Zodiac Academy 3: The Reckoning

I LAY BACK ON the sand and pushed my hands through it, carving little fissures all over its surface and trying to cool the ache in my flesh. I was hot. Too damn hot. And my back was burning more than everywhere else.

I wriggled against the sand, trying to ease the feeling of need in my flesh because I didn’t know what I needed.

Someone changed the music and a heady beat pulsed across the sand just as a shadow fell over me. I blinked up, trying to see who was blocking the light of the fire.

“Galloping gorillas that sea is as chilly as a chestnut tonight,” Geraldine gasped, shaking her head back and forth like a dog and soaking me in icy droplets of salt water.

I squealed, rolling away from her and getting to my feet to escape the deluge. She shimmied back into her underwear and started swaying her hips to the rhythm of the music.

“Come and dance, Princess!” she called excitedly, raising her hands to the stars as the beat pulsed louder.

Angelica and several more members of the Ass Club were returning from their dip in the sea too and Geraldine drew them all to her like moths to a flame, creating a dance floor out of sand and moonlight.

Bodies swayed and writhed before the light of the fire and I watched it with an ache in my soul like I wanted to stride straight into the flames.

I took a step forward, tilting my head as the fire seemed to whisper to me, promising me something I’d been waiting for, begging me to come a little closer…

A hand caught mine and before I really knew what was happening, I was twirled in a circle, my skirt flaring out around me for a moment before I was pulled into the group of dancing bodies.

Geraldine, tugged me close, her front pressing to my back as she encouraged me to start moving to the rhythm of the beat.

A laugh escaped me as I gave in to her demands, pushing my fingers through my hair as I let the moon draw me into its power.

The more I gave myself to the dance, the sharper the ache in me grew. It needed something…I needed something.

More bodies shifted closer to me and hands brushed against my arms, my neck, my thighs. The touch was gentle, innocent but desperate too. Like we were all building towards some great crescendo but no one knew what.

My breaths started to come heavier, my hands trailing over my own body and painting lines of fire on my skin everywhere I touched. But it wasn’t enough.

Geraldine started laughing and the sound was thick and heady with lust. I turned to look up at her, finding Max Rigel’s arms around her waist. My lips parted in surprise but he didn’t seem to be using his gifts on her, if anything it looked more like he was under her spell.

They started grinding against each other and I half wondered if this was somehow a part of his plans. But tonight didn’t feel like the kind of night that could be messed with. The moon made the rules, not the Heirs, and I decided to trust in its judgement as I shifted away to give them space.

I bit my lip as I slipped between the crowd of bodies, my eyes flicking across familiar faces and strangers alike. Some guys reached out to me as I passed them, some girls too, an offer in their gaze which I could have taken up as easily as breathing. But they weren’t what I needed. I needed something else, something darker, fiercer, hotter…

I was searching and I didn’t know what I was looking for. Only that when I found it this fire in me might be satisfied.

I closed my eyes, pushing between the bodies and letting the moon guide my feet as the music pounded through my flesh like a war drum. It was setting me free, sending me home, guiding me towards…

My eyes fell open and I took a deep breath of smoky air, the tang of salt dancing across my lips. I’d left the dancers behind and the fire was to my back as I looked towards the dark cliffs.

The strangest sense of urgency filled me and I started to move away from my friends. I kicked my shoes off, feeling the sand shift between my toes as I walked towards the water, following the curve of the shore as I walked along the edge of the sea. Waves lapped over my feet, cooling the heat which simmered inside me a little but not nearly enough.

The sound of the music faded away behind me until I was alone with the crash of the sea and the song of the moon which tainted the air with an almost tangible feeling of expectation.

The cliffs drew closer to the shore the further I walked, until eventually a rocky outcrop jutted out into the water, blocking my way on as the waves splashed against it.

A prickle ran up my spine and I was struck with the certainty that I wasn’t alone anymore. The moon had brought someone to me or maybe it had brought me to them.

