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

by Kate Nova

  Maybe my monstrous heart was finally starting to thaw?

  Or maybe I just saw a bit of myself in every woman I met and therefore saw them all as my sisters in some way.

  My sisters … or myself.

  I got to the auditorium and immediately ran my hands along the rounded wall. The doors to the actual auditorium were open, but the lights were still on in the foyer outside.

  This was where she was, I thought. And this was where I heard it—

  And right on cue, I heard it again.

  A growling in the walls. Scratching, like rats and … was that what I thought it was?

  Screaming?

  No, not screaming, I told myself. It must just be the squeal of the hot water through the pipes, or the wind blowing through some crack in the foundation.

  But even as I tried to talk myself out of it, something in my stomach twisted.

  There was something going on at this school—something I didn’t completely understand.

  “Well, well.” The voice that rang through the air made me grit my teeth in anger. But I couldn’t spin around and strangle the owner of the voice. I had to play nice.

  I turned with a smile on my face and Griffin was already grinning.

  My breath caught in my throat as he scanned me from head to toe, a quick flicker of his eyes that was clearly meant to be covert but was more than obvious. I returned his gaze with a perusing of my own, those dark curls of his framing his troublesome blue eyes, a peek of his bronze muscled chest visible with the top buttons of his shirt undone.

  “Behold, she returns to the scene of the crime,” he said and I shook my head, pressing myself against the wall.

  A thousand responses came to my mind, each one crueler and more cutting than the next, but I remembered Athena. Her promise to help me bring Poseidon down if I could figure out what Orcus was up to. I exhaled, trying to stay patient. “No, I was just going the long way back to my dorm. Trying to stretch my legs after sitting in classes all day.”

  “There’s another way to do that. You could leave.” Griffin’s eyes glinted cold and he folded his arms as he leaned over me, an obvious attempt to scare me.

  And instead of pushing back or pretending to flirt, I slumped my shoulders down and let my face relax into a frown. “Are we really going to do this all year?”

  I wasn’t playing a game. I was truly exhausted at the prospect of putting up these walls every time I was around Griffin, Liam, or Callan. At least around Callan earlier, I felt like I could pretend to be sincere. But Griffin required me to navigate a labyrinth of emotions. I had to be strong enough to withstand the insults he threw at me while also faking a friendliness that, frankly, I didn’t feel. And if that wasn’t tricky enough, I had to push away the desire I felt to feel the weight of him on top of me, to kiss him, to feel him thrust into me with the same kind of energy he used for bullying me—

  “No,” he growled and I could feel the wind of his breath on my neck as he leaned even closer. “Like I said, you could leave. Then we don’t have to do any of this anymore.”

  His eyes flickered down to my lips.

  “But how I’d miss these magical moments,” I countered.

  “Get out of this school, or it won’t be snakes they throw at you next time but something far more deadly.”

  “A death threat!” I covered my mouth in false shock. “My, how original! No, I think I’ll stay. Where else can I find a man willing to brighten my day with a new threat every hour?”

  “I’m being serious, Medusa.” He crossed his arms, biceps bulging just enough to catch my attention.

  No, Medusa. Focus, for fuck’s sake and rein in your damn libido.

  He took a step toward me, but I held firm, knowing he wanted me to shy away. Fucking alpha men. Always had to be the biggest cock in the roost.

  “I’m not going anywhere. Just leave me alone.” A look of indignation flashed across his face, which made me sigh. “Why is that so hard for you to do?”

  Griffin moved quickly then, pressing against my chest. I choked for breath, but kept my eyes blazing into his. “You stubborn bitch,” he growled. “Can’t you just go? You’re really going to make me hurt you?”

  I knew I should be absolutely repulsed, but a thousand sensations buzzed through my body, leaving my skin on fire and my pulse racing. I suddenly wasn’t sure how to act around him, or what my next move should be—only that I desperately wanted there to be a next move. “I’m afraid I lost all sense of social decency back in that sea cave,” I sputtered out. “So yeah, you’ll have to do your worst.”

