Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts)

by Caroline Peckham

  The stars didn’t seem to mind that with so many people around to witness us, but in that moment I wished they’d tear us away from each other.

  “But you’re still going ahead with it?” I asked in a low voice that only he could hear. “You’ll turn up and walk down the aisle and-”

  “Are you seeing Caleb again?” he growled and that froze me in my tracks.

  The bell rang to signal the start of the first class of the day and the other students all began to file out of the huge space within the golden dome as I just stood staring up at him.

  “No,” I breathed eventually. “That night, I was stupid and selfish and heartbroken. I-”

  “We don’t get a say in whether or not we get to be together anymore,” Darius said darkly and the tension in his posture made me ache. I wanted to reach for him, comfort him, do something to ease the weight I could see laying on his shoulders, but I didn’t know what I could do. And another part of me didn’t want to comfort him anyway; the vengeful, spiteful part of me revelled in his pain and screamed that he deserved it, but in the wake of my own heartache, sometimes it was hard to cling to that idea.

  “I know,” I said and I knew I shouldn’t have asked him about Mildred, but she was just such a fucking asshole. The idea of him with her, Lord and Lady Acrux in their fancy fucking house with their hoard of Dragon babies each with their own fluffy little moustaches just like hers just made me want to… gah.

  “So, if Caleb makes you happy…” He didn’t finish that sentence and it looked like it cost him physical pain to let it pass his lips. He locked his jaw and his fingers curled into a fist.

  “Why are you saying that to me?” I demanded.

  “Because…” Darius blew out a breath and took me captive in his gaze. “Maybe I don’t want to live with the fact that you’ll never be happy now because of this.”

  “You want me to be happy?”

  A faint hissing noise started up and I looked around in surprise as a wet drip fell onto my cheek. The icicles decorating the ceiling of The Orb started rattling as more drips fell from them and a faint tremor rumbled through the ground at my feet.

  The rest of the students had left and the stars were already working against us even as I waited for that single answer from him.

  Before I could get it, Darius turned and strode away from me, leaving me to stare at the way his blazer strained over his broad shoulders as he left the room and the icicles stopped rattling.

  I frowned as I considered what he’d just suggested. Did I want to try and claim something with Caleb now? In all honesty, the idea hadn’t really occurred to me. Ever since the night we’d spent together after I’d been Star Crossed, I’d barely even seen him, much less thought about him. And it wasn’t like we’d ever been more than a casual thing anyway. Yeah I liked him and he made me laugh, but everything with him just seemed kind of vacant when I compared it to the things I’d felt with Darius. If I spent time pining for anyone, it was all aimed at him. Which was the point of this fucking curse, wasn’t it?

  I glanced down at my Atlas in my hands and frowned at the picture of him and Mildred before switching it off.

  I was better off not thinking about him marrying her anyway.

  ***

  Elemental Combat lessons didn’t fit in our regular timetable so they’d decided to give us the lessons three times a week in the evenings after dinner instead of during the day, and I found that I didn’t mind that at all. The lessons were so physically and magically demanding that once they were over I was pretty exhausted, so after I spent another hour or two studying I crashed out and actually slept. Which was pretty hard for me at the moment.

  Sometimes when I lay in bed at night and the shadows twisted between my fingers, I liked to imagine what my teachers at my old high schools would think of me now. I’d never really applied myself to my studies the way me and Darcy had been this term, and the thought of me staying up past midnight studying night after night would have been unthinkable to me back then. But I’d grown this appetite for knowledge and learning which could rival Darcy’s in the last few weeks. Okay, so I wasn’t all that interested in history or other academic subjects, but my thirst for magical knowledge was unquenchable. We’d been having additional lessons and assignments with almost all of our teachers and Orion and Gabriel had gone out of their way to spend hours with us to improve our skills. And we really were improving. We were topping all of our classes and were starting to learn magic which was more advanced than a lot of our classmates.

