Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(114)

This.

Is.

Insanity.

Someone cleared their throat and I jolted, spotting Seth at the far end of the path. He didn't approach, just stood there with an impatient expression.

“What's he doing?” I tried to push Orion back, not liking being seen in this compromising position.

“He's waiting for me to bite you,” Orion said, pulling back an inch. “So he can have you back.”

A shudder gripped my spine. “Well get on with it,” I hissed. “Or are you going to continue playing with your food?”

His mouth twisted down at the corner and he leaned in, speaking into my ear. “Stay away from him. Go inside.” Two seconds passed in which the heat of his breath made my belly squeeze deliciously and my heart hammer. I heard him swallow, sensed his lips a hair’s breadth from my flesh, holding a lustful secret within that infinitesimal space.

In a flash of movement, he was gone and I was left reeling from the encounter, unable to believe he hadn't bitten me.

Seth jogged to my side, immediately winding his fingers between mine. “All good?” he asked brightly and I nodded, though I was anything but good. I was shaken to my core and not with fright for once.

Orion's words floated through my head and my forbidden desire gave way to a rush of anger. Who the hell was he to make demands like that? He wasn't my damn father. And that was more than clear by the way he’d just had his hands all over me.

Seth towed me along the path with a mischievous grin and dropped down on a bench under the orangey glow of a lamppost.

He pressed his face into my hair, pulling me flush against his thigh. “What's wrong, babe?” His mouth skated over my ear and my heart leapt at the touch.

“Nothing,” I lied and he leaned back, tilting his head as his eyes trailed over my face.

“Liar,” he teased. “Did Orion hurt you?”

“No,” I said honestly.

A rustle sounded somewhere off in the bushes behind us and a tingle ran across my skin.

Seth brushed his fingers over my cheek, drawing me back to look at him. “If he bothers you, I can get my pack to make him back off. We don't normally take on professors but...” He smirked, leaning in closer, his fingers moving to cup my chin and tilt my mouth up. “You're worth it.”

He leaned in and a hundred thoughts muddled in my brain at once.

I shouldn't be out here alone with an Heir. And I certainly shouldn't be thinking about kissing one.

But Orion had told me to stay away from Seth and that had riled me up something crazy. And as Seth's hand brush my knee, I felt myself giving in. Making a decision that I'd probably regret tomorrow, but right now felt like biting Orion back.

My pulse quickened as Seth's hand slid further up my leg, his thumb painting a delicate circle against my inner thigh. My thoughts scattered to the wind as my body responded to him, heat flooding into the base of my stomach.

I leaned in to meet his mouth.

His lips brushed mine, feather soft, then more demanding as his hands curled around my waist and dragged me against his firm body. I came apart as he drove his tongue into my mouth, the taste of beer and lust overwhelming my senses. He tugged me into his lap and my skirt rode up much too high.

I almost pulled away, but he released a low groan in his throat that had me undone and I tangled my fingers in his shirt as his mouth remained locked with mine.

Dog Boy was a ridiculously good kisser and I was starting to believe that maybe he really was sorry for the shit he'd done. That maybe he really did like me.

Probably shouldn't be kissing his face off right now though.

His hand roamed up to my neck and something cold brushed my skin. I flinched and his free arm suddenly locked around me. Hard.

“Seth,” I yelped, breaking our kiss as his hold became painful.

He snatched hold of my bun then the world stopped turning as he sliced something sharp through it.

“No!” I gasped in absolute horror, shoving him back. But it was too late. He released me and I fell from his lap in a heap onto the path, grazing my knees.

A single lock of blue had come free from the bun he now held in his grip, fluttering down onto the ground before me. I snatched it up in desperation, my hands trembling and tears welling and welling and welling.

My hair, he took my hair.

But it wasn’t just my hair. It was an age old wound and he’d cut it open deeper than before.

Don’t trust anyone. That’s what it stood for. And how fucking poetic that he’d tricked me, made me trust him then taken the one thing which had been meant to warn me against people like him.

A satisfied smirk pulled at his features. “Told you I'd get your hair,” he said, his voice flat and cold and making my heart crawl into a shell to try and hide. “And since Max told me the little sob story behind it, I was even more determined to get my hands on it.”

My lips trembled as tears ran over them, the taste of salt and betrayal running onto my tongue.

Giggles filled the air and Kylie burst out of the bushes alongside several more of her gang, her Atlas held in her hand. “I recorded the whole thing,” she told Seth triumphantly.

Humiliation washed over me and I opened my palm in a flare of anger, willing magic into it but Seth rushed forward, closing my fist as he crouched before me.

“Nothing personal, Vega,” he whispered. “It's the way of Fae. If you don’t want things getting even worse for you, then take your sister and get out of our Academy.” He winked, shot to his feet and slung his arm around Kylie, striding away while their laughter called back to me.