Savage Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 2)

by Caroline Peckham

  The sound cut off abruptly and my sense of unease grew stronger as I narrowed my gaze on the bushes. I could have just been paranoid but I almost felt inclined to investigate further and figure out whether or not I was imagining things.

  Before I could make the decision to check it out, a small group slipped out of the library.

  There was something creepy about the Black Card, like their movements were too quiet, their voices too soft. Another shiver ran down my spine at the sight of them and I wondered if I’d just been on edge to suspect there was someone watching me.

  In the centre of the group I spied my target. Adrian Moss. He was a big fucker, a Manticore with fire magic who towered over me by about two feet and had a good hundred pounds of muscle on me too. Not the easiest target. But then I wasn’t really one for easy.

  Though they didn’t exactly advertise their leaders or head weirdos or whatever term they had for those of them that were higher up in their creepy organisation, I had noticed other members of the Black Card congregating around him. When they walked in a group as they were now, he naturally led the pack.

  Several of the cult girls gave him the big doe eyes that tended to be reserved for Alphas. So I’d made an educated guess that he was at least in some part more important than the others. Hopefully important enough to know the identity of the cloaked figure. I really needed a name for my main suspect. Clarence maybe? Not scary enough. Justine? No, she sounded like the kind of bitch who’d totally steal your best lipgloss but probably wasn’t on the level of psycho required for all out murder. Debbie? The head honcho of this group of weirdos was definitely putting a downer on things but it still didn’t really have that serial killer ring I was looking for. Ace. That’s the one. Like the ace of spades. The leader of the Black Card would be a black card after all and having an ace up your sleeve was definitely a psycho move.

  So, with the cloaked figure who’d tried to murder me and steal my power or my soul or whatever the fuck they were after, now known as Ace in my mind, I tucked Gareth’s journal into my pocket and began to stalk my prey.

  There were six members of the Black Card clustered around Adrian Moss, talking in low voices, exchanging knowing glances. But what did they know? Were they just mindless pawns or something more sinister? Were they the key to unravelling this mystery? And why the hell had my carefree, cereal obsessed, doofus of a brother ever even considered joining their creepy ass ranks?

  I trailed the group as they made their way towards the Cafaeteria. It was a little late for dinner but there would still be food available and this was the kind of thing the Black Card tended to do. They avoided the general population, stayed out of the crowds, kept to the shadows. But now one of the shadows had taken an interest in them and I wasn’t going to be backing off until I had some damn answers.

  I cast a few glances over my shoulder as I went, reassuring myself that I hadn’t picked up a tail myself and dismissing the idea that I’d had someone watching me outside the library. All of this sneaking about was making me paranoid.

  Just as the group reached the entrance to the Cafaeteria, the stars shone down on me with some good luck and Adrian announced his need to use the restroom.

  I smirked to myself as my prey separated himself from the group and headed along the side of the building to the toilet block which stood at the back of it.

  I slipped along behind him, dancing in the line of the shadows but he never even looked back. He just strolled along, his over full bladder on his mind as he cut a path straight for the men’s room.

  I strained my ears as I arrived outside the door and smirked to myself as I only sensed the one heartbeat inside, now accompanied by the steady stream of urine hitting the back of the urinal.

  I waited a moment until the flow stopped. Far be it from me to attack a guy while his dick was out. Besides, I didn’t want that thing flapping about the place while I was beating his ass. I shuddered at the thought and waited for the reassuring sound of him zipping up his fly before stepping through the door and throwing up a silencing bubble.

  Adrian came up short as he almost made it to the door just as I planted myself squarely in the frame, blocking his escape.

  “Ew, you didn’t even wash your hands,” I commented, a sneer tugging my upper lip back.

  Adrian’s gaze darkened. “Get out of my way, Vampire,” he said like my Order was dirty. And I had to admit I’d noticed there weren’t any Vamps in the Black Card but I’d just assumed it wasn’t relevant. But maybe it was.

  “That’s a bit Orderist,” I commented lightly, inspecting my nails as I stayed firmly in his way. “And I’d seriously feel more comfortable about us having this conversation if you’d just wash your hands first.”

  “What conversation?” he asked, making no move towards the sinks. Gross.

  I glanced around the room, double checking the space in case this descended fast. If it was going to come down to a fight then I wanted to have the layout memorised, possible weapons located in advance.

  There were four toilet cubicles to the right of the space, the green doors ajar, though I couldn’t see inside them. Fairly easy to guess what they held though. The white urinal took up half the length of the wall on my left with two sinks beside it and a long mirror above. The tiled floor held a puddle because apparently no men’s restroom was complete without one and the distinct scent of eau de man piss hung in the air. Charming. I probably could have picked a better location for this rendezvous but here we were.

  “I want to talk to you about your little club,” I said slowly, holding my position in the doorway as he squared his shoulders before me.

  “What club?” Adrian narrowed his eyes.

  “Oh so is it one of those things? First rule of weirdo douchebag club: we don’t talk about weirdo douchebag club?” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t worry, I can keep a secret.”

  “Get out of my way or I’ll make you,” Adrian growled, losing patience with my wise mouth. Which was fair enough, I needed to get to the point.