  But it still wasn’t enough. Because I was done with playing catch up to the Heirs. And I refused to slow down until we not only matched their skill, but surpassed it.

  I walked beside Darcy as we headed up to The Howling Meadow where the lessons were held. We were wearing leggings and sports bras, our hair tied back and looking very twinny in our matching outfits. I kinda loved it.

  “I heard a rumour today that Marguerite has manticrabs,” Darcy said to me in a low voice as we spotted the girl in question up ahead. She was laughing and tossing her red hair, trying to catch the attention of the Heirs who were holding court in the middle of the meadow, lazing on the group of boulders that sat there and showing off with flashy magic like always. Darius wasn’t really joining in, but he was standing with them and my gaze automatically hooked on his exposed biceps and the ink that covered them for a moment before I forced myself to look away.

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” I replied. “Considering she’s the one who calls me a whore all the time, I’ve heard that she’s currently sleeping with half the Pitball sub team.”

  “So is Kylie apparently in a bid to make Seth jealous. Let’s hope they both catch manticrabs from the same guy then have a big fight right before your cheer off with their cheerleading squad,” Darcy joked.

  “Don’t remind me,” I groaned.

  My squad and I had actually been making some pretty good progress on our routine and I couldn’t even really claim to hate it anymore. But since Washer had started attending our practice sessions, a whole new level of horror had been added to them. Did we need a teeny weeny bit of help with our stretches? No, no we did not, blegh.

  As if my mind had conjured the very man I’d been thinking about, Washer stepped out of the crowd and came to a halt before us.

  “Well, if it isn’t my favourite twins,” he purred.

  As this class wasn’t held near water, he thankfully didn’t have any excuse to be wearing a speedo so instead we were gifted a look at his clothes. But as these lessons were after hours, he always dressed down for them. Today he was wearing the tightest pair of leather pants I’d ever seen accompanied by a tiger print button down which seemed to have a lot of Lycra in it judging by the way it stretched around his torso, though of course he’d left half the buttons undone to reveal plenty of sun baked chest.

  I exchanged a glance with Darcy as we were forced to fall still and see what he had to say and as expected, his gaze zeroed in on me.

  “How are you feeling today, my little Star Crossed lamb?”

  “Fine,” I ground out, but the pouty look he gave me said he smelled bullshit.

  I threw more magic into my mental shields, but ever since I’d made the decision not to be bound to Darius, the maelstrom of emotions warring inside me had become increasingly hard to fully shield from nosy Sirens. I could burn out their invasion with my Phoenix fire, but I couldn’t keep that up all the time.

  “I’ve been speaking to Principal Nova about giving you some one on one sessions in private to help you work through this little speed bump,” he pressed, inching closer with his hand raised like he thought he might touch me.

  I stepped back to make sure there was no chance of that and levelled a glare at him. “No thanks. I don’t need anyone poking around in my head.”

  “Well, sweet cheeks, that’s not necessarily up to you. If someone as powerful as yourself is having trouble coping with their emotions it might lead to magical or even Order outburst
s, and if we have reason to believe you’re unstable then it’s the school’s duty to insist you have counselling sessions with a qualified member of staff. We just want to help.” He opened his arms wide like he thought he might tempt me in for a hug and I didn’t make any effort to conceal the disgust I was feeling.

  “My sister is not unstable,” Darcy snarled, shifting forward like she intended to shield me from him.

  “If you think for one second that I’ll be having cosy little sessions with Professor Perv, in some little locked room somewhere then you seriously need to drag your head out of your ass and-”

  “Tory is having one on one sessions with me already,” Gabriel’s voice came from behind me and I whipped around to find him standing there, shirt off, tattoos on show and glorious black wings slowly tucking in against his back as if he’d just landed. “I had a vision about this very meeting and arranged it with Nova myself this morning.”

