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

Chapter 6

Sten

Eight days.

It had been eight days of sheer fucking torment, tutoring Amrin. Not because she was slow or annoying or anything like that. The torment was mine. Her tantalizing scent was driving me crazy. The way her pretty moonbeam colored eyes seemed to glow with pleasure when she understood a concept or tracked a group of stars across the skies was so fucking perfect. She had me mesmerized.

Then there was the constant wonder if her soft, rounded curves would fit against me the way I suspected they would. Sitting next to her at the desk I used for my own studies was becoming part of this ritualistic tutoring torture. She was so close, but always out of reach. And that was where the true heartbreak lay.

I should have asked for something better in return for my help with her extra credit assignment. Like a blow job. Fuck, I could almost imagine my cock between her pretty pink lips. No, I couldn’t have actually asked for that. It would have been creepy.

Hell, I didn’t know what had come over me the last week. Well, ever since I noticed her in class the other day, really. But the curvy little Witch had me practically panting after her. And I’d thought I was above all the rest of the horny males at Blackthorn seeking their mates. But after one week of conversation and walking silently behind her whenever she left my room, I was ready to bend my sweet Luna over the couch and take her hard and fast until I felt her sweet pussy flutter all over my dick as she came screaming my name.

Fuck.

Another boner.

At that rate, I was going to spend the rest of the evening jacking off to her. The whole clean my room thing and I’ll tutor you had been a dick move at first, but today was the first day she’d insisted on getting some cleaning done.

“It’s not fair, Sten. We made a deal, and you’ve been keeping up your end.”

Yeah. I’d been keeping up my end, all right. Teaching her astronomy and how to use the program I’d designed so she could earn the extra credit Professor McEwan demanded was the deal. The whole following her back to the regular dormitories cloaked in moon shadow so she couldn’t see me like a crazy fucking stalker was not.

Fuck.

I closed my eyes and counted to ten, trying to ignore the warm vanilla jasmine fragrance that seemed to come from her. The more she moved around my room, the stronger the scent grew. And I just fucking knew that everything she touched was going to carry it as well. Great. I’d be jerking off to her fragrance in the wee hours of the morning.

I wondered if I could maybe get her to leave her other shirt, wear mine home, that would be something. I hadn’t touched the black t-shirt she’d insisted on borrowing the first day she’d tidied up in here, when she’d been wet from the rain. Sometimes I sniffed it. I couldn’t help myself. It held both our scents, and the combination was heady.

Luna.

My sweet Luna.

Lost in my torturous thoughts, I jumped when I heard her soft yelp.

“What is it?” I asked, racing across the room to see what had frightened her.

“Is that a m-moth?” she asked.

She was pale as a sheet and shaking, pointing to the very lifelike model of the elusive cobalt lunar moth I’d had since I was a youth. The model was the size of my palm, though the real thing was known to grow to a scale rivaling that of dragons. It was a harbinger of good luck in my realm.

“Yes, but it’s not real,” I whispered, lifting it in my palm and holding it out to her.

“It looks real,” she murmured skeptically.

I grinned gently and shook my head, holding the moth up between us. Amrin’s eyes widened, and I frowned.

What was she so afraid of?

I did not like to think her frightened. In fact, I was pretty sure I was going to hunt down and punch whoever had scared her, or worse.

Definitely worse.

“No, really. It’s a crystal model, see? I built it when I was a child,” I explained for reasons unknown to me.

“A model? So, it’s not alive?”

“No. Not alive,” I seconded.

“Oh, that’s, um, cool,” she whispered and squinted her eyes, I assumed to get a closer look, though she made no move to get nearer to it.

“Lys,” I whispered, using a bit of magic to make it sparkle and glow for her. “Lunar moths are harbingers of good luck.”

She gasped in surprise, a smile brightening her pretty face, and something inside me clicked. I liked making her smile, wanted to do it more often. I lifted it in my palm for her to look more closely. I’d had the thing forever, but what it was doing on my floor, I had no idea.

“It’s silly, but ever since I was a child, I’ve been afraid of moths,” she confessed.

“Why? Did something happen?” I asked, wanting to know more about her.

Not just about her study habits or the fact she twirled her hair when she was lost in thought. Or the way gummy bears were her go to study snack. And she detested all things peanut butter. I wanted to know something deep, something real. And I was such a greedy Monster, I wanted her to give me that information freely.

Fuck, I think I wanted her to trust me.

And that was a first.

“It’s nothing,” she replied softly, but I wasn’t about to let it go.

“Luna,” I growled, narrowing my eyes at her perfect face.

Gods, she was so pretty.

