Zodiac Academy: The Awakening
The Awakening: Chapter 23

SETH HAD COAXED me into a few dances but I’d finally escaped, slipping outside The Orb to get some air. I was hot all over and had a knot in my stomach that kept warning me against Seth. I had to stop letting him draw me closer. I was starting to think maybe he wasn’t so bad. And that was a dangerous position to put myself in.

He’ll cut your heart out and eat it raw.

I circled the building away from the few students who were milling outside then pressed my back to the cool metal wall of The Orb and shut my eyes. I just needed a moment alone and some fresh air to knock sense back into me.

Goosebumps rose on my arms as the wind swept around me. I drank in the quiet and made a mental plan to go back inside and spend the rest of the evening with my friends. Something in Seth’s wolf nature coaxed out a willingness in me I didn’t like. When I was with him, I fell into the trap of his touches and stares like I was just another dog in his pack. One he could prompt and guide simply by being an Alpha.

A tingling feeling on my neck told me someone was approaching and I quickly opened my eyes. My heart squeezed with a mixture of emotions as I expected to replace Seth, but Orion stood there instead.

“Oh,” I breathed, a note of dread in my voice. The lamppost behind him meant he was cast in shadow and I was entirely encased within it too.

I glanced down the path, replaceing us completely alone.

Not good.

I pushed off of the wall, intending to try and make a fast escape but he stepped into my way.

“Professor,” I warned, though I knew it was pointless. If he was here to bite me then I didn’t have much choice but to let him. I couldn’t imagine he was here for any other reason. He wasn’t exactly going to kill me at the Academy formal…right?

His hand fell to my waist for the briefest of moments and his fingers pinched the material of my dress.

I sucked in a breath as goosebumps rushed across my skin which no longer had anything to do with the cold air. He extracted his hand and we shared this look that said we both knew he shouldn’t have done it.

His breath rolled over me. One bourbon? Maybe two. The gleam in his beautifully dark eyes said he was letting loose tonight. But what did letting loose look like for him? It must have been so exhausting being as angry as he was all the time. And I wondered for a moment what caused such a deep, unworldly rage in him. But it definitely wasn’t the time for those sorts of thoughts. If Orion was in a bad mood – which seemed to be a pretty much permanent fixture – then I needed to get away.

“Why do you keep flirting with the devil?” he asked and for a second I thought he meant him. “Seth Capella,” he confirmed.

I folded my arms, tilting up my chin as I tried to front out his absolute rudeness despite my instincts telling me to run. “You’re my Liaison, sir, not my life guru. If I want to date Seth, I will,” I said coolly.

Did I want to date Seth? I mean, no. That was the right answer. But now Orion was trying to force me not to I was reconsidering my decision.

So you’re going to date Seth to annoy Professor Orion? Real mature.

I internally berated myself. Of course I wasn’t going to do that. Definitely not. No no no.

Orion glanced down the path then looked at his watch.

“Keeping you am I?” I asked in disbelief. It was like I was inconveniencing him even though he was the one blocking my path with his massive, hot body. The hot part was so not relevant, but also…

“Yes, now give me your wrist.” He reached for it and I stepped back.

“Really? You’re going to bite me tonight of all nights?” I hissed but he ignored me, throwing a look down the path again before moving forward to try and get his damn teeth in me.

Laughter bubbled in my throat as I suddenly realised why he was acting so oddly.

So this place does draw lines. And Orion is sliding a toe across one. Which means I now have a weapon.

I narrowed my eyes, my ammo locked and loaded.

He made his move, darting forward and pushing me back against the wall, baring his fangs.

My heart hammered as I forced my tongue to fight back before he got his meal. “Not strictly allowed this, is it sir?”

He paused, his hand locked around my arm as his gaze flickered from my neck to my face. “And where did you get that idea?”

“From the shifty way you’re acting. Why did you follow me out here anyway? You could have bitten me inside.”

He shrugged. “Seemed like easy prey.”

I released a cold laugh and his hold on my arm eased a fraction. “I don’t buy it.”

“Why am I even tolerating this conversation?” he asked himself more than me.

I let him stew on that for a second, wondering if he’d come up with an answer because I certainly didn’t have one. The closeness of his body and the heat seeping from his skin into mine was a sweet kind of pleasure I secretly wanted so much more of.

