Monster's Heart (Blackthorn Academy for Supernaturals Book 13)

Chapter 5

Amrin

Dayfive of being tutored by Sten in Astronomy and I was getting better, but that wasn’t saying much since I was pretty fucking clueless when we’d started.

“Use the calculations I showed you,” he grumbled.

He was looking over my shoulder as I input numbers into a computer program he’d apparently developed for Professor McEwan to use in tandem with his lessons.

Who knew the blue Monster was a fucking nerd?

Did he have glasses?

Was it wrong I hoped so?

Sigh.

I was such a mess.

“I am,” I muttered, not a mathy sort of person.

“No, you’re not. Look, a typical astronomer uses math all the time. This is the most basic tool for mapping constellations. Try to imagine it in your mind, the entire sky is just a map and numbers help us locate items on the map, coordinates, yeah?”

“No, yeah, I get it, but this is so much information,” I moaned.

“I know, Luna. But you can do it,” he said, giving me a nod. It was weird, no one had ever believed in me like that before and I felt it down to my toes.

“Oh my gods,” I mumbled as I read over the instructions again. “I have to do these for all the realms, not just this one!”

“Well, you would have to do that work if I wasn’t letting you use my Celestial Mapping program,” he replied with a grin.

I looked at the application on my screen and back at Sten.

Could it be?

There was a little icon at the top, a blue circle, the moon maybe, with curling horns and a tail, both cartoon versions of his.

Gulp.

“What do you mean by your Celestial Mapping program?”

“I wrote the code for this program, Luna. I designed it so anyone using it, like you, would be able to do more than simply map stars one realm at a time. The program is designed to place multiple coordinate graphs, overlaying them, and mapping the stars as they transgress across all the known realms simultaneously. The information you enter, time, date, and coordinates, determine the results.”

“Holy shit,” I gasped.

“Indeed,” he agreed, and leaned over, tapping the keys with broad strokes of his long fingers.

I trembled at his nearness, but tried to play it off. He smelled so good, like a mix of lavender and spice. I didn’t want to get caught sniffing at him, but fuck, it was close.

“Okay, you’re almost set up here. Next, it’s a matter of using numerical astrology or numerology to chart a path to, er, your true love.”

Was it my imagination or did he growl that last part?

“Well, I mean, this is just to pass the class. I don’t think Professor McEwan expects me to find my true love. Besides, you said you would go with me to the festival, right?” I asked, needing to hear him say it for some reason.

“I said so, yes,” he murmured.

“Okay, um, I think I’ll finish inputting the rest of the numbers back in my room,” I announced.

Being in that closed space with Sten, so distant and yet tempting, was playing havoc on my nerves. It had been a very long time since I’d had a date of any kind, and all the hours I’d spent with the giant blue Monster were starting to melt into each other. The line between the bargain we’d made and the fake relationship we’d agreed on was seriously blurring. I had to go before I did something stupid. Like throwing myself at him.

“Okay. I have class in half an hour, anyway,” he said, and I frowned, looking at the time.

“You take night classes?” I asked.

“Well, I am mostly nocturnal,” he admitted, and it was the first time he’d ever told me about himself.

“Really? I have such a hard time sleeping at night, I was actually going to ask the headmistress about taking some night classes next semester.”

“Why can’t you sleep?” he asked, taking the bag with my computer and school stuff from my hand.

I tried not to let my feelings show, but I was flustered and a little flattered. Boys didn’t usually go around carrying my bag for me.

Especially not big beautiful blue boys.

He held the door to his room open, and I walked out first, suddenly very conscious of the jean shorts and tight t-shirt I wore beneath my robes to class that day.

The weather was warming up, and though I never really got hot at Blackthorn, the robes we wore as our uniform were heavy and quite stifling. Or maybe that was just some of my classrooms. Either way, I wore shorts beneath them when I could get away with it.

Only, right then, I wished I’d worn something pretty. A dress or skirt maybe. Not the unflattering denim that was too tight on my thighs and kept creeping up my butt.

Fuck.

Well, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like Sten was really into me or anything. Hmmm. I thought back on what he said about being mostly nocturnal and decided the time had come for me to ask him some questions myself.

“So, you stay up late?” I asked.

His responding grumble was not actually an answer, but I took it for a yes, and I continued.

What could I say?

I was curious about him. There was no one on campus quite like him, and we had them all at Blackthorn Academy. Werewolves, Vampires, Swamp Creatures, Elves. Dwarves, Mages, Witches, and more classes of Demons than I could possibly remember.

“Gunner, that jerk Wolf, called you something, a Hobgoblin? Is that what you are?” I asked, cheeks burning cause it was beyond fucking rude to ask such a thing.

“Is that what you think I am?” he snorted.

“I-I don’t know. I mean, you hardly speak to me except about Astronomy,” I muttered.

