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

by Kate Nova

  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish this was just an ordinary party and I was here to meet the three guys who’d made me remember what it felt like to be desired, what it felt like to be wanted. Even though I looked like a monster, they’d made me feel … almost human again.

  But this wasn’t an ordinary party. I wasn’t here so I could dance with anyone; I was here so I could undo Orcus’s plans. Then I’d make my way back up to Mount Olympus and finally pursue the redemption I’d been dreaming of for thousands of years.

  I should’ve been excited by that thought, but instead, my stomach just felt hollow.

  The thumping of music filled my ears before I got to the ballroom. I tried to take a sharp right, going down to the auditorium to investigate Orcus’s claims of a secret door and a haunted room—

  But a couple of students stepped in front of me, their dark masks sending a chill through my blood. Creepy bastards.

  “Sorry, the rest of the student center is off-limits,” one of them said.

  Orcus was pulling out all stops tonight, making sure that everyone in the Halloween masquerade was well-contained. It was just further evidence that he was determined to follow through on whatever diabolical plan was taking form.

  “But—the headmaster said—” I started.

  “On the headmaster’s orders,” said the other guard and he pressed forward, herding me into the party.

  I had two choices. I could fight them, push past them, make a big scene so I could get to that auditorium, calling out for Orcus to vouch for me, if necessary. But all those things would put a huge spotlight on me, and tonight, my only chance at survival was to stay in the shadows.

  So instead, I went with my only other choice, which was to give them both withering glares, ones which would be deadly if we were in bold sunlight, and head into the ballroom.

  I’d find a way to sneak over to that auditorium, but first I’d have to go in the party and pretend like I wanted to be there. I had to pretend like I belonged.

  And as I walked in, the music blasting in my ears, I felt the eyes of every student on me. Squaring my shoulders, I tried to hold my head high, trying to imagine I was just like the rest of them.

  An arm linked in mine. “Having a date will make you look much less suspicious when you’re lurking around,” said a male voice, deep and mischievous, and when I glanced up, my heart pounding in my throat, I expected to see Griffin.

  But it was Liam.

  “What are you—” I started, but he spun me out and back to his side, his strong, possessive arm around my waist almost electric with energy.

  “I’m trying to help you blend in,” he smirked, pulling me in closer. “That’s all.”

  “I don’t need your help,” I scowled.

  He cocked his head to the side and I watched as his eyes gleamed as though he knew more about what I needed than I did. “You sure about that, Medusa?”

  “Griffin told me everything he knows. How Orcus has some big plan, how he’s working for Apollo.” I glared at him trying to assess whether anything I said was shocking, but he kept that cool expression on his face. “And I know the headmaster is really Orcus.”

  “Listen, I know you mean well,” he murmured, his breath hot on my ear. “But you’re in way over your head…and you’re still going to leave this school before the end of the party if I have to tie you up and drag you away myself.”

  I didn’t have patience for more threats. I kneed him in the thigh. “And why would I do that? I’m going to stop Orcus one way or another.”

  Liam twirled me out and back in again, this time dipping me back, so his eyes met mine.

  “Because Griffin may be working with Apollo, but I’m working with someone else and if he finds out you’re here and I didn’t take you out, he’ll come here and kill you himself.” There was a sadness in his eyes … and fear—he was afraid for me. Afraid that whoever wanted me dead might show up any second and make good on his promise.

  I knew the name before Liam had to say it. Somehow, deep in my bones, I knew it.

  Liam was a sea monster, after all. It made sense he was working for the god I hated more than anything in the world.

  “Poseidon,” I hissed and behind my mask, my hair coiled up in rage. “You’re working for Poseidon.”

  Chapter 28

  Medusa

  Poseidon.

  The name ran through my head like an annoying song.

