“We can’t go back now.” I rested my hands on my hips. “We’re about to find out what happened with Miley. I can almost smell the answer around the corner.”
Liam hooked his hand on the door’s latch. He pushed it down and pried the door open. “Rules are made to be shoved aside.” Come to think of it, I’d first met Liam at detention. I thought to question him why’d he’d been sent there in the first place, but now wasn’t a good time.
Hansel screwed up his nose. “Don’t you think we should check if there’s anybody nearby? I don’t think we’re supposed to be here.”
Liam ignored Hansel and stepped through the doorway.
“Yep,” Hansel said. “Doesn’t matter if it’s death through the doorway. We’re just going to head in. Hello, death.”
Theo sighed and looked at Hansel. “Liam’s like the younger sibling who’ll never listen. After years of trying to manage kids, I’ve learned to just let them fall. They pick themselves up later with a few scars to show for it. Still, they survive. Somehow. Just be there to make sure they don’t get into too much trouble.”
“You have siblings?” I asked Theo, following him through the door. We walked down another stairwell and reached a large room the size of a stadium. I hadn’t expected that, considering the hedge didn’t seem like it was attached to a large building.
“Six,” Theo said. “All younger.”
My eyes widened. “Six? That’s too many.” I grew up alone, mostly, despite the few superficial relationships I made at my foster home. After that, it was just Lydia and me.
Theo laughed. “You can never have too much love to go around.”
“I like my alone time.”
Theo scratched the back of his neck. “It feels strange to me when it gets too quiet. I’m all about the cuddles and hugs.” He glanced at me, looking like he would really like to hug me. I shared the same sentiment, but a gray divide was between us.
I was waiting for him to close the distance when Liam bent down and said, “Fenrir.” He looked around the room, then craned his neck up to look at the ceiling.
“Say what now?” I asked, turning away from Theo. Next to Liam was a giant slash mark. It glowed bright and blue, and I wanted to touch it. The slashing pattern cut into the brick ground and looked like it must have been made by sharp claws. Still, I couldn’t help but think the brightness pretty.
“Fenrir,” Liam repeated. “The wolf father. One of the great pets of the council. He went missing two hundred years ago after slaying a whole village. People always wondered where he went. Some say he lost his mate during a mishap and has been looking for her ever since. Apparently, Fenrir’s been here instead. Don’t touch the claw marks. I’ve heard that he uses it to sense his—”
Too late. I’d touched the claw mark.
“Oops,” I said, drawing my hand back.
Liam looked at me, and his expression seemed to say, How can you be this dumb?
I lifted my shoulders. “It was pretty. It glowed. I couldn’t help myself.”
Devon groaned.
Danna whipped her hair so it fell behind her shoulders. Her eagerness to cheer swelled from her. “It’s okay, Cara. I would have done the same. Don’t let your mistakes get you down. You’re a wonderful, beautiful snowflake, and—”
I grimaced. “I only grazed it lightly. Didn’t even add any pressure. Maybe it wasn’t enough to alert Fenrir. You did say he was a wolf, right? Wolves are lazy creatures who sleep all day, so maybe he’s—”
A loud howl shot through the air.
“Yep,” Hansel said with a sigh. “He’s coming for us.” Hansel cracked his knuckles and took out his wand. “Fun.”
At the top of the room was an arch that sat over a balcony. Another howl sounded before a huge, furry figure crawled out of the arch. Sharp amber eyes blinked at me from above. Fenrir growled. The sound crawled past the walls and shook the surroundings, reverberating through the atmosphere like a warning.
“Uh,” Danna said. “You know, I’m still not convinced that this whole Sanctuary thing isn’t a dream. Now would be a good time to wake up.”
Fenrir jumped from the balcony and landed on the ground. He was so heavy that the bricks cracked underneath his weight.
To break out of my mental glitching, I forced myself to say something. “Bananas.”
“Bananas?” Theo asked.
“We might need some banana lotion after this.”
Danna cocked her head. “This is the strangest conversation to have right before dying.”
“We’re not going to die,” Hansel said. “Have some confidence.”
