Zodiac Academy 4: Shadow Princess
Shadow Princess: Chapter 13

I pushed a hand through my blonde curls, restyling them after my run earlier as I strolled through the abandoned corridors of Jupiter Hall. I was late. But Orion was always late so I wasn’t too bothered. I could have shot there with my gifted speed but I didn’t. Orion never did. 

My mind was on the hunt I’d won this morning. If I closed my eyes I could still taste Tory’s blood on my lips, feel her hand as she’d pushed it into my pants and then- the fucking bell had rung. Honest to shit. And she’d left me in favour of fucking Tarot class. I’d hounded her all the way there and she’d laughed in my face when she really did head inside.

I groaned, wishing I’d saved the hunt for tonight when I could have monopolised more of her time. But like a fucking idiot, I’d used up my magic reserves last night while we were at King’s Hollow so I’d needed the drink. At least that part had gone to plan.

I made it to the Cardinal Magic classroom and heard Orion’s voice coming from inside already. Fucking typical that he’d be here on time today.

I eased the door open and slipped inside silently, shooting to my spot at the very back of the huge classroom between Darius and Seth.

I was leaning back in my chair, ankles crossed beneath the desk with my hands behind my head within less than two seconds, looking casual as fuck with a smug ass grin on my face.

“Ten points from Terra,” Orion said, not bothering to raise his voice or even look my way.

“Asshole,” I muttered, knowing he’d hear me and not giving a shit.

Orion’s gaze flipped to me and he bared his teeth. I bared mine right back with a hiss. We both knew I was more powerful than him, we both knew I was stronger too. The only Vampires capable of challenging me were my mother and probably my younger siblings when they were Awakened. Though thanks to the advantages I’d been given as the oldest Heir with having my powers Awakened young and all the extra training I’d been given, my mother was the only real threat to me. And I wasn’t planning on challenging her any time soon. So the only reason Orion got away with shit like that was because of his position as my teacher. It wasn’t a good look for me to disrespect him, so he got some leeway with his shit.

We glared at each other for a long moment, the nature of our Orders pushing us into rivalry as the two strongest Vampires in the academy. Before either of us crossed the line into any kind of actual challenge, he turned away and continued with his lesson like nothing had happened.

Seth sniggered, offering a hand for me to high five between the desks and I did so with a smirk.

“Dickwad,” Darius muttered but he was half grinning too.

“Why are you late?” Max asked from the other side of Seth.

“I was filling up my magic,” I supplied.

“And getting a blowjob too, no doubt,” Seth joked.

I snorted a laugh. “Unfortunately not.”

Darius scratched at the stubble lining his jaw as he feigned interest in Orion’s lecture. It was the only class where he bothered. Because of our early Awakening, we’d been taught most of the magical spells and lessons that the rest of our class was learning already. We tended to use the first parts of our classes to chat amongst ourselves while the others were given their work and then the teachers would come to us and get us to prove how well we could do the spell in question and set us something more advanced.

Orion was currently teaching the rest of the class about strengthening mental shields so that they could have a better chance at breaking off Siren lures or Cyclops invasion. I quickly tuned him out. My mother had made me work on mental shields every damn day for the last four years. She said it was important that Max and his family could never hold an advantage like that over us and she was right. I loved my friend and I trusted him, but I had to be able to know he couldn’t overpower or manipulate me with his gifts if he ever tried or we wouldn’t be evenly matched.

Seth stretched his arms high above his head, cracking his neck as he yawned widely.

“You guys can’t even imagine how much fucking sex I had last night,” he said.

“We know,” Darius put in. “You’ve been going on about it all morning.”

“And I can literally taste the lust on you,” Max said with an exaggerated shudder.

I laughed. “I’m just pleased for you, man,” I said. “You deserve to have your pack back again.”

“They’re so fucking apologetic,” Seth said. “Honestly, I think Frank’s still got lock jaw and Alice couldn’t even walk straight when we got out of bed.”

I glanced across the room at Frank, sniggering as he massaged his jaw. He could have healed that shit, but maybe he just liked remembering what had given him that injury too much to get rid of it.

“You wanna know the best bit?” Seth breathed.

“You’ve told us way too fucking much about all of it already,” Max said.

“No, I held back on the best bit,” Seth insisted.

“If you tried that weird nipple thing again I don’t wanna know,” Darius said.

