Zodiac Academy 4: Shadow Princess
Shadow Princess: Chapter 30

I leaned back in my chair on the couch in King’s Hollow, flicking through the FaeBook feed on my Atlas. A post caught my eye and I got sucked into it.

Tyler Corbin: Arghhhhhh! Don’t wanna share this but FML I need to.

So I head to Lunar Leisure thinking I’ll spend a little time in the steam room – my ass was killing me since I pulled a glute in Physical Enhancement and I didn’t want some random Fae’s hand on my butt cheek to heal it (#theresonlyonefaeforme). SO, I head to the steam room and no one’s about so what’s a guy to do? Go in naked of course.
I strip down, hanging low (#hunglikeahorse), and head inside getting all steamy and shit – and it is steamy as fuck in there. Like, I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face steamy. I walk over to the benches, blind as a Halayan bat, then turn and sit down…on a steamy, warm fucking LAP! So I jump up like there’s a fire under my ass (#therewasactuallyadick) but my glute gives out and I slap right down into it again.

That’s when I feel it (#nothisdick but also #notnothisdick) his SIREN LURE. This guy is some Siren asshole trying to feed on me!

So I thrash like a beached dolphin and garble off something about my pulled glute in explanation for the double dip. He helps me up – thank the stars – and then his hand (#hisfuckinghand) slams onto my ass and he heals away my muscle ache.

I turn. The mist swirls. I see him, he sees me. #wesonaked

And then I die. I mean, actually die. Because it’s a teacher – a fucking teacher! #GUESSWHO!?!?!?

Comments:

Marsha Walker: Oh my stars, Tyler!!! Was it Washer??????????? Did he slip it in??

Tyler Corbin: For the love of the moon! Of course he fucking didn’t!!

Ashlee Olson: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! #washoffwasher

Chelsea de Araujo: Literally just threw up everywhere. #RIPcherrymuffin

Sofia Cygnus: Baby no!

Brian Washer: Now now, Corbin, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. We’re just two adults who had a little mishap. Nothing to be embarrassed about. How’s that glute of yours feeling now? Nice and supple?

Lucie Baudry: Are you sure it wasn’t Caleb getting horny for the horn??

Amy Sawyer: #couldhavebeenworse #steamyweany #wetwillies #brainwasher

What the fuck?? I was half amused, half traumatised on Corbin’s behalf and half pissed off about that horny for the horn comment.

I glanced over at Seth who was lounging beside me watching some documentary on wild elk and half salivating as the herd bolted at the sight of a wolf. I tried to show him the post but he seemed to be in some kind of trance.

Darius sat in the armchair to my right, his jaw tight and his gaze fixed on nothing as he sipped at his fifth – no, sixth beer and thought about whatever was eating him.

He’d been damn pissy since Tory had trashed his motorbike and though he’d told us he’d found her and dealt with it, he hadn’t exactly explained how. And it seemed like whatever had taken place between them had just made him feel worse about the whole thing. I’d already asked him if he was okay four times since we’d gotten here and I was willing to bet he’d punch me if I asked again, so I’d dropped it. Seth had too, aside from the occasional whimper he tossed Darius’s way. There was no point in us pushing at him when he was like this though. And he’d locked Max right back out of his head ever since that day as well so he couldn’t even get a read on what was going on.

Although Max wasn’t here right now anyway. He was off chasing Geraldine Grus. Not that he’d admit it. But he’d taken up a lot of new routines recently which all put him in her general vicinity as often as possible.

I looked over the stories which were trending with just enough interest to confirm that the rumours the Vegas had started had well and truly died. No more mention of Pegasus fetishes or Griffin dump baths or flea ridden Alphas.

The only stories appearing were of Darcy Vega talking to ravens no one could see and of Tory Vega screwing every other person in the academy.

We’d won.

And that should have felt fucking brilliant.

But whenever I saw Tory sitting on her own in The Orb at meal times and Darcy looking half a second away from tears, I didn’t feel particularly victorious…I just felt like a shitty person.