“I’m looking for it,” I replied. “But I think I figuratively peed it out when the big, bad wolf decided to jump in front of me.” I should get used to facing giant, mythical monsters. There seemed to be too many of them in the Sanctuary. “Why do you think they call the school the Sanctuary, anyway? Isn’t that supposed to mean there’s peace and quiet? I think it should be called the holy shit get out of the-way, Liam!”
Liam jumped away from Fenrir’s attack before I’d even shouted.
Fenrir threw his head back and snapped his jaws. Large blobs of saliva dripped from his black gums. I saw bloodstains on his teeth.
Fenrir was smaller than the wyvern, but he scared me more than the winged beasts due to his murderous glare. The amber eyes looked like they might just cut through my skin. His need to kill emanated from him in pulsing waves that made my knees weak.
Danna lifted her wand. “Nope, not working. My magic can’t put the beast into a daze. I think his resolve is too strong.”
“I need a hole to hide in,” I said. The twenty-first century was all about strong, independent young women who could fight for themselves, but when facing a giant beast that could snap my spine in two? Fuck that. I could earn my own money, clean my own place. Fight a mythical wolf with a murderous instinct? Nah.
“I’m scared,” I admitted.
“I know,” Danna said.
“You shouldn’t be,” Devon said, hands still in his pockets. “Fenrir can smell fear. It’ll make you even more of a target.”
Danna fisted her hands and shook them in a cheerleading gesture. “It’s okay to feel scared. Embrace your emotions. You’re human.”
“A half-blood, actually,” I said, even though after receiving that title, I didn’t gain any kickass abilities, much to my annoyance.
I grabbed Danna’s hand. “We should just let them do their thing.” Which, in Devon’s case, meant standing around looking all badass, while not really being badass at all.
I gave him the stink eye.
Theo slammed his fist into the ground before lifting his arms over his head. He took out a huge chunk of rock from the ground and threw it at Fenrir. Fenrir flew backward after getting hit by the projectile, but he got up soon after, shrugging the assault off.
“Damn,” I said. “Has Theo always been this strong?”
Danna waggled her eyebrows. “He has the muscles to show for it.”
“Hands off.” I swatted my hand in front of her. “He’s my vassal.”
“Getting possessive now?” Danna asked with a teasing smirk.
Devon harrumphed. “Theo’s so friendly he comes off as weak.” He brushed a thumb across his nose.
“What’s wrong with you?” I said. “Since when has friendly equaled weak? You’re saying that all strong people have to be asses?”
“Being an ass makes you strong.”
“Are you going to display any of that and be helpful?” I wouldn’t complain if he showed me his ass, too.
“Wouldn’t that be a contradiction?” Devon flashed me a playful grin. His pearly whites looked pristine surrounded by his tan skin. “Admit it. You’re more attracted to me than Theo.”
Was he jealous?
“Not. At. All.” The asshole made me want to throw my fist across his jaw. I would. But it looked like doing so might break my hand.
I sighed and spun away from him. Some peopl
e just weren’t worth wasting your breath on. Just because Devon was hot didn’t mean I had to give him attention he didn’t deserve. I needed to figure out a way to make myself useful in this fight instead.
I took out my wand, then stared at it really hard.
“Like that’s going to do anything,” Devon said. “You were completely useless when facing the wyvern.”
“Maybe Cara’s ability really is just knowing history very well,” Liam said, walking away. He jumped onto Fenrir, hugged his neck, cinched his arms around the wolf, and squeezed. A warm light poured from Liam’s torso. Was that fire? The fire sputtered, melted off Fenrir’s coat of fur, then fizzled into nothing at all.
Hansel curled his lip up in frustration. With a grunt, he leapt into the air and whirled, using the wind as his guide. Spinning, he kicked Fenrir across his face. The kick failed to cause any damage, and Hansel was tossed aside, sprawling backward. I heard a cracking sound and winced on Hansel’s behalf. He got to his feet and massaged his shoulders. “Damn,” he said before whistling. “Devon, can you get moving and stop dicking around?”
Devon rolled his eyes. He strolled toward Fenrir as if he was walking into a playground instead of toward a mythical beast that might snap him in half. “Fine.”
