The Stone Secret (Gargoyles of Stonehaven #2)

Chapter 1

T he sun was making its way to midday position when I cracked open my dorm-room door to peer down the corridor.

All clear. Thank the gods.

“Cam?”

I jumped, hand flying to my chest. “Touron.” I laughed weakly. “You startled me.”

His eyes narrowed. “Startled you? Since when do you get startled so easily?”

A shadow moved at the bottom of my corridor. I dragged Touron into my room, slammed the door, and pressed my ear to the wood.

“Um…Cam? What in the world are you doing?”

“Shhh!”

Touron squeezed my shoulder. “You’re freaking me out.”

I hushed him again, listening for any sounds of movement outside my door. Long seconds ticked by, and finally satisfied that there was no one loitering outside my door, I turned to face him. “My ex is here.”

“What?” His glaze flew to the door. “When? How?”

I’d been asking myself the ‘how’ ever since Levi had shown up on my doorstep a few hours ago.

“He turned up after you guys left this morning. I thought it was you. That you’d come back for your sweatshirt and then…

” Levi’s face filled my mind. His smile, the light in his eyes at seeing me and the answering lurch in my chest followed by a hollowing of my stomach because he couldn’t be here. “This is fucked up.”

“What happened? Tell me everything.”

The hollow feeling returned. “He tried to kiss me, and I pushed him away. It was instinct, but the look on his face…” I squeezed my eyes shut. “Touron, he was so hurt.” My stomach tightened recalling the look of pain in his beautiful sea-green eyes.

“What did he say?”

“Nothing. He didn’t get a chance because Mr. Raffi, the dorm master, showed up asking him who he was. Levi went off with him, but he promised to speak to me later.”

“And you thought later might be now?”

“I’ve barely slept. Touron, what am I going to do? If Levi is here, it means he came for me, because he loves me, but I…” Urgh.

“You’re not in love with him anymore.”

My heart ached beneath the weight of loss. “I can’t be.”

The pity in Touron’s eyes made mine sting with the threat of tears.

He cupped my shoulder gently. “Cam, the mate bond is powerful and primal, and it will inevitably lead to love because your fated mate is your perfect match in every way, but the love you had for Levi was real too. You’re allowed to mourn it.”

Yes, that’s what this feeling was. Grief. Loss for what could have been. “All I want now is Serath, and I know I can’t have him, but—”

“He’s your fated mate,” Touron said. “Whether you can have him or not won’t change the connection between you. Can you trust Levi?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Then you need to tell him the truth. About Serath being your fated mate, about you being a Basque, and about the fast track to elite and why. Bring him into the circle of trust.”

He made it sound so simple. “I wish I’d come and talked to you earlier.”

He shrugged. “What can I say? I have excellent problem-solving skills. Now, how about you shower and sort your hair out.”

I reached for my hair, finger snagging in the tangles formed from all the tossing and turning I’d done. “That bad?”

“You look feral.” He gave me half a smile. “On second thoughts, leave it. It’s kinda adorable.” He ruffled my already ruffled hair.

“Adorable?” I shuddered. “Hell no.”

Compared to my frazzled state, Touron looked put together—fresh from the shower, sandy hair still damp, jaw clean-shaven. “You’re up early, aren’t you?”

He snorted softly. “You’re not the only early riser in this dorm.”

I usually was. My halfblood nature meant that I needed more sleep, so I usually went to bed earlier but woke before the other goyles. They didn’t go to sleep until well after dawn and, even though they needed less sleep, weren’t usually active till well after midday.

He patted my messy hair and headed for the door. “I’ll put the coffee on.”

“If you see a big guy with neck tats, tell him…tell him I need to speak to him.”

“Neck tattoos?” His brows shot up. “Nice.”

He closed the door softly behind him, and I grabbed a hairbrush and headed for the bathroom.

I’d broken up with Levi before coming to the academy, not because I’d wanted to but because I’d needed to let him go.

I’d hoped to find him again, though, to rekindle things once my mission of finding out what happened to Romi was complete, and he’d probably realized that. He wouldn’t be here otherwise.

But everything was different now. My wants, my goals…me.

Levi deserved the truth.

He deserved for me to let him go properly.

* * *

This early in the day the kitchen was free, allowing me and my friends to convene in private. I was on my second cup of coffee and all talked out. Sharniza, Palia, and Ginia were now also up to speed on Levi’s arrival.

“I thought cadet intake was over,” Sharniza said. “How did he get in?”

“Maybe his sire pulled some strings,” Touron said. “Allowed him to take the entrance test late?”

“For a halfblood?” Palia looked skeptical. “His sire would have to have some serious clout to do that.”

“What did he tell you about his sire?” Shar asked me.

I cast my mind back to the last time Levi and I had been together in the outside world.

I’d told him the truth about what I was, and he’d been relieved because he was just like me.

“He told me he was undeclared and in hiding, that his sire provided for him until he was eighteen, but that’s all I know. ”

I’d walked out on him. Told him I didn’t love him.

I guess my acting skills needed work.

Shar tapped the table with her blunt fingernails.

Nails that would sprout talons when she shifted into her gargoyle form.

“So we know his sire has enough money and reach to hide his halfblood spawn.” Like Basque had done for me.

“Still, to get him into the academy…that takes the ability to pull some seriously powerful strings.”

“Cadets have a high turnover,” Touron said. “Only eighty percent survive cadet exams and make it to initiate or general training. We need all the goyles we can get, even halfblood ones.”

