Lock and Key (Nocturne Academy 1)

“But my scars…they’re ugly,” I said in a small voice.

Griffin’s eyes widened and he turned to face me fully.

“Ugly? No part of you is ugly, Megan! Goddess Bright…” He shook his head. “You have no idea how lovely you are, do you?”

“I…I…” I felt suddenly tongue-tied all over again. Why would he say that to me when all my life I had felt nothing but average? He was the one who was gorgeous—way out of my league. Why was he even bothering with me?

I wanted to ask that but just then Mrs. Wainright finally stopped writing on the white board and turned around. The whole class had been having whispered conversations around us, just as Griffin and I had been doing, and now they got quieter.

“Well, hello, class,” our ancient teacher said in her distant, creaky voice. “Now who has done the reading assignment from last night?”

“We’ll talk later,” Griffin murmured to me. “Much later.”

And with that, I had to be content, though I had about a billion questions to ask him. I had to keep them all bottled inside as Mrs. Wainright droned on and on about the foreshadowing in Dracula and how it was an inherent part of folklore and vampires as a metaphor for death…

When she got to that part, I shot a sharp glance at Griffin but he wasn’t looking at me. Sanchez had turned in his seat again, the blue handprint vivid against the skin of his cheek. He was staring at us—staring at Griffin—and neither one of them was blinking. At last the big Drake dropped his eyes and looked away again, much to my relief. Griffin seemed to relax after that and there were no more staring contests or silent threats from the other side of the room.

At the end of class, I turned to him again, ready to ask all the questions that had been churning inside me the entire period. But Griffin shook his head.

“We cannot speak freely within these walls,” he warned, as we stood up to go.

“But…then when can I ask you questions?” I demanded.

“Never in Nocturne Academy,” he said sternly. “Of course you can ask me getting to know you questions—what is my favorite color and things like that. It’s green by the way,” he added, looking me directly in the eyes as his voice dropped to a sensuous purr. “Green with some flecks of gray, I believe.”

“Stop trying to flatter me to get around the issue,” I protested, dragging my eyes away from his and taking his offered arm as we walked out the door and back into the hallway. “And tell me when and where we can actually talk.”

Griffin sighed.

“I see you are not to be deterred. All right, we can talk during the weekend—Saturday night, if you like. At my place.”

I shot him a glance. “Your place?” I nibbled my lip indecisively. Was it safe to go be alone with him somewhere?

Griffin suddenly took me by the arms and pressed me against the nearest stone wall. He leaned in close and murmured in my ear,

“You’re wondering if it’s safe to come to me after dark…to be alone with me. Well let me save you the trouble of wondering, little witch—the answer is no.”

“You…you’re saying it’s not safe? That you’re not safe?” I gasped. He was so close to me, his big body bracketing mine intimately. And though he wasn’t actually pressed against me, I could feel the cold radiating off his lean, muscular body like heat would have radiated from a human male. Between my breasts, the key burned hot—fire to his ice.

“That is exactly what I’m saying,” he murmured, drawing back to look at me. “It’s very unsafe for you to come to me, Megan. I desire you greatly.” His eyes glowed silver as they burned into mine. “In more than one way,” he added.

“I…” I didn’t know what to say.

Suddenly Griffin pulled me away from the wall and tucked my arm through his. We continued walking, as though nothing had ever happened. As though he hadn’t just made a threat as intimate as a kiss in the middle of the main corridor.

“As I said, it’s very unsafe for you to come,” he went on, in a conversational tone as though we were discussing the weather. “But that’s the only way you can ask your questions and get my answers. So I guess you’ll have to decide for yourself if you want to visit me.” He shrugged, as though he was completely unconcerned with my decision.

I glared at him, still breathless from his nearness.

“You…you’re just trying to scare me. You wouldn’t hurt me—not really.”

“Wouldn’t I?” He turned those glowing eyes on me and his face was completely serious.

“You wouldn’t!” I insisted, with more certainty than I really felt. Griffin was impossible to fathom—he was a big black question mark in my mind that wouldn’t go away. One minute he was protecting me from Sanchez and being the perfect gentleman, escorting me to class, and the next he was telling me he desired me and it wasn’t safe for me to be with him alone.