Stone Cold: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Gods & Monsters Book 1)

by Kate Nova

  Up the stairs I strode, keeping my eyes downcast, weaving through their whispers. Each rumor that spilled from their mouths was more ridiculous than the next:

  “She eats raw chicken.”

  “No, she cuts their throats and drinks their blood while they’re still flapping.”

  “She can see in the dark.”

  I smiled beneath my hood. Humans were so gullible, so desperate for something interesting that they’d believe anything.

  I was once like that.

  I once believed something impossible, just because it was more interesting.

  And this was where it got me—covered in scales, monstrous to behold, alone.

  I knew better than to believe rumors now.

  The rumors about me, however … those had shifted over the years. I remembered the things they used to say back in my childhood, thousands of years ago.

  “I heard she teaches the sirens their men-luring songs.”

  “I heard she has a tail that rattles.”

  “I heard she fucked Hades and he made her get an abortion.”

  The new rumors had all the venom of the old ones and I pursed my lips in amusement.

  But then I heard the rumor that made me stop in my tracks.

  The one rumor that hadn’t changed in thousands of years:

  “I heard she killed her own mother.”

  And I was suddenly as cold as I’d been in my sea cave, my scales rippling with shivers, my blood frozen like the reptilian creature I was.

  I glanced up at the faces surrounding me. Row after row of students, some monsters in disguise among the fresh-faced humans … and all their eyes were on me.

  “Push your hood back,” the collective voice whispered, “and show them who you are.”

  It was all I could do to ignore the voice—the urge within me to glare at all of them and turn them into stone was irresistible. I’d given in to that need before.

  That desire had created a whole garden full of marble statues, just like these—men who were no longer bone and blood and beating hearts, but men who’d stare into the distance with unseeing eyes forever.

  She killed her own mother.

  Did it matter whether it was true or not?

  Did it matter if it was fact, or if it had festered into fiction as it spun along from person to person through the centuries?

  I knew the answer.

  Either way, fact or fiction, they all looked at me like I was a killer.

  “You have to blend in,” my anonymous benefactor had instructed in the letter that had been delivered to prepare me for my first day at the academy. “You must look human or this won’t work.”

  But I wanted to make sure every single person at this school saw me as a monster.

  Not because I wanted to blow my chances at redemption, but because it was the only way to guarantee everyone would stay away from me.

  It was the only way to keep them safe.

  At the top of the steps, a pair of huge wooden doors stood open, letting students walk in and out of the building before the first bell. Stone faces were fixed to the façade of the school—angelic profiles jutting from the bricks, overlooking the grass. Standing in one of the doorways, holding an official clipboard, a middle-aged woman in a solemn black dress eyed me warily. “Medusa?” she asked, then checked her notes. “Katsaros?”

  Katsaros. Curly-haired one.

  The surname had been chosen for me, perhaps by my mysterious benefactor. Maybe it had been chosen as a tongue-in-cheek joke.

  But my mother used to call me Katsaros and the thought of her made my heart ache.

  My heart … It should have comforted me to know I still had a heart, ticking away inside of me.

  But right now, I would’ve preferred it to be stone.

  Chapter 2

  Medusa

  The woman glanced at my hood, distaste wrinkling her nose. “Medusa, I’m Sonya Emerson, administrator of student services. I’m sorry, but hats aren’t permitted under the dress code here at Terras Academy. You’ll have to remove that.”

  “It’s not a hat,” I countered, defiantly. “It’s part of my jacket.”

  “It’s covering your head like a hat and it’ll be a distraction to your fellow students,” the woman replied, her voice filled with annoyance. “I don’t think you want to get off on the wrong foot on your very first day of school here, do you? You’re already at a disadvantage since you’re starting the semester late.”

  Suddenly, a guy peered over her shoulder, a smirk plastered on his handsome face.

  It was the guy who’d bumped into me earlier and he stared at me like I was a cockroach he was about to crush.

  But now that I saw him head-on, heat bloomed in my cheeks.

  He was absolutely gorgeous.

  He was tall and the proud owner of broad shoulders and a pair of thick muscular arms, which were straining in the white sleeves of his collared uniform shirt. The sunlight caught the deep brown curls that framed his forehead and made his tan skin glow bronze. His clean-shaven face and high cheekbones gave him the air of an Assyrian deity, and his brilliant blue eyes were gleaming but cruel.

  When he saw me staring at him, he chuckled, lifting up his chin like he was going to spit on me, but instead the administrator harped on me again, making the guy snicker.

  “I won’t ask you again, Miss Katsaros. Your hood needs to come off before you step foot into our academy.”

  “Then I’ll stay out here until the bell rings,” I replied and instantly everyone around me gasped and broke into whispers.

  Sonya narrowed her eyes. “Miss Katsaros, we take our rules very seriously here at the academy. I’d hate to see you waste your first year because we were forced to suspend you.”

  Yes, well, I had already wasted thousands of years locked alone inside a sea cave in the middle of the cold, blue sea, I almost replied, but instead I swallowed my words and nodded, stepping past her into the school.

  With one hand, I removed my hood.