  I tried to force my thoughts away from him. Spinning in a slow circle, I took in my classmates. All around me, students wore elaborate masks of all shades, a kaleidoscope of colors. Some of the girls were in vibrant butterfly masks with crystalline wings jutting out from their eyes like stained glass windows. Some of the guys were dressed in fox or bear masks, with long hairy snouts and clever-looking ears buried in their hair.

  All shades, all textures, all fabrics, swirling around us as the music blasted and beautiful couples danced, but I hardly noticed any of it.

  Even Liam wearing the mask of a dragon, its fiery pattern standing out against his wavy blond hair and that black, button-down shirt with jeans which hugged his ass and highlighted the muscles in his legs and thighs—it barely registered.

  Okay, that I noticed.

  Everything else, though?

  White noise against the thunderous pounding in my ears which told me I was moments away from having a panic attack if I didn’t force myself to calm down.

  The god who’d destroyed Athena’s temple. The god who brought his men carrying torches, the flames dancing in the night and the god who’d pushed a simple priestess out of his way when she’d tried to defend her Goddess’s house of worship—

  The asshole who was responsible for so much pain and suffering in my life. Sure, it was Athena who’d cursed it, but she never would’ve done that if Poseidon hadn’t burned down her temple.

  My curse was his fault.

  And now here I was, in the arms of an impossibly handsome man and he was telling me he worked for Poseidon?

  Oh, and worse, that Poseidon had ordered my death?

  My rage bubbled to the surface. I pushed Liam’s hands away from me, staggering back as though his touch was poisonous. “You’re … you’re working with him?”

  Liam glanced around, clearly worried someone might hear me exposing all his secrets but didn’t care. Let everyone know that Liam was working with a violent, crazed, tyrannical god. He should be ashamed of himself.

  He was working with the bastard who’d ruined my life, yet only moments ago, I’d been lost in his embrace, allowing him to lead me around the dance floor.

  “He came to me, Medusa. He needed someone to keep an eye on the beast keeper and find out what Orcus was up to. I’m not loyal to him for anything beyond that.”

  “You’re a sea monster,” I snapped, shaking my head and trying to keep my distance. “And he’s the god of the ocean. Of course, you’re loyal to him.”

  Liam seized my wrist before I could leave. I glared at him, trying to wrench my arm free, but his grip was strong as he pulled me away from the crowd and out through the back doors into the cool, autumn night.

  “You need to listen to me,” he insisted, his voice shaded with a fierce rumble. “You have it all wrong.”

  He released me for a moment and I stood there, frustrated.

  “I don’t have time for this.” I sighed then met his gaze. “Girls are missing and I need to find them. I don’t care about anything else.”

  Liam folded his arms as his gaze swept up and down my figure—not in a leering sort of way, but as though he was assessing my fortitude. “And you think you can do that by yourself?”

  My face pinched in anger. “I’m better off on my own than trusting any of you. You’ll get me killed, if you don’t end up doing it yourself.”

  “I’m not going to kill you,” he growled. “I’ve been doing everything I can to convince you to leave. Why do you think I’ve been so awful to you?”

  “Because you’re a
bully?” I offered with a shrug. “Because guys like you love to pick on girls like me? Because you’re working for Orcus? And Poseidon, of all people?”

  “I tried to warn you,” Liam said, his voice softening as a crisp breeze picked up, blowing through his hair. “I tried to make it clear to you that you were in serious danger if you stayed at this school … because that’s the truth. Orcus wants you dead and if Poseidon finds out you’re here …” He trailed off and when his eyes met mine, they darkened.

  Not because he despised me, like I’d believed, but because he was afraid of what would happen to me … because he cared.

  I sat down on a nearby bench, the pouf of a thousand layers of my dress cushioning against the wood’s chilliness. “I don’t get it. All this time … Griffin’s been working with Apollo and you’ve been working with … with him.” I couldn’t bring myself to say his name again. “But Athena didn’t know.”

  I’d meant to muse over this in my own mind, not say it out loud—but I did and now it was Liam’s turn to widen his eyes in shock.

