I shoved Tyler away a bit harder than was really friendly and he stamped his foot as I stamped mine in return, my eyes narrowing.
He continued to smile then folded his arms. “Do you wanna hang out with us, Xavier? Me, you and my girl?” The way he said my girl had my anger rising and I looked over at Sofia with a hunger in me that wouldn’t quit.
“Sure,” I said, lifting my chin as he gave me another assessing look. Maybe I should just challenge him? Why not, I’m strong enough. I can take him.
My Pegasus form was as big as his and my horn could even have been a touch larger. I should get Sofia to measure them both because mine is definitely girthier too and that has to count for something.
“I actually need to head to the library,” Sofia said. “I just wanted to give you this.” She stepped toward Tyler and kissed him. My heart was obliterated like she’d just stuffed a grenade in my chest and pulled the pin. Tyler grabbed her waist, pulling her closer possessively and I stood there watching them with rage bubbling under my flesh.
My instincts rose up in me and a furious whinny escaped my throat before I shoved Tyler away from her and got up in his face, butting my forehead against his. He pushed his own forehead back against mine and I kicked out dirt beneath my feet as I refused to move.
“You wanna challenge me, buddy?” Tyler demanded with a furious snort.
“Maybe I do,” I said, my chest heaving as he continued to try and force me back, but I wasn’t going anywhere.
“You wouldn’t,” Tyler growled. “I’m your best friend.”
“So you keep saying.” I narrowed my eyes and he stamped his foot, slamming it down on top of mine.
I shot a sideways glance at Sofia who was biting her lip and looking between us, not stepping in. Though I was fast learning that that was the way of our kind. The guys had to fight to have the best female, and she needed to make sure she was with the right mate. So goading me into this was a standard mare move. And knowing that she wanted me to fight for her made me feel all kinds of good.
Tyler suddenly pulled away, twisting his fingers and casting a vine which tripped me up in the dirt. I raised my own hands to fight back as I hit the ground, throwing out a blast of fire. A wall of earth flew up to block it and I wasn’t sure how to counter that. I just wasn’t well enough trained.
Tyler stepped around it, offering me his hand and whinnying softly in an offering.
“Accept your place,” he insisted and I sighed, letting him pull me up with a hard grip on my hand. I clenched my teeth as he tried to crush the bones in my fingers and I returned the favour. He lingered close to me for a moment and my gaze dropped to the hard slash of his mouth before I looked him in the eyes again with my throat thickening.
“Good.” Tyler’s face split into a wide grin. “I knew you’d never do me dirty, Xavier.”
“I’ll see you guys later,” Sofia called, batting her lashes at Tyler which just made my skin run hot with anger. Hell if this was the end of me trying to win her.
She trotted off and I was left with my Dom who looked as happy as anything now he’d won a point over me. I had to give in this time, but that didn’t mean I was giving up.
“There’s nothing wrong with being the third in the herd,” Tyler said with a grin. “You could date any of the Subs. Or all of them if you want. Why don’t you ask a few of them back to your room sometime?”
“No,” I grunted, my muscles bunching as we started walking down the path together.
He gave me the side eye and I could see him trying to draw his shoulders back so that he was taller than me, but even on that we were pretty dead on. We were too damn close of a match.
“Well Sofia is off limits,” he warned, saying it with a casual smile, but his eyes were all murder. He glared down at me until I looked away, his status in the herd forcing me to give in. For the star’s sake.
“Fine,” I muttered and he clapped a hand to my back.
“Good. Now come and get high with me in a rainbow. There’s usually a few about by the waterfall in Water Territory. And if we’re lucky, some of the water Elementals will be casting rain showers so there’s even more of them.”
“Alright,” I agreed, liking the sound of that.
He started stripping down, casually tossing me his stuff. “Put it in your Pegobag.”
