Zodiac Academy: The Awakening (Supernatural Beasts and Bullies #1)(105)

Caleb shrugged one broad shoulder and I was struck with the sense that maybe he wasn’t as desperate to get rid of us as I’d presumed. The four of them were such assholes but on an individual level, Caleb hadn’t done much beyond hunting and biting me. The incident in the cave was a little different but even then he hadn’t been overly nasty about it. He had a way about him that suggested all of it was some big game he was being forced to play but I never really got the same sense of malice from him as I did from the others. And now that I understood the way the Fae world worked, I knew that he’d do the same to anyone who challenged his position. So his behaviour wasn’t necessarily as personal of an assault as it seemed.

“I’m interested to see how this whole thing will play out,” he admitted. “Perhaps you’ll fail and be gone by the end of the semester. Or perhaps you’ll rise up and claim your birthright. Before your parents were killed our families were their councillors. We always would have held the power beneath you if things hadn’t gotten so messy with The Savage King. So maybe you’ll fail The Reckoning and be sent back to your boring, mortal lives or maybe the trials you’re enduring now will only make you stronger in the end and you’ll pass.”

“So in other words, you’re just going to keep going along with the other Heirs and their stupid stunts and whenever you’re feeling peckish I’m still fair game,” I snapped.

“Pretty much,” Caleb chuckled.

I let out a huff of irritation. No knights in shining armour here. Not that that was much of a surprise. Besides, I’d never needed one before so I wasn’t going to look for one now. My sister and I had taken care of ourselves for a long time and as soon as we figured out how to harness everything we had from our Elements to our Orders, then these assholes would find out just who they’d been messing with.

“Can you just get this over with? I have a lot of studying to do.” Or napping to do but he doesn’t need to know that.

“Don’t you want to hear my proposition, Tory?” Caleb asked, his voice caressing my name as he inched into my personal space.

“I can’t imagine anything that you could offer me to make me a willing participant in your dinner schedule,” I deadpanned.

“There may be one thing,” he countered.

Before I could demand an answer, he caught my chin between his fingers and pressed his mouth to mine.

My heart stuttered in surprise as his lips captured mine, his tongue pressing into my mouth and sending a spike of desire flooding though my limbs. Of course I knew how attractive he was; you couldn’t miss the cut of his chiselled features or the way his dirty blonde hair curled in that perfectly imperfect way.

I should have been pushing him back; he was one of them. But as I raised my hands to his chest with the full intention to shove him off, I found my fingers roaming over the hard plains of his muscles instead.

Caleb released a noise of satisfaction deep in the back of his throat as his hands moved to my waist and he walked me backwards until my thighs hit the hard line of a desk.

He lifted me easily, nudging my knees apart so that he could move between my legs and my heart thundered as the evidence of his desire pressed against me through the fabric of our clothes.

I slid my hands around his neck, drawing him closer as I devoured the taste of him and explored his hair with my fingertips.

Caleb’s hand moved to my knee, his thumb skimming the top of my long socks before he began an ascent up my thigh.

My breathing hitched as his fingers moved beneath my skirt and I hooked my other leg around him, urging him on.

I didn’t know if I hated him or not but I did know that my blood was heating and desire was unfurling in me like the wings of a bird. He was still going to bite me, steal some of my power for himself, but maybe this was the answer to my feelings on that. At least this once, I could take something from him too.

I could feel that cocky smile gracing his lips beneath mine and I drew his bottom lip between my teeth, biting down hard enough for him to pull back in surprise.

Caleb laughed as he surveyed me, his hand still beneath my skirt as he paused a millimetre from the edge of my underwear. I eyed him curiously. I didn’t want him to stop but I wondered if this was just another of their twisted games.

“Why?” I asked breathily, needing to know that this wasn’t some preplanned bullshit. “You can just take what you want from me. So why kiss me?”

“I can take your blood and power from you,” he agreed darkly as his gaze slipped from my face to roam over my body. “But I desire more than that. And I’m a Taurus; when we set our minds on something it’s not easy to turn us from it.”

I scoffed lightly at that. I still found it hard to buy into every aspect of the star sign stuff. I guessed a little part of me just couldn’t fully forget those silly suggestions in the daily newspapers that so many mortals clung to for reassurance. Though I probably should be believing all of it given my current surroundings.

I didn’t know if I should trust him or not, I had notoriously terrible taste in men and I always, always picked the bad guy. But nothing could get my blood pumping like knowing I was playing with something I couldn’t control and Caleb Altair was as unpredictable as the wind.

“You didn’t seem so against the idea the other night,” he urged as I failed to respond.

“That was drunk Tory,” I countered. “She’s notorious for making bad decisions so I wouldn’t get too excited about anything you think she might have done with you. You shouldn’t presume anything that happens when I’m wasted will have any bearing on sober Tory.”