“It’s Amrin,” she corrected.

For everyone else, maybe. But for me, she was Luna.

My Luna.

The power she held over me rivaled that of the celestial body that ruled my magic, my person, my very destiny.

Fuck.

I did not know how I was going to tell her, this sweet, soft creature, but I’d get to that, eventually.

For now, I just shook my head, moving to block her retreat when she would have walked away from me. It shouldn’t have been important. I knew better than to get my head turned by some female. Hell, look what happened with Ingrid and my brother Erik.

But I’d been stupid and young. Betting everything on a childhood crush had cost me plenty with my family back in the realm of Asgard. It was why I was sent to Blackthorn. Spiraling after my adolescent heartbreak had caused a rift in my powers, and I was there to help recover my control. But for some reason, that very significant worry was at the back of my mind.

Usually, it was the only thing I was thinking about. How to move on with my life, regain control, fill the void inside of me, and claim my destiny. But as I stood there, looking at my sweet Luna, all I wanted was to know what happened to make this beautiful bright creature afraid of something so tiny and utterly gentle as a moth.

I wanted to know who I had to kill for such a terrible offense. And I was offended on her behalf. My growl filled the space between us, and her bright eyes flicked up to mine.

“I can stand still for hours, you know. Like a statue. Might as well tell me, or we’ll be stuck like this,” I murmured, trying to bring some humor to the situation.

If she smiled, then I knew she would tell me, so I waited. And as it turned out, I was right. Her lips quirked, and I felt something stir inside me.

Relief?

Elation?

Both, perhaps.

“Fine,” she said and exhaled, crossing her arms in a defensive position.

I didn’t like that. Not one bit. I wanted her to smile again, but I bit my tongue and waited for her to confide in me. The enormity of the gift she was about to give was not lost on me. Sweet Luna was about to tell a secret to a Monster.

Could you believe that?

This soft, pretty thing was going to share a confidence with me—me.

Fuck.

I could hardly wait.

“My family is head of the Cordoza Coven,” she began, and I slowly backed up, giving her space.

She slid down the wall and sat on my floor, and I canted my head, watching her.

How odd to let her defenses down around me. Like she had no care in the world when I was the most unstable, and therefore dangerous, person possibly in the entirety of Blackthorn Academy. Without any other recourse, I joined her, my butt hitting the ground softly as I placed my arms on my pulled up knees and waited, but patience was not my forte.

“What does that mean for you?” I prompted.

“It means a lot of expectations from the minute I was born, and I just couldn’t meet them. I was always a disappointment. Unlucky number eight, that’s me. My Coven holds the number seven sacred, and I spoiled that bit for my parents. Mom, especially. My sisters went here,” she said, and there was a sad smile on her face.

“What?” I growled.

How could any parent be disappointed with her?

She was amazing.

Anger surged through my blood, and I wanted to rain down my wrath on them. They should have done better. They should never have made her feel like that.

“I am the youngest of eight girls born to the Witch Evelyn Cordoza, head of our Coven, and her husband, my father, Enrique. The women in our family keep our surnames because they are the ones who inherit the power,” she said, and huffed a sigh.

“Dad was hardly around, and when he was, it didn’t matter. I was always the extra. The oops baby. Anyway, that’s not important,” she continued.

But it was to me. Everything she said was important. Each piece of information gleaned about her life, giving insight into who she really was, and what made her tick, was of extreme importance to me. I slowed my breathing, willing myself to calm down.

I wanted her to feel safe.

Fuck, was she safe.

She didn’t know it yet, but I’d do anything to keep her that way. Already my protective instincts were going haywire, and I knew then that all those years ago, back home when I was younger and thought myself destined to be mated to the beautiful and cold Ingrid that I’d been mistaken.

Grossly mistaken.

My brother’s mate had never made me feel like this. Protective and anxious, nervous, and concerned all at the same time. I was on a rollercoaster of emotions, and I had no experience with it at all. So I did the only thing I could do. I rode it out.

“My sisters look like my mother. They’re beautiful. Tall, thin, perfect little Witches with their powers present the second they came of age. But not me. I take after my paternal grandmother, who was of Spanish and Italian descent. She was wonderful, my Nana, and she was the only one who ever really loved me, now that I think about it.”

Her whispered words burned inside my eardrums, making my vision darken with anger.

How could her family not love her?

Why was she so sad thinking about a grandmother whom she said she looked like?

And who the fuck decided skinny was the only pretty?

Fucking ludicrous bullshit.

Whoever that bastard was, he had a special place in one of the realms of Hell, I was sure of it.

