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

by Caroline Peckham

She was bathed in golden light. Not that I was looking. Except I was. Continually.

The bed was a nest of soft pillows and thick blankets and Elise was curled up in them like a sleeping cat.

After nearly losing Elise. After my skin had itched and burned for her.

I didn’t know exactly what I’d witnessed in the woods, but I knew it was nothing good. And now I was in serious shit because of the way I’d reacted.

Emotions warred inside me after almost losing her. My relief had given way to a pit of anxiety which was building into something more aggressive.

Did I not know her at all? Of course you don’t, you’ve been spending weeks forcing her out of your life.

“It’s cold,” she whispered. “I’ll close the window.” I went to move but her grip firmed.

My will shattered as I slid beneath the blankets, drawing her into my arms as a shiver ran through her.

and now her hair and skin smelled like male shower products. Which meant, more specifically, she smelled like me.

But I just wanted to hold her a while longer before I had to take her back to the academy.

I pointed to the mark of Libra tattooed onto my chest and her eyes fell to it with a frown. She leaned forward, pressing her lips to it and heat burned right through to my heart.

“I’ll always come for you when you’re in trouble but-” I inhaled as she reached my waistband, battling every desire in my body as I tried to force out the end of that sentence. “But we can’t be together.” I practically choked on the words.

She tried to move and I caught her wrists, pushing them into the sheets and trying not to focus on how good she looked beneath me or the way her thigh was pressing into my crotch.

“Regardless of what you feel for me, if people knew what I felt for you...” I shook my head. “It just isn’t worth the risk of you getting hurt.”

I didn’t know how she managed to look so damn put together with her hair sticking up everywhere, mascara under her eyes and wearing a shirt which was so damn big for her, it nearly fell to her knees.

You do realise that Dante Oscura and Ryder Draconis are killers, don’t you? Do you really think either of them would be above drugging some girl and dragging her into the woods?”

I dove toward her and she glanced over her shoulder before speeding away. My heart nearly combusted as she disappeared into the heart of Lunar Territory.

I refused to accept I’d saved her life just for her to die here in the darkest corner of Alestria.

Fucking Gabriel with his fucking wings would be circling in the sky above me at any moment.

Well fuck him. I wasn’t his and I never would be. And fate could suck my dick if it wanted to have any other say in the matter.

A symbol sat beneath my hand. A crescent moon with a serrated edge. The Lunar Brotherhood symbol. Well shit.

I was royally, utterly screwed. I knew it. They knew it. Hell, even the fucking stars must have been in on it at this point.

“I’m coming,” he finally replied. “Don’t touch her, she’s mine.”

she was Ryder’s second in command. The woman rumored to have killed every man she’d ever screwed. The Ice Killer, Frozen Butcher, Cold Hearted Queen.

There was something between me and him and no matter how angry he might be with me, I didn’t think he’d really hurt me somehow.

His gaze fell on me and my breath caught in my throat at the cold, hard rage I found there. His right fist clenched tightly at his side, the word pain drawn tight over his knuckles and I was suddenly reminded of all the reasons that I should fear Ryder Draconis.

I bit my lip and waited for him to get over the shock of seeing me here. Because I was pretty sure that when he decided to speak to me, I wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

How new girl had gotten all the way out here was a fucking mystery to me. But that mystery came closer to being solved as I found her on a bar stool in some guy’s shirt, her hair screaming recently fucked. She smelled like male shampoo, her cherry gum scent entirely absent.

Elise glanced up and relief spilled into her eyes but not her expression. “Oh thank fuck. Tell them you know me, Ryder.”

So Elise wants me to be her saviour even though she refuses to be mine. The fucking nerve of her. And in some other guy’s shirt no less.

She was trying not to show her fear, but her eyes gave it away to me.

“Come on, you’re not that much of an asshole.” “I’m much worse than you can imagine, new girl.

but out here I’m free to be the villain I am.”

I jerked my chin which was enough of a signal to hold them off and Elise looked to me with her lips pressed tightly together.

and I dragged my eyes down to her bare legs, one of which was sliced open. Poison pumped through my blood and drowned me in rage. She must have been tapped out or she would have healed herself by now.

I pressed my fingers to the wound on her cheek, her pain washing into me just before I healed her.

Her lips parted as I knelt down before her, taking hold of the wound on her leg being not too gentle as I bathed in her pain.

knowing my own people had hurt her like this. If they hadn’t called me…

no bullshit lining her expression just relief and some raw emotion that made me want to look away.

Somehow, she’d brought the King of the Brotherhood to his knees in some piss-ridden alley and I still wasn’t getting up.

I drank in the pinch of her pain and growled my delight in her ear, twisting the key in the ignition.

“This isn’t much of a valiant rescue,” she snarled. “Who says I’m rescuing you?”

Elise didn’t even squeal but she pressed back into me so her ass was practically riding my dick.

I took corners at speed, waiting for her to scream or even gasp, but she didn’t make a sound, her hands resting on the bars beside mine as she kept her head firmly in place against my shoulder.

“Ryder!” Elise gasped. “Stop!” A smile pulled at my mouth as a scream escaped her a second before we reached the fence.

I locked my arms around her in case she had any notions of running away with her Vampire speed and hauled her off the bike.

“Are you gonna run like a coward or are you gonna talk like Fae?” I growled, dipping my head as I glared at her.

Do you think I’m just gonna continue to allow you to make a fool of me, Elise?”

“Did he hurt you?”

If he had, I’d have him in ten pieces before midday. I’d make him suffer and drink up every drop of pain his body could give.