“Get him out before he suffocates,” Mars demanded. “But you can have two rank points for exceptional magical skill.”
I grunted, waving a hand to drag Dipper out of the earth by a thick vine, my gaze fixed on Elise and Mufasa across the field. He kept tickling her and she laughed wildly, wriggling in his arms and begging him to stop. She could have just used her Vampire speed to escape, but she didn’t. She rubbed up against him while his hands roamed all over her.
Eugene took in a huge lungful of air as I deposited him above ground, his body trembling from head to toe as mud fell from his clothes.
“Almost…died,” he panted.
“But you didn’t,” I pointed out dryly.
Mars had walked off, not having re-paired us, but I really didn’t see the point in me training with someone so weak.
I strode away from him, making a direct path for Elise and the Lion asshole, hissing beneath my breath.
“Swap pairs,” I snapped, jolting the earth beneath them so they were forced to stumble apart.
Elise looked to me with a pout and Leon surveyed me with annoyance.
“Fine, Ryder, I’ll pair with you,” Elise said, stepping forward.
“No thanks, I’m pairing with the Lion.” I moved toward him hungrily and Elise snorted a laugh.
“Great, but I’m staying for the show,” she announced.
“Even better,” I growled.
Leon cast a fireball in his hand, letting it twist around his arm as if he gave no shits in the world. I squared up to him, letting a vine lengthen in my palm and setting him in my sights. I wanted him on his ass, bleeding, pain pouring from his wounds while I drank it in.
“You look a little green, Ryder,” Leon said with a smirk. “Is that your Order form showing through or just jealousy?”
“Why would I be jealous of you?” I spat a hollow laugh and Leon’s smile widened.
“Because you want Elise and she’s not yours,” he said simply and rage settled in my gut.
“I’m not yours either,” Elise sang from the sidelines.
“Miss Callisto please pair with Mr Dipper!” Mars called and she sighed her disappointment before heading away.
“Oh hey Elise!” Dipper called excitedly and I frowned over at Elise as he hugged her in greeting – okay what the fuck is that about?
Leon stepped forward and I dragged my thoughts back to the fight as we started slowly circling one another. I had the patience of a saint and the anger of a sinner. I’d wait for him to strike then cut him down to size without mercy.
“You just can’t handle it, can you? Me and her, kissing, fucking-”
I begged the ground to swallow him and a crater tore the ground apart, my patience lost to my temper.
“Fuck you!” I roared, churning up the earth as Leon tumbled into the pit I’d made.
I dove down into it with him, throwing a fist into his face. He was ready with a counter punch, slamming a fiery blow into my gut and burning through my clothes. My skin singed and pain rang through my body like a gong.
I smiled darkly, throwing wild punches, forgetting my Element as I devoured the feel of ripping into his flesh first hand.
I brought him to the ground as he burned me again and again, but I was wild, lost to the rage of picturing her with this piece of shit thief.
He threw me off him with a grunt of effort, rising to his feet and casting a wall of fire between us. “You crazy motherfucker!”
I leapt through the fire, the T-shirt of my kit nothing but burnt scraps of material. My skin was angry and red, bleeding from burns as I lunged at him. I locked a thick vine around his throat, but he burned it to ash, grabbing my arm and throwing a handful of flames at my chest in retaliation.
The scars put there by Mariella blistered as fire rushed over my skin and I blinked away the dark curtain pulling at my mind, feeding on the pain but not stopping to heal myself. I caught Leon by his golden hair then slammed my hand against his mouth, casting soil down his throat, mounting it up and up in his lungs.
He fought wildly, throwing punches which broke ribs, singeing more of my skin and finally casting an explosive fireball which threw me into the wall on the opposite side of the pit.
I hit the ground, bleeding profusely and suddenly too weak to get up. Leon coughed and spluttered and Professor Mars was suddenly in the pit with us. I tried to rise again, my sights still set on my target but Mars slammed a hand to my shoulder to keep me down. Healing light spread over my body and Mars caught my chin, trying to get a look at me as my head lolled against my chest.