“Fuck no,” Seth said in disgust. “I told you that got weird fast. I’m never doing that again.”

My laughter was a little too loud that time and Orion scowled at us. “Are you four looking for detention?” he snarled.

“No, sir,” we all said like good little boys and he rolled his eyes as he gave his attention back to the class.

We stayed silent. He fucking meant it. Asshole.

I pulled my Atlas from my bag and looked over the notifications that had flashed up during the morning. There were the usual messages from the fan club despite the fact that I never replied, I’d been tagged in a bunch of FaeBook posts which weren’t anything interesting. My gaze darkened as I saw one of them was yet another Pegasus porn group. I so wanted to be mad at Tory for that, but as soon as I thought of her I just remembered the way she looked pinned beneath me and I kinda forgot about it. It was fucking ridiculous. But she was fucking hot so I wasn’t questioning it anymore.

Of course I didn’t have any messages from her. She literally never messaged me unless I started it which was like…unheard of. I’d never had to chase a girl like this before.

I flicked my messages open and drummed my fingers on the desk as I decided what I wanted to say to her. Her temper burned so damn hot that I was forever treading a dangerous line. One wrong message could mean blue balls for a week. I couldn’t risk it.

Caleb:

Hey, sweetheart. Do you wanna hang out tonight? X

I watched as the red ticks illuminated to let me know she’d read the message. She was probably trying to think up the perfect thing to say back to me. Agonising over it, debating it with her friends and trying to figure out how best to keep me-

Tory:

No.

For fuck’s sake. Not even a fucking kiss.

Darius snorted a laugh beside me and I glanced at him as he didn’t even bother to pretend that he wasn’t reading my messages over my shoulder. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“She plays hard to get,” I muttered then instantly wondered why I was making excuses to him.

He only smirked at me, shrugging his shoulders like he gave zero shits. We both knew he gave shits, but whatever.

Caleb:

You don’t know what I’m offering yet…

Tory:

Is it a date or sex?

My heart leapt. Fuck yes. It was on. Date or sex? Date or sex? Date or sex? Dammit I have no idea which answer she wants. Most girls would want the date at least pre sex. But Tory wasn’t most girls. I had to admit the idea of taking her out on a date was actually pretty appealing though. Fuck it.

Caleb:

A date. The best fucking date you’ve ever been on. 😉

Tory:

No.

I groaned as I leaned back in my chair and Darius laughed beside me. But I wasn’t giving up that easily. I’d just change my answer then I’d have her.

Caleb:

That was a typo. It was meant to say sex. I can guarantee you the best night of your life…

I waited. Ticks came up. She’d read it. She wasn’t typing. I tapped my foot impatiently. I could shoot over to her Tarot class in the space of about one minute and get the answer from her mouth myself. I’d probably earn myself that detention from Orion, but if it got her in my bed it would be worth it. Of course bursting in on her in her class might just put me back on her shit list. Then I’d have detention and blue balls. Fuck.

“Alright! I’ll tell you!” Seth gushed like we’d all been desperately waiting for him to finish his story. “I made Maurice sit outside. In the fucking naughty corner! All night!”

We all started laughing just as a flash of movement caught the corner of my eye. A pineapple hit Seth square in the face and knocked him flying off of his seat with a curse.

Darius got up and offered him a hand as laughter rang out around the room.

“Detention, Capella!” Orion barked. “You were warned.”

“What the thuck! You bwoke my nothe you thucking thycopaff!” Seth shouted as he got to his feet, blood running freely down his face.

He placed a hand over his nose and repaired the break with healing magic while scowling at our Cardinal Magic Professor who just glowered in response.

Max took pity on Seth as he slumped into his seat, drawing the blood off of his face and out of his shirt using water magic so that it hung in a red orb above him.

“Any Vamps wanna taste Capella blood?” Max called.

A girl in the front row leapt up as did a guy sitting off to the right of the room. I knew them vaguely but I’d never really wasted my time on learning the names of Fae who didn’t matter.

The two of them glared at each other and Orion leaned back against his desk as the fight for dominance broke out.

They ran at each other and I watched with a bit more interest as the girl shot beneath the guy’s attack and knocked him straight off of his feet. She leapt on him, punching him in the gut several times as he failed to fight her off before she threw vines from her palms and tied him down.

“Twenty points to Terra,” Orion chuckled as she leapt up victoriously, opening her mouth for Max to deposit Seth’s blood.