  Now the students around me didn’t bother to mask their shocked gasps; I heard an outright shriek and at least a dozen voices saying variations of: “Are those dreadlocks? Or something else?”

  They were something else.

  But even the rumor-flinging students at the academy would have a difficult time believing the truth about my hair.

  All the other monsters who came to the academy got outfitted with new bodies. New human suits which would completely hide their monstrous features—but not me.

  I had to appear as human as I could. So, I powdered and blushed my gray, scaly skin and covered my murderous eyes with makeup and a hood.

  But there was one thing I’d never be able to hide and that was my hair.

  The snakes which grew from my head settled quickly, camouflaging themselves against my neck and shoulders, closing their mouths and eyes, stopping their tiny tongues from flickering.

  Anyone who stared long enough might be able to figure out that my hair was alive, but I didn’t plan on standing still long enough for anyone to look at me like that. Everyone would just think they’d imagined seeing the coils in my hair. They’d believe they’d merely envisioned the new girl as a monster.

  I’d be hiding in plain sight.

  Sonya had a difficult time looking away from my hair, but when she finally did, she glanced down at her clipboard, then up at the gorgeous monster guy with the dark curls. “This is Griffin Hayes, our student body president. I’ve asked him to be your guide today. He’ll show you around the school, make sure you find your locker, help you with your schedule.”

  I nodded at Griffin, wondering if his name was as obvious a clue as I was thinking—there was perhaps something eagle-ish about him, a lion-like majesty.

  Griffin’s lips curled up in a false smile and I instantly felt my stomach twist. What was his problem?

  “You’ll need to see Mrs. Damocles in the administrative office to get your dorm room key and your meal pass,” the woman conclude
d, staring at her clipboard. “If there’s anything else you need today, ask Mr. Hayes here. He’ll get you situated.”

  Sonya passed Griffin the stack of my paperwork who handed it to me. As I held out my hand to take it, his fingers brushed mine and warmth flooded my body. I immediately knew my suspicions were right when he touched me. He was most definitely a griffin. I could sense all that blazing power flowing beneath the surface.

  How long had it been since I’d touched another person?

  Centuries and centuries since I’d felt flesh against mine.

  All I had in my sea cave were the stone statues of my victims, and they were like me—cold.

  “Oh, actually, just wait here. I’ll go get you a handbook,” Sonya said before disappearing into an office.

  When standing in awkward silence became too much, I dared to peer up at his face. Now that I was inside the building, I didn’t have to worry about direct sunlight hitting my eyes. So, there was no risk of turning him to stone.

  His skin looked so smooth and part of me longed to run my hand along his chiseled jaw, just to see if it was truly as soft as it looked. Something inside of me ached and a flash of heat pooled between my thighs.

  He was easily one of the most attractive men I’d ever seen.

  I clenched the papers, but before he let go, he leaned towards me and turned his head, whispering, “I know what you are.”

  I frowned, looking at him in mock confusion, but a jolt of panic went through me. “Sorry?”

  “You don’t belong here,” he said bitterly. “You should leave—before it’s too late.”

  I cocked an eyebrow, pretending I didn’t quite understand him correctly.

  But I knew a threat when I heard one.

  Poseidon and his followers had made sure of that.

  Just to be sure he was driving his point home, Griffin tugged on my arm roughly, but I quickly snatched it away.

  “Don’t ever put your hands on me.”

  He studied me for a moment before grinning again, that cool sexy smile that played around the corners of his lips.

  “Or what? What are you going to do? Turn me to stone?” I exhaled, resisting the urge to slap that smirk right off his face. Instead, I met his eyes. I wanted him to see that I was stronger than he thought I was.

  I needed for him to see that my heart was made of stone.

  Sonya finally returned, breaking the tension. “Here’s your class schedule and student handbook. I wish you the best of luck, Miss Katsaros. And welcome to Terras Academy. Now, run along. You don’t want to be late for your first class.”

  When I didn’t move, instead peering back and forth from her to Griffin, she waved her hand in the air, signaling I should move along. “Go on, then. Mr. Hayes won’t bite.”

  The bell rang just then and students began pouring through the double doors in a rush to get to their classes.

  Griffin ignored my previous warnings about touching me and tugged me off to the side, away from the hustle and bustle. His muscular chest crushed into me as he practically pinned me against the wall.

  “She’s wrong. I do bite. And if you’re not gone by the end of the day, I’ll show you just how hard.”

  He stepped away abruptly and I lost my balance, dropping my papers as the flood of students surrounded me, washing over me like a wave. By the time I gathered the sheets up again, the halls were clear and Griffin was gone.

  A lump formed at the back of my throat, which I quickly swallowed down.

  “Welcome to Terras Academy, indeed,” my snakes whispered, their slithery hiss reverberating inside my head, and for once, I didn’t shush them.

  I needed the reminder.

  Griffin may have threatened me, but I was not helpless.

  I was Medusa.

  As monstrous as they came.

  And I wasn’t afraid of anything except, maybe, how good it felt when Griffin’s fingers brushed against mine.

  That was alarming and considering how he treated me, outright annoying that I’d even have those thoughts.

