Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,64

she had something about her and wasn't just begging for my dick while hoping to claim herself a powerful husband.

"Yeah, man, you did good out there. I saw that Wolf chick put you on your ass though," Hadley teased and I grinned at him.

"What can I say? We still won the match, so I'm not too butt hurt over it. You still making sure you feed regularly?" I asked him, knowing I was sounding like Mom but I'd also more than learned my lesson over letting the bloodlust get too much of a hold on me and I didn't want him to end up hurting anyone the way I had. I still got nightmares about that shit from time to time.

"Yeah..." He trailed off, glancing at the gaggle of girls surrounding us and I frowned as I wound an arm around his shoulder and tugged him along with me.

I made sure my grip on him was tight enough then gave him a sharp tug as I forced him into motion at top speed.

Hadley laughed as he started running at my side and we made it out of the stadium, into the dim light of the setting sun and I released him, turning for the path. "I'll race you to Aer Tower," I called, not giving him the chance to refuse as I shot off into the trees.

Hadley's laughter followed me into the woods as he used his gifts to chase me down and I grinned broadly as we ran together. We'd done this more than once since his Order had been unleashed and I had to admit I was loving having someone who could move at my speed to run with.

We shot through The Wailing Wood at top speed and I charged up the cliffside towards Aer Tower with him right on my heels.

I beat him of course and he cursed me as I came to a halt beside the entrance, leaning my back against the wall and tossing a concealment spell up over us as well as a silencing bubble to hide our presence within the shadows.

"Who are we hiding from?" he asked curiously, panting a little as his eyes glittered with the fun of the game.

"I'm here to hang out with a few Wolves, so naturally I have to cover it up," I replied, rolling my eyes at the absurdity of that new rule and he sighed as he nodded in understanding. "Anyway. We didn't come here to discuss that, I wanna know why you don't seem thrilled about drinking blood when it's pretty much the best fucking thing in the world."

"I dunno how to explain it. But it's like, all these girls keep letting me bite them and it seems like I should be loving that, but something about it just leaves me wanting, even when my power reserves are fully topped up." Hadley shrugged and I grinned, knowing exactly what the problem was.

"Yeah, blood whores aren't much fun," I teased. "Especially low powered ones. What you need to do is refine your tastes. You gotta pick the most powerful target you can and then overpower them for their blood. You don't want it offered up willingly and you don't want it unless it's good and potent."

"Got any suggestions for who I should be aiming to drink from then?" he asked, seeming intrigued by that idea.

"A Vega," I joked. "But unfortunately for you, there's no chance of you overpowering one of them now. So I'd have to say one of the other Heirs' siblings. I mean, if you wanna go top shelf that is. Or someone with power as close to matching yours as possible if you can't overpower them - or if they get too pissy about it and you wanna maintain your friendship more than you wanna taste their sweet blood."

"Like Athena?" Hadley suggested, his eyes sparkling as he spoke about Seth's younger sister and I laughed.

"Yeah. Capella blood tastes seriously good. But if she's anything like her brother, you're gonna have a fight on your hands to get your teeth into her. Of course, that's half the fun."

He grinned way too widely at that and I had to wonder if my little brother was crushing on Seth's sister. Probably best not to mention that to Seth though or he might go all protective Alpha over his baby sister and ruin Hadley's chances.

"Alright then. I'll give that a go," he said, smirking at me conspiratorially.

"Sounds like a good plan. Now fuck off and leave me