  “I’m looking for some information. I won’t tell anyone where I got it if you wanna play nice?” I offered.

  “About what?” He sure didn’t look like he was planning on playing nice, but I barrelled on all the same.

  “Last week, I was drugged, ambushed, dragged into the woods and thrown at the mercy of some hooded asshole while a cult of weirdos all chanted dark magic bullshit for him and he tried to convince me to kill myself,” I said, matter of fact, no need to tap into the terror I’d experienced that night for this guy’s sake.

  “What does that have to do with me?” Adrian asked. What, no ‘ohmygawd that sounds awful, are you okay??’ What a dick.

  “Well you happen to be a member of a cult of weirdos, do you not?”

  “The Black Card had nothing to do with that,” he said flatly. No flicker of deception in his gaze, no spike in his heartbeat, no reaction at all that I could glean even with my heightened senses. Either this guy was the best liar I’d ever met or he seriously had no idea what I was talking about.

  I frowned, trying to figure out how I could get more from him than that.

  “Okay, so let’s say I believe that. I want you to tell me about what you get up to when you all meet up for your little parties,” I tried.

  “We don’t have parties. We study old magics and practice the art of group power sharing and co-conjuring. It’s not the sort of thing someone of your Order would be any good at.”

  What was with the Vamp bashing? Okay so we didn’t tend to work too well with others but was it necessary to tar us all with the same brush? What an asshat.

  “What kind of magic do you do in these power orgies?” I asked.

  “None of your business,” he snarled. No surprise there.

  “Dark magic by any chance?”

  His heart beat a little faster there but he gave me no answer. That was as good as an admission for me though.

  “Fine. Tell me about your leader. The man or woman
in the cloak. Who are they? How did they recruit you?” I asked, planting my hand on the doorframe as he looked inclined to try his luck at escaping.

  “I’m not telling you shit about that or anything else. The whole point of a secret society is that we keep our secrets. Besides, we’ve all sworn a magical oath to hold our tongues so no outsider can get the information from us anyway,” he said, looking smug as fuck. Well shit.

  “I want you to get out of my way now or I’m going to have to make you,” Adrian said, his voice low and threatening.

  A trickle of adrenaline skipped down my spine as flames danced between his fingers.

  “I’m not done yet,” I began but apparently Adrian was because he threw a fireball straight at me before I could finish that thought.

  I gasped, sucking the oxygen from the flames with my air magic and putting them out half a second before they could hit me. I launched myself at him before he had a chance to make another move, my fist colliding with his chin as I threw my gifts into the blow.

  A horrible crunch sounded and my heart leapt with excitement as Adrian cried out, throwing a punch at me in return.

  He caught me in the shoulder, knocking me aside with the force of the blow and taking a step towards the door like he thought he was going to leave. But my blood was pumping, adrenaline tingling through my body on the back of my magic and I wasn’t going to let him go anywhere.

  I yelled as I leapt onto his back, locking my arms around his thick neck and tightening my grip as I began to choke him out.

  Adrian thrashed from side to side, trying to dislodge me but I clung on like a psycho limpet, my heart thundering with the joy of the fight and a savage smile lighting my face.

  Realising he couldn’t dislodge me that way and fast running out of air, Adrian ran backwards. I braced as best I could as he slammed me into the wall above the sinks, my back colliding with the mirror which shattered on impact.

  A thousand cuts slit my skin open through my white shirt, shards of glass digging into my skin agonisingly and my grip loosened as pain ricocheted up my spine.

  Adrian bellowed as he reached over his shoulder and grabbed a fistful of my hair, ripping me off of his back and throwing me to the tiled floor.

  I rolled across the ground, scrunching my face up in disgust as I slid through the puddle and refusing to even consider what I’d just fallen in.

  I was on my feet again in a flash, a snarl of rage spilling from my lips as I ran at him.

  Adrian swung at me again but with my speed I was too fast for him to land the blow. I delivered a sucker punch to his gut and he doubled over with a grunt of pain.

  I grabbed his tie, yanking it tight and kicking him in the back of the knee so that he crumpled to the ground.

  Adrian rolled onto his back, grabbing his tie and using a flash of fire to break it so he could breathe again.

  I dove on top of him, pinning him beneath me with my hips as I started punching and punching and punching. Every grunt of pain, every crack of bone and drop of blood lit a fire in my blood, calling to the monster which dwelled beneath my skin and feeding her this feast she’d been craving.

  I knew I was losing it, going too far as the rage inside me finally had an outlet. It was like a dam bursting, all the anger and loss I felt over my brother’s death boiling over as I gave myself to the bloodlust of my Order form.

  My fangs snapped out but I didn’t bite him. He didn’t deserve that, I didn’t want a drop of his foul blood in my body, he just deserved my fury.

  “Bitch,” Adrian spat as he managed to get a grip on me and throw me off of him.

  The side of my head connected with the urinal and my vision blurred as pain swept through my skull. Disgust mixed with my rage as something wet spilled through my hair. I just hoped it was blood, but I didn’t have time to inspect my injuries.