I sighed, raising my hand to turn my Atlas off just as a news notification flashed up.

Trending now: The Vega Twins give their first official interviews…

My eyebrows raised in surprise; the twins hadn’t shown the faintest bit of interest in talking to the press before now. Why would they have suddenly decided to talk out while the press was full of hateful stories about them? A prickle of unease ran along my skin. If they’d chosen to do some retaliation piece insulting us and protesting their innocence, they were about to replace out just how well that kind of thing would be taken. Denial stories never went well, even worse if you were stupid enough to try and blame someone else for your problems. But they had no press experience, no PR people to help them with this kind of thing, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d done it.

I’d meant it when I’d told Tory how important reputation was. And even though I’d known that our plan would finally push them out of our way for good, I still felt a little shitty about it. Those labels would be attached to them forever now. Even more so if they’d been foolish enough to lash out in response.

I steeled myself for what I was about to replace as I clicked on the link and my mouth fell open in shock as I found it.

The truth about us – an interview with our lost Princesses…

The title was punctuated by two images which had clearly been taken on professional shoots. Darcy was standing in a woodland clearing under the moon, dressed like some kind of ethereal goddess as she reached an arm out to stroke the feathery head of a raven sat in the branches above her. Another of the huge black birds sat on her shoulder and the trees behind her were filled with them. She didn’t look insane, she looked beautiful and kind, a knowing smile tugging at the corner of her lips and a glimmer of honesty in her eyes.

The second image was of Tory sitting on the edge of a huge bed with a group of eight ripped guys all laying behind her in their underwear. She wore a silk silver dressing gown which fell open a little to reveal the edge of her black bra. Her bronze legs were crossed but positioned in such a way as to show off every perfect inch of them. Her perfectly made up features looked almost doll like as she turned wide, green eyes on the camera, her red lips parted in a way that spoke of sex. The stylists had curled her brunette hair and it spilled around her shoulders and screamed just fucked and brought to memory the way her skin had felt pressed against mine.

I groaned as I realised what this was. They hadn’t been stupid enough to bite back at these rumours, they’d found someone to spin them for them.

After a brief introduction, the piece started on Darcy, more photos of her in the woods surrounded by ravens and looking exquisite sat alongside a story about her work in animal shelters and her particular fondness for helping to rehabilitate injured birds. There were jokes about the way she sometimes spoke to them in her dreams or even when she was drunk because she was always trying to think up ways to help them.

It sounded totally fucking plausible and also made her look like a damn saint.

My jaw tightened as I scrolled on to the second half of the piece. If I’d thought Tory looked hot in the first photo, I hadn’t been at all prepared for the orgy that would be taking place in the rest of them.

Image after image filled the screen of her in her underwear, pillow fighting with the male models on the huge bed and laying in the midst of all of them as they trailed their fingers over her perfect skin.

It didn’t look sordid or depraved, it looked hot as all hell and I found myself wishing I was one of the guys in that bed. One of the images was of her alone with a seriously attractive model as he pinned her back against a wall, her dressing gown slipping off of her shoulder, her eyes screaming kiss me as he trailed a hand along her jaw.

It made my gut clench uncomfortably, jealousy writhing beneath my skin as I thought for the thousandth time about calling her or messaging her and trying to figure out how I’d fucked everything up between us so spectacularly.

Her part of the story was all about living with a sex addiction. They’d even spun it into a sob story about her upbringing in the mortal world where she’d always craved love and protection, saying she was really hunting for her true mate, just hoping to fall in love. She’d donated money to various mental health and addiction charities and truly hoped no one judged her too harshly. The article finished on a quote from her. “I just want to be loved.”

I bit my lip as I clicked on the comments, knowing exactly what I’d replace before I did but needing to confirm it.

Laura Frost: I love the Vegas twins!!!

Vikki Wilson: I wish I had a raven for a best friend!