  “Oh,” Washer said, placing his hands on his hips like he’d just had his favourite toy stolen from him. Or maybe I was more of a snack than a toy. I was willing to bet that all of this emotional angst was really tasty for a Siren and I was probably looking pretty irresistible right about now. “Are you sure you’re the right man for the job, though, Gabe?”

  “Don’t call me Gabe,” Gabriel snapped.

  “It’s just that I am a little better suited to dealing with affairs of the heart. As a Siren, I can get right down deep inside of Miss Vega and really wriggle around beneath her skin as we hunt down every little one of her issues. I’m not afraid to thrust right into the dark nooks and crannies inside of her and really work hard at wringing all of this stress from her lithe young body. We can work through all the naughty things that big bad Dragon has done to her and go over every little detail, until-”

  “Phoenix fire burns right through Siren bullshit,” I said, slapping a sweet as pie smile on my face as if I wasn’t insulting him. “So you won’t be getting anywhere near my nooks and crannies.”

  A shiver ran down my spine at the grossness of that statement and Gabriel snorted a laugh as Washer sighed in defeat.

  “Well, if you ever need someone qualified to root around inside of you then you know where I am. Even if you don’t want to offer up your emotions, I can always just pleasure you instead,” Washer offered with a look on his face like a kicked puppy.

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I demanded and in answer, Washer pushed a wave of happy emotions over us which washed against my mental defences and slid back off of them again.

  “See? I can make you feel happy,” he said with an innocent shrug.

  “Ew,” Darcy remarked, not even trying to hide her revulsion.

  Washer sighed in defeat and headed off through the crowd with his leather pants creaking.

  “How the hell does he get away with that shit?” Darcy growled as we watched him go.

  “He’s fucking Principal Nova and as gross as it is, Sirens really are good in bed – they can enhance lust and pleasure so much with their gifts that Fae get addicted to screwing them,” Gabriel explained with a faint look of horror on his face.

  “Gross, dude,” I commented. “You’re gonna make me hurl my dinner up right here and now.”

  Gabriel snorted a laugh before heading away into the crowd as he called out for attention.

  The entire student body was attending these classes and after the first few lessons, the teachers running it had decided to divide us up based on skill and power levels. We’d been placed in the second highest level group with a bunch of Seniors, Geraldine and a few other high powered students from the other years. The Heirs of course had an entire group of their own.

  “Today we are changing up the groups!” Orion’s voice boomed over the crowd and I turned to spot him standing on the far side of the crowd.

  Darcy’s eyes glimmered in that way they did whenever she saw him and I bit down on a smirk as I looked at her. She really was hopelessly lovestruck.

  “We’ve assessed everyone’s skills and reassigned all of the groups, some of you have impressed us and are moving up, some of you are making us question whether or not you’re even Fae enough to be at Zodiac Academy at all and will be moving down. A golden number just appeared above your head, so go and join the group you belong to now!”

  A sea of glimmering numbers magically appeared floating above everyone in the crowd and I looked up at Darcy’s just as she looked at mine.

  “Yes!” Darcy squealed, slapping me a high five as we spotted the glimmering number ones. “I can’t wait to kick some Heir ass.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I agreed with a grin that felt kinda fake on my face, but I couldn’t help it.

  Did I want to go over there and learn how to smash the Heirs’ faces into the mud in a fight? Hell yes! Did I want to spend even more lessons stuck in a small group with Darius Acrux? The most disturbing thing about the answer to that question was that it wasn’t just a straight no. Because this stupid curse made me yearn for him and pine for him and despite the pain it caused me to spend time around him, that twisted little piece of me hungered for that sweet kiss of agony too.

  “Holy guacamole, my ladies! We have all progressed as one!” Geraldine cried excitedly as she shoved through the crowd like a bulldozer, a glimmering number one above her head too.

  She swept us into a celebratory hug and I laughed as she crushed me in her strong embrace.

  The three of us made our way through the crowd towards the Heirs who were still lounging around the huge boulder in the centre of the meadow.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Vegas and their personal bodyguard,” Seth purred as he looked down at us from his position sitting on top of the rock. “Do you think you’re really ready to try and play with the big boys?”