  “You can’t stay here.” Something shifted in Griffin’s expression. He loosened his grip on me so I was no longer gasping for breath, but he kept his arm pinned across me possessively. With a deep sigh, he moved so his face was just inches away from mine. I could feel the heat coming off his tanned skin as he moved my hair aside, exposing the side of my neck.

  “Please, Medusa,” he rumbled into my ear as he brought his other hand up towards my face, like he wanted to stroke his finger along my cheek. “Just go. Don’t make us do this to you anymore. Just leave.”

  My heart thumped.

  “I can’t,” I whispered. “Don’t you understand? I can’t. No matter what you throw at me, I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Why are you so damn stubborn?” His voice was strained, a low growl just this side of gentle, headed towards rough. When I dared look at him, I saw that something had changed in his expression. The intensity was still there, but it had shifted into something else …something I wasn’t quite sure of.

  Griffin released his grip on me and for a moment I thought he was going to let me go. Instead, he tilted his face forward and then his lips came down on mine, cutting off whatever I was going to say. The kiss wasn’t rough, but it held the promise of fire, of the animal inside of him growling just beneath the surface. His mouth moved over mine, forcefully parting my lips, his tongue sliding into my mouth, slowly, teasing, tempting. Everything inside of me was swirling, riled up, feverish.

  I melted against him, letting the fire of his touch turn me into liquid. His mouth was needy, frantic and hot, and I met every movement of his lips with a fevered kiss of my own.

  Then the kiss deepened and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He was warm and solid, a seemingly immovable rock. When his hands reached down to grip my waist and pull me closer to him, I felt weightless in his powerful embrace. His other hand rose to cradle the back of my head, his fingers tensing against my hair. Was this really happening? I couldn’t believe it. All the blood rushed out of my head, leaving me light-headed and dizzy with desire.

  God, how long had it been?

  How long had it been since I’d felt the touch of a man like this?

  Never.

  This was my first real kiss.

  My entire body roared to life. Griffin reached lower and squeezed my ass. I could feel his hardness and my breath fluttered in my chest.

  Reluctantly, I forced myself to come to my senses and pull away.

  “I can’t do this. Not after all that you’ve done to me.” It was hard to breathe, like all the oxygen had been burned away with the heat between us. “You were cruel. All of you were.”

  Griffin tilted his head to the side and smiled, his eyes locked with mine, the intensity of his gaze revealing dark fire, a primal desire.

  “You’re right. We were … Now, let me try to make you forget all that.”

  Before I could think of anything more to say, he was kissing me again slowly, very slowly.

  I lost myself in him, let my hand move to his face, touching his cheek, feeling the smoothness of his chiseled jawline. My hand strayed lower, to the hollow beneath his ear, to his neck. And I felt the beat of his heart under my fingers. Strong … and steady.

  His lips moved from my mouth to the hollow beneath my ear. “I’m sorry.”

  The words were whispered against my skin, but they echoed through my mind. Behind my closed eyes, a vision
played out. A vision of how it would feel to have someone to love. Sadly, it wasn’t my time and I knew that. I had too many other things to focus on, but for just a moment, I wanted … to let go and just pretend I was that girl and he was that boy.

  That growl.

  It resonated from behind the auditorium wall and a shudder ran down my back.

  I pulled back from Griffin’s embrace and spun around.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Did you hear that?” I listened closely, but the growling was gone. And when I glanced up at Griffin again, the fire in his eyes was raging.

  “I don’t hear anything.” He pulled me back against him and breathed in my hair before turning me around, so my chest was pressed up against the wall. He leaned over and I felt the hardness in his pants as he kissed the back of my neck.

  I groaned, a torrent of desire taking over my body. Every time his lips brushed against my skin, I surged with hunger for more. I arched my back into him, forcing his hardness against my ass and just as I was about to whip around and meet his mouth with my own, he held me steady.

