Savage Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, #2)

by Caroline Peckham

“Tears don’t make you weak, my little angel,” I said and more tears fell as I called her that name like it meant something to her. “It’s brave to cry over what you’ve lost. It means you feel it, it means it meant something, and it means you don’t shy away from those emotions even when they hurt the most.”

Maybe he was right about us being Elysian Mates, soul mates, true love…but then why did I feel such a pull to the other Kings of the school too?

“I know. You can look after yourself, earn your own money. You’ve got it sorted with the Kiplings, but if there was ever a time when you needed me, I’d be there. That’s all I’m saying.” I turned to face him and the sincerity I found in his gaze halted any further protests. I frowned at what he’d said, wondering how he knew I was working for the Kiplings as suspicion crept into my mind.

But maybe the stars would shine kindly on me and I’d find out he had nothing to do with Gareth’s death. Because I had to admit that the closer I got to the Kings, the harder it became to shield my heart from them. The connections I was using to hunt for the person responsible for Gareth’s death were starting to worm their way past my armour too.

Father had taught me to be wary of people who got too close to you if they weren’t blood. It meant they had another motive. Although if Elise had one, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was. But the simple possibility that she just liked me was more insane than her plotting to assassinate me.

Inferno swept into the room, his eyes seeking out my girl in an instant. I was getting challenged left, right and centre for Elise and it got my back up. Especially when Nox walked into the room and sought her out too. I bared my teeth, my hackles rising as the Lion King walked in too.

My father had taught me everything I needed to get a grasp on the art. He told me I’d inherited my mother’s talent. It was the one thing about myself I valued above all else. That piece of her that lived in me was still intact.

Though sometimes Elise fixed a few of my broken shards, holding them together long enough for her to get a glimpse of that person I’d been. And I hated to admit it, but those times when she did draw my shattered parts back together felt like breathing a lungful of the purest, crispest winter air. It felt like none of it had ever happened.

a grove on the edge of the Empyrean Fields. I wanted this potion finished. Because as soon as it was done, I could finally put my plan into motion. Death was coming on swift wings and I was its deliverer.

“I suppose this will do,” a voice replied and for a moment I was sure it was the soft tone of a woman. “I’ll get the dealers working on them. There are a few who seem suicidal from the last batch you provided anyway so they should suffice for the coming full moon,” the voice now sounded deep and rough, entirely masculine and I suppressed a growl of frustration as I realised they were under a concealment spell.

“Yes, I agree. And given a month or more, the Killblaze addiction should prove strong enough to tip at least one of these new candidates over the edge. There are a few there who seem very promising,” Nightshade said. “One whose family was killed in a house fire she accidentally started after her Element was Awakened and another who has been bullied his entire life and has long since given into the hopelessness of his situation.” “Good. Continue to feed them negativity and suicidal feelings in your sessions and we should have something to work with.”

My fingernails bit into my palms as I considered following them, but that idea was squashed as they paused at the end of the corridor and drew out a silk bag before throwing a handful of stardust over themselves and disappearing into the ether. I just stared at the place where they’d been in shock. Stardust was insanely expensive, travelling like that was for the rich and famous, not the kind of Fae who lived in Alestria. The only people I’d ever even heard rumours of having any of it were…the Oscuras. There had been a huge stockpile of stardust stolen from a Celestial Councillor last year and none of it had ever been recovered. No one had ever been arrested. But the FIB had gone at the Oscuras hard over it and the story had been all over the news for a while. My brow pinched as I filed that thought away for later, focusing instead on my current predicament.

I yanked my Atlas out of my pocket, lined it up with a gap in the slats and set it to record. Because fuck, this was fifty shades of screwed up, but it was also probably the ticket to Elise’s freedom for at least another month.

“I disrupted Dante Oscura’s magic in his assessment,” she breathed huskily. “I told Principal Greyshine I think he should lose his place at the academy.”

Reginald laughed loudly, cutting through the tension between the two brothers as he eyed me with what I could have sworn was genuine fondness.

“Immune to Charisma, unwilling to feed you and a natural born thief, wherever did you find this little treasure, Leon?” Reginald asked, seeming amused by our display. “She just strolled right into my life like some kind of goddess of chaos,” Leon said, his eyes on me.

“Bad little monster,” Leon purred in my ear. “I can’t believe you stole Roary’s fucking car.” “No one gets to make my Leo frown,” I breathed as he trailed kisses down my neck. “Fuck, if you say that again, I think I’ll come already,” Leon growled.

“You look a little green, Ryder,” Leon said with a smirk. “Is that your Order form showing through or just jealousy?” “Why would I be jealous of you?” I spat a hollow laugh and Leon’s smile widened. “Because you want Elise and she’s not yours,” he said simply and rage settled in my gut. “I’m not yours either,” Elise sang from the sidelines. “Miss Callisto please pair with Mr Dipper!” Mars called and she sighed her disappointment before heading away. “Oh hey Elise!” Dipper called excitedly and I frowned over at Elise as he hugged her in greeting – okay what the fuck is that about?

