Savage Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 2)

by Caroline Peckham

  Come out, come out little stalker. I’m going to break your legs and hang you from a tree.

  I paused as I discovered a worn patch of ground, pushing the leaves aside to find a clear cubby hole. There were even a few old chocolate bar wrappers in there. So all I needed to do was hang around long enough for the stalker to show up. His creepy itinerary had said Elise stayed at the library late on Sundays so maybe he wasn’t going to arrive for a while.

  I headed back across the lawn and set myself up beneath the cherry tree beside the well, leaning my head back against it and settling in for the long haul.

  I’m going to catch you, stalky stalkerson. And you’re going to rue the day you ever thought it was a good idea to follow my girl.

  ***

  I fell sleep. Fuckballs.

  It was dark and as I checked my watch I realised it was almost ten o’clock. Hairy fucking fuckballs.

  The grounds were quiet around me, but the library lights were still on. I just hoped Elise hadn’t left already so I shot her a quick message on my Atlas.

  Leon:

  Where are you? I’m feline horny.

  That would definitely get her attention.

  Elise:

  In the library. Feline hungry.

  I rose to my feet, stuffing my Atlas away and mentally promising Elise a feast when I’d dealt with this. I just hoped the fucker had turned up and was waiting for me to rip his ears off and feed them to a crow. I mean, I’d have to wait until morning for the crows to wake up, but that just gave me time to rip off more body parts.

  I prowled across the lawn, taking a wide arc around the bushes to make sure they didn’t see me coming. On silent feet, I slipped behind them and heard a rustling which sent a spike of anger through me.

  Now that I knew they were actually here, the thought of them watching my girl brought my Order form to the surface of my skin. A fierce protectiveness showered through me and my heart thumped harder and harder.

  You’re dead, asshole.

  I moved behind the cubby hole and slammed my arm through the bushes, a shrill squeak sounding their alarm as I caught the bastard by the neck. I wrenched him full bodily from the bush and threw him to the floor at my feet.

  Eugene Dipper stared up at me, shaking from head to toe, his eyes wide with horror.

  “Dipper!” I roared, placing my boot on his chest to keep him in place. “Who are you waiting here for, huh?”

  “N-no one!” he stuttered.

  “Liar!” I bellowed, rage flowing through my veins. Pure fury was coursing through my blood, my desire to protect Elise from anyone and everyone overwhelming me. “What do you do in there? Wait for her to come out then touch your tiny dick over the sight of her perfect ass?”

  Eugene shook his head frantically, raising his hands in innocence. “I d-don’t. I w-wouldn’t d-do that, L-leon I sw-swear it.”

  “Then what are you doing?! Five seconds or I start pulling limbs off.”

  “No p-please!” he begged and a urine stain grew around his crotch.

  I lowered my head, peeling my lips back as I snarled at him. “Five…four…three-”

  “I-I just want to be her S-source!” he wailed.

  “What?” I balked, confused as fuck by that.

  “V-vampires h-have to protect th-their Sources. I th-thought if I c-could pluck up the n-nerve to t-talk to her a-alone, I could convince her t-t-to-”

  “To what?” I laughed coldly. “Why would Elise Callisto want you as a blood Source? You wouldn’t fill up a Vampire mouse with the amount of magic you possess.”

  Hurt flashed across his face and his cheeks turned bright red. The ground rumbled beneath me then jolted violently enough to knock me off of him.

  He shifted fast, his body disappearing, leaving a rat inside his shirt, squeaking in fear as he darted out of the neck and ran for his life.

  “Oh no you don’t!” I tore my shirt off, but I didn’t have time to shed any more clothes. That fucker was fast and he’d get down a damn drain if I wasted another second. I leapt forward, shifting into my huge Nemean Lion form, my four paws hitting the ground and making the earth quake beneath my tremendous weight.

  I chased after Eugene at full speed and with an almighty roar, I pounced, catching him under my front paws. I gave him just enough room to wriggle his head free, his whiskers twitching and his eyes bulging. I opened my mouth wide, letting him think I’d eat his whole head.