“Fucking…Lion,” I ground out and Mars relaxed, dragging me up to stand when he’d finished healing me. My pants were still just about intact but the rest of me was bare.
Leon had already climbed out of the pit and Mars caught my arm before I could follow. “Watch that temper of yours, Draconis. You kill a student and you’re out of this academy.”
I nodded stiffly, looking up to find Elise staring down at me with worry in her eyes. Leon tried to draw her away but she shook her head, murmuring something to him and he sighed before walking away.
I cast a pillar of earth to lift Mars and I out of the pit, then waved a hand to fill in the hole. I moved to walk past Elise but she stepped into my path so we knocked into each other.
The bell rang from all the buildings across school. It was lunchtime but I felt anything but hungry.
“Ryder,” Elise said gently, taking my hand and I blinked out of my stupor to look at her. All I could see was Leon’s body claiming hers and I grimaced, pulling out of her hold and walking away across the field.
Elise was at my side again in a spurt of Vampire speed and I pointedly ignored her.
“You can’t seriously be annoyed with me,” she said in irritation.
“You’re fucking the Lion King,” I snarled, my chest tightening as flashes of heat hit my skin.
“So what?” she said. “You’ve probably fucked half the girls in this school.”
“Not since-” I stole the air from that sentence, anger pounding through me at almost saying something so fucking stupid. Because why hadn’t I screwed anyone since I’d met Elise? It didn’t make any fucking sense. She wasn’t mine. And now I’d made that deal with Inferno, she couldn’t be mine. And meanwhile, I got fucking blue balls and for what? So she could go off screwing Lions and skipping about school giving no shits who that hurt?
“Oh,” Elise breathed, meaning she’d picked up on that shit-stained piece of info I hadn’t wanted to give.
“Yeah,” I growled, having to own it.
“Well I didn’t ask you to do that,” she said, but her voice had softened and she’d shifted closer to me, her arm brushing mine.
I shrugged and she moved closer still and we fell silent as we walked across campus. I couldn’t find any words to give her, but eventually she spoke again.
“You were the one who made that deal with Dante.” There was a seductive note to her voice and I realised we’d walked all the way to my dorm room without me even noticing.
“And if I hadn’t?” I asked, my throat bobbing as I gazed down her curves hungrily.
She tip-toed up, whispering as she moved into the arc of my body and causing my heart to pound painfully. “I’ll never commit to one man. That’s just not me. So if you hadn’t then…” she placed her hand on my bare chest and the heat of her skin set off a fire in my body. She trailed her fingers lower and my cock twitched desperately, practically full mast already. If I did fuck her, I’d last about five shitting seconds right now. Real impressive.
I opened the door to my room, pushing it wide and heading in. I left it open for her to follow, not responding to what she said and feeling the tension building between us.
I stripped off my charred pants, heading to the closet and taking out a spare uniform. The door clicked shut and my pulse elevated. I was in my room, practically naked with Elise and I wasn’t about to get laid. It was a sad fucking future for my balls.
A groan escaped me and I shook my head. “Get up, baby, or I won’t be held responsible for what I do next.”
“That sounds like something you’d have to take a lot responsibility for actually.” She swung her bare legs around as she sat up and I thought of Leon again, getting to grind his naked body against hers.
“Did he make you come?” I blurted and her brows jumped up in surprise.
“Ryder…”
“Just answer me,” I demanded. I didn’t know why I needed to know, but I did.
“For the star’s sake, Ryder, is it really important?”
I considered that, grinding my jaw, ready to pop a tooth.
“No,” I finally decided, striding toward her and leaning down close to her face so I could almost taste her. “Because one day, I’m going to figure out a way past this deal with Inferno then I’m going to fuck Leon out of your memory. You won’t remember your name let alone his.”
