Preorder Edition Bonus Chapters from Zodiac Academy #4
“Do you want a drink?” Francesca offered, and I blinked back to my own reality, finding we’d stopped in front of a coffee stand.
I shook my head, letting her get one while craning my neck to try and spot a flash of blue hair moving away through the crowd, but she was lost to it now. Off on her little date, clearly not caring that Diego had the aim of a blind, legless pigeon.
I moved forward, plucking the large Pegasus toy out from under Francesca’s arm as an idea came to me. “I’ll drop this back in the car, if you want?”
Her brows raised and she nodded her agreement, opening her mouth to reply, but I was already gone, speeding away through the fair back to the parking lot.
I tossed the toy in the trunk of my car and returned to the fair, doing a circuit of the whole carnival and tracking Darcy down.
My fangs tingled with the adrenaline surging through me, and I tried not to lean too deeply into the call of the hunt, though it was damn tempting.
I found Darcy queuing for a rollercoaster and returned to Francesca with a direction in mind, capturing her hand and leading her that way.
I pulled her to one side by a couple of stalls, and as Francesca turned to browse them, my gaze fell firmly on my target.
Darcy was facing Diego, the two of them standing far too close, and the moment I thought that, his arm slid around her waist and drew her even closer. She gazed up at him and I saw the exact moment when he decided to kiss her, his head tilting, his eyes going all blank and dreamy.
Venom spewed so hotly through my veins that it made me take a step forward, but it was already too late.
His mouth came down on hers and I froze, my muscles becoming rigid as pain and jealousy ripped a black hole through the centre of my chest, sucking everything into it until all that remained was a madness that urged me towards violence.
Darcy stepped back suddenly, and the crowd shifted so I lost sight of her expression, and by the time they moved the fuck out of the way again, she was turning out of the queue, abandoning Diego and the ride.
Her eyes found mine like she felt the intensity of my glare, and her face paled as I worked to keep every single emotion from my face, not letting her know how much she’d just obliterated me.
She started pushing through the line of Fae, making a beeline for me as if she had something she desperately wanted to say, but I didn’t want to hear a single word of it.
I was fuelled with spite, my mind clouded by it, and as Francesca turned to me with bright eyes, my mind locked onto an answer to this feverish agony. One that was purely selfish and full of malice.
I caught hold of my friend, pulling her close, and her eyes widened as she realised what I wanted, her hand gripping my leather jacket and yanking me nearer in encouragement. Our mouths met, and I tasted the wickedness in this act, the intention of the wound I wanted to deliver.
“Darcy!” Diego called, telling me she’d left him behind and was headed this way.
I twisted us around, pushing Francesca firmly up against the side of the stand, fisting a hand in her hair while locking the other one tight around her waist. Her tongue met mine in hungry strokes, and I willed my body to react to her touch like it used to, but it was as if a flip had been switched in me the moment Darcy Vega had come parading into this world to consume every one of my thoughts.
Francesca clung to my jacket while her free hand gripped my jaw, her fingers grazing through my beard, and I let it all happen, happily throwing fuel on the fire which was burning mine and Darcy’s world down. But she was the one who’d lit the match.
I felt Darcy’s eyes scalding the flesh from my bones and was relieved to finally be getting some reaction from her, to know that this hurt her just like she’d hurt me.
It was petty, immature, and cruel, but I was so full of jealousy that I knew if I didn’t do this, I’d do something far worse to Polaris.
I’d rip his head clean from his shoulders and earn myself a stretch in Darkmore for a far less tempting sin than the one I had already committed with Darcy.
I thought of nothing but her as I kissed a woman I could kiss without consequence, wishing I could claim the one I was forbidden from touching instead. My mind was so full of Darcy Vega that she became part of this kiss, twisting a knife in my chest and glaring into the darkest recesses of my soul.
What Darcy witnessed on the outside of this kiss was a lie.
She saw my rejection of her, she saw my declaration of my desire for another woman over her.
But it was a fucking mirage painted by my hand because she was what I truly wanted.
She was the girl I could never have, never keep, and never carve from my thoughts.
This would surely put an end to the madness for good, because she was here with Diego, not me. She wanted him now. Not. Me.