  “LEON!” Elise shouted just before she punched me in the ribs hard enough to fucking hurt.

  I whipped my head around with a loud growl and she stared at me in surprise. I was the size of a fucking tank and had teeth as big as carving knives, why was she not shitting herself?

  Her eyes fell to Eugene caught between my paws and she hurried forward, kneeling down. “Give him to me this second,” she demanded.

  I growled again, refusing to let him go, but Elise used her Vampire strength to wrench my paws apart and gather Eugene’s small white rat form into her hands. She hugged him to her chest, backing away from me. “What the hell is your problem?”

  I stalked back and forth before her, hungering for a kill as my Order instincts took over. My brain was fuzzy with it, so I decided to change back, shifting into my Fae form and standing naked before her.

  She kept her eyes firmly above my waist, lips pursed. “Explain.”

  “He’s been stalking you,” I snapped, moving forward to grab the vermin from her grip.

  She held him tighter to her tits and I bet he just fucking loved that.

  “What the hell do you mean stalking me?” She shook her head and I turned around, striding back to the torn remains of my pants, taking out the folded piece of paper there and walking back to her. I unfolded it, waving it in her face.

  “I found this in the men’s locker room and I’ve finally caught the rat responsible. He said he wants to be your Source but I think that’s bullshit, Elise.”

  Eugene started squeaking in her hands, gazing up at her with his ears pressed back and an adorable fucking look I just prayed she didn’t fall for. She stroked his head and I scowled.

  “Well I’ll ask him myself.” She snatched the page from my hand, stuffing it into her bag and walking away from me. I stepped after her, but she called, “Do not follow me, asshole,” and I released a low growl in frustration.

  With a huff, I snatched my shirt up from the ground and headed back in the direction of the Vega Dorms with my dick out and my head hanging low. A failure and a guy who was definitely not going to have a hot Vampire to share a bed with tonight.

  I headed into the dorms with Eugene still in my hands and started walking up the stairs.

  “I’ll take you back to your room,” I said soothingly as he cowered against my chest.

  He squeaked happily and I couldn’t help but smile a little in response.

  “Can you er, squeak again when we get to your floor?” I asked as I kept climbing. I had no idea where his room was.

  When we made it to the ninth floor, Eugene started squeaking and I turned off of the stairs. I placed him on the floor and he scampered away down the corridor before heading into one of the rooms which opened at the touch of his paw.

  I leaned back against the wall, chewing on a piece of cherry gum as I waited for him, assuming he’d come back out to thank me and explain himself. As the minutes ticked by I began to wonder if that was the case and I moved to knock on the door.

  “Eugene?” I called when no one answered. “If you don’t come out here and offer up an explanation I’m going to have to tell Leon that he was right. And I won’t stop him next time.”

  I pursed my lips as I waited him out, wondering if I meant that threat.

  I felt bad for chewing Leon out so hard when he seemed to have been trying to protect me, but I’d been shocked to see him acting so violently. Especially with the fact that his wrath had been aimed at Eugene. The guy transformed into a rat for fuck’s sake. His magic was pretty powerless and his attitude
was about as un-Fae as you could get. Petty bullying like that seemed beneath Leon. Unless I’d misjudged him completely.

  The door cracked open and Eugene peered out at me sheepishly. He’d dressed in a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt which really only drew more attention to his pasty skin. He was slightly shorter than me and his shock of white hair stood up in all directions.

  “What, no great declaration of your gratitude?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

  “Oh, umm, yeah,” he squeaked. “Thank you. For stepping in like that.”

  “I probably shouldn’t have really,” I commented. “It was Fae against Fae after all. But I think we all know he had you beat by the time I intervened, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

  Eugene nodded and dropped his eyes to his shoes.

  “So, help me out here, Eugene,” I prompted. “Are you stalking me or what?”

  I held out the timetable Leon had given me which noted all of my habits and gave me a damn good reason to change them up.