“Fine,” he sighed wearily. “I shouldn’t be here alone with you. It’s not appropriate.”

My brows rose. “We spend time alone in your office every Monday.”

“That’s different,” he growled, seeming agitated as he threw a look at the path again.

I needed to work my angle to get out of this. He could bite me any second and I was kinda surprised he hadn’t gotten it over with yet. “What would happen if I told Principal Nova about this?”

He gave me a dark stare. “Would you?”

His gruff tone sent a shiver through me and he shifted his hand on me as if he could sense my reaction.

“Try me,” I whispered, quietly knowing I wasn’t much of a snitch but maybe the threat was enough to hold him off.

His fingers slid up my arm and a carnivorous look entered his eyes.

I took a shaky breath as his hand slid to my neck. Something about his mouth against my throat right then seemed like a very bad idea. One that made my heart pump too fast and my thoughts fly away on the wind.

Orion leaned in and the mere flutter of his breath on my flesh felt like the most forbidden of kisses. I sucked in a heady lungful of air, tilting my chin up, a small but wilful part of me suddenly aching for his mouth on me.

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.

“Let’s go to Lunar Leisure, I don’t wanna miss the fun,” Seth said and they started moving swiftly down the path, my blue locks still wrapped in his fist.

Silence fell and I reached up to clutch my head, too horrified to do anything but stay there on the ground a minute longer. My throat swelled with emotion as I found the choppy remains of my hair, shorter at the back than it was at the front – and was that scalp I could feel??

My hands started to shake as embarrassment caved in my chest. Tears poured down my cheeks as my heart turned to cinders.

How could I have been so stupid? How could I have thought for one second that bastard could be trusted? Why had I done this after everything I knew about the world?

Get up. Go back to Aer Tower.

But I couldn’t make myself move. I just wanted to curl in on myself and hide away forever.

Panic rose in me as I continued to paw at my hair, knowing I had to get up. I had to disappear before anyone saw me like this.

Kylie had recorded the whole thing.

Oh God, please no. Soon, everyone in the school would have witnessed me kissing Seth then him slicing off my hair and taking it like some sick trophy. And me crying on the floor with grazed knees and the sky falling down on me.

A hand pressed to my shoulder and I jolted violently, wheeling around and throwing out a palm, desperate to defend myself. A huge crack tore across the path as earth magic left my body in a rush of energy and Professor Orion darted aside before it knocked him over.

My heart steadied despite the fact that my Cardinal Magic teacher wasn’t exactly a guardian angel. But he wasn’t Seth or his awful friends. I clutched my head, heat coursing across my cheeks as I tried to hide from him. There wasn’t much more even Orion could do to me tonight that would break me any further. But he could laugh. And I waited for it to come.

He slowly knelt before me, his jaw set as his gaze swept over my hair. Shame burned a path through my body and I looked down at the ground, unable to bear being seen like this. “Have you come to say I told you so?” I bit at him, trying to cover my pain with rage. But no doubt he could see every one of the tears running down my face.

“Get up,” he urged, taking my arm and pulling me to my feet.

“Why’d you come back?” I choked out, tugging my palm free and wrapping my hands around my head again.

“My spidey senses were tingling,” he said, chuckling and I glanced up at him, my brow creasing.

“Was that a joke?” I asked in utter surprise, my voice raw.

His mouth hooked up at the corner and I couldn’t believe he was actually smiling like that. I expected him to be laughing along with the rest of the school, not making jokes for my benefit.

“It was,” he said. “A pretty good one I think.” He tugged me nearer, his expression suddenly serious. “Now the blue is gone, how will I tell which twin is which?”

I tried to stop a surprised laugh escaping me but it broke free of my chest in the form of a hiccup. “You’re right, however would you tell?” I sniffed, wiping at my damp eyes with my lacy sleeve. Mascara smeared across my hand and I inwardly cringed, knowing I must have looked like an extra in The Walking Dead right then.

Of all the people to make me feel better though, I would never have guessed it’d be him.

A scream cut through the air that made every nerve ending in my body sting.

Orion dropped his hand, suddenly alert and I started running before he could make any sort of decision.

Tory!

Fear scorched a hole in my heart.

The Heirs were on a war path tonight. And I had to try and stop them from hurting my sister.