She would put up her walls, shut me out, and there’d be no more stolen looks, no more unlawful messages, nothing more to give me any hope that she still wanted me to cross those lines.
Francesca clawed at my shirt and moaned into my mouth, her back arching as I shoved her carelessly against the stall.
The kiss tasted like acid, and I swear I felt the stars reaching down from the sky and grasping me by the fucking throat to force me off of her.
Why they were so intent on messing with me lately, I had no idea.
Maybe someone had put a dark curse on me, because sometimes it felt like there wasn’t a thing that went right in my life anymore.
I stepped back, but Francesca stepped forward, sucking her lower lip into her mouth seductively and reaching for me once more.
I moved back again, pushing my fingers through my hair and praying for the clarity I’d hoped that kiss would give me.
A feeling that the doors were closed for good now between Darcy and I, bolted and impenetrable, but instead, I found my head turning and my eyes roaming the crowd, hunting for her already.
Maybe if I could see the hurt in her expression, the shutters snapping into place against me, I’d feel this bond sever between us.
Maybe then I could move on. But I couldn’t find her among the crowd, and that was somehow worse, because I’d hoped to find her watching me with anger and betrayal in her eyes, showing me she still cared.
Francesca said something to me, but I couldn’t hear it, still looking for the blue-haired girl who had my attention always trapped so tightly in her fist. I was a wasp, and she was a honey pot.
Every taste of sweetness I stole only lured me closer to my end, but I was a slave to my own desires, walking too willingly into my demise.
“Lance.” Francesca snapped her fingers in front of my face and the drone in my ears lifted, the sound of the world coming sharply back into focus at last. “What’s gotten into you tonight? One minute, you’re all over me and the next, you don’t even seem to see me.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, realising my fangs were out, hungering for a bite of a girl I craved like an addiction.
“Sorry, I…” I shook my head, having no truthful end to that sentence that I could voice aloud. I was a prick, using her like this. She was my friend, my Nebula Ally, for fuck’s sake. I should have been confiding in her instead of using her as some sort of Vega bait.
Yeah, Lance, tell the FIB agent all about how you took a student to your bed, let’s see how well that goes.
“It’s been a long week,” I muttered, thankful that was the truth at least.
Francesca moved into the arc of my body, caressing my bicep, and I folded my arms, placing something of a barrier between us.
“Why don’t we head back to mine? You’re clearly not enjoying this. We can just have a quiet evening, put a movie on and share a bottle of wine. I’ll help you forget all about it.” She gave me a flirtatious look, and my cock sent an email to my brain written in all caps.
DEAR brAIN,
FUCK NO.
SINCERELY,
COCK
I sighed, about to pull the Vampire card - again- because like a fucking asshole, I’d been using that excuse a lot lately. I needed alone time, sure, that was understandable as an Order need. But Francesca wasn’t going to buy it forever. I wasn’t a star-damned hermit.
“I think I just need some alone time,” I sighed. “Think I’ll head home.”
“No, come on,” she insisted. “Stay. I’ll cheer you up.” She gripped my arm, pulling me along. “Let’s go on the rollercoaster.”
“I’m really not in the mood.”
“You used to love the rollercoaster.” She glanced back at me with a frown, continuing to tug me along.
“Francesca,” I growled.
“I’m not taking no for an answer. My horoscope said to be there for a Libra today, and now I know it means you, that’s what I’m going to do. Wherever you go tonight, I’m coming with you.”
I knew she was trying to be a good friend, but I seriously needed to be alone right now, and I felt like a dick for coming here at all. Francesca clearly wasn’t going to be letting me go anytime soon though, and I really didn’t want her to come with me back to campus.
I spotted a row of porta-pottys and pulled away from her. “Be back in a sec.”
I jogged away, slipping into one of the toilets and shutting the door firmly. It was a miniature luxury bathroom inside with marble flooring and a gilded mirror on the back of the door, soft classical music playing around me and the scent of vanilla in the air.
I took out my Atlas, quickly downloading an app which would keep my number anonymous, then making a call to the FIB. I ran a hand over my throat, casting a spell on my voice to make it sound different as the call connected.
“I’ve just seen a Nymph in east Tucana,” I said frantically. “On the corner of Majesty Street. Hurry, please.”