Gemma Vincent: One look at Tory Vega and I’m pretty sure I’m a sex addict too…

Cassie Farrow: I can’t wait for you two to take back the throne! You’re so real and relatable!!

Stephanie Gomez: I’m going to dye my hair blue just like Darcy!!

I groaned, knocking my head back against the couch as I let my Atlas fall limp in my hands.

“What’s up?” Seth asked, dragging his gaze away from the TV to look at me.

I bit my tongue, glancing between him and Darius who was looking my way too.

“The Vegas…” I said slowly, knowing this was going to kick off the shit storm yet again.

“What about them?” Darius growled.

“Well…they’ve kinda spun the stories we put out about them. And I’m pretty sure their reputations are stronger than ever…”

“What?” Seth demanded, finally wrenching his entire attention off the TV as he snatched my Atlas from me and scanned the article. “No,” he gasped, looking like someone just took a shit in his Faezerati. “Who the fuck have they got on their PR team?”

“What is it?” Darius asked, reaching for my Atlas, but Seth didn’t give it up.

Darius growled irritably and got to his feet, stalking around the back of the couch to look over Seth’s shoulder.

“What the fuck is she wearing!” he yelled, snatching the Atlas out of Seth’s grip and swiping through the pictures with such force he was in danger of breaking the damn thing. “Every Fae in Solaria will see this! Each one of them will have photos of her in her fucking underwear if they want them!”

“Well the photos we leaked were of her in her underwear,” I said with a vague shrug, the fact that Tory had exposed her body for the public to see didn’t seem like the most pressing issue to me.

“They weren’t the same,” Darius growled. “They were grainy and dark, taken from a distance. And I tried to stop Seth from sending those to the press too.”

“Did you?” I asked in surprise. He’d seemed all for the plan when I’d tried to protest against it. The idea that he’d tried to back out at the last minute kinda pissed me off. The whole thing I’d had going on with Tory had fallen apart after that night. If he’d opened his mouth sooner then it might not have happened.

“And who the fuck is that?” Darius snarled, ignoring me as he pointed at the model Tory looked about thirty seconds away from kissing…or screwing…and if I was supposed to believe the shit in that article then maybe that was exactly what she’d done.

“Who the fuck cares!?” Seth yelled. “He’s just some low magic asshole who can only make money out of being hot. It’s the least issue we have with this! Can’t you see what they’ve done? They’ve spun the story, no one’s gonna care about that shit we spread about them now. Instead of ruining their reputations, it’s made Darcy look like a fucking animal saving saint and Tory-”

“I’m calling my lawyers and getting them to take every fucking photo of her dressed like that off of the internet,” Darius growled.

“She clearly took part in that shoot and must have signed off on the use of those photos,” I replied with a frown. “There’s no way they’re taking them down unless she retracts her permission.”

“Well then I’m going to replace her and make her fucking retract it,” Darius growled, ripping his shirt off and stalking towards the window.

“Wait!” Seth called after him, getting up too. “We should all go. I wanna replace out who the hell is helping them with this. These stories should have ruined them permanently, but they’ve somehow managed to twist them about to look like they were no big deal with one fucking interview.”

“Fine,” Darius growled. “She was in the Ignis common room earlier, she’s probably still there.” He tossed his pants off and jumped up out of the window without saying anything else.

“C’mon,” I said to Seth, heading for the exit.

We jogged down the stairs and made it outside just as Darius took off in his Dragon form overhead. We watched him fly away above the tree canopy and Seth growled. “I should have thought to ban Darcy from doing this shit,” he said bitterly.

“Are you gonna tell us what you have on her?” I asked for the hundredth time but his only reply was a smug grin.

“In time. But I’m having too much fun holding her secret over her to let it out yet.”

I rolled my eyes at him before grabbing his arm and hoisting him over my shoulder. I shot through the woods and all the way through Fire Territory, arriving outside Ignis House before Darius and spotting him flying towards his room. I dropped Seth back to his feet and he grinned at me, pushing a hand through his long hair to tame it after our run.