She rolled her eyes, ducking out from under me with a burst of Vampire speed. I turned to find her on the top bunk across the room, swinging her legs like a child as she shook her head at me. “I like you, Ryder, but I like Leon too. And trust me when I say, you wouldn’t make me forget him. He’s important to me.”
“Why?” I hissed, though maybe I knew deep down. Leon was everything I wasn’t. He could offer her something normal, something sweet. I didn’t do normal or sweet. I did twisted and bitter. If Leon was her type, I was never going to be.
“Well for one, he makes me laugh and sometimes I really need that,” she said, her eyes glittering with truth.
I moved toward her again like a predator, resting a hand on her knee and causing her to inhale deeply.
“Am I not funny?” I scrubbed my rough chin against her thigh and a smile pulled at her lips.
“No you’re not.” She laughed though and that brought something of a smile to my own lips. “Hey….do you wanna help me with something?” She flipped her legs over my head and leapt to the floor like a cat.
She was at the door in half a second and I was already moving after her. Wherever she was going, I was going.
I stepped into the hallway behind her and she snatched my hand, dragging me along at speed. We were soon slipping into Altair Halls and Elise towed me upstairs to where the faculty offices were located. She led me down to Miss Nightshade’s office and I shot her an inquisitive look.
“She’s not working today, I checked,” she whispered. “I want to search her office.”
“For what?” I asked in surprise, but she ignored me, moving forward to try and open the door.
Chatter carried from the stairway and I pushed her aside, casting a slim piece of wood into my hand and pushing it into the keyhole. I had it picked in less than ten seconds and pushed the door wide, tugging Elise in behind me.
I clamped a hand over her mouth as the chatter grew closer and I recognised Principal Greyshine talking on his cellphone. “I just don’t want the chocolate poptarts running low, you see? If we could order extra boxes – well yes I understand I ordered the maximum last time but - okay well just send me what you have.” His voice drifted away and Elise peeled my hand from her mouth, casting a silencing bubble around us instead.
I turned to watch as she headed to Nightshade’s desk, dropping down behind it and pulling drawers open.
I folded my arms, leaning back against the door.
“Help me,” she encouraged.
“Not until you tell me what you’re looking for.”
She paused, glancing up from her knees on the floor and yes I liked how she looked down there.
She sighed, balling her hands in her lap. “Do you believe me about the night of the party? That I was drugged and saw someone get murdered?”
I surveyed her for a few seconds then nodded firmly, no doubts finding me. I’d been angry the first time she’d mentioned it and frankly I didn’t want to be reminded of the argument we’d had that day. “Yes.”
Her eyes brightened like that meant a lot to her and her shoulders relaxed marginally. “Well…the other day I followed Nightshade to a meeting at her office in town. She met with the same shady freak I saw that night in the woods. But they’re hiding their face with a concealment spell. When they left…I broke into her office and went through her files. I found a picture of the boy who died.” She took out her Atlas, tapping something on the screen before tossing it to me.
I caught it out of the air with a taut frown, eyeing the picture of the boy in the file she’d photographed. I didn’t recognise him and I moved to stand beside her, handing it back. “You followed her and broke into her office?” I asked with a smirk.
“Yeah,” she said with a shrug and I dropped down to sit in the office chair behind her. “Now I’m looking for more leads.”
“Well any excuse to fuck with Nightshade,” I said with a wild spark igniting in my chest.
She grinned, continuing to rifle through drawers and I pulled open the top one, finding a laptop inside and taking it out. I opened it up on the desk, trying a few failed passwords.
“Hmm her password isn’t satanic bitch, any other ideas, baby?” I nudged Elise with my knee and she looked up at me with a grin.
“Have you tried sour-faced trout?”
I barked a laugh, typing it in. “Damn. I was sure you had it.” She stood up, dropping straight into my lap and making me inhale in surprise as her ass connected with my dick. I wrapped my hands around her waist, pushing her onto one knee to relieve my throbbing cock.