“Thank you,” Hansel said, irritated.
Devon spread his hands out. “Watch and lear—”
Fenrir moved so quickly that I couldn’t follow his movements. He swiped his paw at Devon. Devon tried avoiding the beast, jumping backward as quickly as he could, but was not quick enough. His shirt tore. A bright line of red slashed across his check.
“Shit!” Devon shouted, looking down at his torso and pressing a hand over his chest. Blood poured from his skin. The bleeding looked terrible.
Theo laughed, swinging from the back of Fenrir’s tail. “You should have been more careful, you cocky bastard!” He held onto Fenrir with one hand, then pulled something out from his pocket before clumsily throwing it at Devon. Devon took a step to his left, then caught it. I recognized the bottle he held in his hand. It was the banana lotion. “That should help!”
Devon scowled at Theo, then at me.
I lifted a brow at him. Why was he angry at me? It wasn’t me who’d made him blindly walk into danger. “You said something about being strong?”
“I am.”
“Then why are you the first to get injured?”
“Give me a sec. I’m just leaving the big show for last.”
Devon gingerly pulled the remains of his shirt off his body. “You wanna help me apply this?” He’d already uncapped the bottle and took out a large dollop to smack it on himself. “Least you could do for being useless.”
I flipped him off then returned my attention to my wand. “Work, stupid thing.”
Danna watched me struggle. “One trick they told me in class is to imagine the power getting sucked through a straw.”
“I’m not sure if that’s going to help.”
“It will. Mental images help with channeling power. I know it helped me.”
Devon healed quickly with the lotion. There was some scarring over his chest and the wound hadn’t stitched up completely, but he moved back into action nevertheless. Fenrir was distracted by Liam, who was throwing insane amounts of fireballs at the giant wolf. He seemed to be running out of fuel, each fireball smaller than the last.
Devon spread his hands out the same way he had before. He made a twirling motion with his fingers. The air around us got drier. My throat was parched. Water was pulled from the atmosphere and gathered into a human-sized ball in front of Devon. The sight looked so surreal that I froze. Devon made large, sweeping movements with his hands. He thrust the giant ball of water at Fenrir, pushing the creature into a wall and soaking it. The water smothered Fenrir, not allowing him to move. Fenrir growled and stared angrily at Devon.
“Drown,” Devon said. He made another sweeping motion, and the water moved upward, surrounding Fenrir’s face. Fenrir lost the ability to breathe. He thrashed around, and for a second, I almost felt sorry for the wolf.
Moments later, Fenrir stopped thrashing. He lay limply inside Devon’s ball of water, his entire body slacking into a lifeless bundle of fur. Devon let his hands fall to his sides, and the water splashed to the ground. He released a tired breath. “I’m always crazy hungry and exhausted after using my powers. They take a toll. It’s why I try not to use them too much.”
After Devon finished, silence fell in the room. We all stared at Fenrir. He had stopped moving, and he lay on his side, his eyes closed. If not for the small rise and fall I spotted in his chest, I would have assumed that he was dead.
“There,” Devon said, spinning around and swiping his hands together. “Now that that’s done, we can worry about the more important things, like figuring out whether anyone overheard that catastrophe of a commotion.”
Why was Devon this strong? It’d taken Hansel, Theo, and Liam forever to hold Fenrir off. They controlled the elements, but not to the extent that Devon did.
Devon massaged his shoulders as he moved toward me. The scar was still there, and he was still unclothed. “Your mouth’s wide open. Stop staring at my stomach.”
“It’s not your stomach that’s got me in shock. You could do that all along?”
“Yeah,” Devon replied. “So?”
“You could have taken the wyvern out by yourself.”
“And yet I chose not to.” He pouted. “Pity.”
The rest of the guys walked past Fenrir to join us. Just then, I thought I noticed Fenrir bristle. I might have imagined things. The wolf looked positively dead.
Then he got up abruptly, and nobody expected him to move like that. Fenrir opened his jaws and lunged at the person closest to him—Theo, who had been behind Hansel and Liam. I called out his name to warn him, but Theo didn’t have time to turn around. My heart dropped as the need to save Theo overwhelmed me.