The direct order irritated the hell out of me, but I did as he said. I’d been beaten by him today and I had to accept that like a Fae and come back to fight another day when I was ready. My gaze dipped to his muscular chest as I started pulling off my clothes too and suddenly we seemed to be racing to do it first, the challenge in his gaze goading me on. I stuffed my clothes roughly in the bag while he tossed his shit my way. I whinnied angrily as I had to carry it like a little bitch, but he just snorted at me and tossed his head.
Furious tension rippled through the air as we pulled off the last of our clothes and I put my bag back on. He took in my body with an assessing gaze like he was trying to figure out if he was bigger than me or not and I realised for once I hadn’t felt bothered about stripping off. I guessed after I’d gotten butt naked in front of all the fire Elementals in school, it had kind of gotten me over my fear.
I took in his body with an equally assessing gaze, unable to avoid looking at his dick which was ringed with silver stones at the base and a rainbow made of coloured gems sat above it on his pubic bone.
“Is this vajazzle thing something I’m supposed to do?” I asked him and he laughed wildly.
“Firstly, it’s a dijazzle for a guy. And secondly, no you don’t have to do shit.” He smirked. “Nothing wrong with a plain Jane dick, buddy.”
The way he said that was suspicious as hell and now I had to think that some sort of dijazzle was in order. How do they even stick all those gems on? And was it the design that counted or just how many jewels I could stick around my junk? Do I get points for including the balls??
Whatever it took to win Sofia’s attention, I’d do it. I wasn’t going to hide away from Tyler when I wanted to rise up and steal his girl. It may have been shady as shit if we’d just been friends, but we weren’t just that. We were in a herd, and this was how it worked. So I wasn’t going to suppress my instincts.
Tyler’s eyes lingered on my chest like he was trying to figure out the breadth of it, then he turned and shifted into his huge, silver Pegasus form. I leapt after him to do the same and he started galloping away from me to prove his speed. I took chase, soon nose to nose with him as we knocked a bunch of students off the path in an effort to stay side by side.
I tried to pull ahead, but he kept pace with me no matter how hard I pushed myself. It was so fucking frustrating.
Tyler finally turned away, spreading his wings and taking off into the sky. I was hot on his heels, racing after him and squinting against the glare of the sun as I flapped my wings hard to keep up.
I may never have been an heir to anything in my life, but in this herd, I really wanted to be the king. So I was going to dethrone my Dom and take his crown. Then Sofia would be mine.
S omehow, I managed to keep up the ruse of my shadow identity and loyalty to Lionel all week, enduring the company of the K.U.N.T.s during the day and battling through the ache in my blood which drove me to return to Lionel as soon as physically possible too.
In the evenings I stole time with Darcy and Geraldine at King’s Hollow and the Heirs appeared there more often than not too.
Caleb was always full of jokes and smiles for me which lifted my mood whenever I felt down, and Seth was overly tactile which he knew I wasn’t a fan of but he wouldn’t stop all the same. The Wolf also liked to bring me snacks like candy and chocolate and I got the feeling he was trying to fatten me up a bit. The only issue was that if I didn’t eat them right away, he just stole them back and scoffed them himself so I’d taken to hiding a stash which he seemed to have decided was a challenge designed so he could sniff them out and steal them anyway. Damn mutt.
The Darius minefie
ld was growing slightly less daunting with Max's help, but I still found it too hard to speak to him for more than a few words here and there. Darius seemed to be accepting my need to keep my distance from him, but sometimes I caught him looking at me with so much pain in his eyes that it hurt me too. I just didn't know how to do anything to fix it.
When Friday night finally rolled around, I was filled with a mixture of pure dread and unadulterated excitement at the prospect of seeing Lionel again and I hated the damn bond for messing with my mind so fucking much.
It was impossible for me to separate my real emotions and the ones that it forced me to experience entirely. I felt like I was carrying around this horrible secret all the time. Whenever one of the others spoke about hating Lionel or hurting him, a piece of me longed to scream or even attack them in defence of him. And I knew that wasn't how I'd felt before he placed this curse on me, but it was getting harder and harder to remind myself of that when the longer I spent away from him, the more I hungered for him.