  “Big boys?” Geraldine asked in surprise. “I didn’t know any big boys were joining our group! Do point them out, Master Wolf, and I’ll be sure to give them a jolly good welcome.”

  I bit my lip on a smile as my gaze shifted over Caleb who was perched on a slightly lower rock, a sad kind of tension in his posture as he met my eye. Max’s entire focus had fallen on Geraldine and he moved to stand upright as he looked at her. I honestly had to wonder what exactly she’d done to him in the sack to have won the kind of obsession he was aiming her way because despite the fact that she constantly ignored his attention, he still seemed determined to win it. Maybe her Lady Petunia was a magic vag, designed to lure Siren dick in and then never release it from her spell.

  “I think you know what a big boy I am, Grus,” Max purred, kicking off of the boulder as he approached her. “And I’m always happy to remind you, if you like?”

  Geraldine tossed her chestnut hair and laughed heartily. “I’d sooner tangle my garden with a new weed if it’s all the same to you, honey badger.”

  “Honey badger?” Max asked with a frown. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh you know,” Geraldine said, flicking her fingers at him dismissively as he stood over her with his muscles flexing beneath his wifebeater and his eyes flashing. “You’re sweet like honey with the way you chase around after me and you taste great at first. But no one wants to drown in honey - it’s far too sticky and a jolly old bastard of a beast to wash off.”

  “And the badger part?” Seth asked eagerly before Max could reply.

  “Because he’s a bothersome badger of course,” Geraldine said, rolling her eyes like that was obvious and I suddenly found myself laughing along with the Heirs about something.

  Well, Seth howled anyway and Caleb sniggered while Max ground his jaw with irritation and Darius…I hadn’t looked at Darius yet, but my treacherous eyes were swivelling his way all the same.

  He was leaning against the side of the boulder, shirt off now for some frustratingly distracting reason, arms folded, a dark and brooding look on his way too perfect face. I resisted looking at him properly for as long as I could then finally let my eyes raise to meet his
when I couldn’t take it anymore. He was looking at me. Of course he was looking at me. His gaze burned me whenever we were in the same place. I didn’t know if he was a glutton for punishment or if he just couldn’t help it but whatever the reason, if we were within view of each other, I could guarantee his eyes would be on me. And I’d be battling to keep mine off of him.

  “How much longer are you going to keep fighting this, Grus?” Max asked irritably.

  “Whatever do you mean?”

  “I mean,” Max stepped closer to her and reached out to brush her hair back over her shoulder. “That I can feel exactly how much you like me whenever you let that shield of yours slip, but I just can’t figure out what it is that’s holding you back.”

  Silence fell between all of us and Geraldine raised her chin and set her jaw as she fixed her gaze on Max.

  “You may find it hard to believe, but a true lady won’t just roll over and accept a merciless cad for a suitor just because he manages to water her lawn satisfactorily. I am more than attuned to your personal moral standards and I have no desire to lower myself to them. So call it what you will, foolhardiness, stubbornness or just a pure and true desire to tangle my web with a real gentleman but when it comes down to it, Maxy boy, you have been measured and you have been found wanting. Now please refrain from touching me with your slippery flippers and let us return to our lesson.”

  Geraldine turned away from him to listen as Orion began directing the class. I exchanged a glance with Darcy as Max pushed his tongue into his cheek before turning away from her too.

  “Well,” Caleb said in a low voice. “That was awkward as fuck.”

  I snorted a laugh and he caught my eye with a smirk toying around his mouth. I suddenly remembered what Darius had said to me about him and I looked away again quickly, wondering when my life had first headed down this complicated path and if there had ever been a point at which I could have changed it.

  As the class all paired off in their respective groups and moved to find some space around the field to conduct their fights, we found ourselves left in the centre of the masses within a huge ring of space.