Lock and Key (Nocturne Academy 1)

“Oh, uh…thank you, Coach.” Kaitlyn nodded gratefully and looked at me. “Um, is Megan excused too?”

“Of course not!” Coach Vasquez glared at me. “And she’s about to be late! Get in line, Miss Latimer. And hurry!”

“Yes, Coach!” I barely had time to squeeze Kaitlyn’s hand again before I had to run out onto the sunny field by myself.

As I stood there in the merciless sunlight with all my scars showing again, I wondered what in the world Griffin had done to get Kaitlyn out of gym class indefinitely. I remembered him saying something to Sanchez about how his kind could control beasts—did it have anything to do with that, somehow?

I had no idea.

But whatever it was he had done to get Kaitlyn out of gym, why couldn’t he have done it for me too?

36

“How did you do that?” I demanded, the minute I stepped out of the girls’ locker room and found Griffin waiting for me.

“Do what?” he asked innocently, taking my hand and lacing our fingers together.

For a moment the touch of his cool hand on mine drove everything else out of my head. My heart started to pound and the key twisted and burned between my breasts. I found myself staring into his eyes and couldn’t look away. Damn it, why did he affect me so much?

“Get…get Kaitlyn out of gym class?” I finally forced my mouth to say, though my tongue felt thick.

“Ah. Well, I simply employed a bit of my Nocturne heritage,” he remarked, leading me through the busy halls, the crowd of students magically parting before us, as always. “My family, the Darkhearts, are quite powerful, you know. And our particular talent lies in commanding animals of all kinds. Even Drakes.”

“But…but I thought female Drakes didn’t have an animal inside—didn’t have a dragon?” I said, frowning. I was carefully looking away from his perfect profile as I spoke. It was easier to think clearly when I wasn’t staring at him.

“They don’t have a Drake that comes out—most of them don’t, anyway,” Griffin corrected me. “But all Drakes are two-natured—it’s just that male Drakes are able to allow the other half of themselves to take over and emerge from time to time. I spoke to the beast buried within Coach Vasquez and gave it an order to allow Kaitlyn to get out of her class.” He shrugged. “Simple as that.”

I gaped at him. “But…isn’t it against the rules of the Academy to use your supernatural powers on others—especially teachers?”

“Oh yes—it’s absolutely against the rules.” Griffin didn’t sound at all concerned.

“But…so couldn’t you get expelled for that?” I demanded.

“Oh, no. No, I couldn’t.” He laughed bitterly. “No, I’m afraid I can never be expelled from Nocturne Academy. Much as I might wish to be.”

Which again, made no sense. Why would he want to get kicked out of school?

I had so many more questions I wanted to ask—especially since he seemed to be open to answering them for once—but we had just arrived at English class. I started to go towards my seat in the front but Griffin shook his head.

“Oh no, my little witch. You’re sitting with me.”

Over my protests, he led me to his seat in the far back corner and settled me in a desk right beside him. Then he pulled my desk right up next to his—even though it meant taking it out of the row it was in—and looped a proprietary arm around my shoulders.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” I muttered under my breath. Having him this close made my heart race so hard I almost felt like I might pass out. I tried taking deep breaths to calm down but that didn’t help—it filled my senses with his cool, sharp scent which reminded me of winter and ice.

“I’m simply proving you’re mine, little witch,” he murmured in my ear. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you go as soon as our little display has had the desired effect.”

Soon enough, I saw what he meant. Sanchez and his cronies —who had left me strictly alone during PE, though the big Drake had been glaring at me the entire time—came slouching into Mrs. Wainright’s classroom about thirty seconds after the tardy bell chimed. They took one look at me and Griffin, with his arm possessively around me, muttered angrily, and then settled themselves in seats on the far side of the room.

“There, see? That wasn’t so bad,” Griffin murmured, finally removing his arm, though he immediately took my hand instead and interlaced our fingers.

“Stop,” I muttered. “I have to take notes.”

He laughed, a low, cool chuckle I could feel all the way down to the tips of my fingers and toes.

“As if you’d need to take notes in this class. Aren’t you going to be an English professor in a Norm college someday? Or have your plans changed, now that you know what you are?” He looked at me curiously.