She moaned lustily as she drank it and I smirked at Seth. “You do taste pretty good,” I said but he ignored me, his icy gaze locked on Orion.

Darius wrapped his arm around me, laughing as he sat back in his seat. “Roxy sent you a reply, Cal,” he taunted.

I straightened my spine, leaning forward to snatch my Atlas from the desk to see what she’d said.

Tory:

No.
 

I groaned, leaning back in my chair as I dropped it to my desk again and Orion continued his lecture.

“Maybe she’s not that into you,” Darius teased and I flipped him off jokingly as he leaned back in his seat. I couldn’t reply; Orion would put me in detention with Seth if I interrupted him again. It wasn’t fair, but as Darius rolled his shirt sleeves up and I caught sight of the Libra sign branded onto his forearm I guessed he probably thought it was pretty unfair too. And I could suck up a little preferential treatment from time to time in light of that.

The class broke out into conversation as Orion set them to work and he shot up the aisle between the chairs towards us.

“So, as none of you need help with mental shields, I was thinking you could work on your illusions today,” Orion suggested as he perched on Darius’s desk and looked around at us like he hadn’t just launched a pineapple into Seth’s face. On that note, where was the pineapple?

Seth was glaring at the far wall, refusing to acknowledge him but Orion clearly gave zero shits about that.

I smiled at his suggestion. Illusions were brilliant magic. I’d managed to make Seth see a flea crawling over his arm a few days after his flea dip and practically given him a heart attack. I was more than happy to work on getting better at them.

“What kind of illusions?” Max asked.

“Voices. I want each of you to try and work on creating a full sentence in the voice of someone you know. It needs to be a convincing likeness or I’ll mark you down. Cast a silencing bubble so you don’t distract the others. Questions?”

We all shook our heads and he tussled Darius’s hair before heading away, somehow locating the pineapple as he went and swinging it in his grip while it dripped blood to the floor.

I took the job of creating the silencing bubble for us and as soon as it was in place, Seth released a low growl.

“That motherfucker needs to remember who we are,” he snarled, his eyes fixed on Orion’s back.

“Leave it alone,” Darius warned and Seth growled again.

“Maybe it’s about time he was put in his place,” he went on.

“I said forget about it,” Darius commanded darkly.

“How about we start with the illusions?” Max suggested, a sense of calm seeping over us as he tried to diffuse the tension.

“Yeah okay,” Seth said, his eyes flashing in that way they always did when he was about to go into full asshole mode. “Why don’t you show us what Tory Vega sounds like in the sack, Cal?” he suggested.

I rolled my eyes, clearly not about to do that just as Tory’s voice filled the space around us.

“Is it supposed to be that small, Caleb? I’m just not really sure how I could even make use of that.”

I burst out laughing as I turned to look at Darius who was smirking triumphantly. “That’s it, right?” he asked. “Or did I get the accent wrong?”

“I think you got a few of the words muddled,” I replied, leaning back in my chair as I concentrated on creating my own illusion.

My version of Tory’s voice held way too much enthusiasm but that kinda worked for what I was going for anyway.

“Holy shit, Caleb! I’ve never seen one that big! I’m just not sure I can handle you at all!”

The guys laughed and Darius rolled his eyes. “You wish,” he said.

“Too right,” I agreed.

“I’ve got a better one,” Seth said as he created his own illusion.

“We’re so sorry for all the bullshit resistance we’ve been putting up,” Tory and Darcy’s voices came in unison. “But we realise now that we can’t fight the truth. The four of you are clearly superior. We will spend the rest of our lives bowing at your feet to show how much we believe that.”

I snorted a disbelieving laugh while Max offered Seth a fist bump. Darius leaned back in his chair, folding his arms with a frown in place.

“That day will never come,” I said with a shrug because it was true. The more time I spent in Tory’s company, the more obvious it became to me. She wasn’t the kind to bow, no matter the pressure put on her. And despite the differences between her and her sister, it was clear they were the same in that regard.

“If they won’t drop to their knees willingly, then we’ll just have to make them do it as planned,” Max said.

“There’s nothing holding me back now I’ve cut Darcy from the pack,” Seth added in a low growl.

I pushed a hand into my hair, glancing at Darius. He was the harshest of us at times but he was also the most level headed. He wasn’t afraid to change his mind if he had good reason to. And he wouldn’t be swayed by the pressure of the group once his decision was made.

