Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
I’m going to covet the fuck out of my mate. Keep her safe and very sated.
We’ll be perfect together, even if the rest of our quintet is a clusterfuck. Which god thought it was a good idea to group me with Everett Frost and Crypt fucking DeLune? Silas is a force to be reckoned with and an asshole, but he’s less of an asshole than the other two. Our families have run in the same elite circles since we were all little, so unfortunately, I’ve known all of them since we were practically in diapers.
Of the four of us, I’m bound to be Maven’s favorite. They’ll all be jealous motherfuckers.
I can’t wait.
“And so this Seeking comes to a close,” Professor Gibbons finally says. “As you all know, new quintets have time to move into matched student housing together if they so choose. Courses will resume tomorrow. To everyone who was not matched this year, may the gods grant you better luck next time.”
Despite the many matches this year, there are still a lot of disappointed legacies as the audience disperses every which way.
Professor Gibbons motions for us to get off the makeshift stage, and instinctively, I take Maven’s hand before any of the others can. Her hand is so tiny and cute compared to mine. I wonder why she’s wearing leather gloves. Is she cold? She feels cold—but then everyone does since dragon shifters typically run at a toasty hundred and five degrees Fahrenheit.
I’m more than happy to warm Maven right the fuck up if she wants.
But immediately, she pulls her hand away, not meeting my curious look as she leaves the stage.
She must be nervous. I guess that’s not surprising—I’d be overwhelmed if I were a sweet, quiet little wallflower being matched to such well-known legacies like us, too. Plus, I know I’m a big, scary motherfucker at first glance. Maybe she’s intimidated by our size difference, but I’ll show her just how gentle I can be as soon as we find somewhere private to get cozy.
Unless she likes it rough. Or kinky. Gods, I need to know if she has any kinks.
We all follow our new keeper off the stage as she makes a beeline through the crowd of disgruntled and curious stares. Once inside the castle, Maven veers toward the university’s massive library. I stick close to her side, amused that she’s pointedly avoided looking at any of us since leaving the Seeking. I try leaning down to capture her attention, but she keeps her eyes forward.
Awe. Who knew my mate would be so shy?
“The library is too public for formal introductions,” Silas says on Maven’s other side.
“By formal introductions, he means he wants to bone you,” I stage-whisper.
Silas shoots me a dry look. “Unlike you, Decimus, I’m capable of thinking outside of my cock. We should find a private space because there are too many eyes and ears all over Everbound. Quintet rankings won’t officially begin until next semester when the no-kill ban lifts, but even over the next two weeks, the competition will grow fierce, and they’ll be looking for weaknesses in every quintet. Especially ours. I won’t have others eavesdropping on us just because you love drawing attention.”
“You have always been way too fucking paranoid,” I helpfully inform him. “And I’m not some attention whore. People happen to like me, unlike you pricks.”
“As mature as ever, I see,” Everett drawls sarcastically from behind me.
I’m about to fire off a retort, but instead of stepping into the library, Maven suddenly turns into an extended nook that I didn’t even know existed. Has this always been here? I can tell it’s completely private when Silas immediately looks relieved.
Maven finally turns to face all of us. There’s not an ounce of nervousness in her expression—in fact, she still has the perfect poker face. It’s hard to tell much about her body under all the baggy shit she’s wearing, but her features are pretty in an understated way. There’s something hauntingly striking about her eyes, most of all.
I’m like a fucking crack addict, already sniffing the air to try to get another hit of her delicious scent now that we’re not surrounded by people. But I wrinkle my nose at the overwhelming smell of aromatic plants. She’s definitely been casting today, and so has Silas because they both smell strongly like burnt plants. It doesn’t help that Everett’s and Crypt’s scents are also perfuming this alcove. Hers is impossible to pick out, which makes my dragon petulant.
“As far as moving in, I preemptively reserved one of the finest quintet accommodations in the northwest wing,” Silas says, finally breaking the ice since Everett looks like he’d rather be anywhere else. The Nightmare Prince is studying our keeper just as intently as I am. “I’ll have Maven’s things moved in first?—“
“No need,” Maven cuts in with a surprisingly firm voice.