“Do you want me to? Is that what you’re saying, Luna? You want me to give you words, share my secrets, that sort of thing,” he growled, and the deep, guttural tone of his voice sent tremors pulsating through me.

“Is it a secret?” I asked and stopped walking and reached out to place my hand on his arm.

Sten stepped back, and my hand fell down.

Shit.

I was dumber than I’d thought. Imagine me trying to touch a creature like that. He was eons above me in looks, power, and likely thought I was some sort of almost human insect. A lot of the older Monsters had that attitude. I waited for him to chastise me, but his gaze was locked on where my hand almost touched him.

“You mustn’t do that, Luna,” he said, and there was something so sad about his voice.

“Do what? Touch you? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult or disgust you—”

“Fuck. Is that what you thought you did?” he asked, and when his gaze met mine, his blue eyes were churning with emotion.

“Why did you reach out to touch me?” he asked, his stare compelling me to answer.

“I don’t know, I just wanted to. I wanted to feel your skin beneath mine,” I whispered, shocked at myself for revealing such an intimate truth.

He growled and shook his head.

Sten started to walk down the path that led to the yard behind the cafeteria. He sped up without bothering to see if I was behind him, and that annoyed me since I had to hustle and my thighs were chaffing.

It was past dinnertime, so it would likely be empty, but it never closed, and I knew I could grab something before heading to my dorm if I wanted. But food was the last thing on my mind as I hurried after my reluctant tutor.

“Sten! My bag!” I called after him, just before we reached the courtyard.

He turned suddenly, eyes glowing.

I faltered in my next step, moving back out of some latent sense of self-preservation. But it was too late. The Monster had me in his sights and he kept coming until he was right in front of me. Almost touching me.

I swayed on my feet, willing him to close the gap, but he gritted his teeth, and I knew it would be no.

“D-do you want to call it off?” I whispered, ducking my head so I didn’t have to look at him when he rejected me.

“Call it off?” he asked, sounding perplexed.

“Yeah, tutoring me, the festival, being my date?”

“No, I don’t want to call it off. You just can’t touch me, Luna. Not when I feel so—”

“So what?” I asked, dying to know what he was thinking.

His handsome face quirked down into a frown, and he shook his head, handing me my bag and closing his robes over his usual outfit of black denim and a hoodie. I wanted to grab him, make him answer me, but since my first and only attempt to touch him went so well last time, I thought better of it.

“Sten?”

“Tomorrow. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he replied, his blue eyes boring into mine as if he needed to make sure I was still going to show up.

Of course, I was. I had no choice. I couldn’t fail and Sten was the only one who could help me with the professor’s ridiculous extra credit project.

“Okay, tomorrow,” I said, and he seemed to exhale.

I stood there for I didn’t know how long, just staring in the direction he took off in. I still didn’t know anything more about him than I had that morning, except he didn’t like being touched.

Shivering, I draped my robes around my shoulders and turned to walk back to my room, only I was surprised to see I wasn’t alone anymore.

“It’s a little late for an unsupervised stroll, isn’t it Miss Cordoza?” Headmistress Blackthorn asked.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” I mumbled inanely, but the sagely matron lifted one eyebrow and waited.

I swore the woman could conjure a confession from thin air by doing nothing more than raising her perfectly sculpted brows. I had years of being spoken down to by my mother, aunts, cousins, and sisters, so I knew all about that sort of hoity toity air that came with being a super powerful Witch.

“You were with Sten,” she said, and no, it was not a question.

“He’s tutoring me,” I replied immediately.

I didn’t know why I felt the need for clarification, but I wanted to protect him. The instinct was super strong, as was something else I had never felt. I looked down at my fingers, noting blue swirls sparking from the tips.

“What the?” I muttered.

“Have you been sleeping any better?” the headmistress interrupted me.

“What?”

“It was in your last housing survey. You said you were having trouble sleeping,” she said, but I didn’t recall reporting that.

“Um, now that you mention it. I was going to speak to my advisor about maybe starting some nocturnal classes next semester.”

“Mm. A very good idea, Miss Cordoza. Tell me, has Sten been a good tutor?”

“Oh, um, yeah, he’s brilliant. Did you know he designed a program that could map stars across the realms?”

“Really? Well, that doesn’t surprise me, considering he has an intimate knowledge of celestial things, being a descendant of Mani. Oh, look at the time. Excuse me, I must be going.”

I nodded my head, wondering why the headmistress had let that slip. It was unusual to talk about someone’s powers or supernatural heritage like that.

A descendant of Manny?

Who the fuck is Manny?

Shit.

No, she must mean Mani. I knew I’d heard that name before.

My thoughts were going a mile a minute as I racked my brain for answers. Mani. Hmmm. It sounded so familiar. Like it was just there on the tip of my tongue, but I could not recall it with any sense of clarity.

Fuck.

Where had I heard that name before?