“You still want to go ahead?” Darius asked, his gaze trailing over the other two who were clearly eager, before landing on me.

I shrugged. “It’s no secret that I like Tory,” I said. “And if I’m honest I don’t think any of this shit is going to work. Those girls weren’t born to bow. Maybe we should be thinking about negotiation instead. They don’t want the throne, maybe we just accept that?”

“That’s not how Fae work,” Max said. “If we want to claim our power, we have to be the most powerful. We have to prove it.”

“But we aren’t,” I countered. “Not anymore. And if we keep pushing them into a corner then I think that one day they’ll fight back hard enough to cause us real problems.”

“You think they can beat us?” Seth scoffed. “We’ve got years of training and a lifetime of preparation on our sides. Brute strength can’t top that.”

“Those advantages won’t last forever,” I muttered. The girls were already learning to harness their powers. Give them five years, ten, twenty…with enough determination they’d match our skill and outmatch our power. Then they could come looking for payback whenever they wanted.

“Which is why we have to crush them now,” Max growled. “We need to beat them so thoroughly that they don’t ever dare to challenge us again.”

I sighed, looking at Darius again. The others had made their position clear. It was on him now. If he sided with me, we’d have to hash it out. If he sided with them, I’d fall in with the group. It was how we’d always done it. We spoke our minds, gave our arguments then went with the majority. It meant I might not always like what we did, but we always presented a solid front. Unbreakable. The four of us united was a power that could never be challenged.

Darius turned his arm out and looked down at the skin there for a long moment. I followed his gaze to the cluster of zodiac symbols he had tattooed on his forearm. He’d surrounded the red Libra symbol with those of every other star sign not long after his father had linked him to Orion. I guessed it had been some kind of rebellion against that mark being placed on his flesh without his permission. He pressed his thumb to the Gemini symbol as he thought about what to do.

“Well?” Seth pushed, growing irritable.

“I’d have thought your orgy would have kept you in a better mood for longer,” I joked, coaxing a grin from him.

“You can always come join us tonight if you’re curious, Cal,” he offered, kinda joking kinda not.

I smirked at him. “My interests are a little more singular at the moment, but thanks anyway. Maybe next time.”

Seth smiled more genuinely at that.

“For fuck’s sake, Darius, if you’re this indecisive about what to do then take a few days to think it over,” Max said, clearly getting a read on Darius’s emotions. “I’ve got other things I want to achieve with this lesson anyway.”

I followed his gaze across the room to where Geraldine Grus was practicing fighting off the lure of one of her Ass Club Sirens.

“Alright,” Darius said. “We can meet at King’s Hollow Saturday night and make a decision about the Vegas then.”

The rest of us nodded our agreement and we let the subject go. Even Seth knew there was no point trying to push Darius into a decision when he wasn’t ready to make one. He was stubborn as fuck and about the worst thing you could do if you wanted him to make a choice was back him into a corner over it. He’d just bite your head off, beat the shit out of you and still refuse to answer anyway.

“What’s going on with you and the Ass Queen?” Darius asked as Max continued to stare at Grus.

“Nothing,” Max ground out. ”Yet.”

“Seriously?” I asked. “You’ve got a thing for our biggest critic?”

“Says the guy screwing the girl who might steal our throne,” he tossed back.

Darius growled at that comment but didn’t say anything.

“You just like the idea of Grus,” Seth chipped in. “Because she’s an impossible challenge. You know she’d sooner cut her own tits off than let you in her panties.”

The corner of Max’s mouth hooked up a little, but he didn’t say anything. Not that we needed any more than that to know exactly what it meant.

“No fucking way!” I said, looking over at Grus again. I strained my ears to pick up her conversation as she started flapping her arms about.

“-beaten off the lusty lurkings of the Siren king. So I’d like to think I’ve got this brain walling down to an art, little Andre! Don’t doubt your own seductive skills because of my willpower wall!”

I drew my attention back to the guys as Darius spoke. “So why isn’t she following you around like a lovesick puppy like they usually do?”

Max exhaled irritably. “She’s fucking immune to my gifts. I’m pretty sure the only reason she hooked up with me in the first place was because the moon drove her into my arms and she’s all into Celestial guidance. So unless Venus wants to do me a favour and send her my way again, I’m not sure she’s going to give me another shot.”