It’s the first time I’ve heard her speak, and I’m intrigued. She doesn’t sound like a shy wallflower. Have I been reading her wrong?
“Would you rather we all move into your little dorm room, cutie?” I ask, grinning. “Might be a tight squeeze, but I like the idea of close quarters with you. We can share your tiny bed. These other fuckers will have to sleep on the floor, though, because I want you in my arms every night. Might be an issue for Frost since he was born with a silver spoon stuck up his ass.”
“Fuck off, dragon,” Everett mutters.
“Move in together if you want. Where I stay doesn’t matter because I’m rejecting the quintet so you can appeal to the gods for another keeper.”
Maven speaks so casually, like she’s just informing us that it’ll rain later. That’s why it takes my brain a second to catch up with why my inner dragon is suddenly losing his fucking mind.
But Silas is quicker to the draw as he holds up a hand to stop her words.
“Rejecting?”
“Yes.”
My mate is…rejecting me.
Unexpected pain blossoms in my chest, but I know why. It’s because shifters like me start developing a bond with their mate right off the bat, and the idea of that being wrenched away so soon? It fucking hurts.
“Hang on. Let me get this straight.
You are rejecting us?” I snarl without thinking, letting my emotions control my mouth as usual.
Immediately, I feel like a world-class asshole. It doesn’t matter that I’ve never heard of her or that she’s not one of the top-ranked students at Everbound—she’s meant to be mine, and here I am, being a condescending dickhead.
Damn it, I probably just hurt her feelings. I never want to see her upset.
But Maven has no reaction aside from nodding once, matter-of-factly. “Yes.”
I stare at her. Everett and Silas are staring, too. Meanwhile, Crypt slowly dons a creepy smirk like the psychotic fucker thinks this shit is amusing.
The pain of being rejected wells in my chest.
I clench my fists to try calming the heat under my skin. I can’t tell if I’m more perplexed, offended, concerned, or pissed—but my dragon is ready to claw his way out and throw a fucking bitch fit over this. Since I haven’t gone hunting yet today, keeping him in check is more difficult than usual.
“You’d turn down a gift from the gods? Why?” Everett finally demands.
I scowl at him. Of course, the rich, pious elemental would be more testy about her slighting the gods than the fact that she’s fucking rejecting us.
“Because we all know you guys deserve a better keeper. As Baelfire so sweetly insinuated, the four of you are completely out of my league.”
I flinch. Damn. What a time to learn that my mate doesn’t pull her punches. “Fuck, Maven, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Except you did,” Silas mutters. He turns to Maven. “You’re making this decision rashly. There’s no reason to reject this. We all want our curses broken, and we all want a quintet…no matter who else is in it.”
His red glare flickers to Crypt, who only looks more amused. Those two must have more beef that I don’t know about. But I don’t care about that right now because Maven levels Silas with a bland expression.
“Wrong, wrong, and wrong. It’s best if you four appeal for a new keeper because I won’t be in this quintet. There’s no point dragging this on, so I’ll be on my way. Let’s not cross paths again. Better luck next time.”
And then my pretty little enigma just walks away, leaving the four of us to gawk after her in disbelief.
Better luck next time?
It takes me all of two seconds to decide that I reject her rejection. Maven is supposed to be my mate, and I’m meant to belong to her. Rejecting one’s matches is unheard of, and legacies appealing to the gods for a new quintet member is extremely rare. Usually, that only happens years after a member of their established quintet has died, and the ones remaining can’t take the empty hole left behind anymore.
She thinks I’ll just drop her and hope the gods find someone as perfect for me as she’s supposed to be? Yeah right. I’m not letting her go without getting the chance to know her. Not fucking happening.
“You fuckers can appeal to the gods all you want, but I’ll refuse any other keeper,” I grit, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my chest from the rejection.
Everett gives me a disgusted look. “Appeal? I’d never question the will of the gods. Besides, there’s no way she was serious about rejecting a quintet of our caliber. She’s just playing hard to get, trying to get our attention.”
“She has mine,” Crypt speaks for the first time as he gazes in the direction Maven went.
And then the Nightmare Prince disappears. The air warps around him as he fades from sight, and then he’s just gone.
I curse. “That motherfucker picked a bad time to bow out.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.