Surviving Year One (Grim Reaper Academy 1)

“Oh my God, you can talk!”

“Of course I can talk. What shifter books have you been reading? I hear shifter romance is a thing in the human world these days.”

“I don’t read shifter romance,” I mumbled. My mother’s books didn’t count, okay? I just got curious last summer and wanted to see what she was reading every day before breakfast. She’d gotten this weird habit of waking up an hour before me and my dad, so she could drink her coffee in peace and read. When we’d come down, however, she’d stuff her book in a cupboard before we could take a look at the cover. When I confronted her about it, it turned out she was reading paranormal romance and hiding from my dad. Made sense. He would have judged the shit out of her.

I approached him carefully, keeping an eye on his sharp horns. They looked like they were made of solid gold. Still trembling from the cold, I swung one leg over his back and straddled him carefully, afraid that if I made a wrong move, I’d hit him unwillingly and he’d respond by throwing me off. It turned out I was being paranoid. He pushed himself back to his feet, then started climbing the hill easily, as if I didn’t weigh a thing and he didn’t even feel me on his back. To my relief, he walked at an adequate pace, not too slow, and not too fast. Once we got to the top of the hill, though, I told him to feel free to walk faster, because I was freezing my ass up there, perfectly exposed to the breeze and the sharp wind blowing through the forest. We didn’t stop to retrieve my clothes, and I was actually grateful for that. I didn’t want to see the place where Sariel, Francis, and Paz had stood and watched as Lorna was pushing me to the depths of the ocean. To my death. Their plan had been pretty sound, though. If none of them talked, everyone would have thought it had been an unfortunate accident and I’d had drowned because I couldn’t swim, and I’d been too proud to admit it. Brilliant plan. Too bad it didn’t work. Revenge. Now I truly owed it to myself to get revenge on Sariel and Lorna. Maybe Francis and Paz, too.

I rode through the gates of the Academy on GC’s back, and all the students who happened to return from Mabon watched us with wide eyes. They stepped aside, and GC climbed the stairs to the main doors. Someone opened them for us, and we walked into the inner court. When we reached the building, I jumped down and looked away as he shifted back. I did my best to keep my eyes off his gorgeous body as we climbed up the spiral staircase to the north tower. We met a bunch of students on the way, but GC couldn’t care less that he was buck naked and all the girls – and some of the guys – were ogling him. He walked like he owned the place. If anything, he seemed more confident than when fully clothed.

He walked me to my room, and that was when I realized I’d left my key in my uniform blazer. I cursed under my breath.

“What’s wrong?”

“I lost my key. I’ll go down to the kitchens and find someone from the staff who can give me a spare.”

“Or…” He looked at me suggestively. “You could sleep in my room tonight. No strings attached, promise!” He pressed his right hand to his heart. “I know you’re not in the mood. Hell! I’m not in the mood after jumping over a cliff to rescue you. I’ll tell you what I’ll do, though. I’ll run you a hot bath, and while you warm up and wash up, I’ll make you a nice cup of hot cocoa. Are you hungry? I think I have some leftovers in the fridge.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “And then what?”

He shrugged. “They I let you sleep. I can take the couch.”

Oh yeah, I’d forgotten. Their rooms were more like oversized apartments compared to my humble bedroom.

“I think it will be safer for you to sleep in my room tonight. Just saying.”

A chill ran up my spine, and it wasn’t because I was colder than I’d ever been in my life. He was right. I didn’t want him to be, but he was. What if Sariel came back to finish the job? On the first day of school, when I’d woken up in a bed full of dead cockroaches, Klaus had easily unlocked my door with magic. Lorna could do it with a flick of her wrist, too. Before I could figure out what the hell was wrong with these people and why they wanted me dead, it was probably safer to stick with someone who… well… didn’t want me dead.

“Okay, but only if you promise nothing will happen.”

He raised his hands as if to show that, no, he didn’t have his fingers crossed behind his back.

“Promise.”

I pursed my lips to suppress a smile. “And that you’ll put on some clothes.”

“Cross my heart.”

“Lead the way.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I woke up slowly, lazily, enjoying the touch of the silk sheets against my skin, and the warmth of the sunlight sneaking through a crack in the curtains on my face. Mmm… GC’s bed is way better than mine. God, what a mattress! I stretched, feeling the strain from the night before in my muscles. Struggling against Lorna’s rope had been quite a workout, especially for my legs and arms. My muscles burned like I’d hit the gym and combined leg day with arm day. Not that I knew what that meant… I’d never been to a gym in my life. Good thing I was naturally lean and strong.

My heart skipped a beat when my hand landed on a smooth, warm chest that rose up and down with every breath. GC. But he’d promised he’d sleep on the couch! And I believed him

, like the fool that I am. He’s GC. Of course he’ll do whatever the fuck he pleases. I turned on my side slowly, tucking my hands under my cheek, and looked up at him. He was shirtless. The duvet covered him up to his waist, so at least, I hoped he was shirtless and not entirely naked. I hadn’t known this about him, but now I did: one of his quirks was walking around naked. Not that I minded…

He stirred in his sleep, yawned, and opened his eyes. I didn’t move. He turned to face me, and we looked at each other for a long minute, just drinking in the moment. I didn’t know what was going through his head, but I knew what was happening inside my body. The night before, he’d given me an oversized T-shirt to sleep in. Despite his kind suggestion to go commando, I’d put my panties on, even though they were still damp. The same with my wristbands. I’d let them dry on the heater for a while, along with my panties, but they didn’t dry perfectly. I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to sleep with someone else in the room without my wristbands. Now, I was in GC’s bed, more naked that dressed, and I was staring into his blue eyes, staring deep and hard, trying to read him once and for all. I wanted to understand this guy. Figure him out. Why had he saved me? Because he wanted to fuck me? If he reached out and touched me, I didn’t think I would’ve said no this time. After all, my panties still felt damp, but I was pretty sure it was for an entirely different reason.

“Nothing happened,” he said. “We didn’t do anything last night.”

“Then why are you in bed with me?”

He scrunched up his nose. Oh, he was cute. “The couch sucks. It was giving me serious back pains.”

I giggled despite myself, so I bit my lower lip in an attempt to stop the silly noise I was making. What the hell?! I sounded and behaved like Kitty and Sammy when they were trying to let him know their legs were wide open if he wanted to park himself between them.

“How did you sleep?” he asked. “I stayed on my side of the bed, you see?”