“So just choose another girl,” Seth said with a shrug. “Take your fucking pick.” He gestured to the room at large as if every single girl here would just drop their panties at the mere suggestion that one of us wanted them. I mean, it wasn’t entirely inaccurate but there would certainly be a few who weren’t interested. Probably.

“I don’t want another girl,” Max said simply, his gaze on Geraldine as Orion moved to talk to her.

“What the fuck is happening to us?” Seth groaned, swiping a hand over his face. “First you two are fighting over a Vega – a Vega who doesn’t seem to want either of you half the time might I add. And now you’re chasing the president of the fucking Ass Club, Max! I don’t even recognise you guys right now.”

“Weren’t you all obsessed with Gwen the last time I checked?” Darius asked him.

“No. Well, not obsessed. It was a Wolf thing. She’s not my Omega anymore so that’s gone now…”

“Tory does want me,” I protested irritably, my gaze falling on her goddamn refusal message again for a moment.

Darius scowled at me then picked up his own Atlas, clearly not intending to respond to that.

“And Grus wants me,” Max said adamantly, pushing to his feet. “She just doesn’t want an Heir. I’ll make her realise she’s wrong about that. Then I’ll get the girl and the Vegas will lose their fucking cheerleaders in one fell swoop. You assholes should be thanking me.”

He strode away before we could respond to that and Seth rolled his eyes dramatically.

I watched as Max headed straight over to Geraldine’s desk and focused my gifted hearing in on their conversation.

“Hey, Grus,” Max said, perching his ass on the edge of her desk and looking down at her. “Do you wanna try out those shields on a real challenge?”

“I assume you intend to try and force lusty desires onto me, Maxy boy, but I’m really not interested in reacquainting myself with your wandering dongle so why don’t you trot along?” she suggested and I snorted a laugh. That girl was weird and kinda annoying with all her royalist bullshit, but she was funny as fuck too. I just wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not.

“What’s wrong, baby? Are you afraid of what you might feel if you let yourself?” Max pushed, leaning closer to her.

She didn’t back off, but it seemed more like a power play than in encouragement to his proximity.

“Fine. If you insist on philandering instead of educating yourself then I will make use of your bothersome presence. Feel free to exert your oh so impressive powers over me.”

Max smiled widely and let his power go at full force. Pretty much everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at him. Guys and girls alike moaned in a way that was way too sexual for the middle of a Cardinal Magic lesson and I spotted Damien Evergile rubbing his thighs excitedly.

Geraldine looked back at Max impassively, seeming close to bored and he growled as he upped the power again.

For a few seconds I was gripped with the urge to go to him, drop to my knees and offer him a blowjob, right before I slammed my mental walls into place more firmly and dismissed the idea.

“Fucking hell,” Darius complained. “If she doesn’t jump on him in the next five seconds I’m pretty sure the rest of the class will.”

Geraldine slowly lifted her hand and I watched in amusement, expecting her to start caressing Max’s thigh which was planted several inches in front of her on her desk. Instead, she curled her fingers, turning her hand back towards her as she inspected her nails, casual as fuck.

“I think I just fell in love with Geraldine Grus,” I joked as Max’s forehead furrowed with concentration.

Someone threw their panties at him and another girl started unbuttoning her shirt as she strode across the room with intention.

“That’s enough, thank you very much, Mr Rigel!” Orion called. “I don’t want to fill out the paperwork that would be required to explain why half of my class descended into a sex party.”

Max growled with irritation as he withdrew the power of his gift and the room breathed a sigh of relief.

“Fifty points to House Terra for a truly impressive mental shield, Miss Grus,” Orion added proudly and she beamed at him.

“Well hot cucumbers, I wasn’t expecting that!” she cooed. “And perhaps the lump of perfectly toned sex pest might remove his fanny from my workspace now?”

“You heard the lady, Rigel,” Orion said, pointing him back to his spot beside Seth with a smirk.

Max stood up but didn’t leave, leaning close to speak with Geraldine. Obviously I could still hear him though. “Come on, Grus, I know you had a fantastic time the night of the Eclipse. I promise round two will be even better…”

“I’m afraid there won’t be a round two,” Geraldine replied dismissively, looking towards the front of the class like he wasn’t breathing right in her ear. “Lady Petunia had her taste of forbidden fruit, but I’ll be guiding her towards safer pastures in the future.”

