedly too and the way that made me feel was hard to put into words.

He doesnt see her as a possession but as an equal he only wants to make happy

I hated this box. Hated that all that was left of my beautiful, funny, kind, loving, utterly hopelessly, noble brother was the contents of something so small. Because he wasn’t small. He was big and bright and important and…gone.

“I don’t like that woman,” he said seriously, no sign of a smile around his lips for one of the first times ever.

“Who am I going to tell? The girls at the next big sleepover while we’re all braiding each other’s hair?” Roary snorted a laugh at his own joke and I couldn’t help but smile too.

Wolves were known for being polyamorous, as soon as they found their mate, that ended. And it was unheard of for a Dragon to have multiple mates.

I hunted for Rosalie in the crowd. I hadn’t seen her since lunch this afternoon. When Roary had arrived, she’d disappeared, but it wasn’t like her to miss out on a party.

A crush? A mate?

and her eyes held a hint of vulnerability in them which I’d never seen in her before.

She shrugged, but her eyes moved over my shoulder and I turned, finding Roary watching her with a smirk.

I glanced at Rosalie as she practically glowed from the offhanded praise, raising a brow knowingly. She pressed her lips together, giving me an expression that said if you say a word, I’ll gut you.

She reached into her purse, taking out a smooth lump of rose quartz with a Dragon engraved on it. My heart rate rose as she pushed it into my pocket without a word before anyone could see. Because rose quartz meant belonging to someone. It was a promise and a pledge of its

“Please don’t tell me to Fae up, Elise. Because sometimes I don’t feel like I’m Fae at all.” A sob tore from his throat and before I could say anything else, he shifted into his Tiberian Rat form and scurried away, leaving a heap of clothes on the floor in front of me.

“Exactly how you’d imagine it felt,” I snapped. “No one wants to see their flesh and blood like that. My brother deserved better than a fucking state funeral with no one there to mourn him. It was like he didn’t even matter, like no one even gave a shit that his whole life was stolen from him!”

“Well if it isn’t Big Bird on a day out from Sesame Street. What’s the matter? Do you need to talk to someone about how Elmo’s been touching you inappropriately?”

That well is the perfect place to dispose of a corpse and the fact that every asshole on campus thinks it’s haunted will stop anyone nosing around it too much anyway.

She mock saluted me and I narrowed

“There’s side effects of a dose that strong, it’s only meant for short term memories,”

“She’ll be shitting her pants and hallucinating for two days straight and she’ll know someone fucked with her head.”

“Yeah, and who cares if she shits her pants and sees Dumbo flying through her house for days?” Ryder snorted. “I personally see that as a bonus.”

I opened my mouth to rebuke him for Elise’s outfit but all that came out was a honk.

“Hey Big Bird,” Ryder said with a wide grin. “Ryder,” Elise barely controlled her laughter

“Don’t fall for that girl’s lies, Mr Nox. There’s something wrong with her. She’s broken beyond repair!”