  He murmured right next to my ear, “You have to leave school. Don’t you understand, we’re doing this for your own good?” He kissed my neck again, making my skin erupt in goosebumps. “It’s only going to get worse if you stay. We have no choice.”

  With that, he pushed off me and disappeared before I could respond.

  What the hell had just happened? My mind was reeling, trying to remember the exact moment when Griffin went from my obnoxiously, cruel bully to someone who kissed the breath out of me and then back to being ice cold.

  My hair had coiled up in angry defense but now straightened again. “What was that?”

  “I have no fucking idea,” I breathed out. “I certainly didn’t think—I didn’t mean to—”

  “Not that,” my hair hissed. “What was that growling?”

  But I didn’t know what that was, either. I didn’t have any answers. I didn’t know what happened to Katie. I didn’t know what was prowling in the auditorium walls. All I knew was that my body was tingling all over and my lips were still burning from Griffin’s kiss. And beyond that, I was seething with anger. He was playing mind games. Tormenting me on every level possible and I allowed it. Despite my brain screaming at me to get a grip and not be destroyed by this man, I knew I’d have trouble sleeping tonight because I’d be up thinking about that devastatingly handsome bastard and how easily he could get under my skin.

  Chapter 16

  Griffin

  What the hell was I thinking?

  A football flew past my face.

  “Hayes!” The football coach walked past me and slapped me hard on the back. “Get your head in the game!”

  “Sorry, Coach,” I replied and jogged back to the starting position of the scrimmage.

  Football was supposed to be easy.

  Football was supposed to be my release. After a horrible week of pretending to be human, football was the one place where I could let off steam, fly across the field, remember what it was like to be in my powerful griffin’s body, my wings soaring me up and above the tree line.

  But there was no hiding it this morning. I was distracted.

  The rest of the guys on the team knew it too. I shot them all a glare in case any of them were thinking about some kind of mutiny. I was the captain of this team. I was in the exact position I wanted to be in and I’d be damned before I let anyone get in my way.

  That went for the long-legged, scaly, snake-haired women with lips that tasted like strawberries too.

  God, how could I have been so stupid? I kissed the Gorgon. It had been me who’d warned Liam and Callan to keep their dicks out of all this, hadn’t it? Just yesterday I’d been growling at them about this very thing, yet here I was, the one who couldn’t resist her. And dammit, it was getting to be too much.

  I could blame my pathetic human body. It was frail and useless, prone to weakness at the slightest provocation—and Medusa had crossed my path at the exact wrong time.

  Or the right time, depending on how I looked at it. I’d been fantasizing about kissing her ever since I first laid eyes on her. Maybe now that I’d gotten it out of my system, I’d be able to be as cruel to her as I needed to be to make sure she disappeared before she could do any real damage.

  You got this, I told myself. I’d been holding back until now. If she wasn’t going to leave the school, I’d have to kick things up a notch, whether I wanted to or not.

  But … Well, I knew I was only lying to myself. One kiss just made me want her more.

  We finished our practice and I managed to stay at least somewhat focused throughout the rest of the scrimmage. The coach still shot me a stern, no bullshit look that said he was keeping an eye on me, but he didn’t say another word to me about it.

  “Hey, Hayes,” called Eric, some blond, trust fund kid who could never catch even one of my easier tosses. “We’re having a little get together at my parents’ place tonight to celebrate the start of fall break.”

  Get-together. Translation: I have access to my parents’ liquor cabinet and while they’re out of town, we’re going to guzzle it all.

  “Cool,” I replied without committing. Hanging out with these guys wasn’t really my scene and they all knew it. But that didn’t stop them from constantly inviting me to these things. I had no interest in mixing with the humans any more than I had to. Football was the only exception and that was because I just needed to burn off some energy.

