Elemental Fae Academy: Book Three: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance
Page 32
Stop fighting our connection. You’re mine. You belong to me.
“Get out of my head!” I growled as I ran, bumping into someone that I couldn’t see through the haze of my Alpha’s influence. The human I’d stumbled into offered a brief, mortal future that invaded my mind, dulling the hold my Alpha had over me.
“Hey!” the human said, unaware that I’d just seen his date for later this evening as he grabbed onto me to keep me from falling into him.
The vision unfurled, a tall blonde who looked none too pleased with her date.
“She’s way out of your league!” I shouted, blurting out the vision with the raw need to expel the future from my lungs. Plus, I felt sorry for the girl. He didn’t match his internet profile whatsoever.
“Excuse me?” he barked, letting go of my wrist.
Freed from his unfortunate future, I gulped in a fresh breath and kept moving.
Visions never came to me in coherent pieces and often were as difficult to interpret as they were to avoid. Everyone always wanted to know what their future held for them, what a vision meant, and they wanted answers of how to change unfavorable results.
The future cannot be changed… only accepted.
That’s what I’d been taught all my life, but I wondered if that rule still applied to me now that I was an Omega.
Gods, I hoped not, because his eyes watched me, those sliced, silver cat-like eyes of an Alpha that had targeted his Omega.
You’ll submit to me.
Stop running.
Stop hiding and do what you are meant to do.
…Obey your Alpha.
Who did he think he was? Seriously, “obey” him?
Fuck.
That.
An angsty scream built in my throat as I swatted at the too-perfect face that haunted my visions. A cruel grin formed, and then the visage faded, leaving me alone on the street with passerby humans giving me “well she’s bat-shit crazy” looks.
I was used to that. As a Fortune Fae, I saw things others didn’t. Future and present often blurred together and to most mortals, I could come across as insane.
I preferred to call it a side-effect of being awesome.
Although, as a recently emerging Omega, shit was getting pretty weird, even to my standards.
I decided to embrace the beneficial parts of being an Omega such as my enhanced sense of smell that could detect fae, my strengthened ability to trigger and navigate visions, and a sixth sense that kept me one step ahead of the Alpha on my tail. I wasn’t just going to roll over and submit to him, not if I had anything to say about it.
I’m getting impatient with this little game, he pressed, his irritation palpable. The first few times I’d evaded him, my Alpha had found it amusing. Now, though, he’d had just about enough.
Too fucking bad.
If I was going to continue to evade a pissed off Alpha, then I had to find my next hiding spot, which meant I needed to get back to my nest. Yeah, nesting, that was a new thing too, but I found that it gave me a boost to my intuition, something that had kept me free of the Alpha’s clutches so far. I sensed he was on his way here right now. He roamed the Human Realm looking for me and he wasn’t far, which meant that I needed to dive into my visions again and figure out my future of where I could hide next. There were a few paths remaining where I escaped him. Each time his mind found mine, there were fewer options available, but I’d figure it out. For now, I needed to get out of immediate danger.
Seeing one’s own future was definitely an Omega trait. Typical Fortune Fae couldn’t look at their own Fate’s Mirror. It was how I’d evaded capture so far, not that many Omegas were dumb enough to try. I had no doubt that if I was caught, I’d be punished, and it wouldn’t be pretty.
When. Not if you’re caught, my pretty Omega, but when.
Goosebumps flushed across my skin at his words and the wicked intent behind them. Fresh fear spiked a layer of sweat over the back of my neck and I bit the side of my cheek. “Keep your shit together, Gina,” I said under my breath, pep-talking myself. “You’re not going to let him win.”
I clutched my fingers into fists as I approached the towering building that would take me between realms.
What if I’ve already won? he said in my mind, his cocky tone saying that he was just toying with me now.
“I said, get out of my head,” I growled, storming into the lobby and taking a sharp right to the elevator used by fae to travel in and out of the Human Realm. Once I jumped worlds, my Alpha would lose his grip on my mind and I could find my next hiding spot.
The bellhop took note of me, a human who logged the comings and goings of the fae and was well compensated to report all travel to the Elemental Council and keep his mouth shut to the rest of the mortal species about fae-kind.
He was even better compensated not to mention me.
“Miss Gina,” he said with a polite nod. “On the run from that asshole again?”
I gave him a wink. “What can I say? He’s persistent.”
The bellhop tsked, but waited expectantly in my path. He might pity me, but he still had a job to do.
Good thing humans could be bribed.
With a sigh, I pulled out my entire week’s earnings from the café—which was substantial, given how human males thought they could buy my attention with their paper money. I’d gotten some amazing tips as a bartender, but it surprised me how the tips as a cafe waitress were comparable and sometimes even better. Thanks to the businessmen in the morning with fat wallets and lustful eyes.
I was happy to take their money and dash their hopes. No one touched me without my permission, which was rarely, if ever, given.
No permission needed when you’re already mine, Came my Alpha’s cruel reminder. I pressed my lips in a thin line and ignored him.
