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

by Caroline Peckham

Anyone who’d grown up in Alestria knew to run when The Lunar Brotherhood and The Oscura Clan came to blows. It was all too easy to get caught in the crossfire.

“I should have done something about Felix sooner,” he growled. “But he’s my father’s brother…it’s hard to see family clearly sometimes.”

I’d just overpowered the most powerful Fae in the whole damn academy.

I could almost buy into Gabriel’s prediction about us. It was too easy for me to get caught up in him, for me to lose myself in his company and forget about the rest of the world.

hadn’t fucked anyone else since I’d had her and I sure as shit wasn’t going to. I couldn’t get her out of my head and that meant one touch from her was goddamn nuclear.

“Words don’t mean anything. Anyone can promise me the moon, but I’ve never seen anyone pull it from the sky.”

I had to open my flesh to her and bare my dirty soul.

By the stars, if I’d only taken a moment to wonder why he’d been so desperate for the money, if I’d asked him, made him tell me why he needed it before I’d acted so brashly, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess now.

which meant I was about to be gifted an hour in his company.

but if you find yourself in stormy waters then honesty is always the best policy.

I hadn’t seen him since the club and I’d been more than a little concerned about coming face to face with him again for the first time.

He was frowning over at us, no doubt thinking up new things to say to try and keep me away from Leon,

Being with Leon felt like sitting in the rays of the sun on a summer’s day and I had no intention of giving him up any time soon. If ever.

The Mindy beside him inhaled sharply and I couldn’t help but look her way as she stared at me without blinking for way too long.

“Because it feels natural to look after you,” he murmured, leaning close to my ear. “So natural that sometimes I forget you don’t want me to.”

“Okay then. In my honest opinion, I think you need to stop hanging around douchebags like Leon Night and Dante Oscura,” he said.

“Well, in my honest opinion, I think that as a person who has no friends, you shouldn’t be giving me advice on how to make mine,” I replied.

like he seriously thought his Elysian Mate crap held some kind of sway over my actions.

not entirely sure why he was so keen to help me out, but I guessed I had agreed to be friends with him so maybe this was his way of being friendly.

“You told me yourself, you’re more powerful than everyone thinks. So Fae up and show that gross Griffin who’s boss.”

This kid needed some serious attitude adjustments, but maybe with a confidence boost or two he’d be able to get past his self-doubt and learn to claim his place in society like every other Fae.

“I just assumed you were really into learning.” “Nah, little monster. I’m really into you.

He insisted on lying to me about the thing I cared most about in the world. And yet he was still going out of his way to help me.

He may have been confusing as fuck. But I really did get the impression he was on my side.

“If anyone here is questioning my decision then you must be questioning my leadership. So why don’t you challenge me for my place if that’s the case?”

Elise was worried about me. It made me feel warm. Too pissing warm. What the fuck is wrong with me?

I wanted an equal opponent, not an underhanded piece of shit like Felix.

I shrugged, my heart tearing open and weeping blood as the truth washed through me.

Her eyes widened as she nodded in understanding. This tattoo was for her.

I wanted to bleed for Elise.

I guess she knew I didn’t want her pity. And I was glad.

I needed the outlet. I hadn’t spoken about this since I’d told that bitch of a school counsellor, Miss Nightshade. And she’d never gotten the details, only what was necessary.

I had no fucking clue why, but telling her this didn’t feel like being eaten alive by hungry ants.

painting a cross over her heart and the gesture meant everything to me. It was ours. It meant trust.

“You’re worth every one of them,” she insisted, pressing down harder with the needle and drawing a groan from me as pain scattered through my body.

“But I don’t like being told what to do. So I changed my mind. I’m going after Felix instead and when I catch him, I’m going to torture her location out of him.”

“One day you’ll kill her,” she said as she drew away. “And I’ll stand at your side while you do it.”

She eyed me with a scowl as she headed away, but didn’t question her Alpha for a second.

He was obviously desperate for the intimate needs of his kind and my own Pegasus Herd was pretty similar in that sense, so I didn’t mind. I just kinda pitied him.

Whether or not Sal was responsible for my mother’s issues, she was right, she had been almost like family to me.

Maybe she really did give a shit about me in some small way and there wasn’t a whole lot of people I could say that about.

“I happen to like my own company,” I replied with a teasing smile. “But I won’t complain about my favourite Dragon joining me.”

“But as I’m the Alpha, I get to make the rules anyway, so I won’t be losing any sleep over it.”

He’s spreading lies about me and trying to convince everyone that they should follow him instead.”

“For the most part, no. My family love and respect me. They can also see that I’m a true Alpha. I haven’t lost a pack brawl since I was fourteen and even Felix wouldn’t dare challenge me head on like that. He only showed his cards at all the other night because he saw I was weakened, out of magic.

“For the moment, he’s gone into hiding so it’s hard for me to plan a strike against him. In the meantime, I’ll be solidifying my hold on my family. I’m going home for a Clan meeting tonight and once that’s been dealt with, I can focus on hunting him down.”

“I’ve never known anyone to bathe in my power like you do, bella,” he said in a low voice. “I feel like I don’t have to hold back with you at all.”

I’ll have to work harder at being a better friend then so I can claim the real deal.

“You just haven’t been unlucky enough to find that out yet.”

but nothing beat the bond I had with the Fae I’d grown up with under this roof.