Rebel Academy: Curse

Author Note

Rebel Academy with its story of second chances even after death in a secret Oxford academy is a series that I’ve loved writing and is still in my heart. I’m thrilled that you’ve shared this journey with me!

The idea of twisting mythology just like in Rebel Academy but adding in gods, demons, and monsters has been playing in my mind for a couple of years. Rebel Gods is a rewriting of the Hades, Loki, and Ra myths like you’ve never seen before! Plus, it includes fox spirits and shifters. Who knows the secrets hidden in the darkness of the Eternal Forest…? And what would happen if your shifter soul was bound to your enemy? Loki and Bacchus’ reaper sister are about to find out in BAD LOKI!

You’re total stars for your recommendations, word of mouth, and reviews because it’s how my books reach new readers. I’m truly grateful to you. Even a single line review raises the series’ visibility.

Thanks, you’re awesome - my Rebel family :)

Rebel here, yeah?

Rosemary A Johns

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What To Read Next: Bad Loki!

Do you want to discover what happens to Sleipnir’s dad, Loki? Click here to escape into the hunt of the witch Bacchus Cult and the shadows of the Eternal Forest….

When the gods turn bad…

…reapers come out to play.

My name’s Autumn, and I was raised by a fanatical witch cult. I made a deal to be possessed by a god. I was tempted by forbidden whispers of eternal pleasure. Then a lethal but sexy-as-hell god broke me, stealing my magic.

Loki, God of Mischief.

Now, I’m the Infernal: a witch who reaps both gods and demons. I guard the World Tree in the shadows of an ancient forest, which is stalked by scorching-hot but dangerous monsters.

When a curse binds my greatest enemy, Loki, to me as mate by his shifter soul, it’s my turn to break a god. I’m seduced, however, by his beautiful mayhem. Then he spins a wild tale, and it turns out that everything I’ve known could be a lie.

Can I trust Loki and my other gorgeous rebel gods and demons?

Hades — My brooding Hellhound God of the Underworld who’s a giant of muscles, midnight black hair, and shadows

Ra — My Phoenix Sun God who’s tall, blond, and my loyal friend and lover

Kit — My Kitsune Fox Spirit with powerful magic and mesmerizing eyes, which I could lose myself in forever

Oni — My roguishly handsome Demon with a lady-killing smile who’s my first love and Soulmate

They’re the enemy, royalty, friend, virgin, and second chance. They’re also my obsession...and secret protectors.

When the gods are rebels, the demons are wicked, and the shifters are savage, it’s lucky that I love bad boys…

READ REBEL GODS: BAD LOKI HERE!

Read the complete REBEL WEREWOLVES for FREE in Kindle Unlimited and discover what happens to Fox’s cousin, Aquilo, as well as learning the truth of the Wolf and Witch War!

Behind the moonshine speared alcove that divided guests from guards, prowled beasts with beautiful faces.

Only Protector Alphas, promised the neon sign.

If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought that I was shifting on my knees on a satin cushion at a midnight feast in a barracks, except for the fact that it was an all-female army of werewolves, and as a witch, I was the enemy.

Plus, boy did I know better.

My nose wrinkled against the earthy scent, even as I turned my face up to catch the breeze from the open roof of the Crescent Base. The moon shone down on the crescent-shaped table with its bank of computers that monitored the Omegas, mountain of ice-cream and sprinkles, and war plans that had become mixed together, as the Alphas partied.

How in the witching heavens had it only been a day since I’d been trapped underground in the Kingdom of the Gods? When shifters fed from moonlight, how did they bear to be buried in the kingdom below?

The Alpha warriors gleamed; the moonbeams danced across their skin. The light lit up the ivory walls like bared fangs and the glass wall that showed out to the murk of the River Thames.

My red shadows twitched, caressing each other in comfort, but they’d been subdued since Princess Vala had Wolf Bitten me. She’d threatened that a crimson tide of blood was coming, then she’d started the slaughter with my throat.

My parents had been devoured by werewolves. Was being bitten and allowed to live even worse?

I reached up to the bite, wincing as I traced it because becoming a wolf had been one of my greatest fears since Aquilo’s bullying twin sister, Lux, had pretended to transform me into one as a kid.

But that had only been a trick, right?

First, an Alpha had bitten me, and then I’d been left kneeling in the Crescent Base in the corner (the one that Vala had told me was reserved for badly behaved Omegas), whilst the Crescent gang of assholes danced and screwed.

Although, the Alphas had also petted and cooed over me like I was on my Honeymoon. My shadows quivered in distress that I’d been separated from my pack of wolves, angels, and gods.