Power flared from my wand.
It zipped through the air in the form of bright glitter and hit Fenrir in the middle of his forehead. His neck snapped backward.
I glanced at my wand. “Wow.”
“Your powers are so pretty,” Danna said, a hint of envy in her voice. “Why aren’t mine pink?”
But Fenrir hadn’t been knocked out yet. His head snapped back right after, and he continued toward the vassals. He headed straight for Liam and… licked him?
Liam squirmed. A thick layer of slobber dripped from his body. “What in Athena’s name?”
Fenrir wagged his tail. He licked Liam again. The rough texture of his tongue lifted Liam off the ground.
“His tongue looks like sandpaper,” Theo said.
“Feels like it, too,” Liam replied, continuing to scowl. “Why is he licking me?”
Hansel glanced at my wand. “I’m guessing it has to do with what Cara did. That pink glitter.”
Devon harrumphed. “She is the daughter of the goddess of love.”
“Fenrir loves me,” Liam said dryly. “Great.”
“He’s been looking for his mate,” Hansel said with a chuckle. “I think he’s been tricked into believing you’re her.”
“Her?” Liam made a sour face. “I’d rather get bitten.” When Fenrir lowered himself to slather Liam with more saliva, Liam ran. His legs couldn’t take him far enough, and the wolf knocked him off his feet. Fenrir mounted Liam and…
Oh God. I needed to cover my eyes. Poor Liam.
At the same time, however, Fenrir shrank. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Moments later, in place of the large beast was a small puppy that continued humping Liam’s slobber-covered leg.
Danna squealed. She hopped like an excited child and ran to Fenrir, completely forgetting that the puppy had been a giant, man-eating monster less than a minute ago. She lifted Fenrir off the ground and giggled, before pressing her face onto the puppy’s.
“That’s Fenrir?” I asked, blinking. “Why did he shrink?”
“I’ve heard stories whe
re Fenrir abruptly disappeared after showing up,” Theo said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Maybe this is why.”
“Huh.”
Hansel nodded. “Might be a way to preserve energy when he doesn’t need to fight.”
“I don’t care,” Danna said, rubbing Fenrir’s ear. The puppy growled and snapped its jaws. Danna had to throw it back to Liam to avoid getting bitten. “Why doesn’t he like me?” She pouted.
Fenrir cuddled up to Liam’s leg. Liam wouldn’t even touch the creature. His ponytail had been loosened and some of the beast’s saliva stuck to the side of his face.
I raised my brow. I wasn’t sure whether to pity Liam or Fenrir. “I think he only wants Liam.” I inspected my wand and flicked it. Focusing, I tried imagining the straw that Danna had mentioned earlier. A few flecks of glitter spritzed from the wand. “I guess my power is love. Damn. That’s pretty good. Does that mean I can make all of you fall in love with me now?”
Hansel grinned. “Not sure if you have to do that with me.”
“Or me,” Theo said. “It’ll happen naturally.”
I shrugged, deciding not to use my abilities on them. When love came, I wanted it to be real, and not because of some trick I could do due to my lineage.
Liam pushed Fenrir away, but the puppy wiggled its way back to his leg. Liam seemed too preoccupied with the beast to care about my newfound powers.
“Don’t you think about it,” Devon said when I whipped my gaze toward him.
Just for saying that, I flicked my wand and used my power on him. It wasn’t entirely intentional, but looking at Devon’s face made me want to do something to him.
I regretted my action almost immediately.
Intense need flicked over his face. Nervousness hitched in my throat. He neared me and reached out to grab my wrist. I stared at his muscular form the entire time, watching the scar on his abdomen slowly fade. I thought I liked it better with his scar there. It gave him a rugged look that went well with his tan skin.
“Cara,” he whispered. He brought my hand to his face and kissed the back of it. “I need you.”
“Um.” I swallowed nervously as his eyes traveled to my chest. This wasn’t love. It was lust. I’d sensed some of it earlier. The attraction had been there, bouncing between us. But Devon hadn’t acted on it.
Goddess Academy: The Complete Reverse Harem Collection Page 12