I turned slowly, looking back towards the cliff as my skin shivered with anticipation.

Darius stepped out of the shadows and I stood looking at him as he approached me.

The wind picked up, my hair billowing around me on a breeze filled with starlight which caressed every exposed inch of my flesh. My dress fluttered against my thighs, heat spiralling along the sensitive skin there as if it was him touching me.

He stopped about a meter from me, the silver glow of the moon highlighting every sharp angle of his features. His chest was bare and his tattoos almost seemed to pulse for a moment, like the creatures painted on his flesh were coming to life tonight too.

“I’ve been watching you,” he said slowly.

My heart beat a little faster at that confession and I tilted my head at him, my hair spilling over my shoulder and drawing goosebumps along my skin in the process. Darius observed the movement like he was starving for it, like anything and everything I did now was fascinating to him.

“Why?” I asked slowly, needing his answer like I needed to draw breath.

“Because that’s what I do,” he said slowly. “I watch you and hunger for you and ache for you. It torments me like I torment you.”

The fire in my veins burned hotter at that confession and I shifted in the sand, biting down on my lip as I looked up at him. His gaze lingered on my mouth and the ache in my shoulders heightened to the point of pain for a moment before fading beneath my flesh again.

“Then why do it?” I asked. “Why not just look away?”

“I’d find it easier to carve my eyes out than I would to stop them landing on you.”

My stomach knotted up and I took half a step closer to him.

“So don’t stop,” I breathed, my heart pounding recklessly in my chest.

“You don’t want me to?” he questioned, his gaze burning into mine.

I wasn’t sure what to say to that. I knew I should have wanted him to look away, I should have wanted him as far away from me as possible but no matter what he did to me I felt like I kept ending up back here. Something about him just drew me in all over again like I was a glutton for the punishment he inflicted on me, like every blow he dealt me was a caress. I must have been insane to want to pull him closer instead of pushing him away but I couldn’t keep denying what I wanted. Even if it did damn me.

“I want…” I said, unsure how to begin to put words to all the things I wanted from him.

Darius was watching me like my answer to this question was the only thing that mattered to him in all the world.

I dropped his eye, turning to look out over the water at the moon which hung low and fat in the sky. It was whispering secrets on the wind, nudging my heart to accept what it needed even though the thought of it sent fear skittering through me too.

I backed up a step and Darius followed, his gaze capturing mine as I moved again.

“Tell me,” he begged, his steps mirroring mine until I found my back against the black cliff wall. Nowhere left to run. And I was glad.

I swallowed a lump in my throat but I had no words left. I could only look up at him in the moonlight as he drew ever closer, the gap between us narrowing down until I could feel the emptiness of the space dividing us like a great chasm which needed to be crossed.

Darius shifted closer still, his breath dancing across my jaw, the heat of his body rolling over me and causing my fingers to ache with longing as I held them still at my sides.

Darius reached out for me and gently brushed a lock of my hair behind my ear. Only his fingertips touched me but the path they carved into my skin was pure sin.

A breath echoed down into my lungs, the taste of smoke and cedar caressing my tongue as the essence of him enveloped me.

He towered over me, his fingers flexing to brush the back of my hand in the tiniest touch which sent fireworks bursting through my flesh.

I looked up at him, my cheek grazing against his rough jaw. My gaze fixed with his. Less than nothing separated us from each other and for a moment endless possibilities opened up before us.

“Do you think you could ever forgive me for the things I’ve done to you?” Darius breathed, his fingertips trailing up my side and lighting fire in their wake.

We were barely touching at all and yet my body was alive with need and longing. I arched my back slightly, my breaths coming quicker as his hand slowly moved to cup my cheek.

I looked into his dark eyes, the sound of the waves crashing heavily behind him and the cold air enveloping us both.

Perhaps I was wrong, but in that moment every piece of me was aching for him, needing him to be all the things I wished he would be.

My lips parted but I didn’t speak. I nodded slowly, holding his eye.