I shot a ball of fire at the entrance to the House and we headed inside, jogging up the central stairs to the common room.

Tory was sitting on her own by a fireplace in the corner and we stalked towards her instantly.

We came to a halt standing over her but she didn’t even look up at us, leisurely turning a page in the heavy book which sat perched in her lap.

“Why are you all alone, Tory?” Seth mocked. “Are you and Darcy still not talking?”

She still didn’t look up but raised a finger at us to make us wait for her attention.

Seth growled and the corner of my mouth twitched with amusement. I didn’t know how she managed to make giving no shits look so damn good but she seemed to do it effortlessly.

“We want a word with you, sweetheart,” I said, reaching out to pull the book from her lap.

She sighed irritably, snapping the book shut on my fingers and making me snatch my hand back.

“I’m busy,” she said, raising her eyes to look at me so fucking slowly that I got the impression she could hardly be bothered to acknowledge us at all.

“We wanna talk to you about the interview you and your sister did for The Daily Solaria,” Seth said.

“Are you looking for an autograph then?” she asked casually.

“We want to know who you’ve got doing PR for you,” Seth snapped.

Tory yawned widely, stretching her arms out and not replying.

Before either of us could add anything, Darius stalked into the room wearing a pair of sweatpants and moved to join us.

“Oh look, it’s raining assholes,” Tory said in a bored voice.

“We get it, you spun the story,” Darius said, his voice harsh. “Now call The Daily Solaria and get them to take down the photos.”

“Why?” Tory asked, her gaze locking on him coldly.

Darius ground his jaw and folded his arms. “You don’t need to have half naked photographs of you everywhere to make the story work.”

“From the man who published a picture of me in my underwear without asking me?”

“If you wanna blame someone for that then you can blame me,” Seth offered, giving her a wolfish grin.

“Whatever.” She shrugged dismissively. “It’s my body, I’ll do what I like with it. What possible reason have you got to come here and ask me not to?”

I glanced at Darius because I was kinda wondering the same thing. He was acting like some kind of overprotective boyfriend and I got that Dragons were all possessive and shit, but there was no solar system in which he could claim possession of Tory Vega.

“Tell us who you hired,” Seth demanded again, saving Darius from giving an answer he clearly didn’t have.

“No one,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “We just gave an interview on the truth about those rumours. So unless the three of you are here to offer me a four-way to help out with my sex addiction then maybe you could all just fuck off?”

“You don’t have a fucking sex addiction,” Darius snarled.

“Don’t I?” she asked innocently. “What other possible reason would I have for screwing so many waste of space assholes?” Her gaze flicked from him to me for a moment and I straightened my spine. I hadn’t really spoken to her since we’d called time on the whole thing we’d had going on but I’d daydreamed up various ways to try and get her to change her mind about it. The look in her eyes right now made it pretty fucking clear how far I’d get with that if I made any attempt to talk to her any time soon though.

To my surprise, Darius didn’t have an answer for her either and he just growled at her again.

“You think you’re so fucking smart don’t you?” Seth said, taking a step towards her and she got to her feet, glaring at the three of us like she didn’t give one shit that we were all standing before her like this.

“Yeah, I do,” she replied.

“Well now everyone knows for sure that you’re a whore and the only friends your sister can make are ones that can’t talk back.”

Tory’s gaze darkened so quickly that for a moment it almost seemed like an actual shadow curtained her vision.

“Fuck you,” she snarled, pointing right into Seth’s face before aiming her finger at me. “And fuck you.” She turned to point at Darius last. “And fuck you up the ass with a rusty spoon.”

She slammed her shoulders into me and Darius, forcing a path between us before striding away towards her dorm.

I frowned after her as she went and the second she was out of sight, Darius strode away too.

“I’m going flying,” he called back to us without bothering to say goodbye.

I sighed, wishing we’d never gone through with that stupid goddamn plan. It hadn’t even worked now so what was the point? All of this hatred between us and the Vegas was making my head spin.