“Not since-” I stole the air from that sentence, anger pounding through me at almost saying something so fucking stupid. Because why hadn’t I screwed anyone since I’d met Elise? It didn’t make any fucking sense. She wasn’t mine. And now I’d made that deal with Inferno, she couldn’t be mine. And meanwhile, I got fucking blue balls and for what? So she could go off screwing Lions and skipping about school giving no shits who that hurt?

“I’ll never commit to one man. That’s just not me. So if you hadn’t then…” she placed her hand on my bare chest and the heat of her skin set off a fire in my body. She trailed her fingers lower and my cock twitched desperately, practically full mast already. If I did fuck her, I’d last about five shitting seconds right now. Real impressive.

“I like you, Ryder, but I like Leon too. And trust me when I say, you wouldn’t make me forget him. He’s important to me.” “Why?” I hissed, though maybe I knew deep down. Leon was everything I wasn’t. He could offer her something normal, something sweet. I didn’t do normal or sweet. I did twisted and bitter. If Leon was her type, I was never going to be.

“You do make me happy, Ryder.” She skated her lips to my jaw and I clutched her against my side with a groan of lust. “I wish I could show you how much.”

I couldn’t erase the grin tugging at my mouth and decided I might as well admit the obvious truth to Elise. “You make me feel happy too, Elise. Forget pain or lust. Just happy. Are you going to tattoo it on my dick or am I?”

Maybe Mars had been right to send me to this detention because I was an addict. But Killblaze wasn’t my drug of choice. The Kings were. And no matter how hard I tried to hold myself back, I kept finding myself in positions like this.

Dante Oscura Cindy Lou Galaxa Harvey Bloom Leon Night Lorenzo Oscura These were the students in school I’d seen Gareth hanging out with regularly. So could they possibly have a connection to what had happened to Gareth on the night of the Solarid Meteor Shower?

His blood spilling across my skin, the way he’d groaned and flailed. The way I’d held him close and spoken those awful words in his ear. You’re nothing. Oh fuck fuck fuck. I was on the verge of a panic attack, my mind buzzing as The Sight showed me that night like I was reliving it all over again. Stop, please fucking stop. My heart thumped, missing beats, totally wild as I tried to draw breath.

“Sometimes I wonder how it is that you manage to see so much of me,” Dante said slowly. “It’s because I’m looking, Dante. Not at a gang leader or Storm Dragon or an Alpha. I’m looking at you.”

If he wanted to know my darkest fantasies then he might be surprised to find that he starred in a lot of them recently, alongside a Basilisk, a Lion and a Harpy…

I looked up at him, my eyes meeting the cold, grey depths of his gaze and my heart stuttered with fear at the emptiness I found there. My fangs snapped out and tension coiled through my body as if some base part of me recognised the threat this man posed even while I didn’t fully understand it myself.

That it would be the uncle. Felix Oscura, long since branded the most dangerous and cutthroat mobster in the whole of Alestria. I’d once read an article in the news which claimed they suspected he was responsible for nearly two hundred deaths. They called him The Reaper, Death’s Advocate, they said he bathed in the blood of his victims and delighted in causing as much pain as physically possible in those he sent to the afterlife. This was the man who had tricked Dante into becoming a murderer by playing on his grief at the loss of his father. And for that fact alone I hated him, regardless of all the other reasons I had to do so from his reputation.

“And let the Brotherhood kill my Storm Dragon? I don’t fucking think so.” “Yours?” I sighed, sensation returning to my lips so I could manage a cocky smile. She rolled her eyes, but there were tears of relief rimming them too. “Mine,” she confirmed,

“You’d put yourself at risk for him?” Ryder asked, stalking closer, his eyes hard and without mercy. “I’d do the same for you,” I said honestly.

“Because you’re better than that,” I whispered, reaching out to catch his hand in mine, my fingers tightening over his split knuckles. “You’re determined to see things in me that aren’t there,” he snarled. “You’re determined to deny what lives in your heart,” I countered.

Dante groaned as he came to and I kept pressing at the magic until the small reserve I’d gathered was all gone, leaving me bone dry in a desert of nothing again. But that didn’t matter, not one bit. Because my Storm Dragon was pushing himself up, a fierce look lining his features as he caught my fingers between his and pulled me up too. “Ti devo la vita, bella,” he growled, looking into my eyes. “And I’ll pay that debt back one day.”

I snarled like the beast I was as I locked an arm around his neck, wrenching him off of Dante and drinking deeply, feasting on the dark power that lived inside him.

“Che sta per iniziare una guerra: that there’s a war starting. And the streets will run red with blood before it’s won.”