  I fell to my hands and knees, fighting off the blurred vision just as Adrian grabbed me from behind, yanking me upright against his chest.

  His massive palm landed square across my face, crushing my mouth and all I could think was you didn’t wash your hands ahhh!

  I slammed my elbow back into his gut then swung my head back as hard as I could just as he reared away from me. The back of my head collided with his nose and a sickening crunch echoed in the small space.

  Adrian dropped his hold on me and I spun around, shooting behind him and kicking him in the ass with every ounce of my gifted strength.

  He crashed forward, colliding with one of the toilet stall doors and falling through it to land on the floor inside.

  I darted after him, grabbing a fistful of his hair as my gaze fell on the shit stained toilet in front of me.

  I was probably above giving him a swirly. Right?

  Adrian reared up with a roar of rage and punched me right in the boob. Pain shot through me quickly followed by blind rage. I snarled as I slammed his face into the wall beside us and dragged him straight towards the toilet by the back of his neck. Okay then, I’m not above giving him a swirly. This is what you get for punching one of the girls, asshole!

  I forced his head down the toilet as he scrambled wildly against me, trying to fight the inevitable. He gripped the rim of the toilet, rearing back with a desperate cry of “No!” which I could totally have sympathised with if he hadn’t just sucker punched me in the nipple.

  I snarled, driving my knee into the centre of his back and exerting every bit of my enhanced strength on the back of his head as I plunged his face into the brown water.

  I hit the flush and dropped my grip on him as he started coughing and spluttering and I backed out of the stall before any of that poo water could touch me.

  “What the fuck is going on in here?”

  I turned towards the door and my heart leapt in surprise as my gaze fell on Ryder Draconis.

  He was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and his black tank revealed his thick biceps.

  I was panting, covered in blood and grime with my shirt ripped, tie hanging off and one of my long socks bunched around my ankle but he was looking at me like I was the most stunning thing he’d ever seen.

  Adrian crawled out of the toilet stall, heaving himself to his feet as filthy water ran down his face, mixing with the blood from his broken nose. He was making a noise that was something between a groan of pain and a gag. Points to him for not puking though – I would have if my head had gone down that toilet.

  “Did he hurt you?” Ryder hissed, his gaze darkening as he took a step towards Adrian like he was seriously considering butchering him right here in the middle of the men’s room.

  “That bitch attacked me,” Adrian snarled, though I didn’t miss the look of fear in his eyes or the way his heart was pounding now he had the Lunar King to deal with too.

  “It was a misunderstanding,” I said innocently.

  Adrian clearly didn’t know anything that could help me, but I couldn’t deny the fact that I’d really enjoyed beating the shit out of him. Probably way too much. But then I’d known that I was broken. Gareth’s death had fucked up something inside me and I actually craved violence now. It was one of the few things I could really feel.

  “Are you done with him?” Ryder asked me. “Or do you want me to help you finish him off?”

  I laughed lightly as Adrian damn near pissed himself. “I think I’ll leave murder off my bucket list for today,” I said. “I’ll save that for someone more deserving.”

  Adrian sagged with relief and Ryder cast a look his way again.

  “You heard her. Fuck off,” Ryder growled and I arched a brow at his commanding tone.

  Adrian glanced at me as he scrambled towards the exit.

  “The Black Card have you marked, Vampire,” he snarled at me as he reached the door.

  “And the Brotherhood know your face, asshole. One move against Elise and I’ll cut you into ten myself. And I’ve perfected the art of making sure you won’t die until I cut the last piece off,” Ryder hissed.

  Adrian’s eyes w
idened with fear and he turned and sprinted away.

  Ryder turned to me slowly, his sneakers crunching across broken glass as he approached me.

  My chest was still heaving, blood dripping over my skin and my flesh was alive with the thrill of the fight.

  The way he was looking at me lit a fire beneath my skin. I should have been embarrassed to be seen like this. I’d lost my shit, given in to the basest, most undesirable qualities of my Order. But I just felt alive. Free. Like a true part of myself had been set loose for once and she was bathing in the blood of the fight like she’d been born to engage in.

  “Look at you,” Ryder said darkly, moving so close that I could smell the scent of him. Earth and iron, the darkest taste of power on the air.

  He reached out and brushed his fingers through my bloodstained hair, pain spilling through my skin as he touched the wound on my head.

  “I like you like this, bloody and broken and bleeding from the inside and out. There’s something so pure about you like this. So real,” he said as his fingers pressed against my skull more firmly, a shot of pain feeding his power a moment before his healing magic took it away again.

  “Aren’t you going to ask why I decided to beat the shit out of some asshole in a men’s room?” I asked.

  Ryder’s lips twitched in the barest hint of a smile. “Do you need a reason?”

  He brushed his thumb over my lips, healing a cut there before sliding his hand down to my collar. He tugged my tie free of my neck and my heart beat more firmly as he dropped it to the floor.

  “I shouldn’t have threatened you like I did,” he said slowly, the words so quiet they were barely there at all, but something unfurled in my chest as he made the admission.

  “You don’t want to hurt me then?” I asked, watching his hands as he unhooked my top button.