“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered, dropping into the chair Tory had just vacated.

“What’s up?” Seth asked, sitting opposite me.

“It’s just all for nothing now, isn’t it? And I’ve fucked up my whole deal with Tory for no good reason.”

“Is she really that good in the sack?” Seth teased. I smirked at him knowingly and he leaned forward, casting a silencing bubble around us. “Wanna tell me about it?”

I groaned, leaning back in my chair and pushing my hands through my hair. “I don’t even know if I have words for it,” I said. “But it was like the whole combination of the hunt and her blood and her body…”

“Well I can give you a hunt if that’s what you’re craving,” Seth offered.

I looked up at him in surprise. “You wanna let me hunt you?”

“Fair warning, though, if you want to bite me at the end of it, you’ll have to overpower me,” he said.

“You’re serious?”

“Why not? Am I gonna be getting laid when you catch me like Tory did too?” Seth’s smile widened and I wasn’t entirely sure if that was a joke or not but I laughed anyway.

“I dunno, man. Her blood is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted and the way I feel when I hunt her down…I’m not sure if it would really be the same with someone else…”

Seth rolled his eyes at me. “Fuck that. You get off on the hunt as much as the girl. Besides, you don’t have to be careful with me, I like it rough.”

My smile grew despite myself and my fangs started tingling in anticipation. I leaned towards him, my gaze skimming over his neck and taking in the way his pulse hammered against his skin. I was actually pretty tapped out power wise, but I hadn’t gone after Tory for a drink despite her still being my Source. I didn’t want to rescind that claim on her, but I knew that if I asked her for a hunt now the answer would be no and just grabbing her in the middle of The Orb and taking her blood by force didn’t appeal to me somehow. I swallowed thickly as I thought about taking part in a hunt with a prey who could really run from me and found myself nodding.

“Okay then,” I agreed. “If you’re sure?”

“I haven’t got anything else to do tonight,” Seth replied with a shrug like asking your friend to hunt you down and bite you was no big deal. “So you wanna tell me your little rules?”

“I usually give her fifteen minutes to run and I can’t use my speed to catch her,” I replied. “If I can’t replace her before the time runs out, I can’t bite her.”

“Pfft. New rules. You give me two minutes head start and use your gifts as much as you like. When you catch me, you’re gonna have to overpower me to bite me.” He got to his feet and pulled his shirt off. “Any objections?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head as I watched him unbuckle his belt.

Seth grinned as he kicked his shoes off and my blood heated with the promise of the hunt as I sat watching him remove his clothes.

“You sure you don’t want this to end in sex?” Seth teased as I continued to watch him.

For a moment I was reminded of the time he’d kissed me in the Shimmering Springs last year. We’d both been drunk as fuck and had been starting up on a three way with a girl from his pack, but for some reason she’d left and the next thing I knew, his mouth was on mine and I was pulling him closer and… I cleared my throat as I banished that memory and drew my eyes past his muscular chest and up to meet his gaze as I laughed.

“Well I do have a thing for brunettes,” I joked.

Seth smiled widely as he dropped his pants. “Catch me if you can.” He shifted suddenly, his Fae form giving way to his huge white Wolf and causing several of the other people in the common room to shriek in surprise.

He turned and ran out of the room and I got to my feet, crossing to the window and watching as he appeared outside.

He raced away across Fire Territory, running north east towards the grassy plains of Air Territory and I smirked as I watched him bounding away at full speed.

The two minutes seemed to drag on endlessly and my body filled with expectant energy as I waited to give chase. My fangs were tingling and the blood lust rose in a way that ached to be sated.

I watched the seconds tick down on a clock across the room and the moment his two minutes were up, I shot from the room at full speed.

I raced through the barren landscape of Fire Territory and up the hill towards the huge grassy plains that made up the landscape of Air.

My pulse pounded in my ears and my fangs snapped out, aching for blood as I looked all around for my prey.

