Rosemary Johns - Rebel Academy - Curse

Then gentle hands clasped around my waist, pulling me around tentatively, as if expecting to be rejected.

Aquilo’s cool gaze met mine. “What if I tell you that my magic becomes volatile, when you stare at some other mage’s—”

“Monster dick?” I smirked, curling closer to Aquilo and sniffing his reassuring scent of fresh linen.

Aquilo was pale and beautiful beneath the moonlight. His black shirt hung open, and I was desperate to touch the dip of his collarbones, but I hadn’t saved him from his family and Vala to use him as well.

I loved him but I’d never rush him.

Aquilo appeared to catch my thought, and his gaze became steely. “Do you believe me to be breakable?”

His hold firmed on my waist, as he rested his forehead against mine. He’d been left in the corner with me, since we both belonged to the princess now.

And how much did that thought freak me out?

Aquilo’s eyes froze to crushed ice, and heat shot through me at the danger. His magic wound around me in a whirlwind that whipped my red-and-black ballgown into waves. When my fingertips pressed over the hollow of his throat, where the blood pendant had once rested and seared his skin to bind his magic, his gaze became fragile.

“I asked you to marry me,” I whispered; my lips touched his on each word. “I seriously don’t want any other mage.”

“As a male within a witch’s household, I learned to play broken, until I could show my teeth.” I startled. “Hide your fangs now, so that when you bare them, you may savage kingdoms.”

My pulse pounded, as my shadows rose up, shadowing the room into a crimson sea.

Mischief — Archduke, Seraphim god, and mage — would love Aquilo. Were all mages snarky, snooty, and wickedly hot when they got with the whole savaging kingdom talk?

“Someone put on their godly pants today.” I smiled. “Mischief is a royal prick but his glittery ass said the same thing. Trust me, you’ll like him.”

“Do you wish to talk of royal pricks, or allow me to kiss you now?” Aquilo drawled.

My skin was suddenly too hot. I wet my lips. “Honestly, that’s not even a choice. Willing and seriously enthusiastic for all kissing action.”

Aquilo’s white-blond hair fell across my eyes, as he feathered a kiss to my lips, jaw, and then down my neck. He glanced up at me questioningly, and I nodded. Then he licked across Vala’s bite.

Finally those happy tingles showed up.

I grasped Aquilo’s wrist with the blood bracelet that connected us, licking across its throbbing edges to match his licks across my own bite. Aquilo keened; his dick in his jeans hardened against my leg.

I rested my teeth against his wrist.

I craved to bite…

Aquilo’s eyes narrowed in confusion. Then he swallowed, before pressing his wrist harder against my teeth like he could break his own skin in sacrifice.

“Savage, remember?” He met my gaze like it was a challenge. “Or do you wish to sever our engagement, as my mother claimed when she held me apart from you, but merely fear causing my death…?”

I bit through the blood bracelet like I could take away its control and instead, protect Aquilo and all my pack. I marked him to erase his mom’s hateful words that made him feel like nothing but unwanted property.

I wanted him, and he was mine.

I’d never thought myself a possessive dickhead before I’d returned to England, but becoming a Wolf Charmer and Wolf Witch turned you into one, who knew?

The tangy blood thrummed through me.

Hey, it looked like I did have a biting kink.

Aquilo howled and arched. His eyelashes fluttered, while his fingers straightened, before curling into fists. Then his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed as he came in his pants.

I blushed, and the Alphas cheered. Rubber Mage winked like I’d passed the initiation into their pack.

Why were there so many mages here with the Crescents? Had they all been thrown to the wolves? Yet they weren’t cowering in terror. Unless, you know, scoffing ice-cream, transforming cups by magic into dancing unicorns for kicks, and cuddling Alphas were signs of fear that I’d never been taught by my non-magical uncle.

The mages appeared to be more like lovers than prisoners or slaves.

I brushed the hair off Aquilo’s forehead; he’d always been a pretty, elitist asshole but now he was my pretty, elitist asshole. He was also a virgin. Vala had attempted to steal his first experiences, but I’d create new ones for him.

All I craved was my art gallery back in America, along with a honey lavender latte (like drinking summer), and a glazed donut. But failing that, I’d take a blissed out Aquilo. I sighed, chasing after the last taste of him on my tongue.

Brain, stop the naughty images about how that sounded.

Aquilo blinked awake. His pale blue eyes were unusually soft and fuzzy, as he stared up at me like I was the moon.

“Hey, Mr Just Had the Best Orgasm of His Life.” I stroked down his cheek.

“Hey, Miss Bighead…although not entirely inaccurate. Did you have to make me sticky?”

“Dude, ungrateful,” I pouted.

Aquilo raised his wrist, and I couldn’t find it in me to even wince at the imprints of my teeth marking the blood bracelet. When I turned my head and caught the bite with a gentle kiss, he gasped. “Perhaps, I should say: Miss Bitey.”

I snorted. “ Mrs Bitey.” My heart thudded hard in my chest, as I leaned in to catch his lush lips with mine.

Then my stomach growled, and I pinked.

How could I be romantic when I hadn’t eaten since… How long had it been now?

Aquilo shot me a haughty grin. Then his stomach rumbled even louder than mine had. He cringed, and my shadows burst out at my snicker, tickling Aquilo’s ribs. He spluttered with laugher, wriggling away from me towards the edge of the alcove like a squirming kitten.

“Mrs Bitey,” he hissed between giggles, “I said savage , not tickle .”

“ Aw , do you want me to kiss it better?” I dived over him, kissing down his neck, as my shadows wrapped around him in tickling waves.

I’d never seen Aquilo like this before: free and unreserved.

Was he like this with anyone else?

Aquilo and I had both been raised as magical kids, who’d had to hide who we truly were.

Had Aquilo been what I’d spent my life missing, as much as my Charms?

I squeaked, as Aquilo sent a ripple of wind in retaliation across my skin. I shivered. His magic caressed me, blowing my hair into the air behind me, which should’ve made me want to kick his ass for frizzing my curls, yet the touch was intimate and loving like he was sharing his true self and magic with me.

It was freaking beautiful.

Was this the first time that he’d ever dared play with his magic like this?

Aquilo’s smile was gentle, as his breeze curled around my shadows, hugging me closer.

“I’d say that I was sorry to interrupt your sexy times, but as the Prince of the Alphas, I hold to this quaint tradition of not lying.” Emperor leaned over the alcove, peering at Aquilo and me with an amused twitch of his lips.

I startled, gazing up at the third of my Charms, who rested with casual elegance scrutinizing me, as if he didn’t belong in my Omega naughty corner.

In his golden suit and robes, Emperor was a gorgeous butterfly in the midst of this Alpha party. Even though he was from a rival wolf kingdom, he’d never looked so regal or undaunted.

“Screw tradition.” I launched myself up, snatching Emperor by his silky collar and hauling him into the alcove.

When I pulled him down amongst the cushions, hugging him as tightly as I would’ve done Moon who was the King of Cuddles, Emperor held onto me with equal desperation.