His other hand found my waist, his grip tightening as he drew me so close that there was nothing at all dividing our bodies aside from our clothes. I could feel every hard line of his muscular frame pressing to the curves of my body.

I lifted my hands slowly, wanting to touch him, needing to feel the heat of his flesh like the sweetest form of torture.

My heart was pounding a desperate tune, driving me on towards him. The moon had pushed us here and I was beginning to think it knew what it was doing.

My hand slid along the hard line of his bicep, over his broad shoulder and onto the back of his neck where my fingertips pushed into his dark hair.

I angled my mouth towards his, his stubble brushing across my lips and making my back arch with a shiver of energy.

A deep growl resounded through him as he pinned me in his gaze, the cage of his arms tightening around me like he was afraid I might run. But I was done running from him. There was something between us that couldn’t be denied any longer and it was time we faced it. 

He drew closer, my lips parting in anticipation of his touch.

“There are countless people who would say I’m not allowed to want you,” Darius breathed. “But you make me want to burn the whole world down so that I can claim you for my own.”

“Then we should burn it down,” I agreed.

Darius moved nearer, his lips brushing against mine in a feather light caress which was already enough to light a fire in my veins. My grip tightened in his hair, my other hand shifting on his chest, my chin tilted and Darius inched down-

“Congratulations Darius, you actually managed to do something useful for once,” Lionel Acrux’s voice smashed through our bubble of peace like a bucket of cold water.

A wave of magic slammed into me and I cried out as I was thrown back, pinned to the cliff by a power so immense that I could hardly draw breath, let alone cast any magic in return.

My heart pounded panic through my limbs as Darius was thrown down onto the sand by his father’s magic too.

“Let me go!” I yelled, straining against the force that held me, my eyes locking on Lionel as I fought to figure out what the hell was going on.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Darius demanded, scrambling to his knees before jerking still as his father’s magic wrapped around him.

“Just when I’m starting to believe my son is entirely hopeless, he cuts Roxanya Vega off from the pack and allows me to descend,” Lionel said darkly, his gaze roaming over me hungrily.

“Let us go!” Darius demanded. “You can’t just-”

Lionel snapped his fingers and Darius doubled over, clutching his chest as his father took hold of the air in his lungs, immobilising it to shut him up.

I opened my mouth to scream at him again but he froze the air in my lungs with a flick of his fingers too and a new wave of terror flooded through me as I fought to draw breath.

I thrashed against the bonds that held me but it was no use.

Lionel smiled at me lazily before turning and walking back down the beach, his magic tugging the two of us after him as he went.

Chains of fire locked around me and I stumbled forward as he yanked me into motion. I could hear Darius following but I couldn’t turn my head to look back at him.

We rounded the cliff and Lionel gave me half a second to draw in another breath before locking my lungs again.

I stumbled around the rocks and my heart fell still as panic consumed me whole. Darcy was locked in the grip of a huge man whose face was shrouded in the folds of a dark blue cloak. I couldn’t hear a single sound she was making through the bubble of silencing magic that had clearly been cast around her, but I could see that she was screaming as she thrashed against her captor.

Orion was kneeling on the sand between three more of the hooded men, blood pouring down the side of his face and chains of fire blazing around his chest as they held him down.

Darcy’s panicked gaze locked on me as I was led towards her, tears slipping down her cheeks as she shook her head in fierce denial of whatever the hell was happening.

Lionel yanked me into the silencing bubble and his grip on the air in my lungs disappeared as Darcy’s yells filled the air.

“What the hell do you want from us?” she screamed, her furious gaze pinning on Lionel as he drew a silk pouch from his pocket.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

My gaze locked with Darcy’s as I fought against my bonds and all of a sudden the world disappeared around me.

I was floating, spinning, wheeling through the stars as we were transported to somewhere far away from the Academy and our friends, stardust coiling around me like the grip of fate.

I didn’t know where the hell he was taking us. But the fear in my heart made me wonder if we’d ever come back.