Fortunately, I had a valid reason to be looking forward to returning to the palace tonight beyond my pathetic need to see the man who had tortured and abused me. Gabriel had had a vision which showed me and Darcy finding something important in the palace grounds, so we’d made a last minute plan to sneak her in through the King’s tunnels so that what he saw could come to pass. All I had to do was make sure that Lionel was distracted while she snuck into the summerhouse where Orion was being held. Then as soon as I was certain we had a window of opportunity, I was going to meet her. Gabriel said that we’d know what to do from there. It sounded batshit to me, but I was also past the point of questioning Gabriel's visions, so I was just going to go with it.
The moment I finished my lessons for the day, I couldn't help but race back to my dorm, ditch my uniform and change into one of the dresses Lionel had given me for whenever I returned to his company. It was a blood red floor length gown with slits up the legs and though it was beautiful, it was definitely overkill. But Lionel insisted and it would be a pretty obvious giveaway if I turned up in jeans and a tank, so I wasn't going to waste energy being pissy about it.
I hurried out of my room again and quickly strode through campus as I headed for the main gates with the pouch of stardust I'd been given for these journeys in my pocket.
The moment I was beyond the border, I threw the stardust over my head and before I knew it, I was standing in front of the palace gates.
The flash of cameras started up around me instantly, but I just ignored the journalists who were always camped out here as I strode forward and got into the carriage that had been sent to collect me.
Jenkins greeted me as I stepped through the palace doors and I cast my eyes over his scrunched up face and pursed lips with barely concealed dislike. I christened that look his cat’s ass face – because his mouth looked just like a cat’s butthole when he did that, and the guy was an ass so it suited him well.
"The King isn't back yet," he informed me with a bit of a sneer. "He has requested that you amuse yourself while you await his return at eight o'clock."
My gut dipped with disappointment and I mentally slapped myself for feeling upset over the idea of not seeing Lionel sooner, reminding myself that this was what I'd been hoping for. He’s a big scaley dickweed who you hate more than anything in the world, so stop thinking about cuddling with him for fuck’s sake.
I nodded, not bothering to even do Jenkins the courtesy of words as I strode away from him, heading straight into the depths of the palace.
I knew where I wanted to go and I wasn't going to waste time with that old bastard making small talk.
I headed down several long corridors, through a huge glass conservatory and pulled open a door at the rear of the enormous building before stepping out onto the lawn.
No one questioned me. I was Lionel's little Vega pet after all, and he'd made it clear that I was allowed to do whatever I pleased. Mostly because up until very recently, the only thing that pleased me was serving him, so he had no reason to doubt my motivations for anything.
More fool him.
The summerhouse was set to the east of the palace, the cute little cottage partially hidden by an array of blooming flowers that were still as bright and colourful as if it were midsummer even though winter was setting in. The pool sat in front of it, forever steaming and whenever leaves floated down to lay on its surface, a magical wind guided them away.
I moved to the door, glancing over my shoulder, trying to be casual about it so no one thought I was up to anything before pulling the door wide and stepping inside.
Orion looked up in surprise from the book he'd been studying at the desk in the corner of the room and the tightness in my chest loosened as I looked at him. Shit, I'd really missed the grumpy asshole since he'd been hauled off to Darkmore and I'd been hauled out of my own damn mind and turned into a psycho mannequin.
"Tory?" he asked slowly, pushing himself to his feet as he hesitated. His hair was overgrown and his beard seriously needed a trim. No doubt Darius had already told him that I was mostly myself again now, but he was being cautious all the same.
I stepped closer, looking around to check that the place was empty and the blinds were drawn over the windows to hide us away in here.
The moment I was certain there was no one else around, I dropped my resting bitch mask, grinning at Orion in greeting and he shot towards me, a breath of laughter passing his lips as he swept me up into a fierce embrace.
I smiled like an idiot as I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him tight as he spun me in a circle.
“I’m so glad their plan to bring you back worked,” he muttered.
"Shit, dude, don't start crying on me. I thought you were meant to be an asshole?" I teased and he laughed against my hair as he gave me an extra squeeze.