  “You’re working with Athena?” He shook his head. “Wow. But she’s the one who … who cursed you. I don’t get it.”

  “I know.” An odd mixture of defensiveness and hurt welled up inside of me. “She, um, she apologized.” I replayed in my head my conversation with Athena the night she’d arrived by the pool not long after I’d arrived here. I’d been so resistant to forgive her, so certain that no matter what she was offering me, I wouldn’t be able to get over it. But as I thought about her now, I realized I had.

  Athena had cursed me, but it had been a mistake. She wished she could take it back.

  And I’d moved on. Accepting her apology wasn’t the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. But knowing that Poseidon was still out for my blood … That was hard to swallow.

  “And you forgave her?” Liam shook his head like he couldn’t believe it, but there was something in his eyes. Something … hopeful.

  I’d forgiven Athena for cursing me, I realized, and so Liam was hoping that I’d be willing to forgive him for threatening me. For making Terras Academy a hell on Earth.

  He leaned above me and I arched my back to look up at him, his head silhouetted against the moonlight.

  “What about Callan?” I asked.

  “What about him?”

  “Who is he working for?”

  Liam shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know about Griffin until he told me this afternoon.”

  And then, in a move so daring, I could hardly believe it was happening, Liam reached out and stroked my hair, gently weaving his fingers around a curl.

  My snakes writhed slightly at the contact, but they didn’t hiss. They didn’t coil or move away.

  It felt … nice.

  “All I know,” Liam murmured, “is that I did what I had to do in order to keep you safe. I’m not trying to justify my actions, though.”

  “Sure sounds like you are.”

  “I’m not. We should’ve just told you what was going on. You’re one of us. You didn’t deserve any of that.”

  “You’re right, I didn’t.”

  “We didn’t know what to do. All we wanted was to be free. We were willing to do anything.” I closed my eyes. Here I was, letting a sea monster who’d been trying to get me kicked out of school play with my hair like it was the most delicate thing in the world.

  “Why?”

  Liam paused mid-stroke, his hand now cupping the bottom of my head near the nape of my neck. “Why what?”

  I resisted the wave of humiliation that crept up my neck and blinked back the tears which threatened to spill down my cheeks. “Why try to keep me safe? Why not just let Poseidon have me killed?”

  He hesitated only briefly before gently pulling me to my feet, so I was standing in front of him. He leaned closer, his emerald-green eyes searching mine.

  “You know why.” His voice was soft, like a strained whisper. Low and raspy.

  I didn’t dare to speak. The intensity in his gaze was mixed with something else I didn’t recognize …desire? I felt hypnotized, as though I’d break the spell if I ruined the moment by fumbling with words.

  “Medusa, do you really not know? Do you not understand why I could never betray you?”

  He didn’t wait for a reply as he reached out and placed a hand on the side of my neck, his fingers firm and possessive. Then he was kissing me, slowly at first, his lips full and sensual, softly tracing a path over mine. But even with the firmness, his mouth was mobile, lips moving across my skin, sucking briefly on my lower lip, then sliding his tongue slowly over that same lip.

  For a moment, I felt the sharp edge of his teeth grazing over my mouth. I wanted to feel that again, the hard sharpness—the aggressiveness, the passion, the feel of his tongue teasing against mine.

  I couldn’t think. I could barely breathe. His kiss forged a fire within me—I felt like I could breathe flames. I was at his mercy—a feeling I wasn’t entirely comfortable with—but as his tongue slipped into my mouth, I gave into it. All my emotions surfaced at once, and in that moment, I realized how long I’d been wanting him to kiss me.

  His lips lingered over mine another moment and I could feel the steely control beneath his kiss, but he reluctantly stepped back. A mischievous smile was on his face, his eyes heavy-lidded. That look told me everything …this man wanted me and he wanted me now.

  But now wasn’t the time. We had more important things to worry about.