Still, I bit my tongue and waited for her to finish. I liked listening to her husky sweet voice. The way she talked. The inflection she placed on certain words that told me what was important to her. I liked it all. And I wanted to learn more.

“Sorry, I just miss her. Anyway, the summer she died, the entire Coven gathered for her funeral. It was a huge affair, my mother being who she was, and there were so many people, no one was really watching us. I was thirteen, missing my Nana, and my sisters, led by the oldest, who was about nineteen at that time, cornered me in the graveyard with some of the boys from school,” she said, voice shaky.

“They used to tease me all the time. It was nothing new. The name calling, poking fun at my weight and my lack of magic. Even though we don’t usually inherit powers till later, all my sisters showed hints of what theirs would be when they were just children. I admired them, still, and I didn’t know why they were so angry with me. So disappointed. Disgusted maybe,” she continued, but a rattle crept up my chest and I knew she heard it when her pale eyes flicked to mine.

“Sorry. Do you want me to stop?”

“No. But don’t you fucking dare say sorry again for them, Luna. They don’t deserve your compassion. Now, please, tell me the rest,” I said, my voice half an octave deeper than normal.

“Um, okay. Well, the funeral procession was long, and they had me cornered. They taunted me, and I was crying so I ran, but I didn’t see where I was going. It was partly my fault, I guess. You see, they chased me, and I ran inside an old family mausoleum. The door had been partially open, and I crept in. It was all the way at the very edge of the cemetery. Once I was inside, I hid behind a big statue, well, I thought it was a statue, but really it was an urn holding the remains of the matriarch Witch buried there,” she explained.

“And then?” I asked when she paused for more than a beat.

Her expression changed, and I knew she was back there in her mind. Back in the mausoleum. A young, scared little girl, and before I could stop myself, I touched her leg. A quick, reassuring squeeze right above her knee, and fuck, my cock hardened painfully. I was a sick fuck, getting turned on while she shared one of her most painful memories.

But that wasn’t why my dick was ready to hammer nails. Of course, it wasn’t. It was touching her that spiked heat through my blood. Touching her seemed to fulfill every secret wish I didn’t know I had, even if I only indulged in the feel of her for a moment. No more than that. I didn’t dare. I withdrew my hand just as quickly, and Luna continued after taking one more deep breath.

“Then they blocked the door with a concrete bench. I couldn’t move it. Not an inch. The thing was, inside that crypt there was a whole nest of moths, and once the door shut and I was alone with them, they started moving, swarming around me, their wings and legs touching my skin. I cried so hard, covering my mouth, and closing my eyes tight, trying to make myself invisible so they couldn’t get me. But it didn’t work. I was covered in them,” she croaked the last bit out and shivered.

“How long?” I growled.

“What?”

“How long till they let you out?”

“They didn’t,” she replied, her voice barely audible. “A search party was sent out the next day and I was discovered around two in the afternoon.”

A single tear streaked down her face as she whispered her last word, and my vision turned white. I’d heard people claim red was what they saw when they were angry. But I was not angry. The ugly, dark, twisted thing I felt inside me was deeper than that. Bigger than that, too.

And it was white fucking hot.

Rage.

I’d never really let myself indulge in it before, probably because I figured if I did that would be the end of the world. But what I felt right then was pure, unadulterated rage. But it was a focused sort of fury, and it might have been the reason why I didn’t accidentally summon a black hole to destroy the very fabric of time and the realms themselves. Something I would take a closer look at much later.

Amrin shrugged and sat up straight, her pose no longer relaxed. I could feel her embarrassment and I hated that for her. I did not want her to feel anything but comfortable with me. Finally, she looked at me. Her pale eyes were so completely honest and unassuming, I felt myself tremble as I became hypnotized by that steady, ethereal stare.

With her gaze riveted to mine as she opened her pretty pink lips and said, “Anyway, that’s why I’m afraid of moths.”

Something inside of me snapped. Maybe it was her voicing her fears aloud. But I reached for her when I shouldn’t have. She deserved better. She deserved more. But even knowing that, I still put my hands on her, closing my eyes at the shock to my system when our skin met.

“You never have to be afraid again, Luna,” I growled, and tugged her against my body.

Her small hands clutched at my shoulders, but she didn’t push me away, and that was something. My tail wrapped around her waist, holding her where I wanted her as I bent my head slowly.

“What are y-you doing?” she whispered.

“I’m kissing you, Luna. After that confession, I think we both need it.”

Then I slammed my mouth to hers, and all my ability to think or speak went rushing right out of my head with no way to stop it, like the surging tide. One word echoed in my brain. Just the one. It was a word I hadn’t thought for a very long time.

Mate.