  “We need to invite some more girls,” Eric went on. “So, if you know anyone …”

  Annoyance swirled in my chest and I was about to lash out at Eric and tell him that I hoped he drowned in his pool tonight. But like a lightbulb flashing on, an idea came to me.

  We still hadn’t figured out what to do about Medusa. We’d brainstormed yesterday and came up with nothing. She was far more resilient than any of us had counted on. And even though we were monsters, we were in human form. We couldn’t exactly take care of things the way we would back in the days before Sicidonia Island. Back then, I’d let my bite take care of it for me.

  We couldn’t straight-up murder her, even though all the humans here probably wouldn’t even notice her gone. There were too many eyes on us, too many gods and goddesses watching over the deal Orcus had made with Zeus. They were just waiting for us to fuck up, looking for any reason to send us back. We couldn’t let that happen, or we’d lose all hope of ever getting back to Mount Olympus. Back where we belonged.

  This was our one shot and I wasn’t going to let anything or anyone get in our way.

  But we had to come up with something.

  If Orcus knew that the Gorgon was here and we hadn’t scared her off yet, he’d be furious. It had to be now. Right away.

  And tonight, at a pool party was as good a place as any.

  “Hey,” I said to Eric, who was noticeably shocked that I was talking to him. “I might be able to swing by. What’s the address? And is it okay if I invite Liam and Callan too? They’ll scrounge up some girls.”

  Yes, this could be perfect. It could be the thing that finally drove her over the edge so she disappeared.

  We almost broke her when we stole her journal.

  Maybe, just maybe, we could push her all the way over the edge.

  A little alcohol could do wonders.

  One thought of curvy Medusa in a sexy swimsuit, those gorgeous green eyes making me want to serve her, please her, do everything possible to make her smile and I knew what I had to do.

  We had to shatter her into a million little pieces … before she broke me.

  There she was.

  Medusa the Gorgon, cursed by the gods to be the most terrifying woman alive with snakes for hair and yet still somehow able to exude a sensuality that pulsed around her like a halo of blinding, white light.

  She rushed out of her classroom like it was on fire. For a moment, I stared at her from my safe place in the distance. Surely, the class was
full of people whispering about her, since we’d managed to spread even more rumors about how monstrous the new girl was. But I’d noticed Medusa walked everywhere like this.

  Like she knew she was running out of time and she had to get to where she was going in a hurry. Such a strange trait for someone who’d spent most of her years locked away in a sea cave with nowhere to go.

  But maybe Medusa just couldn’t stand the idea of wasting a minute of her freedom.

  I frowned. Was that how I was? I certainly was when Orcus first freed us from our cages. I flew so high, I touched clouds, my poor atrophied wings finally able to stretch out to their full capacity.

  I decided that was all Medusa was doing. Stretching out to her full capacity.

  I followed her out of the science building and into the quad. The concrete pathways that crisscrossed over green grass were shaded by trees. She pulled her hood over her head—that’s right, she needed direct sunlight shining in her eyes in order to turn anyone to stone.

  Was I supposed to feel comforted by this? I was suddenly reminded of what lethal weapons she had right beneath her forehead. Yet another reason she needed to go.

  When she walked past the great, twisting cypress tree, I finally got up the nerve to call after her. “Medusa!”

  She spun around slowly, almost warily, and narrowed her eyes.

  “What do you want?”

  God, even the sound of her voice made me ache with desire. The way her soft lips had felt when I kissed her, how she molded her curves against my body, those hips …. It took everything I had to keep from pulling her into my arms and kissing her again.

  “I’ve been looking for you.” This seemed like a much better thing to say than, “I’ve been following you.”

  “I can’t imagine why.”

  “It’s your lucky day,” I said, feigning an arrogance I didn’t feel as strongly as I once had before I knew the taste of her lips.

  “I doubt that,” she countered. “Otherwise I’d be back in my dorm room with a tray of brownies all to myself and you’d be a nice new addition to the school’s sculpture garden out front.”