Then I groaned, as a rubber hit me between the eyes, bouncing into my lap.

Hey, now I was even being attacked by falling condoms.

Unless, you know, it was a divine sign that I’d get sexy times today…?

I eeped, as all of a sudden, the rubber jumped off my lap, spinning into the air with the grace of a ballet dancer, before hopping with a cheeky wriggle of its latex tail into the hand of a cute man with a mop of dark hair, a scarred eyebrow, and soft eyes.

He was a mage?

Rubber Mage shot me a sheepish grin. “Sorry, Omega Witch. My magic becomes volatile when I’m…” He gestured at the hard length tenting his pearly white pants.

I flushed. “Firstly, I’m not an Omega Witch, whatever on a mage’s blue balls that truly is, and secondly, that’s overshare.”

Rubber Mage chuckled. “Whatever you say, Omega Witch, and I won’t have blue balls for long.”

I gritted my teeth, as my shadows thrashed. Then Rubber Mage wandered back to his Alpha, who sprawled on an armchair in front of the table. He straddled her lap, dipping to kiss at her neck. He didn’t look like a prisoner, even though as a mage he must’ve been thrown to the wolves by his own witch family for being a male with magic. Yet as the Alpha quivered underneath him, there was no doubt that he was seriously taking charge…and willing.

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.

I hated being separated from my Charms, who I’d Claimed and Wolf Bitten. They were mine, just as I was theirs. I hadn’t understood pack before, but now I knew that it meant to protect. Not knowing what’d happened to them was a torture worse than radio show banter or some asshole scrolling through your phone’s photos without asking.

I stroked over Emperor’s muscled back; his strength was reassuring. “How’s my good wolf?”

Emperor shuddered. “Damning you on hide and fangs for making me hard in these tight pants again.”

I snickered. “You’re lucky that I’m only making you hard.”

Emperor raised his eyebrow. Pink spread down Aquilo’s cheeks and neck. I didn’t miss how Emperor clasped Aquilo’s hand, and Aquilo squeezed his fingers.

“She tried the same trick on me, but I had to consider that my suit is dry clean only.” His gaze swept over Aquilo’s pants. “It appears that you have no such worries.”

I rapped his shoulder. “I take it that you didn’t drop by just to comment on how practical our clothes are to launder…?”

“Vala’s charming gang, the Crescents, decided that I would be of use to them as an entertainer.” Emperor tossed his golden hair, before sighing. “It appears that my reputation precedes me.”

I couldn’t stop the growl. “No one’s using you like a party favor again. You have a choice now, and I thought that I’d kind of made it clear that I’m big on consent.” My gaze swung to Aquilo, who cringed. “That means you too, Gandalf the early years.”

“You’re not much of an Oxford witch, Sabrina,” Aquilo drawled. “Where’s the putting us in our place? Why would you give up your control?”

Suddenly, both their gazes were too intense and searching; I shifted.

“Because I love you,” I replied, softly.

Aquilo’s gasp was worth it. Emperor simply smirked.

Then Emperor pressed his lips to the top of my head. I closed my eyes, losing myself in his scent of honey dripping over liquorice. Yet the sharpness of the liquorice was much stronger than it’d been before.

Was he losing control of his Alpha side? What would happen if the truth of Emperor’s nature was discovered in this Kingdom of Gods? Would he be executed?

My eyes snapped open in alarm.

“The Alphas merely wish me to play the piano for them,” Emperor’s mouth curved against my head on each laughing word.

Thank Hecate…

I already knew that my second Charm, Amadeus, was being punished in the Isolation Room. But what about my first Charm, the Prince of the Wilds?

“Moon’s with you, right?” I struggled to stand, but Emperor yanked me down.

“He’s in the Pleasure Pool.” Emperor grimaced. “I don’t imagine that it refers to Jacuzzis and fun water slides. I wish that I could rescue him from the appalling name alone.”

Okay, so it was a name plucked out of an incubus’ dream, but I still desired the pleasure of Moon’s angelic eyes and sinful body. I couldn’t imagine a better named pool for him, unless it was the Lake of Defiant Rebels or The Snuggling Tree.

Emperor’s eyes narrowed like he’d caught my thought. In turn, I widened my own eyes in pretend innocence.

“I don’t trust the Alphas here,” Emperor explained. Hey, I never said that I could pull off the innocent act. “The danger is greater than I’d imagined. Some of the Alphas in my own kingdom, who I grew up with, at least strive to treat Omegas as more than objects to hide in shrines. These ones, however, are broken.”

