Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(98)
“I’m an apex predator. My kind aren’t built to take orders from anyone. It’s written in my DNA to rule over you. I could never bow no matter how powerful you might have the potential to be,” he growled, clearly reading between the lines I’d never meant to draw.
“How can you know that? You don’t even know what Order I am. Maybe I’m higher up the food chain than you think,” I snarled. I had no idea what had prompted me to enter into this argument with him but now that I’d embarked upon it, I felt like there was no way for me to turn back.
Darius snorted a laugh as he moved to pass me in the doorway, pausing right in my personal space so that I was face to face with the rippling muscles of his bare chest. The scent coming off of him was enough to make me bite down on my lip. It was at once metallic and animal. A hint of smoke and cedar and something totally him.
“No one is higher up the food chain than me, Roxy,” he purred, placing a hand either side of my head and pinning me in against the door.
I swallowed a lump in my throat as I tilted my head back to look up at him, my heart pounding with fear and exhilaration at his proximity. I pressed my palms to the door behind me, locking them in place in case they got any ideas about reaching for the beast before me. Because despite the fact that Darius Acrux was a complete and utter asshole who had made it his mission to make my life a living hell, he was still my exact brand of temptation.
This close to him I felt like an addict sitting before a lit pipe, just hoping the smoke didn’t blow in my face before I caved entirely.
My gaze roamed over his features as the distance between us was reduced to millimetres. The heat between us was building, sparks of energy lighting my skin with a carnal need which I was sure only he could satisfy but I refused to acknowledge the fact.
“What Order are you?” I breathed, wondering why I’d never asked before. He always acted like a monster to me so I guessed I’d never needed proof of what his nature was. But as I stood before him I began to feel like coming here had been a terrible mistake. The look in his eyes said he might just devour me whole and I got the feeling that wasn’t an empty promise.
“I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours,” he replied mockingly and for a moment I could have sworn his eyes changed. They’d looked golden, the pupils shifting to reptilian slits before he blinked and the deep brown colour had returned. Perhaps I’d imagined it but I didn’t think so.
“But I don’t know my Order yet,” I said. “Professor Orion thinks growing up in the mortal world suppressed our abilities.”
Darius eyed me intently as though he were looking for a lie and I resisted the urge to try and shrink into the door he’d boxed me against.
He stepped back suddenly and unhooked his belt buckle before unbuttoning his jeans.
“What are you doing?” I gasped, my gaze locked on his movements as he dropped his pants, boxers and all and I was given an eye full of every single inch of him.
“When you stop eye-fucking me I’ll show you what you’re so desperate to know,” he replied mockingly and I snapped my gaze back up to his face, throwing him a scowl.
“People don’t tend to whip their junk out in the middle of a conversation,” I quipped. “So if you didn’t want me catching an eyeful of little Darius then you shouldn’t have brought him into our discussion.”
Darius released a breath of laughter and for half a second it was as though we didn’t harbour eternal hatred for one another.
He leaned close to me again and I had to work hard on maintaining eye contact as his naked god-like body shifted so close that I could hardly breathe.
“If you come to my room uninvited again then it had better be because you’re ready to bow to us or to beg me to bend you over that headboard and make you scream my name,” he purred and the total confidence with which he said it made my traitorous libido kick into overdrive. I bit down on a reply, not wanting him to know the effect he had on my body as I pressed myself back against his door defensively. Thankfully the movement was minimal and I managed to maintain my disinterested scowl.
Darius turned away from me suddenly then took a running jump out of the open window beside us. I gasped in surprise, my heart leaping as I shot forward to look out at what had happened.
For no more than two seconds, Darius free fell from the ten floor drop before his body shifted with unexpected ease and a huge, golden dragon burst from the prison of his flesh as if it had been there all along.
My mouth fell open in shock as I stared at the glorious beast of legend as Darius gave a few flaps of his powerful wings and spiralled up towards the clouds. Each of his scales glimmered in the light of the setting sun like a million gemstones. The thin membrane of his wings let a soft orange glow through them as he banked hard, weaving across the landscape of the fire territory with more grace than should have been possible for such an enormous beast.
As if that display wasn’t enough to make my heart pound and my desire for him grow ten-fold, he released a powerful roar which made the whole glass structure of Ignis House shudder. He followed that up with a blast of dragon fire so potent that it warmed the skin of my cheeks despite the huge distance between us.
My gaze stayed locked on him as he tore through the skies and I found myself desperate to join him in the clouds. I wondered if there was any chance that when my Order revealed itself, I would be granted the blessing of wings. Flying through the clouds seemed like its own beautiful kind of freedom and I knew that if I could experience it even once then I’d be able to die having lived a life fulfilled.