  “Well…Miss Nightshade does think I exhibit stalking tendencies,” he admitted. “But it isn’t like Leon said. It’s not because I’m trying to…that I think you might want to…or that I was going to ask you to…” He started gesturing back and forth between me and him and I had to fight hard not to recoil.

  “No offence Eugene but ew. And good. Because I have my hands full with plenty of assholes at the moment and I’m not looking to add a Tiberian Rat Shifter to the mix. So was Leon right when he said you wanted to be my Source?”

  Eugene flushed bright red and he nodded. “I’m actually pretty powerful and I thought that maybe it could work out for the both of us.”

  He worried his bottom lip between his teeth and tipped his head to the side in offering.

  My gaze flicked to his pulse and away again dismissively.

  “Thanks but I’ve actually already locked down two Sources for myself and they’re considerably more powerful than you. So this deal you’re offering me won’t really benefit me in any way. Besides, if you’re so powerful why are you at the bottom of the leader board?”

  “I err, I get nervous and it gives me performance anxiety.”

  “I’m not after the details of your sex life,” I joked.

  His face paled then flushed and he blinked way too often for it to be normal. “I wasn’t… I didn’t mean- I’ve never even…” Eugene’s mouth parted like he hadn’t meant to say that and I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing at his nervousness because I was fairly sure that wouldn’t help his confidence issues.

  “Nothing to be ashamed about there. Saving yourself is a good thing,” I said seriously. And I actually believed that. I mean, I obviously hadn’t, but I kinda admired people who did. Growing up surrounded by sex the way I had meant that had been pretty unlikely for me, but I liked the idea that it meant more with someone important.

  “I’m actually ranking in the top quarter of the school power-wise,” Eugene blurted, clearly not wanting to discuss his virginity.

  I raised an eyebrow, surprised by that. “Then you really should work harder at harnessing that shit. Then you wouldn’t need anyone to look out for you, you could do it yourself.” I tipped him a salute, meaning to leave.

  Panic bled into his eyes and he took a step forward as I started to retreat, reaching out to catch my hand.

  “Why not just try it?” he pressed, his tone desperate. “Maybe you’ll prefer the way I taste!”

  I barked a laugh, shaking him off. “Ryder Draconis tastes like fucking ecstasy whipped up into an ice cream and Dante Oscura is like drinking a pure shot of lightning which sparks life through every inch of my flesh. There is no better than that,” I assured him. “And I don’t have time to be running around protecting a Source who gets into as many mishaps as you do.”

  Eugene’s bottom lip trembled and I sighed as bit of pity swelled in me. I was probably a sucker but I didn’t like to know he was miserable and just leave him that way.

  “Look, why don’t you come sit with me and Laini at break sometimes?” I offered. “If people see you’ve got powerful friends they might leave you alone more often. Then you can work on wrangling your power and defending yourself better too.”

  “Really?” he asked keenly, like so damn keenly I was pretty sure he would be hanging out with us every fucking day from now on.

  “Sure,” I agreed easily. “I should probably go find Leon now, make sure he’s not still planning on eating you.”

  Eugene’s eyes widened at that and I smirked as I headed away from him.

  “See you later, bestie!” he called.

  Fuck. I was going to regret that offer.

  I looked out of the window at the end of the corridor, pursing my lips at the dark sky.

  If I was a Lion Shifter in a mood where would I go?

  The sun wasn’t shining so that pretty much ruled out the grounds of the school. Plus he’d been naked the last time I’d seen him so he probably needed to find some clean clothes. And when Leon wasn’t busy he was usually napping so I was pretty sure his room was a good bet.

  I headed to the stairwell and jogged up to the top floor. I dropped my bag off at my room and glanced at my meagre supply of shit, wondering if I should offer him some kind of token by way of apology. He’d shocked me with his outburst but it turned out Eugene really had been stalking me, so I probably owed Leon a thank you for unveiling him. Hell, with all the dodgy shit I was looking into in this school, I was likely to start making enemies soon if I hadn’t already and having someone watching my back might actually be what I needed.