Once I’d gotten as far as I could imagine him making it, I paused in the middle of the plain, looking around at the long swathes of brown grass which brushed my waist as it swayed in the wind.

I narrowed my eyes, turning slowly as I tried to spot him hiding within it.

A spurt of movement came from the corner of my eye and I turned just in time to see Seth pouncing out of the grass.

Two huge, white paws collided with my chest and I fell back to the ground with an oomph as he knocked the air from my lungs.

He snarled in my face and I released a bark of laughter as I formed a lasso from the long grass, winding it around his neck and yanking him off of me.

Seth yelped, severing the rope with a snap of his powerful jaws and lunging at me again.

I made the earth tremble beneath his feet and shot around behind him, leaping up and landing on his back.

Seth growled, spinning in a circle and twisting as he tried to get his teeth into me to yank me off of him.

I leaned away from his jaws, summoning vines to tie his mouth shut in a thick muzzle.

A deep growl left his throat and my heart pounded with the pure unbridled joy of the hunt.

I lunged forward, aiming to sink my teeth into his shoulder and force him back into his Fae form.

Before I could replace my way through his thick, white fur, he dropped to the ground and rolled, crushing me beneath him. He shifted back to his Fae form before I could recover, pinning me down with his hips and throwing a punch straight into my jaw.

Pain flared through my mouth and I tasted blood as his knuckle split on my fangs.

I groaned as the earthy, rich taste of his blood washed over my tongue and threw a punch back at him, catching him in the side and knocking him off balance as he aimed for my face again.

Seth snarled at me, his Wolf nature showing through as he hit me again, the pain of the blow only urging me on.

With a surge of my Vampire strength, I reared up, wrapping my arms around his waist and flipping him beneath me instead.

Seth hit me again and I was pretty sure he cracked a rib as a spike of agony raced through my body, but I didn’t slow in my attack.

I grabbed a fistful of his long hair, yanked his head aside and drove my fangs straight into his neck before he could stop me.

Pure fucking ecstasy rolled through my body and I groaned as I drank deeply from the vein in his neck.

Seth laughed as the strength fled from his limbs under the influence of my venom and his fingers twisted into my blonde curls as he pulled me closer.

My power reserves filled with the heady taste of his magic and I finally withdrew my fangs, my grip on him loosening as I drew back an inch.

“Fuck, Cal, I can see why you get off on that,” Seth breathed, his bare chest rising and falling beneath me as I stayed on top of him for a long moment.

“You have no idea,” I replied with a smirk.

Seth’s hand landed on my waist and he slid it up beneath my shirt, his fingers hot against my skin.

I frowned at him a second before healing magic spilled through me and the pain in my ribs was washed away.

The corner of his mouth twitched and I slid my hand out of his hair to heal the bite on his neck in return.

“Come on then, put me out of my misery. Was I as good as Tory Vega?” Seth’s gaze slid from my eyes to my mouth and a tingle ran along my skin as I considered his question.

My mind ran over the hunts I’d taken part in with Tory. They’d been hot as all hell, but the fight at the end of this one had made the beast inside me sing with pleasure. I’d always had to be careful to hold myself back with her in case I hurt her but with Seth, the rougher I was, the harder he fought back. I’d just released the full extent of the power of my Order for the first time in my life and it felt fucking incredible.

“Better,” I replied. “Maybe I should hunt you more often.”

“I won’t let you win next time,” Seth replied, pulling his hand back out from beneath my shirt.

“You didn’t let me win anything,” I growled.

Seth’s only response was a smirk and I got to my feet, offering him a hand up as my gaze slid down his muscular body which was shining with sweat from our fight.

“You wanna go get drunk at the hollow?” he asked, pushing his hair back out of his face as the wind blew around us. He didn’t wait for my response before shifting back into a Wolf and racing away towards the trees.

I stood for a moment as the force of his magic tingled beneath my skin and my flesh prickled with the fading spell of the hunt.

Breaking things off with Tory Vega might have been a terrible fucking call, but if I could keep on hunting Seth like that then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.