The Awakening as Told by the Boys (Zodiac Academy, #1.5)

by Caroline Peckham

But you might have to keep that Dragon dick tucked away for now because it doesn't look like this one had it."

Green eyes peering into my soul and the brush of lips against mine so hot and powerful that I could taste that kiss right down to my core. A name in the dark which sounded like a plea or a promise and words which hung in my mind like they'd been spoken from the stars themselves. Choose wisely, Dragon born. The greatest treasure is the hardest won.

healed me without paying it any attention. "You pulled me out?" I asked groggily, managing to push myself to sit up and ignoring the way my head spun from the effort. "Yeah," he grunted. "Don't ever fucking do that to me again."

I trusted him more than any other Fae I knew. Even the other Heirs, even my own brother. Because Lance knew all of me, every dark, damaged, fractured piece. The good and the bad. He knew the full extent of what my father was and what I had to endure daily to appease him. He knew the struggles I faced and he'd been by my side throughout them all.

I needed to take Lionel Acrux's place on the Celestial Council and there was nothing I wouldn't do to achieve that. Nothing.

And no matter what it might take, we were going to achieve it.

but for some reason I missed the touch of sunshine in my palm and the warmth of her sister’s presence.

That was gonna make their time at the academy hell until they could figure it out. Pity.

making my heart bunch up into my throat. The prickling in my fangs grew immediately more demanding and the urge to feed from her was almost impossible to fight off.

This girl was beautiful in a way that ran somehow deeper than her skin, in a way I could feel.

my cock was stirring in my pants and a possessive growl was building in my throat. Both Vegas were attractive, but something about this one was mesmerising. I couldn’t for the life of me tear my eyes away from her.

This was quite fun actually. She was too fucking cute getting all angry while wearing those ridiculous pyjamas.

I was caught off guard by how much I didn’t instantly hate them. And I hated everyone, so that was saying something,

That blue hair would look so fucking good wrapped around my fist. By the stars, she’s gonna be your damn student, idiot.

I found myself even more bloodthirsty than before. Maybe I just need some space.

Especially as I was still thinking about little miss bunny pyjamas in my periphery and what her body might look like beneath all that baggy material.

My eyes whipped back onto her and I was instantly snared in her trap again. Maybe she was a Siren, her Order about to emerge, and she was somehow wielding her powers over me already, drawing me in and becoming a dark desire I couldn’t ignore. Sure, I’m gonna go with that.

Darcy nodded and I took one torturously long moment studying her mouth. By the moon, that mouth.

Of course, then my treacherous mind ran to the dangerous place where my punishments involved me pushing her down on my desk and spanking her ass raw, and I cursed myself internally. What the fuck’s the matter with me?

I shrugged and she scowled in a way that sent a hot flash up my spine. By the stars, this girl.

“I say you're crazy,” Darcy said and I had a vision of showing her just how crazy I could be. Not an appropriate one though. The kind where she was pinned beneath me gasping my name.

And if you are, the Heirs are going to lose their shit. But of course you are, of course you’ll make this difficult.

but as it was only Darcy who had made me fucking burn with unwanted need,

But he had wanted those girls beaten before they ever came to this academy. Though of course the stars had chosen another route.

And I was more than happy to take on that task if it meant keeping him happy, keeping my family safe from his rage.

My thumping pulse picked up speed for a wholly different reason as I drank her in. Long, black hair tumbled down her spine,

She was without a doubt, the most stunning creature I'd ever laid my eyes upon and I couldn't help but stare at her as she moved deeper into the room with the other students.

but I didn't look away from her. My gaze was riveted to her as I drank in every small movement of her body and each expression crossing her face. I didn't give a fuck about the Vegas showing up tonight anymore. I just wanted to know that girl a whole lot better than I did.

"Mine," I snarled, the beast in me waking up and my eyes shifting into reptilian slits as if my Dragon was aching for a look at her too.

I was filled with the insane urge to get out of my seat and stride straight up to that girl and claim her in front of every fucker here.

But I didn't care. Because the only thing about her that mattered in that moment was that I was laying my claim. The Dragon in me demanded it.

made it to my girl and caught her arm.

I tore my gaze from the temptation of that beautiful creature to the students closest to her.

wondering how the fuck I could have missed the fact that there were two of them while I'd been so caught up in staring at her.

My dick's interest in getting to know one of them a whole lot more intimately had no bearing on anything.

wanted me to run to him, hold him tight and sniff his hair just a little. Fuck, I'd missed him.

I'd still missed him. He was the one person in this world who I could be entirely honest with.

that when it came down to it if I had to pick between some girls I didn't know and my own family's safety then there was no question of how far I was willing to go.

Then Geraldine lost her shit and leapt to her feet, screaming and clapping and generally looking like a fucking idiot.

I knew I needed to stop, to pull my gaze from the bare skin of her waist and the tanned flesh there which ached for the touch of my tongue. I shouldn't have been staring at the curves of her body or thinking any of the things which were currently circling through my mind, but fuck. She looked like the most perfect kind of seduction.

it felt like a shot of power snapped from her soul right into mine. I was held captive there, wanting her and hating her for it. Hating her for all the reasons I knew I had to hate her, but just fucking wanting her all the same. Fuck.

Bring it on, baby.

the object of my attention

So no, I wouldn't be using that name, I'd be sticking with Roxanya. Or maybe Roxy, because that had a ring to it which I knew would roll right off of my tongue with a Dragon's growl whenever I deigned to speak it.

Biting her. I wasn't sure what it was about Roxy which kept making me focus on her.

I was filled with the desire to tell Caleb and the others to back the fuck off and leave her to me.

Fuck she'd look good being bent to my will.

“Well maybe you should look a little closer, Roxy,” I taunted, baiting her, waiting to see how she liked the sound of that and wondering how long it would take before I'd have her begging me to call her it while I pinned her beneath me.

but the asshole just grinned wider like he knew I'd been planning on staking a claim on her and didn't give a single shit about it.

The Dragon in me was a possessive motherfucker and all I could think of while I watched her in his arms was that I would really enjoy tearing him away from her and beating the ever living shit out of his pretty boy face.