Zodiac Academy: The Awakening (Supernatural Beasts and Bullies #1)(101)

Why were these Heirs all so devastatingly beautiful? At least one of them should have had skinny arms and a tuba for a nose. I could only imagine their parents were all gods from the heavens themselves.

Max grinned at us, stalking nearer until the weight of his power fell over us.

He took both of our hands, winding his fingers between ours. Calm rippled through my chest and guided my anxious thoughts away on swift wings.

“Hi,” Tory whispered and Max smiled keenly at her.

“How're my favourite twins?” he asked, a conspiratorial note to his voice. His friends laughed, but none of them approached, respecting Max's boundaries as he held onto us for himself.

“Come sit with me,” he said, his voice lilting and soft. He guided us toward the edge of the lake and we sat either side of him. His skin never parted from mine and I was vaguely aware that all the time he was touching me I was under his spell. But I couldn't seem to make myself pull away.

He wrapped an arm around each of our shoulders and the heavy fog over my mind thickened.

“What's your greatest fear, Tory?” he breathed in her ear and she gazed up at him, her eyes widening with the worst memory of her life. My throat constricted as I recalled that night a few years ago, the slicing terror of almost losing my sister.

Max sighed softly, his thumb caressing my shoulder as he kept his eyes on Tory.

I could see her fighting the draw he had over her and for a second I almost managed to tug away from him in a bid to help her. His influence pushed against my heart again, soothing me and I fell against him, resting my head on his shoulder. The scent of sea salt sailed over me and I listened quietly as Tory recounted that awful evening.

“My ex-boyfriend was driving me home late one night. We'd been fighting and he kept shouting at me. I told him to shut up and watch the road. He was driving like a maniac.” Max rubbed her arm, pulling her closer. “We were heading back from a weekend in Wisconsin. The roads were so dark but he wouldn't slow down. He took a turning too fast and...” Her eyes glimmered with tears and I reached out to take her hand.

“We veered off a bridge and crashed into the river below. The car sank so fast and my ex...he got out. He left me. Just swam to the river bank. I couldn't get my seatbelt undone and I panicked. The air was running out and it was so, so dark.” Tears ran down her cheeks and my heart strummed with sympathy. “I couldn't feel my fingers through the cold. And when the water went over my head I just thought that was it. I was going to die stuck in that shitty car while my even shittier boyfriend sat on the riverbank and didn't try to help me.” She swallowed deeply and my own tears fell free as my heart squeezed tightly. “Luckily a farmer had seen us swerve off of the road. He swam out and cut the belt. He saved me. But since then I just can't go in deep water. It frightens the hell out of me.” She shivered and Max soothed her, rubbing her arm.

He turned to me and I felt his power sinking deep into my bones, sucking out everything he wanted. “And you? What's your worst fear Darcy?” His voice was a deadly purr and my deepest fear rose in me the second he requested it.

“Every foster family we ever had got rid of us. We were barely in one home for more than a year. We caused trouble. Sometimes I regret some of the things I did so much. If I'd treated those families better, maybe they would have wanted me. That was almost bearable. I knew I was difficult to love but I didn’t think I was entirely unlovable not until…” I fought against his power, my heart squeezing with the memory that had ended with my hair blue and my trust in humanity gone forever. It was mine and I didn’t want to share it. I didn’t even want to relive it in my own head.

“Go on,” Max whispered, a hunger in his voice as his power wrapped around my tongue and pulled the words from my rebelling lips.

“This guy started pursuing me in school last year. I never really spent much time making friends with people but he was nice and it felt good to talk to someone who cared. We dated for around three months and I thought for one idiotic second I was actually falling for him.” I shook my head at myself, sucking in a breath as I went on. “I lost my virginity to him at a party and afterwards he was so cold with me. He would barely look at me and I knew something was terribly wrong. The way the air changes just before a storm, that was how it felt. He’d gotten what he wanted and he just left me there after feeding me some bullshit excuse about how he wasn’t ready for a relationship.”

“Darcy,” Tory whispered, as if trying to rouse herself from Max’s power to stop me, but it was too late. He had this memory in his grasp and he was going to reel it in like a fish on a hook.

“He dumped me five seconds after he’d gotten what he wanted. I got out of there as fast as I could. And on my way home, I was crying and couldn’t see properly. I tripped over on the sidewalk and bashed my right knee like the clumsy idiot I am. That night I sat in bed just staring at that bruise, wondering how a physical wound could look so bright and angry but emotional wounds stayed entirely invisible. I wanted my hurt branded on me, to remind me never to trust anyone again. So I dyed my hair the colour of that bruise. Black and blue. My own personal wound.” My heart twisted and knotted as tears collected in my eyes. I turned away, a flow of shame running through my blood. I'd never voiced that part of the story to my sister, let alone Max who was feeding on every word of if. But my tongue kept moving, giving him everything he wanted. “My deepest fear is being cast aside, my heart crushed by trusting blindly again. So I’ll never let anyone in again.”