Page 10 of Monster's Heart

What could I say?

I was curious about him. There was no one on campus quite like him, and we had them all at Blackthorn Academy. Werewolves, Vampires, Swamp Creatures, Elves. Dwarves, Mages, Witches, and more classes of Demons than I could possibly remember.

“Gunner, that jerk Wolf, called you something, a Hobgoblin? Is that what you are?” I asked, cheeks burning cause it was beyond fucking rude to ask such a thing.

“Is that what you think I am?” he snorted.

“I-I don’t know. I mean, you hardly speak to me except about Astronomy,” I muttered.

“Do you want me to? Is that what you’re saying, Luna? You want me to give you words, share my secrets, that sort of thing,” he growled, and the deep, guttural tone of his voice sent tremors pulsating through me.

“Is it a secret?” I asked and stopped walking and reached out to place my hand on his arm.

Sten stepped back, and my hand fell down.

Shit.

I was dumber than I’d thought. Imagine me trying to touch a creature like that. He was eons above me in looks, power, and likely thought I was some sort of almost human insect. A lot of the older Monsters had that attitude. I waited for him to chastise me, but his gaze was locked on where my hand almost touched him.

“You mustn’t do that, Luna,” he said, and there was something so sad about his voice.

“Do what? Touch you? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult or disgust you—”

“Fuck. Is that what you thought you did?” he asked, and when his gaze met mine, his blue eyes were churning with emotion.

“Why did you reach out to touch me?” he asked, his stare compelling me to answer.

“I don’t know, I just wanted to. I wanted to feel your skin beneath mine,” I whispered, shocked at myself for revealing such an intimate truth.

He growled and shook his head.

Sten started to walk down the path that led to the yard behind the cafeteria. He sped up without bothering to see if I was behind him, and that annoyed me since I had to hustle and my thighs were chaffing.

It was past dinnertime, so it would likely be empty, but it never closed, and I knew I could grab something before heading to my dorm if I wanted. But food was the last thing on my mind as I hurried after my reluctant tutor.

“Sten! My bag!” I called after him, just before we reached the courtyard.

He turned suddenly, eyes glowing.

I faltered in my next step, moving back out of some latent sense of self-preservation. But it was too late. The Monster had me in his sights and he kept coming until he was right in front of me. Almost touching me.

I swayed on my feet, willing him to close the gap, but he gritted his teeth, and I knew it would be no.

“D-do you want to call it off?” I whispered, ducking my head so I didn’t have to look at him when he rejected me.

“Call it off?” he asked, sounding perplexed.

“Yeah, tutoring me, the festival, being my date?”

“No, I don’t want to call it off. You just can’t touch me, Luna. Not when I feel so—”

“So what?” I asked, dying to know what he was thinking.

His handsome face quirked down into a frown, and he shook his head, handing me my bag and closing his robes over his usual outfit of black denim and a hoodie. I wanted to grab him, make him answer me, but since my first and only attempt to touch him went so well last time, I thought better of it.

“Sten?”

“Tomorrow. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he replied, his blue eyes boring into mine as if he needed to make sure I was still going to show up.

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