  “You’re beautiful.” His words came out in a throaty murmur and the sexy heat of his voice made me want him even more. But something inside of me crumbled. “I’m wearing a mask,” I pointed out. “And I’m hardly beautiful.” What a horrible lie. To hear that come out of his mouth made everything else seem counterfeit, cheapened. Fake.

  “You are,” he practically growled, “beautiful. I don’t care what Athena did to you. I’ve never met anyone like you.” His hand moved from my hair down my cheek. “I would never let Poseidon or anyone destroy you.”

  I held still as stone while he studied me and with one final whisper of, “So beautiful,” he kissed me again.

  And in that moment, nothing else mattered.

  When I kissed Liam, I wasn’t Medusa the Gorgon, cursed with the ugliest face in the world. Well, I was. But it was with power that I surrendered to that identity.

  I didn’t worry about being beautiful. I didn’t concern myself with how I looked. It took a monster kissing me to make me feel like I was the only woman in the world. Like I was being seen for who I really was.

  Griffin’s eyes on me in the dress, Liam’s fingers tangled in my hair …

  Twice today, I’d had the hottest men I’d ever seen making me feel not like a cursed Gorgon, but like something much more powerful.

  Like a goddess.

  Liam’s arms wrapped around me and he tilted back my face so he could kiss my neck. Goosebumps broke out along my skin. As I leaned back in pure ecstasy, movement caught my eye. Through the window of the student center hallway, I saw a girl leaving the ballroom. She was one of the popular girls who was friends with the student council crew—friends with Katie. She was laughing, stumbling drunk as one of the students pointed down the hall, directing her somewhere.

  Not just anywhere. Towards the auditorium.

  My pulse raced.

  I pulled out of Liam’s arms as he looked at me in confusion.

  “A girl. Leaving the party.”

  “And?”

  “She’s going down to the auditorium,” I pointed out. “That’s where Orcus told me to go to find Natalie.”

  Liam’s eyes widened as he realized what I was saying.

  “If we want to find the girls and figure out what Orcus is up to,” I clarified, “we have to go through that door too. And if we hurry, we might be able to save that girl from whatever has taken the others.”

  I started to run back into the party, but Liam’s hand on mine stopped me.

  “Medusa.�
� His gaze on me was serious. “Just to be clear, I don’t actually give a fuck about any of those other girls.”

  My insides twisted. What was he saying?

  “I don’t give a fuck about any of them,” he repeated, squeezing my hand to emphasize his point, “so if it comes down to a choice of saving them or saving you, I choose you.”

  My heart beat wildly in my chest and it was suddenly hard to breathe.

  I choose you.

  No one had ever chosen me before. Not like this.

  But I didn’t have time to bask in the wonder of the moment, so I gave Liam a soft smile while nodding to show my understanding, then led him back into the masquerade. We had to find a way out of the party and into the hallway and we had to do it without Orcus finding out what we were up to.

  And if that wasn’t enough, my body ached with tension from Liam’s kiss.

  I was still very much on the ground, my sandals hitting the tile of the ballroom floor with every step, but I was also flying high.

  Chapter 29

  Medusa

  The Halloween masquerade was full now. As I glanced around the ballroom, trying to figure out a way to sneak past the students guarding the hallway to the auditorium, I finally had a chance to really get a good look at it.

  The student council had done a great job decorating, transforming the space from a typical multipurpose room to a ballroom. There was no chandelier, no fancy floor, no dramatic red velvet curtains hanging in front of the windows. But the decorating committee had done their best to turn this into a fancy, festive Halloween party. Dark, torn curtains hung from the rafters, blocking out any hint of natural light. Elaborate candelabras were stationed around the room, providing mood lighting, turning all the shadows into spooky shapes on the walls.

  A starry night sky projection was cast on the ceiling and other ghostly shapes were wound around the room. A buffet of holiday-themed food was served on a long, black table. Miniature headstones served as signage and a witch’s cauldron smoked and bubbled as students dipped their cups inside, drinking its “deadly” contents.