I glanced out at the shimmering sea of Alphas with their mage lovers. “Huh, so you truly can screw too much…?”

Emperor traced over the bite on my neck, and I winced. “How sweet that you believe them safe. They train to protect their Omegas but they never can because of witches—”

“Like me…?” My voice hardened. “Harsh.”

Emperor arched his brow. “But entirely fair. Training but failing to protect the Omegas…for decades…has damaged these Alphas.” He glanced between Aquilo and me. “Can’t you see that this room is set up for war?”

I scanned the computer screens and table, which although it was littered with ice-cream and chocolate sauce, also had what looked like one badass chess game going on. Yet it could just as easily be…a war plan.

Emperor had been trained as a diplomat, and my aunt had called wolves princes in diplomacy. I needed Emperor for his skills now.

Aquilo settled back into the cushions, unraveling an ivory thread. “Who do they believe that they’re fighting and how could they win?”

Emperor studied Aquilo with such tenderness that it made my heart ache.

“War with fanatics is rarely about winning as you or I would consider it. They believe themselves already to be dead. What would someone be prepared to do who believed themselves no longer alive?” When I shuddered, Emperor rubbed his nose against mine. “A trick that I learned in my days as my mother’s entertainer: everybody talks in front of you. The Alphas bringing me here spoke of a delegation from all three kingdoms in two days to discuss the events in the covens and you…”

Two days…?

My shadows rose and fell in uneasy waves. How was I meant to stop what’d been planned maybe since the end of the Wolf War itself a hundred years ago…?

I wet my dry lips. “Don’t I feel special.”

Emperor’s teeth lengthened, as his claws bit into my shoulders. “As special as a reason to start a war. If we don’t discover what’s awaiting my kingdom and Moon’s within two days—"

“Enough gossiping, Omega.” Rubber Mage gazed down at me, raising his scarred eyebrow, and I stiffened. He crooked his finger at Emperor, and Emperor stiffly rose to his feet, brushing off his suit and straightening his robes. “We want a sing-along.”

Emperor ducked his head, but winked at me. Then he strode to the piano in the far corner of the room. He sat on the stool with a flourish, before pounding on the keys in a wild rendition of “Sweet Transvestite” from the Rocky Horror Show.

I blinked. Okay, I hadn’t been expecting that.

Aquilo chuckled as he crawled closer. “Hidden depths in that wolf, I believe.”

“Trust me, he’s not hiding.” I studied Emperor; he was a ray of sunlight in the night.

The Alphas laughed and joked, jostling around Emperor like he was already their favorite Omega. When they joined in the chorus, Emperor was as comfortable with them as old friends. Perhaps, he truly had spent time around Alphas in his own kingdom, and not ones who’d wanted to step on him like the Alphas in Moon’s Kingdom of the Wilds.

I’d imagined that the Kingdom of the Alphas would be filled with psychopathic elitists like Stella had told me, but maybe they also dressed up in top hats and suspenders, while dancing to “The Time Warp”.

Seizing the distraction, I nudged Aquilo’s shoulder, before edging out of the alcove on my hands and knees. Aquilo followed at my heels.

Who’d notice the two bad Omegas, when they had the star of the show performing?

If I only had two days to discover Vala’s plans for war, then I needed the power of my Charms united.

I had to rescue Moon.

I crawled towards the door because if the Alphas were in here and entertained, then I had the best chance to reach the Pleasure Pool.

Crack — I yelped as my head smacked into something bony.

I reached out to slide my hands up the surprisingly smooth column, which was blocking my escape.

“Look up,” Aquilo hissed.

When did anything good come of following that order?

When I raised my gaze, I met Vala’s stormy eyes. Her hair was twisted in two coils on her head like twin moons, and her thick eyeliner was surrounded by glitter: an asshole playing at siren. My hands were clamped around her thighs through the slit in her dress.

Huh, so it was possible to feel embarrassed, even after being forcibly Wolf Bitten.

I stared at my hands, and so did Vala. I pulled them away like a retreating army. Then I gasped, as the bite on my neck seared at her displeasure.

I doubled over, clasping my fingers over it, as if I could pretend that I wasn’t kneeling at the feet of my enemy, whilst she burned her hatred through her bite.

I was at the mercy of the first werewolf princess to dare transform a Wolf Charmer into a Bitten.

It took strength to submit, as much as to conquer.

Yet what if Vala didn’t crave submission? Instead, she sought to spark my powers and the crimson tide of blood.