“Who the hell is Lady Petunia?” Max asked.

“Now, Rigel!” Orion snapped.

Max lingered another second, but Geraldine ignored him so he stomped back towards us.

A lot of the girls he passed reached out to him as he went, still feeling the effects of the lust he’d offered up and trying their luck, but he ignored them.

Marguerite jumped out of her seat and scurried across the room to retrieve her panties while glancing about like she was hoping no one had noticed.

“Is that the end of that nonsense then?” Seth asked as Max slumped down in his chair.

“No chance,” he replied, his gaze still locked on Geraldine. “It’s just the goddamn beginning.”

Darius laughed and I exchanged a grin with him. I’d never known Max to set his sights on a girl and be disappointed, but I wasn’t sure I liked his chance with Grus.

“A thousand auras says she ends up kicking his ass to make him leave her alone,” I said.

“A thousand says she’ll change her mind and be dropping her panties within the week,” Seth said, shaking his head. “She won’t resist him for long.”

“Pfft,” Darius shook his head. “A thousand says she’ll break his heart without even trying.”

“Harsh, man,” I said, tossing him a cynical look as Max continued to watch Geraldine.

He shrugged his broad shoulders, tapping a pen against his desk. “Just calling it how I see it. Look at her ignoring him, that’s just fucking cruel.”

“Shut up, assholes,” Max said. “You’re all wrong anyway. Grus is feeling this too, I can tell. So it’s just a matter of breaking down her walls. I’m gonna be so fucking irresistible that she won’t be able to help falling for me.”

“Sure,” Darius said. “Let me know how that pans out for you though. Because thinking a girl feels something and knowing it are two different things. They’re a fucking enigma wrapped up in a secret, cloaked in a goddamn layer of confusing as fuck. So if you figure out the key to them then feel free to share with the group.”

“I think your problem with girls, or more specifically, girl,” Seth joked. “Isn’t that she’s an enigma or any such thing. It’s got more to do with you being an asshole.”

Darius growled but before he could reply, the bell rang to sound the end of class. He was up and out of his seat before any of us could say anything else and Max exhaled irritably.

“Nice job, Seth. Sometimes I think you’ve got the emotional compassion of a teaspoon,” he said.

“I happen to like teaspoons,” Seth replied with a shrug.

Darius strode out of the room with his Ignis circle closing in around him and I drummed my fingers against the desk.

“Is that all about Tory Vega?” I asked slowly, wondering how deep of a wedge she might be driving into our group. Our rivalry over her aside, me and Darius were getting on fine, but she was obviously causing a little tension.

“No,” Max replied. “Something’s been off with him since the Lunar Eclipse. I can’t get a read on what exactly but he’s been…darker. Like something’s haunting him. I dunno. He’s doing a good job at keeping me out of his head but I catch the odd taste of something strange on him.”

“You think Lionel did something new to him?” Seth asked in a low voice. Most of the class were gone now but my silencing bubble was still keeping our conversation private.

“Has he been home?” I asked with a frown. I didn’t think so, but he had plenty of stardust and it wasn’t like I kept track of him at all times.

“I dunno,” Seth replied. “But if something’s getting him down then it’s not hard to figure out who might be responsible.”

“Maybe we should spend the night at the Hollow on Saturday,” Max suggested. “Have some beers, get him to relax. He might tell us.”

“Yeah and the sun might rise in the west,” I muttered.

“We could ask Orion to come too,” Max suggested. “For Darius.”

“Fuck no,” Seth growled as my lip curled back a little. “I thought you said we want to chill out. I’m not hanging out with that asshole any more than I have to.”

“Fine,” Max agreed with a shrug. “It was just a thought. You know how much Darius likes hanging out with him.”

“He probably knows what’s going on already,” I added, looking at Orion as he took a seat behind his desk. “We could ask him.”

“Yeah, I don’t think he’d tell me jack shit,” Seth said. “He just broke my nose with a pineapple.”

“He’s not going to break Darius’s confidence,” Max agreed. “We need to get it from the source.”

“Fine,” I said, finally standing and grabbing my bag. “We’ll get it out of him Saturday night.”

“Why are the three of you hanging around like a bad smell?” Orion called without bothering to look up at us.

I dispersed the silencing bubble and we headed for the door without another word. If something was wrong with Darius, we’d help him fix it. That was what we did. We looked out for each other. No matter what. 

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