Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy, #5)

by Caroline Peckham

I won’t let you go. I promised I’d do anything in my power to keep us together and I’ll do it, goddammit. I will do it.

Fate was bloodthirsty and callous, taking him like this when all he’d wanted was to save his sister. It broke me in a way I didn’t think I’d ever heal from.

And I was in the perfect position to gather intel. Ghost Recon style.

“He was falling in love with you, and you ripped his heart out,” Gabriel said quietly. “There is no greater pain in this world than that. Believe me. I know. I’ve lived it.”

“You doing it,” he breathed with a seductive grin. “He’s all yours, beautiful. I want you to make him scream. I’m gonna be right there with a fold-out chair and a bag of freshly popped popcorn to enjoy the show. But I won’t be the one breaking bones – and trust me I really want to be that guy, but not this time. Seth Capella has written his fate in the stars. She’s coming for him like a monster in the night. And her name is Darcy Vega.”

“Ice melts,” I pointed out. “Flowers wither,” he countered. “I guess we’re both screwed then.” “I was already aware of that.”

Catalina smiled at me before ripping her dress off, knocking her hair free of its perfectly styled bun, flashing me those gloriously fake tits, and leaping out of the window after her son. She transformed as she plummeted, and my lips fell open as a stunning silver Dragon burst from her flesh.

Thank you, Roxy. This means more to me than words can convey.

“You look incredible tonight, Roxy,” he said in a low voice which sent a shiver running right down my spine.

“The stars might have decided that you can never be mine,” Darius said roughly, refusing to move away from me. “But I am yours. No matter what. I don’t care where we end up or who we’re with, I’ll always be yours. And I’m going to fix the damage I did to us even if the stars don’t care. I’m going to prove to you that I could have been worthy of you if I’d just listened to my heart sooner.”

I couldn’t let Darius Acrux have my heart. No matter how much I ached for him. We were doomed anyway. Star Crossed. And even if we weren’t, I just couldn’t trust him with it.

Yep, it’s official. I’m into my straight best friend. Thanks for the headfuck stars.

I shrugged, disbanding the air shield to let him out the door. He strode away with a fucking skip in his step, and I had to check myself for a second because did I just make friends with Diego fucking Polaris?

“I love you, Roxy,” he said in a rough, dark voice which held no room for lies or falsehood, no space for tricks of cruelty. Only the truth. I could feel it just as keenly as I could feel the rush of his magic beneath my skin.

Tears slid down my cheeks as I kissed him harder, my whole body tangling with his and I threw an air shield up over our heads, pouring my magic into it as I fought to buy us just a few more seconds. He kissed me like he’d die if he didn’t, like the only reason his heart was beating at all was so that it could be mine, and I kissed him like the world could cave in around us and I wouldn’t even care so long as I was still in his arms when it ended.

“It’s easier to believe he’s not a monster when his fangs are on show,” Roxy said, cutting him a bright smile which made a growl rumble through my throat. She turned to look at me again and I practically sighed as she ran her hands over my scales once more. “How fucked up is that?” she murmured and if I really was a house cat I might have been purring.

“I’d take death over life without you,” he breathed, his voice rough and broken by fear.

“That goes for anyone who supports the Heirs too,” Seth suddenly boomed and I looked to him with a smile twisting up the corner of my lips. It was dark and savage and tasted new on my mouth. But it felt good to wield our power at long last over someone who deserved it. I thought of all the times she’d cursed me, laughed at me, of the time she’d spat on me. She thought I was beneath her, but she was going to get a rude awakening when she found herself at the bottom of the food chain in the next five seconds.

Me and Lance Orion were officially over. The most beautiful, pure love I’d ever known had been taken away from me just like that. And I didn’t know how I’d ever recover.

“Nobody fucks with my girl and gets away with it,” he growled, his lips brushing my ear for a moment and making me shiver.

I frowned as I tried to figure out what she meant by that. Was she saying that she’d been sleeping in one of my shirts? Because it really seemed like she was. And the idea of that made me grin like an idiot.