Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,291

looked towards the door.

"You wanna come play with us?" I asked Darius. "You can help me hunt if you like, but the prey is all mine."

"Nah," he replied, using his chin to point across the room to where Max's step mom was standing, looking like she had a bad smell beneath her nose while Max remained stuck in her company. "I think I'm gonna go over there and let her feel my contempt for her with my gifts and then steal Max away to get drunk with me while I keep an eye on Roxy."

"Catch, you later then, dude." I raised my drink to my lips as I headed away from him with Seth at my side, the two of us cutting each other looks as we snuck off to get up to no good. My pulse hitched with excitement at the idea of doing this here.

We escaped the stuffy party and strode away down echoing corridors, casually taking turns left and right until we were lost in the depths of the palace and I had no idea where the hell we even were.

"Are you ready?" Seth teased, nudging me hard enough to knock me a step to my right and I flashed my fangs at him as I released a primal growl.

"I'm really thirsty tonight," I warned but instead of balking in fear, his eyes flashed with excitement.

"Let the hunt begin," Seth said with a taunting smile that had my fangs tingling and my tongue running over my lips. "This is fast becoming my favourite pastime.”

"Are you sure?" I asked, cocking my head at him as he started unbuttoning his grey dress shirt. "It seems like the rules of the game are changing."

"You know me, Cal," Seth purred, finishing with his buttons before pushing his shirt wide and letting it roll off of his broad shoulders as he revealed his muscular body. I caught it as he tossed it to me and tucked it into the back of my pants. "I never played by any rule in the first place. So if you wanna change the limits you're putting on yourself then I'm ready."

I swallowed thickly at the implication in his tone and my heart pounded as I watched him unbuckling his pants.

"Why bother shifting?" I challenged. "You know I'll catch you anyway."

"Oh really?" Seth taunted, a smirk lifting his lips and drawing my gaze. "Come and get me then, if you think I'm such easy prey." He began to back up, fastening his belt again and offering a taunting grin which made my pulse skip with the desire to hound after him.

I shrugged like I wasn't a predator on the verge of attacking then lurched towards him, jolting back hard as I yanked against the vines he'd managed to snake around my jacket. I cursed, pulling my arms free of the material before shooting forward again only to crash into a solid air shield. I hadn't even seen the asshole cast and I snarled as I bared my fangs at him in clear warning of what I was going to do when I got my hands on him.

Seth barked a laugh then turned and ran off down the corridor in his Fae form, lifting a hand to flip me off over his shoulder as he went and howling the moment he was out of sight around the next corner.

I brought fire to my hands and started punching the air shield with the speed and ferocity of my Order, striking it again and again until it finally shattered and I was able to shoot down the corridor.

I focused my gifts on my sense of hearing, cursing as I failed to detect anything. Damn asshole must have had a silencing bubble in place. But if he thought that was enough to stop me then he had another thing coming.

I shot back and forth as fast as I could, throwing open doors and speeding around the rooms I found as I hunted. He might have been sneaky, but his speed had nothing on mine and there were only so many places he could hide around here.

I threw open the door to an enormous music room and paused. It had a vaulted ceiling hand painted with effigies of the constellations and instruments were laid out around the space, making plenty of hiding places for a sneaky Wolf.

I almost turned away again, but as I looked back towards the door, movement in the corner of my eye gave him away and I whirled