  I sighed as I failed to spot anything that would do as a gift then smirked to myself as I came up with something even better.

  I closed the door and headed to the far end of the corridor where Leon’s room was. As I drew closer to the door, the sounds of lots of girls talking in soothing tones reached me. The bubble of noise was hard to distinguish but it seemed to be coming from Leon’s room.

  I frowned, wondering if Sasha and Amy had some friends visiting and almost walked away again but I guessed that they might know where Leon was even if he wasn’t here.

  I reached out to knock on the door and it swung open before my knuckles hit the wood the second time.

  I came face to face with a pretty red haired girl I didn’t know and her eyes brightened as she spotted me.

  “Great! You can fetch the selection of cheeses,” she said enthusiastically.

  “Nothing too stinky!” Leon’s voice came from somewhere within the room but I couldn’t see him beyond the throng of girls filling the space.

  The redhead turned away from me as she grabbed a bunch of grapes and pushed her way into the crowd.

  The girls were all murmuring and cooing in soft voices. One of them seemed to be singing a lullaby and they were all crowding around the bunk to the bottom right of the room, blocking my view of it.

  Curiosity got the better of me and I moved further into the room as I tried to figure out what was going on.

  “Poor baby,” one of the girls cooed.

  “Life’s so unfair sometimes,” another one murmured.

  I shifted between them, nudging them aside so that I could see what they were gathered around. Or rather who.

  I fell still as I caught sight of Leon sprawled across the bottom bunk like a starfish. He was only wearing sweatpants but he also had a frilly pink eye mask on to block out the light. There were girls crammed into every available spot surrounding him. Four of them were massaging his hands and feet, rubbing vanilla scented moisturiser into his skin. Another was rubbing his shoulders, her full lips turned into a pitiful pout as she worked to try and relieve the tension in his muscles.

  The redhead who had let me in was now peeling the grapes while sitting on the floor beside another girl who was feeding the freshly peeled grapes directly into Leon’s mouth.

  I glanced around at the other girls, raising an eyebrow as I spotted three of them crammed around his desk, writing out his es
says for the week. Two more were tidying up his closet and another was up on his usual top bunk fluffing his pillow so goddamn much that I imagined by the time he headed up there to sleep it would be as fat as four pillows combined.

  A scuffle at the door drew my attention to five more girls arriving with arms full of chips, beers, fruit, the cheeses I’d been tasked with fetching, chocolate bars and even a two tier chocolate cake.

  “I’m going to hazard a guess that I’m not needed then,” I said loudly just so that Leon would know I’d come. “But when you’ve finished…hell, I don’t even know what to call this madness but when you’re done with it come find me and I might just give you an apology.”

  I turned and tried to squeeze my way back out of the Mindys but I paused as Leon’s voice rang out.

  “Elise?” he asked.

  I turned around as he yanked a hand free from the girl massaging it and lifted the eye mask high enough to let me see one of his golden eyes.

  “Yeah,” I said, feeling a bit awkward as all the Mindys turned to look at me. “It can wait though.” I didn’t know a whole hell of a lot about his Order but this weird ritual I seemed to have walked in on could definitely take priority over our chat.

  “Wait!” Leon sat up and pulled the eye mask off altogether, tossing it away from him. Three Mindys lurched to catch it and the successful one smirked like she’d just won some valuable prize.

  “I thought you were pissed at me?” Leon asked, cocking his head in a way that was so damn cute I couldn’t help but smile.

  “I was. Well I kinda still am. You just flipped on that poor kid. But I spoke to him and he admitted he was stalking me so…look it’s really not important. I was going to offer to do something for you to make up for me snapping but it looks like you’ve got pretty much everything you could wish for covered here aside from an ass wiper and I’m not down for that job.”

  “I can do it,” one Mindy offered instantly and I frowned at her. Ew. Boundaries Mindy.

  “You were gonna do something for me?” Leon asked curiously.