The bellhop’s eyes sparkled when I deposited the wad of cash on the counter, slipping it discreetly within his reach without touching him. I had no desire to see his dull future, watching fae travel all over the multiple realms while he sat here, dreaming about joining them one day. That wouldn’t happen. Humans didn’t get to play with fae, not often, anyway.
“Seems your papers are in order,” he said with a polite nod, no doubt hoping I would be his rare chance to finally be a part of a world he watched from the sidelines.
If I wasn’t on the run, I might have entertained the idea of helping him. As a Fortune Fae I got away with occasional mischief, but I had enough heat as it was.
“Of course they are,” I replied.
His gaze followed me as I moved past him and towards the elevator that would take me home. My nest was in Fortune Fae territory, and while I didn’t like getting close to my kind right now, it was a necessary risk. I needed to draw from the source of my magic to accurately read my own future, not to mention see enough of a reliable vision to determine the best path I could follow.
Stepping into the elevator, I slid one of my Fortune cards into the slot and punched in the sequence that would take me out of the Human Realm.
My stomach dropped when the elevator shifted realms, going inwards and outwards instead of the standard upward lurch one might expect. I blew out a breath when a weight lifted from my mind, signaling that I’d momentarily broken the lock my Alpha had on me.
“Not today, bastard,” I said, feeling smug. Even if he guessed I was heading home, I wouldn’t be sticking around long enough for him to track me.
The elevator doors opened, revealing a vast landscape that heralded my kind’s most prized landmarks: Fortune Fae Academy and the Collegium. A thorned forest surrounded the Academy, embracing it in cruel intentions and daring anyone to attempt to approach—or escape.
A massive structure overshadowed the Academy, towering behind it like a faithful sentry.
The Collegium.
That’s where graduates worked to predict futures that impacted all the realms. I paused, indulging a moment to appreciate the structures. If things were different, I would have loved to
delve into the ancient scrolls and pick apart old visions to help understand what was happening to me now, but to step through those gates would be to accept my fate; to accept my role as an Omega and submit to a mate-circle and my Alpha.
I didn’t even know his name, just that one of my visions had triggered my once-dormant Omega traits, calling my Alpha to me whether I wanted to or not.
By the impression I had of the bastard so far, there was no way I could allow him to get his hands on me. Alphas were possessive, indulgent, wicked creatures that I wanted nothing to do with. I’d avoided their kind all my life and I wasn’t going to stop now.
This wasn’t a legal entry point to the Fortune Realm, but I was already a fugitive. Omegas were not supposed to run. They were supposed to be good little Fae and attend Fortune Fae Academy, submitting to their mate-circle and supplementing the Fortune Fae’s visions.
Something big was going on with the time-space continuum if Omegas were starting to emerge, myself included. I sensed a massive vision that lingered on the edges of my mind ever since my Omega traits started to emerge. If that vision descended on me now, I had no doubt it would crush my mind. I had no interest in being subjugated to that kind of vision. Let some other Fortune Fae deal with it.
Yet another reason to avoid my Alpha and the mate-circle that would come with him. Accepting him would only bring me closer to the cliff of that vision.
I tucked my fingers into my pocket, running my touch over the slick cards of my Fortune deck out of habit as I hurried through the narrow path through the thorned forest. Anyone else might miss the small break in thorns that led to my nest unless they knew what they were looking for. I deftly moved through the small opening, crouching to duck beneath a gnarled branch once I reached the small hatch to my nest.
Relief hit me the moment I popped open the door and slipped through the narrow opening. My nest was the safest place in the world—at least, that’s how it always felt whether that was true or not. I loved my nest. The small room held only a few pieces of furniture that I’d confiscated from various realms, but each object had a place and a purpose. A small desk where I could spread out my Fortune cards and read my future, followed by a table where I could eat a quick meal, and finally my bed. The bed was definitely the largest piece of furniture in my nest and took up the majority of the space, but that was just something that came with being an Omega. The large mattress had been a pain to magic into the tight space and had cost me a ridiculous number of fortunes to find a Water Fae willing to mist the object for me, in secret no less.
I shut the hatch behind me and didn’t wait for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I approached my bed first, extending my hands to navigate by feel. I was unable to resist the pull to bury myself under the sheets for just a moment.
I drew in a deep breath, expecting to calm myself through the familiar scents of my nest—and froze.
My nostrils flared.
Wrong.
It was all wrong.
A flame from a lighter broke the calm darkness of the room, making me wince. The first thing I saw when my eyes focused were those silver sliced irises.
My Alpha lay sprawled on my bed, unashamedly naked and positively smug. He was all hard edges and bulging muscle. The gleam in his eyes said that he dared me to run. Maybe he hoped I’d try.
“Well hello, little Omega.”
… Fuck.
Trilogy Releasing in 2020…
About Lexi C. Foss
USA Today Bestselling Author Lexi C. Foss loves to play in dark worlds, especially the ones that bite. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and their furry children. When not writing, she’s busy crossing items off her travel bucket list, or chasing eclipses around the globe. She’s quirky, consumes way too much coffee, and loves to swim.
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About J.R. Thorn
J.R. Thorn is a Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance Author.
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