“And now he’s here…” Palia sounded speculative.

“Wow,” Ginia said. “I can’t believe he followed you. Took the entrance test just to be here with you.” She covered her heart with her hand. “Swoon.”

“You don’t say swoon,” Palia said. “You just do the action.”

Ginia rolled her eyes. “Well, I say swoon. He’s definitely in love with you.” Palia elbowed her. “Ouch, what…” Her eyes went round. “Ah, yes, that’s bad because you have Serath.”

My stomach sank. “I don’t have him. I can’t have him.” Having him would kill me and drive him insane. He was a sigma, and they were forbidden from consummating with a fated mate.

“It’s so unfair,” Ginia said. “On the one hand, you have Levi, who can be with you and who loves you, but you’re off-limits because you’re fated to Serath, who you can’t have because…” She made a slitting throat motion with her finger.

“I think she’s aware,” Shar said dryly. “What we need to figure out is if we can trust this Levi to keep the fated mate information a secret.”

Trust wasn’t an issue when it came to Levi. “I’ve known him for almost a year. I trust him. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt me.

“That may be so for the woman he loves and who he believes loves him back, but a goyle scorned is a vicious thing.”

I couldn’t imagine Levi being vicious to me. “He’s a halfblood. He’ll understand what it means to be fated.” I glanced at Touron for support, and he nodded.

Shar sighed. “It’s up to you. I still think we should err on the side of caution and wait to see how he reacts.”

“To what?” Touron said. “To Cam telling him she no longer loves him?”

“Yes,” Shar said.

“He didn’t believe her the first time,” Palia said. “What makes you think he’ll believe her now?”

“Because this time, she’ll be telling him she’s in love with someone else.” Shar fixed Touron with a pointed look.

Touron frowned. “What? You want me to…” He looked down at me in panic. “No. I can’t.”

Shar’s shoulders sagged. “Right, there is zero chemistry between you two. He’d never buy it.”

“You totally have the sibling vibe,” Palia added.

“We need someone believable, someone…” She trailed off, gaze flicking over my head.

“What are you staring at?” Curi demanded with his signature lip-curl as he entered the room.

“Nothing.” Shar’s eyes gleamed wickedly.

Curi ambled over to the fridge and yanked open the door.

His blue hair was pulled back in a knot, and his feet were bare, giving him an almost vulnerable and approachable look.

But there was nothing vulnerable and approachable about Curi.

He’d been my most avid tormenter when I arrived, but somewhere along the way, he’d morphed into a silent protector.

I didn’t understand the goyle, and that left me wary around him.

Shar arched a brow at me.

I shook my head, mouthing, Hell no .

Curi drank straight from a carton of juice, crushed the empty box, then did a neat throw that dropped it in the trash can across the room.

“You can continue your pathetic conversation now,” he said and left.

“Perfect!” Ginia said.

Palia looked horrified, but Touron seemed to be contemplating the concept.

What the heck? “You’re crazy. Curi?”

“He saved you on the omega moon,” Touron said. “And in the gym.”

“He’s an ass,” Shar said. “But there’s no denying the chemistry.”

I stifled a gag. “Puh-lease.” This was insane. “I don’t need a fake boyfriend. I can tell Levi the truth.” I looked to Touron for support again, but he had his gaze fixed on the table, chewing his cheeks in thought.

“You can,” Shar said. “And you should, but only once we’ve seen what kind of jilted lover he makes.”

“Shar’s right,” Touron conceded. “You’ve known the lover boy side of this guy.

You have no idea how he’ll react to finding out you can’t be with him.

I mean, if I was in love with someone, and she went with another goyle…

” His chest rumbled in a low warning sound that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention.

Palia nodded in agreement. “Goyle males are unpredictable when it comes to what they consider theirs, even halfbloods.”

“If he takes it with grace, then you can tell him the truth,” Ginia said. “You’ll know that he won’t go and spill your secret in a fit of jealous rage.”

It looked like the team had made up their minds, and I had to agree that there was nothing wrong with caution.

Telling Levi that I wasn’t in love with him wouldn’t be enough.

Telling him I was with someone else might be, and yes, I was curious to see how he’d take it.

Curious to know if I could bring him into the circle of trust that had organically formed around me.

But our plan hinged on an angry blue-haired goyle’s cooperation. “And what about Curi? You think he’s going to just roll over and agree to play fake boyfriend?”

“I have a sneaky suspicion that Curi is more of a gentleman than he likes people to know,” Shar said. “I think if you tell him you need help getting rid of Levi, then he’ll do it.”

“And Serath?”

The room went silent. Yeah, that shut them all up. My fated mate would not take kindly to any male playing happy families with me.

“If it keeps you safe…” Touron said. “You can tell Serath the plan. Get him on board.”

I exhaled and dropped my head onto the table. “Fine. We’ll do it your way. Test how Levi reacts and only tell him the truth if he doesn’t go all psycho.”

Shar patted my back. “Good girl.”

Serath and I would be spending a lot of time together soon, seeing as my sire, Lionel Basque, had put him in charge of training me for the elite trial.

My stomach trembled. Yeah, while my friends prepared for the initiation tests, I’d be training hard for the elite one, bypassing the initiation all together.

I had to pass because without me the elite team wouldn’t be able to get to Romi.

Without me, there was no way to take down the graynite alpha.

I couldn’t fail.

I wouldn’t.