Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,213

crested the hill and found ourselves surrounded by the undead once more.

"Brace yourselves!" Darius bellowed and relief filled me as I spotted him standing on top of a stone Dragon that was guarding the entrance to a tomb.

He had his hands raised before him and I threw more power into the air shield protecting the three of us just before he sent a tidal wave of water crashing through the crowd of the undead.

The corpses screamed for our blood as they were swept away and I whooped in triumph as the wave crashed over my shield, leaving the three of us in place on the path.

I chanced a look back down the hill as the Reaper Hounds leapt on the corpses, tearing into them savagely, ripping bones free and devouring them with snarls and howls as they fought over their meal.

Darius leapt down onto the path ahead of us and my gaze fell to his bare arms, the ink slick with a sheen of sweat that made my heart race as I got caught up in the idea of being crushed in his firm hold. There was still some fear lingering in me every time I was around him from what Lionel had done to me, but I was starting to crave the rush of it, always hungry for the little shivers of adrenaline I got by being close to such a dangerous creature.

He took his axe from the sheath at his back and waited for us to catch up to him, giving me an assessing gaze that sent my heart racing before we ran on in search of Darcy and Orion.

"Over here!" Caleb shouted from somewhere up ahead and I spotted him and Seth who had shifted back into Fae form and pulled some sweatpants on. Max always carried spare shit for his friends; he probably had a whole outfit change in his bag for me too if I needed it.

They were all stood in front of an enormous tomb beneath an arching willow tree and we ran to join them.

"You only have to say the word and I shall charge down yonder to delay those beasts, my lady," Geraldine said, swinging her flail as she moved into position by Seth's side.

"No one's going anywhere, Geraldine," I commanded. "Just stay beside me and let's try and not have our souls sucked out, yeah?"

I looked around us to get my bearings and spotted mine and Darcy's rings lodged in the round stone door of the tomb, marking Orion and Darcy's passage inside. The door seemed to be shut tight and I couldn’t hear any sound coming from inside, but they must have been in there.

"Close your eyes, Roxy," Darius commanded as the baying howls of the Reaper Hounds signalled them taking up the scent again.

"You close your eyes," I bit back as he moved to stand in front of me with his axe raised. "I can use air and earth magic to sense where they are and flames clearly don't bother them that much, so maybe you should just stand behind me."

"Not a fucking chance, gorgeous," he said, smirking at me tauntingly before turning his back on me and hefting the axe in his hands.

"If I die, don't let my mom clear out my room," Seth muttered. "There's like soooo much porn beneath my bed."

Caleb snorted a laugh as he closed his eyes, the earth Elementals all tapping into their connection with the ground to let them feel the Reaper Hounds coming.

"By the guiding light of the moon, I know we will prevail," Geraldine said, her eyes closed as she swung her flail at her side and my heart raced as the sound of the pack drew closer.

As the first of the huge, black beasts crested the hill, I snapped my eyes shut and used my connection to the earth to buck the ground beneath their feet.

Caleb, Geraldine and Seth all joined me as we felt every place their paws met dirt and we thrust spears of rock and wood up into the paths of the oncoming beasts.

The scent of rot and death washed over us as they ran closer and my friends yelled out as they fell into battle with the beasts come to drag us to hell.

I kept my eyes clamped shut as I felt for every movement against the ground, every stirring of the air and I cast deadly magic at them time and again.

Darius was swinging his axe with savage blows as the beasts reached us