  But, what could he really do to me?

  He was just bluffing, I told myself. He probably said it to every new monster who showed up to the academy—some sort of alpha male dick move meant to scare away the less worthy competitors to his little academy monster hierarchy.

  Well, his bite didn’t scare me.

  I could murder him with one blink. All I needed was a good reason, and if he touched me again, I’d have one.

  Chapter 3

  Medusa

  When the hallway emptied and the students filed into their classrooms, I was left alone.

  Part of me was relieved to finally be by myself. After thousands of years alone in a sea cave with only the men who I’d turned into stone to keep me company, it was disorienting to be around so many people. I felt like I was inside a beehive—so much buzzing and breathing and small movements. It was claustrophobia-inducing.

  But another part of me felt like I’d already failed. My first day of life as a human student—not even my first hour—and I’d already blown it.

  Sonya had given me a student guide to help me with my schedule and show me to my classes, and I’d done something to piss her off. I still didn’t know why Griffin had been so rude to me, but then again, I was a monster.

  It was in my very nature to make people run away from me.

  Except Griffin hadn’t run from me—he didn’t seem remotely afraid of what I might do to him.

  If I concentrated, I could still feel his breath on my neck as he threatened me. He’d had a very distinct smell too—a very human male scent of sandalwood and pine.

  The memory of his smell alone sent a rush of heat up my spine. How long had it been since I’d felt this way? How long had it been since I’d wanted someone this badly? Had I ever?

  But even if it was possible for me to be with someone while on my unusual mission for restoration on Mount Olympus, I certainly wouldn’t pick Griffin.

  I shouldn’t even find him attractive. He’d grabbed my arm, glared at me like I was nothing but vermin and threatened me. I hated that my body was reacting to him so intensely. He’d been unmistakably cruel, and for what? I’d hoped that I’d learned my lesson after spending thousands of years in a sea cave. Hoped that I’d learned to stay away from horrible men.

  My chest bristled at the thought of Griffin’s body pressing against mine, the heat of his muscular build against the chill of my slinky, scaly self.

  Apparently not.

  Well, now what was I supposed to do?

  I didn’t want to go crawling back to my mysterious benefactor and tell whoever it was that they’d rescued me from my eternal imprisonment for nothing. I’d been given a chance to reclaim the divinity I was owed and I was going to make it to Mount Olympus even if I had to die and strike a deal with Hades to get there.

  “Think like a student,” I whispered to myself as I wandered aimlessly down a hallway filled with metal, blue lockers. “If I were a real student and I was lost, what would I do?”

  I passed one closed classroom door, peering inside the small window. It was filled with students sitting in desks which seemed almost comically too small for them. Their eyes were already glazed over with boredom as a teacher droned on and on at the front of the room.

  “What is that beastly thing?” my hair collectively hissed and I turned to see where the little snakes were looking.

  A huge mural of a creature was painted onto the wall behind me—some sort of chimera, as if a lion, a dragon and a snake had mated and created their own little beastling.

  This was supposed to be an ordinary school, and the monsters who were disguised as humans were hidden within its hallways. But here was a monster on the wall, almost as a celebration.

  “It’s a wyvern.”

  The voice that rang through the hallway behind me was friendly and female, and when I spun around to see who was speaking, that’s exactly what I found—a pretty, smiling woman with bouncy, blond ha
ir and bright blue eyes.

  “Our school mascot,” she explained as she moved closer to the giant mural. “The school board let us vote. The students wanted it to be something ridiculous, like mole rats or platypuses, but of course, they vetoed that.” She laughed and shook her head, running her fingers along the outstretched claws of the flying wyvern. “And they say video games are making our generation too violent.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about—and I didn’t rightly care. My hair gathered in waves, all my little snakes twitching with wariness. I pursed my lips, glancing down at the girl with narrowed eyes.

  But she couldn’t be deterred. “Hi,” she said, sticking out her hand. “I’m Katie. Student body secretary.”

  Student body, wasn’t that the organization who’d elected Griffin as their president? All my suspicions instantly doubled. I just stared at her hand, trying to decide if I should give her a show of dominance to scare the friendliness out of her or if I should just ignore her until she finally left.

  But Katie was apparently made of stronger stuff than I expected. “You’re Medusa, right?”

  When I didn’t answer, she smiled, an attempt at diplomacy. “I love your hair.”

  All my snakes shivered and I sent them a mental message to hold still.

  “It’s so unique.” She stepped forward and the hand I was supposed to shake reached up to touch my hair. I dodged out of range just in time.

  “Don’t.” I scowled, then pulled my hood back up, no longer caring if the headmaster wanted to bark at me for the dress code. Let him come talk to me about discipline again. Let him dare try to punish me.

  “Sorry.” Katie chuckled, running her fingers through her own sleek hair. “I know how it is when you get it all just right then someone messes with it.”

  I was so mesmerized by her hair—how smooth it was, how she could comb her fingers through it, making it ripple down like a waterfall.

  I used to have hair like that. Once upon a time, I was able to let it spill over my shoulder. Now, my hair was alive and quite often, had a mind of its own.