"Give me a few minutes to just be glad to have you in your right mind again then I promise to go back to being a dick as soon as I can," Orion joked.
I relented, hugging him tight for a moment as we just took a second to appreciate the fact that we were both half free of our shackles, then I huffed out a frustrated breath and kneed him in the balls as hard as I could.
Orion wheezed out a cough laced with a surprised curse and I gave him a shove so he fell back onto the couch beside us as he cupped his junk.
"That's for breaking my sister's heart, asshole," I snarled, pointing a finger at him and glaring.
On the one hand, I was seriously pleased to have him back, but on the other, Darcy was my one and only priority in the world and as her big sister - by a few minutes, but whatever - it was my duty to give him a hard time. And that knee to the balls had been a long time coming.
"Fuck, Tory, why do you always go for the balls?" he groaned, cupping his crotch with his eyes half closed against the pain.
"You're lucky I left them attached to your body," I warned. "You're on my shit list, douchebag, and don't you forget it. I might be seriously happy to see your hairy face, but I'm also going to slap it every time I do until you fix this shit."
"Fix it?" he grunted. "There is no fixing it, Tory. It's too late for-"
I cuffed him around the ear hard enough to knock his head to one side and he snarled at me, baring his fangs.
"Stop," he warned.
"Bite me, asshole," I taunted and he glared at me for another moment, his gaze darting to my throat for a second like he was half considering trying that before releasing a hopeless kind of laugh.
"You know, your sister is a lot nicer than you are," he grumbled.
"No shit, Sherlock. That's why I'm kicking your ass on her behalf. She's too good to go for the balls but I swear to you now, if you hurt her again then I'm coming for yours with a fist full of Phoenix fire. Got it?"
"You're a fucking animal," he said, shielding his junk protectively and giving me a look that told me he knew I meant it.
“Yeah. And don't you forget it. Now, why don't you get me a drink and we can sit here feeling s
orry for ourselves together while I wait for Lionel to get back before I have to pretend I'm a soulless vessel for the shadows again?" I dropped down on the couch beside him and he rolled his eyes at me before shooting away and grabbing a bottle of bourbon with a pair of matching glasses.
I took the one he offered me and he poured a healthy dose into it before filling his to the brim.
"I see you're back on the booze," I commented even though it had been my suggestion. But I wasn't the one who had already drunk three quarters of that bottle so my point was still valid.
"Well I have very little reason to abstain these days," he muttered.
"Cheers to that," I agreed, clinking my glass against his before sinking the lot and relishing the burn of it running down my throat. "You wanna get drunk with me and talk shit about Lionel?"
"No. That sounds fucking terrible."
"I know. But I have to sleep in a bed with him and Clara tonight, so I figure drinking myself to oblivion before then is preferable."
"Maybe you could stab him in his sleep?" Orion suggested.
"If only," I said but even those words made me feel physically ill and my heart began to race with panic at the thought of any harm coming to the man I was supposed to want dead more than anything in the world.
I rubbed at the Aries mark on my arm, trying to shake off the desire to go and check that Lionel was okay and Orion reached out to take my hand.
"One time I got so mad at Darius that I tried to punch him, but I ended up hitting myself in the face instead," Orion said, squeezing my fingers in his and I groaned as I leaned back against the couch, realising I was in the company of the one person I knew who might actually understand the way I was feeling about this shit.
I looked into Orion’s dark eyes, wondering if I could admit the crazy thoughts that kept running through my head about the man who had stolen our throne. With anyone else, I felt like they couldn’t possibly understand this and I’d avoided talking about it, but he knew, he’d lived with this kind of bond for years.
"At night I lay in bed trying to list all the reasons I have to hate Lionel," I murmured, embarrassment clawing at me over what I was about to admit. "But I always end up thinking about how luscious his hair is and how he smells like the best combination of iron and charcoal and… how perfect his scowl is." I was cringing as I said it, but I was also picturing that scowl and missing it so much it hurt. It was fucked up.
Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne Page 31
