Surviving Year One (Grim Reaper Academy 1)

I froze. My eyes snapped open, but I didn’t move a muscle, because I simply couldn’t understand what was happening and what the next immediate danger was. GC wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close to his chest, and I didn’t know how to reach. He was still naked. I felt his chest pressing against my side, his hands rubbing my arms to warm me up, and then his chin on top of my head.

“I’m sorry, girl. I’m so, so sorry. I should’ve come sooner, before they got to do this to you. I should have never left you with them.”

“Them?” I managed in a small, weak, croaked voice.

“Those bastards! Sariel and Lorna. And those other two idiots, who just stood there and watched. I thought Paz and Francis were better than that. They’re not.”

I bit my lower lip. I couldn’t say another word. There was nothing left to say, in fact. They’d gone too far. They’d tried to kill me. Sariel had come up with this whole stupid idea that if we jumped in the ocean we were VDC, he waited until I believed it, used the other guys’ naivety to convince me, and when I’d finally given in, he’d told Lorna to drown me. As simple as that. How did I not see it coming? How did I not read it in his eyes? The hatred he harbored for me… I couldn’t understand it, but it didn’t matter. Some things were not made to be understood. They just were, and you had to deal with them. I had to deal with the fact that Lorna and Sariel had tried to kill me. Thanks to GC, they’d failed. But when were they going to try again?

“You’re okay now. You’re okay. I won’t ever let you go.”

GC wrapped me tighter against his chest, and little by little, I relaxed. His bare skin was warm, almost hot against my frozen body, and his touch was gentle and carrying. Who would’ve thought? The guy who’d tried to fuck me since day one had been the one to save my life.

“How did you… How did you pull me out?”

“I saw the guys standing on the edge, looking into the water. Lorna was there, too. Francis said your name, and I realized you weren’t there… Lorna had this look in her eyes, like she was focusing hard, and her fingers were pointing at the water. She was a few feet away from Francis and Paz. I’m not even sure they’d seen her, but that’s beside the point. And I knew. You were there, in the ocean, sinking toward the bottom because Lorna had done something to you. I shifted back and jumped after you. You were all wrapped up in a bunch of rope.”

I nodded. He fell silent, and I was fine with that. He’d told me everything I needed to know. I enjoyed his warm embrace for a few more minutes, then started shaking from the cold. His body wasn’t enough to protect me from the sharp breeze, not when my clothes were wet. I finally straightened my back and looked up into his dark blue eyes. Dark blue was a color that fit him.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He beamed at me. “Don’t mention it.”

“I’d like to go back now.”

He helped me up, and my knees almost gave in. I leaned on him, and he was more than happy to support my weight. Oh my God, he really was still naked! Completely naked! I averted my gaze from his crotch and looked up instead. The VDC guys who’d jumped before me were all on the beach, forming a semi-circle, like they’d formed around Sariel up on the cliff. They were silent now, not even daring to whisper amongst themselves. We started walking, and they stepped back to make way for us. I was tired before we even reached the rocky path that led up the hill.

“I can’t make it.”

“I may have a solution, but I don’t know if you’ll li

ke it.”

“Anything.”

“I can shift and carry you on my back.”

My shoulders tensed. Ride on the back of a bull? A golden bull who was, in fact, a false god? Hell yeah! Bring it on! I would have probably enjoyed it more in different circumstances, but I wasn’t going to complain.

“That works.” I tried not to let him know how much I liked the idea.

“For real? I thought you’d be terrified. I mean, after what happened.”

I looked straight into his now green eyes. “Should I be terrified? After what happened…”

He shook his head thoroughly, and his wet hair stuck to his forehead, cheeks, and neck. Had it grown longer since the first day I met him? He needed a haircut.

“You can trust me,” he said. “I’d never do something like that to you. I never have, I won’t start now.”

It was true. He’d never had. He’d laughed at me along with the whole Violent Death Cabal and a few students from the other Cabals, but he’d never actually bullied me. I guessed laughing could still be considered bullying, but seeing how he’d just saved my damn life, I could let it slide.

“Okay,” I said simply. I was holding myself back. I didn’t want him to see just how grateful I was that he was there, with me, that he had been there when I needed a friend most. I didn’t want him to see how much I wanted to throw myself at him, hug him for dear life, maybe even kiss him. Maybe, even do more. Adrenaline was still coursing through my veins, my body was still in fight or flight mode, and since neither was appropriate at the moment, I had this urge to burn off my energy somehow, some way. Some way that included feeling his body all over mine, surrendering my lips to his, letting my hands travel all over those ripped muscles and tight ass. I never wanted him to put on clothes ever again.

He took a few steps back, and something sparkled in his eyes. He shifted in seconds, his body growing and elongating, the whole process seeming natural and painless. In the blink of an eye, GC stood before me not as the sexy man that I knew, but as the false god that he was, in all his golden glory. He was a massive bull with sharp, curved horns that could probably tear through flesh and bone if the necessity presented itself.

I fidgeted, unsure of what I was supposed to do. Mount him? Grab him by his golden short hair and pull myself up? Just as I was thinking that, maybe, I should have walked after all, GC knelt before me. I’ll. Be. Damned. He’s kneeling. A false god is actually kneeling before me. That made no sense. Did he really like me that much? Did he like me enough to kneel in front of me when he was obviously used to being worshipped by mortals and supernatural girls who asked for nothing more than the privilege of giving him blow jobs?

“What are you waiting for?”