She pulled the laptop closer and typed in loser-whore, can’t drive for shit, and invasive fishlips.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “We’re not going to guess it,” I said against her ear and she wriggled back into my lap, making me groan with need. I was in actual pain right now. If Elise wasn’t going to give me the relief I needed it was me and my right hand for the foreseeable future. I could have just screwed another girl. Elise was seeing other men anyway, but somehow the idea just didn’t appeal. I needed to get off over Elise. No one else was going to cut it.
“I’m beginning to think you torment me on purpose,” I growled.
“Who me?” she asked innocently, turning so her mouth was half an inch from mine as she batted her lashes.
I swallowed the lump pushing at my throat then knocked her from my lap and stood up with a conspiratorial grin. I gazed around the room, spotting a coffee machine on a table against the wall and moving to set it up. I took my time brewing a cup, pouring in sugar and creamer before walking back to the desk. It looked like Elise had given up, all the drawers now pushed back into place while she stood contemplating the laptop.
“Do you give up?” I asked and she nodded.
“She probably doesn’t keep anything but our files on the laptop anyway,” she sighed.
“My thoughts exactly.” I tipped the coffee all over the keyboard and sparks shot out of it.
Elise laughed wildly, hurrying forward to rest a hand on my arm as I continued to pour it all over the machine until it was deader than dead.
“Well you may not have found anything but that felt fucking ace.” I placed the coffee cup down and Elise grinned up at me, her eyes sparkling with joy. “Are you sure I don’t make you happy too?” I breathed.
A key sounded in the lock and fuck fuck fuck-
I thought on my feet, flipping Elise back onto the desk, pushing her skirt up and unzipping my fly in the same instant. I fisted my hand in her hair, dragging her firmly against me the second the door swung open.
The janitor stood there in shock, his magical cleaning products stacked up on a little trolley which coasted into the room as he released it in surprise.
“You’re not allowed in here!” he gasped.
“The door was open now get the fuck out!” I barked and his face paled.
“Two minutes or I’m calling Professor Mars,” he counte
red, hurriedly shutting the door.
Elise gazed up at me with her lips wide and I glanced down at her bared panties between her thighs, fucking desperate for her as her legs tightened either side of me.
“Trust you to come up with this plan,” she teased, knotting her fingers in my shirt as she pulled herself upright.
I didn’t move, drinking in the feel of her so close, my heart pounding frantically where her hand was fisted against me.
I was out of breath for no other fucking reason than her proximity and how much I ached for her.
“One minute!” the janitor’s voice sounded outside the door and I sighed, stepping back to let Elise up and missing the contact of her the second she moved away.
When we were decent, we headed to the door and Elise threaded her fingers through mine, tugging me toward her before I could leave. She tip-toed up to brush her lips over the shell of my ear and a hungry growl escaped me.
“You do make me happy, Ryder.” She skated her lips to my jaw and I clutched her against my side with a groan of lust. “I wish I could show you how much.”
The door wrenched open and I tugged Elise past the angry janitor standing there. She saluted him and we hurried off down the hallway as he grumbled to himself about spilled coffee and horny students.
Elise kept her hand in mine as we headed back downstairs, laughing like two naughty school kids.
I couldn’t erase the grin tugging at my mouth and decided I might as well admit the obvious truth to Elise. “You make me feel happy too, Elise. Forget pain or lust. Just happy. Are you going to tattoo it on my dick or am I?”
She laughed again, leaning into me. “That would make an interesting date.”
“It would make a messy one. If you touch it, it’ll go off. Especially if there’s a needle involved.”
“I thought you were going to make me forget my own name?” she teased.
“I will on round two.” I knocked my shoulder against hers and she looked to me with her cheeks colouring and her eyes bright. And I was pretty sure it was the best way anyone had looked at me in my entire life.
Savage Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 2) Page 39
